Person Page 3,044

Fox, Morter, Benedict, and Barr Family Tree, genealogy prepared by krazyguy at ancestry.com.

OBITUARY:

MRS. GRETCHEN JACKSON

Orleans - Mrs. Gretchen Ochs Jackson, 56, died Monday night at her home in Orleans. She was part owner of the Ochs Funeral Home in partnership with a brother and sister, Everett Ochs and Miss Margaret Ochs. Other survivors are her husband, Fred; a daughter, Mrs. Eugene Hancock, and two grandchildren of New Albany and another brother, Bonnie Ochs of Indianapolis.

She was a member of the Orleans Christian Church, Tri Kappa Soroity, Easter Star lodge and the American Legion Auxiliary. Rites will be tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. at the funeral home with burial in Fairview Cemetery.

WEBSITE -

www.indianahistory.org/HBR/business_pdf/ochs_tetrick.pdf

Ochs-Tetrick Funeral Home Founded: 1860

Location: Corner of Jefferson and Second Streets, Orleans (1860–68); northwest corner of town square (1868–1930s); 187 East Jefferson Street (1930s– )

John Ochs, Sr., a native of Bilkeim, Germany, founded a furniture-making

enterprise on the corner of Jefferson and Second Streets in Orleans in 1860. He had

learned his trade at his father’s knee and after a five-year apprenticeship had come to

America. He had lived in New Albany from around 1856 to 1860 before settling in

Orleans. He made furniture from his home on Second and Jefferson Streets until 1868

when he purchased a frame building on the northwest corner of the Orleans town square.

The building served not only as a workshop and undertaking establishment but also as the residence for the Ochs family. John’s wife, Margaret Grauert Ochs, also a native of Germany, did not come to America until her husband sent for her in May of 1856. She arrived in New Albany carrying two children and only fifty cents and without the ability to read or speak English. She became a partner in the furniture business, responsible for the finishing and varnishing.

When a fire swept through the square in 1873 it wiped out the Ochs furniture and undertaking business and left the family of nine almost penniless. Ochs rebuilt the shop and started the business anew. Margaret died in 1891, and the Ochses’ daughter Amanda Ochs Alvis, a schoolteacher, took over the duties her mother had previously performed.

When John died at the age of eighty-six in 1906, his son, Charles Ochs, took over the family business.

Charles, born in 1863 in Orleans, had learned the cabinetmaking trade at home. In 1888 he married Hattie Moore. After attending school he started a construction company that he continued to run with the help of his two sons, Everett and Robert Ochs, until 1915. The construction firm was very successful. Charles and his sons built many of the homes in Orleans until the company ceased operation. In 1913 Charles gave the furniture business to his son Everett and son-in-law Edward Fields. Hattie, as her mother-in-law before her, was a true partner in the furniture and undertaking business. When a casket was ordered, it was her job to sew the bedding, muslin, and silk in the interior. If the order came late in the evening, she had to not only prepare the coffin but also cook breakfast for the customers before they left in the morning. According to family members, “a great part of the success of their business was attributed to her, as she went on every call . . . ministering to . . . families in many ways.”

The management of funerals was handled differently in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Around 1900 a poplar wood casket cost around $10. The average length of an Ochs-made casket was around six feet, but they sometimes made smaller ones for shorter people, children, and even pets. As was then the practice, many undertakers throughout the state, including the Ochses, prepared and embalmed bodies in the homes of the deceased, and showings did not take place in a funeral parlor.

Invitations arrived by post announcing the funeral of an individual, and horse-drawn carriages transported the deceased to cemeteries. In 1922 the East Jefferson Street site was purchased for the family residence and was transformed into a funeral home only in the 1930s. In the lot next to the home the family erected a furniture-making establishment in 1925, an operation that continued into the early 1970s.

When Hattie Ochs died on the eve of the Great Depression, her daughter Margaret and son Robert began to assist their father Charles in the businesses. Then their brother Everett, a World War I veteran, graduated from a mortuary school in 1935 and took over the funeral division from their ailing father. After Robert’s death in 1937, Margaret and Everett continued to run the furniture company and the funeral home until 1965, when Everett passed away. Margaret remained head of both operations for another eight years.

Margaret and Everett’s sisters Gretchen Ochs Jackson and Bonnie Ochs helped in the business until their deaths in 1937 and 1955, respectively. Gretchen was the only child of Hattie and Charles to have any children—one daughter, Barbara Jackson Hancock, who had two children, Patricia Hancock and J. Brent Hancock. None of the relatives claimed the 112-year-old set of companies in 1973, and they were sold.

Charles Lewis and Frank Braman bought the funeral business, keeping it for only two years before selling it to Lewis and Georgia Tetrick. Since that time, the couple has renovated the home on East Jefferson Street to provide for more spacious viewing rooms and handicapped entrances. In 1999 the Tetricks continued to operate the home, which was the fourth-oldest funeral business in the state and the oldest continuously operating enterprise in Orange County.

NOTE: This article is in error regarding the gender of Bonnie Ochs - Bonnie Ochs was a male & served in the military.

WEDDING ANNOUNCEMENT, New Albany, Indiana Ledger, Friday, 1943 Dec 17; Page: 3 Column: 4

Jackson-Hancock Marriage Announced

Announcement is made of the marriage of Miss Barbara Jackson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Jackson, Orleans to Air Cadet Alvin Eugene Hancock, son of Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Hancock of Hardinsburg which took place at the Orleans Methodist Church, December 11.

The bride is a teacher in Orleans High School and was graduated from Indiana University. She is a Tri Kappa. Cadet Hancock was graduated from Indiana law school and admitted to the Indiana State bar before entering the armed services. He is stationed at Great Lakes where the bride expects to join him later.

