My Great-Grandmother on My Mother's side

AMANDA LOVINA NAFUS

This is the picture I remember best of my great-grandmother.  It sat on my grandmother’s piano all the years I was growing up.  She was a beautiful lady.

Amanda was born June 6, 1866 in McCutchenville, Wyandot County, Ohio to Aaron Welch Nafus, a Civil War veteran (b. 18 Sep 1843, in McCutchenville, Wyandot County, Ohio) and Catherine Everhart Nafus (b. 28 May 1847 in McCutchenville, Wyandot County, Ohio).  She was the first child of six brothers, Byron, Albert, Frank, George, Charles, Howard, and two sisters, Alice and Mae.  All nine children were born in McCutchenville, Wyandot County, Ohio.  All of Amanda’s children were also born in McCuchtenville, so there are strong family ties to the area.

On December 12, 1882, at the age of 16, Amanda married John Martin Whitmer (b. 15 Jul 1861 in McCutchenville, Wyandott, Ohio.)  He was 21.  Together they had ten children,

   
five boys, Floyd, Baby Whitmer, Leroy, Merle, and Beryle, and five girls, Ethel, Blanche, Edna, Elsa, and Delsa.  They were a handful, because when Merle and Beryle were ten months old, John passed way (d. 31 Jan 1903).  His death left her a single mother for the rest of her life.

From about 1910 to 1922 Amanda is listed in the Toledo Ohio City Directory as the widow of John Whitmer.  One entry reads:  

Here we see several of Amanda's children living with her.

A little known fact I recently discovered about Grandma Whitmer is that in 1918, she married again.  The marriage must have lasted only a short time because the second husband is listed on a 1920 census, divorced and living with his mother.  This marriage was never mentioned in the family as I was growing up.  It is interesting to note that even the year she remarried, her name did not change in the City Directory.  She was still listed as: Whitmer, Amanda L. (wid John M).  One can only surmise the second marriage was unpleasant for her.

In 1922 Amanda’s seventh child, Elsa, married an up and coming actor.  Neil Hamilton went on to make movies in Hollywood and is most remembered for his part as Commissioner Gordon in the 1966-1968 series of Batman.   However, in the late 1920s Amanda moved her family from Ohio to Hollywood, California to be near her married daughter.

I was too young to remember when Grandma Whitmer came to live with her daughter, my grandmother, Ethel, in Sutter County, California.  However, I do remember Thanksgiving dinner 1950.  I sat between Grandma Whitmer and my mother.  The family gathered around the table, with Great-Grandma at the head.

Grandma Whitmer is at the head of the table.  The little girl on the right leaning forward is me.  I was three years old.

A few months later was the last time I saw her alive.  She was sick and I was allowed to climb up on her bed and give her a kiss.  Grandma Whitmer died February 17, 1951 in Yuba City, Sutter County, California at the age of 84.  She is buried in the beautiful cemetery at the foot of the Sutter Buttes where many of our family members rest.