My father in law, Dorsey Davy, had a great aunt and uncle, Jacob and Gertrude Mitchell Davy who lived their lives in Troy, Ohio. Jacob was a successful attorney and leader in the community. Gertrude was an accomplished soprano, who had received years of voice instruction from Professor William L. Blumenschem in Dayton. She was known throughout the community for her beautiful voice. They were married in 1886.
Gertrude seems to have been especially keen on keeping up with the social life of Troy. We have a book that is filled with newspaper clippings, which she saved and pasted onto the pages of a book entitled Memorial Addresses On The Life and Character of William S. Holman. I suppose she didn’t much care for this tome and so used it essentially as a scrapbook for her clippings. The news clippings remind me of my old hometown paper, the Oldham Era, which often recorded not only the usual births, deaths, and marriages, but also the society parties, and comings and goings of its important citizens. One of the longer articles describes Gertrude and Jacob’s own wedding. It names the guests that attended and also includes a detailed list of every present received by the newly married couple. “Pink glass water set, book of poems, satin pin cushion, exquisitely hand painted bottles, silver cake basket, silver butter dish, silver card receiver”, etc. etc. Gertrude and Jacob had no children and I wonder if this fueled her interest in keeping track of the lives of those in the town of Troy.
When Gertrude died in 1920, at the age of 56, her scrapbook of clippings were passed on to her niece, Martha Davy, who had married Charles Sherwood. Martha Davy Sherwood apparently added to the collection, by saving additional clippings and sticking them into her massive volume of the History of Miami County, published in 1909. It is likely, this volume was also originally owned by Gertrude Davy.
By now you are wondering where I am going with all of this so hang in there, as this is my best genealogical connections tale!
Martha Davy Sherwood died in Troy Ohio in 1968. She, like her aunt Gertrude, had no children of her own, so she designated several of her “family history items” to be passed on to her cousin's son, Dorsey F. Davy, my father in law, who grew up in North Dakota. Martha had seen Dorsey when he was a child attending a Davy family reunion in Ohio. She apparently took a liking to him and believed that he should be the caretaker of her treasured family items. So the scrapbook and the Miami County History book, along with several other items were packed up and sent to North Dakota and held by Dorsey’s father, Don Davy, until Dorsey’s return from overseas work in Pakistan. That was in the late 1960’s.
Fast forward to the mid 1980s. By 1983 Doug and I were married and living out here in California. One day, Doug’s dad, Dorsey, was thumbing through his inherited 1909 History of Miami County Ohio, and discovered the old newspaper articles, that had been clipped and tucked between various pages. As he read through one long article, with a photograph of six elderly couples, he noticed the names, Mr. and Mrs. John Riley. The title of the article was, “Death Takes Last of Notable Group Who Attended Golden Wedding.” The article was from about 1933 and was an obituary of the last surviving person from this group picture. The six couples had been photographed in 1914, at the golden wedding anniversary of one of the six couples. A photo of these couples was taken because all had been married at least 50 years.
Dorsey, knowing that my Riley family had lived in Troy Ohio, was anxious to show me his discovery. It turned out that the Mr. and Mrs. John Riley pictured in the group photograph were indeed my GG grandparents. I had never seen a picture of them before this. None of my husband’s family (the Davys or their extended families) are pictured or mentioned in the saved article.
Although my grandfather was born in Troy, Ohio, I did not know of my family roots there when I met my husband Doug, in Carbondale, Illinois. It was only at our wedding in 1981 when my father met my new father in law that they, and I, learned of this common Miami County Ohio connection.
In the 1930’s when the article, which pictured my GG grandparents, was cut out and saved, the population of Miami County was about 51,000 and the population of the city of Troy was about 8,500. It wasn’t exactly a tiny town. But, did some of the Davy family know some of the Riley family? Was it fate that Doug and I should meet?
Regardless of whether our families knew each other, you cannot deny the bizarre coincidence that the article was saved and then returned to me over fifty years later. We will never know if our families knew each other. Doug and I would like to think that this is proof of some cosmic plan for our lives but we are too schooled in science to let ourselves completely believe this explanation. What I am certain of is that we are all connected to one another in more ways than we can ever imagine or understand.
-Mary
UPDATE 8/26/2015
My cousin just sent me a copy of the photo of the 6 Trojan couples that she found among her parents photo collection. It is the same as the photo that appeared originally in the 1914 newspaper account of the Golden wedding anniversary of the Smiths and then was reprinted in 1933 and included as part of the obituary for Mrs. Smith in 1933 (the article that was clipped and saved by my husband's family).
Photo taken Oct. 19, 1914 at the home of Mr. & Mrs. Daniel W. Smith (West Franklin St., Troy, OH) on the occasion of the Smith's 50th wedding anniversary. Standing left to right: Mr. and Mrs. Walter S. Thomas, Prof and Mrs. A.H. Vance, Mr and Mrs. John Riley, C. W. Douglas; seated left to right: Mr. and Mrs. C.H. McCullough, Mr and Mrs. Daniel W. Smith and Mrs. C. W. Douglas. Photo by local photographer Harold M. Barton.
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