Jan

Oct 9, 20224 min read

Strong-Willed Woman

Julia Ann File Oswald

This industrious soul came into the world on June 7, 1885. Born in Litchfield, Illinois to Frederick Sylvester File and Milberry Kirkland File, she was one of seven children born to Milberry. Only Julia and her brothers Fred and Elmer survived to adulthood.

1900 United States Census

The census shows that the Files owned their home and it was not part of a farm.

Home

Fred and Milberry's home in Bond County, Illinois.

1906 Wedding

Julia married Albert Philip Oswald on the 25th of April in Bond County, Illinois.

Their wedding photo is shown here.

1923 Decatur City Directory

The entry for that year's directory shows A. P. Oswald, living at 2587 East Main. If that is Julia's husband Albert, I am assuming that she and their nine children would be living there, too. The youngest child, Philip, was one year old. The oldest was Dorothy (16).

1926 Decatur City Directory

The family lived at 1168 W. Wood Street in Decatur, Illinois. Albert was a carpenter at the time. There are tennis courts there in 2022.

Widowed in 1932

Julia's husband Albert Oswald died from an infection. He had been repairing a fence and was cut by the barbed wire. At that time, antibiotics were still in the research stage and if you got an infection, it was very serious. The three oldest girls had married and moved to their own homes, but Julia was still left on her own with six children.

1940 Census

In 1935 she was living at 1189 W. Sunset in Decatur, Illinois. Her sons Earl (23), Robert (18), and Philip (17) were living with her. Her daughter Lucille and son-in-law Ez were living there in December of 1935 when granddaughter Lily was born.

Thinking outside the box

Across the street from the house on Sunset was Woodrow Wilson School. Julia saw an opportunity for business and rented out space in her basement where the children could store their bicycles while at school. Taking it up a notch, she even had a vending machine on the landing to the basement! I have always admired her strong resourcefulness.

1941 Decatur City Directory

Shows her working as a saleswoman at Roy Wilson's Ace Hardware store downtown. Located at 143 E. Main Street. A parking lot in 2022.

KIA

Her son Albert Pershing Oswald was killed in WWII from a Japanese torpedo in the Battle of Guadalcanal. You can read more about him in a previous post. Julia became very active in the Four Star and Gold Star Mother's associations. Her three other sons also saw active duty in WWII. See the post - WWII: Revis and Oswald.

1950 Census

Her son Phil had married Mildred (Midge) Renkin in 1949 and the three of them were living together at the Sunset Avenue home.

1957 Phone

Her phone number was 6656

1958 Decatur City Directory

259 West William Street.

A parking lot in 2022.

1959 Decatur City Directory

332 W. William St. Apt. 3

That city lot is empty in 2022.

Beware

Julia had definite opinions on everything. If you did not agree, you had better be sitting beyond the reach of her cane! She smacked quite a few people with it as she got older.

Funny

She had a mischievous sense of humor. I remember moments where her face would light up with a bit of playfulness when she included you in a joke. But you still needed to keep your distance from that cane!

Always Ready

Julia seemed to always have loaves of banana bread tightly wrapped in tin foil, ready to give to visitors as a parting gift. The wrapping caused the top crust to become moist like a glazed topping. I use her wonderful recipe to this day.

Apartment at Longview

Sometime around 1960, she moved to an apartment building in Longview subsidized housing. Each unit was about 600 square feet. She had a ground floor apartment on the end. Her kitchen door was on the alleyway and her front door was around the corner facing the street. Longview was torn down in the early 1980s. I have looked at this aerial photograph street by street and I found the church that I grew up in (now demolished) just two blocks to the east on Orchard. Quite a pleasant surprise!

Shows

You could find her perched on her living room chair, in front of her "shows" on television every week day afternoon. She loved to watch the soap operas. In the days before cable television, if you did not watch your program during its scheduled airing, you had no chance of ever seeing it, unless it went into syndication and then you could possibly catch it during a rerun.

Strong Faith

Julia had a strong faith in God. At the time of her death she was a member at the Second Church of God, but she had also been a member of Grace Methodist for years.

Long life

Her goal was to live until her 100th birthday. She passed away at 101 years old.

Her grave is in Macon County at Mt. Gilead Cemetery, south of Decatur, Illinois.

Miscellaneous Photos

1920s

Julia and Albert

Many of the Sunset Avenue photos have the neighbor's tree and house behind the subjects. Sometimes you can see the Woodrow Wilson school building as well. I can find very few photos of the house itself.