Alden Carter Weston’s son by Belle Bilton
A more in-depth look at the life of Isidor Weston, incorporating the full First World War military records of people who joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force which have recently become available. Both Alden Carter Weston’s sons, Gerard and Isidor, joined the CEF but did Isidor and Gerard ever meet? Did Isidor meet any of his relatives as an adult? This account will include a brief recap of Isidor’s relatives in England at the time of his birth and will include details of the family of Isidor’s wife, Ida.
Note: Alden Carter Weston had a younger brother and three further sisters not shown in this tree.
Isidor was the son of Alden Carter Weston and Isabel Maud Penrice Bilton. Alden was born in Baltimore in 1857, the second of six siblings and was a self described “Gentleman”. Isabel was a well known music hall singer, performer and actress. Both were children of soldiers.
Isidor seems to have had little contact with either of his parents and possibly none at all with his father, for reasons that will become clear. He was born at Farley Lodge, Maidenhead, Berkshire, about 30 miles west of London, on 12th July 1888. On registering the birth, Isabel presented herself to the registrar as Isabel Weston, however, Isabel and Alden had never married. At the time Isidor was born, Alden was still married to Charlotte Campbell, the mother of his two previous children.
The source of the names Isidor and Alden will become obvious but Cleveland is a mystery. As far as can be determined there was no family connection to Cleveland, Ohio or Cleveland, England through either of Isidor’s parents. The name may have been derived from a street near to where Alden lived at the time of his dalliance with Isabel. The 1888 Electoral Register for Westminster lists the sole occupant of 13, Pall Mall as Alden C. Weston. The register was probably compiled in 1886 or 1887. 13, Pall Mall, a tailors shop in 2020, is a few steps from The Haymarket. At the other end of Pall Mall is Cleveland Row, close to Kensington Palace and Green Park. Did Cleveland Row have some special significance for Isabel, perhaps associated with Alden, or did she simply like the sound of it?
According to the author, Nuala O’Connor, Farleigh (sic) Lodge was the country home of Isabel Bilton’s wealthy friend and admirer, Isidor Emmanuel Wertheimer. Her book, “Becoming Belle”, traces the life of Isabel Maude Penrice Bilton, known on the stage as Belle Bilton. The book is based in fact but consists mainly of imagined scenarios and conversations, such as Belle’s seduction by Alden. Unfortunately, some inaccuracies occur and the book provides no precise sources for the evidence on which it is based other than general newspaper archives.
Farley Lodge, in “Ray Park” Maidenhead, a leafy suburban street, was listed as the home of Hugh and Susanna Rhodes in Kelly’s Directory of Berkshire, 1887. Hugh Rhodes was a former architect living on an annuity. Hugh and Susannah were still the occupants of Farley at the census of 1901, however, in 1891 they were resident in London, presumably having moved a few years ealier and letting the property during their absence. The house was still named Farley Lodge in 1950 but its current (2020) location has not been found. It seems likely that Isidor Wertheimer rented the property for Belle until soon after she gave birth. That Isidor was born in Farley Lodge is a remarkable coincidence since Farley was the name of the Virginia plantation where Alden Carter Weston’s mother was born in 1831.
Alden conducted a relationship with Belle during much of 1887 and, unsuccessfully, attempted to divorce his wife in November that year. Alden spent most of 1888 in prison, first awaiting trial and then, in March, being sentenced to 18 months in Pentonville. A single woman registering the birth of her child would not have been allowed to identify the father on the birth certificate unless the father was present. Could Alden have been allowed to attend the Cookham Registrars Office for the registration of his son, did Isidor Wertheimer present himself as Alden or did Isabel simply present herself as Mrs Weston? There is no evidence for or against any of these possibilities.
