John Hewson Bayer Family Memories and Models

Date: 28 Apr 2023 [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surname/tag: Bayer

John Hewson’s Early Years

These recollections were given to me by my Dad [John H. Byer] during many discussions between my Dad and me, Cynthia Bayer Melton.

When John was in the second grade, his dad [went by the name, Nelson] had a battery and ignition shop in Hartford. Jack would strip armatures and play around on the test bench. The shop slowly went out of business. John was named Hewson after a machinist in this shop who was “real sharp”.

John said his mother was an angel. She was a good cook. She used a scrubboard for washing. They had a garden and John's Dad did the gardening. Nelson was home most of the time. He was a salesman for P. H. Davis, selling suits and shoes.

John said that Nelson [his father] was on the streets of New York at seven years old making a living by selling papers.

Nelson was a rough and tough guy. Having been abandoned by his father, Nelson kept John and his brothers all together and "made a home for them" after Clara Emma died. Clara was sick for six to eight months before she died. Clara died on 25 Apr 1931.

John’s family was living at Buck's Hill Street in Rockville, CT about 1918-19. John was in pre-school, around three or four years of age. Nelson made Bud and Bill a wooden propeller, carved out of a piece of wood. He made Budd and Bill one but refused to make one for John who went crying into the house and his mother told him not to cry and that she would make him one. She made one out of paper that was pinned on a stick. However, Dad wanted one like his father had made.

"Bucks Hill was really nice", John said. There was a pump in the house and an outhouse fifty yards up on the hill. It was isolated. They would sled down the hill in the winter. There would be about four feet of snow every winter.

John said he lived about five years in Bloomfield, Illinois. He said he fought every kid in school and beat them all. John attended the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. He said he was in 5th grade for two years. He also told me he was kicked out of school for not shaving.

In Bloomfield, his brother Bill and he would hunt in the countryside around Bloomfield. They trapped skunks and muskrats. Bill and John would skin skunk in the morning and get sent home from school. At 22, Bill had a dog called Neco who Bill trained to retrieve pheasants, rabbits, and coons. John set some traps but wasn't a hunter.

John’s family lived near Harford-Brainard Airport in West Hartford when John was going to school. John walked over to the airport day after day and watched planes land and take off. That was before they moved to Bloomfield where he made his first model. John loved airplanes and started making model airplanes.

John’s mother died on 25 Apr 1931. His father was mean after her death and John ran away from home. He had built and secreted a raft made with four logs, two cross pieces, and four or five spikes at each end to hold it together. He then began “pirating” down the Connecticut River.

He started at “The Island”, a U-shaped bend in the river near Wethersfield, Connecticut. During the trip, he broke into fifteen cabins and collected a motor engine, canned food, a gun, a fishing pole, and ginger ale. He added a hut onto his raft during the trip which ended at Old Lyme, Connecticut where he tried to sell the raft and its contents for $50. As the crow flies, it is about 32 miles between Wethersfield and Old Lyme.

He couldn’t find a buyer so he left it at the dock and went home. Apparently, the police were able to track him down at his home a while later. They took him out for a hamburger and milk while John told his story. John got six months probation. “Made an honest man out of me the way the Troopers treated me”, John said.

An excerpt from “Peter and Carrie Bayer’s Family Life during the Depression”, an essay by Jim Mitchell, is included here because it discusses the lives of brothers Peter Bayer and Niels Bayer and Niels’ sons, after the death of Niels’ wife, Clara Emma Schremmer.

Jim Mitchell writes, “I recently discovered several pages of notes that appear to be a first person narrative of life in the Bayer household during and slightly after the depression. I believe, based on the comments that the notes originated from my mother, Eunice Bayer. I’m also certain that my sister Bonnie assisted her although she doesn’t remember participating. In any event the notes seem to be several decades old. I have inserted portions and pictures from other essays to make this essay more readable. Because this is the period that the Bayer household expanded from six to eleven people because of Peter’s brother’s family moving in, they are also included.

