Andrew Zook Family

Andy Zook stayed in Neshannock Falls near his childhood home. He married Tillie Mae Kauffman in 1902. Tillie was the daughter of David and Catherine (Zook) Kauffman. She was born in 1885. Both Andy and Tillie were members of the Maple Grove Mennonite Church. They lived for a while near the area of Neshannock Falls that is known as “Mayville”, and later owned a home near Jack Reynold’s store across from the Neshannock Falls Park. Andy worked in the stone quarry in the falls, and later at the Kauffman Stone Quarry. He worked on the Pennsylvania Railroad at the Mahoningtown Station, and also as a road worker for the State. Andy and Tillie had twelve children and ten of them survived childhood.

Their oldest daughter was Katherine Zook. Katherine was born in 1904. She married Norman Lehman in 1921 and moved to Phillips School Road. She met Norman while visiting with his sister, Mary Lehman Redmond. When the couple first married they had one room on the first floor and one on the second floor in Norman’s parents house. They eventually built their own home on the Lehman property. As the oldest of ten children, Katherine took responsibility for much of the care of the younger kids before she was married. She told her granddaughter, Marcia Kaufman, that she got married to get away from home. (This wasn’t a practical solution, as she had 14 children of her own.) She recalled that when her first child, Freda, was born, her father-in-law made her a beautiful cradle. Katherine refused to use it, as she hated cradles from the years she spent rocking her brothers and sisters to sleep. For more on Katherine’s family, see “The Norman Kauffman Lehman Family.”

Andy and Tillie had a son named Lester in 1905, a year after Katherine was born. Lester married Sarah Detweiler in 1927. He was a farmer and lived around the New Wilmington area before moving to Alliance, OH. The couple had four children- Donella, Floy, Vern and Shirley.

The second oldest daughter was Gertrude Mae, born in 1907. Katherine recalled a fight with Gertrude when they were young girls living at the end of Sipe Road. They were arguing over Katherine’s rag doll, which Gert wanted and Katherine would not give to her. Tillie, Katherine and Katie (Tillie’s mother) remained in the barn, but Gert got upset and went back into the house. She rolled some paper and set it on fire in the kitchen stove, but got scared when the fire got big. She ran behind the stove and dropped the burning paper in the wood box to get rid of it and the house caught on fire. The adults were still in the barn feeding and milking, but a passenger train was coming down the track through Neshannock Falls and saw the smoke. They alerted Andy, who was at work at the stone quarry, and he ran home to help put the fire out.

When Gertrude grew up, she remained single for a long time. (Katherine remembered feeling unwelcome at her parents house because she had a large family and Gert didn’t like having so many kids over.) However, in 1950 Gert married Jay Lour. They lived in Franklin, PA and had no children. They were very active in their church and Gert was known to support many missionaries and even help kids pay their way through college. Jay died in 1972 and Gert continued to live on her own in Franklin for many years. The family got her to a doctor when she started to become confused and had many digestive problems. The doctor ran tests and discovered that Gert was using Dawn dish detergent as cooking oil and cooking her foods in it. The family realized then that she was unable to care for herself, and she was placed in a nursing home facility in Grove City. Her brother Lee and sister Erma took charge of her care until her death. She and Jay are buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Sandy Lake, PA.

Earl Zook was born in 1912. His twin brother died at birth. Earl grew up to marry Elizabeth Morrow. They moved to the Princeton area outside of New Castle, PA. Earl was a farmer and raised pigs and animals to sell at auction. He also worked at Flowline. He and his wife had two children, Rose Ann and Joseph. Joseph never married and lived with Earl until he died in 1980. Rose Ann had five children- four boys and one girl. Three of her children (Dennis, Richard and Robert) were mentally handicapped and lived with Earl. Rose Ann’s son Albert married and helped Earl to care for his brothers. Her daughter, Rochelle, lost touch with the family once she was married. Rose Ann died of cancer in 1979 and Earl became the sole guardian of her boys when she died. Joseph died in 1980. Earl found him dead in bed, possibly from an aneurysm.

Earl left the house to visit friends one evening in 1982, leaving the three grandsons alone. A fire started in the home and Richard and Robert were able to get outside, but Dennis fell and was unable to escape. He died in the fire and was buried at Mt. Hermon Cemetery in New Castle. Earl became sick and died in 1996. Albert took care of his brothers in his grandfather’s place. They lived near where Albert and his wife, Sue, lived and they were able to remain living alone with Albert’s help. When he died, Sue was unable to care for the boys on her own and placed them in the care of a nursing home.

Lee Roy Zook was born in 1915. He married Marie Kenst in 1945 and supported his family with his small farm in Harlansburg and by working as a cement finisher for Shuller’s. The family was active in their church, a Wesleyan Church in New Castle. He and Marie had two children- Marilyn and Thomas. Marilyn married David Middleton and was a missionary to Bolivia, Haiti and the Dominican Republic before she returned to PA to care for her aging parents. Thomas worked in Pennsylvania for a while and then moved to Michigan. He married twice, but had no children. Lee cared for Marie until her death and he followed her in 2006.

