Sepia Saturday: Suits and Lawsuits

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt is a photo of two well-dressed young men. Several family photos passed down to me show that my great-grandparents and their sisters and brothers valued formal portraits. Oh, I understand why they wanted pictures of their children, but some groupings just seem odd.

For example, here is my grandfather Orvin Davis with his cousin Raymond Clift. Both had brothers and sisters, yet it’s just the two of them. Why were the others not included? I want to know.

Orvin standing

Orvin Davis and Raymond Clift

Here is another of my grandfather with someone whose identity is unknown. Judging by the fullness of his lips, this young man could be Raymond’s brother Leonard but he does not look enough like earlier photos of Leonard for me to say conclusively. Possibly it is a cousin from “the other side of the family,” who left few photos behind. Again I ask why THESE 2 sat for a portrait.

One duo that I find particularly interesting is my grandfather’s brother Millard Davis with the HUSBAND of their cousin Pearl Sullivan: Clyde Strole. If they were together in a candid photo, I would think nothing of it, but a FORMAL portrait begs the question “Why?” Apparently they were very good friends.

L to R: Clyde Strole and Millard Davis

For this blog, I realized I needed more information on Clyde beyond the birth-marriage-death dates, so I entered his name in the Search box at NewspaperArchive. I was shocked to read this:

 

from Harrisonburg Daily News Record 11 Jan 1933

Wow - here is a story I never heard! Could it be true? Or was he falsely accused?

There was no follow-up. Or at least I thought there was none. Surely the newspaper and readers wanted to know the outcome. After all, Clyde had married into a well-known, well-connected and much-loved family in Shenandoah.

I then tried searching just the word “assault” with the date range of January 1, 1933-February 28, 1933. I found an article. The quality is so poor that I can understand why the name was not recognizable in the Search.

from Harrisonburg Daily News Record 10 Feb 1933

PAGE JURY DEADLOCKED IN STROLE ASSAULT CASE

Luray, Feb 9 (AP) - After two hours’ deliberation the jury trying Clyde Strole, Norfolk and Western railroad conductor, on a charge of criminally assaulting a young Shenandoah girl, reported to the court it could not agree on a verdict.

     Strole based his defense on an alibi.

     The prosecution contended that the alleged crime was committed at the girl’s home near the Norfolk and Western yards.

     Although the evidence was given behind closed doors, the public was admitted for the argument. 

So there it is – a hung jury. I still do not know whether there was another trial that exonerated him or sent him to jail.

If you want to see more old photos, please visit the well-dressed bloggers at Sepia Saturday.

Wendy

© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved. 

52 Ancestors - SERVICE: Davis Radios and Service

This week’s prompt makes me think how often we say “Thank you for your service” to men and women in the armed services. Now in that greeting we are including health-care workers, postal carriers, grocery store employees, garbage collectors, and many others who risk their own health keeping us safe during the current Coronavirus pandemic.

Stuff from the attic

Before the “stay home” order, I was contacted by the current owner of my grandparents’ house after she discovered several boxes of my family’s STUFF hidden away in the attic. I was glad to retrieve it even though none of it is especially valuable except to a family historian.

Three pieces of paper held together with a rusted paper clip outline my maternal grandfather’s work career. I can think of only one logical explanation for why Orvin Davis made a list of places he worked and when. The family moved from Shenandoah to Portsmouth around 1940, so it is a reasonable assumption that he was preparing an application to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.

The smallest piece of paper is the least complete. The numbers at the bottom of the page might be a reminder to check his employment for the years 1914-1917 and 1918.

1 Natl Heat & Power 14 mo Left 11-39

2 Owner – garage 1922 to 1938

3 Gibson Motor Co 2 yrs Left 1922

4 U.S. Post Office 1 yr Left 1920

5 Combs Motor Co 1 yr Left 1919

14-17

18

This next page fills in some gaps and includes more exact dates.

May 15, 1940

Oct 1938 to Oct 1939 Nat Heat & Power

Massanutten Co Inc 11-39 to present time

National Heat & Power Co Oct 38 to Nov 39

Own Garage & Machine Shop 1923-1938  - lathe

Gibson Motors 1920-1922 Machine Shop

U.S. Post Office 1919 Auto rep Feb to Dec

Combs Motor Co 1918 Auto rep Apr to Feb 1919

Mich State Auto School 1917 Oct to April 1918

Shendo Planing Mills 1914-1917

Jan 1918 – Oct 1938 Town of Shenandoah

The large paper is the one I noticed because of the letterhead.

