Rich Men, Poor Men: 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “Adversity”

The Vanlandinghams Meet Adversity Head-On:

Pioneer Poverty to Antebellum Wealth to Post-War Struggles

Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham: 1785-1856 (Maternal Third-Great-Uncle)
Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham: 1826-1905 (Maternal First Cousin 4x Removed)
Ezekiel Posey Vanlandingham: 1827-1895 (Maternal First Cousin 4x Removed)

 

Oliver Cromwell “O.C.” Vanlandingham arrived in Kentucky under desperate circumstances. His parents, Ezekiel Vanlandingham (1762-1796) and Elizabeth Brumley Vanlandingham (1765-1833) had set out from their home in Northumberland County, Virginia in 1796 with a party of settlers bound for new land in Kentucky. The Wilderness Road had just been opened that year, enabling wagons to travel to the new state; Kentucky had achieved statehood just four years earlier.

Tragically, Ezekiel died during the long wagon journey, so Elizabeth arrived in Kentucky a widow with three children: eleven-year-old Oliver, 14-year-old Easter, and eight-year-old daughter Elizabeth or“Betsey”. According to a county history,

“After burying her husband Mrs. Vanlandingham and the other members of the party resumed their trip and finally arrived near Paradise where she procured some land. There she and her…children worked hard and soon placed themselves in comfortable circumstances. She was a well-educated woman, and up to about the time her children were married devoted practically all her evenings to their education.”

What isn’t mentioned in this account is that Elizabeth Vanlandingham very prudently remarried shortly after her arrival in Kentucky. Her new husband, Samuel Fulton, doubtless helped her build up her farm. The couple may have also used slave labor, as by 1820, O.C. was farming in Gallatin County, Illinois and had two slaves, both of whom were older than O.C. was, so they may have accompanied O.C.’s parents from Virginia.

Still, even though the Vanlandinghams may have had the help of two slaves and a new husband, the family had to work extremely hard to establish their farm. I expect they had to clear land to make fields for planting, and they had to build a home and outbuildings. Harvests and getting their produce or grain to market would have required more effort. It would have taken years to achieve the “comfortable circumstances” alluded to in the book passage.

Easter and Elizabeth both married in 1813—Easter, 30, married farmer Francis Kimbley, and Elizabeth, 25, married farmer Samuel Miller Weir. Samuel Weir had a brother, James Weir, a successful area businessman. The county history stated,

“O.C….was for a few years associated in the mercantile business with pioneer James Weir. After he and Weir dissolved partnership, he made a number of trips to New Orleans, where he sold the hides and produce he bought in the eastern part of the county.”

Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham

This trade helped consolidate his finances, enabling him to marry in 1825. His bride, Mary Drake, was a southern belle nearly 20 years his junior. The newlyweds moved to his Illinois property, which was about 80 miles from the family’s Muhlenberg County property. The county history noted:

“In the meantime, he retained the property he owned in Muhlenberg, including the place on which he had erected a large log dwelling. His wife, during one of their many visits to Muhlenberg, died on their farm near Paradise, December 22, 1844.”

The following year, O.C. moved his five children to Baton Rouge, where he’d bought a cotton plantation. The plantation was listed on the 1850 census as having a value of $27,500; today’s equivalent would be $1.1 million.

O. C. Sr. had his son Ezekiel running the plantation, while O.C. II was in Kentucky managing the farm and property there. The 1850 census shows the Kentucky property was also sizable, with a value of $5,900, far higher than the value of any of the neighboring properties on the census.

The plantation seems to have done well. An item in the August 4, 1853 Baton Rouge Advertiser newspaper compliments Ezekiel on the fine cotton he was growing on “Peru Farm”, noting:

“The bolls are large and the texture and appearance of the cotton excellent. Vanlandingham ranks among the ‘model farmers of our parish’—and is always able to ‘up cotton’. May he prosper beyond his expectations.”

The family also owned land in New Orleans. An 1860 ad listed “valuable land” for sale owned by the Vanlandinghams, bounded by Levee, Philip, Water and Jackson Streets. I have been able to locate Philip and Levee on old maps; they intersect quite near the river. Levee Street is now Decatur, but Water and Jackson have proved elusive, although modern day’s Jackson Square is nearby, so Jackson Street was probably near there and Water Street probably ran along the riverfront. This land would have truly been valuable today, lying right on the banks of the Mississippi.

O.C. Sr. died in October 2, 1856 at the age of 72. His body was carried back to Kentucky for burial.

Following his death, O.C. II moved down to Baton Rouge to help Ezekiel with the plantation. By 1860, he was listed as the head of the household, in charge of the majority of the property. His land was valued at $16,500, while Ezekiel’s property was valued at $5,000. The personal property, which would have included slaves, showed an even greater disparity in value. OC’s personal property had a value of $75,500, which Ezekiel’s was worth only $7,000, ten times less. The slave schedules for 1860 show O.C. owning 78 human beings, ranging in age from 70 years to two months. Most of the slaves—55 of the 78-- were under 30 years of age. 

Part of the 1860 Census Slave Schedule for O.P. Vanlandingham's plantation

Ezekiel, in contrast, owned only five slaves, a man, woman, child and two young teens.  

