Harry B Sennott's First Automobile

1916 Ford Runabout

"In the spring of 1916 I had $500 saved up and bought a 1916 new Ford Roadster for $398.00. It took a crank to start them at night you opened the headlights and touched a match to the carbide gas to form the lights. At first, water was added to carbide - crystals, to generate gas. Later on gas was available in a tank fastened to the running board. There were no dimmers. If you had a flat, you jacked up the car and had to patch the tire from scratch. Some cars had a spare tire. The windshield wiper operated by hand. When it rained, curtains stored under the back seat were put on the sides." 

Harry wrote this in the autobiography he wrote in the Spring of 1968.

In 1916 Ford produced four models - a Coupe, Touring Car, Sedan, Town Car, and Runabout. There were 98,633 Runabouts produced and they sold for $390.00 according to the American Automobiles website. "They had 100 inch wheelbase and a 56 inch tread with 30 inch wheels and tires."  

The 1916 Ford was featured in a Westinghouse ad that can be found on Amazon.com. 

Sources

1. American Automobiles Website http://www.american-automobiles.com/Ford/1916-Ford.html

2. Amazon.com Ad https://smile.amazon.com/Ford-Roadster-Driver-Westinghouse-Electric/dp/B00QPSRCGG/ref=smi_www_rco2_go_smi_g1405964225?_encoding=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0&ie=UTF8

3. Picture of 1916 Ford Runabout https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1916_Ford_T_Runabout_pic2.JPG

4. The Autobiography of Harry B Sennott manuscript in the collection of the author. 

Harry Sennott Marries Clara Ziebold

Society Belle Announces Engagement 

The headline in the Waterloo Times announced the engagement of Miss Clara Ziebold to Mr. Harry Brey Sennott. On Saturday, January 1, 1916, a party was held at the Ziebold house in honor of guests, Miss Marguerite Hubbell of Elgin, IL, Miss Marie Loper of Chicago, and Miss Geraldine Collum of St. Louis. The house was decorated with pink carnations, azaleas and ferns. After an evening of playing 500, luncheon followed. "With the service of the first course guests discovered  little cupids bearing the announcement of the engagement of Miss Clara Ziebold second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Ziebold to Harry B. Sennott only son of Dr. and Mrs. J. S. Sennott of this city."

Clara was active in a number of groups in Waterloo - the sewing club, the Domestic Science Club, the 500 Club to name a few. Members of the sewing club meetings provided the opportunity for Clara's friends to shower her with gifts.

On Thursday afternoon, March 16, Clara's sister in law, Mrs George C. Ziebold hosted the Sewing Club at her home - Whistlecote Farm. "The afternoon was most pleasantly spent at needle work. The guests also enjoyed a number of vocal selections by Mrs. Carlton Ball and Mrs. N Nasseem. At six o'clock delicious luncheon was served by the hostess. The dining room was artistically decorated in honor of St. Patrick Shamrocks, pretty gilt harps, green and white carnations and other emblems of the day were used effectively in ornamenting the luncheon table. The center piece consisted of a large green harp surrounded by carnations. Before leaving the table Miss Clara Ziebold was given a cord and asked to draw it toward her and as she did so the strings of the harp were rent asunder and thru the sides of the harp appeared many beautiful pieces of linen which were showered upon Miss Ziebold, whose marriage to Mr. H. B. Sennott will take place shortly after Easter. The shower arrangement was indeed clever and quite as much of a surprise to the other guests as it was to Miss Clara."

The festivities continued at the home of Mrs. Wallace Mitchell on Saturday, April 8th. The Sewing Club met in honor of Clara.  The guests sewed tea towels for the bride. "A dainty luncheon was served at five o'clock. The decorations were carried out in yellow. Jonquils were used for the centerpiece and the favors and place cards were Easter novelties. At the close of the luncheon an Easter basket of beautiful handkerchiefs was quite cleverly showered upon Miss Ziebold."

The final shower for Clara was a surprise kitchen shower held at the home of Mrs. Roy Gauen who entertained the Sewing Club at her home on the afternoon and evening of Thursday, April 13th.  "The dining room with its table beautifully decorated with pink sweet peas and dainty pink favors made a charming picture. In the center of the table, with a mass of sweet peas grouped around her, was found a miniature bride. Before her, leading from the center of the table, an array of fourteen dainty doll bridesmaids dressed in pink, made their way to Miss Ziebold's place at the head of the table. Covers were laid for fourteen. The hostess served an elegant six-course dinner, which in itself, showed an unusual amount of skill and proficiency in its preparation. Upon leaving the table the bride-to-be was surprised with a large basket containing many useful aluminum gifts."

