Earnest Henry Stahlhut was born March 5, 1892, in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, the son of William Frederick Stahlhut, who was born in Germany on May 20, 1866. The name of his birth mother has not been found. William later married Amelia Emily Krause on January 16, 1896, in Allen County, Indiana. Amelia was born in Germany in August of 1853.
By 1900, Earnest, along with his brother, two sisters, three stepbrothers, and one stepsister, were living on Cochren Street in the 8th Ward of Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Earnest was attending school, and his father William was working as a teamster.
By 1910, while living in St. Joseph Township, Allen County, Indiana, Earnest was working as a hired farmhand for Charles B. Tonkel…