Esli T Clouse 1851-1926 and wife Rebecca Susan Swartz 1853-1917
Esli T. Clouse was born 4 May 1851 in Van Wert Co., Liberty Twp., Ohio. He was the son of George Clouse and Elizabeth Kesler. Esli married Rebecca Susan Swartz, the daughter of William R. Swartz and Elizabeth Ann Bonewitz, on 22 Jun 1875 in Wayne County, Ohio. The date on the above photograph is 1875. I believe this may be their wedding photograph. West Salem, Ohio is where the photo was taken, it was also Rebecca's birthplace and where her parents were living in 1875.
Esli was a farmer in Van Wert County. He and Rebecca had 6 children, Silvia 1877-1880, William Theadore 1880-1979, Mary Eliza 1882-1922, Lucinda 1887-1887, Ada Elisabeth 1888-1971 and Matilda Iona Clouse 1892-1918. On the 1880 census record the family was living in Calhoun County, Michigan, where son William T. Clouse was born. By 1900 they had moved back to Van Wert, County, Ohio. Esli and Rebecca lived on a 40-acre farm in Van Wert, County. By the early 1900's they signed an agreement with an oil company allowing oil wells to be installed on their farm. That was back when oil was selling for less than $1.00 a barrel. Though it sounds like they were rich, I don't believe they made all that much money from oil and records indicate they were poor farmers that barely got by. See more about the Ohio City Oil Fields under Esli Clouse in, Pedigree of Virginia Mihm + (Records).
Rebecca (Swartz) Clouse died on 20 Sep 1917. Esli died 9 years later on New Year's Eve, 31 Dec 1926. The story is told by family members that he had a stroke and was being taken care of at his daughter Ada (Clouse) Mihm's home in Van Wert when he died. It is said that the bells were tolling at midnight, bring in the new year, 1927, when they were removing his body from the house. Both he and wife Rebecca are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Ohio City, Ohio.
Children of George Clouse and Elisabeth Kesler.
(Top L-R) Siblings, George W Clouse 1845-1931, Mary Jane (Clouse) Duncan 1848-1927, Esli T Clouse 1851-1926, (bottom L-R) Jacob Clouse 1838-1920, Michael Clouse 1841-1909, William Marion Clouse 1843-1923. Esli's three brothers seated in the front row were all Union Soldiers, veterans of the Civil War.
Esli T. Clouse with his daughter Ada Elisabeth (Clouse) Mihm.
Esli Clouse and Rebecca (Swartz) Clouse, Woodlawn Cemetery, Ohio City, Ohio.