Evelyn Lois Claus

Evelyn Lois Claus, daughter of Blanche B. Bucher and (Fred) Tecumseh Edgar Claus, was born 6 November 1911 on a farm in eastern Stephenson County, IL located near Rock Run and Rock Grove, the area where her father had been raised, and also where her mother had taught school while she was an unmarried woman. In early childhood, the household was reestablished in Winslow, also in Stephenson County. Here Evelyn’s sister Phyllis was born in 1916. Evelyn grew up amid many relatives on her mother’s side who either resided in Winslow or a mile or so north in Martintown, Green County, WI. The Bucher connection was particularly strong.

Evelyn’s existence changed dramatically with the death of her mother in the great influenza epidemic of 1918. Blanche was pregnant at the time with what would have been the third child of the family, but mother and unborn baby succumbed at the end of December of that year, another tragic example of how the virus took out otherwise healthy individuals by turning their own vigorous, well-developed immune systems against them. Dad T.E. Claus did what he could to get by -- vacuum cleaner salesman, brush salesman, etc. He operated mostly out of Freeport, the largest community of Stephenson County, while Evelyn and Phyllis were cared for by his mother, Mary Wolf Claus Hanson, at her home in Pecatonica, Winnebago County, IL.

In early 1921 T.E. remarried. His new wife was Mabel Clare Zimmerman. The couple remained in Freeport until the late 1920s or the beginning of 1930, during which time Mabel gave birth to two children. At that point, the household shifted far to the south, to the Brownsville, TX area, where T.E. worked as a housepainter. Four more children would be born there.

Evelyn, essentially a grown woman by the time of the big move, preferred to remain in Illinois, having never totally warmed to her stepmother’s authority over her. At first she boarded in Freeport with her aunt Ethel Wales Bucher, widow of Claude Bucher, her mother’s older brother. Later she rented a room elsewhere on her own. During this period, Evelyn worked at the Freeport Arcade. Her daughter recalls being told that her mother made toys; however, the 1930 census lists her as a bookkeeper for the toy company. In the early 1930s, Evelyn moved on to a job with W.T. Rawleigh Company, a huge exotic food, household goods, and pharmaceuticals firm whose main plant was in Freeport. Ethel Wales was also employed there.

Friends set Evelyn up on a blind date at which she met Kenneth John Stoner, son of John Henry Stoner and Alma Meyer. Kenneth was from Shannon, Carroll County, IL, where he had been born 24 April 1906. He was often known by his nickname, Butch. He had come to Freeport seeking employment, finding a variety of odd jobs such as hatchery worker. The date led to a rapid courtship and to a wedding. The latter event took place 5 August 1931 in McConnell, Stephenson County, IL, after which the couple settled in Shannon.

In the early part of their union, the Great Depression was going strong and naturally it took some time for Evelyn and Kenneth to get established. Their initial quarters consisted of a rental apartment above a doctor’s office on Shannon’s main street. This was where their first child was born in the mid-1930s. Kenneth worked at a variety of jobs. He was a railroad worker along with his brother Harold. He tended bar and maintained the pool tables at a tavern, an occupation he pursued into the earliest part of the 1940s. From time to time throughout these years he put in shifts assisting his father, who was a housepainter and wallpaper hanger. As the financial picture grew more steady, he and Evelyn moved into a house on Chestnut Street, a residence they were eventually able to purchase. Before long they were able to acquire a better house on Linn Street, which would be their home until their deaths.

The World War II years brought a new sequence of jobs. Kenneth spent a stint taking care of munitions at Savanna Ordnance Depot. During this time, Evelyn gave birth to the second and last of the couple’s children. Kenneth next worked at Fairbanks-Morse in Freeport, probably helping build pumps. After the post-war period led to a boom in housing, he chose to commit to the family tradition and become a full-time housepainter, trim-work specialist, and wallpaper hanger. His brothers and eventually a nephew were his partners off and on. By the time he retired, Kenneth was said to have painted more houses in the Shannon area than any other individual. He did both interior and exterior painting.

Evelyn, like most women of her generation, did not have a regular outside-the-home job while her kids were small. (She was, however, the financial secretary for her church.) In 1955, with her youngest still in school but no longer underfoot, she began working at the Shannon post office on Saturdays. She became the substitute for the postmaster when he went on vacations. As she was approaching retirement age, she accepted a full-time job there.

Evelyn never lived near her father, sister, or half-siblings after 1930, but she did not lose the connection. Eventually visits to Texas became a regular thing. By the late 1950s, she and Kenneth would often spend a couple of weeks down south. By the 1970s, after retirement, the two weeks would often be more like two months.

In the last ten years of her life Evelyn suffered from leukemia and endured a serious bout with skin cancer on her face. However, like most of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Nathaniel Martin and Hannah Strader, she succeeded in surpassing eighty years of age.

Kenneth died 9 April 1990 in Shannon. Evelyn survived him, remaining in their home until her final collapse of health. She passed away 10 August 1992 at Freeport Memorial Hospital. The grave of the pair can be found at Shannon Brethren Cemetery.

Descendants of Evelyn Lois Claus with Kenneth John Stoner

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