Agnes M Bald – ‘loopy’ or lonely?

One of Mum’s memories of childhood is that her aunt ‘Nan’ was ‘a bit loopy’.

Nan (actually Agnes Miriam Bald) was a younger sister of Mum’s mother Evelyn. She busied herself with writing poems and songs. She was a spinster who lived with her mother and looked after her nieces when they were in Worthing as ‘foreign students’ in the 1920s and 30s.

I had wondered what psychological problems Nan had. She didn’t look unusual so perhaps she was autistic or suffered from Asperger’s syndrome. Although she was treated as someone who needed support, she effectively looked after her nieces which implies some ability to function independently.

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'Nan' in Worthing about 1930,
after the publication of Pencil Poems.

Then there was Jessie... 

Jessie was another aunt, two years older than Nan. She was apparently ‘even loopier’. She was so difficult to live with that she lived alone. Again, although Mum’s childhood memory was that Miriam was in need of help, she was able to live independently.

I have finally got a copy of Agnes Bald's Pencil Poems published in 1926. It makes an interesting read. India is mentioned along with her pets and impressions of her life. There is a poem about my mother 'Joan' and her sister 'Maya'. Amongst others, 'Tommy' and 'Peter' are mentioned but I don't know who they are.

Reading it gave me the impression that part of her 'loopy' disposition may have come from being one of the many young women at the time who had a husband or boyfriend who died in WWI. Nan’s sister Jessie may have also been a victim of such circumstances. As far as I am aware neither were engaged, and certainly neither married, yet as their life went on they both seemed to imagine that men were ‘after them’.

Some of Nan’s poems seem to be reflections on Sunday sermons. Her parents were regular churchgoers and staunch Baptists. As a child in India, she would have attended the Union Church in Darjeeling, where her father was one-time treasurer.  On their retirement to Worthing, they were regulars at the Worthing Baptist Church. Nan was obviously familiar with the Bible and there are several references to it in the poems. Other poems seem to be self-encouraging.

Her father and many of his generation liked to write ditties so the form was one she would have grown up with. The local weekly newspaper in Darjeeling, Darjeeling Advertiser (all copies of which are now apparently lost) carried this kind of poem also. The contributions of one such writer, tea-planter J A Keble,  were gathered in his book Darjeeling Ditties (1908).

Pencil Poems indicates that Nan had lived a total of 10 years in India, almost half her life to that point. She clearly missed her life there and was melancholy at the thought that she may never have the opportunity to return. This prediction proved correct. Much of her writing also includes a sense of despair at her own circumstances (which are never explicitly spelt out) and this is contrasted with self-talk to ‘be strong’ or ’carry on’.

Her childhood home, Tukvar Tea Estate about 1914.
Left to right: Nan, her father Claud, Mother, sisters Jessie
and Evelyn and brother-in-law Fred Marsh.
Her dog 'Ruffles' also features in the book.

Her father, Claud Bald had died in 1924 and his will made provision for the support of his wife and his two unmarried daughters. Both daughters were provided with a life-ling allowance which seems to have lasted just long enough to sustain them. Bald seems to have anticipated that they would never marry.

One of the stories about the sisters, apart from a general view that they were ‘eccentric’ was that they both imagined that ‘men were after them’; an apprehension which grew stronger as they aged. 

When Nan’s mother died in 1935, it was the married siblings, Evelyn, Wylie and the youngest Ruth who worked out how to finalize the estate. The two unmarried siblings were provided for with a specified amount from which they could draw an income. Whatever else may be true about them, their father would have felt obliged to provide for them as they were not married.

What I had not considered was that he would have known that prospects for them to marry were significantly lowered after World War I.

Now ‘loopy’ is not a sufficient explanation of their circumstances and ‘eccentric’ is kinder but not revealing either. Jessie was certainly isolated and may well have been quarrelsome but this does not mean she was ‘disabled’ in the usual sense. 

Although Nan was living in England when her book was published it is likely that her father Claud used his networks in publishing to support the endeavour even though he had died before the publication date. He had published several works in his long career as a tea planter in India.

Nan was born at Tukvar Tea Estate near Darjeeling town and spent her earliest years there, but as was the custom she was sent ‘home’ to Britain for education. Exactly where she went is not clear but she and her siblings were probably sent to boarding schools in Scotland and during holidays stayed with families who may or may not have been known to their parents.

A brief chronology of her life runs as follows. It is likely that her life was similar to her sister Miriam but there is almost no direct evidence of Miriam’s activities except that she was born at Badamtam Tea Estate, Darjeeling and died in 1954 in Dorset.

Chronology for Agnes Miriam Bald

24 February 1894 - Born at Tukvar Tea Estate, Darjeeling, India.

4 March 1898 – Birth of her sister Ruth Stewart Bald at Tukvar.

1901 - She was a scholar with her sister Jessie boarding in Argyll, Scotland.

2 Apr 1911 - She was living in Islington, London, England but returned to India.

1914-1918 – First World War.

23 Jun 1919 -Arrives in London, England with her parents.

August 1922 – Visit of her eldest sister Mrs Evelyn Marsh with her two young daughters, Joan 18 months and ‘Maya’ 3 years.

31 Dec 1924 - Death of her father Claude Bald (1853–1924) at Worthing.

Early 1926 – Publication of Pencil Poems.

18 Aug 1935 - Death of Mother Margaret (to whom her book was dedicated) at Worthing.

In the 1930 - 1940s – Secretary to Worthing branch of the Lord's Day Observance Society, foundation member and secretary to the Worthing branches of the Women’s International Fellowship, Protestant Alliance and Women’s World Day of Prayer.

