Charles Henry Tippens

TIPPENS GEBHART

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 11/10/2010 at 23:19:03

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

Charles Henry Tippens
By Mary L Miltenberger

My Grandfather, Charles Henry Tippens, was born November 10, 1876, at Graysville, Monroe, County, Ohio, and passed away at Sloan, Iowa, on July 23, 1958. He as second son born to Martin Luther Tippens and Rebecca Ann Gebhart. Martin Luther was born May 1, 1848, at Graysville, Ohio, and on May 16, 1874, was untied in marriage. She died on October 9, 1918, and Martin Luther died on December 19, 1928.

Martin and Rebecca, along with their children:
George Washington, born February 22, 1875;
Charles Henry;
Samuel H, born October 21, 1878;
And Mary Catherine, born March 13, 1881;
left Ohio in 1882 for a new and better life west. For reasons unknown they chose the town of Whiting, Iowa. To prepare for their first winter in Whiting, they built a sod house in the foothills straight east of town, and the next year, Martin, being a carpenter, built their home in the town of Whiting and lived there the rest of his life. After moving to Whiting, four more children were born. They are:
Hernando,
Bill born August 31, 1883;
Sarah LaVena, born February 2,1886;
David, born March 10, 1888;
And Edward Austin, born December 11, 1895.

My grandfather, Charles Henry met my grandmother, Lucy Cleary, the youngest daughter of Edward and Hanorah Cleary of
{please note: this is continued on the first line of page 583 in the F 853 story.}
Salix. Lucy was born August 24, 1872. After a thirteen-year courtship was because of religion; one was a protestant and one a catholic. One day the family priest and close friend said he would marry them without any strings attached so they were married on November 3, 1910. Then after only eleven months of married on October 30, 1921, Lucy died after a car hit their horse and buggy.

Lucy was a beautiful seamstress and before marriage made her living sewing, at first doing it all by hand and later by machine. The sewing machine and mirror she used are still in the family and being used. Lucy never left home without a hat on.

Charles, or as everyone call him, Charlie, was a member of the Masonic lodge for over fifty years of which his father, Martin Luther, was a charter member. Charlie and Lucy were the parents of two children: their daughter, Elizabeth, Bessie, born on November 13, 1911; and my father, Charles Martin ‘Dick’, born on May 31, 1913. My grandfather, a farmer, lived over fifty years on the same farm between Whiting and Sloan. The daughter, Bessie, died July 26, 1934, from complications of strep throat.

My mother Ethel Naomi Koening, born December 18, 1912, the daughter of Louis Koenig and Maye Rank, married my father on September 26, 1934, and moved in with my grandfather where they continued to farm together. On October 9, 1950, Dick died and the family moved to Sloan.

Charles ‘Dick’ and Ethel had five children:
Lucille Elizabeth Hoover of Lakewood, Colorado, and her husband, Donald, have one daughter, Linda Wagers, of Denver, Colorado.
The second daughter, Mary Louise married Glenn Miltenberger and their children are: Michael of Sloan; Sandra Shattuck of Denver; and Roger of Sloan.
The son, Charles and his wife, Margaret, have two children, Charles and Cindy and live in Golden, Colorado.
The fourth child is Karen Jean and she married Ray Horner and has five children, all living at home in Sergeant Bluff. They are Michele, Katherine, Jeffrey, Debra and Kimberly.
The last daughter is Dorothy Ann and she and her husband, Herb Miller, have one child, Nancy, and live in Hornick.
Charles Henry was a tall man and very quiet. His greatest joy in life was living with his son and watching and playing with the grandchildren. He was a generous man and during the depression he had little but always shared to help a neighbor in greater need. He could always find the good in a person and never had an enemy in all of his lifetime.