Eva Nellie Holden, Biography Allen County Indiana NARRATIVE BY Jane Anne Hunter Hodgson This account of the life of Eva Nellie Holden was written in 1991 by her granddaughter, Jane Anne Hunter Hodgson, daughter of James Boyd Hunter. Sources were birth and death certificates as well as first hand accounts from Eva's daughter, Lillian Shuler Sillaway, Eva's daughter-in-law, Theodosia McKeeman Hunter, and Paul Cottrell who knew the family in Woodburn, Indiana. The actual occurrences described are facts. Eva's crying as she put on her bridal gown was related to Lillian by Eva herself, as well as the love she eventually kindled for James. Theodosia and Paul both told of her working at the Barnhill Sanatarium. Some of the connecting ideas were fabricated according to the explanations given to the author by the witnesses. Jane Anne Hunter Hodgson I was born on the 23rd of August in the year 1873 in Findlay, Ohio. I was the first of three children born to my parents, Pearson Benjamin Holden and Flora Anne Barnhill. My father operated a grist mill in Findlay, and he had come from the neighboring county, Putnam county, to marry my mother whose family had lived in Findlay for a number of years. My mother and daddy had just lived through the traumatic years of the Civil War as they were growing up. Father's father had died in 1867. Grandad was a rather well-known personage in this part of Ohio. His name was also Pearson Benjamin Holden. He was a preacher in the United Brethren Church. Having been born in Virginia he took a pro-slavery stance against his church body in the Civil War. My mother and father were married, and about a year later I was born. I soon had a brother, William Reed, and a sister, Jennie. We grew up and went to school in Findlay. We went to the Presbyterian Church where the Barnhills attended for years. In 1887 my parents were divorced. My mother was having a very hard time holding the family together since my father was down in Georgia and not sending any money for the family's expenses. My mother moved us all to Chicago, so that she could earn a living to support her young family. When I was about 18 years old, I met a very nice gentleman. His name was James Boyd Hunter. He was a furniture manufacturer in Chicago. He talked about Canada where he was born in a city called London. I was fascinated with all that he had to say, and I think he thought that I was very pretty. He started courting me. Because he was almost 20 years older than me, my mother tried to put a stop to his bringing me flowers. That made me want to see him even more. My mama said that if his intentions were honorable, he should marry me, and so it happened just all very fast. On New Years Eve, 1891, we were married. I cried as I was putting on my bridal gown. I think I was suddenly afraid to leave the comfort and love of my family. I was not even sure as I started down the aisle that I really loved him, and I feared that I was making a terrible mistake. but it was too late for second thoughts. I took the plunge and soon we were headed off on my new life away from all that I had ever known. Chicago was such a big city. I loved the excitement! We lived just a few blocks from Jim's business. He owned the furniture business with another man named McCue. I soon had a new friend, Mrs. McCue. I was very thankful for her friendship, especially a few months later when I began feeling ill every morning. I suspected that maybe I would have a child. Mrs. McCue helped me through the days when I felt so poorly, and to my joy and Jim's joy, Flora Jane Hunter was born on the 3rd of January 1893. My days were filled with the fun of watching Janie grow. Jim went off to the facctory every day and also traveled around on the trains to neighboring states looking for outlets for the furniture. I was busy shopping and cooking and minding the house every day. When I went to bed at night, I was exhausted. I would fall asleep listening to the clop of horses hoofs on the streets outside. It seemed that in Chicago, someone was always coming or going, even in the middle of the night. My sister. Sarah Jane,married a Mr. Bates. They lived in Riverside village. Mama would spend part of her time with me and part with Jennie. On the 25th of February, 1896, we again had to call out the doctor in the middle of the night to come to the house. Our second child, a boy named Frederick was born. Now when I walked down to the butcher shop or the fruit store, I had Janie in tow and little Fred in the baby buggy. A picnic in the park was sometimes a treat in those days. It was not long before those familiar symptoms returned, and on the 21st of November, 1897, Hamilton Wellington was born. We named him for my husband's father who had been the superintendent of schools in Toronto and London, Ontario. (He was born in Ireland and came to Canada with his parents as a young boy.) In October of 1899, I told my loving husband that I suspected that child number 4 was on the way. He was delighted as always. He was a great support to me and a wonderful father to his children. I had grown to love him very much. We had such a beautiful Christmas that year, with just the perfect toy for Jane and Fred and Ham. Mama met a nice man here in Chicago named Wellington Bennett, and I was very happy for her when they decided to marry. I will never forget that day in February, 1900. It had snowed, and I was stuck in the house with the children. I was already getting my very rounded figure back with five months of baby proceeding as expected. When the officer came onto the doorstep, I couldn't imagine why he would come to my house. He tried to soften the blow with his words, but the shock could have killed me when he said that Jim had been found dead on a Michigan Central train here in Chicago at about noon. He was taken off to a hospital, and the policeman said that the doctors would have a report later on about what had happened. Things had never appeared so bleak as they did on that day in 1900. What was I to do? I did send word to some good