1860 Slave Schedule showing Ezekiel's five slaves below O.C.'s 78 slaves

The brothers’ three younger sisters, Mary, Elizabeth and Cordelia, were living with OC II, his wife and children in 1860. Perhaps OC’s huge share of the family wealth included provisions for his sisters that were paid out at the time of their marriages in 1860 and 1861.

When the Civil War broke out, both brothers enlisted in the Confederate Cavalry. As Baton Rouge was captured by the Union early in the war, I suspect their wives and children evacuated to other holdings in Louisiana or back north to Kentucky.

Ezekiel and OC II’s war experiences will be covered in a separate post. Following the war, the family basically had to start over. The plantation’s buildings had been destroyed during the war, and the nearly 100 enslaved people had quite understandably fled, leaving the family with fields returning to scrubland, and no labor for the labor-intensive cotton crop. Apparently the family simply abandoned the land, probably unable or unwilling to pay the tax bills the victorious Union imposed.

Two of O.C.’s three surviving daughters, married to Louisiana men, chose to stay in Louisiana. Mary’s husband James Elam returned to his political life, struggling to hold the office of mayor of Baton Rouge during a contentious Reconstruction period, described in an earlier post. Cordelia and her husband, E.D. Cheatham, were living near the Elams in Baton Rouge, where E.D worked as an editor in 1870, and a clerk by 1880. Sadly, both women ended up widowed. James Elam died in 1873, and E.D. Cheatham in 1899.

O.C.’s third daughter, Elizabeth, had married her first cousin, Samuel Miller Weir Jr., who owned land back in Kentucky. They settled in Muhlenberg County before the war, and remained there. While Samuel registered for the Union draft, it appears he never fought in the war, so never had to take arms against his brothers-in-law.

O.C. II left Louisiana, and moved his family back to the farmland in Kentucky that he had managed before his father’s death. Both he and his wife, Samuel Miller Weir’s sister Margaret, had family in Muhlenberg County, and built their life there—a more modest life than in Baton Rouge, but still quite comfortable.  The county history noted that, “He owned a large library and was regarded as one of the best-read men in the county.” OC II and his wife had eight children who spent most of their adult lives on the family’s Paradise area farm.

Following the war, Ezekiel, like his brother O.C., chose to leave Louisiana. He didn’t follow O.C. back to family lands in Kentucky, however. He headed northwest, ending up in Rains County, Texas, where he took up farming near the county seat of Emory, Texas. I’m not sure what led him to the area. His wife’s family was from Alabama; they had no obvious Texas ties. He and his wife Amelia Blount had six children, four of whom survived to adulthood, and three of whom remained in the Rains area lifelong.

Ezekiel and Amelia Blount Vanlandingham

The Vanlandinghams faced adversity several times over two generations. Patriarch Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham built up a sizable fortune in land over the course of fifty years. However, war destroyed much of that wealth, probably rightly so since it was built on the forced labor of dozens of men, women and children. The next generation of Vanlandinghams faced this disaster with the same grit as their father and grandmother had in 1796.  One son, Ezekiel, chose to start fresh in a totally new state, and Oliver Cromwell’s namesake son returned to the first farm Oliver Cromwell and his mother had acquired and developed: a literal piece of Paradise—Paradise, Kentucky, that is.

 

 Sources:

A History of Muhlenberg County by Otto A. Rothert. John P. Morton & Company. Louisville, KY 1913. Accessed through Google Books.

Vanlandingham plantation sale notice. Baton Rouge Tri-Weekly Gazette and Comet, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 05 Jan 1861, Sat  •  Page 8. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116154246/sale-of-vanlandingham-plantation/#

Ezekiel Posey Vanlandingham grows excellent cotton on Peru Farm Concordia Intelligencer 13 Aug 1853, quoting Baton Rouge Advertiser of 4 Aug 1853. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116154616/ezekiel-posey-vanlandingham-grows/#

Census data, birth, death and other records accessed from Ancestry.com.

Eight Siblings, No Spouses: 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “Solitude”

 

The Vanlandingham Singular Siblings: Six Bachelor Brothers and Two Spinster Sisters

Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham: 1826-1905 (Maternal First Cousin 4x Removed)

Margaret Jane Weir: 1830-1915 (Maternal Second Great-Grandaunt)
Their Children, all Maternal double First Cousins 3x Removed:
            Samuel P. Vanlandingham: 1850-1925
            Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham: 1854-1916
            Mary Elizabeth Vanlandingham: 1856-1900
            John D. Vanlandingham: 1858-1937
            Elias S. Vanlandingham: 1864-1943
            James A. Vanlandingham: 1865-1946
            William B. Vanlandingham: 1868-1944
            Margaret S. Vanlandingham: 1872-1937
 

Every large family has one or two siblings who never marry and never have children, but I have never encountered a family where all the children chose to go through life without partners and without having their own families. The eight children of Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham II and Margaret Jane Weir spent most of their lives living with their parents and each other. They chose unwedded solitude, with only each other for companionship.

Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham was born in Louisiana, and was named after his father, O. C., who later bought a cotton plantation there, but also owned land in Kentucky and Illinois. The family moved between those states during Oliver’s childhood. O.C. had two sisters who married men from Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. Easter Vanlandingham married Francis Kimbley and had six children, and Elizabeth “Betsy” Vanlandingham married Samuel Miller Weir (parents of Lorene Jandy’s grandmother Nancy Vanlandingham Weir) and had seven children.

The three families probably socialized together frequently, which probably explains how Betsy’s youngest daughter Margaret Jane Weir ended up marrying her first cousin, Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham II. The marriage of these true “kissing cousins” took place in Muhlenberg County on December 10, 1847. Margaret was 17; Oliver was 21.

 

Their first child, Ezekiel, was born a year later in December 1848, but died before his second birthday. The couple’s first surviving child, Samuel, was born in 1850. However, Margaret states on the 1910 census that she gave birth to eleven total children, so they probably lost at least two more children between Samuel’s birth and that of their final child, Margaret S., in 1872.  

I speculated that Margaret and Oliver’s close genetic relationship may have left the children of their marriage with brain defects or some genetic issue, which would have made them poor potential marriage partners. However, I found no evidence to support that. Census records show that all the siblings could read and write, and they worked together to operate a farm and support themselves. Two of the brothers, William and Oliver, also worked as carpenters. Additionally, recent research shows that first cousin marriages only increase birth defects by about 4-7 percent, so it is unlikely that the parents’ first cousin relationship caused some unidentified congenital problem.  

 

1910 Census showing Vanlandingham siblings

So we are left with no answers as to why these eight siblings chose to go through life without marrying. We don’t know if they had romantic relationships that failed before a marriage occurred, or if there was some problem with their upbringing that left them wary of marriage. I have found no obituaries for any of the eight, so I lack any details about their daily lives and community ties.

Whatever the reason for their choice to remain unwed, the Vanlandingham siblings’ unmarried state was unusual for their time and place in history. Their failure to wed and have children meant that their branch of the family tree ended with the death of the last of the eight siblings, James Vanlandingham, in 1946.

 

For All the Worst Reasons: 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “In the News”

Suicide or Murder? Tragic Death of Essex Elam Leads to Speculation and Accusations

Essex Mason Elam: 1873 or 74-1909 (Maternal Second Cousin 3x Removed)

 

Essex Elam shared his father’s name, and his father’s short life. Like his father, he also made headlines, but for all the wrong reasons.

Essex Mason Elam was born following his father’s unexpected death in August 1873. He was the baby of the family, and grew up in a household headed by his mother, Lorene Smith’s cousin Mary Vanlandingham Elam, and his older brothers, William Day Elam and James O. Elam, who were over a decade older than Essex.  

In 1897, Essex married Eugenie Labadie. He was 23, while she was 19. By the 1900 census, he was working as an insurance agent, and the couple had a son, James Essex Elam, who was born August 18, 1898.

Just after little James’ ninth birthday in 1907, Eugenie died, leaving Essex a 33-year-old widower. Since he was working full-time at his insurance business, James went to live with Essex’s mother.

Essex began seeing a widow living in the area, a Mrs. Marguerite Landry. On October 8, 1909, he married Marguerite. Unfortunately, his family members did not approve of his new wife. We can get hints as to the family’s objections from the manner in which the newspapers described her. One reporter called her “a dashing young widow”. Another one wrote:

“Mrs. Elam is a handsome young woman. She is of the Spanish brunette type, with beautiful black hair and brown eyes…She came to Baton Rouge eight or nine years ago, but up to within a little over a year ago had not lived here. She was originally from New Orleans.”

An article in a New Orlean’s paper noted that she was the “niece and adopted daughter of the late Severin Sanchez of this city and is a beautiful woman of the Spanish type.”

The newspaper went on to describe Essex, subtly contrasting his background with the wild widow’s:

“Mr. Elam came from one of the best families in Baton Rouge. A little over a year ago his first wife died.” Another article noted, “Elam had been in the insurance business, was regarded as a model of sobriety, and almost as a ‘working machine’.”

Obviously the family suspected Marguerite was a fortune hunter, leaving the wilder city of New Orleans and turning up in Baton Rouge just after Eugenie’s death to entice the lonely widower. “Dashing” is probably a euphemism for sexy and provocative. In addition, in post-war Baton Rouge, marrying a woman with dark hair and eyes and possibly a “Spanish” complexion would have been considered quite risqué. Marrying someone of a different skin tone and culture was “beyond the pale”, so to speak. Essex had taken his new bride over to his mother’s house after the ceremony, apparently intent on introducing her to his son and making arrangements to move the boy to the rented rooms where they planned to live. An argument apparently ensued. The newspaper describes the situation as follows:

“Mr. Elam was married shortly after 6 o’clock yesterday evening by Father Solignac. After the marriage he went to the home of his family. They declined to receive in their home the woman whom he had married. Mr. Elam wanted to take his boy home with him, but the little fellow cried to stay with his grandmother.”   

