What a cutie patootie. Sure wish I knew who she was. My
only clue is that the photo came to me through my mother’s family.
Oh, and look – it’s stamped 1934. I have never seen a photo dated on the front like this.
Wendy
© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
Growing up, I was well aware that my mother had been one of the beautiful and popular girls at school, both high school and college. Not until I started going through letters saved between 1946 and 1950 did I realize just HOW popular!
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| Letters my mother saved |
The stacks of letters reveal there had been more
boyfriends than I had ever heard about. Bruce. Pete. George. Bob. Graham. Of
course, I want to know more although, quite frankly, I have been reluctant to
open the letters for fear of learning something I don’t want to know!
Nevertheless, with one eye closed, I began opening envelopes. Since Graham always included his last name in the return address, I decided to start with him. The letters begin in the summer of 1947 following Momma’s first year at Shenandoah College where Graham must have been a student as well. Graham’s letters are “hot and heavy” professions of love blah blah blah. He called her “Pretty Face,” “Dream Girl,” “Sweet,” and “Booby” (Booby?? What the heck?). He signed off, “Loving you every minute” and – my favorite – “Loving you like a fiend.”
Then in 1949 the letters are just friendly. He addressed her by her nickname “Duny” and signed off, “As B/4 Graham.” The “break up” must have occurred in 1948. I’m guessing Momma did not save all the letters because there are none from him that year.
Here is what I learned:
My mother must have been a poor pen pal because Graham
always seemed surprised when she wrote back quickly and relieved when she
finally responded. One time he even praised her for getting better at
letter-writing.
During the summer of 1947 Graham was desperately looking
for work. Unable to find anything, he described himself as being “like a lost
ball in high weeds.” Eventually he took a job for a company in Ontario.
Graham liked to party. Sometimes he didn’t get home until
the wee hours. There were days he drank beer all afternoon.
My favorite insight into Graham’s personality is this: he called his car “the sex machine.”
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| Back of a postcard Graham sent from Gettysburg on his way to Canada |
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| Letter from Graham while in Canada |
In another incident involving “the sex machine,” Graham’s personality shines through as he described the night he hit a dog:
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| from one of the letters summer 1947 |
Graham was not returning to Shenandoah but had applied to
North Carolina State and to the University of North Carolina. He was quite
anxious to hear whether he would be accepted at either. While he joked that he
might flunk out the first semester, he must have been smarter than he thought
because he was accepted at BOTH schools.
Apparently, he chose to go to NC State with his best friend but later regretted that decision and enrolled at UNC. In the last letter that Momma saved, Graham described himself as being “a square peg in a round hole” at NC State and wished he had been at UNC Chapel Hill all along.
Wondering what became of Graham after that, I headed to Ancestry and searched “Graham Wilson.” Up popped the UNC yearbook with this picture:
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| Graham Wilson UNC Chapel Hill 1950 A.B. degree in Economics |
Back in January, I posted photos of my mother with a man yet to be identified.
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| Graham Wilson and "Pretty Face" |
MYSTERY SOLVED!
The man was Graham Wilson. I wonder if that’s the “sex machine” in the background.
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| "Duny" and Graham |
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| Elizabeth Hardison Meredith College 1948 |
Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”
Wendy
© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
One of my favorite photos is this one: 4 generations.
Standing in back: my sister Mary Jollette, my grandmother Lucille Rucker Davis
Sitting: my mother Mary Eleanor Davis Slade, ME
Standing in front: daughters Zoe Mathias Matthews, Jordan Mathias Kiser
Happy Mother’s Day to all moms, moms of moms, and those
missing their moms.
Wendy
© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.
This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt features a young man
named Lewis Powell which made me wonder if I have a Lewis Powell in my family
tree. No, I don’t. However, I have inherited quite a few photos of a pretty
girl named Lacuta Powell. She was the centerpiece of a mini-mystery I helped
solve nearly 10 years ago.
In May 2012, the latest edition of the Greene County Historical Society newsletter arrived. On the back page are several photos with a request for information on the people featured.
One photo grabbed my attention immediately because I have the same one tucked away in a box of photos that have been passed down through the family.
The lovely girl in that beautiful lace blouse was identified in the GCHS magazine as Agnes Stephens Utz. Hmm. Definitely a familiar face. Definitely UNfamiliar name.
I checked the back of my photo where I had penciled in the name given to me by my distant cousin Vessie Jollette Steppe. The name: Lacuta Powell.
In fact, I have a number of photos of Lacuta Powell. Lacuta as a baby:
Mrs. Sarah Powell
daughters Rosalie and Lacuta
A host of Powells – Lacuta is there with her mother and 2 sisters and who knows who else.
But of course, that’s Lacuta Powell IF Cousin Vessie was correct. To my knowledge, Lacuta is not family, so I’m not sure why our family has her pictures. Then again, we have no Agnes Utz in the family either. I sent a quick email to the GCHS to let them know their mystery had developed another layer.
