 1913 - 2003 (89 years) Submit Photo / Document
Has 2 ancestors and 6 descendants in this family tree.
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| Name |
Elsa Clara Wohlgemuth |
| Birth |
21 Jun 1913 |
Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States  |
| Christening |
4 Jul 1915 |
Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States |
| Gender |
Female |
| Initiatory (LDS) |
10 Jul 1934 |
LOGAN |
| FamilySearch ID |
KWZ9-G55 |
| Death |
23 May 2003 |
St. George, Washington, Utah, United States |
| Burial |
St. George City Cemetery, Washington, Utah, United States |
| Headstones |
 Submit Headstone Photo |
| Person ID |
I42295 |
mytree |
| Last Modified |
25 Feb 2024 |
| Father |
Adolf Wohlgemuth, b. 24 Oct 1891, Helenówka, zwoleński, Masovian, Rzeczpospolita Polska d. 7 Jan 1975, Logan, Cache, Utah, United States (Age 83 years) |
| Mother |
Pauline Franke, b. 12 Oct 1892, Slobodskaya Ukraina d. 16 Aug 1976, Logan, Cache, Utah, United States (Age 83 years) |
| Marriage |
10 Apr 1912 |
Рожи́ще, Volynska oblast, Ukraïna |
| Family ID |
F16925 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family |
Maiben Bennett Ashby, b. 16 Jun 1913, Leamington, Millard, Utah, United States d. 21 Jul 2005, St. George, Washington, Utah, United States (Age 92 years) |
| Marriage |
24 Aug 1936 |
Manti, Sanpete, Utah, United States |
| Children |
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| Family ID |
F9505 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
21 Apr 2024 |
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| Event Map |
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 | Birth - 21 Jun 1913 - Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States |
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| Christening - 4 Jul 1915 - Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States |
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 | Initiatory (LDS) - 10 Jul 1934 - LOGAN |
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 | Marriage - 24 Aug 1936 - Manti, Sanpete, Utah, United States |
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 | Death - 23 May 2003 - St. George, Washington, Utah, United States |
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 | Burial - - St. George City Cemetery, Washington, Utah, United States |
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| Notes |
- Elsa Clara Wohlgemuth, known as “Elsie” to her friends and fami l y, was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on June 21, 1913. Her parents wer e f rom Germany, so she grew up speaking German in her home. However, sh e al so learned English as a child and did not have a German accent whe n speak ing English. Elsa was the oldest of five children, and she helpe d watc h her younger siblings while her mother worked in a shoe factory . She en joyed going to plays and singing with her sister Viola and he r brother . Her cousin, Arnold, was one of her best friends growing up.
The Great Depression hit during Elsa’s teenage years, which ma d e it hard for her family to get good food to eat. For breakfast, the y wo uld eat day-old sweet rolls, and for dinner they ate sprouted potato es, w hich did not have very much nutrition left in them. Her family mov ed t o Turtle Lake, North Dakota after she graduated High School. There , sh e attended the Jamestown Teachers College.
While living in Turtle Lake, she met Elder Ashby, a missionary servin g i n North Dakota for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . He f ell in love with her very quickly, but wanting to keep the missio n rules , he did not tell her about his feelings for her until after hi s mission . However, he found reason to visit her family’s house many ti mes durin g his mission, and was invited by her Uncle Chris to eat Thanks giving din ner with them. After Maiben Bennet Ashby finished his mission , he went t o school and wrote to Elsa. After a correspondence of one an d a half yea rs, Maiben and Elsa were married and sealed in the Manti Tem ple on Augus t 24, 1936. They moved to Cedar City, Utah, where Maiben we nt to school . It was a bit hard for Elsa to leave her family behind i n North Dakota . Elsa gave birth to her first child, Maiben Bennet Ashby , Jr., on Jul y 17, 1937, but he died the next day. This was really har d on Elsa and M aiben. Maiben got a job in St. George, Utah, so they mov ed to St. George . There, Elsa gave birth to five more children: Arnold , Viola, Selma Ann , Karen, and Elsa.
As a mother, Elsa taught her kids many things. They were taught to spe a k properly. If they did not know what a word meant or how to pronounc e i t, Elsa would tell them to look it up in the dictionary that was kep t o n a shelf by the door. When my grandma, Viola, was a narrator in he r sch ool program in first grade, Elsa helped her learn her lines and pra ctic e them so she could get the right inflection in her voice. The chil dre n were taught the importance of saying “please” and “thank you” and n ot t o impose on people’s privacy. They were also taught to keep the com mandm ents. Elsa was also very good at listening to her children and let ting t hem tell her about school and about their problems, and she woul d just li sten. My grandma said she really appreciated that.
Elsa was good at sewing. She would make Halloween costumes for her gir l s out of crepe paper, which she gathered into ruffles and sewed ont o a sh irt, with a crepe paper ruffle hat to go with it. She taught he r childre n how to sew. She was a bit of a perfectionist, so every sea m had to b e perfectly straight. If it was not straight, the child woul d have to ta ke it out and try again. She also taught Viola how to embro ider. The ch ildren also took piano lessons, and Elsa would sit them dow n after thei r lesson to hear their songs and make sure they were playin g them correct ly.
