George Baesel and Elizabeth Mohr were married in
1884 by the minister of the German Methodist Church. The framed
marriage license until Elizabeth died in 1941 on December 6th, the day
before Pearl Harbor. They started married life in a small house at the
Southwest corner of Prospect Road and French Street in Berea, Ohio. The
house stood until about 25 years ago when it was torn down and replaced
by a new one.
Before their marriage George had purchased 18
acres of land also on Prospect Road just South of Townline Road in
Strongsville Township. While still living at Prospect and French,
George and Elizabeth erected a small house on the Strongsville land.
The house was added on to several times as the famly grew into a large
one. The home is still standing and has been completely modernized by
Carlyle (now 71 years old living in Strongsville ???) and Marjorie Bush
(nee Baesel). The home was recently sold by the Bush's when he was
transferred to Florence, Alabama.
The Baesel's later purchased more land on
Fair Road, in the rear of the Prospect Road property. There was an
apple orchard on it for a long time. The land was sold not long ago by
Arthur Baesel and the property was alloted, and all of the apple trees
were completely bulldozed out. Several streets were laid out, the area
is now filled with houses and is known as Creekwood Allotment.
Caroline and Elizabeth Mohr were the
daughters of Conrad and Barbara Mohr (nee Kapel). The Conrad Mohrs came
to the United States and Ohio in 1871 from Germany. The family was all
packed and ready to sail from Germany in 1870, but the Franco-Prussian
War broke out. The sailing had to be canncelled but the family finally
got away late in 1871 when the war was about over. Two of their six
children were born in the United States, John and Conrad, but the other
four came across the ocean with their parents.
Conrad had the promise of a job in Berea was
the reason they located here. He was a stone mason and cutter and went
to work for German Wallace College, now Baldwin-Wallace College,
working on construction of the college chapel. The chapel is still
standing now, in good shape and is used about every day by the College
students.
The Conrad Mohr Family moved into a house at
the Northeast corner of Fair and Townline Roads Berea, Ohio, which they
later purchased. There the other children were born, Charles, Henry,
John and Conrad. The Mohrs were prosperinng when disaster struck.
Conrad suddenly was stricken with pneumonia and died, June 30, 1880,
age 47 years. He had a tooth extracted and an artery was ruptured and
the bleeding could not be stopped, as a result he lost a lot of blood
and contracted pneumonia and in his weakened condidion he died, he was
one of the first persons buried in Woodvale Cemetery. Since then most
of the Baesels and Mohrs have been buried there.
Barbara kept the home at Fair and Sprague
Roads and raised all of the children without help. The house stood on a
huge lot and every year she put in a large garden. She raised nearly
all the vegetables for the family. She also had a small orchard of
apples, pears, plums and cherries. She raised chickens which produced
eggs and provided chicken for the table.
I can remember her telling how good William Southam
was to her, his farm lay just across Fair Road. Southam raised potatoes
and always gleaned the potatoes missed by the potato pickers. That was
before the reaper was invented, and the grain was cradled by hand,
considerable was missed. She would go over the harvested fields and
pick the heads of grain and take them home to feed her chickens.
She kept on living in her home, even after
the children were raised and married and had families of their own,
almost to her deaath in 1917. She was the only grandparent I ever knew.
It wasn't far from the rear of our Prospect Road land over to her home
and we would walk over and see her many times when working in the
garden or hoeing corn. She seemed to have apples most of the summer
(sweet boughs, ramdos or sheepnoses). Several years before she died she
came to live with us. In the winter of 1917 she went over to visit her
son Conrad (Uncle Coon) who lived on the South side of Berea, on Elm
Street, now South Rocky River Drive and was to stay several days. She
became ill while there and died, I believe from pneumonia. She is
buried in Woodvale Cemetery as are all my other grandparents. She had
six children all of whom, exept Charles, are also buried in Woodvale.
There were four children born to George and Elizabeth, their names are:
Charles married - unknown (4 children)
Henry married - Laura Crum (4 chhildren)
John unmarried
Conrad married - Emma Behnke (4 children)
They are now all deceased, that is all of my
aunts and uncles. Most of their children are now also deceased although
a number of them still reside in the area.