Ida May Kountz born in Pittsburgh, Pa. December 27th 1884. Died in Beaver Pa. July 20th, 1977. Her early childhood was in a big gray house on the corner of Indiana and 9th Avenue in Monaca, Pa.
Ida May had one Sister Beryl and two brothers, Harry and William. Ida played piano.
...shows Grandma Pike (Ida May Kountz age 15) living at home with her parents at 278 10th street in Monaca PA. It shows George Kountz as head of house hold, Occupation Mold Maker and a Renter of the house. His parents both born in Germany.
George applied for a patent in 1911....excerpt..... "Be it known that I, GEORGE W. KOUNTZ, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rochester, in the county of Beaver and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Marking-Tool Holders, of which the following is a specification."
On the map of about that time.... if the black dots represent buildings, it can be noted about where the home was vs the Google Map above circa 2020. Note there are far fewer cross avenues back then making it hard to pin point the house.
As a young lady Ida's family moved to Homestead, PA. And then on to Sandwich Massachusetts, where her father worked for a glass company. Ida May worked there as a waitress in a big hotel that catered to the tourists. I think I have heard it was in the hotel where she met Charles Augusta Pike.
Or possibly she met him through her father as Charles worked at a Glass company since age 14. (1896) Maybe the same one where George worked? This photo shows Charles in the back row far right. Though the sign at the top is cut off here it says
Born 21 May 1881 as the 7th son of 11 children and died 23 November, 1970. His father was John W. Pike born in England and his mother was Mary Martin born in Canada (no relation to the Martins in our family as best I know). This photo is the most epic of all I have seen of him....cutting glass...I would love to know more about this photo. who took it, where & when.
Charles Augusta Pike followed Ida May Pike and her parents, back from Sandwich Massachusetts (un married) and first lived with Ernest Combalinka in Monaca, PA. They were married in Monaca on June 28th, 1906 in a Catholic Church by Reverend Leonard Stenger who had just arrived in Monaca in January of that year.
Reverend Stenger is noted for taking the first authentic parish census in Monaca. There were 90 families and 500 souls. Charles and Ida moved to Virginia Ave although I have no confirmation that this was their first home.
The map shown is from 1904 - 1909... the St Johns Catholic Church as we know it now was built long after the original structure at that same site when Charles & Ida were married. Indeed my wife's father as a child played in the church foundations as it was being erected in the 30's I think. To try and set the picture... from stories I have heard and research.... At the time they were married June 28, 1906, Monaca only had roughly 100 families as noted above. .... and actually the Church was on the outskirts of the town. Even Aunt Eunice born in 1921 says as a child she could name every kid in Monaca and their parents.
Standing in front of the church at that time with your back to the front doors (facing East), in front of you was a huge valley which was part of the cut coming down from Monaca heights (now 14th street hill) .... you can see it in the above map as the green line. The valley extended all the way to the river and the Monaca football field is currently in the lowest end of that one time gorge before it entered the river. Indeed the Monaca swimming pool built the year I was born 1953, was eventually dismantled ( I believe 50 years later) because it was shifting because it had been built on "fill" (in the gorge).
1918-1920 Charles & Ida, Margaret, Lola,
934 Pacific Ave, Monaca, PA 15061
Address pulled from Charles Pikes Draft Card.
"... Mom had Asthma so terribly bad she'd just fall on the floor unconscious... be laying there when Dad came home from work"
The Monaca area, with all the steam engines and factories made plenty of smoke. In search of a healthier environment they picked up and moved back up to Sandwich Massachusetts. But the salt air proved to be just as bad. They then returned to Monaca Heights hoping the air would be better on the hill.
/dgp ... this is confusing.... she had already visited Sandwich and think she would have known that the slat air was bad for her. hmmmm