Matrilineal Monday: Fearless Female Jewel Moore Gresham, 1914-1994

Mark's mother, Jewel Moore Gresham, was born October 4, 1914, in a log cabin that had been slave quarters on a large, former cotton plantation near Azle and White Settlement, both west of Fort Worth in Tarrant County.  The log cabin was located near Silver Creek.  

Jewel was the youngest of seven children (one boy and six girls) of Tandy Clayton Moore (1878-1964) and Nancy "Nannie" Flora Jones (1882-1969).  Clayton was born in Lee County, Alabama, but moved with his family to Denton County in 1900.  Nannie was a native of Denton County.

The Moore family continued to live in the Silver Creek area until the boll weevils wiped out the cotton crop in 1918.  Late that year or early in 1919, they moved to a farm in Bray, Oklahoma.  Jewel went to first grade and second grade in Bray.  About 1922, Clayton bought 20 acres just outside the city limits of Marlow, which was about nine miles west of Bray.  In the late 1920s, they moved to 120 acres north of Marlow.

The rest of Jewel's schooling happened in Marlow schools (although the family had to pay $149 per semester tuition, at least when Jewel was in fifth grade, because there was another school closer to their home).  She graduated from Marlow High School in 1932 as the salutatorian (her fourth-grade sweetheart, Glenn Rubendall, was valedictorian).

Jewel remained at home with her parents until the summer of 1938, when she was twenty-four.  She then accompanied her two nephews, Tom and Wesley Moore (sons of her older brother Gurth, who died in January 1935) to Corpus Christi, where they were to start school.  All three were to live with Jewel's older sister Ivis Moore Mew (1904-2004), who was a nurse at Spohn Hospital.  After successfully completing a business school course, Jewel found work with the wealthy family of Edwin Flato, doing bookkeeping for their Nueces Hardware Store.

A 1940 city directory, page 357, shows Jewel living with Benjamin and Ivis Moore Mew at 408 Sam Rankin, and working as a stenographer at Nueces Hardware Company at 323 Chaparral at Lawrence. (This was directly across the street from Lichtenstein's, which opened in 1941.)  However, I believe that directory had information from the previous year, because the 1940 Census of April 12 has 25-year-old Jewel sharing an apartment at 716 Chaparral (Horne Apartment building, #31) with another stenographer, 21-year-old Margaret L. Blackburn from Agua Dulce, Texas.

Jewel is listed on the census as working at a printing company.  Most likely it was the Beacon Printing Company, where Francis Edward Gresham (1911-1990) was working as a lithographer, according to the 1940 city directory.  This is probably where the two of them met.  They married on October 26, 1940, at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Corpus Christi.

Their first child, son Mark Edward, was born the following August in San Antonio, at Santa Rosa Hospital.  At the time Jewel and Francis were living at 405 San Pedro Street and Francis was working as a multilith operator for Struder Photographic Studios (headquartered at 402 San Pedro).

On October 23, 1941, the family moved back to Corpus Christi, to 3038 Minton Street; then to 2024 Peabody on November 6, 1941; 2814 Nueces Street on January 4, 1942; and 3765 Brandywine Court on March 23, 1942.  The latter was part of the La Armada housing project, built to accommodate Navy enlisted men and civilian military employees as the Naval Air Station expanded.  Ann's notes say Francis was a print shop manager for the H.E. Butt Grocery Company (then headquartered in Corpus Christi) from October 1941 to January 1942, and that he was a junior supervisor with the U.S. Naval Air Station print shop in Corpus Christi from January 1942 to April 13, 1944.

The 1944 city directory shows the family back at 2814 Nueces, although that might have been based on earlier information.  Francis enlisted in the Navy on April 13, 1944, and was sent to work as a negative engraver and cameraman at the Navy's Hydrographic Office in Washington, D.C.  Jewel gave birth to a daughter, Frances Ann, in that city in December 1944.  While in that city, the family lived at 4613 Lewis Avenue SE, Apartment D.

Francis was released from military service in January 1946, and the family moved back to Corpus Christi.  According to 1948 city directories, Frances was a lithographer at the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station, and his family lived at 3829 Blanco Courts, in the La Armada housing project.  Ann's notes state that Francis was supervisor of miscellaneous duplicating services from March 1946 to December 1947, and "Printer INT[ermediate?]" at the Naval Air Station's print shop from December 1947 to January 1949.

In January 1949, Jewel and her family moved to the Myrtle Grove area of Pensacola, Florida, where Francis worked at the Naval Air Station.  They first lived on a rural delivery route, then at 1505 N. 50th (November 1949), 904 N. 57th Avenue (November 1950), and 1312 N. 52nd Avenue (February 1951 and 1952).  Daughter June Marie was born here in January 1952.

Francis was sent to Guam by the Administrative Department of the Navy in July 1954.  Jewel and the children followed that autumn.  They lived at #15 Estrellita in Tumon Heights during their years in Guam, until August 1960.  At that point, Francis became Director of the Navy Publications and Printing Service Office in Bremerton, Washington, and the family (except for Mark, who was in college) moved to 4107 Gillette Avenue.

They stayed here even after Francis retired in January 1972.  Francis really liked the hunting and fishing available in the Pacific Northwest, and Jewel really enjoyed how easy it was to garden in the mild and moist climate.

