She'll Always Be Zerelda to Me

Did Hannah and John choose their second daughter's name because they wanted her to have an uncommon, unusual, memorable name instead of one of the popular names of 1906:  Mary, Helen, Margaret, Ruth, or Anna?  Or did they love the name Zerelda so much they couldn't resist using it?  Of course, it's possible it was a family name on John's side.  Now matter how or why they chose it, you have to admit it's not a name one hears or sees often, even in old records. 

If Zerelda's parents had access to a names dictionary (as I did) they may have learned that the name means "armored warrior maiden;" that spelling variations included Zerilda, Serelda, and Serilda; and that the name may have been a variation of the German Serhilde.  They might also have learned that by some twist of fate, the outlaw Jesse James's mother and wife both bore the name Zerelda. 

Zerelda is standing second from right.
Aunt Lula is beside Zerelda in the dark dress.

When I was a child Zerelda came to visit with the aunts, my paternal grandfather's sisters, all of whom were widows except one.  No one ever explained exactly how she was related.  I didn't know if she was an aunt, a cousin, or some other relation, or whether she was no relation at all.  By the time I knew her she was middle-aged and seemed timid or shy. 

It wasn't until I began researching my grandfather's family that I learned about Zerelda.  Her mother, Hannah Meinzen, married John Hendricks in 1907, when she was 32 and had three children in quick succession.

• Edna, born January, 1908
• Zerelda, born May, 1909, and 
• Anna, born August, 1910.  

If she had been alive today, Hannah, nearly 33 when Edna was born, would have been approaching the high-risk age for pregnancy.  She died less than two weeks after Anna was born from what the doctor recorded on her death certificate as "peritonitis due to frequent child bearing" with a contributory cause as "embolism."  Her daughters went to live with relatives.

Zerelda lived with her Aunt Lula and Uncle Charlie Sticker.  Despite being motherless it was probably a happy home:  Lula and Charlie both had a fine sense of humor.  In 1937, when she was 28, Zerelda married Leonard Fair, and two years later had a baby they named Charles.  He was either stillborn or died soon after birth.  Sadly, Leonard was killed in an accident at a coal mine in 1942. 

Zerelda's status then mirrored those of the widowed aunts.  I don't know if she returned to live with Aunt Lula and Uncle Charlie or maintained her own home.  Whatever the situation, she continued to travel with them to visit my grandparents and the Mineral Ridge relatives.

Zerelda's marriage record gives her name as "Elizabeth Zerelda."  Her 1997 obituary gives her name as "Elizabeth Z."  No matter what thesources say, I'll always remember her as Zerelda.

This post was written for Amy Johnson Crow's 2019 version of 52 Ancestors.  The post topic for the week was "Most Unusual Name."  I think Zerelda fits.  It is the most unusual name among my ancestors and deceased relatives.

Copyright ©2019, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner.

A Family Resemblance? - Friday's Faces from the Past

I was scanning photos from my grandmother's album last weekend in preparation for a visit with my aunt, the oldest and last living relative I know on that side of the family.   She identified the couple at right as Edna and Russell Pugh.  She wasn't sure about Edna's maiden name and didn't know how Edna was related to her.  However, she knew Edna had a sister named Zerelda and that the two sisters had lived with her aunts. 

Edna's maiden name is Hendricks.  Her parents were Hannah Elizabeth Meinzen and John Harrison Hendricks.  Hannah is my maternal grandfather William Carl Robert Meinzen's oldest sister.  Hannah was born in 1875 and married in 1907.  In quick succession she had three daughters:  Edna in January, 1908; Elizabeth Zerelda in May, 1909; and Anna Bell in August, 1910.  Hannah died two weeks after Anna was born.  The three girls were sent to live with other family members.  Edna lived with Naomi and Russel Rhome, Hannah's sister and brother-in-law.  Zerelda lived with Lula and Charles Sticker, another of Hannah's sisters.  And little Anna went to live with her father's family.  Anna died a few months later.

Edna reminded me of an unidentified woman in a tiny one-inch photo my in grandmother's album, shown below. 
















When I look at the two ladies side-by-side I can't help but wonder if the woman on the right is Hannah, Edna's mother.  The pose and expression are slightly different but there's something about the eyes and eyebrows that seem similar.  Maybe the mouth, too, though one is smiling and one isn't.  What do see?  Is there a resemblance or am I imagining things?

I will never solve this puzzle:  everyone who ever knew Hannah is long gone and I know of no surviving relatives who could identify her.  If you are a collateral relative and recognize the lady in the photo at right, I would love to hear from you.

--Nancy.

Copyright © 2009-2016 Nancy Messier. All Rights Reserved.
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Z is for Zerelda - Family History Through the Alphabet

With a name like Zerelda, I think she deserves a post of her own -- and this is the perfect time and place to share her story.  I wish I had a photograph of Zerelda but I haven't been able to definitively identify her in any of my Meinzen photos.

When I was a child Zerelda nearly always came to the Ridge with the Steubenville aunts when they drove to Mineral Ridge to visit my grandparents.  The aunts were my Grampa Meinzen's sisters, Belle Hashman, Mina Harris, Lula Sticker, and Naomi Rhome -- great-aunts to me.  In the photo at right, left to right, are Mina, Lula (standing), Belle (sitting), Grampa, and Naomi.  These aunts, especially Aunt Lula, are part of Zerelda's story. 

Zerelda seemed much older than my mother though not quite so old as the aunts.  I never understood how she fit into the family.  She wasn't an aunt or a great-aunt but no one explained her relationship to me.