Isabel Maud Penrice Bilton
Copy by Bassano Ltd, after Alexander Bassano
half-plate glass negative, 1926 (1889)
Courtesy National Portrait Gallery
In her book, Nuala O’Connor relates that, within a few weeks of his birth, Isidor was taken to a wet-nurse in Heathfield, Sussex where he was left in an informal but paid arrangement while Belle returned to London and the stage. The details of this arrangement were probably the author’s invention. Isidor has not been found in the 1891 Census of England but resurfaces in 1901 when, aged 12, he is living as a “boarder” in New Malden with two other unrelated children aged 5 years and 7 months respectively. The head of the household was 66-year-old Fanny E. Martin, a “monthly nurse”. A monthly nurse was normally a woman who looked after a mother and baby in the postnatal period, usually for about the first 10 days. In this case, Fanny Martin seems to be looking after children who were either sick or in need of fostering. There are no other records that would indicate where Isidor was living in England after his birth. The question, perhaps, is why was Isidor not “fostered” within Belle’s family?
Isidor’s Family in 1888
At the time of his birth, in addition to his parents, Isidor had two married aunts and two grand-parents who were in their 40s. Alden’s father, Jonathan, was about 62, a widower and living alone in Walworth.
Belle’s older sister, Violet, had married in 1886 and at the time of Isidor’s birth had no children of her own. Her husband was a soldier and moved with his regiment fairly often.
Belle’s younger sister, Florence, had appeared on stage with Belle as a double act and had married 23-year-old William Arthur Seymour in September 1887. William was listed as “living on own means” in the 1891 Census. They had one child, Vere Hugh Seymour born about a year after Isidor. Vere Hugh was not in their home in Cavendish Square in 1891 but was living as a “nurse child” in the home of a professional cook in Kilburn. A nurse child was, in effect, a child who was fostered for money. Possibly, Florence had no greater maternal instinct than Belle appeared to have at this time.
Belle’s parents, John and Kate Bilton lived in Charlton between 1881 and, at least 1901 when John, a former soldier then aged 58, and his wife were living on their own means with no children in the household.
Alden’s wife, Charlotte (Campbell) Weston was the daughter of a Scottish Colonel. She and her two children by Alden moved to San Diego in 1895 or 1896 with Charles Buller, the man who fathered four more children by her. They returned to England and married in 1902 after Charles was divorced from his first wife, but Charles died in 1906. By 1911 Charlotte was a widow of independent means and living in Fulham. There is nothing to indicate that Charlotte ever met Isidor although, somewhat intriguingly, Isidor listed his ethnic origin as Scottish on his Canadian Military Attestation in 1915.
Belle married Lord Dunlo 12 months after Isidor’s birth. Her father-in-law opposed the marriage and attempted to get the couple to divorce in 1890, citing adultery and the existence of Isidor, who was by then approaching his second birthday. The divorce case was a sensation and was widely reported at home and overseas. Despite his father’s insistence, Dunlo did not want to divorce and the petition failed to much public approval but approbation for the couple from some newspapers. At the census the following year, Dunlo was the sole visitor in the Lincolnshire home of Lord Bertie but Isabel’s whereabouts have not been discovered. Dunlo’s father died in May 1891 and Dunlo succeeded him as Earl of Clancarty in County Galway, Ireland. Belle had five more children by her husband, the first born in December 1891 in Newmarket, England. Soon afterwards, Belle left for Ireland with her husband and son. Possibly, Belle never saw Isidor again before she died, in Ireland, in 1906, although the possibility that Isidor was living with her early in 1891 can’t be ruled out.
It is not clear when Isidor’s father, Alden, was released from prison but it was probably by the spring or summer of 1889. He was prosecuted for fraud again in 1890 and this time sentenced to seven years penal servitude, part of which, at least, was served in Lewes prison. He was released in 1895 and two years later married widow Mary Elizabeth Wren (nee Stenning) in Croydon, having changed his name to Douglas Hale. In 1901 their son, Cecil Alden Lionel Royal Hale, was born. Around 1905, the family changed their name again, this time to Alden, so Alden Weston was now Douglas Alden. He died in Croydon in 1936, aged 78.
