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Discover
Your Past
Condon,
Kleckner,
Gilles, Ethen, Milton, Meyer, Mitchell, and Liston
Family History
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In 2016 I came into possession of a file box containing old
financial records that had been passed down from my grandmother,
Isabelle Condon, to my father, Bill Condon. The documents are
records of some Kleckner and Condon financial transactions in the
years between 1900 and 1950.
This page contains links to scanned images of the documents for
the Kleckner family from 1900 to 1947. There are a large number of
documents, so the list here summarizes the contents of this page.
1900 Redemption Receipt from South Dakota
1898-1909 Tax receipts from farm in Mitchell County, Iowa
1902 Mortgage
1907 Mortgage
1909-1912 First State Bank loans
1914-1915 Probate papers for Mathias Kleckner
1916 Letter from Mary Mayer
1917-1919 First State Bank loans and letters
1919 Dubuque College Endowment Fund
1924 Mortgages
1924-1933 Tax receipts for property in New Haven
1933 Lawyer letter
1934 Insurance for house in New Haven
1937 Warranty Deed for property in New Haven
1937 Homestead Tax Credit for property in New Haven
1938 Construction materials & labor bill
1944 Construction bill/receipt
1945-46 Archdiocesan Council of Women receipt
1947 Loras College Fund
Consent to sell letter (undated)
The first
document is a Redemption Receipt for taxes due on a parcel of land
in Spink County,
South Dakota (SE 1/4 of Section 28 Township 119 North, Range
60 West). This is land that Mathias Kleckner received a patent for
in 1890. The surprising thing is the date of the document--1900.
The Kleckners were back in Iowa by then, and I had assumed that
they had sold the land in South Dakota by that time. Even though
the patent date is 1890, Matt probably acquired the land somewhat
earlier. It was not uncommon for the patent papers to be signed
well after the land was homesteaded and paid for.
In following up on this document I found that
the land was sold to a J.O. Ayers of Laramie, Wyoming in 1901.
Interestingly, the land that the Kleckners bought in Mitchell
County was purchased from a Lillie B. Ayers, of Elma. I haven't
been able to establish a connection between the purchaser of the
land in South Dakota with the Ayers in Iowa yet.
I've obtained the Land Patent documents and the Warranty Deeds of
two parcels of land in South Dakota that belonged to Matt and Mary
Kleckner, as well as similar documents for Matt's sister, Annie
Kleckner, who married Mease Gilles. I have put links to these
documents in the Kleckner and Gilles section on the Historical
Documents page.
1900 Redemption Receipt
The second
group of documents are property tax receipts for the land that the
Kleckners eventually bought and settled on in Mitchell County,
Iowa. The records from 1898 to 1900 are for 156 acres of
land in SW1/4 Sec. 2, T. 97 N., R. 15 W. The records from 1901 to
1908 are for this first parcel, plus another 156 acres in the
adjacent NW1/4 Sec. 11, T. 97 N., R. 15 W. The record from 1909 is
marked 'Full pmt', but the location is not indicated.
The receipts from 1898 to 1908 are in Mathias's
name; the 1909 receipt is in Alfred Kleckner's name, following the
death of Mathias.
1898 Tax receipt
1899
Tax receipt
1900
Tax receipt
1901
Tax receipt
1902
Tax receipt
1903 Tax receipt
1904 Tax receipt
1905 Tax receipt
1906 Tax receipt
1907 Tax receipt
1908 Tax receipt
1909 Tax receipt
1908-1909 Assessments
The next set of documents is for a mortgage on
the land in sections 2 and 11, T. 97 N., R. 15 W. The
mortgage was obtained from Shaffer Brothers of Elma, Iowa on
May 29, 1902 in the amount of $6,600. The mortgage was paid
off June 12, 1907.
The first three files show the terms of the mortgage with
the combined value of $6,600. For some reason, the full
amount was broken into two separate loans for repayment.
1902 Mortgage 1
1902
Mortgage 2
1902 Mortgage 3
The next two files show the notes and payment coupons for
the separate loans, one in the amount of $4,600 and the
other for $2,000.
