Wordless Wednesday: John Adam DeLawder, John Lurman DeLawder, Rosa Alice DeLawder

from left to right: John Adam DeLawder, John Lurman DeLawder
Rosa Alice DeLawder  (nee Glotfelty)
most likely taken in Takoma Park, MD cira 1920

 

First Love: John and Frances

"Capital 'D'-e" {pause} "Capital 'L,'-a-w-d-e-r." I can still hear my grandmother Frances spelling out her last name to persons unfamiliar with the surname. "DeLawder is two words," she said, always ending the spelling with this explanation. Frances clung to the name in honor of her beloved John and his family decades after his departure. 

In keeping with her Victorian upbringing, she remained faithful to her first love. I have said "John DeLawder lived a long and prosperous life after he died in 1924," Frances never allowed his memory to fade. John was the epitome of the knight-in-shinning-armor; or, at least he morphed into this over the years. His thick dark hair, blue eyes, and chiseled features where not outdone by his unabashed tenderness and ambition.

from top left: Rebecca Ruth (b. 1894), Martha May (b. 1897)

Kingsbury (b. 1892), and John Lurman (b. 1898.)

John Adam DeLawder and Rosa Alice Glotfelty married on September 3, 1889 in Deep Creek, Garret MD. John Lurman followed sisters Rebecca Ruth, Martha May, and brother  Kingsbury. The DeLawder family settled in nearby Washington DC, where John Adam worked in the government printing office.

Like the Davis family, the DeLawders where middle class Americans. Both heads of households held long-term government positions, Albert as a clerk for the Pension Department and John Adam DeLawder as Assistant Foreman in the Printing Office.

High school provided an outlet for Frances' outgoing nature and enthusiasm. At home she was expected to be quiet and reserved. Her passion for life flourished in the public high school she attended. She received the praises and accolades of her instructors. At Business High School in Washington DC, she learned typewriting and stenography, she danced, played basketball, played tennis, and swam. Her undeniable charm made her a natural leader, being elected Vice President of the student body government. In her senior year she competed with the rifle team, and dabbled in the theater arts.

Girls Rifle Team
Business High School 1914
Washington DC
(Frances is bottom row, left)

In that same year the Davis family moved from 214 "A" St SE, Washington DC to Takoma Park MD, on the outskirts of the city. Frances' determination to graduate entailed a daily commute on the street cars arriving home barely in time for the evening meal. Frances completed her public schooling in June 1914. 

Before graduation, Frances attracted the attention of a boy. He was a prize. George, Frances' younger brother by two years, also liked John DeLawder very much and approved of the match. Mutual friends introduced them. John attended the McKinley Manual Training School across the street from Business High School in Congress Heights of Washington DC. From their first meeting, John displayed only his best manners to the girl he intended to court, never engaging in degrading conversation about the "weaker sex." Frances and John shared lunch hours and so began a great love affair. 

Canoeing on the Potomac River, walks along the towpath, and secret passions was everything a girl could want in a boy. With John she was free from her distant father, who never tired of believing that Frances "should have been a boy" and her somber mother who believed that girls were "shedding their femininity."

John Lurman DeLawder
(1898 - 1924)

John graduated from McKinley in 1916 where he had studied science. He aspired to be a bacteriologist. He found his way into the Bureau of Standards (the Federal Governments first physical science research laboratory),  where he was appointed apprentice later that same year. It may have been John's abilities that landed him the position in the Bureau of Standards from instructors at his high school as implied by this note in a closed case FBI file. John understood higher education was the way up and applied himself to study with as much vigor as he worked.

John would spend his weekends with his sweetheart in rural Takoma Park and travel back to the city for weekdays. She mourned his absence those days but John could not be persuaded to marry before he could provide for a wife and eventual children.

The nation’s capital was abuzz with the talk of war as the United States failed to negotiate neutrality in the European conflict.  Young John may have viewed the war as an opportunity to advance his career. At the age of 19 years, John and close friend Francis "Fran" Clarke enlisted in the Army at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington D.C as part of the National Guard.

He and Clarke where immediately sent to Long Island, NY for training at Camp Mills. They were assigned to the Medical Corps. The two friends departed for distant France soon after.

Copyright  ©amanofamily.com 2012

edited by Donora Hillard 

link below to a blog reciting the highlights of Washington DC

Streets of Washington

Wordless Wednesday: Will Rodgers State Park 1948

Will Rodgers State Park, California
circa 1949
looking towards the polo field

from my paternal grandmothers photo album (with her in the foreground)

Update

Personal circumstances have kept me from writing the last few months but that will soon be remedied.

I have news that the CIA library has released my grandmothers unpublished (lost) manuscript and expect a copy of it soon. (Thank you Scott Hodes)

How did it end up in the possesion of the CIA?  I hope to answer that question.

Since I have at least a partial copy of one version and a nearly full copy of the another version (seemed she re-typed the story at least twice,) it will be interesting to compare the two complete versions.

It is a grand idea to publish her work, (unpublished manuscript), at least on the internet. Then I could help to accomplish what she didn't see in her life.

Rest in peace dear dear grandmother,
       your love did not return void.

Frances Davis
portrait she had sent to her sweetheart
John DeLawder while he served in France
in World War I

Copyright  ©amanoffamily.com 2012

P.S. The manuscript did arrive! Fortunately it is the first version she wrote. The CIA preserved her work. No indication how it ended up in the library but the manuscript is complete.

A Christian Heritage

Like tracing the outline of a shadow on the wall, so is recounting one’s family’s spiritual heritage. The sturdy Scot-Irish identity, grounded in Presbyterianism, was passed down generations to men who served in the capacity as missionaries, ministers, deacons and women who demonstrated courageous acts of charity.

Boyds MD Presbyterian Church
c. 1955

Quakers took up the cause of racial equality generations before civil rights came to the forefront of social consciousness. Such was the legacy of Jonathan Lindley whose influence lived on in his great granddaughter and great-great granddaughter, faithful keepers of the light.

It is evident that charity began in the home of Henry Presley Thornton (1783-1865). When Clorinda Coffin married the oldest son Thomas Volney Thornton (1810-1845), a Presbyterian by faith, she was ex-communicated from her Quaker church and family. Sadly, their only child, Harriet, did not survive her first year. When Clorinda was widowed in her husband’s 38^th year, it was her in-laws who provided shelter. Following their father’s example, the Thornton men were active in their community as church lay-leaders and financial supporters, to name a few; Edmund Braxton Thronton (1856-1929), Henry Clark Thornton (1852-1930) and George Abram Thornton (1821-1854).

Wordless Wednesday: Home of Mary A Thornton and Edmund B Thornton

"Mother's home where I was married"
1133 Lincoln Ave, Bedford, IN
the property next door is the home of
Edmund B Thornton

"Mothers home" would be the home of Mary A. Thornton (nee Braxton) and "Ed's home," would be the house for Edmund Braxton Thornton

(written by Emma Sickles Thornton where she married Albert Hopkins Davis)

Bedford, Indiana

Reference: The Annals of a Family p. 125

 

Wordless Wednesday (not very this week): A Victorian Poem

from autograph album of
Emma Sickles Thornton Davis 

Mary Caroline "Nannie" Thornton Shaw
March 30, 1874
Bedford, Indiana 

"Let fate do her worst, there are relics of joy,

Bright dreams of the past, which she cannot destroy,

Which come in the night time of sorrow and care, 

And bring back the features that joy used to wear, 

Long, long be my heart with such memories fill'd!

Like the vase, in which roses have once been distill'd,

You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will,

But the scent of the roses will hang round it still."

Your sister, 

Nannie Thornton 

March 30, 1874

 

Albert Hopkins Davis and Emma Sickles Thornton

Albert and Emma Davis
Takoma Park, MD

 I wish my grandmother Frances had told me more about her parents, Albert and Emma Davis. 

She did leave a few precious insights to this set of great-grandparents shared here.

Wordless Wednesday: The Davis Family

Davis Family, 1899
Washington DC

From top left to right; Nina age 14 yrs, Albert Hopkins Davis 45 yrs, Ruth age 17 yrs, Emma age 12 yrs, Frances age 4 yrs, Emma Sickles (nee Thornton) age 41 yrs, George Easton age 2 yrs, Winifred Braxton age 5 months.


Copyright  © Alice Kramer 2012

Wordless Wednesday: 1940 Census

 1940 Census
Alban Towers, Washington DC

Just released this week the 1940 US Census on Ancestry.com. The Date of this entry is April 1940, Nicholas Dallant aka Dozenberg had been arrested in December 1939. Frances was alone with her young daughter with the exception of another man that had moved into the household. Humes Houston Whittlesey, USN had unprecedented access to a small child, left without her father. It is interesting to note that the name is spelled "Delant,"(versus Dallant,) perhaps intentionally, Frances could have been attempting to protecting herself and her daughter from public scrutiny or alternatively, the couple had rented the apartment with a false spelling. Nick had lived and married under the assumed name of "Dallant," for 12 years. Nicholas and Frances had lived at this Washington DC address since 1937. Later when the FBI searched the apartment records they where not able to locate this residence.

Historial Note: HUAC hearings where taking place at the time of this picture. Nicholas Dozenberg was in the custody of the US Feds at the time. 

Humes Houston Whittlesey, Lt Commander, USN, retired
and my mother, Alban Towers, Washington DC, 1940
"Dearest Uncle Kommy" is not intended to be endering
My soul weeps when I look at this picture

You can see the original image here 1940 Census Record - Alban Towers - Washington DC

Copyright © Alice Kramer 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Katherine "Katie" Dosenberg

Katherine "Katie" Alide Kunan (nee Dosenberg)
born:1887 Russia; died: Sept 1955 Boston, MA

Finding Katie:

In the early 20th century immigrant women virtually disappeared into the records upon marriage, i.e. changing their surname. No US birth record exists, and Naturalization petitions required the man's full name and his wife's first name only. Katie Dosenberg was like so many in her generation.

Aided by cousins I learned her married name was Kunan. Thanks to John Dosenberg's step-daughter (Mildred Brough,) her picture was recovered from an ancient pile of pictures relegated to the attic. Katherine "Katie" Alide Dosenberg married Andrew Kunan in 1907 in Fall River, MA (see the MA archives site). She is registered in the 1920 Census in Boston, MA with her two sons; Richard (b. 1908,) and Olgart (b. 1912.) She does not appear in the 1930's census and in the 1940 census she is living with her oldest son Richard. Her husband Andrew Kunan died at the age of 35 yrs in 1915 of complications from appendicitis. It is presumed her youngest son Olgart also died before 1930. Katie was alone at the age of 29.

She was listed in the Boston City phone directory for a number of years; 1915 (widowed,) 1916, 1920, 1934, 1940's, 1955, and 1956 living with her son Richard, a taxi driver. The two moved to Florida in 1955 where it appeared Katie died that same year. Richard died in 1967. He never married, Katie has no surviving heirs.

In an unexpected twist Katie's name was published in the 1956 Boston directory. To my great delight her death date was found there. 

Update: found the vital record in Boston

It sounds simple now put into a few paragraphs but this research took the course of several years. In part because the Boston city directories became available on Ancestry.com. Katie has been found!

Copyright  © Alice Kramer 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Nevada City, Nevada County, California

Nevada City, California, circa 1930's

My great-grandmother's house on
10135 Coyote Street, Nevada City, CA
Nevada County Consolidated Fire Station No. 4
stands at the site now (see picture below)

These photos are from my paternal grandmother's photo album, she grew up in Nevada City, CA. The top photo is a postcard, the other was most likely taken by her of her childhood home. The house on Coyote Street is demolished and the fire station stands in it's place. My great aunt was devastated when the State of California took the property by eminent domain. My father also grew up in Nevada City, CA

Please feel free to share and leave a comment. 

Below are more pictures taken just outside Nevada City.

Blue Tent School Road
named in memory of the one-room school house as
pictured below in 1971

Blue Tent One Room Schoolhouse as it was in 1971
where one of my great-grandmother's was a school teacher

Cable Ranch site near Blue Tent, Nevada County, California
one set of great-great grandparents where pioneer settlers here
as it looked in 1971

Copyright  © AManofFamily 2012

Lt Colonel Henry Davis

Don Henry Davis (1812 - 1887)

A survey of the life of Don Henry Davis leaves little doubt that he had an adventurous spirit. Born October 9, 1812 to his parents Wiley Oran Davis and Susan Parker Kitchen, he was known to his siblings George A., Jessie Kitchen, and Ann Oran as “Henry.” He was a young man when his father left home on “a trip out West,” never to return. That is, he traveled west of Hartburg, Haywood County, Tennessee.

In the absence of his father, Henry was about fifteen years old when he began an apprenticeship in the saddler's trade that sustained him for several years. After moving to Leesville, Indiana, he opened a shop and invented the “Davis Spring Saddle,” the most comfortable saddle of its time.  Although his trade was prosperous, it was not his sole occupation.

A Tale of Families: The Davis'

Albert Davis is credited for compiling the family pedigree as he knew it in 1927, just a few years before his death. His daughter Ruth Davis Kerr used his research to type a formal manuscript some years later. It is this resource that I reference in my recounting. It has served as the account for multiple membership applications into the Daughters of theAmerican Revolution. 

Daughters of The Amerian Revolution

Documenting the pedigree back further than three generations from Albert is murky. Davis is a common surname, and thus records into the 1700’s may be unreliable, or perhaps one or more generations immigrated. It is reported that “Absalom Davis” was the father of five known sons, Micajah, James, Gideon, Chelsey, and Cyrus. There may have been more children(daughters), but those names have been lost in this account. There is evidence of additional children in the on-line trees that can be found in abundance. Absalom may have been Richard Absolom Davis who immigrated from Wales, most likely part of the Scot-Irish immigration wave that has been referenced previously. If this family immigrated in the years before the Revolutionary War they where early in this movement. It is also believed that Macajah’s father moved from Maryland to North Carolina.

Wordless Wednesday: Redondo Beach California

Redondo Beach, California, 1949

Great picture of the natural coastline of California from my grandmother's photo ablum.