Emigration
Isidor Weston emigrated to Canada in 1914 when he was about 26 and worked there as an electrical engineer. Possibly he had undertaken an apprenticeship when he left school, however, he has not been found in the 1911 census of England. There is no firm evidence that confirms he met any member of his family before leaving for Canada although he clearly had the details of his own birth.
In July 1915 Isidor applied to join the Canadian Expeditionary Force and was initially assigned to the 6th Field Company Canadian Engineers Militia. The militia was the volunteer force recruited for the First World War and not the permanent members of the Royal Canadian Engineers. Isidor’s typewritten “Attestation” papers of 1915 record his correct date and place of birth but gave his age, incorrectly, as 27 years and 10 months (he would have his 27th birthday a few days after making his oath of allegiance to King George V). It was also recorded that he was Presbyterian, 5’9” tall with brown eyes and hair. John Allen, a friend of 4796, Beatrice Street, Vancouver, was recorded as his next of kin. Some of Isidor’s later military records show the place of birth manually changed to “Port Chalmette, Louisiana”. No reason for the change was given. Port Chalmette, on the Mississippi River, may refer to what is now St Bernard Port & Harbour, Chalmette, New Orleans.
Isidor was accepted into the Canadian Engineers as a sapper on the basis of his strength and probably underwent training at a military training site near Quebec City. He was transferred to England at the beginning of 1916 and assigned to the Motor Airline Section Training Depot at Shorncliffe Camp near Folkestone. He was made acting Lance Corporal in May 1916 shortly before being transferred to the 57 Motor Airline Division and sent to France. The Motor Airline Division was responsible for constructing and repairing telegraph lines, which presumably made better use of Isidor’s skills than the sapper’s more common role of digging trenches. At the end of September 1917, Isidor was promoted to Acting Corporal but two months later he was admitted to No. 18 General Hospital, Camiers (about 13 miles south of Boulogne), suffering from “Trench Fever” and reverted to his substantive rank of sapper. Within a week he was moved to the Western General Hospital in Liverpool where he underwent treatment for pleurisy. In March the following year he was transferred to the convalescent hospital, Woodcote Park, Epsom and discharged “cured” five days later.
Isidor was sent back to Seaford to join the Canadian Engineers Reserve Battalion and within two months was transferred to London as a dispatch rider. He remained in the Canadian Army in England after the end of the war and in April 1919 was made acting sergeant two days before he was granted permission to marry.
On 30th April 1919, Isidor married Ida Isabel Augusta Duchon Doris, the daughter of French and English parents. Ida was born in Honour Oak Park, South London, in 1896. The wedding took place at Lambeth registry office. At the beginning of the war Ida had been working as a typist for the “British Postal Service” in London. Isidor had reported that his father, who was of “independent means” was deceased, whereas he had simply changed his name and was living about six miles away.
Ida’s father, Jean Amédée Raoul Duchon Doris, known as Raoul, was a sub-manager of Societe Generale (bank), in Old Broad Street, and a Freemason. Raoul had been born in France in about 1864. It is not known when he came to England but in 1891 he was in lodgings in Paddington. Raoul married Blanche Rose Gough, in 1894 when she was about 22. Blanche had been born in America in 1872, the year her parents emigrated there from England. The Gough family spent some time in Michigan and Canada but returned before 1879 when Blanche was baptised at Christ Church, Camberwell. Blanche’s mother, Sarah, had died a few months before the baptism. Raoul and Blanche had previously had a daughter, Eva Duchon Doris Gough, who was born in Kensington in the first quarter of 1893. Note: Amédée is the French form of Amadeus.
Prior to their wedding, Ida was living at 9, Carlyle Mansions, The Mall, Kensington. Carlyle Mansions still exist on the corner of Kensington Mall and Kensington Church Street. Ida was registered at birth as Ida Isabel Augusta but she signed some documents as Ida Isabella Augusta. The surname was recorded as Duchon Doris (without a hyphen). Ida also had a brother, Henri, born 1898 and a younger sister, Alice born in 1900.