Edna Almyra Zook was born to Andy and Tillie in 1917. She married Lloyd Schlabach and moved to Greenwood, Delaware. They had two children, Jay and Allen. Edna died in 1976, but Lloyd remained close with the family. He always brought his two sons to the Zook Reunion to catch up with their mother’s relatives, even after he remarried. He married Josephine Baker after Edna died, and Josephine also got to know the family very well. She was close enough with the Zooks that when Lloyd died Josie continued to come to the Zook Reunion with her step sons. Edna and Lloyd are buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Delaware.

Bertha Zook was born in 1920 and only lived to be 14 years old. She died of Polio. Family members recall that Andy and Tillie took Bertha to every doctor that they could find, but no one was able to help. She died on February 1, 1934 and was buried at Maple Grove Cemetery.

Esther Gladys Zook was born in 1921. She married Glenn Miller and moved to the Canaan Valley in West Virginia. They had four children, Donald, Vern and Esther Marlane (who went by Marlane) and Marlin. They were active in a Mennonite Church for a long time, but left the church after they were treated badly when Marlane became pregnant out of wedlock. They then joined an Assemblies of God church and remained active in this congregation. Vern died of kidney failure when he was only 18 years old. Donald had two children, Marlane had one daughter and Marlin had two sons and two stepsons. Esther died in 2002 and is buried in Buena Cemetery in Davis, West Virginia.

Andy and Tillie’s youngest son was Donald Zook. He was born in 1923. Don was a printer and worked for the New Castle News. He married Bella Mae Cearfoss in 1949 and had two children, David and Linda. The family moved to Phoenix, Arizona when the kids were still young. Don and Bella Mae were divorced and Don remarried in 1977 to Sarah George. Don is still living as of 2006, but he is now completely blind and living with Alzheimers in a nursing home in Phoenix.

Erma Zook was born in 1924. She married Don Campbell, a mechanic, and moved to North Liberty, PA outside of Grove City. Don ran an inspection station at the couple’s home. They had four children- Rosena, Ronald, Robert and Raymond. Rosena had four children of her own to husband Robert Hockenberry. Ronnie joined the Navy, where he met his wife. They had three children. Ronnie was trained to work with Nuclear Submarines in the Navy and worked at the nuclear power plant in Shippingport, PA before he quit to start his own fabricating business. Robert runs a body shop in Mercer, PA and has two children. Raymond remained single and runs his father’s inspection station and has taken care of his mother since Don’s death in 2001.

Blanche Maxine was the youngest of the Zooks, born in 1928. She married Russ Rhodes, a carpet worker. They bought a house on Maitland Lane in New Castle and raised two children, Richard and Susan. Richard is a mechanic and has lived in both Pennsylvania and Texas. Susan is a Pulmonary Therapist and has been married three times and had two children. She is now divorced and lives with her parents and takes care of them. Blanche is currently fighting her second bout with cancer, and Russ is recovering from two major back surgeries.

Andy and Tillie were long-time members of the Maple Grove Mennonite Church and adhered strictly to the church’s code of conduct. Their house was across the street from the Neshannock Falls Park, a popular meeting place, picnic area and dance pavilion at the time. The Zook children were not allowed to use the park because of the music and dancing. Even though they were strict, the Zooks were proponents of progress within the church. Andy Zook was the first person at Maple Grove to own an automobile, and others followed his lead.

Tillie’s parents were David and Catherine (Katie) Kauffman. Her daughter Katherine remembers being a young child when her grandfather was sick. Katherine described him as “big and fat, with a round face and beard”, and said that he always sat in the same chair. Marcia Kaufman has since learned that David died from kidney problems (nephritis), which would have caused him to bloat from the inability to rid their body of fluid. When David died in 1908, Katherine was only four years old and she remembers crying and wanting to go to the funeral, but Andy would not allow her. After David died, Katie lived with the family for a while. (She also lived with her other children, but spent the majority of her time with Andy and Tillie or with Harry and Amanda Kauffman). Katherine Zook Lehman recalled that her grandmother used to quilt when she was younger, and that she smoked a corncake in a corn cob pipe. She thinks that Katie’s sisters also smoked, and remembered them going out to the outbuildings to smoke.

When Tillie Zook died on June 13, 1948, Andy was devastated. He was working for the State on the roads at the time. He was working on Route 422 from New Castle to Youngstown and telling a co-worker about his wife’s death when he had a heart attack and died right on the side of the road. He died one month and ten days after his wife, on July 23, 1848. They were buried side-by-side at Maple Grove Mennonite Church.