Bagley's of Barron, WI:Information about Aletta Mae BILLER
Aletta Mae BILLER (b. 29 Sep 1887, d. 20 Jun 1973)
Aletta Mae BILLER (daughter of Christian BILLER, Jr and Rhoda Elmiya Swoverland) was born 29 Sep 1887 in Glenwood, St. Croix County, WI, and died 20 Jun 1973 in Milaca, Millelacs county, MN.She married Leon Marcellus STOWE, Sr on 08 Jul 1908 in Dewey, WI266, son of Amos Milton STOWE and Harriet Mahali Mattison.
Notes for Aletta Mae BILLER:
From the tapes made by Betty Ruth and Hazel Delight STOWE in the summer of 1999, their memories of the BILLERs and STOWEs---
About the BILLERs. From Betty Ruth STOWE:
Grandpa (Christian C. BILLER, Sr.) and Grandma had brothers and sisters who married each other, so we have double cousins from Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER)'s side.Aunt Emma (BILLER) was Grandpa (Christian C. BILLER, Sr.) sister, and she married one of Grandma BILLER's brothers.Aunt Emma (BILLER) lived near Baldwin, Wisconsin, so we saw her.She was delightful, and her hair always was just perfect.Nothing like mine, so I did not take after her.She had three children: John, who was married to Pauline, who was an immaculate housekeeper; which was not my bag either.John was a very good-looking man, small, and a joy to know.At one time, he had been a bouncer at dances.Being really little, he needed to have something going for him.He could shut on eye, look at you with that dead eye of his, and back down many of those bug guys that wanted to start trouble.I thought that was kind a neat.They lived in St. Paul.Oscar was a detective for the St. Paul Police.Aunt Mae took in foster kids, one right after the other.Until she thought she could not take any more because she just could not give them up when it was time for them to be taken back to the same situations from which they were rescued.They had one younger son they adopted; then they had a son Herb HUNT, who was a farmer in Baldwin.He became a very good friend of ours.He was married, but I cannot think of his wife's name.Aunt Emma (BILLER) had another son, Chris.His wife's name was Lillian, and they lived in North Dakota.Chris was a mail carrier out there.He would come to visit once in awhile, and he would just love to eat.
Then Grandpa (Christian C. BILLER, Sr.) had another sister, and I cannot remember her name.She worked in a photo studio, and she was a refinisher.She came to Minneapolis to work.She wanted to live with us (when Betty Ruth STOWE and her first husband Harold BRACKEEN-the dad of Luetta, Thomas, Leilani-were first married, he worked in Minneapolis, MN.Later they lived on a farm near Baldwin, WI), but I did not think it was a very good idea.She was very worldly, very, very worldly, although she was quite up in age at that time.I do not know what ever happened to her.
Then Grandpa (Christian C. BILLER, Sr.) had a brother Dave, who was married to Aunt Alma, and they had a tavern in Couderay, WI.That is all I know about them.
Bill asked if I knew anything about Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER) working in a logging camp.Lawrence was born in a logging camp at Wiergor, WI.That is up toward Exeland some place in there.About all I can remember about that was:when Lawrence (Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER) and Dad (Leon Marcellus STOWE, Sr.)'s first child) was little and could talk, she thought it was real nice that she could get him to say nice things.Some of these lumberjacks were somewhat hard-core, and they did not talk too nice sometimes.She'd taught Lawrence, on days that she would say the sun was shinning, to say, "Praise the Lord, the sun Shines."Therefore, one day she said, "Lawrence, the sun is shining.What do you say?"He said, "Let 'er shine!"That is what the lumberjacks had taught him to say.
About the BILLERs, from HazelDelight:
I want to go back and tell you a few things that Betty missed.She was telling on the BILLER side, of some of Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER)'s relatives, and she mentioned a lady whose name she did not know.I think it was Jennie.I think Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER) called her Aunt Jennie.Anyway, she lived in Minneapolis, and she was there at the time I was working there, after I had taught at Pleasant Valley and decided I did not want to teach for a while.One time I was on the city bus with her.This was during World War II.We sat on one of those long benches at the back of the ---streetcar.It was a streetcar!Two or three Japanese girls came and sat across from us.I think they were probably going to school.There were a couple soldiers that came and sat on the end of the bench, and Jennie leaned over to one and said, "Here 's your chance to catch a Jap."I remember her saying that.
I remember that Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER), in her later years (and perhaps accompanied by her best buddy Blanche, who was also her Aunt) attended a Swoverland reunion two or three times.It was held every summer in some northern Indiana town, Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER) thought it was wonderful.She met quite a few of her Mother (Aletta Mae BILLER)'s folks who she had never seen before.They were very spiritually minded, and I know she had good times with them.Sunday mornings during their reunion, they would have a family worship service, and enjoyed that.