It is all too easy to imagine this ugly scene. Mary Vanlandingham Elam had once been at the top of the social ladder in Baton Rouge, wife of the mayor and friends with the richest and most influential people in the state. And here was her son, married to an upstart of dubious origins. Even though Mary’s social standing and wealth had diminished following her husband’s death, she probably still considered herself superior to the average Baton Rouge resident. She must have been livid.

Essex apparently took the rejection poorly. The headline the following morning read “Twelve Hour Groom Suicides—No Cause Given for Rash Act”.

According to the new Mrs. Elam, Essex woke fretting over not being able to see his son. He asked her to make him coffee, and while she was in the kitchen he shot himself with a handgun.

Sounds straightforward, right?

The family pointed out some curious elements of Marguerite’s story, which were backed up by evidence at the inquest.

“No pistol was found by Mr. Elam’s side when neighbors came over to render assistance. L. S. Harrell, who was the first outside party called in, said the body was nearly cold when he got in the room and that the man had no pulse at all.”

The new wife had an interesting explanation for the missing gun. She testified, “Mr. Elam had always said that he was going to kill himself and that he would take me with him. It was for this reason that I took the pistol away from him and put it in the armour. ..As I got near the room (after hearing the shot) I saw Mr. Elam falling, with a pistol in his hand. He had always said that we would die together. I thought that after shooting himself he was going to try to shoot me, and I attempted to take the ‘gun’ away from him.”

She was asked where the gun had come from, and she claimed, “It belonged to the house. I had it in the top of the wardrobe. I don’t know how he ever found it.”

I certainly understand why his family was suspicious. Why in the world would you hide the gun? Her excuse is pathetic. She claimed to have gone for help immediately, within five minutes of the shot, so how was the body already cold when the help arrived? She claimed that Essex spoke to her before she sought help, yet he had no pulse and seemed to have been dead for a while when neighbors arrived. And why would the rented rooms come with a gun? And why was she in charge of it?

And the biggest question of all: why had she married a man who repeatedly threatened to kill both her and himself? It makes no sense whatsoever.

The Elam family also told the press the angle of the shot made the suicide claim shaky. “The fact that he was shot in the stomach, and that the bullet ranged upward toward the left shoulder, is regarded as the most suspicious. It is claimed that a suicide would never shoot himself in the position that Elam did, and if he did it would be almost a physical impossibility for him to fire a shot himself that would range upward to the heart.”

Brought before a grand jury, the widow stated that “Mr. Elam had threatened often to take his own life, and had told his family that he was going to kill himself.” The news report stated “there are a number of persons who say that they have heard him declared that he intended to commit suicide.”

However, there was also some suspicion cast against the rental home’s owners, a Mr. and Mrs. Turnley. According to Mrs. Turnley, “her husband had come home at midnight, but had left shortly afterward on a hunt, and she declared that he was not at the house at the time of the tragedy…The pistol with which Elam is supposed to have killed himself did not belong to him, but belonged to ‘the house’. “ To further complicate things, Mr. Turnley abandoned his wife following the Elam suicide. Is it possible the two men fought and Elam was shot in the struggle?

Despite all the red flags, the grand jury agreed with the authorities and returned a verdict of suicide. Perhaps they were as taken with the young widow as poor Essex had been.

The widow took out her anger at the Elam family by initially refusing to release Essex’s body to them for burial. However, she eventually relented, probably because she didn’t want to pay for a funeral herself.

This tale leaves me with so many questions. Did Essex really tell his mother and family that he was going to kill himself if they wouldn’t let him see his son? If poor little James heard him make such a threat, no wonder he was crying and refused to leave his grandmother’s house. Did Marguerite decide to use Essex’s suicide threats to her advantage and murder him? What was really going on with the Turnleys, the home’s owners? What was the true nature of Essex’s emotional state—was he really a sober “working machine” or a wild, erratic depressive? What happened to his estate? Did Marguerite ever get any money? Where did she go after this horrible incident? Back to New Orleans?

Essex’s family was obviously ashamed of his tragic death and the adverse publicity that swirled around it. This was not how they wanted the family to be “in the news”. They buried him in an unmarked grave in Magnolia Cemetery in Baton Rouge.

Little James Essex came to be known as “Essex” in memory of his father. He attended boarding school in Pineville, and lived with his grandmother during school breaks. As an adult, he moved to Oklahoma where he worked as an engineer. He married an Oklahoma woman and had a daughter, and lived until 1972.

Sources:

“Twelve Hour Groom Suicides” The Town Talk, Alexandria, Louisiana · Saturday, October 09, 1909 https://www.newspapers.com/

“Funeral of Essex Elam” The Town Talk, Alexandria, Louisiana · Tuesday, October 12, 1909

“Elam’s Relatives Not Convinced” Weekly Town Talk, 23 Oct 1909, Sat · Page 4 https://www.newspapers.com/image/212972446/?terms=essex%20elam&match=1

“Tragic End of a Newly Wed Husband” St. Landry Clarion, Opelousas, Louisiana · Saturday, October 16, 1909. https://www.newspapers.com/image/174380518/?terms=essex%20elam&match=1

“Story of the Suicide: Full Account of Sad Death of Essex Elam.” Weekly Town Talk, Alexandria, Louisiana · Saturday, October 16, 1909 https://www.newspapers.com/image/212972431/?terms=essex%20elam&match=1