After Francis passed away in December 1990, Jewel developed cancer and moved to her daughter Ann's home in Olympia, Washington. She died there on November 15, 1994.  Both Jewel and Francis were cremated after their deaths.  Their cremains are buried in the garden at Ann's home near Husum, Washington, with a view of Mount Hood.


© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: Fearless Female Betty Dickson Gresham, 1888-1976

This is Mark's maternal grandmother, Betty Dickson Gresham.  Betty was born May 12, 1888, in Texas, probably in Denton County, as her parents, Louis Andrew Dickson (1849-1913) and Sarah C.Wil[l]banks (1857-1920), were living in that county on both the 1880 and 1900 Censuses.  She was the sixth of their nine children.

Betty married Marvin (or Mark) Ellis "M. E." Gresham (1886-1941) on January 9, 1909, in Boliver in Denton County.  They are living in the county on the 1910 Census.  On January 31, 1911, their first child and son, Francis Edward Gresham, Mark's father, was born in Krum in Denton County.

On September 9, 1914, Betty and M.E. had their second child, a daughter, Ophelia Mae.  They also had a third child, an unnamed son, on December 9, 1916, who died the next day and is buried at Krum-Jackson Cemetery in Krum, Texas.

Betty and M. E. continued to live in Krum (through the 1930 and 1940 Censuses) until M. E.'s death in February 1941.  Afterwards, she moved to 318 Ponder in the nearby city of Denton.  However, at that point, both of her children were living in Corpus Christi, Texas, and by 1944, according to city directories, she was living with her son Francis and his family (wife Jewel Moore Gresham and their son Mark) at 2814 Nueces.

Francis served in the Navy during World War II, from April 1944 to August 1945, and was sent to work as a negative engraver and cameraman at the Navy's Hydrographic Office in Washington, D.C. His family moved there as well, as Mark's sister Ann was born in Washington, D.C., at the end of 1944.  During this time Betty moved to 440 Tancahua, Apt. 2, according to the 1946 city directory, and worked as a seamstress for John A. Ferris, a menswear store.  Daughter Ophelia and her husband Shelton Verdo Lee (1912-1994), a purchasing agent with Southern Minerals Corporation, lived in the same apartment building.

According to 1948 city directories, Betty was an employee of the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station (where son Francis was a lithographer), and living at 1440 Van Loan Drive.  Ophelia and Shelton lived next door at 1410 Van Loan.  Francis and family were at 3829 Blanco Courts, in the La Armada II housing project, built to accommodate Navy enlisted men and civilian military employees as the Naval Air Station expanded.

I found Betty still living in Corpus Christi through 1960.  According to city directories, she was at 905 and 1/2 Park Avenue in 1955, at 3426 S. Alameda in 1957, and at 1425 Maryland Boulevard, apartment 2, in 1959 and 1960.  While the Navy started moving Francis and family around beginning in January 1949 (first to Florida, then Guam, then Washington state), Ophelia and Shelton were still in Corpus Christi through 1960.

After 1960, it's not clear where Betty (or Ophelia and her family) were living.  I understand that Shelton's work had his family moving around a bit after 1960, and Betty lived with them.  She was living with them in Anchorage, Alaska, when she died in November 1976.  She is buried next to her husband in the Krum-Jackson Cemetery in Krum, Texas.


© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

Friday's Faces From the Past: Fearless Female Minnie Ursula "Soulah" Gresham Stricklin and husband

The woman in the picture is my husband's great aunt, Minnie Ursula "Soulah" Gresham Stricklin (1881-1918).  Here's what I have been able to find out about her.  Most of this information, including the picture, comes from Descendants of John Anderson Stricklin (1854-1927) : Ala. - Ark. - Texas - Okla. by Opal Frances Vaughan, who was married to one of Soulah's grandsons.

According to that source (as well as her tombstone for the date), Soulah was born April 13, 1881, in Arkansas, probably in Ozark.  The month of birth is confirmed on the 1900 Census, and Arkansas as birthplace on both 1900 and 1910.

She was the oldest child (of four who survived to adulthood) and only daughter of John L. Gresham and Lucinda Vina "Lula" Self Gresham. Her parents had married in Ozark, Arkansas, on July 1, 1880, so it is possible Soulah was born there.  However, on a death certificate for one of her children where she was supposedly the informant, she says she was born in Mississippi.

Sometime before 1900, John L. Gresham died, as the 1900 Census as of June 1 has Lula remarried (for less than a year) to Robert Granville Young and living with him in Dallas County, Texas.

Marriage license for J. O. Stricklin and Soulah Gresham, May 12, 1900, Dallas County, Texas

Soulah married John Oscar (called J. O. or Oscar) Stricklin in Dallas County on May 12, 1900.  The 1900 Census finds them living with his parents and his five younger siblings.

When their first child, son Walter Cleo, was born in September 1901, Soulah and Oscar were living in Kiowa, Oklahoma, according to some sources.  Other sources say Cleo was born in Texas.  Family stories also say another son, Thaddie Jay, was born in Oklahoma sometime between 1902 and 1904.  He died in an accident and is supposedly buried in Oklahoma.  According to Vaughan, "while being rocked in a cradle near an open fireplace the cradle overturned and he was very badly burned."

