(Text of a letter from the papers of Mary Luetta [Fisher] Foulks, 1874-1946)
Ft. Wayne, Ind.
April 13th, 1907
Mrs. Etta Foulks
Sheldon, Ind.
R.F.D. #1
Dear Madam:-
Your husband called at our office today and advised us that he is going to leave this part of the country. He has executed and delivered to us, important papers in which he makes certain provisions for the maintenance of yourself and children. It is of vital importance to you that you come to our office at once. Mr. Hugh McFadden is also interested. We wish you would see Mr. McFadden and both of you come to the office next Monday afternoon. We have written Mr. McFadden in regard to this matter also.
Yours truly
W. & E. Leonard
/signed
W. & E. Leonard, Attorneys
N.W. Cor. Berry and Calhoun Streets
Fort Wayne, Ind.
[Epilogue: This is essentially the only documented information I have about my Foulks grandfather. My father - Wybourn Fisher Foulks -- and his siblings, Glenn and Mabel, have all passed away. No one knows what contact they may have had with their father after the abandonment. My cousin Nolan Schmidt, Mabel's son, says he recalls Albert once stopping by the Schmidt farm near Yoder (Sheldon), Indiana, apparently seeking to move in. Nolan says his dad, Otto, gave him a few dollars, and turned him away.Why Albert chose to abandon his family will likely never be known. I am aware, after studying many papers and letters of my grandmother Etta (Mary Luetta) Foulks, that the depression had caused serious financial problems for the family. But any conclusions based on that fact are purely speculative. He was to die in Indiana's State Hospital, at Richmond, on June 21, 1944. Although census information and city directories show that he spent some time as a motorman on Ft. Wayne's interurban rail system; what else he may have done during those 35+ years after the above letter was written is simply lost in history.
Hugh McFadden was the husband of Etta's sister, Lucinda Alice. Etta's files -- received letters, Christmas cards and such -- show that Etta and Lucy were quite close, and that Hugh shouldered the responsibilities of a 1930s "man of the family" after Albert abandoned Etta and her three children. Nothing in the several hundred pieces of paperwork of Etta's files makes any mention of Albert. The files show that Etta had money invested in Chicago real estate -- an apartment house and shares of other holdings; but they make for dismal reading when one encounters tax notices requiring payment higher than the return on the Chicago properties. Eventually, the files show a foreclosure notice on the apartment house, and the financial affairs topic disappears from the correspondence.
For a number of years Etta lived, alone, in Ft. Wayne; close enough to my mother's apartment, that Etta was an occasional baby-sitter for me in the early 40s. Her house was well-furnished with furniture, paintings, lamps and other items far more luxurious than any other house I knew as a pre-teenager. I remember Etta as stern, but fair. She was quite pleased that I could read well, and that I enjoyed reading, so she always had something fresh for me to read.
Etta's father, Sam, was not happy with Etta living alone, and eventually convinced her to move to the Fisher home in Pleasant Township. With several Fisher-owned farms in the Yoder (Sheldon) area, it can be surmised that Etta lived with brothers and sisters for her years after being abandoned. She passed away in 1946. The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette published this obituary notice on Saturday, Jan. 12, of that year.
"Mrs. Mary Luetta Foulks, 71, Fort Wayne, resident for the past 10 years, died at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Otto Schmidt, three miles west of Yoder. She had been ill one year. Surviving besides the daughter are three sons, Orville Ambler, Walkerton (Indiana) Glen Foulks, Miami, Florida, and Wybourn Foulks, near Yoder, and a sister, Mrs. Josiah Johnson (descendant of James & Rebecca); Zanesville; six grandchildren and five gr-grandchildren. The body will be removed from the Elzey and Son Funeral Home at Ossian to the Klaehn & Sons Funeral Home here Sunday noon. Funeral services will be held at Klaehn & Sons at 10:30 a.m. Monday, the Rev. Ernest Harrold officiating. Burial will be in Greenlawn Memorial Park."
In 2003, the mystery surrounding Albert continued with discovery of a 1930 photo that clearly shows him at some social event with his three then-adult children. More facts are waiting to be found. -- Thom Foulks]
Send E-mail to thomfoulks@foulks.com