Person:Marguerite Beery (1)

Eloise lived on a farm near Monticello, Indiana. She went to grade school at Eagletown, and then to High School at Westfield, Indiana. Her father, Clarence, worked on a farm with his brother Homer. Her grandmother, Maggie Beery, owned the farm, but only lived at the farm when she was between jobs. She did housekeeping for other families in the area.

Eloise remembering having the flu when she was eight years old. This was probably during the great flu epidemic of 1917, when many, many people died nationwide. She said that the whole family was sick. She was so weak that she couldn't hold up her head. They were all quarantined in their house, and the neighbors brought food to them. Fortunately, the entire family survived.

One year, a tornado came through and took the roof off the barn across the road. A horse in the barn was carried away and dropped in a nearby creek, dead. A field of corn in shocks by her house was also blown away. She vividly remembered her father struggling to hold the door shut against the wind. Fortunately, neither house was damaged, and no one was hurt. She said she never wanted to see another tornado.

Eloise said that one house she lived in had acetylene lights. There was an acetylene generator in a pit in the yard, and the acetylene was piped in to the light fixtures in the house.

Eloise worked at a cafe in Westfield after high school. She waited tables, no cooking. Then she worked at the Blind School as a cook. The matron was a neighbor, who got a job for her in the girls' part.

1.   Birth Certificate.
2.   Death Certificate.