Earl (Able) Hesselgesser
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Earl grew up on the family farm in Winfield Township, one mile from Sarver. In the 1880 census he is already married to Elizabeth (Aunt Liz) Montgomery, probably when he was 24. He is listed as 25 and a farmer. Elizabeth is shown to be 23, whose parents were both born in Ireland.
Three of Earl's children were listed as being baptized in the United Methodist Church by Rev. John Thompson Steffy on 5 Jun 1887. In the 1900 census, he is listed as a farmer who can read, write and speak English and who owned his own farm free of mortgage.
Earl is remembered as being a rugged man, who very much resembled his brother, Ellis. The family says that the house where they lived (and where Ret grew up) had steps which led to the veranda, and there was a hill at the back of the house. They had a gas well on their property, so they had free gas. Del remembers the pipes going up the wall inside the house to provide gas lighting.
After Elizabeth his wife died, Earl moved to Sarver across the road from Audley in a small house. Sometime in 1932, when Retta happened to be visiting from Ohio, Earl had gone out to the toilet and when he didn't come back for some time, Retta went to investigate. He apparently had had a stroke and she helped him back into the house, but he died soon after of a heart attack. According to the Freeport Journal dated 4-21-1932, he "...died at 78 at his home in Sarver station at noon Wednesday following a lingering illness". He had returned home Saturday from the residence of his son, Harrison, near Leasureville, where he had been ill for 11 weeks. Earl was the last of the older generation of his family. He was a member of the Buffalo Presbyterian Church and the Sunday School of that church. Funeral services held there at 2:00 Saturday afternoon with Rev. James Norris, assisted by Rev. I. W. Wanner.
References
Last data update: Sep 27, 2018.
1860 United States Census Document, Winfield Township, Butler County, PA; Enumeration date: June 12th, 1860, page 21, lines 2-9 Citation post date: 2009-07-04
1870 United States Census Document, Winfield Township, Butler County, PA; Enumeration date: June 29th, 1870, page 12, lines 21-26 Citation post date: 2009-07-04
1880 United States Census Document, Winfield Township, Butler County, PA; Enumeration date: June 18th, 1880, page 19, lines 7-9 Citation post date: 2009-07-04
1910 United States Census Document, Winfield Township, Butler County, PA; Enumeration date: May 2, 1910, page 8, lines 22-25 Citation post date: 2009-07-08
Personal genealogical research information and notes provided by Nancy Lee (Hesselgesser) Sutton, Citation post date: 2008-05-20