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.
Franky eventually remarried to Harry J. Witherell, a barber working out of A. F. Smith’s Barber Shop at 247 Michigan Avenue. (Besides haircuts, the shop also advertised “Hot and Cold Baths.”) They would later move to Jackson, Jackson County, Michigan, in the year Ed and Franky’s daughter Yula died of tuberculosis. Frankie and Harry J. Witherell, Maud (Castner) Moore, and Yula (Castner) Wigand are all buried at Woodland Cemetery in Jackson.
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.
William Hood and Nellie Mae 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. 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. Jennie would live to be 95 and would be the fourth oldest descendant of Thomas and Sarah (Sittser) Barnes (from known vital data). The third oldest was her sister Helen Mary, whose husband Clyfford would top the 100-year mark. Still a couple of months older than Helen was their 2nd cousin Florence Field, who worked into her 90s and never married. The oldest, living over 100 years, was Jennie and Helen’s 1st cousin Lillian Bereniece (Barnes) Hoeg.
Of Will and Nellie’s other children: Charles Aaron married Esther Lois Harmon; Helen Mary married Clyfford Arthur Leggett; and Thomas Sidney married Hilma Sorola.
Will and Nellie were laid to rest at the Horton Cemetery on Tripp Road. [Additional material about Howard and Jennie Paige can be found below under Page/Paige.]
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 James and Rebecca Foote. Rebecca’s husband and his brother William Augustine Foote[1] were among the primary founders of Michigan’s Consumers Power Company.
Marie was said to be a charter member of the Girl Scouts and was a counselor at Camp Tekohnia. Later she 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.]
Riley had an insider at Climax where his granddaughter, the widow Lola Mae (Richards) Milliman, was editor and manager of the Scotts department of the local Climax Cereal newspaper, which in a few years became the Climax Crescent. Lola obtained the position a year after the death of her first husband Joseph Burchard Milliman but could not keep it after her subsequent marriage to LaVergne Benjamin DeForest. This was due to their moving to Oneida, Knox County, Illinois. Although she had remarried and moved away from the Scotts/Climax area, Lola would later be returned for interring beside her first husband, and under his surname, at the Gilson or Averill Cemetery at Scotts.
Many other relatives have also been buried at the Gilson or Averill Cemetery, including Lola’s mother Carrie, who was interred beside Carrie’s first husband Theodore Dudley “Dorr” Richards, under his surname, and Lola’s daughter Helen Elizabeth (Milliman) Shafer Krans Forbes, the last of her line and the last descendant of Lola’s mother Carrie Bell (Page) Richards Soule Wheeler. (Carrie’s middle marriage had been to Frederick Harrison Soule, which ended after ten years with his death. Frederick was a 1st cousin once removed of Jesse Strange Harrison.) Helen would inherit the Page family bible in which Carrie first began recording some family births, deaths and marriages. Lola’s grandniece-by-marriage and namesake Lola Mae Gregg would one day return the bible to the Page/Paige family after some successful sleuthing and making the connection via the Internet.
Riley and Emma were living with Emma’s daughter and new son-in-law Elizabeth (Wright) McMillan and Ellsworth G. “Colonel” Merrill later in the decade. Health problems, primarily Riley’s heart condition and Emma’s falling episodes, forced the couple to lose their independence. Also, Elizabeth lost her only remaining child, Alice E. McMillan. Emma’s widower son Myron C. Finkle remarried to the widow Hattie (Sigaby) Lockwood and then lost his middle child Georgia; all of this occurred during the decade. In the last quarter of the next decade Elizabeth lost the Colonel to pneumonia. He was buried at the Byron Cemetery in Byron, Genesee County, New York. The following year Emma lost her son Myron and four days later her husband Riley. Elizabeth soon remarried to Burton Lorenzo Black, but the next decade would find her confined to the Monroe County Insane Asylum a.k.a. Rochester State Hospital a.k.a. Rochester Psychiatric Center. Whatever ultimately happened to Emma or Elizabeth is unknown, as is their burial location(s) as well as that of Riley. Burton would later be buried with his first wife, the former Daisie Bell Jopson, at the Pittsford Cemetery and Annex, Pittsford, in Monroe County.
