Joseph and Lesetta Kleager's Farmhouse

From Otto Kleager's grandson Ron:

"A little info about the house: Otto Kleager and his wife Tillie lived in this house for many years.  My mother and uncle were also born in this house (LaRue and Gervis Kleager).  I spent a lot of time as a young child visiting my grandparents at this house.  It had a tin roof and was heated by two wood fired stoves.  One was a cook stove in the kitchen, the other was a wood stove in the family room.  There were two bedrooms upstairs, each with a feather bed, and one bedroom downstairs.  There is a cellar under the house with two entrances, one from the kitchen and one from outside.  There is also a cistern located behind the house fed by gutters from the roof.  The cistern had a hand crank used to raise water."

He also sent me some other pictures.  Describing that it was heated by two wood stoves may explain this picture of (the back) of the house with an enormous woodpile.  In the top picture is what looks to me like the same dog in the family picture background.  Don't know who the people on or in front of the woodpile are, but that had to take A LOT of work to stockpile that much wood!

"Stitched" Picture

   My nephew, Tyler Kleager, "stitched" the two images of the picture together.  I think he did a pretty good job!  Thank you Tyler.  He is going to work on it more in "photoshop", and I hope to get the two halves of the picture together to take to a photo restorer, but in the meantime:

    Taken about 1897, based on the fact the the child in the high chair was born April 1896.   Ages are estimated from 1897.
    (Father)  Joseph Kleager 47,  Edward Kleager 9,  George Kleager 3,  Joseph William Kleager 19,  (Mother) Lesetta Mincemeyer Kleager 38,  Frank August Kleager 1,  (Uncle) Ed Mincemeyer 30,  Anna Caroline Kleager 16,  Josephine Caroline Kleager  13.

Six of Joseph and Lesetta's eight children are in this picture.  A baby, Dora C. Kleager (born between Josephine and Edward) died in 1887 at age 2, and the youngest, Otto Joseph Kleager was not born until 1898.

The Other Half of the Picture - Joseph and Lusetta Kleager Family

I put the "left" half of this picture in the blog, from my Grandmother Sophie "Eleanor" Kleager Wiese.  I wrote that I would love to see the other half.  My mother wrote to Larue, who is Otto Kleager's daughter.  Larue gave this half of the picture to her son, Ron, who scanned it and e-mailed it to me!  

I love genealogy!

                                                     Taken probably about 1897-1898.

The baby (in the other half of the picture) IS Frank, my grandfather.  My grandmother has written on this part of the picture also, and wrote "Frank your dad" with a line up to the baby in the highchair.

Next is "Uncle Ed Mincemeyer" (about age 32) - Lesetta's brother.  Then Anna Kleager (about 17) and Josephine Kleager (about 14).

Now, if I only knew how to "stitch" the two images into one image!

Frank August Kleager's Son's Pedigree Chart

This is the pedigree chart with my father as #1.  Fathers go "up" on the chart, mothers go "down.