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Home |  Pre-1852 |  Genealogy |  People and Families |  Photo Galleries |  Links LILLIE HELEN EITELMAN INGERSON

Profile Born: 3 Feb 1880 Cleveland, OH Died: 14 May 1969 Caney, KS Parents: Michael A. and Elizabeth C. Eitelman Spouse: Seymour Lee INGERSON Children: Seymour Bidwell Occupation(s): Homemaker Letters of Lille and Emma Ingerson Photo Gallery

Lillie was the third child and second daughter born to Michael A. ("Grumpa") and Elizabeth C. ("Lizzie") Eitelman. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1880, she moved to Fort Worth, Texas, with her family in 1888. Lillie married Seymour Lee Ingerson in 1901, with whom she had one child, Seymour Bidwell, born in 1912. From the personal history recounted by her son Seymour: ". . . [Mother} came from German background. She was born in Cleveland, Ohio and moved to Fort Worth, Texas when she was a girl. She graduated from high school in 1897 . . .the only one of the four children that finished high school . . .[she] wanted to go to college but there was no money in the family for that and Grandfather couldn't see any point in sending anybody to college, particularly a girl. So, she got the job in the Fair Store and was working there when my father came to Fort Worth to go to work in 1899 or 1900. They met at the Presbyterian Church where she was singing in the choir and he went there on Sunday to Church . . . . She was active in church . . . .From what she told me over the years, she had no particular thought of getting married. She said she wanted to go to college. While she was working at the Fair Store she kept hoping she could save some money so that she could go to college. She was able to buy herself a piano but most everything else she earned had to go to help buy groceries for the family. Grandmother found it easier to get money from Mother than to argue with Grandpa to get it from him for just ordinary household expenses. So she wasn't able to save a great lot of money. Then when my father asked her to marry, she said she wasn't particularly interested but her mother kept urging her to get married because they couldn't see that there was any other future for a girl except to get married and raise a family. Finally Mother agreed to get married. Well, then as you know, she had to go to Michigan after she got married and started out her married life on the farm instead of at Fort Worth as they has originally intended. . . . She always felt a great responsibility to her family – that is towards my father and towards me. She felt very protective toward us . . . .I remember one time when my father was starting out, just a few months before he died, to go down to the doctor's office and have some minor surgery, she said to him as he went out the door, "Well, I just wish I could go down adn go through this for you so you wouldn't have to suffer the pain." And that was typical of her all her life with my father and me and to some extent with you grandchildren. She wanted to do everything for you and she didn't want anybody doing anything for her. She felt like she was the important one and should do things for other people but she resented people trying to do things for her. Perhaps resent is the wrong word, but she felt it unnecessary and she was bothered about it if they did things for her. She was very independent and wanted to run things her way." Lillie's husband Seymour died in 1934. Lillie moved back to Fort Worth and lived with her father (widowed in 1920) and sister Emma (whose husband Andrew Gilchrist had died in 1912) at 1816 College Avenue, next door to Ed and Mary who lived at 1812. In the mid-1960s, she visited her son Seymour's family in Caney, Kansas, and suffered a stroke. She remained in Caney until her death in 1969 at age 89. Prepared by:

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