It wasn't until I began researching our family that I learned more about her.  I received vague and unclear information from a distant cousin when he quickly and haphazardly named my grandfather's siblings and their children.  Then I spoke with my aunt to see what she remembered.  Bit by bit I was able to place Zerelda and learn about her life.

Zerelda's mother and my grandfather were siblings.  Her parents were John and Hannah Meinzen Hendricks.  Zerelda was born on May 27, 1909.  Her older sister, Edna, had been born in January, 1908.  Another sister, Anna, came along in August, 1910.  Stair-step children if ever there were, each born less than a year and a half of her older sister.  Within two weeks of Anna's birth, Hannah was dead, leaving three motherless little girls.  Edna was 2 1/2; Zerelda, 13 months; and Anna, 2 weeks.  It seems that the girls' father, John, was either not prepared, not able, or did not wish to take care of the girls.  Edna moved to the home of her maternal grandmother and/or an aunt and Zerelda moved to the home of another aunt.  Baby Anna went to the home of her paternal grandmother.  (Anna died the March after her birth.)

In 1920, Zerelda was living with her Aunt Lula and Uncle Charlie -- Charles and Lula Sticker, a couple without children of their own.  Also living with them was Zerelda's cousin, William O. Henderson, son of Bertha Meinzen Henderson who had passed away in 1918.  Zerelda and William O. were about the same age.

In the 1924 Steubenville city directory Zerelda was listed as a student living still with Aunt Lula at 618 Brady Avenue in Steubenville.  She would have been about 15.  I've been unable to locate information about her life between that time and her marriage to Leonard Fair on May 10, 1937.  Leonard and Zerelda were both 28 when they married.

In May, 1939, Zerelda gave birth to a baby boy whom they named Charles E.  He was either stillborn or died soon after his birth.  Five years later, in June, 1942, Leonard met with an above-ground coal mine accident and was killed.  I can understand how Zerelda must have relied on her aunts during the difficult times in her life.  It was kind of them to include her during their travels to visit my grandfather.  There must have been a close bond between them but especially between Zerelda and Aunt Lula.

Zerelda died at the age of 88 on August 15, 1997.  She's buried in Union Cemetery, Steubenville, Ohio.

A few interesting side notes:

• Zerelda's given names were Elizabeth Zerelda.  But everyone I know called her Zerelda. 
• Jesse James's mother's name was Zerelda.
• Zerelda is a derivative of the German name Serhilde which means "armored warrior maiden."  Did her parents sense how challenging Zerelda's life might be when they chose the name or did they just like the sound of it?

When I think of Zerelda as I knew her it's hard to believe that she was only 6 years older than my mother.  Perhaps the challenges in her life weighed her down and aged her more quickly.  No matter her age, I'm grateful to know our relationship and to have learned about her.

This post was written to participate in the Family History Through the Alphabet challenge created and hosted by Alona Tester of Genealogy & History News.  Thanks, Alona.

--Nancy.
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Searching for Hannah

When I started I knew nothing about Hannah Meinzen except her name and that she was a child of Henry and Elizabeth (Armitage) Meinzen and a brother to my grandfather, William Carl Robert Meinzen.

From the 1880 census I learned that she was born about 1875. From the 1900 census (where she was living at home) I learned that she was born in February 1875. From another listing in another place on the 1900 census, I learned that she was working as a servant at the age of 25 and was still single.

How to learn more about Hannah? Alan H. said Hannah died in 1907 and that Aunt Lula raised Hannah's daughters, Zerelda and Edna Pugh, after Hannah died. In the "busy" conversation with Alan H. he said that "she" married Leonard Fair. I took "she" to mean Hannah. So I searched for Hannah Fair -- and found nothing.

I talked with a Meinzen aunt, the "oldest living Meinzen" I know. She said Aunt Lula raised Zerelda and Aunt Naomi raised Edna, and was positive that Zerelda, not Hannah, married Leonard Fair. Further, she said that Zerelda's first name was Elizabeth, her middle name Zerelda, and that she died in 1997. It was something to go on.

I looked at the SSDI for Elizabeth Fair, thinking that if what my aunt said were true, I might find her there. Sure enough I found Elizabeth Fair in Jefferson County, Ohio, died 15 Aug 1997, born 27 May 1909.

At about this same time I wrote to Union Cemetery and requested a listing of everyone buried on the plot where Henry Meinzen was buried -- hoping for some bit of information about Hannah and other brothers and sisters, including Elizabeth Armitage Meinzen's lost babies.

My next step was to see if I could find Leonard Fair somewhere. I remembered that when I was a child, Zerelda always visited my grandparents with Aunt Lula and Uncle Charlie Sticker but her husband never came along. In fact, I thought Zerelda was single. Because of that I guessed that Leonard must have passed away sometime before the mid-1950s. I looked in the Death Certificate Index at the Ohio Historical Society and--yes!--found Leonard Fair: 1942 #50581. Maybe it was him, or maybe not.

On the next trip to the OHS I found and printed the death certificate. There they were, Leonard Fair, born 1908, and his widow, Elizabeth Hendricks. (Unusual that it gave her maiden name on a spouse's death certificate.) Maybe this would help me find Hannah. Or maybe not. Elizabeth is a very common name. Perhaps Hendricks was Hannah's married name, or perhaps not....

You can read the rest of the story about Hannah at Finding Hannah and What I Know about Hannah.

-–Nancy.

Copyright © 2010-2021 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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