My Grandmother - Bertha Ellen Wolfinger Boward

My Grandmother Boward was Bertha "Bert" Ellen Wolfinger Boward, born in 1891 on a farm on the Leitersburg Road near Reid, north of Hagerstown, Maryland in Washington County. Her father was David Lawson Wolfinger and her mother was Martha Stine Wolfinger. Grandma had 17 brothers and sisters, as her father re-married after his first wife died.

Bertha’s father, David Lawson Wolfinger married Elizabeth W. Wolfersberger in 1861. Their children were David Grant, Susannah Mead, Daniel Riley, Joseph Walter, Harry Burtner, Edwin, Charles Irvin (Gusty), Grace May, Lily Matthews, Maudie J., Della, and Viola Flossie. Three of the children – Lily, Maudie, and Della, died as infants.

Elizabeth died in 1883; in 1885 David married my great grandmother Martha Stine. Their children were Mary Ada, Emma Lee, Caroline Alameia (Carrie), Bertha Ellen (Bert), Martha Mahala, Elsie Nora, and Eva Catherine, who died when she was 11 months old.

Grandma Boward’s diaries are filled with names that are familiar to me, and some I’ve never heard before. She writes about her family and her work, the people she visits, and happenings with her friends and neighbors.