HARRY PALMERSTON WILLIAMS #18 EARLY AVIATOR 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.

In January 2014, Amy Johnson Crow of the Ancestry blog No Story Too Small issued the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge.

 

 

 

The premise: write once a week about a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, a research problem — any that focuses on that one ancestor. The next week, write about a different ancestor. In 52 weeks, you’ll have taken a closer look at 52 people in your family tree… and maybe learned a little bit more about them in the process.

 

 

 

 

 

HARRY PALMERSTON WILLIAMS was my maternal Grandfather’s (John Nelson Moore 1889-1980) 2^nd cousin.  I never heard my Grandfather talk about him and I am surprised because he was a very famous person in the early 1900’s.  He was a businessman, politician, and an aviation entrepreneur in Louisiana.  He became a noted aviator and co-owner of the Wedell-Williams Air Service Corporation that dominated air racing in the United States during the Golden Age of Aviation.

 

Harry Williams was born in Patterson, Louisiana to Frank Bennett Williams and Emily Williamson Seyburn on October 6, 1889.

 

Harry Williams first started working in his father’s Cypress Lumber Company but became fascinated with flying.  In 1927, spurred by the news of the Lindbergh solo flight across the Atlantic, he had purchased a similar Ryan monoplane from Jimmy Wedell a noted race pilot. After working closely with Jimmy Wedell  learning to fly, Harry Williams formed a partnership with Wedell and his brother, Walter Wedell, that resulted in the formation of Wedell-Williams Air Service Corporation in 1928, based in Patterson, Louisiana.

 

The Wedell-Williams Air Service Corporation provided a passenger service from New Orleans to Houston, Louisiana’s first commercial airline and also they started their own postal air service, as well as operating a flying school.

 

 

 

 

 

Harry served in WW 1 as a Lieutenant in the Engineers Corp. and met his wife during a War Bonds Tour.  She was a film star, Marguerite Clark. They married August 19, 1918.

They lived in New Orleans with Harry’s parents in a house that now is the Milton Latter Library on St. Charles Street.

 

 
 
On May 19, 1936, as Harry Williams was returning from Baton Rouge where he had a conference with Governor Richard Leche, and flying with the company's chief pilot, John Worthen, their Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing crashed on takeoff, killing both men instantly.
The loss of Harry Williams, along with the recent deaths in air crashes of both Wedell brothers who had co-founded the company along with the company test pilot, led his wife, Marguerite Clark Williams, , to sell the assets of the company in 1937 to Eastern Air Lines. The new owner, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, folded in the Wedell-Williams Air Service Corporation into the larger airline operation, gaining the coveted mail route from New Orleans to Houston, giving Eastern its first presence in Texas.
 
References 
The Louisiana Historical Society - http://louisianahistoricalsociety.org
Louisiana State Museum - http://www.crt.state.la.us/louisiana-state-museum/online-exhibits/louisiana-aviation-since-1910/the-williams-family/
           

 

FLORENCE GLORIA GLESSOF #17 52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS

In January 2014, Amy Johnson Crow of the Ancestry blog No Story Too Small issued the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge.

 

 

 

The premise: write once a week about a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, a research problem — any that focuses on that one ancestor. The next week, write about a different ancestor. In 52 weeks, you’ll have taken a closer look at 52 people in your family tree… and maybe learned a little bit more about them in the process.

 

 

FLORENCE GLORIA GLESSOFF, my husbands Aunt, was born 17 January 1902 in Elizabethport, New Jersey.

 

Her parents were JOHN GLESSOFF and ALEXANDRIA CONCOVA.

 

I spent a lot of time with Aunt Florrie because she lived alone after her husband died in 1987 and needed help with shopping and cleaning.  She always felt bad that she needed this help so to divert her attention to what I was doing in the apartment I would ask all sorts of questions about her life.  One of my favorite questions to ask was “how did you meet your husband”.

 

Aunt Florrie explained to me that she worked in a Travel Agency where they secured tickets for customers for all their travel needs.  It was a small office and it could get slow at times so they would look at all the personal ads in the newspapers for fun. These ads were the forerunners of today’s Match.com. The ads would indicate a meeting place such as in front of the soda shop or at the park. The ad did not give any names but their likes and dislikes and request a reply to a Post Office Box so it was all anonymous.  The office workers would sit there and try to picture what would it be like.

 

Aunt Florrie was 26 and wasn’t married or even dating anyone.  At this time in 1928, many women got married when they were 18 and had several children by the time they were 26.  Her fellow workers dared her to put an ad the paper for a date.  She figured she had nothing to loose so she took the dare.

 

As she told to me, she was very scared that night when she finally agreed to meet someone.  She figured she would get there really early and check out the guy.  She did like the look of the guy and went out on the date.  Florence eventually did marry that guy.  They married March 16, 1929 and had 58 years of marriage before her husband died.

 

 

Aunt Florrie married FRANK BERNARD WIPF.  When I spoke to him about the personal ad in the newspaper, he said he did the very same thing Florrie did, he got there early and checked her out.  Apparently, he liked what he saw also. They were very good together and were a delight to have around.  They had a daughter, Florence (Honey), who married but didn’t have any children.  My children have very fond memories of Aunt Florrie and Uncle Frank because they were like another set of grandparents.

 

Aunt Florrie was excellent at crocheting and made Afghans for everyone.  My daughter still has many that Aunt Florrie made for her dolls.  Aunt Florrie lived in a senior housing apartment and was very involved with the club activities.  The club had trips to shows, dinners, and they played bingo and had card games.  Aunt Florrie requested never to be put in a Nursing Home, so she had 24 hour nursing care at home until her death, October 27, 2000, at the age of 98.

