Individual Details
Leta Cook WALTER
(21 May 1884 - 5 Jan 1976)
Events
| Birth | 21 May 1884 | the Dakota Territories, Pony,Montana |  |  | |
| Adoption | Abt 1888 | Pony, Montana | | | |
| Residence | 1900 | with her grandparents, Middlebury IN | | | |
| Marriage | Abt 1906 | Clarence WEAVER | | | |
| Marriage | 25 Dec 1910 | Northern Indiana - Harvey Sylvester BOWERS | | ||
| Miscellaneous | Aft 1910 | raised a large blended family - Elkhart Co IN | | | |
| Illness | 1915 | pneumonia - Elkhart Co IN | | | |
| Residence (family) | 1920 | Olive, Elkhart IN - Harvey Sylvester BOWERS | | ||
| Death | 5 Jan 1976 | South Bend IN | | ||
| Burial | 1 Mar 1991 | Middlebury IN | | | |
| Miscellaneous | in her mature years | was given opportunity to visit her birth mother - Goshen, IN | |
Families
| Spouse | Harvey Sylvester BOWERS (1879 - 1966) |
| Child | Grace BOWERS (1911 - 2008) |
| Child | Walter Enos BOWERS (1913 - 1996) |
| Child | Martha Elizabeth BOWERS (1915 - ) |
| Child | Elma Lucile BOWERS (1918 - 1993) |
| Child | James Lamar BOWERS (1921 - 1983) |
| Spouse | Clarence WEAVER ( - 1907) |
| Child | Delta Berniece WEAVER (1907 - 1991) |
| Father | Charles WALTER ( - ) |
| Mother | Ellen Jane MEAD ( - ) |
Notes
Birth
Leta was born "Leta Cook" and spent her early years being raised on an Indian reservation in Montana. Her birthplace probably was Pony, Montana. Her grandchildren assume that she may have had American Indian ancestry because of her "high cheekbones" and other facial characteristics. They also remember that "she could ride a horse bareback as well as any Indian".Grandson Steve Harroff recalled 16 March 2010 that "[Leta's] mother was full-blooded Lakota Sioux."
Daughter Elma BOWERS Harroff, in an undated hand-written page of information about her mother Leta, wrote that her birth name was "LoLita Leona Belle Cook." She was "adopted by Walter[family]"; her "first husband was [Clarence] Weaver [and] second husband was [Harvey] Bowers....(At age of 16 she went to court to change her name to Leta Leona)."
The name "Cook" occurs frequently in the "1886 Indian census" of the Dakota Territories. Female children between the ages of one year and four years who bear that family name are found in the records of the Concow tribe, the Ponca tribe, and the Yanktonai Sioux.
Relatives of the Walters family, contacted by Cynthia HARROFF Karn about 2011, indicate that Leta was born in Pony MT.
Adoption
She was adopted by Charles and Ellen Jane MEAD Walter, Brethren (or Mennonite)couple from Middlebury IN who had re-located to the Dakota Territories.Grandson Steve Harroff remembers hearing the story that when Leta was somewhat grown, her birth mother traveled to Middlebury IN from her home in the Dakota Territories late in her life to see her daughter. The mother was losing her eyesight and perhaps wanted to see her child one last time. Leta, however, refused to see her and threw out into the yard all the gifts her mother had brought her. The mother died after that, blind and living in a nursing home in Osceola IN.
Elma's handwritten notes record, "At the age of 4 she was adopted by (Ellen) Jane [MEAD] Walter of Middlebury, Indiana. (Jane's) husband was a railroad man and they travelled a lot."
Residence
Many of the facts from the source document (1900 Federal Census of Middlebury IN District #28) match existing data about Leta: age, birthdate, place of birth, and family name. The name listed for the child (Lolelu) could be a contracted form of her birth name (Lolita Leona Belle Cook) or a census taker's attempt to record her compound name.The name of the grandparents with whom she is living, Samuel and Ellen Jane Cripe, do not match the names of her adopted parents (Charles and Ellen Jane MEAD Walter) recorded by Elma BOWERS Harroff in her written journal.
Marriage
He died about 1906 of spinal meningitis. He was 26 years old.Leta was a widow for about 4 years.
