died Lima Hospital lived Buck twp. Hardin co.


EMMET JAMES
KENTON --- Final services for Emmet James, 83, Kenton, who died Friday night at Lima Memorial hospital from complications of diseases, were to be held Monday at 2:30 p.m. at the Price funeral home. The Rev. Hunter Beckelhymer was to officiate with burial in Grove Cemetery.
He was born near Ada May 2, 1869, and was a retired farmer. He was a member of the Church of Christ. On May 4, 1893, he was married to Dora Neubert, who survives.
Also surviving are four daughters, Mrs. Lowell McQuown, Mrs. Russell Ream, and Mrs. Roy McMillen, all of Ada, Mrs. Fred McKinley, Kenton; two sons, Burl (sic) James, Mt. Victory, and Park James, Kenton; a sister, Mrs. Clara Grabiel, Alpena, Mich.; 16 grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. THE LIMA NEWS obituary, Lima, Oh., 22 Dec.1952 A.D.

Zebulon James
...By 1849, Zebulon had moved with his parents to Hardin County, Ohio....On April 4, 1867, he had married Derotha Buckingham from Holmes County. Born September 11, 1846, she was the youngest daughter of Isaac and Drusilla (Lydick) Buckingham....
Zebulon & Derotha live one half mile east of Rushsylvania, Logan County, Ohio, for seven years then moved Northeast of Ada, Hardin County, Ohio, where they lived the rest of their lives. Five children were born into this family: Emmet, Della Mae, Carla Blanche, Iva Pearl (who died as an infant), and Clyde Earl.
One day Violet James, a granddaughter, came to Zebulon and said, "Grandpa, why do the kids at school call me Jesse James? Who is he?" Violet said her grandfather became very red in the face and said, "Since you asked, he is the son of a black sheep in the family and I don't even want you to mention his name again." It seems that it could be true that Jesse James is a cousin because one day on Zebulon's father, Israel's farm in Iowa, Jesse James and his gang showed up. They put up a big stake in the middle of the barnyard and rode around it all day, shooting off their guns, and having a good old time. They stayed the night and the next day before they left Jesse gave Israel some money for letting them be and showing them a good time. This must have been very disturbing for Israel who was a Quaker.
...Emmet James was born May 2, 1869, near Rushylvania, Oh. On May 4, 1893, he married Dora Margaret Neubert, daughter of Robert and Amanda (Ream) Neubert of Alger. Their children and spouses are: Gale -- Reed Drake, Wilma --Lowell McQuown, Osie -- Roy McMillen, Burl -- Rhea Binkley, Selma Mae -- Fred McKinley, Park -- Helen McKenna, and Dorothy -- J. Russell Ream. Emmet died December 19, 1952, and Dora died on May 16, 1953.... HISTORY OF HARDIN CO., OH.; Archeological and Historical Society; 1983, Taylor Publishing Co., pgs. 139-40.

