Grandma Belle was only 57 when she died at the hospital for the insane in Madison, IN. She had been living with her son and daughter-in-law, Ivan and Rose, and according to family stories, was very emotional, walking from room to room screaming. She also had migraines. She had only been in the hospital for a week or two when she died.
Belle was one of the younger children of Alex Gamble who had been born in Ireland. They lived in Scott County, IN where she married William Taylor Lynch when she was 25 (and he 22) at a time when an unwed 25 year old was almost considered an old maid. Also, she had only 3 children, unusual in those days. Her youngest daughter died at age13. Aunt Mary said Grandma Belle doted on her son. There was an incident when a young man was hit by a train in Scott County, and Belle ran up the railroad track screaming, "Not my blessed Ivan!"
A couple of family stories may or may not be true. One, Belle was very bright and she organized the assembly line at the Morgan Packing Company. Two, an aunt by marriage told my sister that the rumor in Scott County was that Ivan, the oldest, was the son of a Morgan (founders of the packing company) rather than of Wid Lynch. My sister arranged for Ivan's grandson and a Lynch cousin to have DNA tested, and twelve markers matched, perhaps verifiying that Ivan was indeed a Lynch. (And the Morgan Packing Company wasn't even founded when Ivan was born.)
In the photos above, Belle is shown with Wid and three grandsons when she was about fifty and with Wid and the children when she was about forty.
Sue<William Ervin Lynch<Ivan Ebert Lynch<Martha Isabelle Gamble
Belle Gamble Lynch was Aunt Belle to Harold Christie. I talked with Harold when visiting he and my Aunt Mabel Casey, his second wife. Harold remembered his aunt well and told me some stories about her because I was her great granddaughter and had not known her. It was Harold who pointed out that she was a foreman at Morgan Packing and had designed the first assembly line there. He recalled that she habitually peeled an apple with a knife with one long peel. He also knew from knowing the pharmacist in town that she had treated her headaches with morphine (which was legal in those days), and as I recall, Harold believed her problems were a result of morphine addiction. My father told me that his grandmother chased him around the yard with a stick because she couldn't stand the noise the kids were making. At the time he was less than 4 years old. This would have been shortly before she went to the hospital. I believe her death certificate said she died of atherosclerosis. Jude Lamare
ReplyDeleteDeath certificate showed nephritis, or kidney problem. Perhaps morphine use brought that on.
ReplyDeleteThe Harold Christie that Jude quoted is the nephew of Belle: His mother, Ella, is a sister of Belle's. Harold was born about l903, or l3 years before Belle died.
ReplyDeleteI remember something else that Harold told me. He said that Belle had wanted to go to Ohio (perhaps Cincinnati) and work for Gambles (cousins/uncle?) there who had a factory. However, her mother did not want her to go and I believe the family would not let her go. I got the impression that she was a very hard worker and ambitious while her husband Wid was not, and had a reputation for being "laid back." Jude
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