Telegram to Mrs. Ellis Miller, December 3, 1902

On December 3, 1902 Mrs. Ellis Sheetz of Edinburg received this telegram announcing the death of her husband. According to later newspaper accounts, Mr. Sheetz was killed while working in Pennsylvania. He, and a group of citizens from Shenandoah County, had traveled there to help build houses. While framing one at Wilson Creek PA a wind storm arose and demolished the house. Some of the timbers struck Ellis while he was working on the lower floor. He was knocked unconscious and died 25 minutes afterwards. His body was returned to Edinburg by his friends and was buried in Cedarwood Cemetery by local undertaker Lemmon. He was sixty years old and left a wife and four children. The family had received a letter from him the day before his death which announced he would be returning home in time for Christmas. 

Another member of his party, George Stickley of St. Luke, was on top of the structure when it was blown down. He was "considerably injured" and was also escorted home. 

At the time it was popular for residents of the Valley to travel to different areas to find work. The pay in many other parts of the country was much higher than in the valley and many unskilled laborers from the area needed the extra work to support their families. Industrial jobs in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois attracted many. Of the thousands of individuals who made these treks, many would settle permanently in these new areas while others returned home to start a new life with the money they had earned.

Telegram to Mrs. Ellis Miller, 1902.  Digital Collection. Truban Archives, Shenandoah County Library, Edinburg, Virginia.