4 May 1950 – Death in Worthing.

Mother and siblings about 1905.
Brother Wylie standing.
Seated left to right:
Ruth, Margaret (her mother), 'Nan', Jessie and Evelyn.

The next post describes more of Nan’s writing with a few examples from Pencil Poems to illustrate her preoccupations and mood.

Noel Patrick Hilton finds a surname or two…

Strange as it may seem, the exact sequence of events in Dad’s life from when he left the Lyell home until his marriage in 1951 is not entirely clear. Further research may help sort out the timetable of events.

However, the major motivations and main events do seem to be clear.

His key motivation in leaving the Bill and Ivy Lyell household, apart from the common desire to find his own feet, was to find his own family – that is his natural mother and siblings in particular. My guess is that he moved out of the Lyell home in about 1939 or 1940 when he finished high school. What followed must have seemed like a roller coaster ride for the next decade before he settled down. ‘Mum Lyell’ was not keen on the quest but ‘Pop’ understood his motivations

He worked for a while in Sydney building his skills in catering, carpentry and sales work. He quickly reconnected with his mother and sister Joyce. His mother had friends and family in Sydney so it was easy enough to ask around to find them. Joyce worked for the Tivoli and seems to have been in Melbourne in 1935 and early 1936. She spent most of 1936 in Western Australia doing a series of shows with the Ritchie Brothers and their sister Mavis and in 1938 was in New South Wales.

Joyce and his mother had both adopted the surname Deering by this time. It was also used by his father. There were a variety of reasons why they dropped the use of the surname Poe. A common story is that it was a slang term for ‘bedpan’ in some areas. It is also true that Grandfather Poe would have been eager to leave much of his past behind him. He was, for example, determined that no one takes his photo – a strange thing for a showman. 

The surname Deering is a reference to grandfather Poe’s mother, Minerva Elizabeth Dearing. Poe, like most boys, seems to have been close to his mother and certainly had good connections with his mother’s family. He adopted Deering as he thought it was the original spelling of the name – which turns out to be correct going back to his fourth great-grandfather Edward who was born in Virginia in 1725.

Noel and his brother Jack used the surname Lyell when they lived with Bill and Ivy Lyell and while both boys knew their surname was Poe, no thought was given to making any formal change. Noel probably stopped using Lyell soon after reconnecting with his mother and while he also used the surname Deering he may have been more ambivalent about it and adopted the usage ‘Le Poer’ from time to time claiming that his father used it and that it was the original form of the name Poe. Whether this is correct or not, the Dearing family carry a story that the original form was ‘de La Poer’. Grandfather Poe used the form ‘De Poe’ for his first marriage in 1907.

Noel's sister Joyce Deering as a Tivoli soubrette.

Dad’s oldest brother Eric Alexander, known as ‘Al’, had been fostered out very early in his life also, but had an unhappy experience and ran away from families twice. Eventually, he settled with the Argus family in Gippsland. He told me that he was reacquainted with his natural family as the result of a train accident which killed his adopted father and stepsister…

His mother Beatrice managed to keep track of her family which was in various parts of Australia. She was probably living in Queensland at the time she saw a newspaper report of a fatal accident in the town of Bunyip in Gippsland, Victoria. She knew the names of the man and his daughter who were killed in a level crossing accident; this was the family looking after her eldest child Al. She contacted her daughter Edna who was living in Melbourne asking her to track down Al. It is possible that Noel had already contacted his mother by this time, but either way, Beatrice would have seen the tragedy as a way to rebuild connections with her far-flung family.

The accident took place in Jun 1939 and Al was 19 at the time. The police contacted him to ask if he knew the name Deering and when he said he didn’t they told him to forget it. Soon after, he awoke one night recalling that Deering was a childhood name. He rang the police back who put him in contact with Edna who connected him to his father then living in Prahran, Victoria. He met his father and half-sister Siddy who made him feel welcome. Al quickly adopted the surname Deering and must have met Noel in Melbourne not long after.

Noel’s decision to go to Melbourne probably came in 1940/1. His sister Edna, who had married Eric Storey, was in Melbourne at this time and it was where his father was living. At about the same time Beatrice had also moved from Brisbane where she was in 1940 to Melbourne. This was the time of the second world war which had an impact on society and certainly the family.

Unlike his older brothers, Al and Jack, Noel said he did not take part in the second world war. Al enrolled in the army in late 1942 under the surname Deering with his wife Alice (whom he married in January 1940) who lived in Richmond as his next of kin. Following his divorce, he listed his mother, Beatrice Deering, as next of kin. Jack enlisted in May 1941 under the surname Lyell with Bill Lyell as his next of kin though Jack’s legal name at the time was still Poe.

Dad never pointed out that he was too young – but he would not have turned 21 until after the war had ended. However, it was common for younger men to join up. He would often say he ‘had to look after mother’ – which meant his natural mother Beatrice.

But, he also used to say he was a ‘Bourke Street commando’ which in my mind conjured images of unruly youths roaming the streets at night looking for trouble. In fact, he joined the army in May 1944, in his 21^st year. At the time, he was living in Richmond. It took me a long while to discover this because he joined under the name Deering, using all his given names – Noel Patrick Hilton. His sister Edna, with whom he was staying, was listed as next of kin.

Certificate of World War Two Service for Noel Patrick Hilton Deering

When he first moved to Melbourne he stayed in Al’s home in Lennox Street Richmond. Al had married and then enlisted but soon divorced which may have meant his home was vacant. At about this time Noel ran a toy shop in Richmond. He made some toys and employed Al and other family members from time to time. Apparently, the toy shop business was in the name of Le Poer though as yet I cannot find any records of this.

