Weekly Beacon, Friday, November 3, 1911, North Baltimore, Ohio

Monday morning at four o'clock, at the the home of her mother, Mrs. J. A. Aldridge, in this city, occurred the death of Leona Frankfother, after months of suffering, she having been confined to bed since Easter Sunday with lung trouble.

She was only seventeen years of age at the time of her death, and besides her mother leaves two sisters, Mrs. Ernest Matthews, of Tiffin, and Miss Cora Frankfother, and two brothers, Wilson and David.

The funeral was held Wednesday morning at ten o'clock at the U.B. Church, conducted by Rev. J.O. Rhodes. She was laid to rest beside her father in the Jerry City cemetery.

~~~~

Frankforter-Frankfather-Frankfother
Cigar Roller

Father Thomas Jefferson Frankfother
Mother Mary Margaret Bloom

siblings:
Bertha *
Wilson
David
Emma
Sylvia Ann
Cora

Ohio Birth Record
Name Leona Frankfather
Event Type Birth Event Date 16 Jun 1894
Event Place Montgomery, Wood, Ohio
Father's Name Thomas Frankfather
Mother's Name Mary M. Bloom

Ohio Death Record
Name Leona Frankfother
Event Type Death Event Date 30 Oct 1911
Event Place No. Baltimore, Wood Co., Ohio
Age 17
Occupation Cigar Roller
Birth Date 16 Jun 1894 Birthplace Ohio
Burial Date 01 Nov 1911
Cemetery Maplewood **
Father's Name Thomas Frankfother Father's Birthplace Ohio
Mother's Name Mary Bloom Mother's Birthplace Penna.

*source: Matthews Family History Book
**1st cousin 3x removed

Note: The death certificate states "Maplewood" (now Old Maplewood) while the Weekly Beacon of November 3rd, 1911, states that Leona was buried next to her father in the Jerry City Cemetery. Cora Frankfother Bosler, Leona's sister, stated that Leona was buried in the Jerry City Cemetery, but the markers disappeared in the 1920s, the graves apparently absorbed into adjacent farmland. This information is based on family records and conversations with my grandmother. Daniel Bosler, member #47788336

~~~

Leona and her sister Cora were the last Frankfother children living at home, and were very close. Cora recalled many years later how they both had hair that reached well below their waists, and would arrange it for one another in the elaborate fashion of those times. There are many photos of Leona, alone and with friends and family, and in them she is quite well dressed despite the fact that the family's finances did not allow for much of a wardrobe. Friends and photographers loaned her hats and dresses, a testament to how admired and well-liked she was. Those who cherished her presence in their lives wanted her shown at her very best.

Cora spoke movingly of her sister's illness and death, recalling how Leona contracted tuberculosis from a visitor staying with the family, and her long, agonizing decline, the details of that last night a harrowing account. School was closed the day of Leona's funeral so her many friends could attend.

Cora treasured one of Leona's favorite books, a collection of poetry by William Cullen Bryant. Her favorite in the now fragile volume was Bryant's most famous, Thanatopsis. While ill, she found comfort in the poem, and the following line is perhaps the best epitaph for a young woman who lies in an unmarked, lost grave:

". . . Yet a few days, and thee,
The all-beholding sun shall see no more
In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground,
Where thy pale form was laid, with many tears,
Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist
Thy image. Earth that nourished thee, shall
claim
Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again . . ."