Le Montage de Famille

1910 and beyond

The decade beginning 1910 finds all of the known vector families living in the USA. This essay concludes tracing the various branches up to but not including the generations still living.

Shaw: Vernon Henry and Pearl (Dyke or VanDyke) Shaw had a child, Clemence Vern Shaw, at the beginning of the decade that didn’t live many months. Vernon and Pearl obtained a divorce. About the beginning of the next decade Vernon married to Anita, who had been born in Wisconsin, and they settled in Marion Township, Lakeville, St. Joseph County, Indiana. It has been said that Vernon went to Michigan in search of a job after his wife’s death. His occupation was cheese and butter maker. In the mid-1920s he married Laura “Grace” Rice, daughter of Silas B. and Ella A. (Carpenter) Rice, at Elkton, Huron County, where Silas owned a cheese and butter factory. The Shaws would eventually move to Saginaw, Saginaw County, Michigan, where they would live the rest of their lives.
Rice: Silas B. and Ella A. (Carpenter) Rice’s son Elmer Verne, and Elmer’s firstborn son Kenneth Rice, participated in World War I and World War II, respectively. Elmer V. was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, and Kenneth survived the US Army’s Bataan death march as a Japanese POW.

Private, U.S. Army
Company L, 30th Infantry Regiment, 3d Division, A.E.F.
Date of Action: July 15, 1918
Citation:
The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Elmer V. Rice, Private, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action in the Bois d'Aigremont, France, July 15, 1918. During the intense artillery fire preceding the German attack of July 15, after another runner had been sent with a message from the battalion post of command and had been unable to get through the wood, which was being heavily bombarded, Private Rice volunteered for this seemingly impossible mission and successfully accomplished it. Throughout the night he declined to take cover, but continued to search for wounded men, exposing himself to the heaviest fire.
General Orders No. 46, W.D., 1919
Home Town: Midland, MI

“Elmer V. Rice, next of kin Silas B. Rice of Elkton, Michigan,” was on the list of overseas soldiers wounded "(degree undetermined)" as of September 1, 1918, published by the New York Times on September 2, 1918, titled "336 NAMES ON OVERSEAS ARMY CASUALTY LIST." This War Department list from Washington included names of 51 killed in action, 210 Wounded, and 57 missing. Elmer would still be a patient at the Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. by the beginning of the next decade but would return to Michigan, settling at Port Huron, Saint Clair County. He became an embalmer/undertaker, was twice married, had three children, and died at age 31.

Barnes: William Hood and Nellie Mae (Bliss) Barnes started the decade still living in Chicago, at 10943 Wabash Avenue. Near the end of this decade Will and Nellie moved back to Michigan, initially settling at 130 Baldwin Street in Horton, Jackson County, and later at 1443 East Ganson Street in the city of Jackson, same county. Will was, for many years, a rim inspector for the Tire and Rim Association of America, in Jackson. Later, he and Nellie rented out rooms in their house for income. Jennie met Howard Oswald Page/Paige in Jackson, after his family had moved to town from Mason near the beginning of the decade. They would later marry at Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio, but Jackson would remain their hometown most of their lives. [Additional material about Howard and Jennie Paige can be found below under Page/Paige.]
Tuttle: Marie Tuttle was one of five children born to John Daniel and Bertha M. (Gavett) Tuttle of Jackson. Marie lost her mother when almost three years old, after which Marie and some of her siblings were farmed out to friends and relatives. Her father John took two of the children, Jennie and Moses Smith Tuttle, with him to Detroit, where he soon remarried to Elizabeth (Zielinski) Sepulski, former wife of Bruno Sepulski, and had another child, Margaret. Elizabeth had been born in German Poland and Bruno in Russian Poland. The Sepulskis had had at least five children; the last two being twins.

Initially, Theodora “Theo” Tuttle was sent to live with the family of her aunt and uncle, Rebecca (Tuttle) and James Foote, Marie was boarded with William and Minnie Brewer, and John E. was sent to live with his aunt and uncle, Alma A. and Alpha E. Myers, all in Jackson. Later, Marie went to live with the James and Rebecca Foote family. Rebecca Foote had been married thirty-four years to James Berry Foote by the time of his death in the mid-1920s. James and his brother William Augustine Foote[1] were among the primary founders of Michigan’s Consumers Power Company.

Marie graduated from Michigan State University in Lansing, where she had been inducted into the Alpha Ki Omega Sorority. Returning to Jackson after graduation, Marie went to work as a stenographer and clerk for the Eastern Michigan Trucking Company and then as a clerk in the city water department. Soon she met and married Alvar L. West, a teacher new to the city from Three Rivers, St. Joseph County, Michigan. [Additional material about Alvar and Marie West can be found below under West.]

