William Jefferson Christlieb
1853–1925
William Jefferson Christlieb (Friedrich Carl Christlieb1, Carl Christlieb2, John Christlieb3, Abraham Christlieb4) [907], born 25 October 1853 in Pike Township, Stark County, Ohio; died December 17, 1925, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan. He married, 27 February 1879 in Summit County, Ohio, Martha Melissa Garl/Gerl; born 26 December 1862, East Akron, Summit County, Ohio; died 25 September 1930, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan. Both are buried in Riverside Cemetery, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan.
Georgia Christlieb Atwood, a granddaughter of William Jefferson Christlieb wrote the following:
“My brothers and I were always glad to see Grandpa Christlieb get off the bus in front of our house. With overcoat unbuttoned and pockets bulging with candy, he would come up the drive with that rolling gait peculiar to portly gentlemen. The doctor had told Grandpa not to eat sweets because he was a diabetic, but Grandpa paid him no heed. He loved his sweets, his meats, and a good life. He was indeed the embodiment of “Gemülicht.”
“William Jefferson Christlieb was born October 22, 1853 in Pike Twp., Stark County, Ohio to Abraham and Lydia (Horner) Christlieb. His older sister, Angeline, had been born April 3, 1852. Abraham was working on his father’s [John Christlieb’s] farm, but soon after William’s birth the young family moved to a farm near Goshen, Indiana. Their new life in Indiana was cut short by the untimely death of Abraham at age 29. Lydia was left a widow at the age of 24, and six months later baby Ella was born on March 21, 1858. With no means of support, Lydia put little William out to work as a chore boy at a very young age, while she found work in neighbors’ homes and fields. She also became a skilled butcher.”
“How long William remained in Indiana we do not know. We do know that he was farming the Garl (Gerl) homestead in Millheim, Ohio when he met and married lovely sixteen-year-old Martha Melissa Garl, ten years his junior, on February 27, 1879 in Springfield Twp., Summit County, Ohio. Fourteen years later William and Martha moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan with their four children Vera Mae (b. June 9, 1878), Maud Edna (d. 1896 at age 11), Catherine Gaynell (Kate), b. October 28, 1896), and Morris Eugene, my father (b. September 25, 1888). A fifth child, Beatrice Emmaline, was born in Kalamazoo on August 12, 1894.”
“After moving to Kalamazoo, Grandpa continued to have roving feet, but only within the confines of the city of Kalamazoo and its environs. Grandma said that they moved seventeen times. She exclaimed, ‘Three moves are as good as a burnout.’ Grandpa farmed in several places, and in Kalamazoo he was a stone-mason helping to build of the city’s sidewalks. In the winter he made and sold sausage. He must have acquired his skill in butchering from his mother. Grandpa never had his own butcher shop, but he was always ready to help others at butchering time.”
“One of my fondest memories is of Grandpa and my father processing pork in our “back kitchen” or old-fashioned summer kitchen. The aromas were wonderful, and when they had finished there were hams, slabs of salt pork, crocks of sausage, trays of scrapple or “ponahaws”, as they called it, and jars of pig’s feet jelly. The latter was definitely not one of my favorites.”
“Cousin Maxine Bishop recalls how Grandpa made sausage. After cleaning the basement, he would put a clean white sheet on a long table with a meat grinder at one end, and proceed to grind and mix up his sausage. It must have been a quality product for he had no trouble selling it. Among his customers was Mr. Gilmore of the prestigious Gilmore’s Department Store. Grandpa would take his basket of sausages right up to Mr. Gilmore’s office.”
“While producing it, processing it, cooking or eating it, food was Grandpa Christlieb’s all-consuming passion. He had a gargantuan appetite and the girth to match. He could eat a dozen doughnuts a sitting, or two Sunday dinners - one at home and one at our house.”
“Grandma was a wonderful cook, but she did let Grandpa have a hand in the kitchen now and then. Of course he loved to cook meat. I remember that he could make beef or pork liver a gourmet item. At a time when freezers and pressure cookers were unknown, he devised a way to preserve some of his sweet corn by canning it with tomatoes. Tomatoes were more acid then, and I suppose that helped to prevent the corn from spoiling. Mother tried this method of preserving corn, but we didn’t much care for it except in soup.”
“Grandpa loved huckleberries and a huckleberry expedition was an annual event. Weary, mosquito-bitten, and with wet feet, Grandpa and Grandma returned from a day in the huckleberry marsh with buckets full of berries. Visions of huckleberry pies seemed a fair reward for this arduous day.”
“To the best of my knowledge Grandpa made only two kinds of wine - dandelion and elderberry. His excuse for making them was that they were “a good tonic for the blood.” They must have been, for they tasted very medicinal!”