By the time the next child, Bonnie May Stricklin, was born, on February 22, 1905, Soulah and Oscar were living in Denton County, Texas.  Bonnie was supposedly born in Krum and the next daughter, Lois Louise, on March 9, 1908, in Bolivar.  The 1910 Census shows the family (with Soulah having given birth to four children, three surviving) living in rural Denton County, where Oscar is a blacksmith.

Death certificate for John Oscar Stricklin Jr., Jan. 25, 1915.  Note this shows Soulah as born in Mississippi.

Oscar and Soulah had four more children, but only two of those lived to adulthood.  Son John Oscar Jr. was born September 23, 1912, in Sanger, but died January 25, 1915, in Sanger, of "membranous croup" or diphtheria.  Son Marvin Elton was born March 29, 1915, in Sanger.  Twins Howard Layne and Herman Edward were born August 12, 1917, in Valley View, Cooke County, Texas (which is just a bit north of Sanger).  Howard had a weak heart and died February 19, 1918.

Sadly, Soulah died just a few months later, on October 28, 1918, at age 37.  The Denton Record-Chronicle of October 30, 1918 (section 1, page 2, column 5, in "News from Sanger,") says the death was "sudden" but provides no other details, and I have not yet been able to locate a death certificate. However, Spanish influenza was rampant that year.  Soulah was buried the next day in the Sanger Cemetery.

With five children ranging from ages 1 to 17, it's understandable that Oscar remarried within a year, to a divorcee with three children.  Oscar and his second wife then had five more children.


© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

(Not-So-) Wordless Wednesday: Fearless Female Sara Melzina Wolfe, ABT 1925-6

This is a picture of my maternal grandmother, Sara Melzina Wolfe Guokas Archibald (1907-1997) that I am guessing was taken in late 1925 or early 1926, when she was 18 or 19.  A note on the back in my handwriting says she was 17, but a stamp on the back of the photo puts it on the same roll of film as a couple pictures of my maternal grandfather, Charles Peter Guokas Jr. (1903-1967) - in fact, the same tree and fence are visible in one of the pictures, and they all have the fogging in the bottom half from inadvertent exposure of the film to light.  Since my grandparents married in July 1926, I think the photo was taken sometime in the year prior to that.

© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

Matrilineal Monday: Guokas Family, early 1940s

In the photo above are my mother, Geraldine Margaret Guokas Pape, with her family of origin:  her mother Sara Melzina Wolfe Guokas [Archibald, 1907-1997), her brother Charles Peter Guokas III (1926-1999), her father Charles Peter Guokas Jr. (1903-1967), and her sister Jo Ann (Sister Jean Marie) Guokas.  Based on how old my mother and aunt look, I think this was taken in the early 1940s.

My mother says this family photo was taken at Aunt Lizzie's (Elizabeth Wanda Guokas Johnson Sayers, 1901-1980) and Uncle Phil's (Philip Edgar Sayers Sr., 1901-1972) place in "east Texas, north of Houston."  I wonder, though, if it might have been their home with a rural route address on Westfield Road in Harris County, Texas, on the censuses of 1930 and 1940.  Westfield Road could be today's Aldine-Westfield Road, which runs north from the Eastex-Jensen area and along the west side of today's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, all the way up into Spring, Texas.  Or, it could be today's Humble-Westfield Road, which runs east-west roughly from its intersection with Aldine-Westfield Road near the northwest corner of the George Bush Airport eastward to Humble, Texas.  In either case, this would have been a rural area in the early 1940s.


© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: Cousin Tom and Kids in the Cockpit, May 1994

Recently I got a message in LinkedIn that said my first cousin, Tom Streff, "is having a work anniversary.  29 years this March at American Airlines."

Wow!  I know Tom always wanted to be a pilot, and I'm so glad he achieved his goal.  I'm not too fond of flying myself, but when I do have to fly, I try to stick to American, and pretend Tom is flying the plane I'm in to calm my nerves. :)

Here is a cute picture from May 1994, almost 21 years ago, of Tom in the cockpit with daughter Katie and son Andrew.

Congratulations Tom on your work anniversary!  And thanks to Tom's beautiful wife Karen (who celebrates a birthday tomorrow) for sending this picture to my parents so many years ago (and to Mom & Dad for saving it!).  Tom and Karen are wonderful Christians who kindly opened their home to me nine years ago when I was finishing up library school at the University of North Texas and needed a place to live for a few months.


© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

Friday's Faces From the Past: Archie and Millie, ABT 1946 - Using an Ad to Help Date a Photo

The photo above is of my step-grandfather, Wallace Franklin "Archie" Archibald (1896-1970), and my grandmother, Sara Melzina "Millie" Wolfe Guokas Archibald (1907-1997).  I'm not sure where it was taken (although it's pretty likely it's Houston), or when - but the poster visible in the right of the photograph gives a clue.

I did a search using phrases that I could read on the poster:  "happy birthday," "we know," and "always buy," and came up with this ad from the April 1946 Ladies Home Journal:

The poster in the photograph looks like a simpler version of the advertisement that could be placed in store window displays.  In this case, it helps me feel pretty confident the photo of "Archie and Millie" was taken about 1946.


© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

(Almost-) Wordless Wednesday: Fearless Female Sara Wolfe Guokas on Her Honeymoon, Galveston, Texas, July 1926

The photo at left was taken, probably by my maternal grandfather, Charles Peter Guokas Jr. (1903-1967) of his wife, Sara Melzina Wolfe Guokas (Archibald, 1907-1997), during their honeymoon in Galveston, Texas, in July 1926.  This is the companion to another photo of my grandfather (probably taken by my grandmother), in the same area on the beach next to the Galveston Seawall.

If my grandmother was still alive, today, March 18, would have been her 108th birthday.

© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

Matrilineal Monday: Fearless Females Gerrie, Sara, and Jo Ann Guokas, ABT 1945

The photo at left is of my mother, Geraldine Margaret Guokas Pape; her mother, my grandmother Sara Melzina Wolfe Guokas Archibald (1907-1997), and my aunt, Jo Ann (Sister Jean Marie Guokas).  I think the photo was taken in the spring of 1945, when Mom was 16 and graduating from high school, and Jo Ann was 14 and about to enter the convent.

I've written about my grandmother a little before, but here is a longer biography:

Sara Melzina Wolfe was born March 18, 1907, in Winn Parish, Louisiana, the second child and oldest daughter of Louis Henry Wolfe (1872-1929) and Addilee Shelton Wolfe Odom Harris. (1890-1977). Although Sara was her first name (and she was probably named for her maternal grandmother, Sarah Ann Spikes Shelton,1871–1935), many people called her by her middle name, which came from her paternal grandmother, Margaret Melzina "Maggie" Carroll Wolfe (1846-1911) or the nickname Millie.  (I got this photo from my mother's first cousin, and on the back of it, she had written "Aunt Millie.")

Sara's parents moved with her and her older brother Lloyd L. Wolfe (1906-1993) to Shreveport in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, where they can be found on the 1910 Census at 1204 Sprague Street.  Younger sister Edith Elizabeth Wolfe Smith Murff Brown Gould Knox (1910-2006) was probably born here.

The family next shows up in the 1912 Houston city directory, living at 1433 Cortlandt in the Houston Heights.  The next year, they moved a few blocks over to 924 Ashland, according to the 1913 city directory.  Youngest sister Neva Marie Wolfe Ely (1912-1995) had joined the family by that time.  City directories for 1915 show Louis has moved again, this time to 2006 Clark.

A few years later, the lives of my grandmother and her siblings got tougher.  Their father Louis was a bricklayer, and his work often had him away from home for long periods of time.  His wife Addilee was 18 years younger than her husband, only 15 when they married and 16 when she had her first child, and had four children by age 22.  The story goes that during World War I, Addilee volunteered to roll bandages for the Red Cross, met a military man, and abandoned her family to run off with him.

On April 15, 1916, Sara and her three siblings were placed in the DePelchin Faith Home, then located at 2710 Albany Street in Houston.  They lived there for the next 18 months,  They lived there until September 22, 1917.  City directories for 1917, 1918, and 1920 show Louis living at the home of his older brother Shannon Wolfe and his family at 1405 Alston, and the 1920 Census shows the children there as well.  Louis continued to live there through at least January 10, 1921, but by 1923-4, a city directory shows him, Lloyd, and Sara at 403 Lamar Ave. (Edith and Marie are too young to have separate listings).

On July 10, 1926, Sara married Charles Peter Guokas Jr. (1903-1967) at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Houston.  They honeymooned in Galveston, staying at the Hotel Galvez.  A 1927 city directory gives their address as 212 North York, and their first child, my uncle Charles Peter Guokas III (1927-1999) was born that year.  When my mother was born in 1928, and also in 1929 according to a city directory, they lived at 2215 Shearn.  However, on the 1930 Census, and also in 1932 according to a city directory, they lived a few blocks down the street with Charles' widowed father Charles Guokas Sr. (1863-1939) and Charles' younger brother Roy Lee Guokas (1917-1959) in Charles Jr.'s boyhood home at 1717 Shearn.  Sara's last child, Jo Ann, was born in late 1930.

The family moved to Austin in June 1933 when Charles Jr. was appointed secretary to Texas Governor Miriam A. "Ma" Ferguson, serving until the end of her term in January 1935.  During that time, the family lived at 1604 Alta Vista Avenue in Austin.

The family moved back to Houston in 1935 and back into 2215 Shearn.  They were there on the 1940 Census and in a 1942 city directory. However, sometime after this, Charles and Sara separated.  I know my grandmother was frustrated by the fact that my grandfather had a hard time holding down a job.  My grandmother got a job with the U.S. Post Office.  She divorced my grandfather, and in 1945, she married a co-worker, Wallace Franklin "Archie" Archibald (1896-1970).

Houston city directories for 1951 through 1955 show Sara and Archie living at 4632 Norhill.  By the time of the 1957 directory, though, they had moved to 1118 Bay Oaks.  This is the house I remember from my childhood visits with "Nani and Po-po," often staying overnight.  Sara lived here until shortly after Archie's death on June 26, 1970.

