Gehling, Henry

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 3194

Notes:

Henry was the first son born to Herman and Ella Gehling on their farm a mile and a half south of Carroll, Iowa. Henry was born at home on 30 May 1890. He was baptized at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Carroll and later attended classes at the parish school. He began to help around the farm almost as soon as he could walk. Before long he was feeding the chickens, gathering eggs, and doing the endless chores associated with farm life.
The story is told of Henry's teenage encounter with a band of thieving hoboes. The hoboes had roped one of his father's calves, and were leading it off to their rendezvous site under the Carroll railroad bridge. As soon as he saw what was happening, Henry mounted his horse and followed them to town. At the railroad bridge he demanded the animal's return. Despite being outnumbered a dozen to one, Henry somehow managed to deny the hoboes their dinner and return the calf to his father's farm.
Gradually Henry took over much of the work on the family farm. Two years after coming of age he met and courted 19-year-old Regina Reiling of nearby Breda, Iowa. They were married on 2 September 1913. Father Gehling officiated at the ceremony, and a large dance followed. After the honeymoon, the newlyweds settled down on a farm south of Carroll, which he had received from his his father. They stayed there for nearly a quarter of a century. All of their seven children were born there: Frances, Lawrence, Erwin, Clarence, Paul, Albert, and Viriginia.
The 1930 Depression years were hard ones for Henry. Corn prices were low. Cattle feeding was no longer profitable. There was always plenty of food, but the bills kept mounting. In June of 1939, Henry gave up the Gehling homestead and moved to a rental farm near Humbolt, Iowa. Several other rentals followed. Finally, in 1945, he bought an 80-acre farm just north of Gilmore City, Iowa. Here he stayed until ill health forced him to move to town.
Henry spent his retirement years driving the backroads of Iowa in an old pickup truck. He always rose at 4 A.M. After breakfast, he was off to check the crops and perhaps talk soil bank or hog prices with any farmer he met on the road. Afternoons he usually spent at the local salebarn swapping stories , checking weights, and looking over the livestock brought in. Mid-afternoon was nap time, followed by dinner and the inevitable pipeful of Prince Albert tobacco. By 7 or 8 P.M. he was ready for bed. Early to bed, early to rise - it was a schedule he had followed his whole life.
The end came one cold winter day in 1958. Henry had just returned from his daily rounds. He parked his truck, entered the house, and sat down in a chair near the doorway. He was tired, he said. Moments later he suffered a fatal heart attack. The date was December 7. Henry was buried in St. John's Cemetery, Gilmore City, Iowa. His grave rests on a hill overlooking the rich black farmland he loved so well.

Frances Mary Gehling (1914-1978)
Lawrence Albert Gehling (1916-1982)
Erwin Henry Gehling (1918-1981)
Clarence Joseph Gehling (1920----)
Paul Anton Gehling (1924-1997)
Albert Frank Gehling (1926----)
Virginia Mae Gehling (1931----)

Henry — Unknown, Regina. Regina was born Abt 1894; died Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 3194

Notes:

Lawernce was born on the family farm near Carroll, Iowa, on 9 May 1916. He was the firstborn son of Henry and Regina Gehling. While still a baby, Lawrence was infected with a strain of the post-war influenza then sweeping the country. For a time his life was despaired of. Unlike several of the neighbor children, however, Lawrence survived the epidemic and was soon taking an active interest in the family farm. It is said that as a five-year-old he once substituted for his father, showing some construction workers the exact site and dimensions of the barn they had been hired to build.

Lawrence attended a small country school, always making the two-mile trip on horseback. His studies came to an end after eighth grade. For the next six years he worked alongside his father and brothers on the farm. At age 19, he and two friends - Lawrence Siepker and Eddie Klocke - decided it was time to see the country. The year was 1936, a Depression year, and money was hard to come by. But the trio confidently packed their belongings into an old car and headed west. They reached Kansas just as the wheat harvest was beginning. From there they traveled on to Arizona, rode mules down into the Grand Canyon, then went to the California orchards for a winter of orange picking.

Lawrence was back in Iowa in time for spring planting. But his stay on the family farm was short-lived. He soon met a 17-year-old girl from Halbur, Iowa, named Genevieve Reinart. The two were married on 28 October 1937, and after the wedding ceremony went for a short honeymoon to Atlantic, Iowa. On their way home they were run into the ditch by a roadgrader.