Curiosity sent me to the census records. I guessed at
Lacuta’s age based on Vessie’s birth date. It turns out Lacuta’s family lived
smack-dab in the middle of my Colemans, Sullivans, Clifts, and Davises. It
makes sense that Vessie would remember the face of a childhood playmate.
Even though the census records confirmed Vessie’s claim there was a girl named Lacuta, census records don’t identify people in photographs. Vessie could have been mistaken – she was in her 90s when she identified the photo. For the time being I put ol’ Lacuta / Agnes out of my mind and returned to my other research. I was flipping through my copy of Shenandoah: A History of Our Town and Its People when the name of one of my distant cousins caught my eye. Guess whose name was right beneath it. Yep, Lacuta Powell.
Lacuta is on the front row, third from the right
scanned from Shenandoah: A History of Our Town...
One look at that dark hair and serious expression told me that the photo in question had to be that of Lacuta Powell, not Agnes Utz. The resemblance was unmistakable.
Now I’m wondering how the person who donated the box of photos to the GCHS came to have this photo too. Maybe she’s not related to Lacuta Powell either.
Be a pal and visit my pals at Sepia Saturday. (Did you see what I did there with that little homophone?)
Wendy
© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
I wonder who these folks could be.
The picture is in the scrapbook of my grandaunt Helen Killeen Parker. I used to think the woman was my great-grandmother Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen Walsh, but she doesn’t look like the woman in other photos.
But if it is Mary Theresa, could the man be her son Matthew Killeen with his only child Alma?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Wendy
© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
Maidie was the oldest daughter of my 2X great-grandmother’s sister Victoria Shiflett Vernon. At 22, Maidie was still single and working as a teacher in Greene County, Virginia. By 1910, she was a crew manager of canvassers for a furniture company in Richland, Ohio. She had been married less than a year to Reinhold Merschel, a naturalized citizen who emigrated from Germany in 1892. He was the manager at a furniture factory.
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| Marriage Record Reinhold Merschel and Maidie Vernon 26 May 1909 |
It seems that Reinhold had a little side job going. He and Ernest W. Toadvine went into business together, but it was NOT a legitimate business. It was a SCAM. They sent agents to call on women convincing them to sign contracts agreeing to pay 50 cents every week to enter a drawing. The prize was their choice of a piece of furniture out of the Union Furniture Company catalogue.
A nice piece of furniture for 50 cents?? As they say, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t.”
How long the money-making scheme went on is not clear,
but eventually the two men were caught. Their story was covered in newspapers
throughout the country.
Sandusky Star Journal
18 Feb 1916
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| Fort Wayne Sentinal 6 Oct 1916 |
In 1917, Reinhold Merschel and Ernest Toadvine were
charged with mail fraud and sent to the US Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta,
Georgia. Toadvine was released a year later in 1918, Merschel 2 years later in
1919. Evidently, he had a larger role in their business venture.
Interestingly enough, despite being incarcerated, Reinhold registered for the draft. His occupation? Prisoner. The flip side of his card indicated that the first joint of his right thumb was crippled.
After his release in 1919, Reinhold returned to Toledo,
Ohio, but it seems Maidie did not welcome him with open arms. The 1920 census
shows him as a roomer across town from Maidie and daughter Ottielie. The City
Directory that same year lists Maidie as a widow of Reinhold. However, he was
not dead. He was very much alive and working as a salesman.
They eventually patched things up, apparently, because the City Directories from at least 1923 on list the couple together. But things were about to change once again.
The 1930 census shows Maidie claimed she was divorced. The 1932 City Directory shows her as the widow of Reinhold Merschel. Whether he was really dead this time is not known.
Toledo, Ohio City Directory
I can’t help wondering how much Maidie knew about her husband’s business venture. On their marriage record, she claimed her occupation was “soliciter,” and then in the 1910 census she worked as the crew manager of canvassers. Whether she was a willing participant in the scheme or merely another victim, she was not punished in the legal system.
Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”
Wendy
© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
This was a big week in the Jollett family
May 2, 1944 – My great-grandaunt Victoria Jollett Breeden passed away at the age of 66.
Victoria Breeden
May 3, 1934 – My great-granduncle Burton Lewis Jollett passed away at the age of 73.
Burton Lewis Jollett
photo courtesy Ben Marks
May 5, 2019 – My sweet aunt Cerretha Comer Davis passed away at the age of 89.
"Scoop" Comer Davis
at home of Violetta Davis Ryan
Maybe an Easter Sunday
May 7, 1895 – My great-grandaunt Edith Kite Davis was born.
Millard Davis
Edith Kite Davis
May 7, 1905 – My grandfather’s cousin Alda Beatrice Clift Suite was born.
Alda Clift
May 8, 1956 – My grandfather’s cousin Fleta Florence Jollett Sullivan died at the age of 71.
Wendy
© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
