Fender Tales

Down on the Farm

Anthony and Richarda Fender had a farm just outside Naperville, DuPage County, Illinois to make their living, and had a whole passel of children to call the place home.

My great-grandparents, Josephine Caroline Fender and John Herdegen, were married at the farm, or at least had a party there after the wedding. Family legend has it that John went out to use the outhouse, and ended up falling into the underground cellar instead, landing right on his face! You might say that married life made a great impact upon him, right from the very beginning. Fortunately, the bruises faded and the swelling went down in time.

I was told by my Great-aunt Gerry, who is the daughter of Josephine Fender, that Ma and Pa Fender often paired up their children to do chores on the farm. Their son Frank was just 12 months and a few days older than his sister Josephine, and they were often assigned to work together.

Apparently, they were a lively duo, and sometimes got more mischief accomplished than farm labors. The tale is told of one occasion when Frank and Josie were sent outside to do chores on opposite sides of the yard, but were found playing ball instead. They were on opposite sides of the yard all right, but were throwing a ball back and forth OVER the house!

Love and Loss

Richarda and Anthony had 12 children who survived to adulthood, but Aunt Gerry is pretty sure that there was at least one other daughter, who passed away in childhood. She thought the baby may have been named “Laura”. There is a gravestone in Naperville, Illinois that stands as memorial to a “Paula Elizabeth Fender”, who lived only 2 months. That is in Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery, so it seems likely that she is the Fender sister who died in infancy. There is also a family rumor that Richarda may have carried twins at one point, but they did not survive, and were so small that they were buried in a cigar box on the farm.

Sadly, young Julianna (standing second from the right) also met with a tragic end. My great-aunt told me that Auntie Julie had taken a group of her nieces and nephews out to pull strawberries, and on the excursion it somehow transpired that she was hit by a train, and died. She was only 23 years old. News of the horrific event was published in the Naperville Clarion on 27 June 1917. The article reads, in part:

Anthony Fender and Richarda Hix lived together in marriage for 52 years, before Richarda’s death in 1933. Anthony was 84 when he passed away, and many of the children also lived to a fine old age, surviving from the age of kerosene lamps and horse drawn carts, to the age of electric lights, airplanes, and automobiles.

My great-grandmother Josephine eventually left the farm, and went out to work in the restaurant of a hotel. Every morning, a handsome young milkman named John Herdegen would stop at the restaurant after his early morning round, to order a massive breakfast from the charming waitress, Josephine. The two married, John became a policeman in his hometown of Chicago, and they had a family of six children.

Written by Auralie Jones, with grateful acknowledgement to Geraldine Herdegen Liss.

Header image is “Bird’s eye view of Naperville, DuPage County, Illinois 1869”, A. Ruger. Click here to view it at the Library of Congress digital map collections.