For the first ten years of their married life, the newlyweds moved from farm to farm across western Iowa. Sometimes Lawrence worked for wages, sometimes he rented the farm outright. His first job on the George Wernimont farm near Auburn, Iowa, paid only $30 a month, but did include three dozen eggs a week, one-half hog a year, the milk from one cow and part of the fruit from a large orchard. The hours were long - usually 5 A.M. to 9 P.M. The work was hard - farming with mules, slopping hogs, caring for over 400 head of cattle in the feedlot. After acquiring some livestock and equipment, Lawrence began renting farms on his own, beginning with the Billy Bedford farm northeast of Willey, Iowa, and ending with the Leo Wendl farms near Gilmore City, Iowa.

In the fall of 1947, Lawrence and Genevieve quit farming altogether. They sold off all their machinery and bought a house in Gilmore City. Lawrence began hauling limestone. By then his growing family numbered six children (Lois, Richard, Connie, Bonnie, Tom and Charlie). Before the last of his children left home, Lawrence had become a jack-of-all-trades, working at various times as a truck driver, an electrician, a mechanic, a welder, a lathe operator, and a city marshall. In his later years he also ran the gas, water, and sewage departments for the town of Gilmore City.

Lawrence was a restless man in many respects. Always a hard worker, he found it difficult to sit back and relax. At home, after a long day at his job, he would invariably go out into his tool shed and work far into the night. His hands were a testament to his lifestyle - large, strong hands, calloused and rough, covered with the nicks and bruises of a lifetime of labor.

Much of Lawrence's relaxation came from the animals with which he surrounded himself. He had originally farmed with horses and mules, and always had a family dog around the house. In later life he acquired a couple of saddle horses and a goat. The horses he rode, the goat he hitched to a cart of his own manufacture. The goat cart worked so well, he considered building a small stagecoach to be pulled by six Shetland ponies. The ponies were easy to come by, but the stagecoach never left the drawing board. For a time he gave home to a mischievous pet raccoon, then to a de-scented though still smelly shunk. His last menagerie consisted of seven Siberian Huskies. These he hitched to a dog sled and mushed over the wintry Iowa countryside.

In the winter of 1981-82 Lawrence was diagnosed with lung cancer. For six months he fought the cancer with every means available, regularly making the long trip to Iowa City for the drugs of chemotherapy. But try as he might, this strong man - who had rarely been sick a day in his life - gradually succumbed to the ravages of the disease. Lawrence died surrounded by family on 19 August 1982. He was 66 years old.


1- Lois Mae Gehling (26 January 1938 - 19 September 2000) - Married Kenneth Humpal on 3 January 1956. Together they had seven children: Barbara, Michael, Kathleen, Patricia, David, Jacqueline, Kimberly. Later married Gary Mulroney.

2- Richard Henry Gehling (18 August 1939) - Married Mary Ann Montoya on 1 April 1967. Together they had two children: Robert Lawrence and Staci Ann.

3- Donald Leo Gehling (30 January 1941 - 9 May 1941) - Died of whooping cough.

4- Constance Louise Gehling (15 January 1942) - Married David Bachoroski on 7 January 1967. Together they had two children: Stephanie and Michelle.

5- Bonita Susan Gehling (10 March 1943) - Married Edward Clark on 15 February 1969. Together they had two children: Christine and Cynthia.

6- Thomas Gehling (24 May 1944 - 13 August 2002

7- Charles Albert Gehling (13 June 1945) - Married Rosalia Jara on 12 July 1969. Together they had two children: Daniel and Timothy.

Lawrence married Reinart, Genevieve Bef 1938. Genevieve was born Abt 1920; died Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 3194
• Social Security Applications and Claims Index: Abt May 1954

Notes:

Social Security Applications and Claims Index:
Name: Lois Mae Gehling
[Lois Mae Humpal]
[Lois Mulroney]
Gender: Female
Race: White
Birth Date: 26 Jan 1938
Birth Place: Corroll Corr, Iowa
[Carroll Carr??, Iowa]
Death Date: 19 Sep 2000
Father: Lawrence A Gehling
Mother: Genevieve M Rienart
SSN: 483406742
Notes: May 1954: Name listed as LOIS MAE GEHLING; Nov 1956: Name listed as LOIS MAE HUMPAL; 10 Nov 1998: Name listed as LOIS MAE MULRONEY; 21 Sep 2000: Name listed as LOIS M MULRONEY

Richard — Unknown, Unknownf. [Group Sheet]

Robert — Unknown, Unknownf. [Group Sheet]