It was late in the second world war that his sister Joyce whose work kept her between Sydney and Brisbane met a dashing US serviceman, Irving Steil. After the war, she joined him to America where they married and had one son David. She continued to support her mother from afar and keep in contact with her siblings. In the USA, she continued to work in entertainment and performed with the Mills Brothers, famous for Paper Doll, which she was very proud of.

Edna separated from her husband and was bringing up two daughters, Bonnie and Joyce, by herself. Noel had become involved in helping Edna’s husband to ‘move on’ and became a de facto father to his nieces though he was not much older than the girls. At some point, he moved to live with his sister in a one-room ‘bungalow’ is Erasmus Street Surry Hills.

Edna ran a catering business called ‘Cupid Catering’ which was established in partnership with an investor who also had a used car business. When the partnership was dissolved in 1948, presumably with the loan repaid, Noel was a witness using his actual surname – Poe.

Argus, Friday 18 June 1948, page 9.
Noel Poe as a witness

The business continued however and most of the work was to cater for weddings. Dad helped with the business and employed his cooking skills and also employed other family members including his half-sister who washed dishes.

It was probably late in the 1940s that Noel obtained a job at the Myer’s Store in Bourke Street Melbourne. He worked in the furniture department and quickly became the manager – something he would have been very comfortable doing.  Part of his carpentry experience with the Lyells included making furniture and he had some previous experience in sales. Perhaps this was a move for some financial stability after some business of his own. Whatever the case, he kept up working with his sister and continued to make toys though perhaps without the problems of also managing a shop.

But the hyperactive Noel was also a member of the Showman’s Guild at about this time and worked a Lunar Park, probably selling toys. At present no records of this activity have been found so I don’t know what surname he used.

In about 1950 Noel met Joan Marsh who had started at Myer’s. The two hit it off and Joan helped Noel deliver toys and washed dishes for Edna’s business. Joan lived very near to Noel and sometimes got a lift to work with him. Noel’s niece Bonnie also got a job at Myer’s and came for the ride too. Noel cut a dapper figure in his youth with an impressive car to match, a 1933 Reo Flying Cloud soft-top. Joan enjoyed stirring him by messing up his hair and cutting him off in traffic with her nifty Fiat.

1933 REO Flying Cloud via Pin Interest

In late 1950, Bob Patey – who also lived nearby – spoke to Noel about marrying Bonnie. Bob knew him as ‘Noel Le Poer’ and saw him as ‘a stern uncle’ to Bonnie and Joyce. Years later I spoke to Bob who remembered that Edna, Dad, Bonnie and Joyce all lived in a rented room on the corner of Erasmus and Bentley streets.  Bob was able to Noel that he meant Bonnie no harm and approved the marriage which took place in April 1951.

Bob also recalled that Noel made ‘monkeys on a stick’ – something which he would have learned from his father. ‘They all seemed to have the gipsy element in them.’ ‘All very private people.’ Bob’s comments echo the comment of Joan’s father, who saw them as ‘jungli wallas’ and ‘bizzari types’.

In circumstances which are not entirely clear, both Joan and Noel felt that their respective families were putting various pressures on them to conform to a variety of expectations. Some members of both families thought the relationship was not a good one. Noel, and Joan, in the end, decided that a new start was needed.

Late in 1950 Noel and Joan resigned from Myer’s ahead of marriage and an intention to live in NSW near the Lyell’s.

In February 1951 Noel formally changed his surname to Lyell and dropped the given name ‘Patrick’. He was then known consistently as ‘Noel Hilton Lyell’. On 13 February 1951, he and Joan were married at The Entrance, New South Wales. Officiating was Rev I Keith Watson Baptist minister suggested by the bride’s uncle, Rev Frank Marsh.

Noel did some further studies in building and sunk his savings into a partnership with his adopted father Bill Lyell, and together they completed a number of homes around The Entrance, north of Sydney, one of which was to be theirs at some later stage – at least that was the understanding.

Mr and Mrs Lyell on a building block.
The Entrance, NSW, circa 1951.

Joan got to know Noel’s family and some family friends including Harry Rooklyn who played the violin with her accompanying.  His younger brother Jack had been keen on Noel’s sister Joyce and treated the younger Noel as his nephew. Harry’s other brother Maurice had also been a magician and had at one time cut Noel’s sister Joyce in half.

There was a huge demand for housing after the war as the population increased as a result of migration and a surge in the natural birth rate. A shortage of building materials and labour prompted the development of different methods of construction. Bill and Noel were able to build new fibro-cement homes relatively quickly; however, it seems this contributed to a glut in the area and by about 1952 Noel decided to leave the business to Bill and seek his fortune elsewhere. The men apparently agreed verbally that ‘Pop’ would pay him back with one of the houses at some unspecified future date. Unfortunately, this never came to pass.

Initially, the move was not back to Melbourne. They moved to Sydney and Noel worked at Scruttons engineering supplies in Ultimo. On 9 February 1953, he resigned after working there for seven months and they moved back to Melbourne. Noel sold his possessions including a golf set and his Reo both of which he missed for a while, and arrived back in Melbourne with ten shillings. They managed to get a housing loan for a new development in Seaford to the south of Melbourne.

Noel worked for Boyes Brothers hardware merchants in Russell Street, Melbourne from about mid-1952 and resigned 13 June 1957 to start work at Sherlock and Hay in Frankston as by that time his family had begun. 

Noel had finally settled down as Noel Hilton Lyell, hardware salesman, husband and father.

The story of his married life is for another occasion, but for the remainder of his life he never entertained using a different surname and until very late in life could not be drawn on the subject. Many years later, after Joan’s death, Noel became a recluse and kept to himself problems with his health. He announced one day that he was going in for a blood transfusion. He had developed a kind of leukaemia which claimed his life in a short period of time. When the time came to go into hospital he accepted the move with no fuss. He saw his family and wished them off intending he said to have a restful night.

