174. Charles Heinrich (Charlie)⁶ Bushdiecker (Fredrick William John "Fritz"⁵ Bussdieker, Florentine Marie⁴, Johann Adam Henrich³ Buschdiecker, Johann Ernst Heinrich², Anton Caspar¹ Bussdiecker)⁽¹⁴⁰⁾ (#914) was born January 1, 1891. Charles died February 23, 1946 at 55 years of age. His body was interred Oak Grove.

He married Melissa "Molessie" Coose May 17, 1911. (Melissa "Molessie" Coose is #922.) Melissa was born August 15, 1894. Melissa was the daughter of Isacc Coose and Augusta. Melissa died January 14, 1952 at 57 years of age.

He was baptized Mar 15, 1891. Religion: religion unknown. At 21 years of age Charles became the father of Margaret Augusta Bushdiecker May 26, 1912. At 23 years of age Charles became the father of Esther Lilly Bushdiecker Apr 12 1914. At 25 years of age Charles became the father of Genevieve Uleta Bushdiecker Apr 19, 1916. At 27 years of age Charles became the father of Helen Lorraine Bushdiecker Feb 14, 1918. At 30 years of age Charles became the father of Marcella "Annalee" Bushdiecker Jan 19, 1921. At 31 years of age Charles became the father of Charles Henry, "Jr." Bushdiecker Mar 1922. At 33 years of age Charles became the father of Juanita Bernice "Sissy" Bushdiecker May 7, 1924. At 34 years of age Charles became the father of Kenneth David "Buddy" Bushdiecker 1925. At 36 years of age Charles became the father of James Forrest Bushdiecker Mar 26, 1927. At 37 years of age Charles became the father of Melvin Barrymore Bushdiecker Nov 29, 1928. At 39 years of age Charles became the father of Robert Karl Bushdiecker Apr 7, 1930. At 40 years of age Charles became the father of Bonnie Lou Bushdiecker Oct 17, 1931. At 41 years of age Charles became the father of Conrad Stanley Bushdiecker Sep 13, 1932. At 42 years of age Charles became the father of Donald Bushdiecker May 15, 1933. At 44 years of age Charles became the father of Bernard Wray Bushdiecker Jan 9, 1935. At 46 years of age Charles became the father of Eugene Raymond Bushdiecker 1937. At 47 years of age Charles became the father of Howard Seymore Bushdiecker Jan 26, 1938. Charlie was a hard working young man. He worked at splitting railroad ties and cutting corn for farmers besides his job at the ACF car shop where he was a steel maker. One day when he came home from work after helping some farmers in Silex, Mo, he told his family he had found the woman he wanted to marry, Melissa Coose (#922). Not all of the family approved because this woman wasn't German. She was Dutch, French, Irish, part American Indian from a north eastern tribe, and who knew what all else. But Charlie would not take no far an answer. So his father and her mother gave their consent. At first they stayed with Charlie's parents but as the babies came along they rented a small house at 915 Benton Ave, St Charles, MO, and they lived there for about 12 years. Everyone was happy there. Charlie was making good money and Melissa bought nice toys for her children. But the house was growing to small for their ever increasing family, so they moved to a better house at 1826 Elm St on part of the Abe Boschert farm. This wasn't far from where Uncle Ervy (Irvin, #916) lived with his horse and ice cream wagon. So one day Charlie's eldest boy "Junior (#1040), at age 7, was on his way to Uncle Ervy's to get an ice cream. But as he was crossing the street at Kingshighway he was hit and run over by a Ford car being driven by a high school student. After that Junior had epileptic seizures. Not long after this had happened, Aunt Parry came running into the house to tell her sister Melissa that their father, Isaac Coose, had died. So as quickly as they could, Charlie and Melissa went to Silex with Parry and her husband Frank in Frank's car taking with them only the youngest of the children. The older children were in the care of Margaret (#1025), a teenager at that time. After Charlie and Melissa got back, Abe Boschert told them they'd have to find somewhere else to live because the rich neighbors up on the near by hill didn't like having so many children around. So after Melissa gave birth to her 11th child (10 living) the family moved to 2058 N Main St where they rented a house from Louis Austerschmidt just a little ways from the Missouri river. They had lived on Elm St about three years. Their daughter Margaret got married before they left from Elm St and she was now living on Kingshighway only a few doors from her grandparents house. Well it wasn't long until Melissa got pregnant again. When Charlie asked her to help him lift a heavy log he was trying to cut into firewood she told him she couldn't because of her condition. She had already lost one baby from lifting a tub of wash water and she didn't