General Notes

[Joanne's Tree.1 GED.GED]

2  PLAC 183
2  SOUR S332582
3  DATA
4  TEXT Date of Import: 14 Jan 2004


[daveanthes.FTW]

Source of information:

"The Way We Were" written by Luella M Schwalen (dau of William Klein)



The following is from the booklet, The Anthes Family, written by Daivd Anthes, published in 1981
   Walter Ezra Klein was born Jule 21, 1894 in Vinton, Iowa and died November 22, 1976 in Ellsworth, Wisconsin. He married Elizabeth Baldwin. Elizabeth was born December 24, 1889 in Irvington, Illinois and died November 5, 1968 in Wheatridge, Colorado.  There were no children born of the marriage. Walter married Eunice Kathryn Buettner on November 6, 1970 in Ellsworth, Wisconsin. Eunice was born December 22, 1901.

"The Klein Family", by Pat Wiff (chapter 4, pages 174-177)
"Harvesting the Rice (Reiss) Crop by Pat Wiff  Chapter 7 (pg 329)

LETTERS FROM WALTER KLEIN TO FAMILY MEMBERS, WORLD WAR I.

Camp Robinson, Wis.  Sept. 5, 1918, 8 a.m.
Dear Grandpa:
   I am just going to drop you a line or two to let you know that we go east this afternoon--one half of the men at this camp left yesterday and the rest of us will go today.
  There were six trains yesterday and there will be six today.  Each train had 8 pullmans, 2 baggage cars for kitchens and a car for officers.
    Two batteries ride on a train and each car holds 48 men.
   We will probably reach Chicago tonight about 9 p.m. because we are on the last train that goes and we leave at 4 o'clock.
    Please tell the rest of my relatives there at Garrison.
   We will undoubtedly stop at some camp in the east for a couple of weeks to have our examinations and also to be fully equipped.
    I wrote to Mother yesterday morning and told her we were leaving today.
   My the crops are good in this section of the country.  The corn is nearly all out of the way of the frost.
   Write to my old address and our mail will be forwarded.  We dare not write while on the trip east and expect it to be about 3 days on the road.
   Well, good-bye, your grandson, Walter.


CAMP HUNT, FRANCE.  FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1918
Dear Aunt,
       I am going to write you a short letter just to let you know how I am faring and especially to let you know that that much talked-of box of candy did arrive yesterday and it sure was a life-saver as the boys say. We haven't had any real candy like that since we left New York chiefly because we seldom can get it.  Of course, it didn't last long because there were about 16 boys to treat but we all thank you very much.  I am glad that you set mostly hard candy as I don't like the soft chocolates and, as it was, all of it stayed in nice shape.  I never ex-expected it to reach me as the P. 0. Dept. is not supposed to allow packages to be sent us without a permit from our officers.
     I wrote you a letter about a week ago and trust that you will have got it be-fore this reaches you but of course there is nothing certain about our mail here. We only get mail once a week according to the looks of things and I have only had one letter from home so far, and that was 12 days ago.  It was written Sept. 16. I also got your letter of the same date.
    I am studying wireless telegraphy now besides telephone communication as used at the front and between the two I am very busy.  I am in just the line that I like though and I hope that they let me keep on and not shove me off into some dull and uninteresting job.  Have only been studying a week and can only send and receive a little over the telegraph so far.
    We are permitted to tell you that we are at Camp Hunt in France and about 60 miles from Bordeau.
I was up to our nearest town last Sunday and it surely was some experience. There is no real business district in the small cities of France.  By small cities I mean those of less than 15,000 or 20,000 people.  One cannot judge very well as to the size of the cities aver here because they are scattered out and then a number- of families live in a house.  I should say however that this town that I visited has about 5000 inhabitants now and they say that before the day is nearly over the people pack up their wares in large covered wagons and drive away.
     I told you in my last letter that I had lost my sweater--because the red cross goods we sent from the U.S. was all confiscated and sent to the front.  Well, I was lucky enough to buy in the "open market" a sort of jersey.  It is about the same weight of the jerseys that you have in the U.S. and opens on the shoulder.  It cost me $2 and I consider that I got something that was worth my money.
Sunday, October 27.
    Well, my letter didn't get mailed and there was one from Aunt Emma dated Sept. 1st.
Mother's letter was dated Sept. 21st and I guess it was delayed somewhere or it should have reached me before.  I got a letter from my lady friend dated October 4th 50 you see how quick we get mail sometimes.  Our mail comes in here by the train loads. It seems that it gathers someplace till there is a bunch and then it all comes at once.  Well, that is lots better than getting none at all as it was, till we arrived here and possibly when we get to the front we will not get any very often. At present we are supposed to be ready to go to the front about two weeks before my mother's birthday but of course we may be kept here for weeks after that time.
    Well, I spent yesterday afternoon and evening in the same town I was at last Sunday.  Went down expressly to leave my watch to be fixed.  It stopped the other day and I am absolutely lost without a watch.  It seems that I want to know the time about every half hour.  I managed to get a ride on the train going to town but coming back I walked.  Sometimes a person is lucky enough to get a ride in a truck but there are so many fellows to carry that usually we walk.
   We are only a few miles from the ocean here but that doesn't interest us very much as we don't care to  see the ocean except for the time when we are ready to come back home.
Well, I will close for this time so good bye.

Walter
Private Walter E. Klein, Battery E. 331 F. A. cleared by Capt. Charles Stuart, U.S. Army
P.   S. Am enclosing a picture I had taken in New York City. IF you have one give it to some of the other folks at Benton Co.
                    (pg 378)
Walter Klein, 82. 23 November 1976
Ellsworth-
Walter E. Klein, 82, Ellsworth, died Tuesday at St. John's Hospital in Red Wing. Death was due to a heart attack.
Born July 21, 1894, in Vinton, Iowa, he came to Ellsworth in 1914. He was a veteran of World War I.
He taught school for about 10 years. In 1928 he married Elizabeth Baldwin. He worked with the U.S. Postal Service in Denver, Cob., for 30 years until retiring in 1950. After his wife died in 1968 he returned to Ellsworth.
He married Eunice Nordgren Nov 6, 1970, in Ellsworth.
He was a 52 year member of the Masonic Lodge in Ellsworth. He was also a member of the Methodist Church in Ellsworth where he had served as treasurer of the congregation.
He is survived by his wife, Eunice; two step-children, Mrs. Ervin (Patricia) Hauschild of Ells-worth and James Nordgren of Manchester, Mo.; four step-grandchildren; three brothers, Sherman and Oliver both of Ellsworth and Marion of Pacoima, Calif.; and four sisters, Mrs. Elizabeth Canfield of Ellsworth, Mrs. Alice Wiff of Spring Valley, Wis., Mrs. Mildred Gilbertson of Beldenville, Wis., and Mrs. Luella Schwalen of Salem, Ore.
In addition to his first wife, he was preceded in death by one brother.
Memorial services will be Friday at 9 a.m. at the Ellsworth Methodist Church with Rev. Douglas Dowling officiating.
The Winberg Funeral Hame in Ellsworth is in charge of the arrangements. There will be no visitation or reviewal. The body will be created.