Elsa liked to read and sing, liked good, classical music, and en j oyed artwork and plays. She had a beautiful voice and sang alto in th e S inging Mothers Relief Society choir. She got to go with the choir on e ye ar to sing in the General Conference in Salt Lake City with some oth er Re lief Society choir groups. The family would take trips to Los Ange les, C alifornia, to go to the cemetery and look at the artwork around it , as we ll as Huntington Park and Mansion, which had gardens and an art g allery . Elsa never learned how to drive a car herself. Maiben tried t o teac h her a few times, but she never got her license. Instead, once t he chil dren started getting their drivers’ licenses, they became the cha uffeur s for the younger children and their mother. Elsa always made sur e her c hildren wore their seat belts when they drove. They always mad e sure t o lock the car when they got out of it.
Elsa did not teach her children to speak German, but she enjoy e d speaking German with her mother and sister when they came to visit he r . Later, her children Viola and Arnold served missions in Germany an d le arned German there. Maiben’s mother came to live with Elsa’s famil y towa rds the end of her life. Elsa was not sure if she would have th e strengt h to have Maiben’s mother come live with them. Elsa’s health w as poor, a nd she was not sure if she would have the energy to cook for a ll of them , but then she felt the presence of her father-in-law, who ha d died the y ear before, and knew that it would be all right for Maiben’ s mother to co me.
Due to Elsa’s poor health most of her life, she often did not ha v e strength to do things. Maiben was a Bishop for many years, and Els a li ked to go to church, but often she would get all ready to go, and th en ha ve to get back in bed because she no longer had the strength to g o anywhe re. She also did not have energy to do much cleaning, but she w as very g ood at getting clothes very clean. She would scrub clothes o n the washbo ard before putting them in the washer, which made white clot hes get reall y white and clean. After they were washed, she hung them o utside to dry . Eventually, the children learned how to do their own lau ndry. They al so learned to do dishes and other chores. Maiben would si ng songs with t he kids while they did dishes, and put curlers in the gir ls’ hair befor e they went to bed when Elsa was not feeling well enough.
Elsa was very proper and liked to look nice. She was always sle n der and liked feminine clothes, such as things with lacy collars, a fit te d waist, belts, and cameo jewelry. She also liked to curl her hair . Sh e had pretty short hair, and before bed, she would wrap it aroun d a cylin der clip, put in bobby pins, take out the cylinder, wrap a band ana aroun d her hair, and then go to sleep. Then her hair would be curle d for th e next day.
Because Elsa did not have very good health, she did what she cou l d to stay healthy. She ate very healthy foods and served them to her f am ily too. They had a garden and a couple goats in their backyard, as w el l as some grapevines and pomegranate bushes. They ate vegetables fro m th eir garden. Their salad was often lettuce that they would pour mil k swee tened with sugar on top of, so it was almost like a soup. They al so at e fried eggplant, beans cooked in a pressure cooker, and many diffe rent s quash dishes. One was called “Squash Surprise,” which was boiled , mashe d squash with cream cheese mixed in, and a walnut in the middle o f each s erving (that was the surprise). Elsa also juiced carrots and be ets and b oiled other vegetables which she served with eggs or cheese fo r dinner (l unch). If Elsa was serving a vegetable that the children di d not like, t hen she would also serve dessert for those who ate the vege tables. She m ade good chocolate chip cookies, which were shared evenl y between the fam ily members. Supper often included potatoes, and the y had a pot roast ab out once a week. If there were onions in a dish, El sa liked to put in pl enty of onions. She liked meat to be really tender . Maiben made gravy t o go with potatoes, and it was usually very thick . Elsa was a night pers on and did not get up very early in the mornings , so Maiben usually mad e breakfast for the children. It was usually cra cked wheat or oatmeal . If the children were ever still hungry after mea ltime, there was alway s homemade whole wheat bread that they could eat t o finish filling them u p. Elsa drank goat’s milk from the goats they ha d because it was easie r on her stomach. When there was extra goat’s mil k, she would put it i n a pot and let it sit for a few days until it go t sour and separated. T hen she put it in a cheesecloth and made chees e out of it. She was als o good at making a graham cracker crust, and sh e would use the goat chees e to make cheesecake. There was not usually e xtra goat’s milk, so she di d not get to make cheesecake very often.
Elsa got dementia later in life, and had a stroke two years bef o re her death, so she could not get out of bed very often, but her fami l y loved her and took care of her. She died May 23, 2003 in St. George , U tah. Elsa lived to be 89 years old and got to see her grandchildre n an d many great-grandchildren. She was a wonderful lady and mother, an d sho wed love to those around her, and her children still remember her w ith lo ve.
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Has 2 ancestors and 6 descendants in this family tree.
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