Wordless Wednesday: The End of World War II

This photo of my husband was taken in or before September 1945, when he was about four years old.  From April 1944 through January 1946, he and his parents (and sister Ann, born during this time) were living in Washington, D.C., while his father, Francis Edward Gresham, was serving in the Navy as a negative engraver and cameraman with the Hydrographic Office there.

My husband remembers V-J Day, the end of World War II with Japan.  A family friend took him and other neighborhood kids to get ice cream - quite a treat.  Perhaps this photo was taken on that day.

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

Tombstone Tuesday: Wiley Thomas & Sophrona Jones

Wiley Thomas Jones (1829-1901) and Sophrona E. Jones Jones (1850-1916) are my husband's great-grandparents on his mother's side.  They are buried in Central Section 12, Row 10, East side (10 e 2), in Old Hall Cemetery in Lewisville, Texas, as is their daughter, Nora M. Jones (1873-1893).

We don't know much about Wiley, except that he was born in Kentucky and was postmaster in nearby Bartonville, Texas.  He married Sophrona Jones on February 8, 1869, in her family's then-home county of Weakley, Tennessee, and they had ten children.

Sophrona is the oldest of the 11 children of Walter Hurdle Jones (1822-1902) and Sophia Cartwright Jones (1831-1916).  Walter and Sophia were born in North Carolina, but Sophrona and the first eight of her siblings were born in Tennessee.  Walter, Sophia, Sophrona, Wiley, and most (if not all) of those siblings moved to Texas sometime between February 1869 and April 1871 (when Wiley and Sophrona's first child was born) - I have yet to find any of them on the 1870 census. Sophrona's two youngest siblings were born in Texas.around 1873 and 1874.

Walter and Sophia, as well as many of Sophrona's siblings and siblings-in-law, are also buried at Old Hall Cemetery.

Photos are courtesy Dr. Robert M. "Bob" Leahy via FindAGrave.com

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

Matrilineal Monday: Where Was Addilee Tennessee Shelton Wolfe Harris in 1940?

These photos are of my maternal great-grandmother, Addilee Tennessee Shelton Wolfe Harris (1890-1977). The first photo is probably from the early 1900s, the second one is after 1922. I think she's wearing the same hat in both photographs.

In 1930, Addilee and her second husband, Charles Burroughs Harris (1887-1959), were living in Pasadena, Texas.  However, they both died in Louisiana, and are both buried in the town where Addilee was born, Sardis in Winn Parish, Louisiana, so I wasn't sure where they would be in 1940.

I asked my mother.  She said that after her grandfather, Addilee's first husband, Louis Henry Wolfe, died in an automobile accident in 1929, her aunt Marie Wolfe, then 17, went to live with Addilee and Charles in Pasadena, Texas.  However, when Marie married in 1933, she was living with her older sister Sara (my grandmother), Sara's husband and father-in-law, Charles Guokas Jr. and Sr., and my mother and her two siblings at 1717 Shearn in Houston.  This was because Addilee and Charles had moved to Louisiana.

Mom also remembers going to Louisiana for the wedding of Jessie or Jessica* in the late 1930s, and recalls that her grandmother was living there.  (*This may be Jessie Mae Shelton, Addilee's niece and the daughter of her brother John Sidney Shelton, as she was born around 1916-1918.)  This wedding stands out in her memory because it was Mom's first experience with outdoor plumbing (an outhouse).

But where in Louisiana was she?  Checking the 1930 US Census, her parents, Levi Marion Shelton (1863-1941) and Sarah Ann Spikes Shelton (1871-1935), and all but one of her seven surviving siblings were living in Grant Parish, Louisiana.  Sarah Ann died in this parish in 1935.  Most of them (including her parents) were living in enumeration district (ED) 22-14 in 1930.

Therefore, in preparation for the upcoming release of the 1940 US Census, I decided to use Stephen P. Morse's 1930/1940 ED Converter utility.  That results in ED 22-11 for the 1940 US Census, so that is where I will start to look for my great-grandmother, Addilee Tennessee Shelton Wolfe Harris, and my great-great-grandfather, her father, Levi Marion Shelton (who died in 1941).

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: Tandy Clayton & Nancy Flora Jones Moore, circa 1901

 These are my husband's grandparents, Nancy "Nannie" Flora Jones (1882-1969) and Tandy Clayton Moore (1878-1964), shortly after they married on August 7, 1901, in Denton County, Texas.

When they met in 1898, Clayton's family lived seven miles west of Lewisville, Texas, northeast of Fort Worth, and Nannie' father, Wiley Thomas Jones (1829-1901), was the postmaster in Bartonville, a bit further west.