After the wedding, Ida and Isidor lived at Homeleigh, Witley Road, Milford, Surrey. The Canadian Army had a camp at nearby Witley Common which had initially been used as a training camp but, after Armistice, it became a base for soldiers awaiting demobilisation and repatriation. In June that year, Isidor and Ida were transferred to Buxton, Derbyshire, the Canadian Discharge Depot for married personnel.
Canadian Discharge Depot, Buxton
Image courtesy oldderbyphotos.co.uk
The Manitoba Free Press, 28th January 1919, contained the following announcement;
“Buxton Depot to be Used Only for Married Men:
The Canadian discharge depot at Buxton, Colonel Paul Hansen commanding, is for future to be used for sending home married men with dependents in England. This discharge depot will work in conjunction with the Canadian emigration offices in London which are now charged with the repatriation of soldiers’ dependents. The new arrangements are confidently expected to work efficiently, and to obviate the dissatisfaction which existed in the past, and which cannot be denied has often been legitimate.”
The repatriation of over 250,000 Canadian soldiers from Europe was a slow process. It wasn’t until the 3rd September 1919 that Isidor and Ida boarded the White Star Line ship, SS Adriatic, bound for Canada. The ship arrived in Halifax on 10thSeptember, following which Isidor and Ida made their way to North Vancouver, a journey of over 3,600 miles that would take 129 hours by train in 2020. Their son, Ivan Cleveland Weston was born in Vancouver on 6th May 1920.
Ida’s Family
At some point, Raoul, Blanche and the remaining children “emigrated” to Australia. Raoul and Henri may have gone ahead while Blanche followed on with their two daughters. The women left England on 4th April 1920, on the Orient Line ship, Orsova, as 1st Class passengers heading for Brisbane. Blanche stated her intention was to settle there. The party arrived in Fremantle on 5th May and presumably took about another two weeks to reach their destination. In July, “Madam Duchon Doris” and her two daughters were guests at the French Consulate in Brisbane for France’s National Day reception. Later, the family, without Henri, travelled to Japan, probably for a holiday, returning from Kobe on 11th August. Blanche, at least, returned to England in 1921, very probably with Raoul who made his will in London in June 1923. The will left his entire estate to Blanche but specified that, if she predeceased him, his entire property should be divided equally between Eva and Alice. There was no mention of Ida or Henri.
Ida’s brother, Henri, had married Olive May Sims, near Sydney, in 1922. Alice Doris visited Australia in May 1939, travelling on the Orient Line ship, Orontes. Blanche was also booked to go with her but it is not clear that she travelled as her name has been crossed through on the typed passenger manifest.
North America
At the time of the Canadian census of 1921, Isidor and his family were renting four rooms in a shared, wooden property at 362, Nicola Street, Kamloops, about 200 miles north-east of Vancouver. The area has since been redeveloped. On the census form, Isidor’s nationality was recorded as “U.S.A” and his racial origin as “Scotch”. Ida’s nationality was also given as “U.S.A.” and her racial origin as French. Both Ida and Isidor claimed to speak French. Isidor gave his occupation as “electrical engineer” and his earnings in the previous year as $1,440 (Canadian). A second son, Louis (or Louie) Arnold, was born in August 1921 but he died in November that year and was buried in the Pleasant Street Cemetery, less than a mile from their home.
The family moved to Los Angeles and a third son, also named Louis Arnold, was born there on 30th August 1922. It wasn’t unusual for the parents of a deceased child to give the same name to the next born child of the same sex. Isidor became a naturalised citizen of the United States the following year. The 1920s decade was a prosperous time for Los Angeles. The city hosted the expanding film industry as well as a nascent aircraft industry and its population more than doubled to 1.2 million people by 1929.