About the BILLERs, by Bill (Elwayne C. STOWE)
#3 My Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER) was the third child of Grandma and Grandpa she was born on September 29,1887.Somewhere I got the information that the family moved to Glen Flora, WI about 1904.She helped her Mother (Rhoda Elmiya Swoverland) in the restaurant.She loved to dance.It must have been about 1905/6 that she had gotten ready somewhat early one evening and, rather than wait at home for the young man who was to escort her (by horse and buggy, presumably), she decided to slip in, briefly, at the revival service (whatever that was) at the Baptist church nearby.What she heard that night was almost too good to be true, and certainly too good to reject.If that Baptist evangelist was like many of those old-time evangelists, he presented eternal life and its scary alternative in no uncertain terms.As Mother (Aletta Mae BILLER) listened, she became determined she would have eternal life if there was any way she could get it.So when the man said if any one wanted salvation to come to the front and ask God for it and He would give it to them, she promptly went, asked God for it, and He gave it to her.She was not exactly dressed for the occasion, but God looketh not on the outward appearance.My Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER) never turned back and, as far as I know, never looked back.Dancing promptly went from her life, and whatever else was objectionable in those days.She never seemed to question the standards she was taught.Probably there was some unnecessary rigidness. However, they had an earnestness that we would do well to emulate in our day.They wanted desperately to please God, and were not looking for loopholes for making their own lives easier at His expense.If pleasing Him involved a bit of self-renunciation, so be it.
Somewhere along in the next few years Dad (Leon Marcellus STOWE, Sr.) came to Glen Flora for evangelistic meeting.The thought of marriage, and of being a stepmother, was not greatly appealing to her, but her Mother (Rhoda Swoverland) was very much in favor of the match.They were married in the home of a friend near Tony, WI.From very scanty information, I think Mother's step-mother experience was a very difficult and painful one; not caused so much by Ellen herself, but by her Grandma and Grandpa Grey who, I think, were not Christians.However, we know that all things work together for good to those who love God; and my Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER) loved God.Probably the quality of her later life-her quiet acceptance of hardships; her sensitivity to the feeling of others; her commitment never to speak evil of anyone in their absence-was a product, at least in part, of the fiery trials of those first 10 or 15 years of her marriage while Ellen was still in the home.
Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER) lived 25 years after Dad (Leon Marcellus STOWE, Sr.) was taken in 1948.She and I lived together for the next few years until I married Audrey.After that, she spent some time with all of her children, but was with Delight and Joe most of the time.Her kids got her a small mobile home, and it was at the Nelson farm.As she became more feeble, she had a room with Delight's family in Milaca.She died quietly, alone in her room, on the morning of June 20, 1973.
[.]
[BAGLEYfamily2.FTW]
From the tapes made by Betty Ruth and Hazel Delight STOWE in the summer of 1999, their memories of the BILLERs and STOWEs---
About the BILLERs. From Betty Ruth STOWE:
Grandpa (Christian C. BILLER, Sr.) and Grandma had brothers and sisters who married each other, so we have double cousins from Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER)'s side.Aunt Emma (BILLER) was Grandpa (Christian C. BILLER, Sr.) sister, and she married one of Grandma BILLER's brothers.Aunt Emma (BILLER) lived near Baldwin, Wisconsin, so we saw her.She was delightful, and her hair always was just perfect.Nothing like mine, so I did not take after her.She had three children: John, who was married to Pauline, who was an immaculate housekeeper; which was not my bag either.John was a very good-looking man, small, and a joy to know.At one time, he had been a bouncer at dances.Being really little, he needed to have something going for him.He could shut on eye, look at you with that dead eye of his, and back down many of those bug guys that wanted to start trouble.I thought that was kind a neat.They lived in St. Paul.Oscar was a detective for the St. Paul Police.Aunt Mae took in foster kids, one right after the other.Until she thought she could not take any more because she just could not give them up when it was time for them to be taken back to the same situations from which they were rescued.They had one younger son they adopted; then they had a son Herb HUNT, who was a farmer in Baldwin.He became a very good friend of ours.He was married, but I cannot think of his wife's name.Aunt Emma (BILLER) had another son, Chris.His wife's name was Lillian, and they lived in North Dakota.Chris was a mail carrier out there.He would come to visit once in awhile, and he would just love to eat.
Then Grandpa (Christian C. BILLER, Sr.) had another sister, and I cannot remember her name.She worked in a photo studio, and she was a refinisher.She came to Minneapolis to work.She wanted to live with us (when Betty Ruth STOWE and her first husband Harold BRACKEEN-the dad of Luetta, Thomas, Leilani-were first married, he worked in Minneapolis, MN.Later they lived on a farm near Baldwin, WI), but I did not think it was a very good idea.She was very worldly, very, very worldly, although she was quite up in age at that time.I do not know what ever happened to her.
Then Grandpa (Christian C. BILLER, Sr.) had a brother Dave, who was married to Aunt Alma, and they had a tavern in Couderay, WI.That is all I know about them.
Bill asked if I knew anything about Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER) working in a logging camp.Lawrence was born in a logging camp at Wiergor, WI.That is up toward Exeland some place in there.About all I can remember about that was:when Lawrence (Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER) and Dad (Leon Marcellus STOWE, Sr.)'s first child) was little and could talk, she thought it was real nice that she could get him to say nice things.Some of these lumberjacks were somewhat hard-core, and they did not talk too nice sometimes.She'd taught Lawrence, on days that she would say the sun was shinning, to say, "Praise the Lord, the sun Shines."Therefore, one day she said, "Lawrence, the sun is shining.What do you say?"He said, "Let 'er shine!"That is what the lumberjacks had taught him to say.
