Ruth Cable, daughter of William Cable and first wife Nellie Stroud. Ruth was born in 1890 in or around Greene, Iowa, Pleasant Valley township. She lived with her father, mother, a younger sister Nora b. 1892 and an older brother Leonard b. 1889. Young Ruth and Leonard won school awards for perfect attendance- an accomplishment when a journey to school was not as simple as hopping in a car and driving along paved roads. From the Marble Rock Journal 1904 Feb 4: Pupils neither tardy or absent: Leonard and Ruth Cable.

Ruth Cable the first day of spring March 21, 1908 was shopping at the Bucholz store in Greene (Bucholz, owned by Bucholz and Dralle this store may still be standing in Greene, Iowa as Dralle’s- they’re on Facebook). In the Iowa (Greene) Recorder of March 25, 1908 Ruth Cable leaves a message:

“Parcel Misplaced. A parcel containing a dark blue skirt and iron lead belt buckle with garnet setting was placed in wrong buggy last Saturday evening. Finder please leave at Bucholz store and receive liberal reward.”

Genuine garnets? and did Ruth get the package back? In a small town probably she did.

A few months after the missing parcel, William and Nellie were divorcing, all covered in the local newspapers. Their divorce was not friendly, accusations were made on both sides. Nora was the youngest, 16 when her parents divorced. Nora married, had children and settled in Kansas City, Missouri. Leonard moves around. He lived in Chicago and Seattle with his aunts Violetta and Sarah. He dies at age 31, maybe in a work accident, he was a railroad mechanic. Ruth was a lodger in Waterloo, Iowa 1910, a store clerk at the Golden Rule, with no records after the 1910 census. Nellie went to Kansas City then stayed with Leonard in Chicago for awhile and remarried at age 50 or 60.

The Iowa (Greene) Recorder newspaper is at Ancestry.com with a paid subscription and at most public libraries with a library card log in. The newspapers provide an unbelievable amount of information, not the news, but the local happenings.

Sources

Iowa (Greene) Recorder, 1908 Mar 25 page 9 of 12, column 5 top

1910 United States Federal Census, Waterloo Ward 4, Black Hawk, Iowa; Roll: T624_392; Page: 24A; Enumeration District: 0027; FHL microfilm: 1374405 -at FamilySearch.org