Later that evening, he called out, perhaps for the first time in his life a phrase he heard in the boxing ring ‘I concede’ and expired. His grave includes both his given and his adopted surname.

Jottings of interest: September 2017

Joseph Swan

The online home of The Friends of Glasgow Necropolis has included an item about great-great-great-grandfather Joseph Swan in their profiles under the title Joseph Swan: engraver and publisher.

The Necropolis itself is worth a visit. We had a look for Joseph ourselves a couple of years ago – though we didn’t manage to find him then. We did get an eerie feeling that he was watching us though... 

There are a number of videos about the Necropolis on YouTube – a good ‘overview’ can be seen in Drone Video - Glasgow Necropolis in Scotland and an introduction video as well. If you’re thinking of visiting, check out The Friends of Glasgow Necropolis website before you go!

Volunteer Soldiers in British India, 1687-1947

This video produced by Clayton Roberts in collaboration with Peter Moore is about the Volunteer Forces in British India, 1687-1947, who maintained law and order during times of civil unrest in India and served in overseas conflicts. It covers the Volunteer Militia, the Indian Defense Force Corps and the Auxiliary Force (India)

La Martiniere Lucknow’s cadets who were in the Lucknow Volunteer Rifles & Bishop Cotton cadets are featured.

One of the many volunteer militia units was the Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles (NBMR). My grandfather Frederick Marsh and great-grandfather Claud Bald were members. See a A tale of two tea planters: Claud Bald and F G Marsh . The video includes pictures of Bald and the NBMR (see 15:06-15:35).

Roberts and Moore's earlier video is Anglo-Indians: The Forgotten Pillars of British India. This is a photo-documentary of milestones in the history of Anglo-Indians from 1600 – 1947. There are lots of interesting pictures mini-biographies and snippets of historical information. There’s more to tell, but let's hope the story is no longer 'forgotten'. Fred’s medals are there (at 18:53) and Claud is in there again…

Researching your family tree – University of Strathclyde online course

Earlier this year I completed the University of Strathclyde online course on researching your family tree, and am happy to recommend it.

The main thing I have got from the course is a better sense of the need to be systematic in genealogical research/family history and a clear view of how to go about this. I've have become aware of many resources I had not heard of before and added a few more books to my 'to read list'. By being more systematic, I've already learned new things about Scottish ancestor, Joseph Swan and have a plan for how to get around my major 'brick wall' - how to find the parents of my 3rd great paternal ancestor William Romulus Po(w)e born in VA in 1796 by taking a broader and systematic look at his associates.

Genealogical information as a kind of science - gathering the data which gives some shape to family history. Some context can be suggested by the data (where did they live, when did they move etc), but some of the burning questions are; what was their life like? and why did they move when they did? 

Getting to know their predominant professions and foibles may tell me something about myself or at least give a context to some of my own circumstances. In both aspects (facts and context), it's a never-ending story as access to more information becomes available and our own interests/questions/skills develop.

Poe’s Point exhibit dedicated

On 7 September the Port of Bellingham hosted a ceremony at Marine Park which is just about where Alonzo Marion Poe’s cabin was. The chair of the Port Commission dedicated the ‘Poe’s Point exhibit’ two panels of pictures and text telling Poe’s story. For local identity Dr Warren Bergholz it was a grand 100th birthday gift. Bergholz and several other locals, including Brian Griffin, had been arguing for the proposed change for some time. History has now been corrected and Poe's place publicly acknowledged.

Here’s an image of one of the signs:

UPDATE 28 SEPTEMBER:

You can see the 'unveiling' event via YouTube too:

Noel Patrick Hilton…circus boy comes to town

The story starts with the accidental electrocution of lines worker Harold Patrick Keys on 23 March 1925 in Sydney. The death was ruled an accident by the coroner though some in the family thought in their grief this was highly unlikely as ‘Pat’ was experienced with electricity.

The death of the reliable Harold was a tragedy for his young family and a sad blow to his mother, brothers and sisters. 

Only nine months before, another loved brother ‘Hock’ who had been a champion boxer died as the result of ‘pneumonia’ perhaps brought on by the stresses of his career. 

Hock's legend would loom large in the family and his mother mixed her remembrance of Les Darcy’s funeral procession down Oxford Street in Sydney with the humbler event for her prized son’s farewell. The two men had a common background, though Keys died young it was after his best boxing was behind him. The families were also close and Dad remembers called Darcy's widow, Margaret, 'auntie'.

Beatrice Keys had married Alexander Marion Poe in 1914 and by the time of Harold's death they had brought four children into the world. 

But Poe was a restless spirit and they split about 1922. He had taken care of their eldest daughter who travelled with him, their second daughter lived with her mother, their eldest son was fostered to one family but ‘escaped’ from them quickly and their youngest son had been fostered more successfully to Bill and Ivy Lyell, following Ivy's miscarriage.

Beatrice’s youngest sister Bertha had met Poe very early in his relationship with her sister and didn’t like him. She was a strong woman who developed an enthusiasm for the ‘rag trade’ and after the start of the first world war in Australia had moved to New York to follow her passion.

Beatrice tried to keep contact with her husband and, perhaps as a staunch Catholic, never divorced him. Poe seems to have got on with Hock and the common connection may have been ‘shows'. Poe was a vaudeville artist and both he and Keys also took part in tent boxing shows. 

Perhaps this is where the two men met and perhaps this led to an introduction to Beatrice.