The Wedding Ceremony

On the evening of Tuesday, April 25, 1916 at 5:00 pm Harry B Sennott married Clara M Ziebold in the parsonage of SS. Peter and Paul catholic church. Harry wasn't catholic so they couldn't marry in the church. The couple, their parents, and the attendants - Miss Evelyn Ziebold and Dr. I.A. Leunig arrived at the residence where they were married.

The bride "was tastefully gowned in an exquisite creation of white tulle hanging from the shoulders. The bridal veil was held in place by a wreath of orange blossoms and she carried a beautiful shower bouquet of brides roses and valley lilies."

Clara's sister Evelyn was her bridesmaid. "She wore white taffeta and silk lace and carried yellow roses."

A wedding feast and reception were held at the Ziebold residence on Moore Street immediately after the ceremony. "The party entered the home to the ever appropriate melody of Lohengrin, played by Miss Pearl Pinkel congratulations were showered upon the happy pair. The Easter colors of yellow and white were the basis of the decorations that adorned the home throughout and festoons of  smilax, Easter Lillies and jonquils made a very beautiful effect. Huge sprays and bouquets of sweet flowers, artistically placed, lent a charming fragrance that mingled with the happy atmosphere. A buffet lunch was served in the dining room; the bride cut the cake over which was suspended a bower of bridal tulle and smilax. The refreshments harmonized in color with the decorations. The entertainment consisted of pretty vocal selections by Mrs. Nazmy Naseem of New York and Mrs. Carlton Ball of St. Louis and numerous instrumental renditions."

The guests included many members of the couple's families - members of the Rickert, Hoffmeister, Pinkel, Brey, Cramer, Voris, Parker, Nasseem, Durfee, Fike, Ziebold and Sennott families all signed the guest book.

The couple traveled to St. Louis and later took the train to Chicago. They were supposed to spent their honeymoon at the Hotel Brevoort; however, they were called home early. Clara's brother George and his wife lost their daughter, Rose Marie.

The couple made their home in Danville, Illinois where Harry was working for the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Sources
1. Waterloo Republican, microfilm of newspapers from 2015-2016.
2. Waterloo Times clippings from the scrapbook of Clara Ziebold Sennott.
3. Autobiography of Harry Brey Sennott.

Waterloo's Columbian Club

The Columbian Club was formed in Waterloo to represent Monroe County in the 1893 Columbian Exposition. The exposition was held in Chicago from May 1, 1893 through October 30, 1893 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. It covered more than 600 acres and featured approximately 200 buildings (many were temporary), canals, and lagoons.

According to an article from the Metro-East Journal from October 31, 1968 the group "decided on a work of art with an agricultural motif as a device to symbolize the county, in which agriculture was - as it still is - the predominant occupation. From materials gathered by the members of the Sisters of St. Joseph created a design of a crescent and star, with a sunflower center, composed of grains, seeds and grasses, all grown in Monroe County. It was an elaborate piece of work. Doves and swallows fashioned of melon seeds, a millet seed grasshopper perching on a stalk of timothy, flowers made of grains, and wax fruits surrounded the centerpiece. On the crescent the words "Monroe County" were spelled out in gilded wheat. The device was mounted against a background of velvet in a five-foot-long glass case."

The group continued to meet monthly; their purpose was to help charitable causes. One was furnishing Thanksgiving Dinner for the County Alms House. The members prepared the food and delivered it via horse and buggy. Later the food was sent to the Alms House and the custodian's wife prepared the meal. The boy scouts and the Tuberculosis Association also benefited from the contributions of the Columbian Club.

The charter members pictured above included many of our ancestors.