1902_mortgage_4
1902_mortgage_5
Shortly before the above mortgage was paid off in 1907,
Mathias and Mary took out another loan in the form of a mortgage
from the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company of Hartford,
Connecticut (the note was executed in New Hampton, Iowa). This
loan was for $4,000 and the land in sec. 11, T. 97 N., R. 15 W.
was used as collateral. It was paid in full on June 5, 1912.
1907 mortgage 1
1907 mortgage 2
1907 mortgage 3
1907 mortgage 4
1907 mortgage 5
The repayment of this loan is interesting because it
occurred after the death of Mathias on August 31,
1909. According to the record shown in file number 4,
above, the sequence of payments began in June of 1908
(for $500), and continued in June of 1909 (for $1,000)
and May of 1910 (for $1,300). The payment of $1,300 is
also shown in file number 5. The curious thing is that
the payment on May 30, 1910 shows that the money was
received from Mathias Kleckner, not Mary or one of
their children. Apparently the mortgage company was
not aware of his death.
The rest of the coupons shown in file number 5, in
1910, 1911, and 1912 also show that the money was
received from Mathias and Mary. Although I don't know
for sure, I believe that all the coupons were signed
at the time the loan was executed, and that they were
filled out with the payment details when each payment
was made.
I note that for these coupons with Mathias' signature,
the signature is somewhat shakey, perhaps indicating
that he was in poor health when the loan was made. For
instance, compare his signature to that on the payment
coupons for the loan taken out in 1902. There is a
clear deterioration of his handwriting. He died of
diabetes in 1909 (see his death
certificate) and his declining health could have
been the cause of the change in handwriting.
The death
of Mathias must have been a devastating event for the family. Mary was a widow with five minor children in
charge of a farm of about 320 acres and a
mortgage on half of the farm land. The following table
indicates the composition of the family at the time of Matt's
death.
Person
|
Birth date
|
Age when Matt
died
|
Mary (wife)
|
Mar 12, 1868
|
41
|
Alfred
|
Apr 6, 1887
|
22
|
Ernest
|
Jun 22, 1888
|
21
|
Gertrude
|
Sep 23 1889
|
19
|
Pauline
|
Apr 24, 1891
|
18
|
William
|
Dec 9, 1894
|
14
|
Evelyn
|
Apr 11, 1895
|
14
|
Ida
|
Jun 25, 1899
|
10
|
Matilda
|
Dec 31, 1900
|
8
|
Isabelle
|
Jul 17, 1902
|
7
|
Money must have been tight, as shown by the series of small
loans from the First State Savings Bank of Elma, documented in
the following files. The loans that I have records for run
from July, 1909, just prior to Matt's death, to 1912. The last
document is actually a loan made to Ernest payable to Mary,
not payable to the bank.
First State Loan 1
First State Loan 2
First State Loan 3
First State
Loan 4
First
State Loan 5
The loans were taken in the names
of Matt Kleckner, Mrs. M. Kleckner, Alfred Kleckner, Ernest
Kleckner, and Kleckner Bros, in the total amounts of $500,
$3,140.24, $136.94, $1,125, and $103, respectively. Interest rates
varied from 5.25% to 8%, 8% being the most common amount.
The table below details the loans.
Loan made to:
|
Date of loan
|
Payment due date
|
Amount
|
Date paid off
|
Matt Kleckner
|
July 1, 1909
|
Jan. 1, 1910
|
$500.00
|
Feb. 21, 1911
|
Mary Kleckner
|
Feb. 16, 1910
|
May 1, 1910
|
$44.00
|
May 27, 1910
|
Ernest Kleckner
|
Aug. 12, 1910
|
6 months (Feb. 12, 1911)
|
$125.00
|
Feb. 21, 1911
|
Mary Kleckner
|
Dec. 1, 1910
|
One yr. (Dec. 1, 1911)
|
$150.00
|
Feb. 21, 1911
|
Mary Kleckner
|
Dec. 29, 1910
|
One yr. (Dec. 29, 1911)
|
$210.09
|
Feb. 21, 1911
|
Kleckner Bros.