Beatrice knew that Poe would have wanted to farewell her brother Harold Patrick and she was often in search of a reason to track him down. There was also a notice in the paper. Either way, Poe was there for the funeral of his brother in law on 25 March 1924. The event was followed by a traditional Irish wake, though Poe was not a big drinker. Poe then went back on the road...

A little less than 280 days later they had a son.

Beatrice presented herself at St Margaret’s Hospital in Sydney on Christmas Eve with a story about needing a place to stay as her baby was imminent. The hospital admitted her and the next day a baby boy was born.

The story goes that she hung a flag at the foot of the bed seeking funds and that the Lord Mayor of Sydney came through for his Christmas visit and presented the young baby with a soft toy.

Beatrice had to decide on a name. It was obvious to her what that would be. He was named Noel Patrick Hilton Poe. ‘Noel’ because it was Christmas, ‘Patrick’ after her brother whose death made his life possible (and it was also a saint’s name), and ‘Hilton’ after hotelier Conrad Hilton dashing socialite also born 25 December. Later in life, Noel would drop 'Patrick' and keep 'Hilton'.

For the first years of his life, Noel’s family consisted of himself, his mother and his sister Joyce. Joyce later worked as a soubrette with the Tivoli Circuit. He grew up sometimes living in Darlinghurst where friends included the Rooklyn brothers, Roy Rene Mo and Sadie Gail. 

Sometimes he lived on the road when his mother joined Perry Brothers Circus to travel country towns in Australia's eastern states. 

Noel remembered Jack Rooklyn in particular. He spent time with him in his car while he did his rounds of the Clubs where he had placed slot machines and often gave Noel a shiny shilling for his help. Jack was apparently keen on Noel's sister Joyce and was the person who took him to a hospital when his appendix burst - saving his life as Noel remembered it. (In spite of Beatrice's  encouragement Joyce refused Jack's advances.)

Maurice Rooklyn, the magician, did have his way with Joyce however - she was one of the hundreds he cut in half!

Although she’d had a vaudeville background herself Beatrice was now content to do the cooking. Noel remembered in particular that Beatrice did some work on a white horse called ‘Dolly’ while they were with Perry Brothers. 

Young Noel had a dark complexion, like his father, and often wore a turban while sitting on the Perry brothers’ elephants as an ‘Indian boy’. Elephant ‘Jimmy’ would also pick up circus gear when it was time to pack up. He would also pick up two men on the call of ‘up Jimmy’. Noel thought this would be fun, though as a boy was much lighter than two men. On hearing 'up Jimmy' the elephant lifted Noel too far and he went over the top of the animal - luckily unhurt.

Noel also learned some simple trapeze work with Dunnie and Albie Perry so that he could do a somersault while standing on Albie Perry's feet. During the day he often played on the trapeze nets when his mother worked. 

Christmas Day was always memorable for him as he briefly became the centre of attention for the circus family. The circus would have Christmas lunch together, and then sing carols. Then they would sing 'happy birthday' for Noel. He enjoyed it of course but the teenager Jack Perry (later part of the Zig and Zag team) was very unhappy that an 'outsider' received so much attention.

When Noel eventually met his father, he was a toddler. One of the ways Beatrice kept ‘in touch’ with her husband was to seek a court order for him to pay maintenance for the support of his family. The documents show this was an event which took place regularly. Beatrice would then ‘bail him out’ by paying the money owned which she then received back. 

One of the several notices about Poe with his nom de plumes 
in the NSW Police Gazette.

By about 1930 Beatrice was finding it difficult to provide the support needed to her young son. The depression was underway and finding work was not easy.  Dad remembers doing the rounds of shopkeepers seeking broken biscuits or dripping. Beatrice started to think about how to continue to support Noel. 

It was at about this time that Beatrice’s sister Bertha visited Australia from the United States. She was doing well in the 'rag trade' but unable to have children and young Noel got on well with her. The two sisters were in regular contact and it's likely that collecting Noel was one of the reasons for Bertha's visit.

Noel was impressed in particular with her leather jacket and was intrigued that she seemed to be the only family member to give Poe a dressing down. She wasted no time suggesting to her sister than Noel could return with her to live in the USA. 

Young Noel thought this would be a great adventure, but Beatrice refused. While she was in need of help she also wanted to be able to see her son.

Beatrice had to downsize her accommodation and Bill Lyell assisted her with the move. Lyell was an amateur boxer and so in Beatrice’s circle of acquaintances. Years earlier she had given him her then youngest child soon after her separation. Lyell talked suggested that he would be happy to take Noel into his household as well. His wife, Ivy, was unable to have children herself and he hoped the two boys would get to know one another. It would be good for both of them, he argued. Beatrice agreed.

Just before the move to the Lyells, Noel met his father again and remembered him as very well dressed with a penny in every pocket. Perhaps Beatrice wanted to let him know what she was doing. There is no story about his reaction but he would probably have been for it. He would certainly have preferred the arrangement to Noel living with his abrasive sister-in-law.  

So Noel moved in with his new family at Lane Cove a respectable middle-class suburb on Sydney's lower North Shore. It was not a formal arrangement, but he immediately started to use the surname 'Lyell'. There was some tension with his elder brother who had been surprised to find that he had a younger brother. He may also not have known anything about his natural family until the seven-year-old Noel appeared. 

Noel and Bill Lyell became as close as Ivy had become to Noel's older brother.

19 March 1932 gave Noel a very specific memory – the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The way the 8-year-old remembered it, he was the first person to ride a tricycle over the bridge. His horizons continued to expand.

Noel’s time with the Lyell’s provided the stability he needed. He attended North Sydney Boys High and learned the building trade from Bill Lyell. He also followed Bill’s interest in boxing and spent a fair amount of time bodybuilding, training and remembering stories about his champion boxer uncle. He got to know his brother and the two did some work together in a brick factory. 