Peter’s brother Nelson (Niels Hansen) Bayer (1884-1941) and his wife Clara (Emma Schremmer) (1886-1931) lived on a farm in Connecticut. Mother (Eunice Nielsen Bayer), remembers visiting them there. Jack (John Hewson Bayer), who was a year older than Eunice and the youngest of his family at the time of the visit, hid in the barn and wouldn't come out. In later years they would correspond before Jack's family moved to Detroit. Eunice remained close to Jack for the remainder of her life although they didn’t see each other often due to their distance apart.

Niels’ wife Clara became ill. One day his son “Bud” (Nelsen Henry Bayer) saw her throwing her medicine away. When he asked her why she did that, she said she didn't want to be a burden to the boys, as she knew Niels wouldn't take care of her when she was dying. Bud suffered from water on the kneecap and that is why he was at home and not in school. Bud held this against his father for the remainder of his life.

Niels wrote Peter that he was out of work and that Clara had died. Carrie (Peter’s wife) and Peter Bayer wrote back that he was welcome to come live with them in Detroit, and could try and find work there. So the four boys, Niels, and their dog all moved into the Van Dyke cold water flat and joined Peter and Carrie and their four children. Assuming that they moved the year after Clara’s death, they moved to Detroit in 1932, in the depths of the “Great Depression”. That would make Bill (1912-1998) 20 years old; Bud (1914-1977) 18 years old; Jack (1915-1999) 17 years old; and Bob (1926-2012) 6 years old when they came to Detroit.

NOTE: Marilynn [Bayer] Curtice, Jack’s [Jack Hewson Bayer] daughter, made a trip to Connecticut to research the Schremmer family history. She writes that “Virginia (Schremmer) Morgan said that Clara’s boys just disappeared and they (The Schremmer family) never knew where Nelson (Niels) and the boys went”.

Note: I, (Jim Mitchell - Eunice Bayer’s son) vividly remember visiting my grandparents in their house when I was younger. Their house was on a thirty-foot lot on the corner of Mack Avenue and Van Dyke in Detroit. It was a two-story home with a lower-level flat that was either rented out or had one of Carrie and Peter’s children’s families living there.

Peter and Carrie lived in the upper flat. It had a living room in the front with a bay window and a small alcove off to one side. Grandmother Bayer’s piano was always on the wall opposite the alcove. We were told that they had moved the piano from New York to Detroit.

The living room led back into the dining room. It had a large table on one side with a buffet. On the other side was their desk, a large stove to heat the entire flat, and a bedroom off to the side. A door led to the front stairs leading down to the front yard. In the rear of the house was the kitchen. Off the kitchen was the door to the back stairs, a small bedroom, the only bathroom, and stairs to the attic (unheated). So two adults (three for a while) and eight children shared two bedrooms, an alcove, and the attic.

When I was visiting as a youngster, Bob [we called him Cousin Bob or Big Bob] was still living in a small room in the attic. Our Uncle Bob, similar in age to Cousin Bob, slept in the back bedroom. My Grandparents slept in the bedroom off the dining room, and the front alcove was a guest bedroom. The other boys were older and had all moved out by this time, as had my mother, Eunice, and Aunt Beulah.

There was also a basement. Later, a coal furnace with a “coal stoker” replaced the large heating stove in the living room. There were also laundry facilities there, but it was a dark and scary place for us youngsters.

All five of Niels’s family slept in one bedroom. Eventually two of the older boys moved up to the attic. The older boys were in their late teens, but Bob was still young enough to start kindergarten. None of the other boys wanted to be in school, so Peter was always yelling at them to get out of bed and go look for a job. They complained about the long lines necessary to get a job, but Peter told them they would never get a job unless they got in line. Eunice and Beulah were young teenagers at the time. It was during the depression, and all of them had holes in their shoes. They would stick cardboard in them to keep the water out. Bill got a job as an apprentice electrician. Jack rode an ice cream bicycle with a side car, and sold Good Humor ice cream, cottage cheese, etc. from it. He never made any money at it as he always ate up the profit, he was always so hungry. Bud tried the same ice cream selling job, but hated it.

