Druck Family History

68 Years and Still Going Strong!

Sunday, February 8, 2009, marked the 68th anniversary of my parents, Ben and Hazel Bentz Druck. They met at a York, Pennsylvania roller-skating rink, and were married aboout a year later. My dad likes to recall their roller-rink romance:

“We fell in love like most young couples do, and the next thing you know we were getting married.” It wasn’t a fancy wedding. “In those days,” he explains, “you hunted up a preacher or justice of the peace, and you got married.” A cold and snowy winter morning found them driving to Towson, Maryland, where a Minister of the Gospel pronounced them man and wife on the afternoon of Saturday, 8 February 1941. The bride was 17 years old, the groom, 22.

They truly are an amazing couple. As if growing up during the Great Depression wasn’t hard enough, they both encountered additional personal and family hardships in their childhood years. Neither one was born with a “silver spoon” in their mouth, yet they persevered and prospered.

Although my dad had only an eighth grade education, he became a successful self-educated business owner through his hard work and dedication, and Mom was always by his side. It was probably the same determination that our forefathers brought with them when they settled in York County. Both Ben and Hazel are exemplary role models for the younger generation of the Druck family.

Ben and Hazel Druck, December 2007

 

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CONFINED TO HER ROOM?  - More Family History

Sudden Death of Mother and Son – “On Monday last, Mrs. Gottlieb Druck, of Hellam Township, York County, Pa., fell down a flight of stairs, injuring herself to such an extent as to die a few minutes afterward. She was about seventy-five years of age. About the same time of day her son Henry died from the effects of a paralytic stroke received the previous Thursday. He was about fifty years of age, and leaves a wife and three children. One of the latter is subject to epileptic fits and has to be continually confined to her room…”

This interesting bit of information was found after my family history, The George Druck Family Chronicle, 1741-2008, had gone to print. Although the book was finished, I continued to research the George Druck family history online. A discovery on a genealogy website surprised me, and I was sorry that I had not found it sooner.

Referred to as a “mortuary notice,” the article in the 18 September 1875 Baltimore Sun reported the death of the former Maria Elizabeth Kunkel, my great-great-grandmother, who married Gotlieb Druck in 1809 at the age of 24. She had died “on Monday last,” which would have been 13 September. Her son Henry, one of their seven children, also died on that date.

While preparing the George Druck Family Chronicle, I failed to notice that Elizabeth Kunkel Druck and her son Henry died on the same day. Perhaps that was because I had erroneously recorded Henry’s date of death as 13 September 1873, instead of 1875. The newspaper reported that Mrs. Druck was “about seventy-five years of age,” although she was actually 90 years old in 1875. This error is an example of how people in those days were not very conscientious about their ages.

The newspaper account of the sudden mother-and-son deaths stated that Henry Druck was “about fifty years of age,” when in fact he would have been 59 years old, assuming his birth date of 17 October 1816 is correct. The Baltimore Sun reports he left a wife and three children. Henry had actually fathered four daughters who survived beyond infancy, but Leah, the eldest, died at the age of 29 in June 1869, predeceasing her father by almost six years. It is interesting to note that the newspaper felt it necessary to report that one of Henry’s surviving daughters was “subject to epileptic fits” and was “continually confined to her room.” What a sad fate for a young woman; however, in those days there were no medications for her condition and no modern institutions to which affected individuals could be confined. Elizabeth (Eliza), who was reported as “insane” on the 1870 census, passed away two years after her father’s death in 1877. She was 33 years old.

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Front, left to right: Jane Eppley, Philip Druck, Barbara Druck; back: George Druck, George T. "Ted" Druck, Larry Brown, Judy Druck, Pam Eppley

 

 

 

My great-great grandfather, George Druck, 1823-1904. Does anyone else recognize this sad and weary face?

 

 

George Washington Druck (1867-1932)

My great-grandfather (left), George W. “Wash” Druck, 1867-1932. A cigar maker, he married Eliza “Liza” Ann Stump in 1881.