Bethel member Ada White celebrated her 100th Birthday Nov. 6, 2009. The following article appeared in the November church newsletter.
"BETHEL MEETING HOUSE NEWS"
Many things have transpired since November 6, 1909, and why would I pick that date? Because Ada White will be 100 years young. If one was to think about the happenings in 100 years, well, it just boggles the mind.
On a cold, cloudy, Saturday November 6, 1909 a baby girl named Ada was born to Charles W. and Mary Faddis Stewart on a farm on Beaver dam road in Little Beaver Twp. The home is on the bend of the road and has been nicely remodeled. She had an older brother, Merrill, and the family increased later with Margaret and Chester. The family attended Enon Valley Christian Church, where Ada was baptized.
I asked Ada in Sunday School, (which she never misses), if I could put something in the history news article about her 100th birthday. “Well, I suppose, but I don’t want a lot of “faloop”. Faloop, I said, what is that. “Oh, it’s just a word I made up, I don’t want a lot of fuss.” Well we won’t make a lot of “faloop” just a little!
There were so many questions I wanted to ask, I didn’t know where to start. So I started with school days.
“One didn’t just wait for the school bus,” she said,” “we walked”. “A friend Helen Witherspoon would walk to my place and we would walk to the Coal Ridge one room schoolhouse about a mile east of us.’ There were 8 classes in that one room,’ she said. “ There was no such thing as canceling school because of the snow. We walked in knee deep snow, no matter what.”
She helped out on the farm as most children did, and earned the privilege of learning to drive her Dad’s new car. “It probably was a Model A Ford he bought in Enon.” You could order any color of car as long as it was black.
She didn’t have to walk through the snow when she attended Enon Valley High School. She got to drive the horse and buggy. Ada graduated in 1926, the same year the Women won the right to vote. There were only seven members in the graduating class. “Mr. Kettering was the teacher, and his handwriting was so good”. “After high school I went to New Castle Business School and stayed in New Castle with relatives.”
The year Ada was born there was no such thing as band-aids, bubble gum, penicillin, disposable diapers, wheaties, zippers, duct tape, sunglasses or Tupperware. The 1910’s New Mexico & Arizona became the 47th & 48th states and Edison demonstrated the first talking motion picture.
KDKA Pittsburgh started broadcasting. Lindbergh’s first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean was 1927, penicillin discovered in 1928, and on November 29, 1928 Ada Stewart and Harry White were married in the church manse by Rev. George Neill.
Our records show she joined Bethel October 22, 1929, it’s just a coincidence that the Stock Market Crash and the great depression was the same year. Some of the popular songs of the 1920’s were: Ain’t We Got Fun, Just Wild About Harry, and April Showers.
The decade of the 30’s was a busy time for the young couple. A daughter Marian joined the family in May of 1930, a son Robert in 1935. The year 1936 they purchased a farm located on Route 551 and is now know as White Acres. Electricity came to the farm and their first purchase was a refrigerator which was bought in Bessemer. I asked, “what did you think of the transition from oil lamps to electricity” “why, it was wonderful! You know when the electricity goes off now how much we all miss it, well it was just as wonderful to have it come on!”
We had a crank telephone and party lines. We would call the operator and tell her whom we wanted to speak to. I went to use the phone and I could hear people talking on the line. Well, someone had forgotten to hang up their phone and I could hear them talking among them selves. It was the next day before they realized the phone was not hung up. If you had a party line there are no secrets.
What would you say has been the most exciting thing you have seen in these 100 years? “Why, when the men walked on the moon, that was really something”
Headlines in 1937 were the Hindenburg disaster and the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, the Star Spangle Banner was made the National Anthem, drive-in movies, the discovery of the planet Pluto. The news at the White household was the arrival of son Paul. By the time the 1950’ and 1960’s rolled around there were seven grandchildren to add to the family. The family had a big surprise in the 1960’s when they read in the paper: Ada White passed her driving test. “Didn’t you tell anyone,” I said. “No, Harry and I got my permit. I practiced driving Bob’s car. I think the car was a Dodge or Plymouth. He was in the service and the car was just sitting there. Harry took me to take the driving test which was in New Castle behind the Armory near Cascade Park”.
February 1970 Harry passed away, as well has Charles and Mary Stewart. Ada continued to work and live on the farm, raising chickens and selling eggs until 1995 when she sold the farm and moved to her daughter’s home in East Palestine, Ohio.