Notes for ZENO SHEETS:

In the 1900 Census, Zeno is shown living with his mother and step-father, Charles Jackson. In the 1920 Census, Zeno is shown Palisade, Eureka County, Nevada. He was living alone his marital status was single and his occupation was a carpenter on railroad bridges. By 1930 he was living in Oakland, Alameda Co., California. He was married to Margaret May (Unknown).

OBITUARY - Margaret May (___) Sheets, Nevada State Journal (Reno, Nevada); April 15, 1953; (Ancestry.com:

Oakland Woman Stricken Here

Margaret May Sheets of Oakland died in a Reno hospital yesterday after a short illness. She had been in Reno for the last ten days visiting her niece, Mrs. Dolly Malley.

A former resident of Dunsmuir, Calif., she had made her home in Oakland for the last 30 years.

Surviving are her husband, Zeno Sheets of Oakland; two sisters, Mrs. Myrtle Hogan of Oroville and Mrs. Ethel M. Wolfe of Lodi, Calif.; two nieces, Mrs. Dolly Malley of Reno and Mrs. Ruth McLeod of Petaluma, Calif.; grand-nieces and nephews Davis, Charles, Bonnie, Juanita, Wayne and Linda Taylor of Reno, Patsy and Judy Martin of Portola, Calif.

Deaths - Margaret May (___) Sheets, Nevada State Journal (Reno, Nevada); April 17 1953; (Ancestry.com):

SHEETS -- In Reno, April 14, 1953. Margaret May Sheets of Oakland; wife of Zeno Sheets of Oakland; sister of Mrs. Myrtle Hogan of Oroville, Mrs. Ethel M. Wolfe of Lodi, Calif.; niece {aunt] of Mrs. Dolly Malley of Reno and Mrs. Ruth McLeod of Petaluma, Calif.; grand-aunt of Davis, Charles, Bonnie, Juanita, Wayne and Linda Taylor of Reno, Patsie and Judy Martin of Portola, Calif.

Funeral services will be held at the Brussie funeral home in Chico, Calif. and burial at 2 p.m. Friday in Chico Calif. O'Brien Rogers Co. in charge of local arrangements.

OBITUARY - April 13, 1998

Hazel I. Roche

88, New Albany native

Funeral services for Hazel I. Roche, 88, of Louisville, will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 15, at Market Street Chapel of Seabrook Dieckmann & Naville Funeral Homes, with burial in Kraft Graceland Memorial Park. She died Sunday, April 12, 1998, at Suburban Medical Center, Louisville.

She was a native of New Albany, was a retired cafeteria worker at Lillian Emery Elementary School, New Albany and was a member of St. Mark's United Church of Christ, New Albany. She was the widow of John H. Roche.

Survivors include three sons, Stewart Roche, Louisville, Gerald Roche, St. Augustine, Fla. and Keith Roche, Atlanta, GA; a daughter, Mary Lou Leidgen, Louisville and four grandchildren.

The family requests that expressions of sympathy take the form of ...

OBITUARY - New Albany, Indiana Tribune, April 13, 1998; page 3 column 3:

Hazel I. Roche

LOUISVILLE -- Hazel I. Roche, 88, formerly of New Albany, died yesterday at Suburban Medical Center.

She was a native of New Albany, a retired cafeteria worker at Lillian Emery Elementary School, the widow of John H. Roche and a member of St. Mark's United Church of Christ.

Survivors include three sons, Stewart Roche, Louisville, Gerald Roche, St. Augustine, Fla. and Keith Roche, Atlanta, GA; a daughter, Mary Lou Leidgen of Louisville; and four grandchildren.

Services are 1 p.m. Wednesday at the market Street Chapel of Seabrook Dieckmann & Naville Funeral Home, with burial in Kraft-Graceland Memorial Park. Visitation is 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Memorial gifts may go to the American Lung Association.

OBITUARY - New Albany Tribune; June 23, 1960; page 2 column 4:

Clarence Reasor

Clarence Edward Reasor, 72, died unexpectedly at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday in his home in Greenville. He was employed with the Sacony-Vacumn Oil Company for 20 years before his retirement seven years ago, and a resident of Greenville for the past 20 years.

He was a member of Chapel Hill Christian Church at Borden and the New Albany lodge of the International Order of Odd Fellows.

Surviving are a daughter, Mrs.. Mildred Hayes, Clarksville; a brother, Martin Reasor, Floyds Knobs. and a sister, Mrs. Della Michan, New Albany.

The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Johnson Funeral Home in Clarksville. Burial will be in the Greenlawn Cemetery at Greenville. The body will be at the funeral home after 5 p.m. today.

NOTE -- Headstone location and Findagrave.com memorial indicate he was actually buried at the Atkins Chapel Cemetery at Floyds Knobs.

Notes for CLARENCE EDWARD REASOR:

After Clarence & Violet divorced, Clarence married Lula Brown and later married Della R. (Unknown). He & Della (or Delta) were divorced in 1950.

OBITUARY - New Albany, Indiana Tribune, April 21 1980; page 8 column 1:

Fred Meyer

Fred H. Meyer, 82, of 2642 Knob View, died at 12:25 a.m. Sunday at Clark County hospital.

He was a retired employee of the Colgate-Palmolive Co.

Survivors include a daughter, Mrs. Ray Hayes of Clarksville; two sisters, Miss Josephine Meyer of Louisville and Mrs. Russell Payne of New Albany.

The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Chapman Funeral Home in Clarksville, with burial in Walnut Ridge Cemetery.

The body is at the funeral home.

Note: Mrs. Ray Hayes, listed in the above obituary, was Mildred (Reasor) Hayes. She was actually Fred's step-daughter.