Sara's sister Edith had lost her husband earlier that same month, so for a while, Sara shared Edith's home at 5514 Windswept, at least through 1974.  The two then purchased a house at 7431 Beechnut, which was not far from my family's home in the Sharpstown part of Houston.  I remember staying with Nani and Aunt Edith on some weekend visits home from college, since I no longer had a bedroom of my own in my parents' home.

Aunt Edith remarried in December 1981, and I believe it was around this time that my grandmother bought her condo, also in Sharpstown, at 6161 Reims, #102.  I remember visiting her there as well.  This is where she lived the rest of her life.

Sara was still working for the downtown post office when I was in second grade, as I remember going on a tour there with my class that she facilitated.  After she retired, she became very active in NARFE, the National Active and Retired Federal Employees association, which she had joined in 1961. She was a lifetime member of its Chapter #828, serving on several committees, participating in their social events, and attending many state and national conventions.  After Archie's death, she also traveled a lot with her daughter Jo Ann (Sister Jean Marie).  And of course she was present at so many family activities while I was growing up in Houston, as my siblings and I were her only grandchildren.

Sara developed lymphoma and passed away on November 16, 1997.  She is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Houston next to Archie.


© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: Fearless Female Elizabeth Massmann Pape, ABT March 1962

The photo at right is of my paternal grandmother, Elizabeth "Betty" Florence Massmann Pape (1902-2000).  On the back it is stamped "March 1962," so it was likely taken on or slightly before that date.  I recognize the location; it's their triplex townhome at 2547 Hastings in Evanston, Illinois, at the corner of Central Avenue and across the street from Bent Park, where they lived from 1956 to 1971.  Perhaps my dad, Frederick Henry Pape, took this photo on one of his business trips - maybe even one where he brought me along, as I remember flying with him to Chicago and visiting Nana and Grandpa when I was about the age when this photo was taken.

Elizabeth Florence Massmann was born on December 23, 1902, the second and last child of Frederick Henry Massmann (1875-1948) and Elizabeth Camilla Dienes (1876-1946)  The 1901 Chicago city directory shows the family living at 311 (2047 after 1909) Cuyler Avenue in Chicago, so she might have been born there.  She was baptized at the nearby St. Benedict Catholic Church on January 4, 1903. with her uncle George Hermann Massmann (1877-1963) as her godfather.

Elizabeth had one older brother, Alfred John Massmann (1901-1964).  She was listed as in school on the 1910 Census (age 7) and the 1920 Census (age 17), when her family lived at 1938 Morse and 1833 Morse respectively, both in the Rogers Park area of north Chicago.

In a December 1996 article in her retirement home's monthly newsletter, Elizabeth (later known as Betty) said,

As a child, Betty was very bashful.  But to her friends, she was called the "Chicago Flapper" because she loved to have so much fun!!!  Betty graduated from DePaul High School for girls, then went one year to business school to learn typing and clerical work.  At the age of 16, Betty took her most memorable trip with her parents, traveling six weeks by train through the Grand Canyon, California, and the Canadian Rockies. 

When Betty was 18, she met Paul Pape through a friend and the two started dating. One of her most wonderful dates was when they took a romantic canoe ride on Lake Michigan and he sang "Indian Love [Call]" song to her. [Links to original and later lyrics; 1925 instrumental, 1936 movie, and later recorded versions.]

Four years later, Betty and Paul were married on September 3, 1924, at St. Jerome Catholic Church in Rogers Park where they had a beautiful large wedding and reception. They honeymooned in Woodruff, Wisconsin, where, unfortunately, it poured rain the whole time! So they returned to Chicago and enjoyed the shows and dinners out, "but not fishing!" Betty said. 

Growing up, Betty enjoyed golfing, acting, and being on stage. She and Paul loved to fish and travel often to [Dairymen's County Club in] Wisconsin.

Paul and Betty lived for a while in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, while Paul was involved in a business venture there, and their oldest child, Paul Robert Pape Jr., was born there in January 1926.  By October 1927, they were back in the Chicago area, where second child Elizabeth "Betty" Mary Pape Streff was born.  The 1930 and 1940 Censuses show them at the home my father grew up in, at 2093 W. Lunt Avenue in north Chicago.  Two more daughters, Rose Mary Pape Dietz and Marilyn Electa Pape Hedger, were born while they lived in this home.

Sometime around 1955, after all their children were married, Betty and Paul moved to a duplex townhouse at 2027 Lake Avenue in nearby Wilmette.  The triplex townhouse on Hastings in Evanston was built in 1956, so I think they moved into it either that year or the next.  They continued to live there through Grandpa Paul's death in April 1970, and Nana (Betty) was there for at least a few months afterward, as I remember visiting her there in the summer of 1970.

Nana then moved in with her daughter Rose Mary and her family at their home at 305 Bel Air in Glenview, Illinois.  They were there through at least 1980, but by 1986, they had moved to Largo, Florida.  On March 12, 1994, Nana moved into the Royal Palms retirement community in Largo,  She was a member of their "kitchen band," and enjoyed knitting and playing bingo, bridge, and pinochle. I remember visiting her there in December 1999, shortly before she died, on January 13, 2000.

At the time of her death, Nana had 28 grandchildren, 77 (of a total of 78) great-grandchildren, and one great-great-granddaughter, with a great-great-grandson on the way.  (Now, there are so many great-great-grandchildren, I can't keep track of them all.)  In her interview, Nana said, "Writing to all of them keeps me very busy too!"  She is buried next to her husband Paul in All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois.


© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

Friday's Faces From the Past: Fearless Females Alyce Frances Salerno and Elizabeth Florence Massmann Pape, ABT 1937

The photo above is of my paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Florence Massmann Pape (1902-2000), on the right, with her friend Alyce Frances Salerno (1914-1985) on the left.  I'm not sure where the photo was taken, but on the back, it is stamped "A Richards Photo Print" and "Feb 8 1937," so it must have been taken on or before that date, and around the same time as another of my grandmother and great-grandmother.

I knew my grandmother was friends with the Salerno family, who owned the Salerno Megowen Biscuit Company.  They made butter cookies, famous for their 1935-1967 radio slogan, "Mommy...I want a Salerno butter cookie," and a jingle that went like this:

"You can lookie, lookie, lookie,
But you'll never find a cookie
With a better butter batter than Salerno."

They also made an anise-flavored Christmas cookie (in various holiday shapes) that were originally called Jingles and later Santa's Favorites.  They even made Girl Scout cookies for a while in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

Alyce Frances Salerno was born on October 1, 1914, in Chicago, the third and youngest child and second daughter of Italian immigrants Fred George Salerno (1877-1968) and Frances E. Noto (ABT 1878-1938).

According to a University of Illinois at Chicago history project website, Fred Salerno, who began as a "greasy pans boy" in 1889, went on to become the general manager and vice-president of the Sawyer Biscuit Company, one of the largest baking firms in the country. In 1933, with R. Lee Megowen, he founded the Salerno-Megowen Biscuit Company at 4500 W. Division in Chicago (demolished in 2015).

On the 1910 Census, before Alyce's birth, the Salerno family was living at 1013 N. Claremont Avenue in Chicago.  It's hard to read, but it looks like Fred's occupation was journeyman baker.  On his September 1918 World War I draft registration card, he is now superintendent and vice-president of the Sawyer Baking Company at 1029 W. Harrison Street in Chicago, and living not far away at 3500 W. Congress.

I couldn't find the family in the 1920 Census, but by 1929 (based on an England-to-New York City passenger list), they are living in a fine house at 501 Lake Avenue in the north-of-Chicago suburb of Wilmette.  The family is also at this address in the 1930 Census and in Evanston/Wilmette city directories the next few years.  Alyce's mother Frances appears in the 1937 directory but not in 1939; and on the 1940 Census, Fred is listed as a widower.  Alyce is still single and living with him at the family home on Lake Avenue.

The 1940 Census also lists Fred as president of the Salerno Biscuit Company, and Alyce's older brother George Fred Salerno (1909-1970), who lives nearby at 217 Third Street in Wilmette with his wife Sylvia and daughter Gay, is vice-president of a bakery, presumably the same one.  Fred's 1942 World War II draft registration card indicates the Salerno-Megowen Biscuit Company is still at 4500 Division Street.  However, by September 1961, the company had moved to 7777 North Caldwell Avenue in the Niles area, and George was now president of the company.

Sometime between 1940 and George's death in 1970, Alyce had become a vice-president and member of the board of the company.  According to her obituary in the November 24, 1985, Chicago Tribune, she

...became known as the "cookie queen of the United States" for her reign over the Salerno cookie company...In 1971, Miss Salerno was elected chairman of the Salerno-Megowen Biscuit Co. in Niles. She had been its chairman emeritus for several years.  Miss Salerno, 71, of Wilmette, had been with the firm all her life, serving as vice president and as a member of its board, among other roles.  Five years after she took over as chairman, the firm expanded its sales to about 30 states and was selling $40 million worth of sweets and crackers a year.

An Associated Press story dated November 23, 1985, the day of her death, said she "died at Evanston Hospital following a brief illness....Although the family sold the company in 1982, Miss Salerno remained associated with it, frequently representing it at international and national conventions. Miss Salerno was one of the first women members of the Economic Club of Chicago. She also was a member of the Executive Club of Chicago and the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations."

Alyce Frances Salerno is buried at All Saints Catholic Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois.


© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

(Not-So-) Wordless Wedding Wednesday: More on Frederick Massmann's Second Wife

It was bugging me that I couldn't find any more information about my paternal great-grandfather Frederick Henry Massmann's second wife, Ruth L. Metculf, who he married seven months before he died in 1948. So, I spent $16.75 to download the marriage record from the Cook County (Illinois) Clerk's Office Genealogy Online site:

As I'd hoped, this gave me a little more information.  Her name was, according to this, Ruth L. Metcalf, and she was (supposedly) 49 when the marriage was issued.  Both the county clerk and the priest who married them (at Our Lady of Lourdes [Catholic] Church at 4640 N. Ashland in Chicago, on March 30) list her as "Miss," indicating she's never been married.

So, with that data, I did some searching in Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, and FindAGrave.com, and was able to piece together this biography in just a couple hours:

Ruth Luella Metcalf was born August 31, 1898, in Des Moines County, Iowa (probably in Burlington), the second and last child and only daughter of Iowa natives James Edward "Ed" Metcalf and Louise/Louisa Lofstrom.

