Notes:
Mary Ruth Kinnaman, the second child and first daughter of Walt and Lou, was born 29 August 1899 on a farm just east of the village of Wheatland, Indiana, which her father worked as a tenant for a man named Robinson.
As a girl, Ruth -- as the family called her -- was a pleasant child with a healthy outlook on life, and was a great help to her mother by doing more than her share of the household chores. Sometime after completing high school at Wheatland in 1919, Ruth may have begun nurse training in Logansport, Indiana. If so, she did not complete the training. A very self-reliant young woman, she went to Indianapolis sometime around 1920 to take a business school course while she worked to pay her tuition. Shortly, however, she returned to Wheatland, and met Albert Fred Broshears who was working as a miner at the Standard Coal Company near Wheatland.
After a brief courtship, Ruth and Fred (as the family called him) were married on 22 June 1921. The wedding likely took place in Wheatland and was performed by Rev. J. N. Greene.
Fred was born 30 September 1892 in Linton, Indiana, the son of William Logan (Parker) Broshears who was born 1 October 1866 in Owensboro, Kentucky, and died in 1918 in Linton; and Rena Adeline Crabtree who was born 27 October 1870 in Delafield, Illinois, and died in 1952 in Linton. Rena's father was McHaley Crabtree. Fred Broshears was a veteran of World War I.
Ruth and Fred had three children, Robert Allen (1922), Mary Lou (1924), and Charles Mack (1932).
Sometime in the early 1920s Fred quit the mine and purchased a gasoline filling station in Wheatland. The station was formerly owned by a Mr. Nimnicht who had converted his farm house into a filling station, and when Fred took over, it handled Standard Oil products and, later, Shell. The gas station was in an excellent location on State Road 50 from Washington to Vincennes, and Fred did good business. He also became the collection agent for the local electric company, and repaired small appliances and clocks for the Wheatland community. Fred, a good general handyman, also did small carpentry and house-painting jobs. In the 1950s Ruth worked at the Knox County Courthouse, and later the State Highway garage in Vincennes. She was also an active worker for the Republican party in Knox County.
Fred died on 6 June 1966 after a brief illness, and was buried in Wheatland Cemetery. Ruth discontinued the filling station after Fred's death and continued to live in the house in Wheatland. Sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s, Ruth accepted her son Mack's invitation to live with him and his wife Ann in Nebraska, Eventually she was required to live in a nursing home in Papillion, Nebraska, where she died 27 November 1985. She was buried in Wheatland Cemetery next to Fred.
Data source is Jim Kinnaman. E-mail jkkinnaman@aol.com