I'm so glad I started researching my family history when I was only 16. I would have missed out on so much if I had waited till I was older. My grandma Mary had a wealth of memories, stories, and photos to share with me, and she couldn't have been more elated when I expressed interest. The first time I went over to her house with the purpose of learning about our past, she brought out photo after photo of people I had never even heard of-- people who had been so important to her childhood. Two of those people were her grandparents, Elmer and Lottie Ash Oder. See, my grandma's father left her and her mother when she only about seven years old. So her mother, Helen, and my grandma went to live with Helen's parents-Elmer and Lottie. Elmer owned a hardware store that he built in front of their house on College Avenue in Indianapolis, and my grandma has fond memories of helping him in the store and interacting with the customers, especially the time she and a friend had a lemonade stand he brought all the salesmen down to buy from them.
Elmer Kerr Oder was born in March 1866 to Marshall and Catherine Kerr Oder. Lottie Ann Ash was born in February 1867 to Cookston and Melissa Jane Coen Ash. They met in Bellefontaine, Ohio, and were married on Decemeber 1, 1890.
Wedding photo of Elmer & Lottie
My grandma had so many fond memories of her grandparents, who practically raised her, but something she said stuck out to me: "They were very much in love."
Helen, Lottie, Grandma Mary, Elmer
Christmas Day 1920s
Elmer passed away in 1943 and Lottie in 1955. They are buried side by side at Washington Park East Cemetery in Indianapolis.
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