November 2014 – Page 2 – Heritage Ramblings

Mystery Monday: What is the Birth Date of Little Johnny Beerbower?

This entry is part 4 of 1 in the series The Beerbower-MacElvey Family

24 July 1883 visit of Mrs. Jennie Beerbower and her son Johnny to Samuel T. Beerbower. The Marion Daily Star (Marion OH), volume VI, number242, page 6, column 2 . — *24 July 1883 visit of Mrs. Jennie Beerbower and her son Johnny to Samuel T. Beerbower. “The Marion Daily Star” (Marion OH), volume VI, number 242, page 6, column 2 .*

This 1883 article in The Marion Star is curious, for it seems to describe the visit of Jane Elizabeth (Cockrell) Beerbower (1857-1930) with her little son John Beerbower. The problem is that all the birth dates I have found for their only known son, Percy John, state that he was born 18 Jan 1885- two years AFTER this news story.

Johnny Beerbower, the popular young clerk in the Post Office, is John Eleazer Beerbower (1858-1929). He did live with his brother Samuel Taylor Beerbower’s family and is enumerated there in the 1880 census on 19 Jun 1880. Johnny was listed as a clerk in the Postmaster’s Office, and Samuel was listed as the Postmaster. (Surely no nepotism here…) So that part of the story fits well.

Sometime in 1880 Johnny moved to Indianapolis from Marion, Ohio, and on 01 May 1881 he married Jane Elizabeth Cockrell, also known as Jennie.

One explanation for the above story might be that the young John that visited was actually a first child named after his father who died young, after this visit. Then son Percy John may have been born on 18 Jan 1885. Another scenario is that little “Johnny” and Percy John are one and the same. I have never seen Percy John called “John” but that is not impossible in German households, where people switched first and middle names back and forth, often throughout their lives. Jane Elizabeth used various names throughout her life too, including Jennie as a young woman, and later Josephine Janis.

It is interesting that the issue of little Johnny never came up in my research before, as I have read quite a lot about this family while searching for sibling information on Edgar Peter Beerbower, my direct ancestor and brother to Johnny Eleazer Beerbower, Jennie’s husband. I have done extensive research on their daughter Elsie Janis, born Elsie Beerbower in 1889, who was a comedienne, actress, singer, impersonator, song and screenplay writer who began her career on the stage as a young child. She was wildly popular and famous at the turn of the twentieth century, and was later known as “The Sweetheart of the A.E.F.” (American Expeditionary Forces, who went to Europe to help fight WWI). Elsie and her mother travelled to Europe during World War I to entertain the troops- there was no support from the military, Elsie put her career on hold, paid for the trips herself, and traveled on ships across the Atlantic that could have been easily sunk by German submarines. See Wishful Wednesday: Elsie Janis for a bit more information about Elsie, and I will have more in upcoming posts about her life.

If anyone out there has more information that could help solve this mystery, please contact us!

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Mrs. Jennie Beerbower visit: The Marion Daily Star (Marion, OH), volume VI, number 242, page 6, column 2. Posted with kind permission of the newspaper.

2) 1880 US Federal Census for the Samuel T. Beerbower household: Year: 1880; Census Place: Marion, Marion, Ohio; Roll: 1046; Family History Film: 1255046; Page: 197B; Enumeration District: 099; Image: 0720. Accessed 11/5/14 on Ancestry.com.

3) Wishful Wednesday: Elsie Janis: http://heritageramblings.net/2014/08/27/wishful-wednesday-elsie-janis/

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The Anniversary of Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Birth

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, c1880. Wikipedia, public domain.

Quick- who is Elizabeth Cady Stanton?

No, she is not a relative of mine. (I wish!)

You may have dozed off during the maybe two minutes of your high school history class that focused on her and the movement which she helped found.

If you are female in America, or African-American (male or female), you owe many of your rights to her tireless work for suffrage and abolition.

If you are male, she helped gain rights for your sister, mother, wife, and daughters, and helped make all persons in our society more equal, which benefits all.

