Emogene Ingersoll Winterer was
your great grandmother. She was born in
Bergen, New York, July 27, 1868. She
was the youngest child. She had four
sisters, and all the family petted her.
Her mother was 35 when Emogene was born, and her father was 42. Her mother was Mary Ann Caldwell before her
marriage. She was a Quaker, and
although she did not lead her children to become Quakers, they observed some of
the Quaker customs. She set aside a
quiet time to meditate alone every day for an hour, and each one of the family
went to her own room. It was hard for
Emogene to be quiet so long, so she sometimes made doll hats secretly during
that time.
She remembered her father as a
gentle kindly man who painted frescoes in some of the large churches in New
York City. He was Henry Mortimer
Ingersoll. The Ingersoll family have traced
their ancestry clearly to Goeffrey Ingersoll of Southwell, England. His grandson John emigrated to America
during a Puritan migration in 1654, and lived at Meadows Farms, Huntington,
Long Island. His grandson Samuel, thru
the line of John, then Samuel, lived in Stanford, Connecticut, and served in
the revolutionary war as a private in Captain Smith’s company, in General
Wooster’s regiment. The record states that he marched in the War of the
Revolution Nov. 10, 1776, and was discharged Jan. 11, 1777. He was 32 when he entered the Army. Through his ancestor you can be daughters or
sons of the Revolution, if you choose to join.
When Emogene was very young she
moved with her parents to Concord, Michigan.
He she lead quiet childhood.
Bertha was just three years older than Emogene, but far apart from her
in disposition. Delia was grown and
married when Emogene was only four years old.
Lura was eight years older than Emogene, but they were very
companionable.
She had a great deal of trouble
with her eyes. One of her school rooms
was in a basement which was poorly lighted, and she strained her eyes trying to
see the blackboard. She was naturally
left-handed, but her teachers insisted on changing her to be right-handed. This made her very nervous, and perhaps
affected her eyes. All of her life she
suffered with her eyes.
Several times she and her mother
went back to New York State to visit relatives. Her uncles were all big handsome men, who adored their
sister. Two of these uncles had canal boats,
and they took Emogene and her mother for trips on these boats. Those were the days before railroads crossed
the country, and much of the freight was hauled on these canal boats.
When Emogene was in high school
she earned money by selling milk from her jersey cow. She had been given the calf, and made a real pet of it.
Every day she led her through the
town to pasture, petting her and talking to her. At night she led her back home to milk her. All the townspeople knew Emogene and her
pretty cow.
She was not very strong, so when
she was thru high school she went to visit her sister Lura, who was married and
lived in Valley City, North Dakota.
They gave her a pony, and she rode alone over the prairies, fast as the
wind. She became well again, and since
there was a need for school teachers, she was persuaded to teach in the grade
school. She loved the children, and
wanted to play with them all the time.
Here she met Edward Winterer, who was principal of the school, and very
elegant in his tail coat and high silk hat.
He fell in love with her, and would scarcely let her out of his
sight. However, she left and went to
St. Cloud, Minnesota and took a course in teacher training for two years.
One morning while she was at
normal school she woke up so depressed, and just wouldn’t get out of bed. The girls in the dormitory couldn’t do
anything with her, so they called the house-mother. Emogene sobbed and cried, and told her that she had just realized
that she would have to get up and dress herself every day of her life, and she
just didn’t want to.
Once in a test, the class was
asked what they would do if they saw a child drowning in the river. Emogene answered truthfully, “I would stand
on the shore and scream!.”
She and Edward were married in
1891 at the home of her Uncle Lovejoy in Minneapolis. It was a beautiful wedding and reception. Uncle Lovejoy was wealthy and provided
Emogene with a lovely trousseau.
Valley City, North Dakota was to
be the Winterer home until 1907. It was
bleak, cold country, where temperatures went far below zero in the winter. Fortunately there were many well educated
people in the little town, and they found a full, satisfying life. Emogene read good books, and learned poetry,
and studied the great art of the world.
She carried on a lively correspondence with some of the great artists of
America.
Their four handsome boys were born
within eight years. She adored her
children and devoted much of her time to them.
Edward was a very successful lawyer and businessman, so they could
afford to have a fine home and a servant.
All the children’s clothes were ordered from Best’s in New York. The children must have looked like little
fashion plates. In those days boys wore
dresses until they were three or four years old. Then they wore white ruffled blouses and velvet pants. Emogene told of having 28 blouses washed and
ironed each week.
Their beautiful son Galen died of
diphtheria when he was nine years old.
Emogene grieved so for him, and was so afraid for the other children to
live in that rugged climate, so Edward moved the family to Hollywood in
1905. They bought a house on Orange
Drive, just north of Hollywood Blvd.
That was to be their home the rest of their lives. In her whole lifetime, Emogene only lived in
four houses.