“Did Not Change Verdict”, The Town Talk, Alexandria, Louisiana · Friday, November 12, 1909. https://www.newspapers.com/image/213475233/?terms=essex%20elam&match=1

“Affidavit of Non-Support against T.B.Turnley” The Times, Shreveport, Louisiana. 04 Nov 1909, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116350880/turnley

“Bullet in His Heart: Sensational Suicide in Baton Rouge.” The Times Democrat, New Orleans La, Sunday October 10, 1909

Louisiana Politics During Reconstruction: 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “Outcast”

Mayor of Baton Rouge Before and After the Civil War: A Dangerous Political Landscape

James Essex Elam: 1829-1873 (Husband of Maternal First Cousin 4x Removed)
Mary S. Vanlandingham Elam: 1838-1916 (Maternal First Cousin 4x Removed)

 

January 2023 turned out to be a serendipitous time to be researching O.C. Vanlandingham’s children. One of my book clubs chose Gone with the Wind as their January selection, and the Vanlandinghams’ journey had some parallels to Scarlett O’Hara’s. The end of Scarlett’s story takes place during Reconstruction, as the victorious North attempted to control and manipulate the breakaway states through martial law, brutal taxation and ballot box schemes. This same scenario played out in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where Mary Vanlandingham’s husband was re-elected to the post of mayor that he’d held before the Civil War, and was then thrown out of office in a conflict between the white, Old South Democratic party and the Republican Party, controlled by Northern carpetbaggers, Southern scammers, and buoyed by the votes of newly freed and easily manipulated black residents.

Mary Vanlandingham was born to Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham and his wife Margaret Drake on May 22, 1838. She was the sixth of their seven children. After her father bought a large cotton plantation about eight to ten miles from Baton Rouge some time before 1851, he also acquired a home in the city where Mary spent part of her childhood.

Mary met an ambitious young attorney by the name of James Essex Elam, the son of another prominent Baton Rouge attorney, James Mason Elam, who died in 1856. In addition to practicing law, James Essex was elected mayor of Baton Rouge in 1859. He and Mary were married on April 20, 1860. I am sure Mary’s family was pleased to have an able young politician in the family. Mary took on great responsibility at only 22, becoming the first lady of Louisiana’s capital city, which probably entailed serving as hostess to the city’s rich and politically powerful.

James Mason Elam, father of James Essex Elam

James’ first mayoral term ended in early 1862, just before the Civil War. His successor, Mayor Holt, had barely assumed office when he was forced to flee along with state government officials just ahead of the arrival of Union troops in April 1862.  The city remained in Union hands for the rest of the war.

It does not appear that James Essex Elam served in the Confederate Army—I have found no records to suggest he enlisted, even when the Confederates tried to retake the city in the summer of 1862. It is unclear if the Elam family, which by then included an infant son, James, also fled before Union occupation, or if they remained in the hope of protecting their home and James’ law practice. Much of the city was heavily damaged during the battle for the city, as seen below.

Andrew Lytle photo of rubble following Battle of Baton Rouge, 1862

The Union commander in charge of the occupation of Baton Rouge appointed a new mayor in the interim, who held office (but not much power) from 1862-1865. Once the war was over, however, that mayor resigned to serve in the state legislature.

James E. Elam was appointed mayor in 1865 by then-Governor Wells. James ran for re-election in 1867, but the election was cancelled by order of General Sheridan to comply with the terms of the new Reconstruction Act.  James remained in office as an appointee mayor until 1869.

This initial post-war period must have required careful maneuvering on James’ part to govern, caught between the demands of the occupying forces, the demands by newly freed slaves for their rights, and the desire of the beaten Confederates to regain their pre-war power and security. James and Mary added two more children to their family during this four year mayoral term, son William in 1863 and daughter Mary Rebecca in 1867.

Subsequent elections came fast and furious. After James stepped down as the Democratic mayor in 1869, another Democrat by the name of Skolfield took office for a one-year period, 1869-1870. Then James Elam was re-elected mayor in 1870, holding office for a year as well.

Then came the worst of the Reconstruction period’s conflict in Baton Rouge. The 1871 election was a contested one, with election fraud on both sides. James Elam ran as the Democratic candidate, but the winner of the election by a margin of just 15 votes was an African American business owner named Loyeau Berhel. The Wikipedia entry on Baton Rouge mayors provides some context:

“Multiple mayoral elections during the Reconstruction Era were disputed. After the 1871 election Gov. Henry Clay Warmoth did what he legally could from the temporary capitol in New Orleans to briefly prop up the new African American Republican mayor, who was facing an overwhelmingly Democratic-controlled board of selectmen: 254 —but in 1872 Warmoth himself was facing a mounting impeachment effort and forced to broaden what remained of his support by reaching out to Democrats who had a much more solid base in Louisiana than the Republicans did; he declared the disputed 1872 election results null and void, and awarded the state's commission to the Democratic candidate. Ultimately, the 1872–73 term essentially ended up with two separately-functioning city governments, one recognized primarily by African American and pro-Union white Republicans (including so-called "carpetbaggers" and "scalawags") and one recognized primarily by native white Democrats.”

