Garnet Audrey Ziegler

Born on January 8th 1898 in New York, USA to Wilhelm "William" Ziegler and either Minnie Johnson or Augusta Staeben Ziegler Dunn.

Garnet is our biggest mystery. We know that she was adopted, but not much about the details of her story. Here are a couple of the rumors:

One story I heard from her grandchildren is that her birth mother was the maid in another couple's home. The wife was ill when the housekeeper became pregnant with the husband's child. When the wife died, the husband married the housekeeper and "adopted" Garnet, who was in fact his own child.

I've also heard that story except that the wife was not ill, only unable to have children of their own. They adopted and raised a housekeeper's infant, who may or may not have been Wilhelm's biological child. It's possible that the housekeeper's name was Minnie Johnson.

I'm going to go with the Census records we've found, which will only show the information for her adoptive parents, regardless of how she came to live with them. Her legal parents were Wilhelm Ziegler and Augusta Staeben who were married some time around 1884 and had a son named Clarence who was born some time around 1885 or 1886. He is not listed as adopted. Augusta's mother's name was Minnie. The 1900 Census from Minneapolis lists Garnet as "adopted daughter". Her father's birth place was listed as Wisconsin, and her mother's birth place was listed as Illinois, even though her adopted mother, Augusta, was born in Wisconsin.

William and Augusta lived in Wisconsin when Garnet was born in New York.

Wilhelm Ziegler died some time before 1910. Augusta  later remarried a man named Joseph W. Dunn. 

In 1910 Garnet lived with her mother, Augusta, and her step-father in Minneapolis, MN. His occupations was listed as a broker and jobber. There were no other children in the home. Garnet was listed as Garnet A. Dunn. She was twelve years old.

Her half-brother Loren Dunn was born in 1914.

She married Harold Ely DuMont on May 31st, 1915 when they were both seventeen years old.

Their first child, Cleo Rose, was born on September 17th 1916 in Minneapolis, MN. 

Their second child, Edison H., was born in September of 1917 in Minnesota.

In 1920 Harold and Garnet lived with their two small children and another young couple (Paul and Emily Stone) in Minneapolis, and Harold worked as a shipping clerk in the foundry.

By 1930 the family had moved into a house in Duluth, Minnesota which was valued at $6000.  They owned a radio. Harold listed his occupation as service manager for Duluth White Co. The children were eleven and thirteen. Garnet's half brother was still living with their mother in Minneapolis and working as a newspaper delivery boy.

In 1938 when she was forty years old they lived at 820 E 10th, Duluth, MN. Harold was working as a manger for Duluth White Co. and their daughter Cleo was working as a beauty operator. Young Edison was working as a stockman.

The house at 840 E 10th today, via Google Maps

I only have a few memories of Garnet, or "Grandma DuMont" as her grand children and great-grandchildren knew her. I know that she lived alone in a studio apartment in Shasta, CA not far from her daughter, Cleo for at least the last five to ten years of her life. She would walk two blocks to the grocery store every day just to buy enough food for twenty four hours. When I asked her about it, she laughed and said that if she died suddenly she didn't want a whole bunch of food rotting away in her house until someone found her body.

I'm sure all of that daily walking was a big reason she lived so long.

I also remember that she had a "life alert" system installed in her apartment. She wore the button on a lanyard around her neck so that she could call for emergency services if she ever needed help. One day she was bending over to pick up a pair of shoes from the floor of her closet, and fell right over. She landed in a heap on top of her shoes, and couldn't get back up. She said that even though she could very easily have pushed the button and summoned help, she'd be damned if she was going to push that button and tell someone, "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!", just like the commercials. She spent the next hour rolling and crawling along the floor of the apartment until she reached a chair and slowly pulled herself up into it. She said she sat there for a half hour and laughed at her own stubbornness.

 Garnet Died on April 6th 1997 in Redding, California, US.

Did you know Garnet? Do you have any memories, photos or information to add? I would absolutely love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below to add your information. If you have photos to share, please send them to me along with any other information at tomebug (at) gmail (dot) com.