Isidor found work as a “lineman” with the Edison Company and in 1924 was living in Whittier, about 14 miles east of the centre of Los Angeles. The family must have spent a short period in Arizona as Ivan was at school in Maricopa County, possibly at Sentinel Elementary, in 1925. There was at least one other Ivan Weston living in the south-west United States at that time but he was not the Ivan at school in Maricopa County. Arizona was also recorded as a former place of residence of the family when, later, Ida crossed back into the United States, from Canada.
By the census in early 1930, the family were back in Los Angeles where they remained, with some exceptions, for the next 16 or 17 years, moving house fairly often, (see table below). In the census that year, Isidor was incorrectly listed as a veteran of the “U.S. Military or Navy”. His birthplace, and that of his father, was again recorded as Louisiana, as was the birthplace of Ivan and Louis. Both Isidor’s and Ida’s mothers were also incorrectly listed as born in the U.S.
The small property where they lived at that time was in a suburban development of bungalows south of the city centre, in an area now known as Huntington Park. Isidor had been working as an auto-repair mechanic, although at that time appears to have been unemployed. Seven months earlier saw the beginning of the Wall Street Crash which heralded the Great Depression. Millions of people became unemployed and hundreds of thousands of people migrated from the Great Plains to California.
In 27th May 1930, Isidor, Ida and Louis crossed back into Canada, by car, at Pacific Highway, near White Rock, British Columbia. Nine year old Ivan was not with them. The Canadian immigration record for Isidor lists him as Alden C. Weston, details his correct place of birth and previous residence in Vancouver, gives his religion as Presbyterian and profession as mechanic but intending to become a farmer in Canada. It also gave his onward address as that of a friend, Mrs Burns, at 418, 18th Avenue West, Vancouver. Tellingly, it records him as having no near relatives in England.
Events over the next few years are not completely clear but in 1935, Ivan returned to the United States, from Canada, accompanied by Ida, both destined to rejoin Isidor in East Los Angeles. Their visa records show that they had been resident in Vancouver since 1930. Ida’s visa details that she was 5’5” tall with a dark complexion, brown hair with hazel eyes and that she was a nurse. A later record, using her own description, gave her as 5’7” tall and of “medium” complexion. It also revealed that Isidor had a monthly pension of $52, equivalent to nearly $1,000 in 2020, presumably from his service in the Canadian military.
No such visa records have been found for Isidor’s return to the U.S. It may be that Isidor took his family to Canada while his employment situation was precarious due to the depression. It is also possible that Isidor wanted Ivan and Louis to have at least part of their education in (British) Canada. Isidor, and possibly Louis, must have returned to the U.S. sometime between May 1930 and March 1935 but no other records of immigration or emigration have been found for any of the family. The Canadian census of 1931 will become available in 2023 and may provide additional clues about this period.
President Roosevelt launched his New Deal program in 1933. This included programs of public works, support for farmers, the unemployed and elderly and reform of the financial system. Despite these programs unemployment nationally continued at about 14%, rising to 19% in 1937/38, full employment returning only after the start of World War II.
Ida’s father, Raoul, died in April 1933 in Worthing, Sussex. His probate record named Blanche as executor and recorded two addresses for him; 73, Marine Parade, Worthing, a four-storey end of terrace, now part of The Last Resort members club, and 38 – 40 Queensborough Terrace, Bayswater. (No. 38 was a hotel in 1911 and is now part of the Byron Hotel. No. 40, in 2020, consists of serviced apartments. Eva was living there in 1930/31).
In 1938, Ivan graduated from John C. Fremont High School, which was about two miles from the family home on East 61st Street in an area known at the time as San Antonio. It is now a mixed commercial and residential zone.
At the census in April 1940, Isidor and Ida were still renting the same property where they were living, now on their own. The 1940 census gives further details about both Isidor and Ida. Isidor had left school after 8th grade, presumably at the age of 14, the standard school leaving age in England in the early 1900s. The record appears to show Ida completing five years at college although no profession was listed for her at that time. She may have undertaken part-time college courses in London and Los Angeles. The census also suggests that Isidor had worked for only one week in 1939 at an electrical wholesaler.