“In the gardening department, Grandpa was first class, as evidenced by the blue ribbon he brought home from the Kalamazoo County Fair. Eagerly he awaited the chance to show off his Beefsteak and Ponderosa tomatoes and other vegetables. He also displayed a family heirloom at the fair, a red, blue, and white bedspread woven for the family in 1841 by an itinerant weaver. These weavers received room and board during the time they wove whatever the family required. Sometimes the weaver wove his name, date, and place in the corner of the bedspread, and such is the case with his beautiful bedspread which my brother, Ward Christlieb, now owns.”
“Since we lived out in the country, we did not see Grandpa as frequently as we did our city cousins, so I do not remember Grandpa’s pushcart. Cousin Justine Ten Brink vividly recalls how he harvested vegetables from his large garden, washed them, and loaded them into this wooden pushcart to sell in the neighborhood. She writes, “We lived a block away and every morning, except Sunday, Grandpa would come down the sidewalk calling our, “Veg-ables! Veg-ables! Nice Fresh Veg-ables!” and when my mother would hear him call, she would look at me and say, “There’s Grandpa on his way. Better get the coffee on!” Five minutes later a knock on the door and Grandpa opened the door and calls, “Katie, got a cup of coffee for me?” He’d sit and have cake and coffee with mother and me. For Grandpa, growing vegetables was a source of deep satisfaction and pride, a small source of income, and an occasion for sociability.”
“Cousin Maxine remembers going to the movie with Grandpa and Grandma on Saturday evenings. Invariably the question was, “Do you want to ride the bus downtown or have ice cream after the movie?” There wasn’t money for both. The answer, of course, was always “Ice Cream.” Grandpa would fall asleep during the movie, but he was always awake for the vaudeville.”
“Sociability and activity were Grandpa’s watchwords. Every Sunday morning he got up early, got out the washtub and took a bath, put on his Sunday best, and was ready for action, whatever it might be – a ride in the country, a picnic, or a visit to a farm.”
“Christmas presents were not as expensive nor as plentiful as they are today. We were happy with an orange, some candy, or a bag of nuts. One Christmas we each received socks. In fact, everyone in the family received socks. Grandpa had bought fourteen pairs! Cousin Justine remembers a Christmas Eve at Grandpa and Grandma’s house when the grandchildren were all huddled together in the living room waiting for Santa Claus. The doorbell rang loudly and someone pushed her to go and open the door. A very round Santa entered with a pack on his back and scared Justine so that she ran like a scared rabbit. To be sure it was Grandpa, and he invited each child to come and sit on his lap in order to receive his or her gift.”
“Grandpa Christlieb died at age 72, on December 17, 1925, and was buried in Kalamazoo’s Riverside Cemetery.”
“All of us grandchildren were too young to be interested in family history then, and today we find ourselves left with many unanswered questions. How I wish I had a photo of Grandpa sitting in the big wooden rocker in our living room playing the harmonica or listening to his favorite Hawaiian records on the crank-up phonograph.” Georgia Christlieb Atwood, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Children of William Jefferson Christlieb and Martha Melissa Garl
Vera Mae Christlieb (Friedrich Carl Christlieb1, Carl Christlieb2, John Christlieb3, Abraham Christlieb4, William Jefferson Christlieb5) [910], born 9 June 1880, married Orrin See Parmelee in Michigan in 1897; died 8 October 1950 in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Maud Edna Christlieb (Friedrich Carl Christlieb1, Carl Christlieb2, John Christlieb3, Abraham Christlieb4, William Jefferson Christlieb5) [910], born 1885 in Ohio, died in Michigan in 1896.
Catharine Gaynell Christlieb (Friedrich Carl Christlieb1, Carl Christlieb2, John Christlieb3, Abraham Christlieb4, William Jefferson Christlieb5) [910], born 28 October 1886 in Ohio; married Jay Domine in 1913; died 20 July 1966 in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Morris Eugene Christlieb (Friedrich Carl Christlieb1, Carl Christlieb2, John Christlieb3, Abraham Christlieb4, William Jefferson Christlieb5) [910], born 25 September 1888 at Millheim, Ohio; died 25 September 1971 in Cooper Township, Kalamazoo County, Michigan; buried West Cooper Cemetery, Michigan; married, 1 June 1913, Nora Delilah Wright at Kalamazoo, Michigan, born 18 May 1889. Nora is the daughter of James B. Wright, born 1 May 1856 and Ella May Eaton, born 9 November 1866.
Beatrice Emmaline Christlieb (Friedrich Carl Christlieb1, Carl Christlieb2, John Christlieb3, Abraham Christlieb4, William Jefferson Christlieb5) [913], born 12 August 1894 in Michigan; married, 4 September 1914, William Asa Stoddard, son of Lucien Harding Stoddard (1890 – 1971) and Lavinia A. Pease (1859-1944), born 2 November 1890, Kalamazoo in Michigan; died 5 September 1997 in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
