Back row, left to right, Oswald, Hedwig, John.

Front row: Emma, Rev. John, wife Caroline and Martha.

 

Concerning the photo above: Back row center in the picture is my grandmother, Hedwig. Rev. passed away in the house I grew up in. This is 3 miles north of the little town of Jansen Nebraska.  Rev. John Schmalz is my great-grandfather on my dad's side.

 

John Schmalz' wife, Caroline, passed away on January, 31 1919 in York NE.  The Rev. then moved in with my grandmother, Hedwig, rural Jansen NE until his death in the 1920's. I am still trying to find his obit.

After leaving Wisconsin he moved to the Harbine, NE area where he serve Hope Reformed church.  He was instrumental in getting a permanent church building built there and then on to York NE to serve in a church there.

No one talked of his work anywhere. It was as if what he did was all in a days work......nothing special.  What humility!

 

Hedwig, every one around here called her aunt Hattie, friends and relatives alike, married Herman A. Korthals in February of 1916.  She was married in York by her father. She was known to many as a midwife and is mentioned in the book "The Memories of Peter Jansen" the namesake of the town of Jansen NE. She lost her first husband in August of '23 in a farming accident.  She remarried about 4 years later ( something that was almost taboo at the time ) To Bill Ackman seeking help in raising her 2 sons. Bill passed away 5 years later from Leukemia. She died in November of 1969 and is buried at our cemetery at St. Paul ( St Paul started as an Evangelical church and went through the transformation to UCC now ) north of Jansen.

John, joined the Merchant Marines in 1912 and had an extensive stay in China. During his service he qualified as the top marksman of the entire Marines which numbered 10,000 at that time.  He was discharged from the Marines in 1916. Soon after the start of WW l he joined the Army and went overseas.  After the Armistice he was injured in a freak accident that lead to the eventual amputation of his right arm just above the elbow.  He was married in Nebraska and then moved to Oregon where he spent the rest of his life. He passed away some time in the early '70's.  I will search more for info.

Oswald joined the Army at the onset of WW l. Information about him is very sketchy. He served in Europe and spent some time there after the War had ended. The next bit of information comes from when he was discharged from the Army. For some reason he was on the west coast trying to get home. Oswald was at a rail station when he got pushed in front of an oncoming train. The train ran over his legs just above the knees and he bled to death, dying  2-15-1924.

 

GASKILL Roger Allen (the son of Emma Schmalz Gaskill), 72, Winter Park Friends, Florida, March 16. Roger Gaskill married Catherine Balderston Jones in 1956. He was Treasurer of Winter Park Meeting and a trustee of Southeastern Yearly Meeting, and would host SERVAS visitors from many different countries. A student at Antioch, M.I.T., and the University of Michigan, he was the inventor of the computer language DAS, which enabled a digital computer to function as an analog computer. His work in computers sprang from his interest in communications as a means of fostering world peace. He is survived by his wife Catherine, two sons David and Ben, and three grandsons.

 

As far as I know Emma Schmalz Gaskill lived all of her married life in Florida. So I am assuming that's where Roger was born.  Her other son's name is Earl and I think he was named after his father.  Leonard Korthals