MY FAVORITE GRANDMOTHER ISABEL CLARE TIERNEY #16 52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS

 

In January 2014, Amy Johnson Crow of the Ancestry blog No Story Too Small issued the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge.

 

 

 

The premise: write once a week about a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, a research problem — any that focuses on that one ancestor. The next week, write about a different ancestor. In 52 weeks, you’ll have taken a closer look at 52 people in your family tree… and maybe learned a little bit more about them in the process.

 

 

Isabel Clare Tierney, my maternal grandmother, was born January 1, 1892 in Brooklyn, New York.

Her parents were John Tierney and Margaret Delaney.  She was one of 6 children, May born 1884, Frances born 1888, John born 1893, Rosalie born 1894, Alice born 1898 and Margaret born 1900.

 

This Grandmother was a favorite of mine.  She stayed with us often.  My father would go to and manage conventions twice a year and my Grandmother would come and stay for the two or three weeks he was gone.  Other times she and Grandpa, John N. Moore, would come and stay for the weekend. 

 

 

 

 

Isabel was always in the latest style clothing and wore very high heels even into her late 80's.  She grew up in the era of proper etiquette, and followed it to a "T".   You wore gloves and a hat when leaving the house even if it were to go for a walk.  She had her hair done every week and had perfect manicures all the time.  My sister and I would go stay with our Grandparents in Brooklyn and would have to have our Sunday best clothes with us in case we went down the block to the stores.

 

It was always fun meeting Grandma coming off the train in Hicksville from Brooklyn.  She would have her round hat box style suitcase and would be calling out "you hoo".  Sometimes she would surprise us and take a taxi to our house.  Isabel would always have a cake from Ebinger’s Bakery with her too.

 

 

 

Ebinger Baking Company, with a chain of stores across the boro of Brooklyn, was founded in Flatbush in 1898 by George and Catherine Ebinger. Famous for their cakes and pies, and especially their Blackout Cake, they closed in bankruptcy on August 26, 1972, "going the way of the Navy Yard, the Dodgers, and Luna Park", said the New York Times.

 

Isabel lived most of her life in Brooklyn but in the early 1960's she and my Grandfather went to live in California.  Grandpa helped open the Paine Webber Brokerage branch office in California.  Then after my Grandfather died in 1980 Isabel went to Texas to live with her son, John and his family.  The following picture is of Isabel in her California apartment.  Isabel died December 7, 1982 in Dallas, Texas

 

 

GENEVIEVE COUNTS/KOUNTZ #15 52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS

In January 2014, Amy Johnson Crow of the Ancestry blog No Story Too Small issued the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge.

 

The premise: write once a week about a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, a research problem — any that focuses on that one ancestor. The next week, write about a different ancestor. In 52 weeks, you’ll have taken a closer look at 52 people in your family tree… and maybe learned a little bit more about them in the process.

GENEVIEVE COUNTS was my maternal great grandmother.  She was born 1 December 1864, in Savannah, Georgia.¹ Genevieve was born right in the middle of the Civil War and just before General Sherman’s march to Savannah.  Her parents were JOHN COUNTS/KOUNTZ and MARTHA PARDUE.¹ There is a wonderful book² about the Civil War through the eyes of a young girl.  It depicts the hardships that Martha Counts must have gone through having a baby during this time.  Her husband was most likely in the Confederate Army and away at the time of Genevieve’s birth.

 

I do not have a lot of information on this woman.  I think I found her in the 1870 census in a boarding school but have not confirmed it is her.  Her mother and father seem to disappear, so maybe they died and she was put in this school as an orphan.  In 1885, Genevieve married Tristram A. Moore.³ My Grandfather said they both worked for the Ludden & Bates Southern Music Company in Savannah.

 

Genevieve and Tristram continued to live in Savannah and had 6 children.  Ann born in 1886, Mary born in 1888, John (my grandfather) born in 1889, Elizabeth (Bessie) born in 1890, Tristram J. born in 1892, and Francis born in 1894.  During this time Tristram continued to work for the South Music Company alongside his father Horatio N. Moore.  Apparently, this was not good enough for him so he quit and got a job on a ship sailing out of Savannah.  Sometime after 1900 Geneveive was told he died at sea.  I have no proof that this actually happened.  He did leave the family, that is true, but I have found no documents indicating his death at sea.

 

All this time Genevieve was taking care of her 6 children by doing sewing.  By 1905 her oldest son was 16 and he told me he was out working doing odd jobs to help the family.  In the 1910 census⁴ the children were older and working to support Genevieve.  Her son, John became a telegrapher operator for the Railroad and made good money but New York was paying more for telegraph operators so he brought the family up to Brooklyn, New York.  In the 1920 census⁵ I find Genevieve with her son Tristram and daughters Annie, and Mary Cosgrove and Mary's son John.  Genevieve’s son Francis died in 1898 when he was 4.  Genevieve’s son John is married by this time to Isabel Tierney and they have a daughter, Ruth (my mother). 

 

Genevieve was taken care of by her son, John, until she died.  They lived just a block away and he was there helping out all the time.  Genevieve died 11 June 1936 in Brooklyn, New York.¹ This is the only picture I have of her, and it was taken about 1933 in Brooklyn.

 

 

 

1. Death Certificate #13037 Brooklyn, New York. Information given by her son John N. Moore.
2. “The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-1865 by Eliza Frances Andrews
3. Marriage certificate, State of Georgia, dated 4 October 1885
4. 1910 Federal Census of Georgia, image from Ancestry.com
5. 1920 Federal Census of Georgia, image from Ancestry.com