A young Noel with a catch in the early 1930s.
The picture is torn in half - who is missing?

However, in the late 1930’s as a teenager, he wanted to reconnect with his mother and sister and find out more about the rest of his natural family. Ivy was not happy with the idea, though Bill understood it was inevitable. 

Initially, he moved to downtown Sydney and got a job with his Lyell Godfather, Joe Gardiner. Noel worked for him as a bell-hop / waiter in the Plaza Hotel and there learned the catering business. Prior to that, he had worked as a painter and monumental mason with his Lyell 'grandfather'. 

So he was setting off in life with a number of skills which he would put to good use.

A picture of Perry Brothers Circus about 1935, after Noel had left.
Note the elephants and twin pole tent.

The next item will describe Noel's quest for a surname. See: Noel Patrick Hilton finds a surname or two…

Postscript:

This item was revised on 7 September 2017 to include additional material. The source was a collection of notes I wrote during the 1990s following various conversations and collected on numerous pieces of paper. Dad was not eager to ‘reveal all’ in one discussion so whenever he would say something I’d write a note on whatever was handy. The notes also record conversations with other people. Amazingly almost all of it is legible.

Lucy Poe Blandy – DC’s last ‘real’ daughter of 1812

Lucy Jane Poe was the eldest child of William R Poe's second marriage to Mary Jane Dale and the longest-lived of any of his children. Before her death she was acknowledged as the last ‘real’ daughter of those who served in the War if 1812 - and the oldest female voter in Maryland.

Although we don’t have many details about her earlier life, some of her reminiscences were recorded in the Washington DC Evening Star shortly before her death.

The last phase of Lucy’s life began round 1918 when she moved from Missouri to be with her second husband Herbert Bandy who had obtained a job as an information officer with the Department of the Navy in Washington DC.  The couple had married about 20 years earlier in Missouri. They later rented a comfortable but modest home in Maryland which still exists today and took in two borders.

Her husband may not have been a relative of Admiral William Henry Purnell Blandy (1890 – 1954); but they attended the same church and both worked for the Navy.

Mrs Lucy Poe Blandy & Mrs John Parker Gaillard, 6 September 1924.
Retrieved from the Library of Congress. (Accessed August 23, 2017.)
Does anyone know the monument behind them?

We have few details of her previous life. She married Marshall Brown when she was about 26 and raised a family of two boys in Missouri. What became of her first husband is not known, but she maintained connections with her boys.

Prior to that there is one reference to her in a divorce case. The case of West verses West was heard in Missouri by Judge Knight who allowed full details to be discussed ‘to the delight of the large audience’.  According to the St Louis Democrat February 21 1875;

‘Mrs West took the stand, and related how Newt failed to provide for her; how he was too fond of his toddy, and had been too friendly with Lucy Poe, a Du Quoin girl…’

This was before her marriage to Brown and she was about 19 years of age. She was not called as a witness herself. Lucy grew up in Du Quoin but her parents had met and married in Missouri so there were probably some family connections back in Missouri.

Lucy’s second, and younger, husband had been born in Wales and grew up in London. The reason for his migration to the US is not clear. But in less than a year of his arrival he had married Lucy. He worked as a stenographer and perhaps this was a very marketable skill.

Lucy’s reminisces are recorded across three articles in the Washington Evening Star during the 1940s.

In August 1942, she celebrated her 90^th birthday and there was an item in the paper about it together with a few quotes in support of the war effort. ‘The United States is bound to win -we’ve never lost a war yet, and we’re not going to lose this one.’

Mrs Blandy with her husband look over 90th birthday greetings.

The Evening Star August 20 1942, p 1

The edition of 7 November 1944 records that polls in the 1944 presidential election ‘opened today and Marylanders and Virginians apparently were casting a record vote’. 

Incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Democratic nominee, sought his fourth term. World War II was going well for the United States and its Allies. Roosevelt had already served longer than any other president, but remained popular. Dewey, the Governor of New York, campaigned for smaller government, but was unsuccessful in convincing the country to change course. Roosevelt would die and be replaced by his new Vice President, Harry S. Truman, within a half-year of winning re-election.

In Prince Georges County, the paper recorded that Mrs Lucy Poe Blandy ‘the county’s, oldest voter’ prepared to cast her ballot early that afternoon. She had ‘never missed a vote since women received the right to ballot’. (The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting American women the right to vote had been ratified on August 18, 1920.)

‘A simple existence, regular habits and freedom from worry are the essentials for a long and happy life’ she told the paper in 1946, saying it was the formula which enabled her to celebrate her 94^th birthday. For many years Mrs Blandy had held a unique position in the Society of the U S Daughters of 1812 being the only ‘real’ daughter in the Washington area of a War of 1812 veteran. Most other members of the Society were granddaughters or great granddaughters.

Her membership of the Daughters was also a help in finding information about her father.

Related to Poe 

‘Her father William R Poe – cousin of the Great American poet – served as a corporal in the Virginia militia during the war that gave this country final freedom from England.

Politics

‘Mrs Blandy exhibited a keen sense of humour as she recalled days when she once saw President Lincoln on a campaign tour. We lived a simple life but we always had plenty to eat, and plenty of clothes.’ ‘Yes’ her husband put in ‘and she wore a good many more clothes that the postage stamp costumes the girls wear today.’

‘And instead of the wonder drugs the world has now, we used quinine, sulphur and molasses and a big jug of whiskey.’

