Bertha & Earl - Fun Pictures

Irene & Pete - Earl and Bertha out west

Irene & Bertha (It seems like Irene is really getting into this)

Earl & Uncle John

Uncle John & Earl  

Pete & Earl (You see where Earl's eyes are?)

We always enjoyed looking at these pictures when we were kids.

Pikes Peak Colorado Trip - 1950s

Pikes Peak with Pete & Irene
 (All the ladies have their purses but what is Earl holding?)

Earl & Pete at Redwood Forest

On Top of Pikes Peak

Bertha and her Purse

Irene & Bertha

(You better hang on to your purse you never know who may be up here on top of Pikes Peak)

We would comment that when Earl, Bertha, Pete, and Irene would take trips out west that it was like Lucy, Ricky, Fred, and Ethel road trip to California.  (I do not know who would be Ricky I think it would be more like 2 Freds)

A Sad Start - Baby Norman

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Norman was Bertha and Earl's first born son.  She said Norman was a very happy baby.  It was devestating when he passed away unexpectedly at 6 months old probably of what is called SIDS today.  She did not like to hear when parents would let their babies sleep in bed with them.  She carried this tragedy with her all of her life.

Bertha's Children - Peggy & Jack

Iverna Margaret (Peggy) & Richard John (Jack) Ramser

Bertha's Mother - Mary Magdaline Metze

Grandma told me the day her mother died she got a call to come New Waterford ASAP, so she took Richard to the neighbors and took Peg and they went on the train from Alliance to New Waterford.  She got there just in time to see her mother before she passed away.  She remembered her father wrote 5:10 on the calender.  I asked her why he did that and she said she does not know why but that's what he did.

Grandma Mary Metze

When I asked grandma Bertha what her mother was like she said she was very nice and worked very hard her whole life and was just worn out.  She never cared for this picture of her but said she treasured it because that was all she had.

If you look at the list of Mary's siblings there were eight of them.  Bertha Fenton is Grandma's namesake was the oldest of the sisters.  Grandma told me her favorite aunt was Jeanie Grommosky from Cleveland.  She would stay with her in the summer and said she always made her feel important as Bertha and was interested in what she had to say (Having all those brothers and sisters it was probably hard to be noticed as an individual).  She said Aunt Jeanie was fun to be around.  I have a feeling that she must of been a lot like Bertha.

 Postcard sent to Mary Metze from Almeda Shetlock Mary's sister postmarked Transfer, PA (Sept. 24, 1912).   Bertha would have been only 8 months old.

Bertha & Her Children

Bertha and Children Iverna (Peggy) and Richard (Jack)

Grandma told me she was so upset when this picture was taken because Earl was suppose to be in it and he was late for some reason and missed the photographer.  She said she thought of that everytime she looked at this picture.

New Waterford, OH - Bertha's Childhood Home and Resting Place

Bertha in New Waterford Grammar School in about 5th grade.  She is in second row from the bottom 4th from the right.

School teaches at New Waterford Grammar School.  Grandma used to tell me one of the ladies was her favorite teacher.

New Waterford was platted in 1851 by John and Robert Silliman in anticipation of the railroad.  John Taylor made two additions later. Their efforts were amply rewarded as the village grew from a population of 60 people in 1860 to 1347 by 1900. The railroad played no small part in the growth of the village. In July 1852 the first train of cars arrived at Bull Creek Station. A few years later the name was changed from Bull Creek to New Waterford. As the story 's told, the first Taylor's came from Waterford, Ireland, and thus the name 'New' Waterford was selected. The railroad business grew rapidly. A large passenger and freight station,  acquired from the world's fair in Chicago, was established amid landscape grounds. For many years seven trains stopped daily.

The first storehouse as built by John Silliman in 1851. Soon a variety of stores and businesses were established and all of them transacted a large volume of business. New Waterford gained an excellent reputation as a trading center. In 1867, James C. Scott purchased the mill property at Cass Ann. Scott's Tip-Top Mills became one of the leading mills in the country. Today the only reminders of this once flourishing business are the dam and the millrace in the park.

The Post Office in New Waterford was established in 1853 with George Coswell as the first post master. The first mail was carried to and from the railroad station and the post office by J. T. Taylor. The outgoing mail was hung on the mail pole beside the tracks and as the train came thundering by at full speed, an arm with a 'switch click' would extend and grab the mail pouch.

In 1874, New Waterford had two physicians who operated a drug store in connection with the practice of medicine. An occasional visitor of Dr. D. M. Bloom was his friend, William McKinley, who later became President of the United States.

The reputation for quality merchandise and reliable merchants brought dramatic changes to New Waterford beginning about 1875. Trade came into the village from an ever widening radius necessitating a sharp rise in business expansion. The coal and carriage industries provided jobs. New businesses mushroomed. And from 1880 through the early 1900's a population "explosion" occurred. New Waterford became a "boom town". Freight moving in and out of the village kept dray men and their teams busy. Three hotels provided for the needs of their guests.

The village was incorporated in 1900 with Jacob H. Koch elected it's first Mayor.

In 1883. the Koch Carriage Works, founded by George J. Kock was so successful his brother Jacob joined him. The sixty people they employed were kept busy manufacturing high grade carriages, wagons and surries. Throughout Ohio and it's bordering states, the name plate, "Koch Brothers, New Waterford, Ohio" on a vehicle was a badge of excellence. In 1921, after automobiles ended the carriage trade, the buildings were taken over by the New Waterford Furniture Co. which later changed their name to Franklin Furniture and moved to Columbiana in the late 1920's. The buildings were then acquired by F. C. Maurer who organized Kenmar Furniture and operated there until about 1940 when they moved to East Palestine.

It occurred to George Koch, as people came in increasing numbers to Carriage works to place money and valuables in his safe, that what the village needed was a financial institution. And so, after much thought and planning, the New Waterford Building and Loan Association was organized in 1904. Then , in order to further the banking needs of both savings and checking accounts, the organization of New Waterford Savings and Banking Company was established in 1906.

Cory Barnes Williams owned the first gas station in New Waterford. By 1905, he owned a livery stable which kept him busy delivering people to and from their destinations. In 1913 he bought a Model T Ford and began a taxi service. Gasoline had to be readily available, so he converted his livery stable into a Standard Oil one pump station.

In 1908, Ralph Papania bought twenty-six acres which he planted into truck crops and fruit trees. Over the years the acreage has been enlarged and the major portion of the total 250 acres is planted in a variety of fruit trees, primarily apples.

Bertha's father George worked here and was an expert at upholstery.

George Metze

George Metze with Car