Matilda's Event Barn

Our Great-Aunt Matilda (Tillie) Kleiser was born on this farm on April 6, 1900, the youngest of 7 children. At the age of 3, she was diagnosed with meningitis, from which she endured the long-term effects throughout the remainder of her life.

The disabilities dealt to Matilda were thought, at the time, to be severe. Most noticeable was a stutter that left her with very limited communication skills. It was thought she also suffered from mental disabilities. The attic of the house contained boxes of old documents and clippings, many which were cut from newspapers and carried promises of cures for the mentally ill. I’m sure my Great-Grandmother Margaret never gave up hope of finding some miraculous cure for her baby Matilda.

After the death of Grandma Margaret in 1950, the farm was left to my Great-Uncle Joe Kleiser, specifying that he was to care for Matilda. Uncle Joe never married. He farmed the 250 acre farm with Matilda’s assistance throughout the years. Aunt Tillie cooked, cleaned, fed the animals and made a daily trek of nearly 2.5 miles across the pastures and fence rows to the county road to pick up the mail 6 days a week. Dripping wet, she probably stood 5’2” and weighed 100 lbs and was fit as a fiddle! For years after she left the farm, we could still walk ‘Aunt Tillie’s Path’ which was engrained in the soil. Uncle Joe died in 1970 and Aunt Tillie was sent to Evansville where she lived with one of her three sisters until her death in 1984.

Thinking back on my memories of Aunt Tillie now, and with the knowledge of modern medicine, it's possible that Aunt Tillie was not as mentally ill as everyone thought. Diagnosing illnesses in 1903 had to be quite primitive at best. She was never sent to school as she was thought not to have the mental capacity to learn. Her inability to communicate left her at the mercy of anyone who would spend time trying to communicate with her; otherwise, she often sat off to the side. However, she was certainly quite intelligent and could, and did, do anything on the farm that needed to be done, except for that one day a year - Butchering Day. The one part of farming she did not participate in. When it came time to do the slaughtering of cattle or pigs, Aunt Tillie was shipped off to spend the weekend with one of her sisters in Evansville. Upon her return, poor Uncle Joe would have to endure her wrath for weeks! As Matilda was the one that fed the animals, they were all her pets and possibly the one thing she felt understood her the best.

So as a tribute to the woman that never was the center of attention, or received proper praise for her hard work and diligence in preserving our farm, we have chosen “MATILDA’S”.

- Jane