Miscellaneous
Remembrances of Vinna (Bowers) Helstern, tape-recorded 1989 by Bob Gross#2B Mother Leta "There were times when I don’t think I appreciated her as I should have. I know I didn’t until I was grown. The more time went on, I came to the conclusion that in her own way she was a bit of a miracle worker. I cannot remember ever being late to Sunday School or school. There may have been 8 of us but we were on time. We always had a rather neat looking house. She was kinda’ hard boiled on that. If we would go to bed at night and not hang us our clothes, we were likely to be pulled out of bed to do it. They could not be left on the floor. I can remember one night going home with one of the girls from school and I can still remember the jolt it gave me when she and her sister took their clothes off, let them slip to the floor and leave it where it was, and get into bed. It took a long time before I really appreciated that we were expected to put our things away. We could hang them on a chair or something like that, but never on the floor. [Mother Leta] had a sense of neatness and order. Without it, she never would have gotten done with [everything for] the family. These were things we all appreciated when we got older. We didn’t appreciate them growing up."
Illness
Vinna (Bowers) Helstern tape-recorded memories"We had one horrible winter. It was the winter that Martha was born. Mother developed pneumonia. In those days people died of pneumonia and my mother had died of pneumonia. So there was plenty of worry. I can still remember the doctor coming. He ordered a special nurse ... 1915, I was 9, and we had a private trained nurse for three or four weeks. Before Mother's pneumonia was gone, 3 or 4 more of us must have had flu and it was just hectic. All I can remember is a sense of absolute, utter confusion. Then, of course, the nurse took care of the sick people and there had to be a hired girl to look after the rest of us and get meals and wash dishes. We had a succession of about a half dozen of them. One, a maiden lady, I can still remember was still there at garden-making time and this [had] all started in January....We survived it! It doesn't come to mind very often. It's over and past; so what?"
Burial
She is buried beside her first husband, Clarence Weaver in the cemetery of the Middlebury Church of the Brethren.Endnotes
1. Birth place, heritage and adoption of Leta; from personal knowledge of Steve Harroff (Auburn IN), grandson of Leta; provided 16 March 2010, conversation.
2. "Journal of Elma BOWERS Harroff," (unpublished, undated; unpublished), owned by Cynthia HARROFF karn; Goshen IN, Elma's handwritten notes, (copy).
3. 1886 Indian Census , Dakota Territories; , Ancestry.com, on-line.
4. Birth place, heritage and adoption of Leta; from personal knowledge of Steve Harroff (Auburn IN), grandson of Leta; provided 16 March 2010, conversation.
5. "Journal of Elma BOWERS Harroff," (unpublished, undated; unpublished), owned by Cynthia HARROFF karn; Goshen IN, Elma's handwritten, undated note.
6. 1900 Federal, District #28, District #28, Middlebury IN, enumeration district (ED) 1900, Unknown, lines #@36, #37. #38, Lolelu Walters; digital image, Ancestry.com ( : accessed ).
7. Interview with Wayne DARLING and Jeanette DARLING deLaurelle (Goshen and Elkhart IN), by Mary Sue HELSTERN Rosenberger, 8 Sept 2007. Transcript held by Mary Sue HELSTERN Rosenberger (). in informal conversation, informal conversation.
8. Floy Bowers, "The Bauer -- Bower -- Bowers family".
9. Memories of Vinna BOWERS Helstern as shared with family, tape #2.
10. Memories of Vinna BOWERS Helstern as shared with family, tape #2?.
11. Cynthia HARROFF Karn, "1920 Federal census re Harvey S. Bowers," info re residence from (, Elkhart IN), to MarySue HELSTERN Rosenberger, 2011.
12. Memories of family stories, personal memories.
13. Harvey S. Bowers burial; from personal knowledge of Mary Bowers (), personal visit/research of cemetery and/or records; provided 12 June 2009, conversation, 2009.
14. Interview with Wayne DARLING and Jeanette DARLING deLaurelle (Goshen and Elkhart IN), by Mary Sue HELSTERN Rosenberger, 8 Sept 2007. Transcript held by Mary Sue HELSTERN Rosenberger (). in informal conversation, informal conversation.