want to lose another. So, Charlie lifted the log by himself and he ruptured himself. After that Charlie wasn't able to work much anymore. When it came time for Melissa to deliver her baby the doctor said he had no choice. He had to kill the baby to get her out because she weighed 17 pounds, too big to be born. As the doctor was cutting the baby out, four year old "Teeny", James#1044), came into the room where his mother was and what he saw was shocking. The doctor yelled "Get that child out of here!". Annalee (#1038) quickly pulled him back into the kitchen. The doctor told Melissa he would not come to her house to deliver any more babies. He said she'd have to go to the hospital. After that she did. Melissa didn't have too much time to grieve. When she had only five children she would sometimes sit down and cry because she couldn't keep everything up as good as she wanted to. After that she never had time to cry. Now, she had even more to do with Charlie unable to work. Irvin would come and get produce out of their garden to sell and he didn't pay them anything for it. But Charlie told Melissa not to complain because they helped him sometime and this was depression time, hard on everybody. To get firewood Melissa would go to the river bank and find driftwood. She would carry it home in a bundle on her back. Then the children would cut the wood the right size for her cook stove or the heating stove. The children were told to stay away from the river. But, one day Junior (#1040) wanted to go fishing and he talked his younger brothers "Buddy" (Kenneth, #1043) and Teeny (James #1044) into going with him. James was called Teeny because he had weighed only nine pounds at birth, he was Melissa's smallest baby! So now these three boys were sneaking off to the river. While they were there, Junior decided it would be fun to go swimming, so they took of their clothes and waded in. Teeny got in a step-off but he managed to get back. So, Buddy tried it. Only Buddy went too far and couldn't get back. The boys called fro help. There was a bum near by who could have helped them but he didn't even try. Junior paniced when Buddy drowned. He buried his clothes and the two boys went home trying to pretend nothing had happened. But when Buddy didn't come home for supper his parents went out looking for him. They learned from the bum what had happened. Weeks later a man who lived and fished downstream from there found Buddy's body. Two years later the same man, Joe Wheatholler, found Junior's body in the river. Once again Junior wanted to go fishing. He took "Sissy" (Juanita #1041) and Teeny with him. They walked out on the dike and Junior started having a series of seizures. He fell into the water and was washed downstream. Sissy and Teeny ran home to tell their parents, but Junior was gone. The loss of each child was hard to bear and sometimes Melissa would go out to the cemetery to be with her babies. But she had children at home still, so she had to pull herself together and get on with life. Every spring she set off to go father wild greens and she took her children and neighbor children with her. She was very patient with all of the children, taking time to look at what they had picked and explaining to them what was good and what wasn't and what every plant was called. When she had all she needed she went home and cooked greens. Everyone delighted in this treat to go along with their everyday navy beans (without meat) and yeast biscuits. Living near the river also meant flooding. When the water got threateningly high people in the flood area were evacuated. For the Charlie Bushdiecker family this meant splitting up. Charlie and Melissa would take their youngest children with them to stay at Margaret's home after they sent the boys to stay at Uncle Elmer's (#917)and the girls went to Aunt Mabel's (#923). Usually the water didn't get too bad in the house. The floors were warped from it but it could have been worse. Melissa would clean up what she could. She'd been saving up old rangs all year. What she didn't need she could sell and then go out and buy a new record to play on their wind-up victrola. She always let the children play her older records. She and Charlie loved music. They would learn new tunes from listening to the records. Then Charlie would play his guitar and Melissa played her harmonica. That was always pleasant to hear. Charlie also had a violin and a mandolin. He never would let anyone mess with those. Many evenings Melissa told her spell-binding stories. They were usually ghost stories told with the kerosene lamp turned low. Unless otherwise needed, the lamps were always burned low to save on fuel. Teeny preferred electric lights instead