John's gravestone at Centennial Church in Morgan County

John Miles Traub was the youngest son of four children born to Charles H. Traub and Mary Elizabeth Miles Traub. He was born in 1896 in Exchange, Morgan County Indiana. He enlisted in WW I in August 1917. He survived the war and in 1919 he married Helen Bray of Mooresville. They had two daughters, Jean and Roberta. He died of a burst appendix in 1924 at the age of 28.

The letters below are a small collection that he sent to his brother Carl from shortly after he enlisted in August, 1917. These letters were provided to me by Kent Robinson, John's great nephew and Karen Cambell, John's granddaughter. Kent is finishing up an extensively researched book on the Traub family. A copy will be in the Morgan County and Mooresville Libraries when it is published.

Don Adams
Mooresville 11/20/2018

 

Letter #1 August 22,1917 This is the first letter in this collection. Pvt. Traub was at Ft. Harrison which is still on the NW side of Indianapolis. His father, Charles H. Traub had died in 1906 when John was 10. His mother, Mary Elizabeth, "Lizzie," married Eb Dyer in 1916.
Content Back of letter

Letter#2 August 27, 1917 Pvt. Traub is still at Ft. Harrison. The Clarence he refers to is his older brother, born in 1890. Eb is Ebinezer Dyer whom his widowed mother had married the year before. The interurban was a early electric powered public rail transportation sadly missed today. It was an extensive statewide network. Carl would have likely picked up John's goods at Centerton about 6 miles from Exchange. One can still see the roadbed and some culvert abuttments when traveling south down Blue Bluff Road toward Martinsville from Centerton. You can also see the White River Interurban bridge abutments in the river west of the Blue Bluff White River Bridge.
Envelope page one page two page three

 

Letter #3 A Post Card