There
is not much left of Iler, Ohio. Sitting
roughly between Fostoria and Bettsville in Seneca County, Iler is a tad south
of State Route 12 on County Road 592. Unincorporated
now, Iler lived (and died) by its location on the Nickel Plate railroad. The village gained a post office in 1885, and
offered most of the amenities that hamlets needed. A brick and tile factory, general store, and telegraph
office could be found in Iler at the turn of the last century (1900). Never mind that the Iler railroad station was
a converted boxcar; if one needed big city comforts, Toledo or Cleveland could
easily be reached by rail.
A
taste of Iler in its heyday can be found reading the 1918 diary of resident
Robert F. Keller. Keller (1888-1961) was
a 29 year old farmer with a wife (Rose), a son and two daughters. His father, Uzziah N. Keller, was a prominent
citizen of Iler, helping organize the local Farm Bureau and teaching school for
many years. We are not sure why Robert
Keller began a diary that year. It might
have had something to do with World War I.
Other than the backdrop of war, his life seemed to go on pretty much as
normal (for an early twentieth century farmer).
Let’s
sample some of the entries Mr. Keller made in the pivotal month of November”
November 2 Saturday
We
hauled in two bags of fodder. Cleaned
out horse stable. I husk 5 shocks of
corn this a.m.
++Corn was shocked
earlier in the autumn. Each individual
stalk of corn was cut and propped up against a “gallus,” or a framework of four
unpicked stalks. Left to dry for several
weeks, the ears of corn were husked, or the removal of the papery covers of the
ears.
November 5 Tuesday
We
helped Newcomer finish shredding [corn] at noon Frank took us to vote we husk this P.M.
++ Possibly Levi B.
Newcomer (1843-1920)[i],
a neighborhood farmer.
November 6 Wednesday
We
finished husking corn to day. . . . we hauled in big load this eve.
November 11 Monday
Garry
& I husk corn for Ed Morrison to day.
I went to town tonight to march in Parade
++November 11 was the
day of the armistice, or the day that Germany surrendered to the Allies. Now celebrated as Veterans Day, crowds of
patriots cheered the news, and many were the parades and celebrations in the
chilly November air. This parade was
likely in Fostoria.
November 14 Saturday
Garry
helped Ed husk corn & done chores. I
plowed. I went to sale.
++We cannot be sure of
the identity of “Garry.” Was he a hired
man, or a shirttail relative? His name
appears often in the diary; so does Ed, for that matter. Husking corn was a tedious job, only partly
helped by corn husking tools. Keller
took time off to go to a farm auction while Garry husked and husked.
November 18 Monday
It
drizzled rain about all day. I went up
town. I went to Lodge. Got 50 nails.
++Keller belonged to
the Knights of Pythias, a fraternal organization, and “secret society.” Founded in 1864, the Knights still do
charitable work, especially with victim of cystic fibrosis
November 20 Wednesday
Done
chores Garry went to town got meat bbl. We killed hog this pm, Jay helped us….
November 21 Thursday
We
cut up meat. Tinkered around barn. Garry went to Iler to Plow at noon.
November 25 Monday
We
hauled in rest of corn & load of fodder
loaded up hay & Garry went to Iler to plow I helped Masoner kill hog. . . .
++Butchering was the
big chore in late November. Rural
families were still bound by the weather in 1918; butchering had to wait for
freezing temperatures to preserve the meat.
Then the whole family worked as a group to kill the pig, scrape off the
hair, drain the blood, and cut up the sections.
Smaller families often had help from friends and neighbors at
butchering.
November 28 Thursday
We
was home all day. H. Wade B. Lord &
Garryers [?] came down to hunt. It
rained Garry had company
++By long standing
tradition, Thanksgiving is a day for hunting.
You will notice that Keller and his friends did not even use the word
“thanksgiving,” but this was the day appointed by president Woodrow Wilson for
the holiday in 1918. Thanksgiving falls
squarely in hunting season, and given a federal holiday in late November,
hunters took advantage of the day to pursue a favorite outdoor pastime. It was also a god day for cold weather meat
preservation, as mentioned above.
Robert Keller ran the Iler farm until 1939, when his son,
also Robert, took over. The family
stopped farming in 1948. Robert Keller
died in 1961 and is buried in Fostoria.
Iler slowly perished as the years went on. The post office closed in 1923; the tile
factory closed, and workers found jobs in Fostoria and elsewhere. Such has been the story of many rural hamlets
that could not survive in the twentieth century.
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