of kerosene lamps like the neighbors had. One day he borrowed (without asking) a cord he saw hanging in Uncle Gus's tree. He brought it home and asked the neighbor, Philip Boschert, if he could hook it up at his house and run it to their house. Mr Boschert explained to him why that wouldn't work. That cord had sockets all along it. But, he offered to buy the cord from him. Teeny said he couldn't sell it because he just borrowed it and he had to take it back. When Gus saw his cord was missing he told Charlie about it. Well, the cord was returned but I'm not sure Gus believed a little boy took that all by himself. But, that's how it was. Charlie never let his children steal things. Teeny didn't know you had to ask to borrow things. Charlie had a lot of stomach trouble and he raised goats for the milk to help his stomach. Then the goats got worms and the milk didn't taste good. If it wasn't one thing it was another. They also raised a few chickens but the chickens didn't lay many eggs and a weasel was taking their chickens. One day Melissa asked me (Catherine Clara Boschert Bushdiecker, #938) how our chickens were doing and asked if we were getting plenty of eggs. She said if she had just one egg she could bake a "One Egg Cake". Well, I didn't know how our chickens were doing but I went and got her one egg. I'm sure Melissa didn't mean for me to take an egg without asking. Years later I told my mother what I had done. She said, "Cathy, I'm so glad you did that". Now I wish I would have taken her at least 2 or 3 eggs. (But one was all she hinted for.) Once a year Melissa went shopping for clothes. She would buy what Charlie needed, one outfit of clothes for each of her children and a nice dress for herself. With everyone dressed up she'd walk into town to go visiting only to be told to stay at home because they were to busy for visitors. If this ever hurt Melissa she didn't show it. I'm sure she got a great deal of pleasure just walking through town all dressed up. Also about once a year the family had what they thought was a wonderful treat. Maybe it was a birthday present from Margaret. They had bologna and store bought white bread to eat. Actually, Melissa' biscuits were better but something different can be a treat, I guess. Certainly any kind of meat was rare for them to have. Jim remembers when they had absolutely nothing to eat and he just happened to find some wheat that was spilled on the street. Melissa made it into a tasty bread even without shortening. Usually at Christmas time Charlie's family would come visiting. Irvin would bring some of his homemade wine and the others brought toys for the children. Melissa always had some kind of tree, usually given to them by Mabel on Christmas Eve, but of course they had no lights. About once in 5 years Grandma (#913) and Grandpa (#602) would come visiting. They'd bring jelly that was so old it was turning into sugar. I guess they didn't have much themselves when they were getting old, in those days before Social Security. Irvin was taking care of them for staying with them and for the property they let him have. Teeny was working on a farm by the time he was 14. Then at 17 years of age he joined the Merchant Marines. When he worked on the farm he only came home about once a month because it was so far to walk. He made $14.00 a month. Of that, he gave $5.00 to his parents. He had to buy his own clothes, but they fed him good on the farm. Bob (Robert Karl ,#1068) lied about his age and got into the Navy when he was 15 years old. Bob stayed in the Navy for 20 years, but James got out of the Merchant Marines after 4 years. James was in the Philippines when his father died and he didn't have time to make it home for the funeral. Bernard (#1087) was staying with Margaret by that time and Eugene (#1094) was in Marshall, MO. Melissa could no longer take care of him after he was 8 or 9. He had cerebral palsy. Being all alone now and not wanting to be a burden on anyone, Melissa Married Mr. Willie Wheat, but she wasn't happy with him. She said she wished things could be the way they were with her and Charlie when the children were young. Did she mean on Benton Ave? or anytime? When Charlie died Mabel picked out his grave site and his gray stone. When Melissa died there was no space next to Charlie for anyone so she is buried a few feet away in the row above his. A stone like Charlie's was no longer available. So, the stone, "Molissie" has, is also a last of its kind made from Oklahoma Red Granite. I picked that one out. I loved her! Charlie used to call me his "Blue Eyed Elain" but I was always a little afraid of him. He was a little gruff. Melissa was always cheerful. (Catherine Bushdiecker #938, 6/97)

