My folks sent me a clipping from the 3/20/96 Lansing (MI) State Journal, presumably found in the papers of my mother's mother, whose grandmother was Mary Jane Aultman of Holmes Co, OH and moved to Clinton Co, MI after she married John Beck. My folks were wondering if the Aultman mentioned in the article was a relative. Some excerpts: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ovid - Planted here 89 years ago, Paul Aultman's church roots have sprouted $100,000 for the United Church of God. Not pennies from heaven, but a gift from the Florida estate of Aultman's widow. The $100,000 surprise from the late Gertrude (Aultman) Gray of Margate, Fla., is equal to a year of collection plate money at the red-brick church Aultman joined in 1907. "Isn't that something - that she would want to do that because her husband came here as a boy?" marveled choir director Gwen Kelley [...] Ovid, population 1,604, is 22 miles northeast of Lansing in Clinton Co. [...] Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Gray's gift is that her motive is cloaked in time. Nobody at the church remembers hearing about Gray or Aultman, a 1909 graduate of Ovid High School. [...] Gray was born Gertrude King on Feb. 26, 1897. She met Aultman in Akron, Ohio, about 1920, said James Dolan of Margate, who was Gray's accountant. Aultman was an executive with Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., a University of Michigan graduate, and he had attended Albion College from 1913 to 1915 on a Methodist scholarship. He died in 1942. Gertrude Gray invested a small inheritance left by Aultman, Dolan said. "The accumulation of her wealth took place over the years from savings and common stocks." She died in 1989 at age 92. Her estate was divided last fall, following upon the 1994 death of her second husband, Rollin Gray. In addition to the $100,000 for the Ovid church, the Gertrude Gray estate left: - $1 million to Albion College for scholarships - $1 million for scholarship for residents of Florida's Broward County, in the Fort Lauderdale area. In Ovid, the 270-member United Church congregation- which evolved through a 1942 merger of Methodist-Episcopal and Congregational churches here - hasn't had to scrape for major projects, [Rev. Steven] Pearson said. The 1893 building of what began as a Methodist-Episcopal church was paid for by one swoop of donations then, he said. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- As to whether or not he was a relative, I have the following family group sheet for Mary Jane Aultman Beck's brother Riley Aultman (both were children of George & Margaret (Conrad) Aultman of Holmes Co, OH): ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Riley J. Aultman b. /1858 Holmes? Co, OH (212417) d. /1937 Ovid?, MI? Arabella Morgan b. /1857 d. /1934 Ovid?, MI? b) Eureka Cem, Eureka, MI m. 11/28/1887 Holmes Co, OH 1. Ralph Aultman, m) Escanaba, MI 1935 b. /1888 d. /1936 Ethel Clark b. /1888 d. /1963 b) Eureka Cem, no children m. 2? Paul Aultman b. d. Gertrude Gregory b. d. no children m. 3? Lois Aultman b. /1900 b) Eureka Cem. d. /1936 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm not sure of my source for the above - it's probably the booklet on George put together by Floyd Aultman (I either don't have a copy, or don't know where it is). I'm a bit confused that it says Paul's wife was Gertrude Gregory vs the article's Gertrude King, but I believe this same Aultman booklet listed me as Ronald _Cressman_ Bauerle instead of Ronald _David_ Bauerle, so nothing's perfect I guess :^| By CC to the Aultman list and especially Jim Sherlock, maybe somebody can confirm Gertrude's maiden name, but assuming this is the same one as in the article, then I am Paul Aultman's first cousin, three times removed. Note that unless they had other children that I don't know about, it looks like Riley Aultman's line died out :^( At least there was this bequest to remember his son by... Thanks, Mom and Dad, for the article! Hopefully the Clinton & Holmes Co and Aultman lists found this interesting... Ron Bauerle (no Aultman page yet, but my Becks are at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~bauerle/beck/beck.htm