 (See what I did – SERVICE). The papers all confirm one thing I knew about my grandfather: that he owned his own auto repair shop for a time.

6-1914 to 11-1917 Carpenter Shenandoah Planing Mill

11-1917 to 5-1918 Mechanical School Detroit Mich

5-1918 to 1-1922 Auto repair Shenandoah Va for self

1-1922 to 3-1937 radio and electrical contracting for self

3-1937 to 3-1938 Electrician J.D. Cash Shenandoah, Va

3-1938 – 10-1938 [Ditto] Virginia Skyline Corp

10-1938 – 12-1938 out of employment

12-1938 to 11-39 present time Electrician National Heat & Power Co Shenandoah Va

11-39 to 7-1-40 July 1, 1940 to present time Massanutten Co Inc

WHAT I LEARNED

Just about everything was NEW information to me.

• That he worked for his father at Shenandoah Planing Mills from 1914-1917. He was a teenager of 15 when he started there. I knew my great-grandfather was a carpenter who built many homes in Shenandoah, and I was aware of a building that he worked out of. However, I never knew it was a separate business with a NAME.
• That he attended the Michigan State Auto School. The school did an awful lot of advertising.

  

  Part of ad for Michigan State Auto School
  appeared in Popular Mechanics
  from Google Books

• That he worked for the post office. It appears he might have been performing auto repair for the post office, not delivering mail.
• That he worked for two motor companies – Combs Motor from 1918-1919 and Gibson Motor from 1920-1922. That seems to be about the time he went into business for himself.
• That he worked as an electrician for various companies: for Virginia Skyline Corporation, National Heat & Power Company, and Massanutten Power Corporation.

WHAT SURPRISED ME

While I knew the Davis Store was never my grandfather’s main interest, I was still surprised that it was not in his list in any form. His father Walter Davis was the builder and owner. Over the years the store receipts bore various names: W. B. Davis, W. B. Davis & Sons, W. B. Davis & Son. After Walter died in 1934, my grandmother continued to work there. According to the 1940 Federal census, Granddaddy was manager and owner of the Davis Store.

Ironically, in the 1940 census, Granddaddy also claimed to have been out of work during 1939 and received no income. Methinks Granddaddy contradicted himself.

 

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

© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: Lawn Party

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt featuring 4 nurses on a Jeep reminded me of a photo I have used before:  my grandaunt Velma Davis with 3 friends standing on a truck.

July 1925
Unknown, Velma Davis,
Virginia Cole, Thelma Hockman

The truck was being used much like a billboard to advertise an upcoming Lawn Party at the Mt. Olivet Church in McGaheysville, about half-way between where the girls lived in Shenandoah and where they attended the state Teacher’s College in Harrisonburg (now James Madison University – GO DUKES!).

Looking for a big write-up in the newspaper, I was both surprised and disappointed to find just a small ad:

 

from Harrisonburg Daily News Record 1 Aug 1925

It was sandwiched between other local announcements and MANY other ads for lawn parties.

“Lawn Parties” might be an unfamiliar term to some readers. In the Shenandoah Valley, lawn parties are STILL a big thing. They are fundraisers typically sponsored by civic organizations like Woodmen of the World, hunt clubs, community civic leagues, Sunday School classes and church groups, volunteer fire departments, and any other organization with the manpower and place to host one. There is no set format but usually there is a big dinner and music; sometimes there are bake sales, games – including Bingo, and carnival rides. Some lawn parties are held several days running.

What I did NOT expect to find were lawn party ads like these:

from Harrisonburg Daily News Record 12 Jun 1925

from Harrisonburg Daily News Record 21 Aug 1926

from Harrisonburg Daily News Record 25 Jul 1925

I always thought the KKK was a secret organization whose members hid themselves behind white hoods. In the 1920s – and probably other decades as well but I did not keep looking – they were rather wide open. The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in the Shenandoah Valley must have felt very confident and comfortable enough to promote its big attraction:

 

from Harrisonburg Daily News Record 2 Sep 1925

A "firery cross"! That’s entertainment??

No thanks. I’ll stick to dinner and music at the Mt. Olivet Church.

Grab a few friends and check out the weekly lawn party known as Sepia Saturday.

