Lester Jay KIZER

• BIRTH: 29 MAY 1888, Barada,Richardson Co.,Ne.
• DEATH: 13 DEC 1978, Burwell,Garfield Co.,Ne.
• BURIAL: 1978, Hillside Cem.,,Ne.

• MARRIAGE: 12 JAN 1910, ,Greeley Co.,Ne.

1. John Alva KIZER
2. LEONARD Lester KIZER
3. Lavina Belle KIZER
4. Wilber Derald KIZER

                           _Samuel KIZER __
 _Samuel Jefferson KIZER _|
|                         |_Elizabeth RIX _
|
|--Lester Jay KIZER 
|
|                          ________________
|_Eva Lavisa FREEL _______|
                          |________________

Logan John KIZER

• BIRTH: 1995

                       _Lanny Ray KIZER ______
 _Lance J. KIZER _____|
|                     |_Sharon Elaine WILSON _
|
|--Logan John KIZER 
|
|                      _______________________
|_Susan Lynn MASCHKA _|
                      |_______________________

Lois Jean KIZER

• BIRTH: 28 APR 1929, Monroe Twp.,Grant Co.,In.
• CHRISTENING: 1988, Christian Church,Ft. Lauderdale,Fl.

• MARRIAGE: 6 SEP 1946, Gas City,Grant Co.,In.

1. Stephen CRAIG FANNING
2. Galen Duane (Buz) FANNING
3. Ronda Rae FANNING

• MARRIAGE: 11 MAY 1962, CHESTERFIELD,Delaware Co.,In.

1. Larry Michael CURRAN

• MARRIAGE: 10 DEC 1983

                        _Albert Marion KIZER _
 _Ora Albert KIZER ____|
|                      |_Hannah Ellen BLAIR __
|
|--Lois Jean KIZER 
|
|                       ______________________
|_Edna Laura BARTLETT _|
                       |______________________

Notes

By LOIS JEAN KIZER

I was born on the Kizer farm in 1929. Three years later, my little brother, Marvin Dean, was born. At this time there were nine family members; my grandfather and grandmother, my father and mother, and us five children. All the buildings on the farm were built by Grandpa Kizer. The farm house had four bedrooms and a large kitchen and a dining room. I spent many hours looking through the glass of the china cabinets. Grandma Kizer collected china and crystal everywhere she traveled. The house also had a parlor that was rarely opened except at Christmas and for funerals. There were four funerals for family members in four years. Every year, at Christmas, there was a tree in the parlor. Grandma Kizer would let me help her decorate the tree with the beautiful bulbs she kept. A few years later I put these bulbs on our tree in Marion Ind. Much later my own children put these bulbs on their tree. Grandma Kizer had Christmas gifts for each of us kids. And candy and fruit in our stocking. My mother made most of our clothing. Some really colorful things were made from feed sacks. The left-over scraps were cut into blocks for a comforter. Our relative, Oat Smith, lived a mile away and she would come to help if someone was sick. And she came every summer and put up a quilt frame and helped us put a comforter together. I was allowed to tie the knots. I shared a bedroom with Bonnie and we appreciated those comforters on cold nights. We would search for familiar blocks and say "this block was Merrian's blouse or Myra's skirt or Mother's dress". There was always plenty of work to do. Merrian and Myra took care of the farm animals. Bonnie and I hoed the garden and picked off potato bugs. But sometimes we would run through the woods to a sweet pear tree and go on to look for arrowheads on the Indian mound and then on to catch crawdads in the creek or look for wild berries and mushroooms. After our father died in 1937, mother and us four children stayed on the farm until it sold a year and half later. During this time my mother raised chickens and rabbits. The farm sold in 1939 and we lived a few months in Upland, then settled in Marion, Ind.