‘People had stronger convictions then too. When my father, who was a Democrat, decided to vote for Mr Lincoln, for instance, he had to go to the country store where we voted several times before he was able to make himself put in a Republican vote. When Lincoln was elected though, our house was illuminated from top to bottom with candles and decorations, and when he was assassinated drapes were hung about the house.’

She said she always voted for ‘what I thought was right, I don’t think it’s right to let politics make any difference.’

Civil War Sufferings

Her home town during the Civil War period was in a precarious position at all times. ‘We were near the Mason-Dixon Line and so we often caught it from both the North and the South. The town once gave a dinner for Union soldiers and after they ate all we had they shot what livestock was still alive and called us rebels.’

‘So, when we heard any troops were coming after that we hid everything in cellars.’ Residents of the town posted lookout to warn citizens of Confederate soldiers and were also instructed to notify residents when Northern troops passed through.

‘When the boys came through they cleaned the town of everything they could find in the way of food.  But the people didn’t complain because they knew they had to make some sacrifices for the boys in uniform.  The was no USO then and many soldiers marched without shoes and underclothing.’

‘But those were good old days.  People weren’t worried to death about things like money. We lived quietly and peacefully.’

Lucy was a life member of the Order of the Eastern Star. The Order was founded in the late 1800s to provide a way for female relatives of Master Masons to share the benefits of knowledge and self-improvement that Freemasonry made available to men.

Mrs Blandy said she was active in a number of organisations until her health began to fail.

‘Christmas day [1946] brought sorrow to the members of the District of Columbia Society when it was learned that our last real daughter Mrs Herbert William Blandy had passed into the great beyond.

Mrs Blandy celebrated her 94th birthday in August and was enjoying active life until September when she sustained a bruised hip as the result of a fall which confined her to bed and from which she did not recover. 

She was born in Thompsonville, Illinois, August 17 1852, daughter of Corporal William Romulus Poe who served in the Battle of New Orleans and a cousin of the celebrated poet and writer Edgar Allan Poe. She moved to St Louis Missouri where she met Mr Blandy a native of Clapham Junction, England. They were married in Plattsburg, Missouri, and in 1917 moved to Washington D C and later located in the new development of Mt Rainier, Maryland. 

The State President, in company with the Registrar National Miss Stella Picket Hardy, State Chaplain Miss Amy S White, State Librarian Miss Mary C Oursler, Mrs William F O Brien and her daughter-in-law Mrs Randolph Anderson attended the funeral in Mt Rainer Methodist Church and the burial in the Acacia Circle Fort Lincoln Cemetery Mt Rainier Maryland.’

National Society Unites States Daughters of 1812 Newsletter, March 1947, Pp 17 - 18

Herbert Blandy moved to California where he passed away in California in 1951 but his body was returned to be interred with his wife. The stone is a simple one with a masonic symbol for Herbert and Eastern Star symbol for Lucy.

See also: Jottings of interest October 2017

Alonzo Marion Poe: a recurring family name

When I began researching the Poe family one recurring name was Alonzo Marion. My grandfather’s middle name was ‘Marion’ and his father was ‘Alonzo Marion’ and he, in turn, was named after his uncle ‘Alonzo Marion’. As far as I can tell this is the ‘original’ Alonzo Marion.

So, who was he and why did he make such an impression?

The first Alonzo shows up on the 1840 census of Missouri as one of the children of William Romulus Powe (WRP) and his wife Margaret.

I’ve mentioned before that WRP decided to name his children with names starting it the letter ‘A’. The significance of Alonzo might therefore only be that it begins with the letter A, but the second name Marion is most likely a reference to the ‘Swamp Fox’ General Francis Marion a hero of the American Revolutionary War.  WRP’s next son was named Americus (pen name of American federalist Alexander Hamilton) Napoleon and his third son Alexander Hamilton, so there is a patriotic pattern.

As an aside, the juxtaposing of Americus with Napoleon seems odd at first. Perhaps it is to ‘remind’ the world that Hamilton writing as ‘Americus’ in early 1797 had predicted that Napoleon’s France would become ‘the terror and the scourge of nations’.  

Alonzo Marion Poe disappeared from the family home in Missouri quite early. In April 1845 at the age of 18, he got himself a job with John Lemmon who was leading a party of pioneers aiming to head west on the ‘Oregon Trail’ aiming for Willamette Valley in the Washington Territory. He was employed to look after the cattle, look for food, negotiate with the Indians along the way and basically provide some ‘muscle’ when needed.

Oregon Trail from The Ox Team or the Old Oregon Trail 1852-1906 by Ezra Meeker. 
Courtesy University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin via Wikipedia.

Poe seemed comfortable though naive in engaging with Indians. In one incident, he set out to find a missing cow and engaged ‘unconcernedly’ with some Sioux. However, it soon became apparent to Poe and the rest of the party looking on from a safe distance, that the Indians intended to take clothing and firearms from Poe.

As he talked, one of the Indians took hold of Poe’s horse bridle while two others took hold of the stirrups and quickly slipped them off his feet, and, while they unbuckled the straps his feet were left hanging uselessly down.

Poe became obviously afraid, but the more mature Lemmon saw the situation and rode to his assistance with a blacksnake whip in his hand. The Indians prepared to pull Poe off his horse, but Lemmon gave a fierce crack with his whip across their hands and they let go of the bridle. He then gave the horse a stroke with the whip, at the same time telling Poe to hold onto his saddle for his life.

The horse rushed off and Lemmon kept up his whip cracking so that the Indians had no time to draw their bows and soon the two men and horses were out of danger. Meanwhile, the troublesome cow and calf had wandered back toward the camp so that all parties returned in safety to bring her into the herd.

Lemmon’s daughter recorded that ‘Poe was cured of his desire to converse with the quick-witted marauding Sioux. Although the laugh at his expense was the theme of many a joke among his comrades around the campfires.’ 