Emmet moved with his parents to Liberty Twp. near Ada, Ohio on May 5, 1878. He joined the Methodist Church east of Ada at the age of 21. Dora moved to Marion Twp. on February 6, 1878 with her parents. They were married on May 4, 1893 in the brides home near Alger, Ohio. They started housekeeping on 40 acres, a wedding present from Zebulon and Derotha. They lived there eight years and then they moved to the homestead on Taylor Creek Pike, 5 miles south of Kenton, Ohio. Park, Myrtle, Martha and Dorothy were all born there. Emmet farmed 112 acres there. They lived through the Spanish American War, 2 world wars, the great depression and many problems of their own. Dora told me once when I was too young to remember the whole story, that they moved to Taylor Creek Road because they were paying an "unrighteous debt". I cannot remember what the debt was.
I remember Dora telling that she was a "blue" baby and the doctor told the family that she wouldn't live out the week. She always laughed because she recovered and outlived all her brothers and sisters.
Dora was used to driving a team of horses. When Emmet purchases a Graham Paige for transportation, she decided to drive the car up the hill from the mailbox down on Taylor Creek Pike. She did fine until she got to the top of the hill at the house. The car was going very slow when she decided to get out. She said "Whoa" and stepped out, but the Paige went on to the woodpile and garden fence before it stopped. She never drove after that.
Emmet had a team of horses who were not a matched pair. Bird, the old sorrel mare, and Prince, the dapple gray western horse. Prince would run off because something scared him and one day they were bringing a load of hay to the barn to put it in the hay mow. Prince got scared and took off. Up into the barn yard and around the corner of the barn they went. They turned the corner too sharp to go into the feed lot and caught the corner of the barn with the wagon bed. Needless to say it stopped the horses but not before moving the corner of the barn off the foundation about 3 inches. Bird was a gentle soul and Gene would ride her over to Park's farm to work in the fields, mowing hay or whatever. Then he would ride her back over to Emmet's for the night.
Emmet liked his Paige and would drive most anywhere with it. Once he was in the drivers seat nothing would get his attention away from the road ahead. He would start the engine and with one foot on the clutch and the other on the brake he would take off down the road. To shift gears he would push both pedals down to the floor and shift gears. The passengers would all take a nose dive for the front. Then he would let both pedals out and with the hand feed for the accelerator on the steering wheel half open, the passengers would be thrown back into the seat again. He would twist off axles in the rear end about once every couple of years.
Grandson Gene and his wife Margaret lived down the road from Emmet and Dora and since Emmet was up in years, he would ask Gene to drive to family gatherings. Emmet always insisted that everyone would go in the Paige and so Gene would always have to drive it instead of his own car. Emmet never realized that it would have been much easier and more comfortable to ride in a newer car. That would have been an imposition on Gene to have to drive his car.
Gene worked at Timken Detroit Axle Company on the 4:00 PM to 12:00 AM shift and would not get home until around 12:30 and then try to get some sleep. Emmet would call anytime after 5:00 AM with his problems and wonder why Gene was not up and around since they were always up at that time. One call in particular came about 5:30 AM and Emmet said, "This toaster is throwing the bread right out on the table". Gene told him to have Dora make him some toast on the range and he would be up around 8:00 A M. At that time Gene went to Emmet's house and checked the toaster and nothing happened. After going to the fuse box and replacing the fuse, Gene tried the toaster and blew another fuse. Gene replaced the fuse again and checked the house for appliances that were plugged in and found a heater in the bedroom going full blast. After unplugging the heater, Gene returned to the kitchen and put the bread in the toaster. The bread went down and toasted and came up like it should after toasting. Emmet could not figure out why the heater in the bedroom should cause a fuse to blow on the kitchen circuit since they were in two separate rooms. Gene never saw the toast thrown onto the table, but it makes for a good story.
We would go up to Emmet and Dora's to make apple butter and stir it with a long pole over an open fire in the yard. We would help with the butchering of the hog for winter meat. The men would kill the hog and take off all the hair and then cut up the meat into the proper cuts of meat. Then the fat meat was cut up and the lard would be cooked off for cooking and baking. Cracklings were the fat meat after the lard was pressed out and some liked to eat this hard crunchy treat. The meat for sausage was cut up and made ready for grinding. Emmet would get the Paige out and jack up one wheel and fasten a 2 X 4 to the wheel with a shaft out of the center and that fastened to the sausage grinder. After that the meat was seasoned and ground to Dora's liking. Later the next day the sausage was stuffed in the casings and cooked down. Then it was placed in glass jars and left to cool. Later lids were placed on the jars and put in the cellar until it was needed. The hams and shoulders and side meat were covered with a mixture of salt and sugar and hung in the smokehouse. Later a smoky fire would be started in oak or hickory wood chips and the smoky flavor wood be added to the meat as it hung in the smokehouse.
Emmet had a large apple and pear orchard north of the house and it was always so nice to go into the orchard in the spring and smell the apple and pear blossoms. Dora had a large wisteria bush that was nice too, and a large elderberry bush all along the smokehouse. Dora always had a big garden with all kinds of vegetables, some flowers, strawberries, gooseberries, raspberries, usually 2 big castor bean plants, pickles and muskmelons and whatever else she could fit into the plot behind the house. It was large enough that Emmet would get Bird out and plow and work it down for her and she would do the planting from there and all the weeding and picking of the crop also.
The story is told that when Lowell and Wilma got married, the neighbors got together and "Belled" them at Emmet and Dora's house. Belling was an old custom at that time where everyone got together and sneaked up to the house and at the signal all would make all the noise they could with shotguns, bells, pans, horns or whatever would make noise, and afterwards the "Belled" couple would have to treat all their noisy friends to goodies or cigars or whatever treats they had. When the noise started no one could find Lowell and so the noise stopped, except for the dinner bell on the wind pump tower. All went outside to see what was going on, and there was Lowell ringing the dinner bell. He always had a big laugh about that incident.
Emmet and Dora celebrated their golden wedding anniversary on May 2, 1943. There was a huge celebration with a cake which was baked in Marion, Ohio. Park went to Marion to get the cake and when he was coming up the hill to the house from the Taylor Creek Pike, the cake slid off to the side of the plywood it was on. Everyone gasp because the cake might be ruined, but it only slid to the edge of the plywood. When they tried to get the cake in the house the doors were not big enough for the cake to come in, since it was thirty six inches across at the base. On checking the windows one was found in the dining room which was large enough, if part of the plywood was cut off. This was the portion that the cake had slid over from, so Park sawed 3 or 4 inches across the edge of the plywood and the cake went in. After the cake was on the main table and covered with flowers and other decorations, no one realized the problems with the arrival of the cake. The cake was very beautiful, with white icing, pretty roses and golden leaves. From a gedcom received from Gene Carl James