Oswald Reginald BODWELL {M} = Ruby Belle SMITH {F}

Married 12 December 1906, Dereham, Ontario, Canada

Oswald Reginald BODWELL:

Born 6 July 1883, Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada
Died 5 May 1966, Norwich, Ontario, Canada
Oswald was born on July 6, 1883, in Ingersoll, Ontario. He grew up in a 13-room stone country house, Bleak House, named after a fictional property that Charles Dickens invented. For many of his adult years, he worked in his family's dairy there. His wife, Ruby, who he married in 1906, also helped at the dairy. For many years, some 200 pounds of butter a week and cream were produced there. Ruby later recalled that she moved 18 times with her family. The most memorable was a 1927 journey in a Star touring car from Canada to Brownsville, Texas. The party, with 2 parents and 7 children, took 14 days going and 12 coming back. In between, they discovered that the Texas land would not irrigate well enough to grow grapefruit, as planned, so they returned in 6 weeks, to their farm in Norwich, Ontario. The next year, Oswald became one of the farm overseers at Wildwood Farms, William E. Scripps' country estate near Lake Orion, Michigan. The family weathered the worst of the Depression years, until 1933, there. There were famous visitors, including major league baseball players and Amelia Earhart, who flew an experimental glider . The three Bodwell sons struggled in ropes and harness to propel her glider into the air to start her flight over the farm. Oswald's daughter, Margaret Lila Bodwell Armstrong, recalled being taught in the estate school with the Scripps children. She remembered Oswald encouraging family singing and lengthy storytelling, in the Celtic tradition. One summer there Oswald endured quarantine for a month to escape an epidemic of spinal meningitis. In 1977, during a reunion at son Graham Bodwell's farm in Metamora, Michigan, family members revisited the estate. The house they'd lived in was gone, but a row of other worker's houses had been nicely maintained as an Antique Village. The Scripps mansion had become a health facility. Oswald and Ruby celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary in 1964 with a dinner and an interview for the local newspaper. Oswald died on May 5, 1966, in Norwich, Ontario. Biography written by Mary Jo Armstrong, Oswald's granddaughter.
Born Died Married Spouse
6 Jul 1883 5 May 1966 12 Dec 1906 Ruby Belle Smith
Ingersoll, Ont Norwich, Ont Dereham, Ont. b. 12 Jun 1884


Ruby Belle SMITH:

Born 12 June 1884

Mary Isabelle BODWELL {F} = Edmund Frances KOESTER {M} > Family

Married 1 June 1945, Detroit, Wayne Co, MI

Mary Isabelle BODWELL:

Born 8 July 1918, Brampton, Ontario, Canada
Mary quit public school at an early age to care for her ill mother. She came to the United States when she was about 15 years old. She didn't take out first papers. She took out 2nd papers after her marriage to Ed. She has two daughters, Judy and Janet. Both daughters have two children. Mary worked most of her adult life as a waitress. She retired from the Dearborn Inn where she was feted with a large party for her many years of service.


Edmund Frances KOESTER:

Born 26 January 1906, Brooklyn, Kings Co, NY
Died January 1974, Dearborn, Wayne Co, MI
Buried Detroit, Wayne Co, MI at Grand Lawn Cemetery
Ed apprenticed the newspapers in New York as a young man. He went to Chicago and finally got his journeyman's card, returning to Detroit, working full time for the Detroit Times. When the Times closed, Ed went to work at the Detroit Free Press until his retirement.
Burial: There is a marker: Sec 6, Lot 139, Grave 1.

Marriage: Name Birth Date Birth Place Death Date Death Place
1. Jean Evelyn 22 Mar 1907 Salford, Ont 10 Jul 1989 Schenectady, NY
2. Graham Smith 27 Oct 1911 Salford, Ont
3. Howard Harvey 17 May 1913 Salford, Ont 30 Jun 2000 Albany, NY
4. Margaret Lila 19 Oct 1915 Ingersoll, Ont Feb 1997 Arlington, VA
5. Reuben James 3 Nov 1916 Ingersoll, Ont
6. Mary Isabelle 8 Jul 1918 Brampton, Ont
7. Jessie Alexandra 17 Jan 1920 Norwich, Ont 5 Feb 2001 obt Tigard, OR
8. Goldie Josephine 30 Jun 1922 Norwich, Ont 18 Mar 1996 Clackamas, OR