Ada is a charter member of the Mizpah Sunday Class and had been active in the Lois Haspels Circle, W.C.T.U., Margaret Dice Missionary Society. Minutes of the Margaret Dice Missionary Society show that at the April 1951 meeting Ada was in charge of the devotions. She chose to read a children’s story written by Elsie Egermeir based on” Matthew 3:1,12; Strange Preacher in the Wilderness”. Ada enjoyed AARP meetings and dinners at Enon Valley.
This surely has been one of the best times to live. She has gone from riding a horse and buggy driving an automobile and watching men landing on the moon. Halley’s comet was seen in 1911 and 1986. Telephones advance from wind the handle on the box to cell phones, that take pictures and play music and can fit in a shirt pocket. Electricity has lightened the world! We have T.V. to watch things that happen around the world at the time they are happening. There have been eighteen presidents since 1909, President Taft being in office when she was born.
She has heard fourteen pastors deliver sermons, and if we count the interims, Rev. Joe Hopkins, Rev. Dave Lingle that would be sixteen. Now the seventeenth minister has been added with Pastor Mark.
Ada has enjoyed eight great grandchildren and a great great grandson. On the day I visited with Ada, she received a dozen red roses from her grandson Dick. She said, “It’s not my birthday yet,” he said, ‘I know, but you deserve them.” From all the Bethel family we wish Ada a very, very blessed, 100th Birthday.
Wouldn’t it be great if she received 100 cards from the Bethel Family.
Ada White
48780 Heck Road
East Palestine, Ohio 44413
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A HUNDRED YEARS MAKE
1909
The average life expectancy was 47 years.
Only 14% of the homes had a bathtub.
Only 8% of the homes had a telephone
There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
The average wage in 1909 was 22 cents per hour
The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year.
The competent accountant could expect to earn $2000. per year
A dentist made $2,500 per year
A veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year
A mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year
More than 95 percent of all births took place at HOME
90% of all doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION
Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press AND the government as “substandard;
Sugar cost 4 cents a pound
Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen
Coffee was 15 cents a pound.
Most women only washed their hair once a month and used Borax or egg yokes for shampoo
Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their county for any reason.
Five leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke
The American flag had 45 stars
The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was only 30
Crossword puzzles, ice tea had not been invented.
There was no Mother’s Day or Father’s Day
Two out of every adult could read or write.
Only 6% of all Americans had graduated from high school
Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacist said, “heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health”
18% of households had a least one full-time servant or domestic help.
There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A.
Just try to imagine what it maybe like in another 100 years.
"BETHEL MEETING HOUSE NEWS"
Many things have transpired since November 6, 1909, and why would I pick that date? Because Ada White will be 100 years young. If one was to think about the happenings in 100 years, well, it just boggles the mind.
On a cold, cloudy, Saturday November 6, 1909 a baby girl named Ada was born to Charles W. and Mary Faddis Stewart on a farm on Beaver dam road in Little Beaver Twp. The home is on the bend of the road and has been nicely remodeled. She had an older brother, Merrill, and the family increased later with Margaret and Chester. The family attended Enon Valley Christian Church, where Ada was baptized.
I asked Ada in Sunday School, (which she never misses), if I could put something in the history news article about her 100th birthday. “Well, I suppose, but I don’t want a lot of “faloop”. Faloop, I said, what is that. “Oh, it’s just a word I made up, I don’t want a lot of fuss.” Well we won’t make a lot of “faloop” just a little!
There were so many questions I wanted to ask, I didn’t know where to start. So I started with school days.
“One didn’t just wait for the school bus,” she said,” “we walked”. “A friend Helen Witherspoon would walk to my place and we would walk to the Coal Ridge one room schoolhouse about a mile east of us.’ There were 8 classes in that one room,’ she said. “ There was no such thing as canceling school because of the snow. We walked in knee deep snow, no matter what.”
She helped out on the farm as most children did, and earned the privilege of learning to drive her Dad’s new car. “It probably was a Model A Ford he bought in Enon.” You could order any color of car as long as it was black.
She didn’t have to walk through the snow when she attended Enon Valley High School. She got to drive the horse and buggy. Ada graduated in 1926, the same year the Women won the right to vote. There were only seven members in the graduating class. “Mr. Kettering was the teacher, and his handwriting was so good”. “After high school I went to New Castle Business School and stayed in New Castle with relatives.”
The year Ada was born there was no such thing as band-aids, bubble gum, penicillin, disposable diapers, wheaties, zippers, duct tape, sunglasses or Tupperware. The 1910’s New Mexico & Arizona became the 47th & 48th states and Edison demonstrated the first talking motion picture.
KDKA Pittsburgh started broadcasting. Lindbergh’s first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean was 1927, penicillin discovered in 1928, and on November 29, 1928 Ada Stewart and Harry White were married in the church manse by Rev. George Neill.
