Ethel Frances Isabelle Manis Hoover - the grandmother I never met

My grandmother, my mother's mother, Ethel Hoover, the first wife of Jim Hoover.  All I know about my grandmother I learned from my mother, listening to my aunts talking when they got together, and lots of genealogical research

I researched census records and there I found her living with her parents in her aunt and uncles house at age 3.  I later found her obituary, her marriage record, her death record, her gravestone, and census records.  I still have not located her family in the 1920 Census. Ethel was born on September 24, 1896 in Wabash, Indiana to Lester Parker Manis and Cora Gibson Manis.  I am not sure when they relocated to Richmond, but her father was born in Henry County and his mother was living in Richmond.  Ethel lived next door to Jim's sister, Luella in 1910.  They married on February 12, 1912.

Ethel and Jim had 6 children born between 1913 and 1928.  They lived in Richmond most of those years, with a few years in Connersville when he was the minister of the Pilgrim Holiness Church there.

My mother's cousin, Jim Adams, recently told me a story about the day that my grandmother had her stroke that caused her death.  He was living with Martha Hoover Solomon and her husband Bill at that time.  He was only about 5 years old. He said that Ethel

Martha holding one of her children.

and Jim came over to visit them and as they were walking up the steps at 1344 Harris Street, in Richmond, Indiana, Ethel fell over into the shrubs.  Bill Solomon rushed over to help Jim get her up.  He thought she had missed a step, so he laughed and asked her if she had been hitting the bottle.  She had had a major stroke and she died either the next day or the day after.

My mother was 15 when her mother died.  At the time of Ethel's death, Jim still had four girls living at home.  Jim's mother and step-father died within a few weeks of Ethel.   They are all buried in Chester Cemetery in Richmond.

My mom told me a few stories about her mother.  She talked about her mother being born with a veil over her face.  My mother didn't believe in fortune tellers, but she said her mother was a very religious woman but she just seemed to know things.  She loved her mother very much and talked about what a kind, loving person she was.

Martha Hoover, Luella Hoover, and Ethel Manis

Until just a few years ago I had only seen one picture of my grandmother.  I have located some in the last few months. My sister had located some,  I found cousins who had them and Jim Adams's had one that he sent to me.  I hope to find more as I locate more people who knew her.