Nova Lena Kielhorn

GEDCOM Note

Nova Lena Dodson was born to Harvey Dodson and Ella Pence on 13 May 1894. Nothing is known about Harvey other than he was never around. Eight months after Nova was born, her mother married to William Thomas Kielhorn. William raised Nova as his own and Nova considered him her father. It is not know whether or not Nova even knew that William was not her father, but in 1910, when she married Perry Hollinger, her name was recorded as Nova Dodson. Nova was born in Mount Vernon, Illinois in 1894. The first sixteen years of her life, she moved around but stayed in the Mount Vernon region. In 1910, Nova married to Perry Alfred Hollinger. Perry was a native of Mount Vernon and fourteen years her superior. In Perry's teen years he lived in the South, Florida or Alabama. He enlisted in the First Alabama Infantry in 1898 during the Spanish American War, and recorded his hometown as Mount Vernon. After the war was over he presumably returned to Mount Vernon where he is found living in 1900. Nova gave birth to her first child in the spring of 1911 in Mount Vernon. His name was Bayles James Hollinger, and was presumably names after Perry's brother-in-law, Baylus Lee Johnson. Between 1911 and 1915, Nova and Perry moved to Henderson, Kentucky, where Nova gave birth to their second child in Sep 1915. They named their daughter Ella Mae Hollinger after Nova's mother. In the summer of 1917, Ella Mae contracted the measles and worked her way through it. Just before she had fully recovered, a neighbor girl with whooping cough visited and gave it to Ella. At the end of July, Ella Mae died of whooping cough and was buried in Fernwood Cemetery in Henderson. In 1918, Nova and Perry still resided in Henderson, but were living in back in Mount Vernon in Jan 1920. Five months later, in May 1920, they were in Evansville, Indiana where Nova gave birth to her third child, Etta Mae Hollinger. After Etta Mae was born, Perry and Nova's residence is unclear. Perry had acquired a taste for alcohol and according to family members, became the "town drunk." Around 1925, Nova and Perry divorced and Nova lived in Evansville with her sisters and mother. Perry stayed in the Mount Vernon and Mill Shoals, Illinois region for the rest of his life. In Evansville, Nova, now the source of income for her family, got a job in a furniture factory. Bayles, believing that he had to support his family, dropped out of school and joined his mother in the factory. In the fall of 1929, Nova and her sisters, Lona and Lillie, packed up their lives in Evansville, and headed towards California. When they reached Albuquerque, New Mexico, they stoped at a "tourist court."

Nova's first husband, Perry Hollinger, ended up as the town drunk in Mill Shoals. He lived in a small shack not too far from Nova's house. I think he remained a bit of a nuisance for the rest of their lives. But Nova was a very hard-working woman, as was Etta Mae. Etta worked at the nearby book bindery for years and lived with Nova almost all of her life. After Nova's death, Ruth looked after Etta in her old age and Etta lived in a small mobile home behind Ruth's until her death.

Nova and Etta Mae were wonder quilters and spent hours together making them. The few times I visited there they were always working on them and had fabric pieces by the millions!

Ralph Leonard Reynolds died of Kidney disease and Nova, with Etta Mae's help, raised little Ruth and Charlie. Nova and Etta Mae also were raising Johnnie at the time of his death.

GEDCOM Source

Ancestry.com Social Security Death Index Name: Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007; @R1@ Source Medium: Ancestry.com

Social Security Administration, Social Security Death Index, Master File, : Social Security Administration Online publication - Ancestry.com. Social Security Death Index [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007.Original data - Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index, Master File. Social Security Administration.

GEDCOM Source

Ancestry.com Social Security Death Index Name: Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007; @R1@ Source Medium: Ancestry.com

Social Security Administration, Social Security Death Index, Master File, : Social Security Administration Online publication - Ancestry.com. Social Security Death Index [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007.Original data - Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index, Master File. Social Security Administration.

GEDCOM Source

Ancestry.com 1910 United States Federal Census Name: Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006; @R1@ Source Medium: Ancestry.com

United States of America, Bureau of the Census, Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1910 Online publication - Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: <a href="http://www.archives.gov/publications/microfilm-catalogs/census/1910/">NARA</a>.Original data - United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1910.T624, 1,178 rolls. MT Vernon Ward 3, Jefferson, Illinois, ED , roll T624_294, part , page .

GEDCOM Source

Ancestry.com Social Security Death Index Name: Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007; @R1@ Source Medium: Ancestry.com

Social Security Administration, Social Security Death Index, Master File, : Social Security Administration Online publication - Ancestry.com. Social Security Death Index [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007.Original data - Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index, Master File. Social Security Administration.

GEDCOM Source

Ancestry.com Social Security Death Index Name: Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007; @R1@ Source Medium: Ancestry.com

Social Security Administration, Social Security Death Index, Master File, : Social Security Administration Online publication - Ancestry.com. Social Security Death Index [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007.Original data - Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index, Master File. Social Security Administration.