A strong woman

Found among the research on the Koehler family in Vanderburgh County, Indiana is an article appearing the Evansville Press on 4 August 1919. My wife's 3rd-great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Schwarzlose Koehler, was gored by a cow. She was 60 years old then, survived the incident, and lived to be 96 years old.

Evansville Press, 4 Aug 1919

Mary was born on 8 February 1859 in West Salem, Edwards County, Illinois. She was a daughter of German immigrants John William Schwarzlose and Maria Elizabeth Hesse. The Schwarzlose family is featured in a book available via FamilySearch (see Genealogy of the John William and Maria Elizabeth Schwarzlose Family, 1853-1989).

Mary and William Henry Koehler were married on 30 January 1883 in West Salem, Illinois. They moved from Illinois to neighboring Vanderburgh County, Indiana. In the Schwarzlose book, there is a passage from Mildred Mary (Roser) Wilhoit who noted her grandparents moved to "rural Evansville, Indiana. Grandpa Koehler was a farmer and a gardener. Their home place was at what is now Highway 62 and 41. He owned much land down to Pidgeon Creek, and Highway 41 was once part of his property. There were ten children in the family. The older son died in infancy, and a daughter died in her early 20's. The rest all married and had families."

Photo via Schwarzlose book, page 8.

"The whole family attended Salem Evangelical Church in downtown Evansville, where sermons were preached in German on Sunday nights until 1900. The family was always together at Grandma and Grandpa's house for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Threshing time was also a big get together. The women all helped cook, and usually there were as many visitors as workers in the field. Many people from church loved to go to Koehler's for 'threshing'. And we kids loved to play in the straw piles."

Mary died on 29 December 1955 in Evansville, Indiana.