Front Row (left to right):
Mrs. James Sennott (Mary Ann Newsham Starkey Sennott)
Mrs. William DeMint (Caroline Durfee DeMint)
Mrs. William Erd
Mrs. Marie Hoener
Mrs. George Ziebold (Wilhelmina Hoffmeister Ziebold)
Mrs. Joseph W. Rickert (Wilhelmina Ziebold Rickert)
Miss Owen (not shown)
Middle Row:
Mrs. Livingston
Mrs. Bode
Mrs. Sam DeMint
Mrs. Thomas Payne
Mrs. Fike (Cora Alice Starkey Fike)
Mrs. Frank Durfee
Miss Elizabeth Rainey
Back Row:
Mrs. Louis Adelsberger
Mrs. Matthew Crowe
Mrs. Alphonse Wetmore
Mrs Paul Brey (Sophia Durfee Brey)
Mrs. Hugh Murphy
Mrs. Fred Jobusch
Mrs. William R. Morrison

I am lucky to have a quilt made by the group in 1901 that was given to me by a descendant of Mrs. George Ziebold.

The quilt is pink and white and the square in the center says Columbian Club 1901. All around the quilt the names of the members are stitched into the quilt. They include Mrs. P.C. Brey (pictured above) Mrs. M.A. Sennott, Mrs. G.W. Ziebold, Mrs. S.C. DeMint, Mrs. F. Jobusch, Mrs. M.T. Crowe, Mrs. M. Talbot, Mrs. H. Murphy, Mrs. L. Adelsburger, Mrs. M. Bode, Mrs. L. Voris, Mrs. M. Payne, Mrs. C. Wetmore, E.A. Rainey, Mrs. Wm. Winkelmann, Mrs. J.M. Drury, Mrs. W.T. DeMint, Mrs. J.W. Rickert, Mrs. Frank Durfee, Mrs. Bainum, and Mrs. G.P. Livingstone.

One thing that stood out when I first got the quilt was the fact that except for Elizabeth Rainey who wasn't married and Mary Ann Sennott, who had been widowed for almost 40 years all of the women sewed their husbands initials into the quilt instead of their own.

The group celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1943, the only charter member that was still living was Minnie Ziebold (Mrs G. W. Ziebold). The club disbanded eight years later in 1951.

Sources
1. Article clipped from the Metro-East Journal. The date Oct. 31, '68 was written on it by Mina Sennott.
2. Picture of the Columbian Club given to the author by Mina Sennott, grandaughter of Mrs. George Ziebold and great-grandaughter of Mrs. Mary Ann Sennott.
3. Quilt made by the Columbian Club in 1901 given to the author by Jane Sennott Coakley, grandaughter of Mrs. George Ziebold and great-grandaughter of Mrs. Mary Ann Sennott.
4. The Newberry Digital Collections for the Classroom - 1893: Chicago and the World's Columbian Exposition website http://dcc.newberry.org/collections/chicago-and-the-worlds-columbian-exposition
5. The World's Columbian Exposition: Idea, Experience, Aftermath website http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma96/WCE/title.html

The Sennott House - 4th and Library Sts, Waterloo, Illinois

Three generations of Sennott's lived in the big white house on the corner of Fourth and Library in Waterloo, Illinois. The house sits on what were lots 8, 9, and 10 in Block 25 of Martin's Addition to the Town of Waterloo.

The East half of the lots belonged to William C Starkey, the first husband of Mary Ann Newsham Starkey Sennott. His estate sold the lots to William R. Morrison on October 27. 1860.

William R. Morrison sold the lots to James Sennott on September 21, 1861. When James died the lots passed to Mary Ann, his widow for the term of her life and then to their son, John. Mary Ann later purchased the West part of the lots on October 25, 1866 from William and Rosanna Sprigg. There is another deed for the West part of the same lots dated April 25, 1902 where the west end of the three lots having a frontage of 43 feet and 4 inches on Fourth Street passed from Gerhardt Voetman to John S. Sennott.

The deeds don't mention the house on the lots. Sanborn Fire Insurance maps show structures on lots in Waterloo. The two earliest maps from 1888 and 1894 don't include the area of town where the lots were. The 1899 map shows a structure but the lot is only partially shown on the copy on the St. Louis County Library website.  Here is the lot from the 1906 map.

The street address changed over the years, it started as 838 Fourth Street, by 1928 the address is listed as 302 W Fourth Street and later it became 408 W Fourth Street. Library was known earlier as First West. 

A memoir written by John S. Sennott to his son Harry in 1926 says that the family lived in Waterloo but doesn't say if it was this house. John was born January 23, 1861 and his father, James, died December 6, 1862. 

This is a picture of Mary Ann Newsham Starkey Sennott sitting on the porch of the house. There is no date on the picture. She died July 24, 1907. 

