Top picture: Luella Matilda Erion. This picture was cropped from a larger family group picture of Jacob B. Erion and Mary Leonard Erion. The picture was given to me by my late aunt, Frances Erion Taylor. The group picture may viewed on another posting within this blog.
Middle picture: After much researching I feel 99 percent certain that this is a photograph of Luella Matilda Erion and her father Jacob B. Erion. I believe it was probably taken in Winslow, Arizona around 1920 when Luella was working there as a public health nurse. The picture was in an old photograph album of my grandfather's. The album was given to me by my late aunt, Frances Erion Taylor.
Bottom image: This is a scan of a letter Luella M. Erion wrote to Winfield Scott, Commissioner of Pensions in Washington, D. C. Not only did Luella take care of her father in his last years, she also handled office tasks for him and this was the final one.
The following is a snapshot of the life of Luella Matilda Erion. It is written in my words. When I use others' words, I have indicated so and I have also sourced my information to the best of my ability.
“We have a fourteen year old girl who can set type all around Bro. Myers in fifteen minutes”. (Jacob B. Erion)
Meet Luella Matilda Erion, the second child of Jacob Benjamin Erion and Mary Frances Leonard Erion. Luella was born 15 Feb 1870 in Iowa. The first six years of Luella’s life were spent in Linn County, Iowa with her parents and big sister, Jennie Mabel and little sister Alice Erion, who was born two years after Luella. In September of 1875, Jacob moved his family to Bates County, Missouri, then to Appleton City, Missouri. There, two more children joined the family: Francis Leonard Erion and Esther P. Erion. There the Erions lived for three years, while Jacob ran a saddler and harness business. In 1878, according to the Linn County, Iowa History to 1878, Jacob and family moved to Springville, Brown Township, Linn County, IA. In the same Biography Jacob is listed as a druggist and book dealer. Also Jacob’s and Mary’s sixth and final child, my great grandfather, Lloyd Dewitt Erion, is born.
As her father wrote in the Lewis Independent, Luella was just as skilled as her older sister Jennie at setting type for the newspaper. Later, Luella became a school teacher in South Omaha, Nebraska, where her family moved between 1880 and 1885. An article in the 05 May 1897 edition of the (Omaha) Morning World-Herald noted that Luella Erion had been granted a one year leave of absence, followed up with an August 29, 1897 mention in the same named publication that said, “Miss Lou Erion goes to Peru (Nebraska) tomorrow to attend the state normal school the coming year.” Established in 9 Sep 1887 and sited on the western side of the Missouri River, Peru is located on the Steamboat Trace, a hiking, birding, and biking trail that is part of the Lewis and Clark Historic Trail. The state normal school at Peru, Nebraska was the state’s first college and is now known as Peru State College, “Campus of 1000 Oaks.” It is a four year college, state funded. (Sources: http://www.ci.peru.ne.us/index.htm and www.peru.edu.)
Perhaps Luella took a year’s sabbatical to attend nursing school because the 1900 US census shows Luella’s occupation as “nurse,” but, again, this is speculation. Bleu) Luella was hired again during the upcoming 1899-1900 school year in South Omaha, Nebraska. (Source: Morning World-Herald, 28 Jun 1899)
In 1900 Luella, age 30, lived with Blanche Kelley, 28, and Eva Swart, 22, at 419 South 20th Street, Omaha, Nebraska. Blanche is listed as the head of the household and Luella and Eva are listed as partners. (1900 US Census) For whatever reason, Luella Matilda Erion does not show up on the 1910 US census. This could simply be because of a clerical error or misspelling of her name or she might have been on a trip the day the census taker came by her residence. The search will continue for Luella in 1910, but, at some point between 1900 and 1920, Luella made a huge move. She moved to Winslow, Arizona where she worked as a public health nurse. Her niece, Mary Olive Leonard, lived with her. (Source: 1920 US Census)
The last census to be made public, 1930, shows that Luella moved to San Diego, California where she was employed as a registered nurse. The State of California has posted its Voter Registration records on-line at Ancestry.com. This information enabled me to pinpoint where Luella lived between 1926 and 1930. She was a registered Republican living at 4832 Kansas, San Diego, California. These same on-line California Voter Registration records show that Luella’s father, Jacob Benjamin Erion, was also living with her. He, too, was a registered Republican.
Jacob B. Erion's pension file from the National Archives shows that Jacob lived with Luella Matilda Erion until his death in 1929. Luella Matilda took care of her father for five years until his death in 1929.
Notes to myself that I entered into my Family Tree software show the following:
I (Bleu) received part of the pension file for my great great grandfather, Jacob B. Erion, on November 6, 2008. The National Archives had indicated that it could take 3 to 4 months to receive anything. It, in fact, took only about 6 weeks. The initial search and copying fee was $75. If nothing had been found, there would had been no charge. However, a lot was found and I was given a quote for the remainder of the file. I am sending off that quote fee tomorrow.
It appears that the researcher started with the most recent activity and is working his way back through the file, so what I have right now is the diagnosis and final illnesses of Jacob B. Erion. He lived a long, long time. Also, things in the file confirm what I have found on line -- that he did live with his daughter Luella. I was surprised to find that Jacob had been cremated. His family handled his final wishes rather than it being carried out by the US Dept. of Army. The US Dept. of Army had the family sign documents that this was their wish."
" . . . it is my desire to have my father cremated." /s/ Luella Erion, 15 Jan 1929. (On letterhead of Davis-Bonham Mortuary)
At the time of his death, Jacob B. Erion was drawing a pension of $72.00 per month. Jacob's complaints upon his final admission, through the emergency room to the hospital: "weakness, inability to stand or walk, pain in muscles and joints, frequent urination, dizziness." Findings after physical examination: "senile, bedridden male, pulse 92, dippnoea, marked arteriosclerosis. Myocarditis, chronic." (Source: Report of Physical Examination signed by Dr. F.C. Pache, U.S. Haval Hospital, San Diego, CA, 22 Oct 1928.)
Sometime after the 1930 census, Luella moved to Los Angeles County, California where she lived until her death on 23 Oct 1944, having never married. (Source: Ancestry.com. California Death Index, 1940-1997) The oldest child of Carl Andrew Erion and Louise Marie Krumwied Erion, had this memory of “Aunt Lou”: “I remember Aunt Luella, she visited us when we lived on Boundary Street, now Iris Street (in Hobart, Oklahoma). She was crabby and I heard Mother say she wasn’t crazy about her. She must have been nice to have her father live with her. I think Luella was an old maid and I think she went by Lou because they would talk about Aunt Lou.” (Letter dated 5 Dec 2008)
So "Aunt Lou" might have been crabby but she was an industrious, educated woman who took care of her father.
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