Martha W Hertel

Summary of Martha Warren Hertel's life

Martha Warren Hertel was born in Forest Home, Ithaca and lived there most of her life.

"Martha was born in the “white farmhouse at the top of the hill,” now 127 Warren Road, on October 8, 1915. That house was the family home from 1907 to 1978. Her father, George Frederick Warren, was a professor in Cornell’s college of agriculture. George and his wife Mary Whitson Warren also farmed on the 86 acres that came with the house. Some of that land is now occupied by Fairway Drive, Crest Lane, and the Cornell Golf Course."

She was the fifth of six children. She went to the Forest Home School in a building that is now part of the Cornell Botanic Gardens (100 Judd Falls Road). 

Martha married John Parker Hertel in 1938. They moved into the white farmhouse in 1949 and their seven children grew up there, just as Martha had. In 1978, when the children were grown, Martha and John sold the farmhouse and moved to 130 Crest Lane.

In 1996, Martha moved to Kendal at Ithaca, where she died on June 7, 2004."

Grandmother Whitson’s Vote (in 1920)
written by Martha Hertel, date unknown

"Eliza Rakestraw was born into a Quaker family in a Pennsylvania county full of other Quakers. Born about 1840 at the same time the women’s suffrage movement was gaining momentum. She was in a large family. When a brother turned 21, he and his father went off to vote. She was left at home. From that day on she became a women’s suffrage convert.

In 1920 the 19th Amendment was passed. It gave women the right to vote. That fall, Grandmother must have been staying with us, her daughter Mary Whitson Warren and family, in Forest Home, in the White Farmhouse at the top of the hill. My older sister, Jean, tells of Grandmother voting for the first time at age 80.

She dressed in her “Sunday Best” and came out the front door, an occurrence in itself since it was seldom used. One of the hired men met her at the front door with a horse and buggy. He drove her down the Warren Road hill, a short, steep incline, to the voting place. She voted. He drove her back up the hill and home.

After 80 years she voted!"

This story was transcribed from Martha's typescript by her daughter, Lucy Hertel Staley. This and other stories written by Martha can be found on the Forest Home Improvement Association website:  https://www.fhia.org/martha-warren-hertel-miscellaneous-writings/

Background for the story:

Martha's grandmother was Eliza Whitson (née Rakestraw). The Whitson and Rakestraw families were prominent in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster and Chester counties during the 18th and 19th centuries. Both families were well-established in their local communities and were significantly involved in education, Quaker Meetings, and agriculture.  They were well-known for their support of progressive causes such as abolition and women’s education. [1]

Eliza corresponded actively with relatives and wrote poetry, some of which was published in local newspapers.  An example from 1880 can be found in The Semi-Weekly New Era of Lancaster, PA [2]. She composed a poem for the eightieth birthday of Mrs. Martha Whitson, a relative.

Marriage of Martha Warren to John P. Hertel (Aug 6 1938), The Ithaca Journal, Aug 6 1938, P. 4, Col.3

"Miss Warren Bride Of John Hertel

  Miss Martha Warren of Forest Home and John P. Hertel of Trout Run, Pa., were married at the bride's home at 1 p. m. today. The Rev. E. D. Van Dyke of Elmira Heights performed the ceremony.
  Mrs. Hertel is the daughter of Mrs. George F. Warren and the late Professor Warren. The bridegroom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Hertel.
...
  Mrs. Hertel was graduated from Cornell in 1936, is a member of Pi Beta Phi, and a wearer of the "C." Mr. Hertel was graduated from Cornell in 1934 and won his Ph.D. degree at the University this year. He is a member of Alpha Zeta, Sigma Xi, Phi Kappa Phi, Kappa Phi Kappa, and Ho-Nun-De-Kah. He is at present extension instructor in agricultural economics. On Sept. 1, he will become secretary of the Colleges of Agriculture."

Extracts from obituary in The Ithaca Journal for Mrs. Martha Warren Hertel

"Martha Warren Hertel, 88 died at her home in Kendal of Ithaca on Monday June 7,2004. Martha Hertel was born October 8, 1915 in Ithaca, NY. She received her bachelor's degree in Home Economics Education from Cornell University in 1936 and taught the first Home Economics program of courses in the junior high school at Remsen, NY, from 1936-1937. ...

She married John Parker Hertel on August 6, 1938. Martha and John Hertel lived in the village of Forest Home, located in Ithaca, on a small farm where they raised and cared for five daughters and two sons. Together, Martha and John entertained university students from the United States and various international countries who were attending Cornell and living away from their families. ...

Martha was active as a Girl Scout leader in Forest Home and as an administrator with the Seven Lakes Girl Scout Council for twenty-five vears."

Martha Warren Hertel
DoB: 8 Oct 1915
PoB: Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York, USA
Died: 7 Jun 2004 (aged 88), Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York