Eunice, the second child of Peter and Carrie, went to work at Cunningham drug store as a soda jerk for twenty-five cents an hour, or $35.00 every two weeks, after she had graduated from Eastern High School at 16 in 1935. Eunice also helped a neighbor clean house and would baby-sit her child. That paid her $4.00 a week. Everyone had to help pay Carrie and Peter for room and board after they got out of school. If they weren’t working the girls did work around the house and the boys were expected to get jobs. The girls learned about life from the magazines the boys kept under their mattresses. They never fought over having to clean the boys' room!

Eunice used to find dates for Bud and Jack from her girlfriends. Her girlfriends complained Jack was either too fast or too slow! He was always making things while he lived there. He made Eunice a vanity with drawers. She sure enjoyed it.

Carrie did five bushels of clothes a week with three of them being men's shirts. She would haul in two galvanized tubs, put them on the bench filled with rinse water, pull in a washer with a wringer on the top, and put a big copper kettle on the stove with strong soaps and lye to bleach the whites. After the shirts were washed, they were whitened, and then had to go through two rinses and be put through the wringer each time. They then had to be taken downstairs into the back yard to be hung up. The white shirts then needed to be ironed by a large black iron that was heated on the gas stove.

Peter got mad when Niels came with a pair of silk socks and asked Carrie to, please, wash them by hand. Niels used to just sit around the house and smoke. He never offered to help out. However, he was an electrician and had installed electrical wiring in the flat years before they came to stay.

Niels only worked when he wanted to. Eunice knew he had had a terrible electrical shock one time that went through his whole body and blew out a hole in the bottom of his shoe. She wondered later how well he was. He would smoke his cigarettes and tap the ashes off onto the floor rather than go get an ashtray. The boys, however, helped by paying the money they earned to Peter.

Niels and the older boys moved out of the house after Peter and Niels got mad at each other. My wife Margie remembers Grandmother Carrie talking about problems with Niels. Although Carrie ironed the shirts of all the men who were working (this, in a cold-water flat) Niels criticized her work constantly and was very demanding of her. There were also inferences that Niels had a girlfriend. My sister Bonnie remembers talk of both Jack and Niels having a drinking problem and not being a good influence on the other children. Carrie finally complained enough to Peter that he asked his brother to leave, saying the sons were welcome to stay.

When they left, Bob remained as he was still in school. The rest of them moved in with Peter’s stepmother Sophie Frederickson Skaarup Berg’s brother, Niels Frederickson. Sophia Frederickson married Hendrik [Henry] Pedersen Skaarup in 1886. They were later divorced. Sophie then married Ghorvald Løvenskiold Berg on 16 Oct 1920, in Detroit, Michigan.

Sophia Berg was Peter and Neils’s aunt and became Peter’s stepmother after the boy’s mother died and their father “farmed” the children out to other families to take care of them – see Peter Bayer history essay).

Niel’s Frederickson and his wife Christine had five children of their own: Neils, Ann, Alma, Arnold, and Rosalie (she was the same age as Beulah). Niels Frederickson had moved to Saginaw and owned a foundry there. He eventually sold it and moved back to Detroit, and worked for Ford Motor Co. They lived on the west side of Detroit.

Later, some of the boys moved back in with Peter and Carrie. Niels eventually got a room for his son Bob and himself, in Peter's neighborhood. The two Bobs were the only ones living with Carrie and Peter by now.

Bill left the Frederickson family and traveled to California with Virginia Larson and her husband Paul. Virginia was a cousin on Carrie's side of the family and had a husband Paul, who had been a hockey player for the Detroit Red Wings. Virginia Larson had a brother Raymond, and a sister named Donnie. They lived near Forrest and Van Dyke. All the Danish people stayed near each other in the city.

In California Bill went to work during World War II at an airplane factory. He wasn't drafted as he was older and doing government work. While Bill was out horseback riding in California he met a young school teacher named Gretchen who was also riding, and they eventually were married. They have always lived out west, in California, and now in Oregon. Their children are named James and Richard.

