It’s already been established that Farmer Gary and I enjoy reading obituaries together. It’s a solid way to get to know those who’ve gone before us.

This morning, we found this obituary from 1916.

This is Gary’s great-great grandmother (George Werne’s grandmother):

Here’s the text of that first paragraph:

Mrs. John Hedinger (nee Mary Druschscherer), passed quietly away at the home of her son George last Tuesday morning at 3:30 of senile debility. She was feeble for some time and her departure had been expected a year ago.

Hold on a minute! That last line: “her departure had been expected a year ago” is nothing short of offensive! Poor great-great grandma. It’s like they’re saying she overstayed her welcome.

Then Gary reminded me of another family story – a mystery, really. That of great-great grandma’s missing son-in-law.

Mary, also known as Mariana, had nine children with her husband, John. Their first, Clara, died in infancy (1860). Next was Gary’s great-grandmother, Mary (1862). Two years later, Anna was born.

When Anna was 18, she married John Anthony Fieth, a farmer in the St. Meinrad area of Spencer County. She was eight years his junior. They had eight children.

As the couple grew older, they moved to Evansville and lived with two of their daughters. John continued to farm.

On Sunday, June 17, 1923, after hearing his ailing mother was close to death, John headed out on foot to visit her one last time.

John Fieth was never seen or heard from again.

That Friday, The Evansville Courier ran this story:

What would $20 be worth in today’s money? About $379.

An article that afternoon in the competing Evansville Press newspaper echoed the foul-play theory. John’s mother, 89, lived with his brother Alois a few miles outside of Jasper.

By June 24, the family offered a $50 reward for information leading to the whereabouts of John Fieth. That reward was never claimed.

And what about John’s mother? Catherine lived another nine months and passed away on March 19, 1924.

The only other update I can find in the newspaper archives is from June 26 of that year, which stated he was still missing. After that, nothing.

There’s a note on John’s Find A Grave memorial page that appears to contain some family lore: He was walking by the railroad tracks to get there. But he never made it and no one knows what happened. No trace was ever found. Later on a traveling fortune teller told his sister that he was killed on his way there. Could have been that he was killed and buried somewhere along the tracks after being robbed perhaps. It’s a tragedy that no one has found any remains yet. Someone in St. Meinrad put up a memorial to honor him but there was never a body to bury.

I can’t begin to imagine the ache in the hearts of the Fieth family. It’s been more than a century since John’s disappearance and presumed murder. We will continue to remember him and tell his story.

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