Ida applied for naturalisation as a U.S. Citizen in 1941 when the family were living in Compton Avenue, about 5 miles south of the city centre and not far from their previous address. They moved twice more in Los Angeles before they finally left the city.
Note: Kamloops is about 200 miles north-east of Vancouver. Rogue River is about 20 miles north-west of Medford.
Brookings is on the south-west Oregon coast, about six miles north of the state border and 100 road miles from Rogue River.
By April 1947, Isidor and Ida had moved to Rogue River, Oregon, about 20 miles north-west of Medford. The 1948 electoral register for Los Angeles lists them at 450 South Burlington Avenue, about 2 miles north-west of the city centre, however, the register would probably have been compiled in 1946 or early 1947, before the couple moved from California. In Rogue River, Isidor and Ida joined the Enterprise Grange, one of several Grange social clubs in the Medford area that had been formed initially to help farmers. Club meetings were held about 9 miles north of Rogue River, on East Evans Creek Road, near Wimer. Isidor’s postal address was a post box number, however, the Grange recorded their address as Upper Evans Creek, the location of which is unclear but may be a sparsely populated farming area, possibly on West Evans Creek Road between Rogue River and Wimer. Ida was quickly involved in organising events and giving cookery talks.
On 24th November 1947, Ida’s mother, Blanche and her daughter, Alice, then 47, flew to New York en route to Rogue River. Alice stayed in the United States for just over a year and started the return journey from New York on board the Queen Mary, on Christmas Eve 1948. Blanche presumably returned earlier.
By 1955 Isidor had become a member of the Scottish Rites Freemason’s Lodge in Medford and Ida had joined the wives group. Ida’s mother, Blanche, died, aged 82, in Worthing, Sussex in April that year. Her will, made in Sydney in October 1939, divided her estate, valued at about £2,000 net, between her two unmarried daughters, Eva and Alice. The will contained a suggestion that a gift might also be made to Ida as a remembrance. No mention of her son, Henri, was made in the will despite Henri and his wife visiting Blanche in 1952, in time for her 80th birthday.
There is little further information about Isidor and Ida until 14 March 1968 when Ida died, aged 72, in White Rock, British Columbia. White Rock is about three miles north of the U.S. Border at Blaine, Washington State. A death notice was published the following week.
Surrey Leader 21 March 1968
The address given above is a private property in 2020 and may have been the address of a friend. Ida’s social security record gave her address at death as the U.S Consulate, presumably because she was a U.S. Citizen who had died in a foreign country. Ida’s younger sister, Alice, died in England in July the same year and Eva died less than a year later, neither sister leaving a will. Their brother, Henri, had died in 1966 and was initially buried in Junee alongside his only child, Paul, who had died of rheumatic fever in 1943, in 1943. Henri’s wife, Olive May, died in 1985.
Isidor Weston died, aged 80, on Christmas Eve, nine months after Ida’s death, in Jackson County, Oregon. A death notice, below, was published in the Mail Tribune of Medford on Christmas Day, 1968.
At the date of death, Cleveland, or Isidor, was 80 years old and there is no evidence that he had emigrated again and had been living in White Rock near Vancouver. The reference to that town may have been confused with the place of death of his wife. No gravesite record has been found.
We don’t know how much Isidor knew about his parents or if he ever met either of them or any of his half-siblings. He knew his exact date and place of birth and there are clues that he may have been given other information about Alden and Belle that had become muddled over time. In Canada, he had recorded his ethnic origin as Scottish which was true for Alden’s wife, Charlotte but not for Belle. In the 1930 census, Isidor had given his mother’s birthplace as Virginia, which was true only for his paternal grandmother. Virginia was also a place where his father had spent part of his early life but he was born in Baltimore, not Louisiana as Isidor had recorded on several documents.
