My great-grandaunt Louise was the youngest of the Miller children, born to Andrew Miller and Kate Wippel Miller on 7 May 1885 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Miller family was comprised of seven sisters: Anna, Katherine, Augusta, Helen, Mary, Eva and Louise; and, one brother: Philipp. Augusta (Gustie) was my grandmother’s mother, so the rest of the siblings were her aunts and uncle. As I was growing up I heard snatches of conversation about several of the aunts, particularly Katherine (Patterson), Helen (Berg) and Louise (Wessa Bell). The one trait that stood out about Aunt Louise was that she was a warm and wonderful human being – everyone said so.
Andrew and Kate Miller married and raised there family in Pomeroy, Ohio, until sometime in the 1870’s. Perhaps they were driven out by the big fire in Pomeroy in April 1877; or, maybe Andrew’s chronic illnesses, which he attributed to his Civil War service, made it too difficult to continue to earn a living as a cooper there. In 1880, the Millers were in Cincinnati, but later they moved on to Dayton, presumably because Andrew was admitted to the National Military (Old Soldier’s) Home. Ruth Kortgardner, one of Louise’s grandnieces and a contemporary of my father, knew Aunt Louise. She said that Aunt Louise told her that she and her sisters used to walk past the Wright Brother’s bicycle shop in Dayton.
Aunt Louise somehow moved to California by 1909. I am unsure of the circumstances that took her there. As often happens with distant family, no one could tell me much about her life in California. About 15 years ago, I began my search for Aunt Louise’s story. My mother was the one who thought that her married name had been Bell. I was lucky to locate Louise in the California Death Index. She died in Los Angeles in 1961, when I was a girl. I vaguely remember the news of her passing. Because the death index gave her mother’s maiden name as Whipple, I knew that I had found the correct Louise Bell. I also knew that Louise had been married more than one time. I still needed to find both of her husbands.
Husband number one was easier to locate than husband number two. Fifteen years ago, there were fewer censuses available for public access. It was Louise’s date of birth that helped me find her burial location. Louise was buried with her first married name “Wessa,” not “Bell” at Los Angeles National Cemetery. The name Wessa gave me a little jolt. It was a surname that I recognized from my research in Pomeroy, Ohio. I determined that Louise’s first husband was Henry Wessa.
I confess that there are times while I am researching that my imagination runs wild. I discovered Henry Wessa as a Sergeant in the Ohio 187th Regiment, Company K, and knew that was the same regiment and company of Louise’s father. I was slightly horrified. I hoped and prayed that Louise had not married a man who would have been nearly 50 years her senior! Thank goodness I learned that Henry Wessa had a son, Henry Ellsmith Wessa. Henry E. Wessa was born in 1865 in Pomeroy, Ohio, (or Kentucky – the records vary). This still means that he was 20 years older than Louise. Henry E. Wessa was a career soldier. He enlisted in the 2nd U.S. Cavalry in 1898 and served in the Spanish American War. Henry’s civilian occupation was noted to be a puddler, a skilled job in an ironworks. His service records show that he was posted in Cuba and the Phillipines. In 1900 he was stationed at Hamilton Barracks at Matanzas, Cuba, located about 57 miles west of Havana. In 1902, when he reenlisted for the third time, he did so from Santa Mesa, near Manila, in the Philippine Islands. His record indicates that that he was a cook during this time.
Eventually, Henry Wessa left the military on a disability discharge. I located his pension index card and was curious about the contents of his pension file. About 10 years ago, I wrote to the National Archives requesting a copy of Henry’s pension record, but they responded that they were unable to locate his file.
Henry Wessa Pension Index Card – National Archives and Records Administration. U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934
The Register of Enlistments in the United States Army for 1907 gives his last date of service as 16 December 1907 due to disability. There is another date 6 July 1909, but it is not clear to me what that means. The remarks in the record say that he was “Dis. at G.H. San Francisco, Cal.” I wonder if “G.H.” refers to General Hospital. Despite his long service, Henry Wessa never rose above the rank of Private.
Where and when Louise Miller came together with Henry Wessa is unclear, but they married in Alameda County on 13 August 1909. There is no indication that Henry was previously married, even though he was already 44 years old. He worked on and off as a cook. By 1916, Henry was admitted to the U.S. National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Los Angeles. He was still an “inmate” there for the 1920 census and may have been there for the remainder of his life. Henry Wessa died on 6 March 1928.
A few years back, I stumbled across Louise Miller in a family tree on Ancestry.com, and this is how I learned that her second husband was Leander Perry Bell. I contacted the owner of the tree, Mary Lou, and she told me that Leander Bell was her granduncle (her father’s uncle). Mary Lou’s family was very close to Aunt Louise, even though they were only related to her by marriage. Mary Lou explained that she has some postcards written between Henry and Louise. Mary Lou said that some are quite romantic. I would love to see them, because they may show that Louise met Henry back in Ohio. Clearly, their fathers had a connection.
It turns out that Leander “Lee” Bell was also a soldier during the Spanish American War. In June 1898 he volunteered for the 49th Iowa, Company B and he mustered out in May 1899. He too, was disabled and drew a pension for his military service. It now seems likely that Louise met Lee at the National Disabled Soldier’s home in L.A. where her husband, Henry, resided. Lee Bell entered the home in April of 1921 and his medical problems are listed as “defective vision, chronic gastritis, and occasional vertigo.”
Leander Perry Bell (Courtesy of his niece)
Louise and Leander Bell married on 28 August 1928, five months after Henry’s death. Lee was about 10 years Louise’s senior and, sadly, he passed away in 1941. After that, Louise never married again. She never had any children with either husband and, so, she is now remembered as a favorite aunt.