When Jack moved back in with Peter from his stay with Niels, he made a room for himself in the attic. The only heat was a vent he put into the kitchen below. Jack eventually was drafted. While Jack was assigned to Alaska, he went from Corporal to the next highest rank, but was busted back and sent to the brig when they found out he had made a still! (How else is a guy to keep warm up there?) Jack went next to Salt Lake City with the military where he met Jean Olsen. He and Jean were married in Salt Lake City and settled there. They had two daughters, Cynthia and Marilynn.

While Bud was living with Peter again, he also was drafted. Everyone was amazed, as he had a facial tick and a bad leg. When he reported up north in Michigan for duty the doctor there discharged him. He too couldn't believe he had been approved. Bud met Peggy Barr on a blind date. Her sister Gusty introduced them. Carrie and Eunice used to tease Bud because he would always take a box of chocolates along on a date. They could tell how successful the date was by whether or not the box came home! Although Bud worked for a bank, he always wanted to work for a newspaper. He was an excellent artist and an avid reader and lived to play golf! The children of Bud and Peggy are Evelyn, Gerri, and Mary Ellen.

The boy’s father, Niels, who was diabetic, and had heart problems, was eating steak at a local restaurant when he had an attack of some sort and was rushed to a hospital. The restaurant owners called Bud, and he and Beulah went to the hospital where he [Niels] died.

After their father had died, Bud and Jack split the funeral expenses for their father and Bill’s part of the agreement was that he would take young 'Big Bob' (Cousin Bob to us) back to California with him. Carrie was not in favor of this because she felt Bill had no experience with children. When Beulah later took her parents out to California to visit, they brought Bob back to Detroit.

'Big Bob' was also artistic. He used his exit money from the military to go to Art School for a while. Bob wanted to make a change and asked for a transfer to Grand Rapids. At his new work site, he met Mickey, his soon-to-be wife, who also worked there. (Bob told me once that when he saw Mickey at work it was love at first sight and they were married three weeks later).

They made their home in the Grand Rapids area. Their children’s names are Jeanie, Mary (from Mickey’s first marriage), Bill, and Linda.

Dad [John H. Bayer] told me he was in Salt Lake City, during his military service. He and a friend were walking along a street and passed Jean Olsen, my Mother, in a nurse aide outfit and said, “Good Night Nurse”. Dad said he walked a few steps past Mom and Cupid’s arrow hit him in the backside. He turned around and returned to Mom, walked her home and the rest is history.

Dad was stationed in Alaska while in the Army during WWII and took up photography.

John H. and Jean Olsen Bayer were married on 15 Dec 1945 in Evanston, Uinta County, Wyoming. They settled in Detroit, Michigan where I, Cynthia, was born on April 14, 1947. I was just weeks old when Mother’s parents, John and Mabel Olsen took Mother and me back to Salt Lake City, Utah. I made the trip in a hammock hung up in the back seat of the car.

Between February and August 1947, Dad was working for H. B. Stubbs, Co., in Detroit, as a model builder, earning $1.95 per hour. Dad made miniature scale models for the General Motors “100 Years of Progress” Display. The H. B. Stubbs job ended in August, after which Dad joined Mom and me in Salt Lake City, where Dad and Mom started their married life.

I always thought my parents looked like a Hollywood couple; they were so good-looking. They settled in Bountiful, Utah where they lived in a little white house surrounded by big trees. The house had a front room, a large kitchen and, an alcove off the front room which led into the bathroom. I remember a big white claw-footed tub.

Mom and Dad were members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars [V.F.W.]. At Christmas, the V.F.W. collected used toys, which Dad repaired and Mom wrapped from an enormous roll of wrapping paper, which lasted forever. Marilynn and I sold V.F.W. Buddy Poppies during fundraisers.

Memories of Marilynn Bayer Curtice, daughter of John Bayer.