About the BILLERs, from HazelDelight:
I want to go back and tell you a few things that Betty missed.She was telling on the BILLER side, of some of Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER)'s relatives, and she mentioned a lady whose name she did not know.I think it was Jennie.I think Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER) called her Aunt Jennie.Anyway, she lived in Minneapolis, and she was there at the time I was working there, after I had taught at Pleasant Valley and decided I did not want to teach for a while.One time I was on the city bus with her.This was during World War II.We sat on one of those long benches at the back of the ---streetcar.It was a streetcar!Two or three Japanese girls came and sat across from us.I think they were probably going to school.There were a couple soldiers that came and sat on the end of the bench, and Jennie leaned over to one and said, "Here 's your chance to catch a Jap."I remember her saying that.
I remember that Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER), in her later years (and perhaps accompanied by her best buddy Blanche, who was also her Aunt) attended a Swoverland reunion two or three times.It was held every summer in some northern Indiana town, Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER) thought it was wonderful.She met quite a few of her Mother (Aletta Mae BILLER)'s folks who she had never seen before.They were very spiritually minded, and I know she had good times with them.Sunday mornings during their reunion, they would have a family worship service, and enjoyed that.
About the BILLERs, by Bill (Elwayne C. STOWE)
#3 My Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER) was the third child of Grandma and Grandpa she was born on September 29,1887.Somewhere I got the information that the family moved to Glen Flora, WI about 1904.She helped her Mother (Rhoda Elmiya Swoverland) in the restaurant.She loved to dance.It must have been about 1905/6 that she had gotten ready somewhat early one evening and, rather than wait at home for the young man who was to escort her (by horse and buggy, presumably), she decided to slip in, briefly, at the revival service (whatever that was) at the Baptist church nearby.What she heard that night was almost too good to be true, and certainly too good to reject.If that Baptist evangelist was like many of those old-time evangelists, he presented eternal life and its scary alternative in no uncertain terms.As Mother (Aletta Mae BILLER) listened, she became determined she would have eternal life if there was any way she could get it.So when the man said if any one wanted salvation to come to the front and ask God for it and He would give it to them, she promptly went, asked God for it, and He gave it to her.She was not exactly dressed for the occasion, but God looketh not on the outward appearance.My Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER) never turned back and, as far as I know, never looked back.Dancing promptly went from her life, and whatever else was objectionable in those days.She never seemed to question the standards she was taught.Probably there was some unnecessary rigidness. However, they had an earnestness that we would do well to emulate in our day.They wanted desperately to please God, and were not looking for loopholes for making their own lives easier at His expense.If pleasing Him involved a bit of self-renunciation, so be it.
Somewhere along in the next few years Dad (Leon Marcellus STOWE, Sr.) came to Glen Flora for evangelistic meeting.The thought of marriage, and of being a stepmother, was not greatly appealing to her, but her Mother (Rhoda Swoverland) was very much in favor of the match.They were married in the home of a friend near Tony, WI.From very scanty information, I think Mother's step-mother experience was a very difficult and painful one; not caused so much by Ellen herself, but by her Grandma and Grandpa Grey who, I think, were not Christians.However, we know that all things work together for good to those who love God; and my Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER) loved God.Probably the quality of her later life-her quiet acceptance of hardships; her sensitivity to the feeling of others; her commitment never to speak evil of anyone in their absence-was a product, at least in part, of the fiery trials of those first 10 or 15 years of her marriage while Ellen was still in the home.
Mom (Aletta Mae BILLER) lived 25 years after Dad (Leon Marcellus STOWE, Sr.) was taken in 1948.She and I lived together for the next few years until I married Audrey.After that, she spent some time with all of her children, but was with Delight and Joe most of the time.Her kids got her a small mobile home, and it was at the Nelson farm.As she became more feeble, she had a room with Delight's family in Milaca.She died quietly, alone in her room, on the morning of June 20, 1973.
More About Aletta Mae BILLER:
Burial: Unknown, Estes Brook Cemetery, Foley (closer to Oak Park),Benton county, MN.
Fact 1: See notes.
More About Aletta Mae BILLER and Leon Marcellus STOWE, Sr:
Marriage: 08 Jul 1908, Dewey, WI.266
Children of Aletta Mae BILLER and Leon Marcellus STOWE, Sr are:
- +Lawence M. STOWE, b. 06 Aug 1910, Glen Flora, Rusk County, WI, d. 24 Aug 1990, Tacoma, WA.
- +Arletta Mae STOWE, b. 22 Apr 1912, Glen Flora, Rusk County, WI, d. 18 Jul 2003, First Baptist Church, Milaca, Minnesota.
- +Hazel Delight STOWE.
- +Betty Ruth STOWE.
- +Leon Marcellus STOWE, Jr., b. 30 Aug 1922, Glen Flora, Rusk County, WI, d. 19 Feb 1989, Birchwood, Barron county, WI.
- +Elwayne C STOWE.