(submitted by June Davis)
Samuel Alonzo Wambaugh married Barbara Ann (Annie) Sitter in Warwick Twp. in 1908. In 1912, they purchased the west ½ of Lot 26, Con. 4 NER, Warwick Twp. and called it Pine Trail Farm. Their children were: Alice Gertrude (1909–2002), George William (1911–1990), Mary Caroline (1912–1991), Margaret Edna (1913–2001), Helen Mable (1914–1999), Anna Catherine (Kate, 1916–2005), Elmer (1918–1996), and Elsie (1918–1991). Elmer and Elsie were twins known as Tuggs and Tess. They attended SS#8, Warwick.
Samuel farmed, but also erected and repaired Samson windmills, shipped Orange Blenheim apples from his orchard, sent milk to the Arkona Cheese Factory, and sold Sarnia Fence and Delco energy systems. The farm was serviced by Delco power. His crops were wheat, oats, barley, hay, corn, potatoes, turnip, and mangels for the cows. The stock included pigs, cows, goats, guinea hens, and a few turkeys.
Samuel received his Canadian citizenship in 1920 and died a few months later. Annie was left with eight children under the age of eleven. Fortunately she had help from her aunt, Barbara Sitter Bearss, who lived with them. The girls quilted, hooked rugs, and baked. The boys cut blocks of ice from the pond to store in sawdust in the ice-house until needed, charged the Delco batteries, and did the other farm chores. The whole family picked apples from the trees to sell, collected windfall apples for the pigs, and pounded cabbage for sauerkraut. The children also had fun playing tricks on each other, making home-made stilts and playing crack-the-whip on the frozen pond. They enjoyed entering exhibits in Arkona Fair.
Sam and Annie’s children married and eventually left the township. Mary (m. Lawrence Prior) worked at the Arkona Woolen Mills. George went to Detroit and Elmer drove truck for his uncle Manny Sitter. During World War II, George was a sergeant in the US army, while Elmer was in the Canadian Forces. Kate and her husband, Robert Adams, returned to work the farm for a few years in the 1950s.
Wambaugh family, 1928: Elmer, Elsie, Katie, Helen, Margaret, Mary, George, Alice. Courtesy W Dunlop.
Chapter 24 of 25 - Wambaugh Family
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