The New Orleans Republic newspaper summarized the elections results as follows:

“The two candidates were of our most popular class of citizens. Hon. J. E. Elam is an old resident of Baton Rouge, a gentleman of excellent social qualities, and in point of competency is fitted for the position; indeed, he has held it for many years….

Mr. Berhel, the Mayor elect, is a colored gentleman of ability, and one of the few of that class who has the esteem of all who intimately know him.

The result of our municipal election is not exactly as we desired, but we can not complain. The council consists of men of business experience, who will no doubt control the affairs of the city with an eye to economy and prosperity.”

The newspaper, despite being the mouthpiece of the Republicans in New Orleans, made clear their lack of respect for the new mayor, complimenting him as “a colored man of ability”, subtly hinting that he was able among colored men, not men in general, and that his ability was a rarity: “one of the few of that class…” Contrast this faint praise to the way James Elam was described, as a “gentleman” of “excellent social qualities” and “competency”. In other words, he was the sort of man who should be in such a position, if only he hadn’t been a Confederate and thus in need of “reconstruction”.

The newspaper also points out that the city council is composed of “men of business experience”, i.e. wealthy white people, who will “control the affairs of the city”. In other words, the white residents of Baton Rouge have nothing to fear from a black mayor because the real control of the city will rest in the hands of the white council.

Poor Mayor Berhal barely lasted a year before James Elam returned to office. However, this didn’t bring peace to the city. The 1872 election was equally contentious, even though the Republican candidate was now a white man, Henry Schorten. As mentioned in the Wikipedia quote above, both Schorten and Elam claimed to have won, and two separate city administrations were set up. The official vote totals were 396 for Elam and 499 for Schorten, but the Democrats claimed there were voting irregularities. Elam was the incumbent and refused to vacate office.

While Mayor Elam was out of town in March 1873, Schorten and his supporters actually broke into City Hall. According to the New Orleans Republican news report,

“Schorten,…with a party of his adherents, took forcible possession of the City Hall, declared all the offices vacant and proceeded to fill them ad libitum. Their police, however, were disarmed and arrested by the regular force.”

Mayor Elam did not remain in office for long, however. Backroom negotiations were in progress. According to Wikipedia,

“African American state senator J. Henri Burch, a prominent area Republican, met with Elam, and they negotiated a compromise where Elam would resign his position and support new governor William Pitt Kellogg's appointment of the Republican incumbent to the mayor's seat—along with three Republicans and three Democrats to the city council (as selected by a conference committee). This compromise was largely acceptable to both sides (very rare for Reconstruction), although a rogue faction of the Democrats did attempt to hold their own election for the council (which failed to draw many to the polls and apparently quickly faded away).

James Elam resigned on March 27, 1873. The Republican newspaper started their report as follows:

“For some time past Baton Rouge has been in a state of ferment, owing to the contention between rival claimants—Republicans on the one side and Democrats on the other—for possession of the city government. Violence, in one or two instances, has been resorted to and the peace and safety of the city constantly kept in jeopardy…

We are happy to announce the desirable end has been reached in a definite and practical form, which is in the highest degree complimentary to the patriotism and sound sense of the Senator and those associated with him in the management of the delicate negotiations.”

James Elam’s political career had obviously placed him under immense pressure and strain. His health may have been damaged as a result of the stress. Just months after leaving office, he suddenly died on July 31, 1873. He was only 43 years old.

Despite his long political career, I can find no obituaries for him. Newspapers were under close military control during Reconstruction, so probably they were reluctant to laud him in death and risk offending Republican power brokers. The Times-Picayune notice was the most complimentary, stating that “Mr. Elam has held many positions of honor and trust in that city and was universally esteemed. He had enjoyed the respect of every individual in the community during his long public career.”  

Despite being cast out of office on more than one occasion, James Essex Elam was honored for his service in death. He left his widow, Mary Vanlandingham Essex, who lived another 43 years after his death, and five children, one of whom was born after his death. He was buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Baton Rouge. If  his grave bears a stone, there are no photos of it online. 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mayors_of_Baton_Rouge,_Louisiana

“Baton Rouge Election”. New Orleans Republican. April 14, 1871. Accessed on Newspapers.com

New Orleans Republican. New Orleans, LA. March 28, 1873. Accessed on Newspapers.com

Election results. The Opelousas Journal. Opalousas, LA April 20 1872.     https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

"Peace In Baton Rouge: The Lion and the Lamb Lie Down Together—Practical Compromise and Happy Results". New Orleans Republican (p. 1). April 3, 1873.

“Death of Hon. James E. Elam.” New Orleans Times-Picayune. New Orleans, LA. August 1, 1873.

 

The Path Ahead: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Prompt “Looking Ahead”

 

2022 into 2023

 

Before I can really look ahead, I need to take a quick look back at 2022. I finished 56 blog posts—more than one a week! I also completed blog posts for each and every one of Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 prompts—the first time ever that I fulfilled that goal!

So what was the breakdown between the two sets of family trees among those 56 posts?

