Lydia Mina (Minnie) Spoering

  Welcome to our guest blogger today!
  
Jason Snow is the great-grandson of Lydia Spoering and her husband, Harry Loudon.   




 
 Most of what living memory can tell us about Lydia (Spoering) Loudon can be linked to this scene on the front porch of the family home at 320 East Main, in what was originally known as the Goosetown neighborhood of Napoleon, Ohio.  Pictured here are Lydia (1895-1960) and her husband, Harry James Loudon (1894-1968).  

In this home, the Loudons raised seven children: Dorothy, born 1916;  George, born 1917; Marie, born 1919; Norma, born 1922; Anna, born 1925; Ruth, born 1927; and Virginia, born 1932.  

One of her granddaughters recalled a memory that occurred on this porch.
"I was probably age 3 or 4, and as we were leaving after a visit, she taught me how to say 'Come back soon' in German
(Komm Bald Wieder).  She was on the inside and I was already outside looking back through the screen door.  We practiced those words many times until I got it just right, and when I did, my reward was a big smile and some happy clapping.  I still remember those German words today."
One grandson remembered that "Grandma would give you a penny if you gave her a kiss before she left."

Lydia Spoering was born on January 31, 1895, in Hamler, Ohio, the ninth child of Katharina Maria Floke, age 39, and Hermann Heinrich Spoering, age 50. She married Harry James Loudon on February 4, 1915, in Napoleon, Ohio, when she was 20 years old.  The observant reader might note the similarity of Lydia's wedding veil to the one in the photo of her sister, Ida, who married two years earlier and is featured in the preceding entry of this blog.  They appear to be the same veil, which probably shouldn't be surprising for a frugal, German-Lutheran family at this time.





Though we don't know when the Loudon couple first settled in the house in Napoleon, we do know something about their early years together leading up to that.  The Farm Journal Directory of Henry County, Ohio, 1916 listed them on page 137:
Loudon, H.A. and Lydia, 1 ch. farming, T25a 3h 2c, Westhope, Rchfld, 63 Ind. tel.  These abbreviation codes give details about their life at the time: 1 child, tenant farming on 25 acres in Richfield Township with 3 horses and 2 cows.  

This 1916 directory offers a look into this place at that time.  Advertisements and photos are throughout.  Ernest Spengler's establishment, for instance, is advertised as both a grocery store and in a separate ad, a saloon.  It's still in operation at the same address at 713 Perry Street, described online today as "storied pub and eatery, in operation for 135+ years, offering classic American grub and a full bar."  Spengler's is the last place this author ate during a visit back home several years ago.  I could imagine Lydia having been in the same room earlier, perhaps having stopped in for eggs and a chat with fellow townspeople.

Four years later, the family appears on the 1920 census with their first three children, farming in nearby Liberty Township.  We know there were other Loudon farms in the area, but don't know whether Harry and Lydia's moves were out of preference or necessity.

By the 1930 census, they were in the home on Main Street which was valued at $1500.  Her occupation was shown as homemaker, and his as "a truck driver for a flour mill."  

Harry's WWII draft registration (required even though his age of 48 at that time made him too old to serve) showed his employer as John H. Vocke and Son.  Vocke is included in the listings for flour and feed in the 1916 directory (p. 224) and he lived at 345 West Street, a half mile away from Loudons at the other end of their street.

Lydia with daughter, Ruth Loudon Switzer, c 1945

What we know about Lydia's personal life is limited.  Only a few of her living descendants were old enough to have remembered her directly.  Long after they stopped farming, Lydia and Harry continue growing food in a garden that one of her granddaughters remembers stretching to the back line of their property.  Most of the photos we have of Lydia show her outside, including the one here with her daughter, Ruth.  Ruth provided some commentary for the photo:
"The picture of my mother and me was taken in our back yard at 320 E. Main St., Napoleon about 1945.  The turban I had on was the way we used to do it.  We didn't have hair dryers back then, so we used bobby pins to curl our hair and then covered the hair with these turbans.  We thought nothing of going out in public with our hair pinned up."



One other memory came from one of Ruth's sons, who recalled her describing how Lydia would always vote the opposite of Harry, ultimately reaching a point where they wouldn't tell each other their voting plans.

 

Lydia Loudon c. 1955

Lydia died on February 24, 1960, in a care facility in Wood County, Ohio when she was 65 years old.  She is buried in the Forest Hill Cemetery in Napoleon, Ohio, not far from where she and Henry farmed during the first years of their marriage.  Her daughter, Dorothy, subsequently, lived in the Main Street home into the mid-1970s.  The house still stands, complete with what appears to be the same porch columns, as featured in the first photo. Both photos also show the addition on the right side of the house, originally built to provide a separate room for George as the only boy in the family.




Lydia's name lives on in the family via one of her great-great granddaughters.  Lydia Campbell was named after her by her parents, Sara and Gordon Campbell. Sara is a granddaughter of Lydia's daughter, Ruth, who is pictured above.

All of the photos, except the tombstone, are a part of the collection of Ruth (Loudon) Switzer, daughter of Lydia.  Thanks so much to Jason Snow for giving of his time and knowledge for this blog contribution.