Jeanie Kizer Turner

MORE MEMORIES

By LOIS JEAN KIZER

I think I spent more time with Grandma Kizer than anyone. I wasn't old enough for the hard labor so I "helped" Grandma with the chickens, etc. She raised chickens, ducks, geese and guineas. She had me pencil circles on the fertilized hens eggs and then she took out the unfertilized eggs. Usually it was another hen that got on the nest and laid eggs. I also spent time chasing the roosters off the hens. Grandma would yell at me to leave the roosters alone. It seemed cruel to me and I didn't figure it out until I was an adult. Grandma sold the eggs and probably some chickens also. She would give Bonnie and I an egg each and we would go to the huckster and get a piece of candy for each egg. Grandma always had spending money. She always took me shopping with her to Hartford City and she would always buy me candy. Grandma tried to make me take afternoon naps until I was six and went off to school. She would rock me for an hour and finally I would pretend to be asleep and she would lay me down. I remem- ber the cancer where the breast was removed and it was a huge open wound. I don't ever remember her complaining of pain. A few months before Grandma died, we moved in with my mother's sister, Flossie, one mile down the road. She was a widow with 3 children. She gave us two rooms and we took almost nothing, only clothing. I don't remember what we did for a stove but we didn't have much to cook anyway. I remember once I went back and told Grandma I was hungry. She opened a can of peaches, canned from the peach tree next to the house and I ate the whole thing. After she died we moved back in. Bonnie showed me how to put out a flower garden and taught me how to wave corn silk like it was hair. We had to sneak the corn silk. We weren't allowed to remove it until it dried out. That was too late to wave it. Also, once in awhile, Bonnie would play mud pies with me. My father repaired radios, even ones with ear phones. And there was an old phonograph. At the farm was also an old violin and a mandolin. Sometimes, someone would come and put in new strings and play for us. I was also fascinated by an old Corona typewriter. Because of this I took typing in H.S. The barn walls were covered with old tools. There was a shoe horn and tools and nails to mend our shoes. Also larger field tools in an old shed on the back of the woods. In the milk house or smoke house, there was a milk separating machine and also equipment to make cheese and butter and buttermilk. When Grandpa Kizer was alive, we had hams and smoked sausage hanging in cloth. This building was on the west side of the house, next to the pump. There was an empty space under the wood in front of the pump. When the temp. was just right, we would make jello and cool and set it under the wooden step. Also, every winter, we made ice cream from newly fallen snow with cream or milk and vanilla and sugar---not as good as in the ice cream freezer. Mother and Grandma made our bread. Grandma made sweet rolls that were unbelievable. We had apple and pear and the peach tree and hickory and walnut trees. We had many baby lambs and I loved to see the men shear sheep. My father had a horse named Tony and he had been a race horse. My father tried to make him work like the work horses. Tony hated it. He was wild and kicked and bucked. He was beauti- ful and looked strange next to the hefty work horses. He knew I was afraid of him and he would whinny and bare his teeth just to scare me and keep me out of the hickory nuts. One day a neighbor came and said Tony was loose and running down the road. Daddy found him lying with a broken leg. Car lights had blinded him. Daddy shot him. Believe it or not--we had a telephone. Once, during a light- ning storm, fire shot through the phone. Grandma Kizer had a canary named Lindy. I don't know how she kept the canaries alive during below zero weather. As I remember it, Lindy was very old when he died. When Grandpa Kizer was alive, we had many pigs. We would butcher 2 or 3 and the rest were sold. When the baby pigs arriv- ed there would always be at least one runt. I was allowed to bring it into the house and keep it in a box with straw and I would feed it with a bottle. When it was big enough, it would go back to it's mother. Many times I begged Grandma to open the parlor. One beautiful spring day, she did.(The only time except Christmas and Funerals) Grandma and other family members sat on the sofa. It was early spring but this day was warm. She opened the front door and sun- shine came in. I spread the comics on the floor in the sunshine and I read or probably just looked at the pictures. The year after Daddy died, my mother bought baby chicks and she put them in a brooder in the garage. The brooder was warmed by kerosene and so for safety, she slept next to the brooder for a few weeks. Mother drove the Model T Ford that had belonged to Grandpa. She could repair the engine and also fix flats. One time she broke her arm cranking the car. Another time, I was setting in the front seat and Mother started the car. It overheated and she got out and poured water in the radiator. All I could see was steam. I was sure she was cooked but she came walking out ok. We had a hard financial time the last year on the farm. Mother's income was selling Daddy's radios and equipment. She got $1 a week from a man that bought the roomful. She worked in the canning factory and finally in a shoe factory. About a year before we left the farm, my cousins on my mother's side, gave me a small rat terrier named Cricket. She had puppies not long after. She was always trouble. She got into the hen house and ate the eggs. After we moved to Upland, Mother put an ad in the paper and gave Cricket away without telling me. There was a string of land along the creek with black soil. We raised huge melons and cucumbers on that land.

