Relatively Speaking Blog

When my mother told me about her aunts and uncles, she recounted one summer, perhaps during World War II, that she visited her aunt and uncle, Edith and John Hutchinson. John, who was called Beany, had a farm, and during the few days my mother was there, she assisted with the daily farm chores. My mother mentioned that she got a compliment from her uncle about what a good worker she was.

Edith Irene, John’s wife and my grand aunt, was the daughter of Alpheus and Mary Frances Ludwick. She was their fourth child, born on April 17, 1886 in Pleasant Unity, PA. She spent her first couple of years in Pleasant Unity, until Alpheus moved the family to Johnstown, where he helped rebuild houses in the town after the devastating flood in 1889. After a few years in Johnstown, the family moved back to Greensburg, where Edith attended grade school completing the 8th grade.

Edith was first enumerated in the 1900 census with her parents in Southeast Greensburg, residing on Mt. Pleasant street. Her five siblings, including her oldest sister, Stella, who was widowed, were also in the household. Edith, who was 14 years old, was not listed as attending school in the year; instead, she and Stella were coremakers, laborers who helped in creating molds for metal castings. The sisters likely worked in one of the foundries about a mile from their house.

At age 16, Edith married John Hutchinson in Greensburg on November 17, 1902. In the 1910 census, Edith and John rented a house in Hempfield Township, probably not too far from Greensburg. They had four children, but only three were listed: Dorothy, Ruth, and Edith. Their oldest daughter, Mary Elizabeth born in the summer of 1903, died tragically when three years old. Mary had fallen in a tub of scalding hot water and died from those injuries.

1910 census Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County PA
Name	Relationship to head of household	Age	Occupation
John Hutchinson	Head	27	brakeman
Edith  “	wife	24
Dorothy M.  “	daughter	5
Ruth N.  “	daughter	4
Edith L.  “	daughter	3

John seemed to have a variety of occupations during his lifetime, although his obituary mentioned he was a stone mason by trade. Perhaps John had times when he could not find work in his trade and took up other jobs. In his early days he worked for the railroad as a brakeman as indicated by the 1910 census. In 1920, John worked for a college as a laborer. The next census recorded John as a “laborer working with stone”, which likely meant stone mason. For 1940 he was a farmer, and by the 1950 census he was back to his trade as a brick layer.

Before the 1920 census Edith had two additional children: a daughter, Grace and her only son, Clarence. By 1930 only two of their children lived at home: Edith, also known as Louise, and Clarence; her other daughters were on their own.

1920 census Greensburg, Westmoreland County PA
Name	Relationship to head of household	Age	Occupation
John Hutchinson	Head	36	laborer
Edith  “	wife	33
Dorothy M.  “	daughter	14
Ruth N.  “	daughter	12
Louise E.  “	daughter	10
Grace S.  “	daughter	8
Clarence W.  “	son	7

For the 1920 and 1930 censuses, the Hutchinsons lived in Greensburg. Although they first rented, by the 1930 census they owned a house at 637 Cherry Street. A newspaper article in 1932 mentions that this property, which they bought in September of 1920, was seized by Barclay Westmoreland Trust Company. As this was during the depression, like many people during that time, they likely got behind in their mortgage and the bank took possession of it.

1930 census Greensburg, Westmoreland County PA
Name	Relationship to head of household	Age	Age first married	Occupation
John C. Hutchinson	head	46	20	laborer w/ stone
Edith I.  “	wife	43	18
Louise  “	daughter	21		sales lady
Clarence W.  “	son	18		laborer w/ stone

Good fortune returned as they bought a farm in Derry Township, Westmoreland County sometime before 1935 as noted by the 1940 census. This certainly was the place where my mother visited and helped with the farm work. Their son Charles still resided with them in 1940, as well as two grandchildren: John, the oldest son of their daughter Dorothy and a four-year-old granddaughter, named Hagie Deal. Hagie was never mentioned by family members, and besides this one reference in the census, nothing more can be found for this name. It is my suspicion that the enumerator might have recorded the name incorrectly, and Hagie was one of John’s other known siblings.

1940 census  Derry Township, Westmoreland County PA
Name	Relationship to head of household	Age	Marital Status	Occupation	Birth Place
John C. Hutcheson	Head	55	M	farmer	PA
Edith O.  “	wife	53	M		PA
Charles W.  “	son	27	S	farm helper	PA
John D. Deal	grandson	16	S		PA
Hagie Deal	granddaughter	4	S		PA

In 1950, John and Edith still resided in Derry Township, presumably on the same farm as in 1940. Grandson John Deal continued to live with his grandparents. Also in the household were his wife, Nancy and son, Larry, although the enumerator erroneously listed them as a daughter-in-law and nephew. Although the elder John had an occupation of brick layer, the census did not list him as working any hours the week before. He might have been in the beginning stages of his illness of lung cancer, which he died from the following year. Edith survived him by another 30 years; she died October 5, 1981 at 95 years old.

1950 census  Derry Township, Westmoreland County PA
Name	Relationship to head of household	Age	Occupation	Birth Place
John C. Hutchson	Head	66	brick layer	PA
Edith I.  “	wife	64		PA
John W. Deal	grandson	26	coal miner	PA
Nancy Deal	daughter-in-law	20		PA
Larry E. Deal	nephew	2		PA

I never met my grand aunt Edith, or if I had I was too young to remember. In the 1990s Edith’s granddaughter, Ginny, contacted my mother, and we visited her a couple of times. Ginny was working on the family tree and we shared notes, but I realize now that I did not get any life stories about her grandmother Edith. Instead, I only have the story my mother told about spending time on their farm.