Albert J. Oberlitner(Alternate spelling Oberleitner)

Birth: He was born around 1868 in Arkansas.  

Family Information: Husband of Etta Oberlitner.

Father of Ethel, Beulah, Floyd (who married Beatrice Jensen), Emery, Ruby, Thelma and Lucille Oberlitner.  

Description:  

Pre-Colony History: In 1900 he was living in Ohio with first wife, Etta, and their children while he worked as a blacksmith. In 1910 they lived in Colorado and he still worked as blacksmith.

In 1920 he was living with his wife and younger children in Arkansas and he was farming.  

Home in Colony:  

Job in Colony: In November 1927 the colony was selling their crates as fast as they could get them out. Shoemaker, Oberlitner, Tefteller, Aaby, Dixon and Maxwell were getting out materials for ends and putting them together while Shutt and Gerber were sawing logs into blocks for veneer.

In December 1927 he and Gerber were sawing box and crate materials while Roede, Mardfin, Dixon and Maxwell were nailing up the last of the crate ends and putting them into bundles.

Before the end of December 1927 he was doing machinist work with J. Maxwell and Price and they had almost finished the repair work on the sawmill engine.  

Other Info: One of 42 colonists who signed a petition, dated January 10, 1928 and sent to the governor of the state, which objected to the securing of a new charter being issued to the colony. Among other things, this petition claimed that affairs of the colony had been grossly and intentionally mismanaged and conduct of the management so flagrantly opposed to good morals that a receiver assigned by the District Court was necessary to handle affairs. It alleged that management had: 1. Used misleading propaganda which caused hundreds of people to invest their money in the colony, only to be disillusioned and have to leave with nothing to show for their investment. 2. Reduced the colony to a peon camp - these "peons" being poorly fed, clothed and housed. 3. Advocated "free-love", including promiscuous relations of the sexes and other practices contrary to good morals. 4. Expressed contempt for courts and authorities by taking it upon themselves to punish two boys for stealing from the colony store. 5. Prostituted colony schools by employing nondescript persons as teachers, while issuing fraudulent reports and drawing hundreds of dollars from the Parish School funds in the names of certified teachers and by exploiting child labor. The case was taken all the way to the Supreme Court but eventually was annulled and the plaintiff's demands rejected.  

Post-Colony History: In 1930 and 1940 he was living alone in Missouri and working as a blacksmith -- in 1930 he was listed as "married" and in 1940 as "divorced."  

Death:  

Sources: US Census: 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940; Llano Colonist: November 5, 1927, December 17, 1927, December 24, 1927, February 25, 1928, May 13, 1933 (Story of Llano), May 20, 1933 (Story of Llano)