After the group had safely arrived in the Washington Territory his contract was completed and he set out on his own, settling at Tumwater then in Lewis County. In June 1846, he was elected lieutenant-colonel of the Oregon Rangers and after turning 21 was elected sheriff of Lewis County in 1847.

Poe served as a private in the Oregon Volunteers during the Cayuse War (1847-1855) and was later granted 160 acres of land in Thurston County in recognition. The war was caused in part by the influx of disease and settlers to the region, but the spark for fighting occurred in 1847 when Cayuse Indians killed fourteen people in and around the Whitman Mission near present-day Walla Walla. 

In 1853, Poe moved to Bellingham Bay. As he had arrived in the Territory before 1850, he was entitled to claim 320 acres despite being unmarried and he had settled on his claim 17 September 1853. He then became instrumental in the formation of Whatcom County in 1854 serving as the county’s first auditor and as a civil engineer, drawing up plans for the original town of Whatcom in 1858.

But, it turned out to be a lonely existence and he wrote to his friend Isaac Ebey who had also come from Missouri urging him to become his neighbour to relieve his loneliness. This didn’t happen but his unmarried brother Americus did join him within a few years. Remember that communication was not swift – no emails or phone – letters would have taken a few months.

Poe, Isaac Ebey and William Winlock Miller were fast friends who were employed by Simpson P Moses, the Collector of Customs at the Port of Olympia. They also worked together to advance their common interests, which were focussed on the development of a vibrant progressive Territory and State.

(l to r) Alonzo, Miller and Ebey, early 1850s. Washington State Digital Archives
(Image No. AR-07809001-ph004223).
I have flipped the image which would have been taken from a daguerreotype.
Another version is UW 14329 reprinted in William Lang’s Confederacy of Ambition.

Although relations with the local Indians were often mutually beneficial there were tensions from time to time. After some trouble, local Indians exacted revenge on Ebey. Near midnight on 11 August 1857, the Ebey dog aroused the house with furious barking. Ebey opened the door in his nightshirt to investigate and almost instantly a ‘ragged burst of musketry greeted him’. His body fell with a thud and his decapitated head taken as a trophy.

The outrage over the incident lasted for some time and eventually his skull was found though it had been scalped. Some years later his scalp was bought from the Indians and delivered to his friend Poe who passed it to Ebey’s family.

There are various indications that Poe’s health was not good though no condition is specified, and perhaps he had multiple problems. One newspaper reported his death from injuries received in fighting, but the announcement was premature.

Only two pictures of him are known. The one with his two friends seems to show him holding a cane.

Poe’s financial fortunes mirrored his health malaise. He worked hard but frontier life was not easy. He worked in real estate and his interest in public affairs encouraged several people to combine subscriptions for him to start a newspaper. His talents and political contacts enabled him to be appointed official Territory printer.

Soon after this success, his poor health gave him so much trouble that he took the advice to move to the warmer weather of California in 1860. He wanted to hang on to his job a public printer but even with the support of friends, it was a tough case to make as he no longer lived in the Territory.

In San Fransisco, California, he established an ‘intelligence’ office – what we would call a news office – writing articles for other publications. He built a good network there and was close to the family of Judge Hartson. Chancellor Hartson and his family were active in the community and my guess is that Poe was part of this community.

One of Poe’s news reports was on the prospects for finding gold in the Washington Territory and beyond its northern border.

Poe’s youngest brother Alexander finally made the move west after their mother died in Missouri, but he settled in California where the weather was better and the ground fertile. Alexander had married and started a family, naming his first son Alonzo Marion after his eldest brother and his second Americus Napoleon after his next brother. 

On 19 January 1863, Poe was married to Emma Hartshorn, who was living with the Hartson’s. Some people assumed she was related to the judge but this is impossible. The confusion probably came about because her surname, Hartshorn, sounded similar and her father’s given name was Chancellor the same as the Judge.

The couple became parents one year later and named their daughter Emma after her mother. A son was born about early 1865, though he died in May and no name is recorded. Tragically, their daughter Emma died on 1 August the same year. Poe himself died six months later on 31 January 1866 of tuberculosis which he may have had for many years. During the nineteenth century, tuberculosis was the leading cause of death in the United States, and one of the most feared diseases in the world.

After this trauma, his wife returned to her parents’ home in Michigan after a few months where she died in 1872. Poe’s brother Americus sold his remaining interests in the Washington Territory and moved to California to work as a farmer. Although he married Sarah Dickenson (nee Porter) in 1879, he did not have children of his own.

Poe’s early poor health meant that his potential was never fulfilled and his place in the history of the Washington Territory clouded. Much more can be written about his life.

He was a pioneer in the Washington Territory and one of the founders of Olympia. Without the efforts of a number of people, from Dr Arthur S. Beardsley, at the University of Washington in the early 1940s, to various residents of Bellingham and William Lang more recently, memory of him may easily have been lost.

Poe worked as a civil engineer and assisted others in land surveys, acted as Lewis County's Sheriff, a delegate to Washington Territory convention of 1851, an auditor for Whatcom County, a legislator representing Island County in 1854 a lieutenant with Eaton’s Rangers defending the Territory in 1855 and public printer for the Territory from 1862.

His life was cut short by illness, probably caused, and certainly made worse, by the hardships of frontier life.

Alonzo’s nephew named after him would marry Minerva Elizabeth Dearing in 1883. They had three daughters and one son (my grandfather) who was named Alexander Marion Poe and known to his parents as 'Marion'.

Comment in this item is welcome. There are many details of Alonzo Marion Poe’s life to be verified but his story is worth documenting in full.