Ivan Alden Cleveland Weston (b 1920)
Ivan graduated from the John C Fremont high school in South Los Angeles in 1938. He enlisted in the U.S. Army, “Hawaiian Department” in March 1940. His enlistment record states that he had completed two years of college education and that his marital status was “separated with dependants”, however, no evidence of marriage before that time has been found.
At the census the following month, Ivan was a soldier based at the Presidio of San Francisco, situated in what is now part of the Golden Gate Recreation Area. According to the National Park Service website, The Presidio of San Francisco was the WW2 “nerve center for Army operations in defence of the Western United States”.
Ivan made an “S. F. Application” in late January 1941 naming Katherine Reed, aged 25, of Weitchpec, CA. Weitchpec is a small settlement in Humboldt County, about 670 miles north of San Francisco. A few days later, a marriage licence was issued. While Katherine and Reed are not uncommon names, there was only one Katherine Reed associated with Weitchpec. This Katherine was the eldest child of Daniel and Minnie Reed who were “full-blood” Native Americans of the Yurok tribe. The Yurok is the largest Native American tribe in California and, according to Wikipedia, the only one to remain on their ancestral lands. Ivan and Katherine married before the end of 1941 and lived at 524, E. Washington Street, Stockton, about 80 miles east of San Francisco.
Ivan was discharged from the army a few days before his 26th birthday in 1946. His war draft card had recorded him as being of ruddy complexion, 5’10” tall with brown hair and green eyes. That year he was also registered as a voter, and Democrat, at 2877 San Marino Street, Los Angeles, the same address his father cited in 1942. Ivan’s address on discharge was 1522 Timothy Drive, San Leandro, near Oakland, Alameda County. It is not known if Katherine was still living with him at that time and no evidence has been found that the couple had children.
It is not known if Ivan was aware that his half-uncle, Gerard Weston, Alden’s eldest son, had been living in Hayward, about six miles from San Leandro, since at least 1930. Gerard had also taken his family to Canada (Toronto), had joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1915 and migrated to California by 1920.
It is clear from social security records that Katherine had married again by 1967. Two years earlier, the Auburn Journal of 18th November carried a notice about the wedding of Ivan Weston of Oakland to Mrs Jean Raddatz of Dutch Flat, California.
Auburn Journal 18th November 1965
The wedding took place on Sunday 14th November.
Auburn, north-east of Sacramento, is the nearest large town to the small, historical settlement of Dutch Flat. Jean Raddatz was born in Grants Pass, Oregon, in 1923 as Jean Marie Elliott. Grants Pass is about nine miles from Rogue River, Oregon, where Ivan’s parents were living at that time. While no official record of the marriage has been found it is highly likely that the Ivan Weston mentioned in the article was the son of Isidor and Ida. Jean had two children by her former husband who had been convicted of illegal logging in 1960. At the time of their marriage, both of Jean’s children were still at school.
Ivan seems to have been a construction worker after the war. The Oakland Tribune of 13th October 1967 carried a report and photo of the capture of an escaped spider monkey, named Poncho, by three construction workers. Unfortunately only the caption to the photo (below) is clear enough to reproduce here.
Ivan and Jean must have divorced as Ivan married Ellen Burke Brandow, a 49-year-old divorcee and widow, in Reno, Nevada in March 1977. Ellen had been born, Ellen Burke Guernsey in Bellflower, Los Angeles County, in 1928. She had married at 16 and again in 1967, both marriages ending in divorce. Her third marriage, to Orville H. Brandow took place in 1971, the year before he died. Her fourth marriage fared little better. Ivan died of “Fatty Liver and Ethanolism” in Alameda County, California in April 1981, shortly before his 61st birthday. Ivan’s death was notified by his brother, Louis. The death certificate records that Ivan had been working as an “operating engineer” in “heavy construction” for the previous 20 years and that his address in 1981 was 1647 151st Street, San Leandro. Ivan was cremated and his ashes buried at Cedar Lawn cemetery, Fremont.