Ruth shows up in the 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 U.S. Censuses (and the 1915 and 1925 Iowa state censuses) in her parents' home at 1522 Grove Street in Burlington, Iowa.  The 1915 record says she is a Methodist.  In 1920, she is working as a saleslady in a hotel.  The 1925 record shows she attended college for one year.  The 1930 Census shows she is working as a saleslady in a retail drug store.

Sometime between 1930 and 1935, Ruth moved to Chicago.  On the 1940 Census, she is a lodger at 932 W. Cullom Avenue.  She had been unemployed for 13 weeks at the time the census was taken, but had previously worked as a typist at a department store.  That census also showed she was living in the same place (Chicago, but not the same address) on April 1, 1935.

Based on her older brother Raymond's obituary in the Burlington Hawkeye on December 17, 1965, she was still living in Chicago at that time, and had not remarried after my great-grandfather's death.  The Social Security death index says she died in July 1975.  She is buried in Aspen Grove Cemetery in Burlington, Ohio, in the same plot as her parents and Lofstrom grandparents, aunts, and uncles.


© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

Matrilineal Monday: Fearless Female Elizabeth Dienes Massmann and her husband, Frederick Henry Massmann, ABT mid-1930s

Above is a photo of my paternal great-grandmother Elizabeth Camilla Dienes Massmann (1876-1946), on the left, and her husband, Frederick Henry Massmann (1875-1948).  I realized that although  I've written about his investiture in the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great for his works and generosity in the Roman Catholic Church, I haven't written much else about his life.

Frederick was born December 1, 1875, in Hannover, Germany, the oldest son and second of five children that survived to adulthood of Carl Wilhelm Heinrich Massmann (1847-1929) and Wilhelmine "Minna" Auguste Fricke Massmann (1847-1919). Three older daughters, born in 1870, 1871, and 1873, all died before the rest of the family immigrated in 1883 or 1884.  If it was on the Elbe around November 20 as Carl stated on a 1911 passport application, then it would have been 1883, when the Elbe arrived in New York City from Bremen on November 19; although it is also possible that Carl came first and the rest of the family later.  I haven't found any of them on passenger lists, as many from that time period are in poor condition, unindexed, and nearly unreadable.  Carl was naturalized in Chicago on October 17, 1891, by court order, and Frederick was through him as he was still a minor.

According to a biography in The American Catholic Who's Who, Volume 7 (1946 and 1947, page 300), Frederick "began as boy in retail grocery; with Brookman M[anu]f[acturin]g Co., 1890-95; Durand & Kasper Co. [wholesale grocers], 1895-1913; Nat[iona]l Tea Co., [19]18-[19]39, retiring as pres[ident]; with Peter Fox Brewing Co., [19]39-[to date]."

Frederick married Elizabeth Dienes on June 5, 1900, at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in the Lincoln Park area of Chicago.  The 1901 Chicago city directory shows the family living at 311 (2047 after 1909) Cuyler Avenue, with Frederick working as a salesman at 22 N. Union in Chicago (this was an address for Durand & Kasper).  The 1910 Census shows him to be a superintendent in the grocery industry.

On his World War I draft registration card dated September 12, 1918, he gives his address as 2082 Estes Avenue in Chicago, and says he is working as a general manager for Geo[rge] Rasmussen at 615 W. Randolph in Chicago.  Rasmussen was the founder and first president of National Tea.

On the 1920 Census, Frederick is still listed as a general manager in the wholesale groceries industy, and on the 1930 Census, he is now listed as a vice-president, and living in a house worth $50,000 (a lot in those days!) at 7000 Ridge Avenue in the Rogers Park area of north Chicago.  National Tea Company's number of locations had peaked in 1929 at 1,627.  A May 29, 1931, article in The New World, a newspaper published by the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, said he was then "a director of the Central Trust Company of Illinois and a director of the Philip State Bank and Trust Company."  A May 1, 1936, article in the New York Times said Frederick's 1935 salary as vice-president of National Tea was $21,400.  

In early October, 1932, Frederick was elected president for one year.of the National Chain Store Association (which dissolved at the end of that yer).  He later became president of the Food and Grocery Chain Stores of America, Inc., and dealt with such issues during the depression as the minimum number of operating hours per week for stores (63), quality grade labeling of canned goods, and implementing a food distribution program for the needy.  

In early 1936, Frederick became president of the National Tea Company when its founder, George Rasmussen, became chairman of the board.  When Rasmussen died in late August of that year, a Chicago Tribune article stated that Frederick was living at 1123 Hull Terrace in Evanston.

Frederick resigned from the National Tea Company in 1939 and became vice-president and sales manager of the Peter Fox Brewing Company.  He and Elizabeth were living at 5920 N. Kilpatrick in Chicago when The American Catholic Who's Who for 1946-47 was published.  

According to his nephew, George Massmann, Frederick became a Catholic about 1916.  He then became very involved in the church, as a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Holy Name Society, and the Catholic Salvage Bureau. He helped organize the Catholic Youth Organization.  He contributed $5,000 towards the building of the Holy Name Technical School (now Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois), and celebrated his investiture in the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great (for his works and generosity in the Roman Catholic Church) at the school's dedication on May 30, 1932.