Irving chose his own name. The family couldn’t decide on one, so just
called him “Baby”. The other boys had
classic names, Horace, Galen and Virgil.
Uncle Herman said “why don’t you name this one Julius Caesar and be done
with it?” Finally they placed a number
of names in a hat, and let the child choose, so he pulled out Irving Hilaire.
The neighbors were slow to call,
but finally one of them, a fat one, came and left her calling cards. When Emogene returned the call, she took
little Irving with her. He sat quietly
on a little stool and didn’t say a word until they were ready to leave. Then he shyly looked up at the lady and said
“Your arms look like sausages!”
Emogene never seemed to have much
trouble with servants. She needed help
when Tubby was about seven. One good
strong Swedish woman named Anna applied.
She looked over the household and the children and announced “Yes, I’ll
take the job, and I’ll stay until Virgil is thru high school.” And she did! Another servant was Tai,
a Japanese boy. He stayed for
several years, and ran the house so smoothly.
For years after he left, he would appear every Christmas with some fine
tea, and a beautiful present. Delfin
was a Philipino boy that stayed with the family for at least ten years. He went to high school while he was living
with them, and learned to drive an automobile and operate an elevator. Mother paid for violin lessons for him, and
taught him to cook very well. He had a
horrid temper, and was often disagreeable, but he was very devoted to his lady.
Irving was never very strong, and
Emogene and he were the closest companions.
When he was not able to go to school, she tutored him, and she read to
him a great deal. He was very artistic,
so they painted together. Emogene wrote
poetry, and much of it was an expression of her love for Irving. He played the flute, and she studied piano
again to be able to share music with him.
Irving died of tuberculosis when he was 23, and poor Emogene grieved for
him all the rest of her days.
In 1911 Edward and Emogene took a trip to Europe. They were gone several months. She had such a wonderful time in the art museums, seeing all the rich art that she had studied for so long. Once when they were being conducted thru one of the galleries she admired one marble statue so much that she felt she just had to touch it, even though that was forbidden. She lingered behind the others, and ran her hands over the curves of the smooth marble. A guard saw her, but tactfully looked the other way, so she could enjoy the treasure.
They went to Greece and reveled in
the ruins of Greek buildings. Pompei
thrilled them, and the Blue Grotto at Capri, and she thought Amalfi Drive was
the loveliest ride in the world. When
they were in Algiers Emogene and another woman passenger became separated from
the other tourists, and got lost in the old section of the town. They were terribly frightened, for they
couldn’t find their way out of the little narrow streets. Once some native men locked arms and filled
the street so they couldn’t pass. They
couldn’t fine anyone who spoke English, and they knew it was time for the boat
to sail. Near sundown they had to walk
around many workmen who were praying to Allah. Finally they found a cab drive,
who raced them back to the boat.
Edward had been frantic, and had persuaded the Captain to hold the boat
for two hours. All the passengers were
leaning over the rail, straining their eyes hoping to see the lost women. When they finally drove up, everyone cheered
loudly, and Edward hugged and kissed Emogene in front of everyone.
In Germany they visited relatives
of Edward’s in several towns. The
Burgomeister of Freiburg was a distant cousin, and the principal street was
Wintererstrasse. Edward spoke German
with his people, and Emogene noted in her diary how lonely she was where she
couldn’t enter into the conversation, and she wrote how much she missed her
children.
She was terribly annoyed in
Holland with the eternal cleaning. When they left their room to go sight-seeing
in the morning, immediately the maids would come in, move all the furniture,
scrub and clean all day, and sometimes they didn’t have the room in order by
evening when they returned. The maids
threw all the dirty scrubbing water out the window into the street, and
narrowly missed Emogene’s head.
Paris to her meant a Paris gown,
but Edward wouldn’t let her have one made because he was a little worried about
their money holding out. She cried, so
he promised her a fine dress when they got to New York. He kept his promise and bought her a dress
with a Paris label when they got to New York and back in Hollywood she didn’t
tell her friends she hadn’t bought it in Paris. She never quite forgave Edward for denying her that pleasure.
She bought fine lace in Brussels,
and in Ireland, she always enjoyed good lace, and never could resist a salesman
who came to the door with it. She
collected many sets of fine table laces.
She also liked fine materials, especially woolens, and always had
several pieces of material on hand to be made up into suits. Sometimes she insisted that the men in the
family use these materials, whether they wanted to or not.
Emogene was active in the
Daughters of the Revolution, and for several years was president of the
Hollywood Woman’s Club. She was a good
leader, but I don’t think she really enjoyed club work. I think she did it principally because being
in public life was a help to Edward’s business.
Edward liked to see new places,
and took the family in the automobile over all sorts of roads. Emogene was often terrified on the mountain
grades. Once on a narrow road they had
barely enough space to pass another car.
