Esther Delilah Teel, GW #130

Esther was born on 11 April 1896, probably in Plainfield Township, Northampton County, Pa, to George and Mary (Showers) Teel.  In the 1910 census, fourteen-year-old Esther is reported as working as a topper in a hosiery mill.  Her location for the 1920 census remains undiscovered.  In her father’s 1925 obituary, Esther is listed as living in Pittsburgh with her sister Mamie.  Perhaps this was her time in the Gospel Worker Society.  However, her sister’s name does not appear on the list of workers. However, in the 1921 Cleveland city directory a Mamie D. Teel is listed as a home missionary, Gospel Worker Society, r 710 Jefferson Ave.  In 1930 Esther appears in the census in Nazareth, Pa, and is working as a shell stitcher in a cotton mill.  In 1940, Esther is still living in Nazareth and is working zigzagging in a waist mill.  She reports she had 6 years of school.  At some point before 1950 she married William M. Hendricks whose first wife died in 1943.  It appears they did not have children; none are listed as survivors in her obituary.  In 1950 Esther and her husband lived in East Greenville, Pa. His maiden sister lived with them.  William worked as a truck driver for a coal and lumber company.  William and Esther were members of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Red Hill, Pa.  She died on 10 August 1983 and is buried in the cemetery of Christ Lutheran Church in Niantic, Pa. with her husband and his first wife.