I completed thirty posts about my Peterson/Macbeth ancestors, on topics ranging from family photos and photos of horse teams to a lawsuit over an estate. I had some exciting “brick wall” breakthroughs. First, I confirmed my third great-grandfather Charles Macbeth’s parentage, and found his siblings. Second, I made huge strides in expanding my great-grandmother Ragnhild Olsdatter Syverson’s family tree, discovering that several Hanska area families descended from her nephews.

I completed twenty-six posts on the Aird/Jandy family tree blog. I made so many fascinating discoveries. I found a cemetery in Kentucky where all 43 graves are people on the family tree. I discovered an ancestor who is reputed to haunt a local Orange County canyon. I also learned how much information could be gleaned from death notices and death certificates, discovering the tragic toll of tuberculosis on one branch of the Smith family, and a mysterious murder on another branch.

I am eager to begin a new year of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. I have downloaded Amy Johnson Crow’s 2023 prompts, and I have already compiled a list of fascinating stories that I want to write about.

My only problem is that many of the stories I want to tell don’t match up with this year’s prompts. So what should I do?

I think I will use Amy’s prompts when it suits me, and make up my own when necessary. I don’t want to forget significant discoveries and fascinating tales just because they don’t fit Amy’s prompts. When I make a discovery and have all the documentation right in front of me, I’m going to write it up.

I believe I can do 52 blog posts again, although it may be difficult with a lot of other tasks ahead of me this year. However, I’m going to try. I’m having so much fun writing up my discoveries, so why stop?

Onward to new discoveries and new stories in 2023!

Movie Actress June Vincent: 52 Ancestors 2022 Prompt “Characters”

Minister’s Daughter Becomes Movie Actress

Dorothy June Smith, AKA June Vincent: 1920-2008 (Maternal First Cousin 1X Removed)

 

How is this for a 1950s movie plot? Pretty daughter of a Midwestern minister becomes a star on the silver screen and a pin-up girl, marries a handsome US Navy officer during World War II, and combines motherhood and acting before eventually retiring to devote her life to her family. It sounds wholesome enough to be a musical! However, this was no Hollywood script. It is an accurate synopsis of the life of Dorothy June Smith, known to movie fans in the 1940s and 1950s as June Vincent.

Dorothy June Smith was born July 17, 1920 to Rev. Willis Eugene Smith (one of Lorene Smith Jandy’s brothers) and his wife Sybil Aradella Erwin Smith. She was their only child, born in Harrod, Ohio where Rev. Smith was serving as a minister.

Dorothy was already an accomplished performer at age fourteen when she provided the piano accompaniment at her aunt Ruby Erwin’s wedding in July 1934. Her father had moved from Ohio, first to Massachusetts, and by the 1930s to early 1940s, he was serving as minister of a church in Keene, New Hampshire. Dorothy attended high school in Keene, graduating at 16. A bio by an Ohio newspaper after her death stated that she attended Oberlin College for a year before dropping out to pursue acting.

According to a July 7, 1944 article in Havre, Montana’s Havre Daily News, Dorothy started her acting career with a summer theater group in Keene, NH, and was spotted by talent scouts who sent her to Hollywood. (2)  In a later bio in a book about 1950s actresses, Dorothy/June told a slightly different story. “I was a model—someone saw my picture—and I landed a stock contract at Universal. Because of my experience, I received a higher salary than the other girls starting out. And during my first week in Hollywood, I got to meet and have dinner with Greta Garbo!” (1) Presumably the “experience” she refers to was with the Keene summer stock troupe, as well as a brief role in a Broadway musical in 1943.

Modeling and acting—quite the daring career choice for a minister’s daughter! I wonder what Willis and Sybil thought about their daughter’s move to Hollywood.

Her first movie was 1943’s Honeymoon Lodge, where she played the lead female role of Carol Sterling. The movie’s cast also included future TV stars Ozzie and Harriet Nelson.

June went on to appear in nearly thirty movies, including several Westerns. Her most famous role was the heroine in Black Angel, where she played opposite Dan Duryea and Peter Lorre. She starred with other famous actors in the following films:

Here Come the Co-Eds—1945-- with Abbott and Costello

Ladies Courageous—1944-- with Loretta Young and Diana Barrymore

The Climax—1944-- with Boris Karloff

Zamba—1949--with a very young Beau Bridges

In a Lonely Place—1950—with Humphrey Bogart

I wish I could add the movie posters to this post—they are such a delight! So colorful and crazy, but alas still under copyright protection. Google a few and enjoy!

World War II saw thousands of Navy crewmen and officers flood into California, including a young ensign and pilot by the name of William Mueller Sterling. In Ladies of the Western, June recounted their first meeting.

“ Lois [Collier] and I worked together in Ladies Courageous…We were roommates on our location shooting. I had a blind date and when Lois and I were going up the elevator with some servicemen, she pointed to a very handsome guy and said, ‘I’ll bet that’s him.’ And it was!” (1)

June and William fell in love and quickly became engaged. Although June was still a new face in the movie business, her engagement and wedding notices refer to her as “Hollywood actress June Vincent”. The couple married March 10, 1944 in New York City. June’s father, Rev. Willis Smith, performed the ceremony.