Clayton and Nannie moved around quite a bit in the first 20 years of their marriage.  Oldest child and only son Thomas Gurth (1902-1935) was born in Indiahoma, Comanche County, Oklahoma.  Daughters Velma (1903-1908) and Ivis (1905-2004) were born in Lewisville, Texas, while Ruby Clayton (1908-1967) was born in Fort Worth.  The three youngest daughters, Beulah Mabel (1910-1932), Audie Ruth (1911-1969), and Jewel (1914-1994), were all born at Azle, northwest of Fort Worth.

The family was still living in this area in September 1917, but by 1919 they had moved to Stephens County, Oklahoma.  Originally living near Bray, nine miles east of Marlow, they moved closer to Marlow in 1922.  In the late 1920s, they bought 120 acres north of Marlow, and lived on this farm the rest of their lives.

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

Surname Saturday: MOORE - Stephens County, Oklahoma

Tandy Clayton Moore and his grandson, Mark Gresham, late 1940s.  Probably taken in Corpus Christi, Texas, as Mark says "there are no trout like that in Oklahoma."  Someone is standing behind Mark - it is probably his sister Ann.

Nancy Flora Jones Moore with grandsons Tom and Wes Moore, late 1930s, Oklahoma

My husband's maternal grandparents, Tandy Clayton (often known as Clayton or T. C.) Moore (1878-1964) and Nancy/Nannie Flora Jones Moore (1882-1969), were likely living in the same place in 1940 as they were in 1930 - a rural area near Marlow in Stephens County, Oklahoma.

The Moore family moved around quite a bit from the time of  the marriage of  T.C. and Nancy in 1901, through the births of their seven children from 1902 through 1914.  However, youngest daughter Jewel (my mother-in-law) graduated from Marlow High School in 1932, and another daughter, Beulah Mabel Moore (1910-1932), was buried in the Marlow Cemetery that year even though she died in Corpus Christi, Texas.  I feel pretty confident that Clayton and Nannie were in the same place in 1940 as they were in 1930.

Therefore, in preparation for the upcoming release of the 1940 US Census, I decided to use Stephen P. Morse's 1930/1940 ED Converter utility. The enumeration district (ED) for T. C. and Nancy  Moore in 1930 was 69-26.  Plugging this into the converter, it tells me the 1940 US Census ED for Tandy Clayton and Nancy Flora Jones Moore in Stephens County, Oklahoma in 1940 is 69-30.  The description of this ED is "Wall Township - that part in Township 2 North, Range 7, outside Marlow city."

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

Those Places Thursday: More of 2093 W. Lunt Ave., Chicago, Illinois, 1940s

My paternal grandparents, Elizabeth Florence Massmann Pape (1902-2000) and Paul Robert Pape (1896-1970), taken outside the front door of their home at 2093 West Lunt Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, probably in the late 1940s.


© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

Wordless Wednesday: Geraldine Guokas at University of Texas, Austin, 1946

Mom graduated from the University of Texas in 1948.

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

Tombstone Tuesday: M.E., Betty, and Infant Gresham

Weep not he is at rest.

At the time my husband and I started dating (for the second time, in January 2006), he was not sure where his paternal grandparents were buried. He knew his father was from Krum, which is just west of Denton, Texas.  At the time, I was in library school, and doing a practicum with Kathy Strauss, Genealogy and Special Collections senior librarian at the Emily Fowler Central branch of the Denton Public Library.

Staff in this library department have developed indexes for birth, marriage, and death announcements in the local Denton Record-Chronicle newspaper for many years since 1909.  (As part of my practicum, I developed a user's guide for the indexes). Using these indexes, I was able to find the following articles on the microfilm of the newspaper's back issues:

Above:  Marvin/Mark Ellis Gresham burial notice, 10 February 1941, section 1, page 2, column 5

Below:  Betty Dickson Gresham burial notice, 21 November 1976, section A, page 2, column 4

I also found a surprise. My husband had an uncle who died as an infant. Notice in the weekly Krum column immediately below, there is a notice of the baby's birth (at the bottom of the left-hand column), and a few lines later, in the right-hand column, a notice of his death and burial in the Plainview cemetery:

Above:  "News from Krum" includes Gresham baby boy birth and death, 16 December 1916, section 1, page 5, column 6

Below:  Gresham baby boy birth and death, 11 December 1916, section 1, page 3, column 7

Next I checked the records for the Jackson cemetery in Krum, from a survey done in 1986, available in print in the library.  It had a helpful plat map.  It also had a surprise:  an indication that the baby was buried there and not at Plainview cemetery.  I found some clarification in the Cemeteries of Texas website, which indicated the baby had been "moved from P.V." (Plainview) in 1944.

On March 17, 2006, my husband and I drove up to Krum Jackson Cemetery and took the following photos, as well as the one at the beginning of this post, which shows the words engraved on the top of the baby's headstone.

The inscription on the left reads:

Inf. Son of
M.E. & Bettie Gresham

Born Dec. 9, 1916

Died Dec. 10, 1916

Engraved on the top of the stone is:

Weep not he is at rest.