Charles Heinrich (Charlie) Bushdiecker and Melissa "Molessie" Coose had the following children:

+ 276 i. Margaret Augusta⁷ Bushdiecker was born May 26, 1912.

277 ii. Esther Lilly Bushdiecker (#1029) was born Apr 12 1914. She married three times. She married Jerry Brushaw 1935?.⁽¹⁴¹⁾ (Jerry Brushaw is #1032.) She married Claude Milner, Esq. Barnes 1940?. (Claude Milner, Esq. Barnes is #1031.) Claude was born 1910. She married William Henry, Jr. Cass 1945?.⁽¹⁴²⁾ (William Henry, Jr. Cass is #1033.) William was born Feb 14, 1915. William died Apr 10, 1993 at 78 years of age.

+ 278 iii. Genevieve Uleta Bushdiecker was born Apr 19, 1916.

+ 279 iv. Helen Lorraine Bushdiecker was born Feb 14, 1918.

+ 280 v. Marcella "Annalee" Bushdiecker was born Jan 19, 1921.

281 vi. Charles Henry, "Jr." Bushdiecker (#1040) was born Mar 1922. Charles died May 2, 1935 at 13 years of age.

282 vii. Juanita Bernice "Sissy" Bushdiecker (#1041) was born May 7, 1924. She married Cecil Lester Wehmeier 1946. (Cecil Lester Wehmeier is #1042.) Cecil is the son of Fred Wehmeier. Brother Fredrick married to Juanita's sister, Marcella.

She resides Jan 2000. Sister Marcella is married to Cecil's brother, Fredrick.

283 viii. Kenneth David "Buddy" Bushdiecker (#1043) was born 1925. Kenneth died 1933 at 8 years of age.

+ 284 ix. James Forrest Bushdiecker was born Mar 26, 1927.

285 x. Melvin Barrymore Bushdiecker (#1065) was born Nov 29, 1928. Melvin died Nov 29, 1928 at less than one year of age. (Catherine Bushdiecker #938, 5/97) doesn' know the order of the three boys who died the same day as they were born. Names for the three boys were: Melvin Barrymore, Donald, and Howard Seymore.

+ 286 xi. Robert Karl Bushdiecker was born Apr 7, 1930.

287 xii. Bonnie Lou Bushdiecker (#1085) was born Oct 17, 1931. Bonnie died Oct 17, 1931 at less than one year of age.

288 xiii. Conrad Stanley Bushdiecker (#1086) was born Sep 13, 1932. Conrad died Sep 13, 1932 at less than one year of age.

289 xiv. Donald Bushdiecker (#1066) was born May 15, 1933. Donald died May 15, 1933 at less than one year of age. (Catherine Bushdiecker #938, 5/97) doesn' know the order of the three boys who died the same day as they were born. Names for the three boys were: Melvin Barrymore, Donald, and Howard Seymore.

+ 290 xv. Bernard Wray Bushdiecker was born Jan 9, 1935.

291 xvi. Eugene Raymond Bushdiecker (#1094) was born 1937. Eugene died Dec 9, 1956 at 19 years of age. he had cerebral palsey

292 xvii. Howard Seymore Bushdiecker (#1067) was born Jan 26, 1938. Howard died Jan 26, 1938 at less than one year of age. (Catherine Bushdiecker #938, 5/97) doesn' know the order of the three boys who died the same day as they were born. Names for the three boys were: Melvin Barrymore, Donald, and Howard Seymore.

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