Wendy

© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

52 Ancestors - WILL: Beyond the Will

“Where there’s a will, there’s a genealogist.” I love that! It is so true.

As the Registrar for my chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), my job is to help prospective members prove their blood line leading to a patriot, someone who aided in obtaining independence for America. When birth and death records do not exist, I look for a will because they are the perfect source to prove a parent and child connection – that is, WHEN they actually name the children. Ones that simply direct that property be “equally divided among my children” are essentially useless.

What a let-down when I found the will for Johan George Eppard (23 Apr 1780 - 1869). He was my maternal grandmother’s maternal grandfather’s paternal grandfather, in other words MY 4X great-grandfather. His will of March 1866 mentions only 3 of his 11 children by name.

Map of the Naked Creek area
The Epard/Eppard names give an idea of where George's land was

George Eppard began his will by describing the metes and bounds of land to be divided. The Eppards lived along Naked Creek which formed the border between Rockingham and Page counties in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. 

Here is what he said next:

The said boundary of land I will to my son Wesley Epard by his paying to my estate the sum of $20.00 per acre in four equal payments. The first payment to be made in 60 days from the date of admitting this my will to record and the balance in three equal annual payments from said day. Second:  The residue of my land should I not dispose of the same before my death I wish to be sold at public sale by my executor, hereinafter named, on such terms and time as they may think most advisable. Third:  The proceeds of the above sales together with all the rest of my effects, after all of my just debts and funeral expenses are paid I wish to be equally divided among all my children. The children of my two Sons, John and James, who are dead:  I wish to receive respectively the shares that would have come to their fathers had they been living that is, the children of John Epard to receive one moiety and the children of James Epard one moiety. Fourthly:  I constitute and appoint my friend John C. Walker my executor. In testimony whereof I the said George Epard have to this my last Will and Testament signed and subscribed my name this day of March in the year of our Lord 1866.

Signed, acknowledged and published by George Epard

George (x) Epard.  X His Mark

As a descendant of one of the UNnamed children, I would be disappointed if I were relying on this will to help me get into the DAR. Fortunately there was a lawsuit.

It seems that John C. Walker, executor of George Eppard’s estate, was deemed unsuitable due to his own financial woes, so the Eppard heirs took him to court to have him removed.

Chancery Cause 1870-068 Rockingham County, VA

To the County Court of Rockingham

The Bill of complaint of Andrew Eppard, William Eppard, Reuben Eppard, Westley Eppard, Jos Samuels Jr, Zac Taylor, William Merica & Isaac Gooden of Rockingham County, respectfully represent that in the year 1869 George Eppard departed this life leaving the foregoing complainants his devises and distributes. That he made a will & appointed John C. Walker his Executor who at the August Court 1869 he qualified as such and paid bond with S. P. H. Miller as his surety. That said Walker sold the personal property and that the same amounts to between $600 & $700.

Chancery Cause 1870-068 Rockingham County, VA

That since that time the said Walker and the said Miller have both failed and their personal effects have been sold by the Sherriff & that they are insolvent and if said Walker collects said money Complainants have no security for its faithful application. Complainants have confidence in the integrity of said Walker but feel & charge that he is not now, embarrassed as he is, a proper person to have charge of the estate and that letters of Admin to him ought to be revoked.

They prevailed.

Chancery Cause 1870-068 Rockingham County, VA

Andrew Eppard                                 }   In Chancery

John C. Walker & S. P. H. Miller   }

This day the Plaintiffs presented their Bill in Court praying an Injunction. Isaac Gooden one of the plaintiffs having given bond in the penalty of $25 an injunction is awarded the plaintiffs to restrain the said John C. Walker from collecting and all the Creditors from paying to him any of the money due said Walker as adm of George Eppard deceased 

The real value of this document, however, is in the naming of the children. My ancestor is William. The daughters’ names were disguised by the names of their husbands as was typical of the times. It required a little more research to find them.

• Joseph Samuels Jr – Permelia Eppard
• Zachary Taylor – Nancy Eppard
• William Merica – Mary Eppard
• Isaac Gooden – Elizabeth Eppard

So, who was this John C. Walker that George Eppard entrusted to carry out his last wishes? Ironically, Walker himself was a lawyer. His wife was Mary Miller, perhaps a sister to S. P. H. Miller.

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

© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: Art I

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt made me think of the many hours I spent at the library when I was a student at Madison College (now James Madison University – GO DUKES!). My mother also graduated from Madison, so it is likely we sat in the same time-worn chairs at large tables that look like they came right out of a medieval mead hall.