|
Jan. 7, 1911
|
On or before April 1st
|
$103.00
|
Feb. 21, 1911
|
Alfred Kleckner
|
Feb. 21, 1911
|
One yr. (Feb. 21, 1912)
|
$86.94
|
Feb. 3, 1912
|
Mary Kleckner
|
April 29, 1911
|
One yr. (April 29, 1912)
|
$475.00
|
Mar. 7, 1912
|
Mary Kleckner
|
Aug. 12, 1911
|
6 months (Feb. 12, 1912)
|
$125.00
|
Mar. 7, 1912
|
Alfred Kleckner
|
Jan. 6, 1912
|
On demand
|
$50.00
|
Feb. 3, 1912
|
Mary Kleckner
|
Feb. 6, 1912
|
On demand
|
$244.90
|
Mar. 7, 1912
|
Mary Kleckner
|
June 5, 1912
|
On demand
|
$291.25
|
Nov. 6, 1912
|
Mary Kleckner
|
Jun 28, 1912
|
Feb. 1, 1913
|
$1600.00
|
Nov. 6, 1912
|
Ernest Kleckner
|
Nov. 6, 1912
|
Two years (Feb. 1, 1915)
|
$1000.00*
|
Unknown
|
*Payable to Mrs. M. Kleckner
I have the sense that these were mainly small loans to cover
cash-flow needs of the farm and family. Several of the loans were
taken in the same months in successive years, and repayment was
made on the same days for several of the loans in successive
years. Perhaps sale of grain or livestock on recurring dates
provided money for repayment.
An important point to note is that although many loans were
necessary to keep the farm going through these years, all of the
loans from the bank were paid back, as well as the larger
mortgages that had been taken previously by Mathias and Mary.
It took a while for the affairs of Mathias to be settled,
but the following documents are the final papers involved in the
probate process in the years 1914 and 1915.
Probate 1 - note to Mary (probably from
her lawyer) requesting information for probate
Probate 2 - receipt from Ernest
for his bequest from Mathias
Probate 3 - page 1 of final probate
papers
Probate
4 - page 2 of final probate papers
Probate 5 - page 3 of
final probate papers
Probate
6 - receipt from Mary for her bequest
Probate 7 - receipt
from Alfred and Ernest for their bequests
Probate 8 - settlement from
William for his bequest
In 1916
Mary Kleckner received a letter that is not
financial document, but is an acknowledgement of a
debt. The letter was written in German and came from
somewhere possibly called 'Grapahoe'. The letter was
from a Mrs. L. Mayer (misspelled Mayers in the
translated letter).
The letter describes a series of problems that Mrs.
Mayer has had, including the death of her husband,
illnesses of two of her daughters and of one son and
of a 17-month old baby. Then there was a hail storm
that damaged their house and wheat crop. She
finishes up by saying that she will pay the interest
on a loan that Mary Kleckner apparently made to her
at the rate of 7 or 8 percent.
The letter was translated by someone, and I have
included scans of both the original letter and of
the translation. I suspected that the name
'Grapahoe' was incorrect and that the name was, in
fact 'Arapahoe'. I searched online for an Arapahoe
State Bank that is mentioned in the letter, and
found that it was located in Arapahoe, Nebraska. A
search of the Find
A Grave website turned up a Leonard Mayer, who
died and was buried in the Arapahoe Cemetery in
1915. Luckily, his citation included an obituary,
the contents of which are shown below:
Arapahoe Public Mirror, June 17, 1915
Leonard Mayer was born April 6, 1863, in Johnsburg, McHenry county, Illinois. He lived with his parents
until
1870 when they moved to Stacyville, Iowa, where he resided until 1893,
when
he came to Lexington, Nebr.
On January 30, 1894, he was united in marriage to Mary Gertrude Lauby. They moved back to Stacyville, Iowa, remained there one year and
returned to
Lexington, Nebr. In 1900 they moved to Gosper county and lived in the
vicinity
of Arapahoe until his death on June
11, 1915. He has always been a faithful member of the Catholic
church, a devoted husband and father, and was loved and
respected by all who knew him.