Ellen moved to Long Beach and died, as Ellen Burke Weston, in June 2005. Jean Marie (Elliott/Raddatz) Weston died in Oakland in May 2002. Katherine died as Katherine Reed Lundy in October 2007.
Louis Arnold Weston
Louis Arnold was not the only Louis Weston born in California during the first quarter of the 20th Century. Another Louis A. Weston was a retail manager for Shell Oil and lived with his wife, Mary Louise, in San Marino, now a suburb of north-east Los Angeles. This was likely to have been Louis Joseph Arcanti Weston who was born in 1915 in Massachusetts and married Mary Louise Welch. Another Louis Weston was born in California in about 1925 and in 1940 was living in East Los Angeles, near the city centre. He was likely to be the Louis Weston who was at middle school in Berkeley in 1936 and then high school in East Los Angeles in 1940. Some attempt has been made to ensure the details below relate to Louis Arnold Weston and not either of the other Louis Westons.
Louis Arnold Weston would have struck quite a figure at the age of 20. His draft registration card, in 1942, described him as 6’1” tall, with blond hair, green eyes and tattoos on both arms. He was working at Main Street Garage in Stockton and gave his home address as that of his then married brother, Ivan. Louis’ next of kin was mysteriously named as Miss Chris Reid of Springfield, Missouri about whom no other information has been found. Two years earlier, Louis, then 18, may have been a high school student at Rancho Escauso on Morro Creek Road, Morro Bay, about 200 miles north-west of his parents home in Los Angeles. Part of Louis Arnold’s earlier education had been in Canada. Note: Escauso is a surname found in California.
In August 1941, 19-year-old Louis had enlisted, as private 20933337, in the Quartermaster Corps of the regular army at Fort Lewis, Washington State, about 45 miles south of Seattle. At the time, the United States would not enter the war for another four months, until the attack on Pearl Harbour. Louis’ civilian occupation was recorded as “semiskilled mechanic and repairman, motor vehicles” and his marital status as widower with no dependents. As for his brother, no evidence has been found to suggest he had married before this time.
Shortly before his 30th birthday, in July 1952, Louis married Dorothy Lorraine Coleman, aka Dorothy L. Moore, the 20-year-old daughter of a bus driver from San Diego. Dorothy had two children, David and Michelle, from a previous marriage. Louis and Dorothy had a daughter, Cherie Lorraine born in 1954. Cherie married and had children.
Louis was in the U.S. Navy between February 1955 and September 1960 and served in China and Korea. The Korean War had ended in 1953, however, U.S. Forces remained on the peninsula until, at least, 1973. Other U.S. Forces were deployed, between 1950 and 1955 to prevent attacks between mainland China and the government of the Republic of China which had self-exiled to the island of Formosa, now Taiwan. For his service, Louis received the Good Conduct Medal, the U.N. National Defence Medal and the Korean Presidential Unit Citation.
Louis and Dorothy must have divorced by the summer of 1961 when Louis married Helen June (surname unknown) in Reno, Nevada. (Dorothy married again in 1965 in Montana.) Helen had a daughter, Cindy L., born in 1959. Louis and Helen moved to Central Point, Oregon, about 20 miles from Rogue River, where Louis’ parents lived at that time. Louis’ four children and step-children lived with them and in 1966 they were joined by Louis and Helen’s son, Lou Earl Weston. Lou attended Crater High School there as did Cindy, who was in her sophomore year (2nd year high school, age 16) in 1976. In 1983 the family were living at 1097, Justice Road but by 1993 Louis and Helen had moved to Sunset Strip, Brookings, on the south (west) coast of Oregon, perhaps to be near his daughter, Cindy, who had married Gary Lee LaFazio and had three children there.
In Brookings, Louis worked as a commercial fisherman until 2000, when he was 78. He died in 2001. An obituary, (below), appeared in the Curry Coastal Pilot on 27 July 2001.
Sources:
- Ancestry, Library Edition
- Find My Past
- Newspapers.com
- Wikipedia
- Google Maps
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