Today is the anniversary of Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s birth. She was born to Daniel Cady and Margaret Livingston Cady on 12 Nov 1815 in Johnstown, New York. Her father was an attorney and state Supreme Court judge, and Elizabeth was formally educated in a time when few women had that privilege. Despite her father owning slaves, she also was an abolitionist, temperance worker, and a leader of the early women’s rights movement.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the principal author of the “Declaration of Rights and Sentiments,” first presented in 1848 at the Seneca Falls Convention. Based on the Declaration of Independence, it listed the ways that women did not have equal rights in the United States of America: they were taxed without representation, subject to laws they were unable to have a voice in, etc.- the same as the grievances colonists had with Great Britain around 1776. The Oneida Whig stated later that the convention’s ‘Declaration’ was “the most shocking and unnatural event ever recorded in the history of womanity.”

Elizabeth was different from many in the women’s movement because she addressed other women’s issues, not just suffrage: divorce and custody (men automatically got the children in the few divorces of the time, even if they were bad parents), work and income, property rights, and even birth control. She worked closely with Susan B. Anthony who is now the better known suffragist. They had an equal partnership, however, with Elizabeth writing speeches and Susan delivering them, since she was unmarried and had no children and could travel more easily than Stanton, who had seven children.

So why is a post about Elizabeth Cady Stanton on this blog? Yes, she is one of my heroes, but her work affects all the women in our family who came after. Edith Roberts was in college the year women got the right to vote- I once asked her what she remembered about it, did she go out and exercise her right to suffrage right after it became law, did she also protest and write to get women suffrage? She replied that she didn’t even remember the event, as she was so busy in school and with her sorority. (I was disappointed.)

Also, Edward B. Payne, our McMurray ancestor, was active in the woman’s suffrage movement in Berkeley, California in the 1890s. More about this in a future post.

Women's Suffrage- women are not too emotional… Article in Marion Daily Star (Marion, Ohio), 08 May 1897. Volume XX, Number 143, Page 7, Column 6. — Women’s Suffrage- women are not too emotional… Article in *Marion Daily Star* (Marion, Ohio), 08 May 1897. Volume XX, Number 143, Page 7, Column 6. NOTE: Women did have the vote in Wyoming in 1897, thus the reference to lunatics there being only men.

Although she married, Elizabeth had the phrase, “I promise to obey” removed from her portion of the vows, later writing, “I obstinately refused to obey one with whom I supposed I was entering into an equal relation.”

Over 70 years after the beginnings of the women’s suffrage movement, Elizabeth Cady Stanton died on 26 Oct 1902 without ever having voted in the United States of America.

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Wikipedia article on Elizabeth Cady Stanton: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Cady_Stanton

2) North Star, July 28, 1848, as quoted in Frederick Douglass on Women’s Rights, Philip S. Foner, ed. New York: Da Capo Press, 1992, pp. 49-51; originally published in 1976, cited in Wikipedia article on ‘Declaration of Sentiments’: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Sentiments

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Veteran’s Day: Honoring Edward A. McMurray, Jr.

Edward A. McMurray, Jr., was just completing his first semester of college when the news on the radio told of the horrific attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1942. He was working in a gas station to help with college expenses plus helped support his mother as he could. He had dreamed of going to college, but felt he needed to go to war, since he was 18 years old. His duty to his mother as an only child prevailed, however, and he continued with college and work. By the time December, 1943 rolled around, however, there was no escaping it- he needed to put his dream of being a doctor like his father on hold. Ed enlisted in the Army Air Corp on 24 Oct 1943 in Des Moines, Iowa, and officially began boot camp on 13 Dec 1943 at Jefferson Barracks in Missouri; like all Reservists at that time, he spent his tour on active duty throughout World War II.

Ed wanted to be a pilot, so had signed up for a training program at college for flying (possibly the Civil Air Patrol?); unfortunately, his eyesight was not good enough to be a military pilot. His second choice was to go into the Medical Corps, but by that time, they had enough trained men to fulfill the need. So Ed went to boot camp at Jefferson Barracks, then was off to his training school to become an aircraft mechanic.

Edward A. McMurray, Jr., in uniform with unknown friend. c1942 in Newton, Iowa. — Edward A. McMurray, Jr., on right in uniform with unknown friend. c1943 or 1944 in Newton, Iowa.