friends who had moved just over the Indiana line into LaPorte. They came over and helped me through those days. We took his body to the Congregational Church, and buried him in Rosehill Cemetery. I wondered where I could go and what I could do next. My doctor said I must take good care of myself or risk losing the baby that I carried inside me. I know Jim would not have wanted anything to happen to his child, so I waited out the next four months there in our rented house in Chicago. On the 19th of June, 1900, James Boyd Hunter was born, named for the father who would never see him grow and mature. I now had my hands full, and felt overwhelmed with the prospects of living without a man in the city. My friend who had moved to Indiana was now in a small town called Valporaiso. She wrote and encouraged me to come there. So, as soon as I got back on my feet after the birth, I began to pack up all that I owned for the move by horse and buggy to Valporaiso, Indiana. It was not easy. The money that the McCues sent helped but I knew that I could not raise four children on that money. I began to look for some kind of work. One day I met a man who was selling encyclopedias, door to door. He told me how he got his job and put me in touch with the people who offered me a job selling. It was a struggle to balance caring for the family and working. But Jane was now ten years old, so she could help with the younger ones while I went off to bring in some money. I tried my hand at a variety of jobs in those days. It was always the most difficult to hold a job when the children were sick. They, of course, had their share of childhood sicknesses. It was always a concern when the little ones were ill. I loved my children more than anything else in the world. On the 14th of April I received word that my Mama had died in Riverside Village. She had only three years of happiness with her new husband. In 1904, little Fred came down with a horrible stomachache one day. By the middle of the night, I knew it was serious. The town doctor came over early in the morning to see him. He told us what to do. Jane and I nursed him round the clock. All of the children gathered around and tried to comfort him, but when he began to burn with fever and his speech became the ramblings of delirium, we were so frightened. Our beloved little Fred passed away that day. It was like losing a part of my own heart. We were irreconcilable. In 1907 we moved to Woodburn, Indiana. My mother's brother was a physician in Laotto and Woodburn. He had a sanitarium there, the Barnhill Sanatarium. I felt that if we moved there, I could work at the Sanatarium, and things would ease up financially for the raising of my children. It was becoming more and more difficult, and the doctor said that he would pay for my two boys to go to Howe Military School if I came to work for him. I felt this would be such a wonderful opportunity for Ham and Jim that I eagerly accepted the offer. The move was made, and the two boys were sent off to school. I was put to work selling insurance so that people who bacame ill could be cared for in my uncle's sanatarium. The years passed so quickly, and the children grew up so fast. We moved to Fort Wayne in 1910. I met a man named Charles Wesley Shuler. We began to fall in love, and I realized that he wanted to marry me. It had seemed out of the question in the past that I could marry again since I had always put my children's needs first, but it now seemed to be the proper thing, and I was ready to get on with my own life. We were married in 1910. On the 2nd of August, 1911, Lillian Florence was born into our family. By now Jane was a grown up young lady. I had saved the money to send her to finishing school. We were now living on Holton Avenue in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Ham was attending high school. Jim was just eleven years old. My marriage to Charles was rocky, but on the 2nd of December 1915, our son William was born. Charles was not around much to help me with the children. But I was used to managing on my own, so that was not a new challenge for me. I could see that our marriage would not work out. Eventually, we were divorced. I now had Jim still at home and the two little ones. I loved my children very much so continued to work and to care for them. Jim was in Fort Wayne High School when the war broke out in 1914. He went off to the Navy in 1917, and Ham did too. Those were long years until he returned from the war. Lillian and Bill and I were so overjoyed to see them return. In the early 1920's we moved to a house on Maple Place. When Jim married Theodosia McKeeman, they bought a little house on the same little court across the street from us. I saw my first grandchildren born. Jane married Arthur Laudel, and they moved to Kansas City. There in Fort Wayne in those years of my life, I was introduced by a friend to the Christian Science religion. I knew when I learned the principles of this new found religion that God had really helped me through all of the rough spots in my life and that he was really in charge of my life and health and mind. It was with jubilation that I embraced these teachings and passed them on to Lillian. I told Lillian that when Jane was younger, I was able to send her to finishing school. I could not do that for Lillian, but I believe I gave her a better gift, and that was in the promises of God to his people. It filled me with happiness to see Lillian grow and mature in her faith. In 1931 I was married to Willard Long. Now that all of my children were grown, this seemed an ideal time for finding some new happiness in my life. Note: On June 20, 1933, Eva Nellie died in Fort Wayne of a myocardial failure. She was buried per her own wish at the side of her first husband, James Boyd Hunter in Chicago, Illinois. Submitted by; Jane Hunter Hodgson Tucson, Arizona ------------------------------------------------------------------------- USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. 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