The cars had canvas tops with metal supports. Emogene stuck her head between the supports to see the other car,
and as the car passed she nearly had her head taken off. Edward insisted on taking her, whether she
wanted to go on these trips or not. The boys loved to go, and the more
dangerous the roads, the better they liked them.
They had a boat trip to Alaska
before they moved to Hollywood.
Periodically they took other nice trips. They went to Central America, and to Cuba, and to Hawaii and New
Zealand and Australia. They saw every
state in the union. One year they
traveled 11,000 miles by automobile.
They liked nothing better than to
have their family with them. When the
grandchildren came to visit, she gave all her attention to them, reading to
them and playing games. Christmas was a
wonderful time for her. One year she
had 28 people for dinner, and it was a dinner unsurpassed. She always planned some entertainment after
the dinner. One year she learned to do
a Spanish dance for us, and she did it so well. Once she passed white candles to each of us, which she lighted,
and we all sang “auld lang syne”. She
usually brought out the very best table service when the family came to dinner,
and often put on an evening gown.
Nothing was too good for her family.
(From
Genealogy of Ingersoll Family in America by Lillian B. Avery)
“Inge” is Scandinavian, and is
first identified as the name of a celebrated Scandinavian Chieftan or Lord by
the name of “Ingebar” who came into England with the invading Danish folk and
settled in Middlesex and adjoining counties.
This “Ingebar” bequeathed his name as a surname to a large number of
English families. As for instance such
families as Inglis, Ingram, Ingolsby, Ingerson, Ingleside, Inge, and Ingersoll. It may be noted here that Inge, son of
Harold, King of Norway, lived in the twelfth century. (Patronymica Brittica Lower)
The name Ingersoll (Inkersall), is
due to a combination of the surname “Inge” with the French word “Sale” which is
the old French meaning for “house”. The
first form of the name, therefore, was Ingersall. This form gradually changed to Ingersole and finally to the
present Ingersoll. It should be noted
that the name “Ingersoll” may possibly have been formed by combination of the
Scandinavian word “Inge” with the Scandinavian word hail, holl, or all. The name appears in Bedwolf 51547. The Ingersolls (Inkersales) were found in
the fifteenth century in Middlesex, Suffolk, Surrey, Hamshire, Nottinghamshire
and Bedfordshire. As far as may be
ascertained from present sources of information the name, as an appellation of
a family of English gentlemen, appeared first in Nottinghamshire and the
family which originated there passed into Herefordshire and possibly later to
Hampshire and Bedfordshire.
Among the references to the name
of Ingersoll (Inkersall) are the following:
In the thirteenth century in
Amesbury Parish, West Riding, Yorkshire, Harrison, etc. etc. (Text
omitted. Refer to genealogy book
above.)
The Ingersoll arms and crest are
testified under the hand of Sir William Segar, Garter, as is affirmed by John
Phillipot, Somersett, and are as follows:
Arms Gules, a fess dancette, ermine
between six trefoils slipped or.
Crest A
griffin head gules, gorged with a fess dancette ermine, between two wings
displayed or feathered sable.
There is a Latin motto on the
coast of arms which is said to read “Virtue lives, but fame dies.”
Geoffrey Inkersall of
Southwell married Dorothy, daughter of Richard Moreign Hall, Co. Mott and one
of his heirs.
The only son of Geoffrey Ingersoll
(Inkersall) who is named in the “visitations” was Robert Ingersoll of Weston
County, Hergfordshire, who inherited the Ingersoll arms from his father and was
one of the gentlemen of the Royal Court (Gentlemen of the Removing
Wardrobe). Robert Ingersoll (Inkersall)
married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Blover of Weston, Herefordshire. Their children were Robert, John, Grace, Elizabeth
and Dorothy. Elizabeth married George
Harrison of Orgrove. Robert, being the
eldest, succeeded to his father’s estates.
John, the second son, born about 1640, seems to be identical with the John
who emigrated as a child in 1654 to American and became afterwards known as
John of Huntington.
It may be assumed as definitely
determined that all the Ingersolls (Inkersalls) that came to this country in
the early Puritan Movement were related to Geoffrey Ingersoll (Inkersall) of
Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England.
The first Ingersoll (Inkersall) came to America in 1629. This was Richard Ingersoll, who came out of
Bedfordshire (adjoining herts) and married Agnes Langley at Sands, or Sandy,
Bedfordshire.
Jayred Ingersoll was a
signer of the United States Constitution.
He was born in Connecticut in 1749, and died in Philadelphia, 1822. He was a lawyer, a member of Congress from
Pennsylvania in 1780-91. He attended
the Constitutional Convention in 1787, was an unsuccessful Federal Candidate
for the Vice-President in 1812. A copy
of a painting by him by Rembrandt Peal hangs in Independence Hall,
Philadelphia.
(I don’t know his relationship to
your branch of the family. Perhaps you
can find out in the Ingersoll genealogy book that Uncle Horace has.)