Ralph was back in Larned, and out of the army. It was the summer of 1919. He quickly found work as a lineman for The Pawnee Power and Water Company.
Chleo had just finished high school. She was living at home with her mother, and they were working at the Ideal Steam Laundry.
Ralph and Chleo rekindled their relationship and talked of marriage.
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Continue readingWith orders for home, the 137th Regiment boarded trains at Sampigny on March 7. They arrived in the Le Mans area three days later. The companies were dispersed to surrounding towns and villages, Company M to Monfort-les-Gesnois. Far from the desolate battlefields, the men enjoyed a couple weeks of “the best accommodations since [their] arrival in France,” whether in billets or private homes.
Easter Aboard the Manchuria
On May 9, 1918, soldiers of the 137th Infantry disembarked their ships and set foot on French soil at Le Havre.
The 137th served a few weeks with the British in Northern France and then by three days of forced marches and three days train travel moved to the eastern end of the Western Front, near Gerardmer, from where it went into the line with French troops on German soil near Switzerland on June 18, 1918.
A History of the 137th Infantry, An All-Kansas Regiment
In 1916, Ralph Jarvis had met Chleo Webb and started a relationship. At 16, Chleo was still in high school. Ralph, 22, was working as a lineman.
Their lives would be interrupted by The Great War.
What was going on in Larned in the spring and summer of 1916? We’ll pick up on three story lines to find out.
Chleo Webb (1G) had been born in 1900 on the farm south of Larned. She was the youngest of the five children.
Continue readingJohn Webb had died in January 1903. By 1905, Anna Webb had moved her family into the town of Larned and into the Rock House at 219 Kansas Street.
John Webb had died in January 1903.
Shortly after John died, Anna moved the family to the town of Larned. She decided she’d be better able to raise five children with a job in town instead of farming. She moved to the “Rock House.”
Continue readingJohn Webb left Virginia in 1885. By 1887 he was in Abilene, Dickinson County, Kansas.
In 1886, at around age 19, Anna Buhrer moved to Dickinson County and stayed in the household of her sister Caroline.
We’re fortunate to have two guest authors today.
In August 1947, the Larned Chronoscope, a local newspaper, published the recollections of sisters Anna Buhrer Webb and Lucy Buhrer Hays about their early days in Pawnee County.
If we told these stories, we’d be accused of embellishment. It’s amazing to hear how our grandparents forged a life on the Kansas prairie.
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Family Nibbles 