I think he was strongly influenced by his family.  He remembers going to his uncle Williams’s farm where he had his first experiences with gardens.  He remembers his grandfather playing the violin. Dad had a violin that he wanted to learn to play, but he never got the chance.  I don’t believe the alcohol was who he was.  I look forward to getting to know the real John, and I hope he has learned to play the violin by now!

He was remarkably creative.  He started by building models.  My daughter has a set of doll house furniture he made one year and Mom upholstered some of it. He polished rocks, then moved on to archery, and ended up in later years with a wood shop he pulled together and made everything from picture frames to a portable pulpit. His creations that I have in my home are spoken for when I die.  I had him sign them on the back.  He invented a coin loader to package pennies into wrappers.  I once commented to him that was so creative.  He was surprised. “No one has ever told me that,” he said.    In the little house [the small white frame house we lived in before Dad built our larger home], I remember him making a magic Plaster of Paris picture for us out of crayon scribbling.  He was the one who took us to the store to buy figurines and paint.  He made us jewelry with his polished rocks.  He enjoyed rock hunting in the desert.”

Recollections of John Hewson Bayer by his daughter, Cynthia Bayer Melton.

I, Cynthia, remember him making a pop up camp trailer that he pulled behind the car. It opened up so there were sleeping places on either side of the trailer and was covered by a canvas tent, which he sewed himself. Dad made a little rocker and toddler slide for John, my first son, and his namesake.

Dad spoke about his family with me many times. Dad's father worked for Thomas A. Edison at one time. John’s father told him that Edison was a "b*****d" to work for.

Dad made model airplanes. He would cut willow limbs for the fuselage, and used cigar boxes (made of cedar) for wings and tissue paper to hold it all together. He went from making planes to boats. Anything he wanted to model he would proceed to make it.

At 18, Dad helped his father, Nelson, with jobs in Detroit. Nelson worked for Dodge in Detroit, Michigan. Nelson was always employed.

Dad met Frank Stone when Frank was an inspector at Motor Products. Both were single and began making models together for about one year. They competed with each other and went to model meets almost every week. As soon as Frank got married, he stopped going to the meets.

Dad made models for the General Motors “Hundred Years of Progress” exhibition. Dad said he would make the tools he used to make the models because the models were so small; about the size of a pack of cigarettes. Dad had enormous hands. It was amazing that such big hands could make such tiny models.

Grampa Schremmer was a master violinist. Uncle Frank Schremmer inherited the violin. Grampa was also an alcoholic. Grandma Schremmer would visit with Dad’s mom and they would talk in German.

When Dad was 17, he built a mechanical oar for a boat. He invented it while fishing.

Dad made tall screens for Halloween games at the church carnival. One screen was a tri-fold screen covered with sheets for a fishing game, for smaller children. The child would throw a string attached to a fishing rod over the screen, a prize was attached and thrown back over the screen, to the child.

Another tall screen was finished with a soft material to which you could attach balloons, with a thumb tack. The kids bought tickets for a certain number of darts to throw at the balloons in order to win a prize for popping a balloon. I played Barker for the dart game and had lots of fun.

When Dad went to a restaurant and the cashier asked him how his meal was, he would reply, “You killed my appetite”. Once the cashier thought about it, he or she would laugh. I have used that line myself.

Dad also used to say, “Scared of living and afraid of dying”.

When Marilynn and I were younger, Dad was able to see Santa in his workshop. We would beg Dad to look into the workshop and tell us what he was doing.

One Christmas Dad got a movie camera. When we got up to see our presents, we had to go back to bed and pretend to be asleep, then wake up while he filmed the whole thing. Then we could open our presents.

Marilyn and I usually got a doll for Christmas for which Mom had made beautiful clothes. We got baby dolls one year. I called my Jeanie and Marilynn called hers Danny.

I remember sitting at the window in the alcove of our little white house and watching a blizzard blowing outside. The windows were covered with frost and I remember feeling so content that I was inside and warm while outside was so cold.

We had a radiator that heated our little white house which we used to make melted crayon drawings.