~ Hezekiah Nicodemus Ling 1868-1952 ~
Hezekiah's Bio on WikiTree
Belle's Bio on WikiTree
Hezekiah and Belle, were married Nov, 22 1893, in Pleasantville, PA. Hezekiah was 25, and Belle was 16... shotgun wedding? Turns out she was 6 months and eleven days pregnant. They both resided in
Union Township, Bedford County. Union Township was located east of Windber and Johnstown. Union Township was renamed in 1993 to Pavia. Pleasantville is 140 miles NNW from Pavia and have no record of
why they went so far to get married, unless her family was from there. Or possibly it had to do with tyhe pregnancy.
When Hezekiah was 12 years old, the 1880 census had his occupation listed as 'laborer'. No child labor laws back then. Later on in life he was a *Cooper. I remember when I was in my teens my father
had shown me a business card for Hezekiah that showed he was a lightning rod salesman, and the name on the card... Hezekiah Nicodemus Ling, ergo the nickname Nick. Which, for what ever reasons,
was passed on to George. Many older relatives remember George by that name when they speak of him.
The 1870 census has no city or county listed only Pennsylvania, it shows his father, Isaac, was 38, mother, Delilah Hammer, 32 and Hezekiah 1, along with 5 other children living there, which makes
no sense. Alexander was born in 1859, William 61, Christian 66, Hezekiah 68 and Margaret 70. Should read 'along with 4 other children'.
In the 1900 census they lived in Paint Township, Somerset PA., and had the three children, Charles (6), Delilah (3) and Lethian (1).It also showed they had three male boarders,
Eli Berkey, 45 a carpenter, Henry Layman, 21, Espy Mangus, 20, and James Householder, 29. The last three were miners. By the time of the
1910 census, they lived in Windber, Somerset PA. Belle was listed in the census as Lizzie. Clyde, at age 15 worked as a clerk in a drugstore. That may have been
his introduction to becoming a pharmacist. And Hezekiah was listed as a Traveling Salesman (Lightening Rod Salesman)
The 1930 census shows that there were four in the house Hezekiah (61), Belle (52), Belle's father, Joseph Gordon (82) and George (12). Not sure when George was farmed out to
live with his grandparents, but as the story goes, his father, Charles (Clyde), had either divorced or deserted the family and moved west to California, leaving Mae with three kids to raise.
One story I heard; Mae was a domestic and didn't earn enough to support all three so, because George was the oldest, off he went to live with his grandparents. Another, uncorroborated story;
She and the three kids lived with a priest at the church and that the elders of the church finally put a stop to that and the same situation became necessary... George to his grandparents.
Which story is true... maybe neither. Nobody around to ask. It was shown on this census that Hezekiah was a lightening rod salesman.
Hezekiah & Belle moved to California, in 1940 and were living in Santa Monica. Marie & George were married by then and lived with Hezekiah and Belle at 739 7th Street.
My mother told me a story and this one being from the horses mouth so to speak must be true. Hezekiah was quite the bounder, cad, womanizer... pick an adjective, but one day mom and Belle
were standing on the front porch when Hezekiah came home and brought one of his lady friends home with him. A neighbor across the street yelled out, "Throw the bum out Belle". Shortly there
after Dennis was born and George and Marie moved to 4244 Lindblade Drive, located west of the 405 and 1/2 block east of Washington Blvd. Approximately 5 miles, as the crow flies, from 7th street.
Children:
