Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family
history through old photographs.
This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt immediately brought to
mind a number of photos of girls with their dogs. As a little girl, my mother
had a mutt named “Fritz.”
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| My mother is on the right with her dog Fritz. This was taken in front of her family's store in Shenandoah, Virginia. |
My grandaunt Helen Killeen Parker apparently enjoyed the
companionship of several dogs over the years.
Helen’s friends also had dogs.
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| Lucile and dog probably Ocean View |
Helen did not label many of her photos with names, but
this one she did. Lucile. But Lucile who?
In the same photo album was this one of Mitz and Lucile.
Mitz? What kind of name is that for a guy?
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| Mitz and Lucile about 1921 |
As with most things in my genealogy world, one little
curiosity eventually fades from my thoughts only to be replaced by another. Trying
to identify Mitz and Lucile was not a priority. Heck, they were probably not
even family. Learning more about my dad’s Irish granny and her sisters is
always one of several competing priorities. I hoped Aunt Helen’s wedding gifts
book would provide clues to the identity of those darn children and lady with a poodle.
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| Cover of Aunt Helen's wedding gifts book |
Instead I found this: Mr. and Mrs. Mitz Ollice. Above
that listing is Mr. and Mrs. John Ollice.
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| One page from the wedding book |
It is no surprise that “Mitz” Ollice is not to be found
on Ancestry.com. John Ollice, however, is right there in the right
neighborhood, in the right period of time. He was not old enough to be Mitz’s
father. Nor were any of the other Ollice boys. While at first the census record
appeared to be a deadend, it turns out John and Mitz were brothers, 2 of 6 sons
born to Thomas and Alice Trainer Ollice. Mitz was not listed as Mitz; further
search revealed that he was William Innis Ollice.
William Innis “Mitz” Ollice was born in Vicksburg,
Mississippi in 1899, but by 1900, the Ollice family was settled in Portsmouth,
Virginia where Mr. Ollice worked as a machinist in the shipyard. The Ollice
family lived on Atlanta Avenue in Portsmouth, just a few streets away from
Charleston Avenue where Aunt Helen and her sisters and brother grew up.
A marriage record for William Innis Ollice solved the
mystery of Lucile. His bride was Lucile Fritzinger of Norfolk, Virginia.
She was born Lucile V. Fritzinger, daughter of Eli and
Mamie Smith Fritzinger. That “V” stood for Veronica OR Virginia, depending on
which Ancestry tree you want to believe. Her father was a baker.
The son of a machinist and daughter of a baker growing up
in two different cities separated by a river somehow met. Perhaps they met at
the popular Ocean View beach where so many of Aunt Helen’s summer photos were
taken. In fact, the one of Mitz and Lucile was taken probably a year or two
before they married in 1923.
Mitz became a fireman and Lucile a homemaker and mother
to four children: William Ronald, Joseph Vincent, Shirley Lucile, and Mary
Katherine.
In 1927 when Helen Killeen and Walter Parker married,
they received more silver and crystal than anyone today would want. But the
Ollices and Fritzingers had a different idea:
bedspreads and dresser scarves.
Hop on your bike or walk your dog over to Sepia Saturday.
Wendy
© 2018, Wendy Mathias.
All rights reserved.
