Albert Phillip Oswald Sepsis • 1932

Albert Phillip Oswald

b. 13 May 1883

m. Julia Ann File 25 April 1906

d. 15 August 1932

Albert was Henry Oswald's middle son, one of nine siblings. You can find Henry's sad Tale in last week's post.

Albert seemed to struggle with maintaining a steady job. His first job was on a farm in 1910. In 1917 he was going door-to-door as a salesman. Later he worked as a carpenter for various companies. The Great Depression saw him trying to make a living as a farmer near Boody Illinois.

He never owned a home. Census records always show him as a tenant.

His wife Julia has a Tale of her own.

1912

Albert was a Roman Catholic but the records for his daughter Allegra's baptism show that his wife Julia was not. A photo of the church is in Henry Oswald's Tale.

1917 Rawleigh Man

The 1920 census lists Albert as a saleman. He was a "Rawleigh Man" and sold their products. You can see the Rawleigh sign on the house behind the Oswald family.

Photo of a typical Rawleigh salesman. Not Albert, though.

The W.T. Rawleigh company is still in business. One of their taglines is "Quality vitamins and supplements since 1889". https://www.wtrawleigh.com/

1932

He was renting a farm near the corner of Highway 48 and the Elwin blacktop. The two houses shown here are on the east side of 48. One of the could be the farm, or it could have been torn down, or on the other side of 48.

He was repairing a fence on the farm when his leg was was cut by barbed wire. It became infected. Penicillin was not widely used yet. He died of sepsis.

The address was listed as Route 2, near Boody.

He had chickens, a pig, a cow, and some land for crops. After he died, his best friend stole the cow and the neighbors stole the pig. Sheesh.

That's All, Folks!

Mt. Gilead Cemetery, Illinois. Located south of Decatur on Mt. Gilead Road.

39.78917, -88.95084

My goal in all of the Dead Family Tales is to present stories that would have been told around a kitchen table or campfire during family gatherings.

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