Jeanie Kizer Turner

Luann Jill KIZER

• BIRTH: 1954

                        _Lester Jay KIZER ________
 _Wilber Derald KIZER _|
|                      |_Mary Gertrude DICKINSON _
|
|--Luann Jill KIZER 
|
|                       __________________________
|_Amelia MATHAUSER ____|
                       |__________________________

Margaret Vesta KIZER

• BIRTH: 30 OCT 1886/1887, Barada,Richardson Co.,Ne.
• DEATH: 29 NOV 1959, ,Greeley Co.,Ne.
• BURIAL: 1959, Spalding,Greeley Co.,Ne.

• MARRIAGE: 23 FEB 1909

1. Agnes BERNT
2. Bertha BERNT
3. Edwin BERNT
4. Loretta BERNT
5. Annie BERNT
6. Raymond BERNT
7. John BERNT
8. LEONARD BERNT
9. Patrick BERNT
10. Micheal Francis BERNT

                           _Samuel KIZER __
 _Samuel Jefferson KIZER _|
|                         |_Elizabeth RIX _
|
|--Margaret Vesta KIZER 
|
|                          ________________
|_Eva Lavisa FREEL _______|
                          |________________

Marianne KIZER

• BIRTH: 12 MAR 1941, ,Garfield Co.,Ne.

• MARRIAGE: 3 JUL 1960, Ericson,Wheeler Co.,Ne.

1. Peggy LONG
2. Bonnie LONG
3. Judy LONG

                         _Lester Jay KIZER ________
 _LEONARD Lester KIZER _|
|                       |_Mary Gertrude DICKINSON _
|
|--Marianne KIZER 
|
|                        __________________________
|_Dorothy Irene NELSON _|
                        |__________________________

Martha A. KIZER

• BIRTH: ABT 1851, New Antioch,Clinton Co.,Oh.

• MARRIAGE: 18 FEB 1871, ,Blackford Co.,In.

1. Elenor(Elmer) O.(Abi) OLIVER

                  __
 _Samuel KIZER __|
|                |__
|
|--Martha A. KIZER 
|
|                 __
|_Elizabeth RIX _|
                 |__

Marvin Dean KIZER

• BIRTH: 1932, ,Grant Co.,In.
• DEATH: 1933, ,Grant Co.,In.
• BURIAL: 1933, Jefferson Cem.,Grant Co.,In.

                        _Albert Marion KIZER _
 _Ora Albert KIZER ____|
|                      |_Hannah Ellen BLAIR __
|
|--Marvin Dean KIZER 
|
|                       ______________________
|_Edna Laura BARTLETT _|
                       |______________________

Mary Jane KIZER

• BIRTH: ABT 1844, New Antioch,Clinton Co.,Oh.

• MARRIAGE: 29 JUL 1866, ,Blackford Co.,In.

1. Joseph EVANS

                  __
 _Samuel KIZER __|
|                |__
|
|--Mary Jane KIZER 
|
|                 __
|_Elizabeth RIX _|
                 |__

Merrian Lucille KIZER

• BIRTH: 10 JUL 1922, Monroe Twp.,Grant Co.,In.

• MARRIAGE: 11 NOV 1939, Marion,Grant Co.,In.

1. Michael Steven LEMAY

                        _Albert Marion KIZER _
 _Ora Albert KIZER ____|
|                      |_Hannah Ellen BLAIR __
|
|--Merrian Lucille KIZER 
|
|                       ______________________
|_Edna Laura BARTLETT _|
                       |______________________