Mac’s unit left the United States for the South Pacific on April 28, 1944. (See my previous post about his time in the South Pacific here.) He spent 22 months overseas, returning 14 Feb 1946. He had served in the 3rd & 4th Engine Over-Haul Squadrons and the 13th Depot Supply Squadron, and remembered his Serial Number even into his later years: 17152911. Ed separated from the Army Air Corp on 22 Feb 1946, just eight days after returning from overseas. He was honorably discharged.

In 1949 Iowa offered its World War II veterans a service compensation bonus. Mac filled out a two page application that detailed his squadrons and service dates. (What a treasure for genealogists!) The WWII Service Compensation Board determined he had earned a bonus of $345.00.

Thank you, Edward McMurray, and all the brave men and women who have served throughout the years to keep our country, and our world, free. Freedom, of course, is not free, and so many were prepared to pay the ultimate price if needed. We are so grateful that Ed and so many others came home.

Make sure to thank a veteran today.

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) National Archives and Records Administration. U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, 1938-1946 [Archival Database]; ARC: 1263923. World War II Army Enlistment Records; Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 64; National Archives at College Park. College Park, Maryland, U.S.A.

2) Military Monday: Edward A. McMurray, Jr. in the Pacific Theater of WWII: http://heritageramblings.net/2014/09/08/military-monday-edward-a-mcmurray-jr-in-the-pacific-theater-of-wwii/

3) Ancestry.com. Iowa, World War II Bonus Case Files, 1947-1954 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: WWII Bonus Case Files. State Historical Society of Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa.

4) Not quite sure how the WWII service compensation was calculated, but they looked at his months of foreign duty (22) as compared to active domestic service, which they noted as 29 months. Not sure where that number came from, as he had signed up in October 1943 but did not leave the US until Feb. 1946; that was only four months, for a total of 26 months in service.

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The Daughters of Joseph Baer Cooper and Helen Cooper

A previous post included pictures of the Joseph and Helen Cooper family through the years, including a great picture from about 1913 with the four siblings with Irving in his Indian costume- just adorable. Following is what we know about each of Irving’s sisters. We are hoping we can find more cousins to help us learn more about each of these women.

Ann Cooper

Irv’s oldest sister, Ann, was born on 03 Jan 1903 in Pennsylvania. She lived with her parents in Montgomery, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania where she is found in the 1910 and 1920 census with them. She married Joe Poser between 1920 and 1924, when their daughter Kathleen C. Poser was born. Joe died in 1926, and Ann Poser and her daughter are listed as living with Joseph and Helen in the 1930 US Federal Census in Montgomery, Pennsylvania.

Ann married __ Hesselson between 1930 and 1940. She lived at 567 Riverside Ave. in Elmira, Chemung, New York by 1935 and was still there in 1940 per the US Federal Census. She was again listed as a widow and as head of household, working as a ‘saleslady’ in retail women’s ready to wear. Her daughter Kathleen Poser was living with her, and Ann’s brother-in-law, Abe Hesselson, shared the household. Ann died in November, 1981 in Richmond, Henrico, Virginia.

Rose Cooper

Rose was born 10 Mar 1904, also in Pennsylvania. She too is found with the family in the 1910 and 1920 US Federal Censuses. By 1930, however, she had been trained as a nurse and was working in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in a hospital. She lived in a boarding house with nine other women, eight of them nurses (one still a student nurse) plus a woman who was a hospital supervisor.

In 1935, Rose was living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but by 1940 she had moved to New York City, where she worked for Greenpoint City Hospital as a Registered Nurse. She must have lived in a very large apartment complex- four pages of census entries include 160 persons who worked in the hospital.

The 1940 census also notes that Rose had worked 52 weeks in 1939 during the depression, and her salary was $1190 for the year 1939. Rose was one of the persons asked supplemental questions that year, and they included whether she had been married more than once (no) and her age at first marriage (25). This explains the fact that she was listed as divorced, and had apparently married originally around 1929. The supplemental questions also asked the language spoken in her home when she was young, and her reply was “Jewish.” Additionally she was asked if she had a Social Security card, and did not. (The Social Security Act was passed in 1935 and amended in 1939.)