Sarah M. (Keyes) Page Cline’s death occurred unexpectedly near the beginning of the decade. She was buried at the Gilson or Averill Cemetery at Scotts, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, in an unmarked grave next to that of her father. At the time Sarah’s husband Harvey O. Cline was still sheriff of Ingham County, Michigan, and his pet name for Sarah was “Bunch.”
The following is Sarah's obituary published in the Scotts portion of the Climax Cereal newspaper:
Sarah M., daughter of Rev. and Mrs. Orlando Keyes, was born in Climax township, Kalamazoo county, Michigan, and died … from the effect of an operation.
The deceased was married to Harvey O. Cline 22 years ago. Most of their married life was spent at Lansing, their late home.
She leaves to mourn her loss, besides her husband, one son, Charles Page of Battle Creek, by her first husband; also her sons Frank and Glenn Cline of Lansing; an aged mother, Mrs. Lucinda Keyes; one sister Mrs. Irena Powers both of Scotts, one brother, Lyman E. Keyes of Clinton, Missouri, four grand children, Margaret and Howard Page of Battle Creek, Wilma and Glenn Franklin Cline of Lansing and a host of friends.
Mrs. Cline’s father, Rev. Orlando Keyes, Chaplain of the 12th Michigan Vet. Volunteers, died when she was a child leaving her together with five brothers and sisters in her mother’s care. From that time on Mrs. Cline has struggled with the problems of the world and owing to her diligence and an inherited ingenuity it can be truthfully said she has won success to a marked degree. To her there was no such word as “fail.” Nearly all her life has been spent in Michigan except nine years when she operated a millinery store in Angola, Indiana. In business she was very successful owing to her pleasing manners and adaptability in solving the problems at hand.
Mrs. Cline possessed many marked traits of character that will long be cherished and held in memory and respect by her many friends. As a wife she was all that even the most exacting could expect and her husband says “The very best is none too good for Mrs. Cline for she richly deserves it.”
As a mother she was perfect—none could better fill the place. As a daughter she was ever dutiful and mindful of her mother’s welfare and happiness, as a sister she was kind and loving and will be greatly missed.
During the time Mr. Cline was sheriff of Ingham Co. Mrs. Cline won the respect and admiration of all who came in touch with her position. To the two thousand prisoners who came under her care she was a true adviser and many a wayward one has been led to reform due to her kindness and motherly advice.
Mrs. Cline will be greatly missed by her sister members of the Lady Maccabees, Royal Neighbors of America and Rebekahs, of which orders she was a prominent member. It has been said “All is for the best,” but for those left behind it is so hard to comprehend. Let us think of her as simply “at rest.” We do not believe that death can possibly be the end.
Harvey Olmstead Cline, often just called “H. O.,” was known as “Unk” to Sarah’s Page grandchildren and was a favorite of Howard O. Page—the feelings were mutual. Unk wanted Howard to be named Bill because he thought little Howard looked like a Billiken, a popular figurine at the time, and would always call him Bill regardless. Harvey later married Nellie Ione “Nell” Swan, and she, too, always called Howard “Bill.” Harvey and Bill spent many hours together over the years, both in Michigan and at Harvey’s farm in Indiana. (In later years Howard recounted in writing many memories of Harvey as well as his father Charles, mother Maud, sister Margaret, and brother Marshal “Mutt.”) Imagine Howard’s/Bill’s surprise many years later when he first viewed his birth record at Mason, Michigan, and discovered that his birth name had been the same as his father’s—“Charles Orlando Page.”
Charles and Maud moved from Battle Creek, Calhoun County, Michigan, to Jackson, Jackson County, around the time of Charles’ mother’s death. There, Harvey gave Charles a life lease on a house per Sarah’s wishes. The house on Francis Street was most likely purchased with insurance monies Harvey collected after her death. Maud’s mother and stepfather would later buy and move into the house next door.