Page/Paige: Charles Orlando and Maud Annabell (Castner) Page moved from Mason, Ingham County, Michigan, to Jackson, Jackson County, around the time of Charles’ mother’s death near the beginning of the decade. The couple would have their last child in Jackson and would later be divorced. Though they married others, they would both reside in Jackson County the rest of their lives. Charles, a house painter among other occupations, became Florence L. “Big Betty” (Peck) Deaver Squier’s third of four husbands. She was a daughter of Mortimer Edward and Luella (Phelps) Peck of Jackson. Florence had had a daughter Betty, a.k.a “Little Betty,” by her second husband Glenn A. Squier. Little Betty lived with the new Page family for only a short while. Maud became Ira Arthur Moore’s second wife after the death of his first wife Lillian B. Ira was a son of Jacob B. and Clarinda Jane (Duff) Moore of Indiana and was by occupation a prison guard for many years. Part of that time was at the Indiana Reformatory at Pendleton, Madison County, Indiana, and the remainder was at the Southern Michigan Prison (SMP), today known as the State Prison of Southern Michigan (SPSM). Immediately after the riot there in 1952, he was made chief steward for the prison and trustee farms until his retirement in 1958. As chief steward he supervised the preparation of about 18,000 meals a day.

Howard met Jennie Louise Barnes in Jackson, whose family had moved to town from Horton. They met in Latin class at Jackson High School, though neither remained in school to graduate. Their big “things” were roller-skating and eating pineapple sundaes together. Howard changed the spelling of his surname from “Page” to “Paige” shortly before his marriage to Jennie at Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio. Jackson, however, would remain their hometown most of their remaining lives except for some years in Flint, Genesee County, and Saginaw, Saginaw County. They were united by the Rev. R. B. Wilson, a Methodist minister, and witnesses were Jennie’s cousin Amy Elizabeth Hood and Amy’s fiancé George C. Beal.

Howard and Jennie ultimately would have five children, with the firstborn receiving the surname “Page” on his birth registration while the rest had it as “Paige.” Three of their children would inspire this series of essays on the vector families. Their middle child, Margaret Ann, was born with Down syndrome. Beliefs and official policies being what they were in those days, in order to provide Margaret with some form of education or training Howard and Jennie had to instigate the founding of the Retarded Children’s Society of Jackson, Inc. and its outgrowth Hope School of Jackson, Michigan. Howard was elected president of the society and school for several of their formative years.

Howard eventually divorced Jennie, after which she never remarried, although Howard did ask her for a second chance after his second wife died. Jennie kept active and joined a number of church, senior and citizen groups and worked as a volunteer on a number of projects over the years.

Howard worked for Consumers Power Company of Michigan, from which he retired. He also bought a farm, during mid life, which he utilized to the fullest for nearly a quarter of a century. He returned to school to obtain his GED, which he then used to obtain ministerial training at Spring Arbor College in Spring Arbor, Jackson County, Michigan. Howard received his ordination at the Pentecostal Church in the tiny town of Fitchburg, Ingham County, Michigan, the same year he sold the farm. He obtained a small church in Jackson until realizing that his true calling was evangelizing on a personal basis to individuals or small groups. For several years he put on weekly sing-alongs at medical care facilities, convalescent/retirement homes, etc. During the last years he was also actively involved in preparing senior citizens’ income tax and heating fuel/medical rebate forms for the price of a cup of coffee and cookie.

Howard remarried to Marilee (Lawrence) Janes of Jackson, a daughter of Herbert Church and Marie (Ballantine) Lawrence of Calhoun County, Michigan. Her first husband had been Fay Janes, by whom she had had three children, one of whom, Linda, was born with Cretinism. Marilee and Fay were early members of the Retarded Children’s Society of Jackson, Inc., and donated land for the building of Hope School. Later, Marilee divorced Fay to marry Howard. After Marilee’s death Howard remarried to Rosalie Virginia (Baker) Henion, the widow of Chester Henion, by whom she had had five children. Rosalie soon divorced Howard and reclaimed the surname Henion.

Garrett: Russell John Garrett, son of Hugh III and Mary F. (Tilden) Garrett, married Verla Bell Lindstrom, daughter of Charles Albert and Rose Edna (Hill) Lindstrom, in Saginaw, Saginaw County, Michigan, and they had two children. Russell worked for the US Postal Service. They would live in Saginaw the rest of their lives.
West: Alvar L. West grew up at Norrie, Gogebic County, Michigan, in an area just south of Ironwood and east of the Gogebic Iron River. His father Andrew was engaged in iron mining, as was Alvar during his early manhood. By the 1930s Alvar and brother Enar were attending the Western State Normal School, variously known as the Western State Teachers’ College, in Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan (in 1957 it became Western Michigan University). Their sister Elvira, who would never marry, studied domestic science at Stout Institute (since 1971, the University of Wisconsin-Stout), Menomonie, Dunn County, Wisconsin. For many years she would teach in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, before returning to spend her final years at Ironwood. After graduation, Enar took up teaching in Pontiac, Oakland County, Michigan, and later at other Lower Michigan locales, before retiring to Yuma, Yuma County, Arizona. Alvar taught for a short time at Three Rivers, St. Joseph County, Michigan. In the late 1930s he moved to Jackson, Jackson County, Michigan, where he met and married Miss Marie Tuttle.

Alvar and Marie settled in Jackson, which they would make their home for the rest of their lives, though they made numerous excursions to visit family and friends in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and they had two children. For many years Alvar was a highly respected drafting teacher at Jackson High School, excelling in various woodcrafts and other arts that frequently became used for more than just hobbies. After retirement Alvar remained active for a number of years and occasionally contracted out as a trainer at local companies.

NOT the end

[1] After William’s sudden death in 1915, his wife of thirty-seven years, the former Ida Westerman, donated the land on which the W. A. Foote Memorial Hospital of Jackson was built, which opened in 1918.