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

Surname Saturday: GRESHAM - Denton County, Texas, 1940

Betty Dickson Gresham with grandson Mark Edward Gresham, circa 1943

My husband's paternal grandparents, Marvin/Mark Ellis (often known as Ellis or M.E.) Gresham (1886-1941) and Betty Dickson Gresham (1888-1976), were likely living in the same place in 1940 as they were in 1930 - a rural area near Krum in Denton County, Texas.   I know this primarily because of an article about Ellis' death in the Denton Record-Chronicle of February 8, 1941 (below).  It states that Ellis Gresham "had lived in...Denton County 13 years.  He was engaged in farming."  While the couple may not have been on Stony Road outside of Krum, as they were in 1930, it's highly likely they were still somewhere in the same area in 1940.


Therefore, in preparation for the upcoming release of the 1940 US Census, I decided to use Stephen P. Morse's 1930/1940 ED Converter utility. The enumeration district (ED) for Ellis and Betty Gresham in 1930 was 61-20.  Plugging this into the converter, it tells me the 1940 US Census ED for Marvin/Mark Ellis and Betty Dickson Gresham is 61-22.

Sadly, my husband never knew his paternal grandfather, as he had passed away about six months before my husband was born.  We don't have any photographs of him.  While he had two brothers who lived in the area, no records indicate the name of their father (my husband's great-grandfather), who died before the 1900 US Census. My husband's great-grandmother Lula does appear on the 1900 US Census in Texas, but at this point she had remarried.

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

Those Places Thursday: 2093 West Lunt Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 1940s

Last week I wrote more about the house my dad, Frederick Henry Pape, grew up in at 2093 West Lunt Avenue in the Rogers Park area of Chicago, Illinois.  I scanned a number of Dad's photos that were taken outside of that house, and here are a few of them, from the 1940s:

Fred & Bob, August 1943

Bob, Fred, and Lucky the dog, Fall 1944

In the photos above, my Uncle Bob Pape is in the Navy during World War II.  By the time the war ended (photo below left), my dad is taller than Uncle Bob.

Fred, Bob, & Lucky, Fall 1946

I think the photos from last week (1938) and this week, as well as my grandfather Paul Robert Pape's (1896-1970) World War II U.S. draft registration card from 1942, prove that his family (wife Elizabeth Florence Massmann Pape, 1902-2000, and children Paul Robert "Bob" Pape Jr., (1926-2008), Elizabeth Mary "Betty" Pape (later Streff), Frederick Henry Pape, Rose Mary Pape (later Dietz, 1931-2007), and Marilyn Electa Pape (later Hedger) were all living at 2093 West Lunt Avenue in Chicago for the 1940 US Census.

To find their enumeration districts (EDs) for the 1940 US Census, I used one of Stephen P. Morse's search engines, Obtaining EDs for the 1900 to 1940 Census in One Step (Large Cities), as Chicago is one of the cities available with this utility.  West Lunt Avenue is common to 18 EDs!  Once again, I needed cross streets.  So in this case, I used the Google Maps link first to see what these are (easy because the house is still standing). As the house is on the corner of Hamilton, I entered that, and the resulting ED was 103-3212.

In my first post about this house, I mentioned some of my Dad's other relatives who were living in the area.  Dad's grandfather John Pape (1851-1945) lived at 1949 Lunt in 1930; while his other grandparents, Frederick Henry (1875-1948) and Elizabeth Camilla Dienes (1876-1946) Massmann, lived at 7000 Ridge Boulevard (at the intersection with Lunt) for at least 1927 through the mid-1930s. Dad's cousin John Charles "Jack" Bleidt (1929-1973) and his parents, Charles J. (1870-1959) and Martha Pape Bleidt (1890-1981), and sister Mary Jane Bleidt (later Herring, 1925-1965) lived across the street at 2084 Lunt in at least 1936.  However, so far I haven't been able to find any indication that all of these were still living at these addresses for the 1940 US Census.

However, I will use these addresses for starting points in my searches in the 1940 US Census.  Being across the street at 2084 Lunt, Charles J. and Martha Pape Bleidt and their children Charles John "Jack" Bleidt and Mary Jane Bleidt (and possibly Charles' daughter from a previous marriage, Margaret Helen "Peggy" Bleidt,, later Faut, 1912-1990) would also be in ED 103-3212. 

If Frederick Henry Massmann and Elizabeth Camilla Dienes Massmann were still at 7000 N Ridge Road for the 1940 US Census, with cross streets of W. Lunt and W. Greenleaf and N. Seeley as the back street, they would also be in ED 103-3212.

John Pape, at 1949 Lunt, is between the cross streets of N Damen Avenue North and N Wolcott Avenue, with Morse Avenue West as the back street.  That would put him in ED 103-3214.   

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.