Wordless Wednesday: Minna and Meta Brownfield

Minna and Meta Brownfield, Big River, Saskatchewan, Canada

My great aunt, sister to Nicholas Dozenberg and daughter
The Brownfields: mother and daughter: Minna and Meta

Wilhelmine (Minna) Braunfeld (anglonized Brownfield) nee Dosenberg
born: 1880, Russia, Latvia died: 1953 Big River, Sasketchwan, Canada
Meta Brownfield
born: 1914 Big River, Sasketchwan, Canada died: 1997, California

One of my all-time favorite pics. The Brownfields where pioneer settlers of the Big River area in Sasketchwan Canada (approximately 90 miles north of Prince Albert.) Fir trapping, fishing, and lumber milling where the mainstays of industry in this area. Judging from Meta's age this photo dates around 1930.

 

Copyright © amanoffamily.com 2012

The Annals of a Family

Certainly much appreciation is due to my predecessor, Joseph Francis Thornton, the last child born to George Abram Thornton and Mary Amanda Braxtan, (b. 06 June 1864, Bedford, IN), named for mothers brother and father's brother, both Union officers. His tireless commitment produced this family history book.

Published in 1940 his research was done entirely without the aid of modern technology. His efforts included collecting books, (some referenced earlier in this blog), visiting cemeteries in Indiana, Kentucky and other known parts of the country where ancestors where laid at rest. He examined court and library records in various counties and states, researched the ancient muster rolls of ancient battles, and lent his ear and pen to extended family.  Contributors to his work are acknowledged as Caroline T. Woolfolk, George Davis, George Abram, Jr., James Clay, Henry Clay Thornton, Louise Thornton MacDougal, Eddie Thornton Baylis, Paul, Henry, Frederic and Stanley Shaw, and Nina Davis Heck, Allie Braxtan Harris, her daughter, Nellie, and her son, Henry Harris, Frank and Samuel Braxtan, Alfred R.Orton (author of "The Family Tree," c. 1916). 

George Abram Thornton and Mary Amanda Braxtan

The Braxtans met the Thorntons in the marriage of George Abram Thornton and Mary Amanda Braxtan. Thomas Volney Thornton and his wife Clorinda (nee Coffin) hosted the intimate family affair in his home on July 13, 1847 in Paoli Indiana. The following day the newlyweds traveled to their new home in Bedford, IN, where they were honored with more dinners and parties to welcome the marriage.

George Abram Thornton

By all accounts George had a promising future at 25 years old he landed the deputy clerk position for Bedford, Lawrence County, IN, a year before his marriage. Upon the death the Gustavus Clark, County Clerk, George was appointed to fill his position for the remainder of the term and won formal election to the office in 1852, with re-election in 1856.

Wordless Wednesday: John Henry Dosenberg

John Henry Dosenberg

 My Great Uncle, brother to Nicholas Dozenberg. 

 Born: Jan 1891, Talsis, Courland, Russia 

 Death: 1953, Boston, MA 

copyright ©amanoffamily.com 2012

A Tale of Families: The Thorntons

America is essentially a country of immigrants. Only two essential questions bracket the understanding of transplanted people groups. From whence did the immigrants hail from?  Where did they settle and raise their families? The heritage, history and beliefs that people bring is what shapes politcal movement, policy and eventual government of the new homeland. The history of migration is not unique to American shores.

map showing Ireland Scotland England Wales
and shorelines

17th century Ireland became home to Scots settled in the Northern parts of the island dubbed the Ulster Plantation and thereafter referenced to as Scots-Irish or Ulster Scots.

These transplants where welcomed and brought to the country economic growth with new industries and taming of wild lands. The natural course of events lead to a multi-cultural society with people of mostly English descent and those of mixed descent being English-Scot, or English-Irish or, as defined above, as Scot-Irish. The Scots also brought with them their spiritual heritage; Presbyterianism. Churches where planted and grew which soon found them in conflict with their Catholic and Angelican Church neighbors.

A Tale of Families: The Braxtons

It is hardly without question that the roots of at least three branches of this family reach back to Colonial America; a time when the events that shape families where recorded in Bibles and legal contracts recorded the matters of the affluent. It is also evident that the family history becomes much clearer at the turn of the 19th century. A search of the census records verify the expanding tree.

One such branch is of the surname "Braxton," most certainly Scot-Irish in origin and derived from the old English words of "bracken," a fern hedge, and the suffix, "ton," or "tan," meaning an enclosed place or town in the more modern sense.

Thomas Braxtan I and his wife, Hannah Lindley became pioneer settlers of Indiana migrating from Orange County, North Carolina around 1811. It is believed that at least two generations of Braxtons lived in North Carolina before Thomas migrated north.