Civil War - Civil Union: 
The Story of David & Mary Elderkin

Chapter 5: Charles C. Elderkin (1873 - 1932)

Photographs

Descendancy Chart  (to come)

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Susan Elderkin
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Civil War-Civil Union is copyrighted 2003

While his siblings headed west, Charlie stayed back and helped care for his mother and youngest brother, Amos.  As a man in his early and mid-20�s, Charlie worked in a livery stable in Cedar Falls.[i]  He loved horses, and shared this love with his little brother.  He brought Amos along to work and showed him how to ride and care for horses.[ii]  Amos must have felt liberated to get out of the house and ride into the country, and he never forgot his brother�s kindness.[iii] 

Like many of his siblings, Charlie may have put off his own personal development to help care for his family.  He didn�t marry until about 1910, when he wed Esther Strand of Illinois, ten years his junior.[iv]  Though she was 27, they never had children.[v]  They moved to Niles, Michigan, just north of South Bend, Indiana, in about 1917.[vi]  There, Charlie went into business as a blacksmith,[vii] until December 1922, when they moved to Los Angeles, California.[viii]  The Elderkin clan was converging on the City of Angels during this era, but it remains difficult to understand why Charlie and Esther would leave their horses and the Midwest behind.  One possibility is that the blacksmith business was slowing down.  Owing to the rise of the automobile, horses and horseshoeing were becoming relics of the past.  Another consideration could be climate, as Southern California�s temperate weather may have compared favorably with Michigan�s humid, blistering summers and its bleak and frozen winters.

Whatever the reason for their decision, the move proved fateful to them both.  Just as the depression hit, both Charlie and Esther contracted tuberculosis.[ix]  Charlie tried to work through it, and reinvented himself as a barber.  But times were tough and his TB was complicated by his long struggle with diabetes.[x]  His mother amended her will in December 1930 to include Esther, should Charlie not survive her.  And the next May, Charlie was so broke he had to borrow $400 from his mother.[xi] 

On May 24, 1932, Charles Elderkin died of tuberculosis at age 58.[xii]  His wife Esther died four years later.[xiii]  Charlie�s death shook up his family;[xiv] Mary saw her second child die in Los Angeles, and Amos lost his favorite brother.