To
this union were born ten children, all living except Francis,
who died in infancy. He leaves to mourn his death, his wife
and nine children, Kathryn, Edward, Joseph, Josephine, Hubert,
Rudolph, Clara, Leona and Cecilia; also three brothers, Mike,
Peter and Joseph, who reside all Stacyville, Iowa; two
sisters, Mrs. Matt Lauby and Mrs. Otto Gelhaar, who reside
near Lexington, Nebr., besides a host of relatives and
friends.
The Find A
Grave website also has an entry for Mrs. Mayer:
Arapahoe Public Mirror, January 10,
1946
Mary Gertrude, only daughter of
John and Katherine Lauby, was born June 28, 1873 in Town
Harrison, Wisc., and departed this life January 4, 1946 in a
hospital at Lincoln, Nebr., at the age of 72 years, six
months and seven days.
When a small child she came with
her parents to Otoe county, Nebr., remaining there until
1887 when they moved to Whitman county, Washington. In 1892
they returned to Nebraska, settling at Lexington.
On January 30, 1894 she was united in marriage to Leonard Mayer of Stacyville, Iowa,
where they resided for one year, when they came to
Lexington, Nebr. In 1900 they came to the vicinity north of
Arapahoe, where they lived until the death of her husband on
June 11, 1915. Soon afterward she, with the children moved
to a farm south of Arapahoe, living there until March, 1929,
when she came to her present home in Arapahoe.
To this union were
born ten children, four of whom preceded her in death.
She leaves to mourn
her death, four sons, Edward and Hubert of Arapahoe; Joe of
Milwaukee, Wisc.; and Rudolph of Chico, Calif., and two
daughters, Kathryn Snyder and Leona Mayer of Arapahoe. All
were present for the funeral. Also surviving are seven
grandchildren, Mary and Martha Mayer, T4 Richard W., S Sgt.
Robert M., Margaret Ann and Marian Snyder, Mary Jane Lawson
and one great-grandson, Jimmy Lawson, besides a host of
relatives and friends.
Her mother preceded
her in death by only three weeks.
She was a faithful
member of the Catholic church, a devoted and cherished
mother, and was loved and respected by all who knew her.
Relatives from out of
town who attended the funeral were Wm. A. Lauby of Sterling,
Colo., Mr. and Mrs. Mike Lauby and Mr. and Mrs. H.C. Kjar of
Lexington, Nebr.
So, apparently the Kleckners and Mayers
were acquainted, through friends or relatives in
Stacyville, Iowa, and at some point the Mayers had
borrowed money from the Kleckners. Leonard Mayer's
parents and several siblings continued to live and
were buried in Stacyville, and the family remains
there today. Interestingly, Ruth Condon, wife of
Jack Condon, my aunt and uncle, was part of the
extended Mayer family (she was the grand-daughter of
the Peter Mayer mentioned in Leonard's obituary).
1916 letter 1a
1916 letter 2a
1916 letter 3a
1916 letter 1b
1916 letter 2b
Several
documents record financial affairs in the years 1917
and 1918.
The first set is a series of small loans again from
the First State Savings Bank in Elma. They are
marked for Liberty Bonds and taxes.
Three of the four loan notes have documentary
revenue stamps attached to them, used for fees for
legal documents. More information on revenue stamps
can be found here.
Liberty bonds were issued during World War I in
order to finance the war. More information on these
bonds can be found here.
1917-18
First State loans
In
November of 1918 Mary received a
note from the Cashier at First State
Savings Bank regarding more bond
notes.
1918 First State letter
Then in March of 1919 Mary received
another note regarding the payment
for three notes, some money sent to
William, and tax receipts.
1919
First State letter
In 1919 Mary committed annual payments to the Dubuque
College Endowment Fund. The documents below show the agreement and
the payments made (the coupon for 1921 is missing). The payments
were in the amount of five dollars annually for five years.
Endowment Fund 1
Endowment Fund 2
In 1924 two mortgages were taken on both parcels of land
that the Kleckners owned in sections 2 and 11, T. 97 N., R. 15 W.