Frederick also became involved with the Boy Scouts.  After my great-grandmother Elizabeth died in December 1946, he met a woman who worked for them named Ruth L. Metcalf.  They married on March 25, 1948, but Frederick died seven months later, on November 3, 1948 - without a will.  Frederick was buried next to Elizabeth at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois.

ETA (April 2018):  I now think this photo was taken outside 7000 Ridge Boulevard, which I know they lived in from at least May 1927 (but not during the 1920 Census) to at least April 1932 (but they'd moved by August 1936).


© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

Friday's Faces From the Past: Fearless Females Elizabeth Dienes Massmann and Elizabeth Massmann Pape, February 1937

The photo above was among many my parents have.  It is of my paternal great-grandmother Elizabeth Camilla Dienes Massmann (1976-1946), on the left, and her daughter, my paternal grandmother Elizabeth Florence Massmann Pape (1902-2000), on the right.  A handwritten note on the back says "Feb[ruary] 1937."  Another copy of the photo is stamped "A Richards Photo Print" and "Feb 8 1937."

It appears to me that the two Elizabeths are on a ship.  You can see a body of water in the background, plus railings typical of early cruise ships.   As I mentioned in an earlier post, the elder Elizabeth and her husband, my great-grandfather Frederick Henry Massmann, went on three ocean cruises (that I know of) from 1927 to 1932.  I had not found either of them on a passenger list from 1937, though, and had not found my grandmother on any passenger lists.

Then it occurred to me - they lived in Chicago at this time.  Weren't there cruises on Lake Michigan?

As it turns out, cruising on the Great Lakes was rather popular in the late 1930s - there were a number of passenger ships available.  From the photo above, it looks like this particular ship had a small swimming pool.  So far, I haven't been able to determine what ship this might be, even with that information.

Below is an enlargement from the photo above, showing just my great-grandmother and grandmother.

© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

(Almost-) Wordless Wednesday: Fearless Female Addilee Harris' 84th Birthday, March 4, 1974

My maternal great-grandmother, Addilee Tennessee Shelton Wolfe Odom Harris, was born on this date, March 4,  in 1890, in Sardis, Winn Parish, Louisiana, and died in Alexandria, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, on August 22, 1977,  at the age of 87.  This photograph was taken when she was living with/near her son Lloyd L. Wolfe at Crystal Lakes Estates near Lake Livingston, Texas, where she lived at least 1973-1974.

© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

Fearless Females and Matrilineal Monday: Elizabeth Regina Dienes Massmann, 1876-1946

Lisa Azlo over at The Accidental Genealogist came up with a blogging prompt for each day of March to celebrate National Women's History Month. While I can't promise to do every one of these "Fearless Females" prompts, I'm going to try to do as many as I can.

The prompt for March 2 is:  Post a photo of one of your female ancestors. Who is in the photo? When was it taken? Why did you select this photo? 

The photo at right is of one of my paternal grandmothers, Elizabeth Regina Dienes Massmann, 1876-1946.  I think the photo was taken sometime around 1900, about the time she married my great-grandfather Frederick Henry Massmann.  I selected this photo because I have not posted many photographs of her (none of her alone) and have not written about her much.

Elizabeth was born September 10, 1876, in Springfield, Illinois, the ninth of ten children of German immigrants Friederich "Fred" Wilhelm Dienes (1827 – 1896) and Regina Matheis (1837 – 1916).  Seven of the children lived to adulthood.  In 1877-78, the family was living at 730 N. 8th in Springfield, and her father's hat store was at 105 N. 5th.  However, by the 1880 Census, the family was living at 193 (1031 after 1909) N. Sedgwick Street in Chicago, and the 1882 Chicago city directory lists the hat store at 287 Division.  By the time Fred died in 1896, the family had moved to 476 (1329 after 1909) N. Wells Street in Chicago.  

Elizabeth married Frederick Massmann on June 5, 1900, at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in the Lincoln Park area of Chicago.  The 1900 Census was taken in the month of June, and that is probably why Elizabeth and Frederick don't show up on it - they were likely on their honeymoon.  Ten months later, their first child, Alfred John Massmann, was born on April 1, 1901, and  baptized at St. Matthias Catholic Church in Chicago (on Ainslie Street).

The 1901 Chicago city directory shows the family living at 311 (2047 after 1909) Cuyler Avenue, with Frederick working as a salesman at 22 N. Union in Chicago.  Their second and last child, my grandmother, Elizabeth Florence Massmann, was born on December 23, 1902.  She was baptized at the nearby St. Benedict Catholic Church on January 4, 1903.

As Frederick became more successful in business, the family moved, first to 1938 Morse Avenue (1910 Census), and then 1833 Morse Avenue (1920 Census), followed by a mansion at 7000 Ridge Avenue from at least 1927 to at least 1932, all in the Rogers Park area of north Chicago.  During this time, Frederick and Elizabeth went on a number of cruises:  from New York City to Southampton, England, and back in May 1927; from San Francisco to Honolulu and back in April 1929; and from New Orleans to Havana, Cuba, and back in April 1932.

However, Frederick suffered some losses in the Depression, and on the 1940 Census, he and Elizabeth are renting a duplex at 6620 N. Maplewood Avenue in Chicago.  Elizabeth died December 3, 1946, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and is buried at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois.

© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.