Rose married Ruby Gale on 3 Feb 1952 per The Cooper Clan Chronicle of June, 1952. She died in Richmond, Virginia, on 22 Jan 1988.

Loretta Cooper

Loretta was the youngest of the three girls, born about 1907 in Pennsylvania. She too is found living with their parents in the 1910, 1920 censuses, plus the 1930 US Federal Censuses for Montgomery, Pennsylvania.

Loretta married Delmas Mayer Ribakow, born about 1906, an upholsterer in Baltimore, Maryland in 1930. They had one son, Harold R. Ribakow, born 24 Jul 1935, and died 02 Jan 2008. This is all we know about the family, but are hoping to learn more since we have been recently contacted by a descendant of this line. (Hooray! Blogs DO work as cousin bait!)

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Sibling Saturday: Siblings of Irving Cooper Through the Years. http://heritageramblings.net/2014/11/08/sibling-saturday-siblings-of-irving-cooper-through-the-years/

2) 1910 US Federal Census for Joseph Baer Cooper and family: Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Montgomery, Lycoming, Pennsylvania; Roll: T624_1372; Page: 12B; Enumeration District: 0058; FHL microfilm: 1375385. Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.Accessed 11-8-14.

3) 1920 US Federal Census for Joseph Baer Cooper and family: Source Citation: Year: 1920; Census Place: Montgomery, Lycoming, Pennsylvania; Roll: T625_1599; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 59; Image: 32. Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Accessed 11-8-14.

4) 1930 US Federal Census for Joseph Baer Cooper and family: Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Montgomery, Lycoming, Pennsylvania; Roll: 2074; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 0033; Image: 1086.0; FHL microfilm: 2341808. Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002. Accessed 11-8-2014.

5) 1940 US Federal Census for Anna Hesselson: Source Citation: Year: 1940; Census Place: Elmira, Chemung, New York; Roll: T627_2514; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 8-53. Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Accessed 11-8-14.

6) 1930 US Federal Census for Rose Cooper: Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: 2134; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 1053; Image: 835.0; FHL microfilm: 2341868. Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002. Accessed 11-8-14.

7) 1940 US Federal Census for Rose Cooper: Source Citation: Year: 1940; Census Place: New York, Kings, New York; Roll: T627_2583; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 24-1440. Accessed 11-8-14.

8) Delmas Ribikow: R. L. Polk City Directory for Baltimore, Maryland, 1930. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Accessed 11-8-14.

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Sibling Saturday: Siblings of Irving Cooper Through the Years

The Cooper Children. Irving Cooper standing in Indian costume. Girls, from left: Loretta, Rose, and Ann Cooper, c1913.

Irving Israel Cooper was the youngest of the four children born to Joseph Baer Cooper (1873-1955) and Helen Freda Cooper (1878-1934). [Helen’s maiden name was Cooper- they were second cousins. See previous Cooper posts listed below.]

Joseph Cooper and His Children, from left: Ann, Rose, Irving, and Loretta, with Joseph in front center, c1930s?

Irving had three older sisters:

Ann Cooper, born 1903.

Rose Cooper, born 1904

and

Loretta Cooper, born 1907.

*Joseph Cooper and children, Mar 20 1949. From left: Irving Cooper, Ann Cooper Hesselson, Joseph Cooper, Rose Cooper Gale, and Loretta Cooper Ribakow.*

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Cooper family photos.

2) Previous posts about this Cooper family:

Wedding Wednesday: Joseph Baer Cooper and Helen Cooper may be found at http://heritageramblings.net/2013/12/04/wedding-wednesday-joseph-baer-cooper-and-helen-cooper/

Silly Sunday: Joseph Cooper Family in Swimsuits : http://heritageramblings.net/2014/01/19/silly-sunday-joseph-cooper-family-in-swimsuits-c1912/

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Month: November 2014

Mystery Monday: What is the Birth Date of Little Johnny Beerbower?

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The Anniversary of Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Birth

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Veteran’s Day: Honoring Edward A. McMurray, Jr.

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