June appeared in four movies in 1944. Following the war’s end, the couple settled in Los Angeles and started a family. Their first child, William Thayer Sterling, was born August 3, 1945, shortly after June’s latest movies, Here Come the Co-Eds and That’s the Spirit, opened in theaters. She recalled in Ladies of the Western that, “Universal was like a family. When I was having a terrible time during my pregnancy, they came to my home and built sets right in my bedroom so I could finish the few scenes I had left in “That’s the Spirit”.” (1)

The 1950 census shows William working as an advertising salesman in the television industry, while June was listed as a housewife and movie actress. June continued to act as the family grew with the birth of daughter Tina on April 4, 1949, and daughter Mindy on March 24, 1954.  She had changed studios, leaving Universal to work at Columbia Pictures, doing a series of crime movies and Westerns. She recalled that she played “a meanie, a witch” in most of her Westerns. (1)

The Lima Ohio biography described June’s changing career:

“By “In a Lonely Place,” (1950) Vincent’s film career was in decline. She            made only two movies after 1953. But she became part of a pioneering            generation in the burgeoning medium of television. Making her TV debut in   the late 1940s, she would remain in demand for guest-star parts for 25    years.”(3)

June headed several charity functions in Hollywood later in her career/married life

She appeared in many popular, classic television shows, including Father Knows Best, Ozzie and Harriet, The Andy Griffith Show, Dr. Kildare, Route 66, The Untouchables, Alfred Hitchcock, That Girl, Bewitched, and The Fugitive. She had multiple appearances on some of the old “playhouse” television dramas, including Screen Directors Playhouse, Ford Television Theatre, and Zane Grey Theatre. She also appeared on five episodes of Have Gun, Will Travel, one of my dad’s favorite shows that I referred to as “Gun Travel” as a toddler.

June also acted in five episodes of Perry Mason, including the charmingly named episodes “The Case of the Wintry Wife”, “The Case of the Hesitant Hostess”, and best of all, “The Case of the Bartered Bikini.”

She worked with many of the most famous television actors of the 1950s through the 1970s. The Lima Ohio article noted:

“She played spies, jewel thieves and conniving women of all kinds. She also        played a reporter, a prosecuting attorney, a couple of military officers and at    least one countess. Her enduring image was that of a socialite or                            sophisticate, often of the “ice queen” variety.

"TV Guide described her as the quintessential “other woman” and said she        had made a career of playing home-wreckers.” (3)

June might have had a bigger career if she hadn’t been such an involved mother. She took career breaks after the birth of each child, and there were rumors she turned down the role of Robert Young’s wife in Father Knows Best to stay home with a baby. She seems to have enjoyed her work but wasn’t as ambitious as many of her peers. She admitted to one interviewer that she had turned down a regular role in a series.

“I tried to explain to the producers. I have children,” she said. “But they think     I’m throwing away a golden opportunity to become a big name — which is         exactly what I don’t want.” (3)

June’s final role was a guest part on the sitcom Maude. She retired in 1976, telling author Michael Fitzgerald, “I didn’t like what I was seeing, so I decided that was it. I never thought I was a good actress in pictures—but later I became an actress on TV. I kept every W2 for every show or film I did. I had them in a huge box which I took to SAG (Screen Actors Guild), dropped on their desk and asked for my pension. Thank God for SAG and their insurance.” (1)

When she was interviewed for the Ladies of the Western book in the early 2000s, she was in her eighties and had health issues, including Parkinson’s. However, she noted that she had a good life and had been married over fifty years. “I have three children, grandchildren and a wonderful husband. I like our quiet lifestyle down here in Lake San Marcos, and I do enjoy being remembered by the fans.” (1)

Late in life, June and William moved from San Marcos, California to the Aurora, Colorado area. Her husband William Sterling died July 20, 2002, and June died in Aurora on November 20, 2008 at age 88.

June’s movie and television characters live on. Her Perry Mason episodes are available on Amazon Prime, and a few of her movies, including Black Angel, can be rented on various streaming platforms. I look forward to seeing one of her performances. Although June moved far from her parents and changed her name, trading Dorothy Smith for the more glamorous June Vincent, she seems to have remained a loving, family-oriented woman despite working and living in the decadence and depravity of Hollywood’s Golden Age.  

 

Sources:

1, Fitzgerald, Michael G.; Magers, Boyd (2006). Ladies of the Western: Interviews with Fifty-One More Actresses from the Silent Era to the Television Westerns of the 1950s and 1960s. McFarland. p. 295.

2.  "Actress Never Lacks for Job". The Havre Daily News. Montana, Havre. July 7, 1944. p. 3. Retrieved September 5, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.

3. “From Harrod to Hollywood”  https://www.limaohio.com/archive/2015/06/30/from-harrod-to-hollywood/ Bio of June Vincent following her death.

4. https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0898687/fullcredits  June Vincent’s IMDB movie and television credits.

5. “June Vincent Weds Her Ensign Today” Daily News, New York, New York, 10 Mar 1944, Fri  •  Page 20 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72598727/marriage-of-vincent-sterling

6. Newspaper photos and accompanying articles from Newspapers.com.