Carolina "Carrie" Moretta Amalia Helle
CAROLINA "CARRIE" MORETTA AMALIA HELLE. 14g (Frederick 13)
b.
Smithfield, IL; 13 Oct. 1881
Smithfield, IL; 13 Oct. 1881d.Rushville, IL; 14 Apr. 1964
Rushville, IL; 14 Apr. 1964br. Smithfield, IL; Baughman Cemetery
m.Smithfield, IL; 25 July 1901 HIRAM C. WALTERS
Smithfield, IL; 25 July 1901 HIRAM C. WALTERSd.Rushville, IL; Feb. 1953
Rushville, IL; Feb. 1953br. Frederick, IL; Messerer Cemetery
CAROLINA "CARRIE" MORETTA AMALIA HELLE,
tenth of eleven living children of Frederick and Katharine (Krauser) Helle, was born on the family farm northwest of Smithfield, Illinois, and grew to maturity there. At age nineteen she married HIRAM C. WALTERS. When they were courting, Carrie's sisters persuaded Hi to eat some of the "stink cheese" their mother had made. He had to shave off his mustache to get rid of the smell. This was a joke in the family ever after.
Carrie and Hi had two sons:
LEO LINCOLN WALTERS, 15g
b.Canton, IL; 12 July 1902
Canton, IL; 12 July 1902JOHN FREDERICK WALTERS, 15g
b.Fulton County, IL; 30 Jan. 1906
Fulton County, IL; 30 Jan. 1906d.Frederick, IL; 8 May 1934
Frederick, IL; 8 May 1934br. Smithfield, IL; Baughman Cemetery
Younger son, John, had spina bifida. After he graduated from Cuba High School in 1923, the family moved to Frederick, Illinois.
In the early years of their marriage, Hiram farmed in Fulton County. Scratching out a living on the much eroded hilly farms was arduous work in the early twentieth century. Short-tempered, Hi was known to take his frustration out on those nearest to him. However, he was a caring man as evidenced by the following message Carrie wrote to her mother 27 December 1908 on the photo postcard of Leo and John: "Dear Mother I will send you Johnie & Leo pictures. Johnie's abscess broke & he has been very bad has not walked for a week. He has been so low that Hi couldn't leave the house for a week but is improving very slowly. Carrie."
Carrie and Hi remained in Frederick until their respective deathsCarrie's brief obituaries appeared in the Canton Daily Ledger and The Rushville (illinois) Times:
Mrs. Carrie Walters
A Fiatt-Smithfield area resident for 50 years, Mrs. Carrie Walters, 82, of Frederick passed away Tuesday morning at 6:00 at Culbertson Memorial Hospital at Rushville, where she had been a patient the past 34 days. She had been ill for eight years. Funeral services will be held at the Roby Funeral Chapel Thursday afternoon at one o'clock. The Rev. Howard Dale Stevens will officiate. Burial will be in the Brock (Baughman) Cemetery at Smithfield . .
Survivors are Mrs. Margaret Henderson of Beardstown, a former daughter-in-law, several nieces and nephews. Two sons, four brothers and eight sisters preceeded her in death.
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Wilhelm "Willie" Augustus Helle
WILHELM "WILLIE" AUGUSTUS HELLE, 14g (Frederick 13)
b.Smithfield, IL; 2 Mar. 1885
Smithfield, IL; 2 Mar. 1885d.Smithfield, IL 29 May 1911
Smithfield, IL 29 May 1911br. Smithfield, IL; Baughman Cemetery
WILHELM "WILLIE" AUGUSTUS HELLE, the
eleventh surviving child of Frederick and Katharine (Krauser) Helle, was born on the family farm northwest of Smithfield, Illinois. He was retarded, never attended school, was never off the homestead and was kept out of sight if strangers visited or stopped by. He had to be kept busy. One of his jobs was to split and rack the wood up on three sides of the woodshed. In late summer and fall it was Willie's job to tend the apple crop from the huge orchard. He gathered the apples, pressed most of them for cider and filled the cider barrels.
The summer Willie was sixteen he was mowing hay away in the haymow, became overheated and had his first epileptic seizure. His niece, Clarabel (Helle) Palmer recalls the occurrence of the seizures, "He slept on a couch in the dining room and Grandmother slept in the small bedroom off that. He was so strong and Grandmother was afraid of him. One could tell when a seizure was likely for he would be so hard to handle. I spent many a night sleeping with her. One snowy winter night he had a seizure and Grandmother turned up the lamp and we got the spoon between his teeth to save his mouth. By the time we could turn our attention back to the lamp, it had started to burn below the wick. I had to throw the lamp into the snowbank to prevent a fire.
"Men always slept in their work shirts and Grandmother had to see that Willie's shirt was unbuttoned at the neck at night for in a seizure she would be unable to open it and she feared he might be strangled. After a seizure she could button his shirt and return to bed. On the night of 29 May, 1911 she was alone and she heard him so she rushed to get the spoon between his teeth as usual, then returned to bed later. The next morning, he was dead. He had had a second seizure and the shirt had strangled him, or he had swallowed his tongue."
A brief account of his death was printed in the Smithfield News 1 June 1911:
Died at his home near Smithfield Monday morning May 29, at 3 o'clock a.m., William Augustus, youngest son of the late Fred Helle, Sr. He had suffered for a number of years from a nervous disease and of late it had been much worse. He was the youngest of eleven children eight of whom with the mother survive. The father died about four years ago. The funeral services were held at the Brock United Brethren church, Tuesday, May 30th, at 2 o'clock p.m. conducted by the pastor, Rev. R. C. Mann, and burial was in the Brock (Baughman) cemetery.
the lamp out into the snowbank to prevent a fire.