Our records show she joined Bethel October 22, 1929, it’s just a coincidence that the Stock Market Crash and the great depression was the same year. Some of the popular songs of the 1920’s were: Ain’t We Got Fun, Just Wild About Harry, and April Showers.
The decade of the 30’s was a busy time for the young couple. A daughter Marian joined the family in May of 1930, a son Robert in 1935. The year 1936 they purchased a farm located on Route 551 and is now know as White Acres. Electricity came to the farm and their first purchase was a refrigerator which was bought in Bessemer. I asked, “what did you think of the transition from oil lamps to electricity” “why, it was wonderful! You know when the electricity goes off now how much we all miss it, well it was just as wonderful to have it come on!”
We had a crank telephone and party lines. We would call the operator and tell her whom we wanted to speak to. I went to use the phone and I could hear people talking on the line. Well, someone had forgotten to hang up their phone and I could hear them talking among them selves. It was the next day before they realized the phone was not hung up. If you had a party line there are no secrets.
What would you say has been the most exciting thing you have seen in these 100 years? “Why, when the men walked on the moon, that was really something”
Headlines in 1937 were the Hindenburg disaster and the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, the Star Spangle Banner was made the National Anthem, drive-in movies, the discovery of the planet Pluto. The news at the White household was the arrival of son Paul. By the time the 1950’ and 1960’s rolled around there were seven grandchildren to add to the family. The family had a big surprise in the 1960’s when they read in the paper: Ada White passed her driving test. “Didn’t you tell anyone,” I said. “No, Harry and I got my permit. I practiced driving Bob’s car. I think the car was a Dodge or Plymouth. He was in the service and the car was just sitting there. Harry took me to take the driving test which was in New Castle behind the Armory near Cascade Park”.
February 1970 Harry passed away, as well has Charles and Mary Stewart. Ada continued to work and live on the farm, raising chickens and selling eggs until 1995 when she sold the farm and moved to her daughter’s home in East Palestine, Ohio.
Ada is a charter member of the Mizpah Sunday Class and had been active in the Lois Haspels Circle, W.C.T.U., Margaret Dice Missionary Society. Minutes of the Margaret Dice Missionary Society show that at the April 1951 meeting Ada was in charge of the devotions. She chose to read a children’s story written by Elsie Egermeir based on” Matthew 3:1,12; Strange Preacher in the Wilderness”. Ada enjoyed AARP meetings and dinners at Enon Valley.
This surely has been one of the best times to live. She has gone from riding a horse and buggy driving an automobile and watching men landing on the moon. Halley’s comet was seen in 1911 and 1986. Telephones advance from wind the handle on the box to cell phones, that take pictures and play music and can fit in a shirt pocket. Electricity has lightened the world! We have T.V. to watch things that happen around the world at the time they are happening. There have been eighteen presidents since 1909, President Taft being in office when she was born.
She has heard fourteen pastors deliver sermons, and if we count the interims, Rev. Joe Hopkins, Rev. Dave Lingle that would be sixteen. Now the seventeenth minister has been added with Pastor Mark.
Ada has enjoyed eight great grandchildren and a great great grandson. On the day I visited with Ada, she received a dozen red roses from her grandson Dick. She said, “It’s not my birthday yet,” he said, ‘I know, but you deserve them.” From all the Bethel family we wish Ada a very, very blessed, 100th Birthday.
Wouldn’t it be great if she received 100 cards from the Bethel Family.
Ada White
48780 Heck Road
East Palestine, Ohio 44413
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A HUNDRED YEARS MAKE
1909
The average life expectancy was 47 years.
Only 14% of the homes had a bathtub.
Only 8% of the homes had a telephone
There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
The average wage in 1909 was 22 cents per hour
The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year.
The competent accountant could expect to earn $2000. per year
A dentist made $2,500 per year
A veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year
A mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year
More than 95 percent of all births took place at HOME
90% of all doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION
Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press AND the government as “substandard;
Sugar cost 4 cents a pound
Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen
Coffee was 15 cents a pound.
Most women only washed their hair once a month and used Borax or egg yokes for shampoo
Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their county for any reason.
Five leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke
The American flag had 45 stars
The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was only 30
Crossword puzzles, ice tea had not been invented.
There was no Mother’s Day or Father’s Day
Two out of every adult could read or write.
Only 6% of all Americans had graduated from high school
Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacist said, “heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health”
18% of households had a least one full-time servant or domestic help.
There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A.
Just try to imagine what it maybe like in another 100 years.