The loans were dated January 14, 1924 and were to be paid in
installments to Hugh H. Shepard, owner of the Shepard Abstract
Company of Mason City. The documents that still exist are a little
puzzling, probably because the main mortgage documents are
missing.
The documents that I do have consist of (1) two signed notes with
the location of the separate parcels of land noted on each (files
1 and 2, below), along with the signatures of all involved; and
(2) a series of signed payment coupons that range in date from
1925 to 1929 (one coupon for 1924, three for 1925, four for 1926,
and two for 1929 are not included in the saved materials) in files
3 and 4, below.
The loans were somewhat unusual for the number of people involved.
As shown in the first two scans, below, the installment notes were
signed by Mary and all of her nine children, plus the spouses of
all eight of the married children (Bill wasn't married until
1925). It appears that the two notes plus all of the coupons were
signed at the same time because of the order in which they were
signed as well as the different pens used by each individual. I
can imagine them all sitting around a big table passing the
documents from one to the other and each signing their name in
turn.
If nothing else, these documents are interesting because of having
all the signatures of the Kleckner children and their spouses. As
an aside, the signature of my grandfather is unusual because of
the spelling 'Morris'. In all other documents that I have he
spells his name 'Maurice'. Note also that Isabelle spelled her
name the 'e' on the end instead of as 'Isabell', as opposed to her
marriage license in 1920 where she spelled it 'Isabell'.
The two installment notes do not specify the total amounts of the
mortgages or the date when each should be paid off. Each has the
amount of $250.00 in the upper left corner, and the text of the
notes reads that "...we promise to pay to the order of Hugh H.
Shepard the sum of Two Hundred Fifty and No/100 Dollars in ten
installments..." Of course, this would only amount to $2,500. One
payment of $25.00 was to be made on the 1st day of August, 1924,
and $25.00 was to be paid on February 1st and August 1st in
subsequent years until the whole sum was paid.
If each of these installment notes was really for just $250.00
then payments of the initial $25.00 plus $50.00 per year would
have meant that repayment would have been completed in February,
1929, and in fact, the signed coupons do not extend past Feb.
1929. The back of the installment notes also indicate when
payments were made in the years 1924 through 1928, but not in 1929
(although some were not made by the specified first day of
February or August). These two installment notes were puzzling
because it is highly unlikely that Mary and all of the children
and spouses were committing themselves to payments of only a total
of $500.
The payment coupons in files 3 and 4, below, seem to tell a
different story. Each of them is signed by Mary plus all of her
children and their spouses. Each is marked in the amount of
$250.00 in the upper left corner. After the dates the coupons read
"...I promise to pay the Bankers Life Company, or order, Two
hundred fifty dollars at its office in Des Moines, Iowa, this
coupon being for interest on my note of this date for 10,000
Dollars..."
So it appears that there were two mortgages of $10,000 each for
the two parcels of land, with total interest payments made of
$2,500. This works out to an interest rate of 12.5%. The larger
loan amounts explain the participation of the whole family in the
repayment process. Note that each payment coupon is stamped
'CANCELLED', and the installment notes are stamped and the words
'Cancelled Paid' are written on each of them. Another mortgage was
successfully paid off.
1924 Mortgages 1
1924 Mortgages 2
1924 Mortgages 3
1924 Mortgages 4
After Mathias died, Mary continued to
live on the farm for an uncertain amount of time. Based on the
following tax receipts, she eventually moved to New Haven in 1924,
because the receipts from 1924 to 1932 were issued to her; the
receipt for the 1933 taxes is for the same property, but in the
name of Mary's brother, William (Billy) Gilles. This property is
in SW1/4 SE1/4 SW1/4 Sec. 20, T. 98 N., R. 15 W. The house has now
been torn down, but the property is listed under parcel number 12-30-377-002
in the records of the Mitchell County Assessor. This property is
west of the curve by the cemetery in New Haven, on the south side of
the road.