In Jackson the couple would have their last child—Marshal Harvey, who later received the cognomen “Mutt” after a character in the cartoon series “Mutt and Jeff.” Charles and Maud would later divorce and remarry to others but would continue to call Jackson their home. After the divorce Maud moved herself and the kids next door to her mother’s house, where they lived upstairs.
Charles, a house painter among other occupations, became the third of four husbands of Florence L. “Big Betty” (Peck) Deaver Squier. 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. When Harvey died the life lease evaporated, so Charles and Big Betty moved in with his son and daughter-in-law Howard and Jennie until Big Betty’s mother died. Then they moved to the deceased mother’s house. Charles died of arteriosclerosis while recovering from a grievous painting job-related injury. Big Betty thereafter went to Arizona with a Mr. VanZandt.
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 had started out as a farmer. Later he became prison guard initially working at the Indiana Reformatory in Pendleton, Madison County, Indiana. He and Lillian then moved to Jackson, where he worked 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. As chief steward he supervised the preparation of about 18,000 meals a day.
Before marrying Ira, Maud worked a number of years at the “Walkover Shoe Store” in Jackson, where the bookkeeper was Esther Rubert. (The store was later taken over by Rackley’s.) Maud was very popular with her grandkids, which she loved to entertain playing kids’ games and telling tall tales about a character she called the “Hip-Boot Lady,” probably inspired by years of interactions with shoe store customers. It is possible that the cartoon creation called the “Littlest Hostess,” drawn by one of Maud’s grandkids as being involved in various situations, was inspired by Maud’s presumably fictitious character. She also inspired the wish in other grandkids to be fun and memorable with their own grandkids.
Maud (Castner) Page Moore was buried at Woodland Cemetery in Jackson beside her sister Yula Wigand and their mother and stepfather Frankie and Harry J. Witherell. Ira was laid to rest beside his first wife, the former Lillian B. Haslet, at the Roseland Cemetery in Jackson County, Michigan. Charles Page and his daughter Margaret Frances Foster were cremated, and according to Charles’ son Howard, their ashes may have been placed at the “Old Rugged Cross” that was set up in the back acres of the former Paige farm on Wooster Road outside of Jackson. Howard believed the “placing” may have been done by his brother and sister-in-law Mutt and Esther of Norvell, Jackson County. Mutt and Esther were later interred at the Norvell Cemetery.
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.
Of Charles and Maud’s other children: Margaret Frances married Fred Elden Foster, a Jackson policeman, and Marshal Harvey “Mutt” married Esther Rubert. Marshal and Esther had lived in the same neighborhood as children and grown up as close friends. Each had a brother Howard and a sister Margaret. Margaret (Page) Foster died after a second unsuccessful childbirth, and Mutt and Esther adopted a daughter.
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, hired out as a babysitter for several years, and joined a number of church, senior and citizen groups and worked as a volunteer on assorted projects over the years. Until the end of her very long life she remained beloved to her friends and relatives—always the perfect hostess or guest.
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. 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 years he put on weekly sing-alongs at medical care facilities, convalescent/retirement homes, etc. During his 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.
Howard, Margaret Ann, and Marilee Paige, and Rosalie Henion were later buried at the Roseland Cemetery in Jackson. The remains of Jennie Louise (Barnes) Paige, after she had donated her body to University of Michigan Medical Research, were laid to rest at Washtenong Memorial Park, Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan. Jennie also has a headstone at the Horton Cemetery on Tripp Road in Horton, Jackson County, between those of her parents Will and Nellie.
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.
As to some of Alvar’s siblings: Elvira A. became a teacher and never married; Hildegarde O. married Luther J. Olson,
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. Alvar and Marie were members of the Jackson Citizen Patriot newspaper’s Golden Wedding Club and Trinity United Methodist Church. They were laid to rest at the Hillcrest Memorial Park in Jackson.
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.
© 2014 Charles W. Paige.
Last updated: Tuesday August 12, 2014
Return to Le Montage de Famille Introduction