 

Library at JMU 1949
image from the yearbook

When the most recent owner of my grandparents’ house contacted me about the family treasures she

Just one box of stuff found in my grandparents' attic

uncovered in the attic, I was surprised at the college class notes and assignments my mother had saved, in particular the ones from Art I. She was preparing to become an elementary school teacher, so apparently an understanding of the principles of art was a requirement.

The color wheel, shapes, perspective, balance – basic topics like these are reflected in the papers she deemed worthy of keeping. Surely every elementary school teacher must know these things in order to incorporate art into their curriculum. I get it.

But fashion tricks to enhance the figure or disguise flaws? Home decorating? I do not see how that was relevant to the students who would soon be helping 9-year-olds to construct a Jamestown fort out of popsicle sticks.

Yet in my mother’s little works of art, I see the woman she became. When she was not planning lessons and grading papers, she knitted and sewed. She loved it and was good at it. She smocked. She quilted. She made slipcovers and drapes. Most of our clothes were sewn right there in our dining room. Momma followed the instructions provided in Simplicity, McCalls, and Butterick patterns, but she also was good at combining the sleeve from one and the collar from another to create her own look.  

Painting by Mary Eleanor Davis 1948
Assignment in Art I

In one assignment, students were to select a fashion style from a much earlier period and adapt it to modern times. Momma adapted a medieval dress for the modern woman. 

She explained:

Explanation of fashion adaptation 

From the 10th-13th century dress, I took the sleeves and fitted bodice. In the adaptation, it is a set-in piece of material rather than a regular belt. 

Didn’t she do a good job? Yet the professor gave her a “C.” A “C”! Just an average job? I want to see the “A” student’s project. No grade inflation in that class!

One assignment that amuses me is about home decorating. I cannot tell whether it was about furnishing a room, about the use of main and accent colors, or what. When my sister and I looked at this drawing, our jaws dropped.

 

Painting by Mary Eleanor Davis 1948
Assignment in Art I

Green walls and maroon rug – that is exactly the scheme she used when she redid the living room in 2000. 

It seems every picture of the living room was taken at Christmas with presents everywhere
making it hard to SEE my point

This is actually my sister's living room in 2010.
She inherited the rugs and the valances that
were in our parents' house.
Momma made the valance.

Did she subconsciously channel that assignment from 50 years before? It must have been her crystal ball.

All week members of Sepia Saturday have been studying their photos for the best ones to highlight.

Wendy

© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

52 Ancestors - LAND: Lot 8 Section T

Who has not dreamed of finding buried treasure? Maybe a bag of gold buried in the garden. A diamond broach behind a panel in an old cupboard. A bundle of letters and mouse-chewed papers in a hidden compartment of an attic.

That last scenario is mine.

 

The "secret attic" is in the part of the house
that extends in the front
(my grandparents' bedroom)

The current owner of my grandparents’ house is installing new insulation in the attic where she discovered the “secret attic.” Thanks to this blog, she found me. No gold though. And no fancy jewelry. But there are a few good things like baby clothes that had been worn either by my sister or me, one baby shoe that was probably our mother’s, a college yearbook, and LOTS of letters from our mother’s high school and college friends.

There are also a lot of papers that most people would have thrown away 70 years ago when the house was built - papers like store receipts, canceled checks, and property tax receipts. But the family historian in me says, “Thanks Grandma! Thanks Granddaddy!” Each mouse-chewed piece of paper is a treasure.

 

Receipt for tax payment 1941

Before World War II brought my grandparents to Portsmouth where Granddaddy worked in the shipyard, they lived in Shenandoah, Virginia. I am intrigued by the property tax receipts from the Page County treasurer.  

 

My grandfather paid $16.03 in 1939
which included a head tax, personal property and
real estate taxes on Lot 8 Section T

I want to know more about Lot 8 Section T. Maybe it was their house on Sixth Street or possibly their store at the corner of Sixth and Pennsylvania Avenue.

snipped from Google Maps
House on 6th Street built by my grandfather and great-grandfather and Davis store on the corner
This is my mother's childhood home. 
The house in the middle faces Pennsylvania Ave. 

My grandfather paid $14.92 in 1941
Lot 8 Section T

I remember seeing an index for Page County deeds at the Library of Virginia umpteen years ago. I thought I made a copy but apparently I did not. However, in looking through my files, I found an important deed that possibly sheds light on these property tax receipts.