1924 Tax receipt
1925 Tax receipt
1926 Tax receipt
1927 Tax receipt
1928
Tax receipt
1929
Tax receipt (part)
1930 Tax receipt
1931 Tax receipt
1932 Tax
receipt
1933
Tax receipt
In
1933 Mary
received a
letter from
Darwin J.
Paulson, a
lawyer in
Osage. He had
apparently
been acting on
her behalf to
collect rent
from someone
and was
sending her
his bill. I
have redacted
the named
person to
avoid any
embarrassment
on the part of
the family
involved.
The last
paragraph is
intriguing
because of the
statement that
a Mr. Shepherd
"...had
judgement
entered in his
case against
yourself and
the rest of
the heirs
except Mr.
& Mrs.
Robbins." This
almost
undoubtedly
involved the
mortgages of
1924 in which
the entire
family
participated,
but it is
puzzling
because the
documents,
shown above,
all indicate
that payments
were made, at
least on the
interest.
Perhaps there
was something
else involved
with payment
of the
mortgage
principal that
led to a
lawsuit. It
seems odd that
lawyer Paulson
didn't mention
what the
judgement was.
No other
documents have
been found to
shed any light
on the
lawsuit.
1933
Lawyer letter
In 1934 Mary insured the house and outbuildings in New
Haven for $2,425.00. At first I thought that the photo on the
insurance policy was of the Kleckner farmhouse and outbuildings,
but the description of the property on the policy is definitely
for the New Haven property in Douglas township. Note that Mary is
listed as the owner.
1934 insurance 1
1934 insurance 2
A document from 1937 is somewhat surprising. It is a
Warranty Deed for the property in sec. 20, T. 98 N., R. 15 W. in
New Haven--the property where Mary had been living for a number of
years. The date is surprising because she had been paying the
property taxes on this parcel since 1924 (see records above), and
she had taken out insurance on the home and buildings in 1934 and
had stated that she owned the property.
The Deed transfers the land from William (Mary's brother) and Rose
Gilles for the sum of 'One Dollar and other valuable
considerations'.
Without a more complete record of the sales of this parcel of
land, it's impossible to know just who owned the property at what
time.
The document is interesting for the content of the signatures of
Billy and Rose Gilles, and of Melvin Weinschenk, the County
Recorder, and Clifford Moss, the County Auditor.
1937 Warranty Deed 1
1937 Warranty Deed 2
The same day that the above Warranty Deed transferred the
New Haven property from Billy & Rose Gilles to Mary Kleckner,
Mary applied for a Homestead Tax Credit on the same property. The
application form states that she became the owner of the property
on May 27, 1937. The document was signed by Mary, by Clifford
Moss, and by witnesses Perle Green and George L. Helfter, and was
notarized by Lorenz P. Helfter.
1937 Homestead Tax Credit
application
There are
several miscellaneous bills and receipts from the years 1938
through 1947
First is a bill in 1938 for construction materials and for labor
for electrical work, probably for the house in New Haven.
1938 construction bill
Next is a bill/receipt from 1944 for material and labor for
'cupbord & alterations' from H. H. Kienast. Probably also for
the New Haven house.
1944 construction
bill/receipt
Mary paid 25 cents in 1945-46 for membership in the Dubuque
Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women as shown by this receipt.
1945-46 Council of women
receipt
Mary pledged $10 to the Loras
College (Dubuque) expansion fund. She saved her receipt for the
final payment of $5.00 in 1947. This receipt is dated August 5th,
and Mary died at the Savre hospital in Osage on October
26, 1947.
1947 Loras College Fund
The final document in this collection is a Consent To Sell letter,
for the property in New Haven, signed by Mary's daughter Isabelle
and her husband Maurice (Red) Condon. Isabelle appointed Walter E.
Sheldon as the real estate agent, who was directed to distribute
the proceeds of the sale of the property equally to the 9 branches
of the Kleckner family after deducting his fees and other closing
costs. Isabelle and Red would then convey the property to the
purchaser via a 'special warranty deed'.
Although this document is an original and is signed, it is not
dated.
Consent to Sell document
© Steven M. Condon. All
Rights Reserved.