| Notes |
- From the HUMBOLDT UNION, Wednesday, March 2 1983
Civil War hero remembered - by David Colvin
In 1919, Enos Divilbliss (sic) (the name from her late third husband) came
to Humboldt, Kansas to marry the man that she had been corresponding with
for sometime. He was 82; she was 23.
The story began in Cook County Illinois where Justin O. Hottenstein was born
to Phillip and Elizabeth Hottenstein. He was one of six children. Justin
acquired a common school education and was raised on the farm.
In April of 1861, Hottenstein enlisted in the 20th Illinois Infantry. He
fought several major battles of the Civil War, including the battle at
Britan's Lane, in which he and his fellow Union troops were out numbered by
the Confederates 500 to 8000. Other battles he fought were at Shiloh
Corinth and Fort Donelson.
"His mother had five sons in the blue", says Mrs. Divilbliss.
"He was wounded on the battle field, and he was let lie there for five or six
days before he was picked up and then they drew a silk handkerchief back and
forth through him to get the dirt out," she explained.
After the wound healed, he returned to his unit and fought at Kennesaw
Mountain. He was captured at one time and later escaped. He was Honorably
Discharged on June 25, 1864 when the old wound began to bother him.
Hottenstein came to Kansas in 1867 and secured 80 acres of land five miles
east of Humboldt and married Enos, after a courtship by mail.
Enos Divilbliss was born in North Carolina,"...in a little place called
Beaver Dam, because the beavers cut all the trees down" she says. "The had
schools there but I didn't get to go."
"One day I wanted to go to school so bad. They were going to have a program
and they were going to have stick candy. My grandma told me if I got up and
did the wash I could go. Well, I got up and did the wash, but I didn't get
to go. I'll be darned if I didn't have to harrow buckwheat that day," she
remembers.
Mrs. Divelbliss remembers well her first impressions of Humboldt and her
husband, early in their marriage.
"Lord, I had never seen a grocery store in my life. I went to town one day.
I took chickens, eggs, and butter to town, you know..and I come back and he
said "What are we going to have for supper.' I said 'I don't know'. And he
said, didn't you get nothing.' I said no, I was never in a grocery store
before. We always raised what we ate."
Mrs. Divilbliss enjoys talking about her Civil War hero husband.
"He was a little man. He wasn't very tall. I weighed more than he did, but
he was a hard worker."
"I wasn't here very long and he bought me a car. He gave me two lessons and
he said I was as good as he was. We went to church and took the kids. I
drove around and got all of them I could get in the car."
"He was hard of hearing. when he was wounded it hurt his hearing. When I
came out here, I could talk to him just the way I talk to anybody, but
nobody else could do it. They said he would look at my mouth and tell what
I'm saying."
"He was a church goer too. We belonged to the Methodist church in Humboldt
and still do," she says.
Each month, Enos receives a pension from the government for her husband's
service in the civil War.
"Him and I had good times on the farm. He was good to me and I was good to
him."
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1895 - 1985 (90 years)