From Page County Deed Book 38, pp 147-148

This Deed made the 12^th day of May in the year Eighteen hundred and ninety-six between J. G. H. Miller and S. P. Miller his wife, of the first part of Rockingham County, Virginia, and Walter B. Davis of the second part, of Page County, Virginia, Witnesseth that in consideration of sixty-five dollars cash in hand paid, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, the said J. G. H. Miller and S. P. Miller, his wife, doth grant, with general warranty of title unto the said Walter B. Davis, his heirs and assigns forever, all of a certain lot or parcel of land situate in the town of Shenandoah, County of Page, State of Virginia, designated and descried as follows to wit: Lot No. 7 in Block No. 6 of Millers Addition in the town of Shenandoah in the County of Page, State of Va, fronting fifty-feet on East side of 3^rd Street and running back 130 feet to an alley, between lines

perpendicular to sd 3^rd Street, together with all appurtenances to the said lot or parcel of land belonging, to have and to hold said lot or parcel of land with the appurtenances aforesaid, unto the said Walter B. Davis, his heirs and assigns forever.

Witness the following signatures and seals.

J. G. H. Miller {seal}

Sallie P. Miller {seal}

State of Virginia

County of Rockingham

I, W. K. Jennings, Notary Public in and for the County and State aforesaid, certify that J. G. H. Miller and Sallie P. Miller whose names are signed to the writing above having date on the 12^th day of May 1896 have acknowledged the same before me in the County and State aforesaid. Given under my hand this 13^th day of May 1896.

W. K. Jennings N.P.

Page County to wit:

The forgoing Deed was received in the Clerk’s Office of Page County Court, Augt 2^nd 1897 and entered to record.

Teste

A Broaddus C.C.

My great-grandfather purchased a lot on “3^rd Street” – that is where my cousins lived as children. Whenever we visited them, my grandfather would point to the big white house next door and say, “That is the house I grew up in.” I guessed Lot 7 then must be where Walter Davis built the family home.

My granddaddy Orvin with his sisters and cousins
the Davis house on N. 3rd near Williams Ave. Shenandoah, VA

snipped from Google Maps
How the house looks today

Could “Lot 7, Block 6” and “Lot 8, Section T” be neighboring properties? Maybe Granddaddy owned the lot where my cousins’ house was eventually built. 

snipped from Google Maps
My grandfather's boyhood home and my cousins' house as they look today

For answers I turned to the friendly folks in the “Remember Shenandoah Back When” group on Facebook to see if there is a map of how the town was laid out “back when.” Right away one person said there is a map on the wall in the town office. Before I could find a phone number or email address, a woman who works there responded also. She reported that “Section T” is Sixth Street.

What’s more, she included a link to the Page County Geographic Information Systems website. There you can search by owner, by address, by street, and by several other designations as well. 

Block map showing Lot 8 Section T
from Page County GIS

When I searched “Sixth Street,” up came a map with every lot numbered. I clicked on #8, and there it was: my grandparents’ house, my mother’s childhood home. Photos of the front and side and a description of the building’s interior and exterior provided more information than I could have hoped for.

 

View of the house my mother grew up in
414 Sixth St, Shenandoah, VA
from Page County GIS

Side view of the house my mother grew up in
414 Sixth St, Shenandoah, VA
from Page County GIS

As I was on a roll, I went ahead and searched Third Street for my granddaddy’s boyhood home. It turns out that “Lot 7, Block 6” is a VACANT lot. It was vacant when Walter Davis bought it in 1896 and it is still vacant today. I suppose he just wanted more land between his house and whoever might build on Lot 6.

 

Block map N Third St, Shenandoah, VA
Lots 8 and 7 - Granddaddy's boyhood home
Lots 6 and 5 - my cousins' childhood home

As I clicked on lot after lot, I saw a pattern. EVERYONE bought 2 lots. No wonder. Each parcel was only .16 acres.

It appears then that Walter Davis built the house on Lot 8, not Lot 7. My cousins’ house is on Lot 6 with Lot 5 as their BIG side yard we played in. They had a nanny goat that kept it mowed for us. 

A view of Lot 5
My cousin Bobbie and moi 1960
and either Punky or Chunky - I couldn't tell those dogs apart

See how much there is to learn from mouse-chewed paper!

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

© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.