First-Generation Daflers, Part 7: Maggie Dafler

This is the seventh in a series of deep-dive studies into each of the eleven children of John Wolfgang and Catherine Dafler.

Margaret Anna Catherine Dafler was born in Maryland on July 6, 1858. Once again, we have no birth or baptismal records other than those recorded in the Dafler Book. From property records, she appears to be the last child born to her parents John and Catherine during their time at their first farm near Westminster. As the seventh child and third daughter, perhaps her arrival was part of the reason the family relocated a different farm in nearby Hampstead when she was six months old. Margaret was the youngest of the Dafler children recorded during the census enumerator’s visit on July 20^th, 1860; she had just celebrated her second birthday. She moved to Ohio at an unknown time – but due to her age and since she appears in no other earlier records, I believe she arrived in the company of her parents and siblings around 1867. She appears with them on the 1870 census as an 11-year-old, and with them on the 1880 census as a 21-year-old.

Maggie had several roles in her life, but none of them were well documented. We have scant evidence of her service in her first role as schoolteacher. It’s reasonable to believe that her teaching career started when she was a 21-year-old around 1880, according to the 1880 census. Records at this time did not detail teacher assignments to any particular schools. From this 1875 map of Jackson Township, there were two schools (circled in green) reasonably close to the Dafler farm (circled in blue):

From the 1875 L.H. Everts "Combination Atlas Map of Montgomery County, Ohio"

It’s worth noting at this point that the training and lifestyle of a schoolteacher in 1880 was significantly different than modern teachers. One-room schoolhouses for primary education were the norm in Preble and Montgomery counties. Histories of Montgomery County described eleven separate schoolhouses in Jackson Township in 1882 – each were built of brick and were the traditional one-room schoolhouse design. Educational records from Montgomery County’s Board of Education claim 125 teachers in 1880; these teachers supported a nominal student-teacher ratio of 49:1. Teachers were trained by a single year’s study at a “normal school” – an educational program devoted to training local teachers and forming a pipeline for educators for the local school system. After graduation from the normal school, teachers would undergo continuing education at annual “teacher’s institutes” – a weeklong series of talks on educational subjects, typically held in the week before school started. Maggie attended the Preble County Teacher’s Institute in 1880 as a visiting teacher. Finally, ongoing teacher examinations ensured that the educators kept their skills sharp. Maggie was reported as undertaking the county exam in 1888. The questions on the Preble County school examiner’s exam for 1885 were published in the Eaton Democrat; you can see what the teachers were measured against in the article below.

Excerpts from the 9/2/1880 and 8/20/1885 Eaton Democrat and the 5/15/1888 Dayton Herald.

Maggie’s teaching career continued until at least 1888, but the death of her father in December 1887 led her to a new role where she increasingly took care of her widowed mother. At some point before 1900, Catherine moved off of the farm near Johnsville, and a property was bought in Richmond where Catherine and Margaret could live and rent out rooms for income. (The 1890 census would probably shed a lot of light on the timing; yet another reason to wish that census wasn’t destroyed!)

It's probable that the care of Catherine – widowed at the age of 62 – was shared based on the ability of her children to assist, and significant portions of this work fell to Maggie and Wesley. Her oldest sons – John, David, Christian and Lewis – were farmers with wives and growing families at this time; there may not have been space to accommodate Catherine at their homes. (Lewis, of course, also lived in Kansas at the time of his father’s death.) Rosanna, as the oldest daughter, may have had physical disabilities after the train accident; she also lived farther away (in London, Ohio) by then and had three children to raise. Elizabeth may have committed to providing some level of support, but her marriage to Thomas Dillon in 1893 led her to Dayton. While not serving as an on-site caregiver, Elizabeth ran frequent classified ads in Dayton newspapers soliciting for renters for a farm west of Dayton. These ads probably referred to the Dafler farm that the family retained until after Catherine’s 1914 death. The remaining Dafler sons – Charles and Upton – were too young to care for Catherine financially. Thus, Maggie took on the role of live-in caretaker, and Wesley provided financial support. From this time forward, Catherine lodged in Richmond, with Maggie, in a succession of homes.

Catherine was listed as the owner of a large building on 817 N. Tenth Street in the 1900 Census. Her son Wesley lived next door, at 821 N. Tenth. Maggie, a 41-year-old spinster, lived with her mother, as did her brother Upton with his wife Elizabeth and son Earl. Also living in the Catherine Dafler lodgings were six boarders – single men in their twenties and thirties, performing semiskilled labor in Richmond. One of these lodgers was a twenty-two year old man from Ohio named Will Toliver.

Maggie and Will married on April 28, 1901 in Richmond, Indiana. Maggie was nearly eighteen years older than her husband. After their marriage, there are no further indications of Maggie working as a teacher. Instead, her role changed to prioritize maintaining their home and caring for her mother, along with dedicated service in the ministries of the Grace Methodist Episcopal Church. During this period, she was very active in the Women's Foreign Missionary Society, giving talks on international religions and serving in elected positions. She also contributed to the compilation of the Dafler Family Tree. Will worked largely as a machinist and engine operator. In 1914, he was working with the Rumely Co. (the successors to Gaar, Scott &Co, one-time employers of Wesley and John) and traveled with Upton Dafler to Grand Forks, North Dakota to work on machinery there.

From the Nov. 10, 1929 Richmond Item.

Margaret C. Toliver died on November 9, 1929, aged 71, in her home in Richmond. She had no children. Will died in 1953, after two further marriages. His death led to a protracted probate. Beneficiaries listed in his 1950 will included his final wife as well as Upton Dafler, his sister Laura, and Rosanna Kepler’s surviving daughters Dora and Margaret. Unfortunately, Will didn’t inform his ex-wife that he had revoked his 1949 will the following year - leading the First National Bank of Richmond to sue to clarify the situation.

Maggie’s story reminded me how the things that we take for granted today were a luxury in the past. I have never entertained a serious thought that any of my children would be unable to read or write as adults. But when Rosanna Catherine was born, that was the reality for many children. Her 1900 census entry reports her inability to read or write in the English language, and she never signed her name in any record I’ve found. She “made her mark”, a shaky “X” inscribed beside her name, instead. Her move to America ensured each of her children enjoyed an education, regardless of their gender. In fact, all three of her daughters enjoyed an education that enabled later successes as spouses, mothers, and citizens. Rosanna was a woman of letters and a charter member of the Madison County Suffrage Society who saw all three of her own daughters become high school graduates; Elizabeth owned and managed real estate independently form her husbands; and Margaret learned in order to teach others. All three also collaborated on the research, correspondence, and compilation of the original Dafler Family Tree. Seeing how our family progressed in a single generation - from illiteracy and being on the sidelines of society to educated citizens, advocating for full participation in society - is just another way I've been inspired by the family heritage we share.