Harry wrote the story of his life in 1968. He says that his family moved into this house after Mary Ann died in 1907. Harry's two sisters, Ethel and Adele lived in the house until they moved into the Monroe County Nursing Home in 1975. I remember visiting them in the house when I was a little girl. 

Sources

Monroe County Deeds copied from visits to the Courthouse in Waterloo, Illinois

Deed Book 2 Page 141, Deed Book 2 Page 575, Deed Book 8 Page 597, Deed Book 35 page 103, Deed 99989 Record 117

Probate Files copied from visits to the Courthouse in Waterloo, Illinois

James Sennott probate file

Mary A Sennott probate file

John S. Sennott probate file

Death Certificates/Registers from Monroe County Courthouse in Waterloo, Illinois

James Sennott

Mary A Sennott

John S Sennott

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Monroe County downloaded during visit to St. Louis County Library, 1888, 1894, 1899, 1906, 1913, 1928 

The Life of Harry Brey Sennott -- His Ancestors, His Children and Grandchildren" prepared in the Spring of 1968. Original in possession of the author.  

Sennott Family Christmas Memories

Harry and Clara Sennott and their family lived in the Ziebold family home at 306 South Moore Street in Waterloo, Illinois. Minnie Hoffmeister Ziebold lived with the family.

Clara knew her way around the kitchen and at Christmas she baked dozens and dozens of cookies. We all remember her sugar cookies, hershey kisses, angel whispers, hello dolly's, ranger cookies, chocolate chips, butterscotch treats and many more tempting delicacies.

Christmas traditions included dinner on Christmas Eve that included oyster stew and pickled herring. Since Honey's birthday was on December 25th, the family celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve. There were often visiting students who went to medical school at St. Louis University with Jack or to University of Missouri where Honey studied Journalism.

After dinner and presents were exchanged, Clara's brothers, George and Max, and their families came to visit. The next morning began with mass at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church for Clara and the children.
Clara's sisters Eveline and Loretta, and their families visited from St. Louis.

Clara made sure that Honey's birthday was special and didn't get lost in the Christmas celebration.

The afternoon held a visit to the Sennott family home at the corner of 4th and Library in Waterloo where Harry's mother, Elenora Brey Sennott, and his sisters, Ethel and Adele lived.

There was one very special Christmas Eve when Harry was in the service. Here is the story in Harry's own words:
Christmas 1943
      It’s 1943, Christmas Eve morning, and there’s GI Harry standing with arched thumb out on old Highway 66, a five-day pass in his pocket from Camp Crowder in Neosho, MO.
     An hour later a woman with a 10-year old son snoozing in the car stops, looks him over and asks where he’s headed. Hoping to get to St. Louis, he says, “and then another 25 miles down the Illinois side of the Mississippi to Waterloo.” She tells him to hop in, and as he does, she pulls a gun on him.
     Well, in truth, she merely shows him the revolver, but warns, “No funny business, soldier boy.” Harry smilingly informs her that he most positively plans to behave himself.
     Somewhere in the boondocks before reaching St. Louis they stop and she buys lunch for Harry. The woman then lets him out on the far west end of the city. After falling all over himself with thanks, he starts hiking to an old pal’s house.
     Christmas Eve is marching toward mid-afternoon by now. Although the old friend and his brother are off serving with the Seabees, their mother welcomes Harry, feeds him hot soup and lends him $5 so he can go downtown and buy a bus ticket home.
     Exhausted, he settles into a seat on the 5 pm to Waterloo. But as his eyes close, the man next to him shakes his arm, “Hey soldier, don’t you even remember what your brother looks like?”
     It’s Jack, who was in his internship at a hospital in St. Louis. Harry is speechless. Both are overjoyed, and they hatch plans to surprise the family, since no one knows Harry is coming.
     Home, they manage to slip in undetected. Jack hides Harry behind the big Christmas Tree in the living room.
     Harry is no longer exhausted, but the suspense is killing him. After greeting  Jack, the family moseys in,  Clara and Harry, Grandma Ziebold, Mina, Honey and Jane, who immediately begin searching for presents under the tree.
     Jack asks Clara, “Mama, what would you like most for Christmas?” “Oh, if only Harry could be here!” she answered.
     So he tells her to close her eyes till he counts to three, “One…two…three!” And out steps Harry from behind the most beautiful Christmas tree the family ever laid eyes on.
     Oh, the tears did flow that holy night.

Merry Christmas!