Dayton Ohio

 I never lived in Dayton Ohio - I was born there but we moved when I was 6 weeks old. However, my mom, and all her family for generations lived and worked in Dayton Ohio. Back in the '60s and 70's I went back to visit my grandma and my cousins - I always liked it back there. A bit of a culture shock, coming from the San Francisco Bay Area but I liked the simpler way the people lived back there. 

The last time I went back there was around 2008 or 2009. I went back on a Geneaology trip - taking photos. I also met up with 2 aunts and a couple of cousins from my dad's side who drove up to see me. 

I was warned, since I was by myself, not to wander off - that Dayton was a dangerous place. Having lived in San Francisco, I consider myself street smart - I know what to look for,  I did see huge manufacturing plants abandoned - it was very depressing to see. 

Apparently, it went from bad to real back according to this more recent video, from 2021. 

Very sad plus I heard they tore down the Good Samaritan Hospital. I was born in the old one - then they tore that down and rebuilt it. So now there is no more Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton Ohio. 

Boy, Grandma sure could pick 'em!

From what I can piece together from things my Mom told me (I still have a good memory) this is as close to the truth I can find, right now. Unless someone who knows, the torrid details, would tell me and you and I know, that isn't going to happen.

So, Mabel, my grandmother was an attractive woman - I believe she had some mental illness or something going on because she never lived with her first husband, Mr. Hasenstab. Or maybe she was just a royal bitch. Sometimes, I even wonder if they were ever really married. I have not been able to find marriage or divorce records. That's another tale. My mom told me many men used to want to date my Grandma - and some had it real bad for her. 

Grandma lived in Dayton Ohio. She had a thing for the military. My mom told me she at one time, she was a seamstress at a sewing factory and would occasionally sew a penny in the pocket of military uniforms. Heck, she could have even placed her home address in one of them for all I know, because in 1931. Charles Monroe Leach came to live in Dayton at the U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (Central Branch) when he was 41 years old. I do not know at this time what his disability was. 

Married in 1913 - records show that Mrs. Leach was with "child" when they married and a son was born to them 5 months later! Charley was from a different town in Ohio - his family came from Jackson County, a good 100+ miles from Dayton. 

I am unable to find a census for 1930 or 1940 for him. I did find a Charles Leach (birthday was off by a couple of years) that was in prison, in Dayton Ohio. Still checking into that. On his WWII "Old Man's Draft" Registration Card, it showed in 1940, he was living at the National Hotel in Dayton. 

My mom had told me that one time when she revealed that Hasenstab wasn't her bio-dad, that she had met her father and he was nice. Of course then a few days later, she told me to forget about it and that it wasn't true. That Hasenstab was her father.  (Except she said his first name was Peter and he was a member of the IRA and he was wanted.)  WHATEVER, Mom. I don't know if her Mom told her that or what - just an all-around bizarre story. 

So in 1940, he was living in Dayton and my Mom was born in 1934. The connection is undeniably there. Unfortunately, he died in December 1949. I know, my mom said she worked as a candy striper at the Veterans Hospital in Dayton. 

I love being a super sleuth.

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Michael Hasenstab - Tragedy

looks spooky

Michael Hasenstab - 

B: 2 Feb 1858 in Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, United States 

D: 6 April 1932 in Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, USA 

My GGrandfather, Michael Hasenstab, must have had some issues and it is purely speculative on my part to say what it was because I don't know. What I do know, is he was widowed early - and left to raise 2 young children, Caroline and Edwin at ages 4 and 2. I do not know how or why his beloved Minnie, died. Perhaps she died in childbirth?

The census shows him and his 2 young children living together at several different residences.In 1922 it shows he was living at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Dayton, Ohio. Curious, to say the least.

1920 Census shows he is the head of the house - but has both Caroline and Edwin as adults living with him. It also shows Caroline had married (widowed or divorced) with 3 young children, living with them.

He was a Butcher by trade.

Yesterday I found these 2 newspaper clippings, on his suicide.

Poor guy - He must have been so desperate. I wish I knew why.

April 2, 1932 (Saturday)

Former German Crown Prince Wilhelm endorsed Adolf Hitler for president in the April 10 election. By making a political statement, Wilhelm broke his word to the German government that he would refrain from politics as a condition of his return to Germany from exile.

April 3, 1932 (Sunday)

Germany's "Easter truce" forbidding political activities expired at noon with violent clashes around the country.

April 4, 1932 (Monday)

Vojislav Marinković became Prime Minister of Yugoslavia.


April 5, 1932 (Tuesday)

The documents seized by German police in last month's raids on Nazi headquarters were presented to the government. According to authorities, they showed Nazi plans to start a civil war in which a secret army would seize arms and ammunition and cut off water supplies to city centers.

Chancellor Heinrich Brüning told an audience in Stuttgart that the re-election of Hindenburg would pave the way for a settlement of the reparations problem, while the election of Hitler would cause the German mark to drop with a crash "in no time."

April 6, 1932 (Wednesday)

Four powers (Britain, France, Germany and Italy) opened the Danube Conference in London, discussing the perilous economic situation of the countries that once made up Austria-Hungary.

I may never know this side of Heaven.

Desperately Seeking My Grandfather

I was desperate. I have learned that Genealogy can do this to you. When you are close to something, you get frantic. Gosh, I even booked a flight to Dayton Ohio so I could actually be there. I was too new as an amateur genealogist to get anywhere online.

I know it sounds silly, but I felt a pull toward Ohio. This is where I would find the answers.

A few hours after I posted, I got an answer.

OMG, Michael Hasenstab was my Grandfather's father, my great-grandfather. I knew I was going to find some answers.

Things start to happen

I finally get on Ancestry, a few months after my mom passed and found that one of my cousins, on my mom's side was trying to locate us. She posted the following in the year 2000. I finally found this in June 2008. At least I had my cousin's last name.

I felt bad - I don't know why. I guess that mom never knew her niece was looking for her. Mom always had self-esteem issues. Always felt, that no one loved her. Would these "issues" she always had, be rooted in her father?

So I immediately posted to the message board

The next day after I posted, someone got back to me. Things were starting to happen...

Genealogy and Me

While growing up, I always loved the stories my Mom told from her youth in Dayton, Ohio. The Depression, World War 2, and her family. It was like a totally different world from where I was - a small coastal town in California. I wish I had paid attention more. I thought I had, but as age creeps up on me, I have forgotten the names of people and places.

Mom did a good job keeping up with her side of the family's genealogy. Back then, they were written in the Bibles and you believed it. Now I find, that on Ancestry, many of the dates are wrong. Back then, many gave birth at home and would get a provisional birth certificate, in order to attend public school. You would see Grandmas and Moms walking up to the school, their arms full, carrying the Holy Bible, with names and dates of everyone in the family.

Mom knew a lot about her Mom's family. However, it was her father's family that she always wanted to know more about.

I, on the other hand, was fascinated with my father's side of the family, having been told, we had a good portion of Cherokee in our blood. I only wanted to know about that. No one had any good information back then. When these genealogy sites started on the Internet, I joined.

Of course, I started with my father's side and ran into so many walls. I gave up for a while.

Then I started my mom's side of the family. Her mysterious father and his family became my obsession.

In 2008, my mom committed suicide. To fill my days, of grief, I got back into genealogy and began searching for the answers my mom never got.

Boy, did I find them!