Bertha Ursula Diebold ³

   Another name for Bertha was "Birdie" U. Diebold.^{1 2}

  Noted events in her life were:

• She appeared on the 1910 US Census in Canton, OH on 28 April 1910. ²

1910 US Census
Sheet 19A, District 161, Family 338, Roll 1230, Ward 1
Canton, Stark County, Ohio
1251 Logan Avenue; Home owned, with mortgage
Married 13 years
Birdie U. Eckes..Wife..35..OH..4/4
(Living with husband, 4 children, and widowed mother-in-law.)

NOTE - If her birth date was in 1876, then her age should have been 33 or 34 instead of 35.
.

• She appeared on the 1940 US Census in Mount Dora, FL on 3 April 1940. ³

1940 US Census
Sheet 3B, District 35-35, Family 89, Roll 595
Mount Dora, Lake County, Florida
residence in 1935: Same House
Sylvan Shores, house owned, $4500 value
Bertha D. Eckis..Wife..64..OH..12th grade
(Living with husband and granddaughter.)
.

Bertha married Elmer Robert Eckis, son of Emory S. Eckis and Sarah Ellen Johnston, on 29 June 1897 in , Stark County, OH.^{1 2 3} (Elmer Robert Eckis was born on 23 May 1873 in Ohio ^{3 4} and died in 1960.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• They appeared on the 1910 US Census in Canton, OH on 28 April 1910. ²

1910 US Census
Sheet 19A, District 161, Family 338, Roll 1230, Ward 1
Canton, Stark County, Ohio
1251 Logan Avenue; Home owned, with mortgage
Married 13 years
Elmer R. Eckes..Head..37..OH..Treasurer, Metal Furniture Co.
Birdie U. Eckes..Wife..35..OH..4/4
Donald D. Eckes..Son..11..OH
Ruth L. Eckes..Dau..8..OH
Robert E. Eckes..Son..6..OH
Dorothy E. Eckes..Dau..4..OH
Sarah E. Eckes..Mothr..71..OH..Widowed
.

• They appeared on the 1940 US Census in Mount Dora, FL on 3 April 1940. ³

1940 US Census
Sheet 3B, District 35-35, Family 89, Roll 595
Mount Dora, Lake County, Florida
residence in 1935: Same House
Sylvan Shores, house owned, $4500 value
Elmer R. Eckis..Head..66..OH..12th grade..Accountant, Manufacturing Concern(?)
Bertha D. Eckis..Wife..64..OH..12th grade
Jane L. Hos*gton..GDau..13..OH..6th grade

NOTE - Unable to positively identify the granddaughter. The surname could be Hosington or Hoisington but it is too difficult to read.
.

  Marriage Notes:

name: Elmer R. Eckis
event: Marriage
event date: 29 Jun 1897
event place (standardized): Stark, Ohio, United States
age: 24
estimated birth year: 1873
spouse: Birdie U. Diebold
spouse's age: 21
spouse's estimated birth year: 1876
reference number: p172
Citing this Record
"Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1994," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X8N5-2ZZ : accessed 02 Feb 2013), Elmer R. Eckis and Birdie U. Diebold, 1897; citing reference p172, FHL microfilm 878198.
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Trying to figure out the identity of "Jane Hoisington or Hosington" who appears as a granddaughter on Elmer and Bertha's 1940 census form has proven to be difficult and confusing.

I can find no record of any of their three daughters ever marrying somebody with the surname of Hoisington or Hosington. The granddaughter shown as Jane has an age of only 13 so that must be her birth name. There is a 1930 census record for a Jane Hoisington living with the same family number as Elmer and Bertha in Buffalo, New York:

1930 US Census
sheet 7A, family 139, line 45, roll 1432, ed 0274
Buffalo, Erie County, New York
Jane L. Hoisington...Granddaughter..2..OH..OH-OH

The data for Elmer and Bertha comes up the same for that 1930 census record, same family number, etc, but their names start on line 7 of the same page. I have not seen the actual census image so I cannot explain why there is such a jump to get from Elmer and Bertha's names on line 7 to Jane L. Hoisington's name on line 45.

Jane Hoisington also shows up in the 1945 Florida State Census which is exactly where Elmer and Bertha were living. However, this time Jane is living with or married to a Richard Hoisington, presumably either a husband or brother. In the same household at 1245 Alexander Street in Mount Dora, Florida is another couple, Ruth H. and Joseph B. Swift. This brings up the possibility that Joseph B. Swift, who was divorced from Mary Jane Swift in Orange County, Florida in 1941 might have turned around and married her sister, Ruth H. Eckis. I can find no such record of the marriage but there is a record of the divorce between Ruth H. Swift and Joseph Swift in 1951 in Brevard County, Florida. Apparently Joseph must have married a third time because there is another divorce record for him and a wife named Jewell Ann in 1965 in Lake County, Florida.

Examining the 1945 census image for Elmer and Bertha shows that they moved northward about 80 miles or so to Penney Farms in Clay County, Florida. This census record gives no specific addresses but either living next to them or perhaps with them was a 32 year old Marjorie Swift and probably her daughter, Ann Swift, age 10.

I think that it must be more than coincidental that Swifts lived next to them, the Hoisingtons, and was the first husband of their daughter Mary Jane. What the exact relationship or friendship between the Swifts and the Eckis families is something yet to be discovered.
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