The Hyphen Family Lineage

[Article "Frank Bayha Family" from Wells County, Indiana Family History 1837-1992, p253.]

Frank Bayha, son of George, married Effie Stuver in 1891, moved to 914 W., Wabash were [sic] six children were born: Agnes, Charles, Mary, Paul, Ruth, and Ralph.

Factory-made cigars replaced Frank's job as cigar maker, though he worked in his spare time for Herman Wiecking. He worked at the Brown chandelier factory until it closed, then at the Bay Piano Factory until his death in 1926.

In the spring of 1926, he moved to his father's house where his wife remained until 1955 when she moved to her daughter Mary's home.

Frank, a happy man, did not take life too seriously; a child at heart. There were always fireworks on the Fourth or a small sack of candy when the grocery bill was paid, no matter how short the money. He owned neither car nor carriage, but always had time for a chat or a walk with family or friend.

Effie, a hard worker, popular with neighbors and friends, was always ready to help an ill neighbor or sit with a bereaved family. Her friends' visits continued when she became housebound.

Agnes married young, then divorced. She became a Harvey girl in Clovis, New Mexico for two years. She then worked for Bluffton mitten factory, married and moved to Fort Wayne, where she remained until her death in 1952.

Charles left home early, moved to Pennsylvania where he married and had four children: John, Sarah, Franklin and Martha. He died in 1952.

Mary was born in 1900, educated in Bluffton Schools, a member of the Reformed Church, and a talented outgoing child. She ran errands, visited a wide circle of friends, young and old, and had enough freedom to pursue a variety of interests. She was a camp-fire girl under the instruction of Mrs. Charles Deam. Her hand sewn campfire dress is still a family heirloom.

After graduation she entered Terre Haute summer session, then taught at a one-room school that winter. She walked five miles morning and night in some of the worst weather Bluffton had for years. The next two years she taught third grade at Columbian, then married Floyd Thomas, a farmer in Union Township, Huntington County in 1921. They had five children: Floyd, Jr., Jane Anne, Dean, Bobbie and Phil. Mary had a beautiful voice, was a good homemaker and a caring farm wife and mother. She died in 1990.

Ralph was a baker. He stayed at the home his grandfather had built and died there in 1970. For a time he was a salesman for Laymens Wholesale Company, but was again working at a bakery when he died.

Ruth worked at Fort Wayne, but came to live at her sister Mary's home in 1942. Bobbie had encephalitis, which left him in a coma that lasted for twenty seven years before he died. Mary needed help as the family kept Bobbie at home for all those years. Ruth was a shy, caring person, selfless in service, a hard steady worker. She was a dear member of a close loving family and greatly missed at her death in 1972.

[Wedding announcement for Franklin Bayha and Effie Stuver, paper unknown but presumed to be a Bluffton publication.]

MARRIED - An estimable young couple started joyously on the pathway of life as man and wife Thursday evening, in the marriage of Franklin Bayha and Miss Effie Stuver. The ceremony was performed at exactly seven o'clock, Rev. W.H Xanders officiating, in the presence of immediate relatives and friends of the parties, at the home of the bride at her grandparent's, George Forst and wife, of West Cherry street. The bride was becomingly attired in a rich rose colored costume, and wore yellow Marceal Neil roses. The groom was smiling and happy in the conventional black. After the ceremony the guests partook of an elegant wedding supper.

Mrs. Bayha has formed many friends since removing here recently from Huntington. The groom is a well known cigar maker living on Miller street. We join friends of the couple in extending congratulation. They were the recipients of some very useful presents, including furniture, dining table and a handsome dinner set.

The couple left this morning for a bridal tour of Huntington, where they spend a few days visiting the bride's father.

[Obituary for Frank Bayha, paper unknown but presumed to be a Bluffton publication.]

[headline] Frank Bayha, 65, Is Dead of Paralysis

[second line] Life-long Resident of City Dies Sunday Afternoon at Home, Miller Street

Frank Bayha, 65, who was born and spent his entire life in Bluffton, died Sunday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock at his home, 504 West Miller street, where he had been seriously ill for two weeks. Death was due to paralysis.

Mr. Bayha was a son of Geroge [sic] Bayha, and Agnes Hoblitzal, both of whom were born in Wurtenburg, Germany. On Nov. 12, 1891 he was united in marriage with Effie Stuver, who survives. The date of Mr. Bayha's birth was Dec. 19, 1861.

Besides the widow surviving are the following children: Mrs. Agnes C. Wysong, Fort Wayne; Charles Bayha, York, Pa.; Mrs. Mary Thomas, Markle; Ralph and Ruth Bayha, both at home. One child died in infancy.

Two brothers who survive are G.L. Bayha, Monongahela, Pa., and John Bayha, Morganville, Kansas.

Mr. Bayha was the youngest child of a family of fourteen children.

He was a member of the First Reformed church.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the Reformed church, in charge of Rev. W.A. Alspach. Burial will be at Fairview.

Note: Discrepancies in the age and birthdate of Franklin J. Bayha

Most of the easily-available sources for Franklin's birthdate - his obituary, funeral card, gravestone, and many of the compiled notes and writings from other members of the family (notably his grandson Franklin Harry Bayha and granddaughter Jane Anne Thomas) - give his age at death as sixty-five, and his date of birth as 19 Dec 1861. The point at which I noticed this might not be correct was when I reviewed the indexed 1860 US Census record for his father's household, which quite clearly names Franklin as part of the family. This, of course, would have been sometime mid-year 1860, making it impossible for Franklin to have been born in 1861 and still be counted in that census. An inspection of the visual record for that census page shows his age to be given as "6/12," or six months.

In the US Census listings that followed, while Franklin still lived in his father's household and was unmarried, his age is given as ten in 1870 and twenty in 1880. In the records that followed his marriage, his age is no longer reported in multiples of ten, but rather is given as one to three years less than it should have been (thirty-nine, forty-eight, and fifty-seven in the 1900, 1910, and 1920 US Censuses respectively).

What I strongly suspect is that either Franklin or his bride-to-be "Effie" Stuver - possibly both of them - were somewhat concerned at the appearance their actual age difference might give. At their wedding, Effie would have been just two weeks shy of her twenty-second birthday, while Franklin was slightly more than a month away from his thirty-second birthday. By shaving two years off his age, he wouldn't appear to be a man in his thirties marrying a woman barely out of her teens. It is entirely possible that this little subterfuge was put forward for the benefit of Effie's grandparents, George and Henrietta (Miller) Forst, with whom Effie had lived as a young woman.

The difficulty with this, then, is that by the time of his death no one may have remembered how old Franklin truly was, and what was reported and recorded by the various family members was incorrect. It is possible that even Effie did not know Franklin's actual birthdate - perhaps he had presented himself as younger during their early courting days, so as not to seem too "old" for her. Nearly everything written by Jane Anne or Franklin Harry that I have yet found and reviewed does not seem to question the assumed birth year of 1861, which suggests either that they were unaware of the discrepancy or they simply dismissed it as an error. I've corrected the date in my own records and writings, but I am aware that nearly every other resource available to future readers will contain the date I believe to be erroneous.