39 The Terrace, Plandome Long Island

Yesterday, I posted a poem by Cornelia Ferguson.  Today I continued digging through the tinbox where I found the poem and I came across some more Ferguson family items.  I found a picture of an awesome house that was annotated "Ferguson House- 39 The Terrace Plandome L.I."  This house belonged to Cornelia's parents, Harry Maxwell Ferguson and Helen Josephine Bozeman who were married in 1930.

It's times like these I really appreciate people who take the time to write on the back of photographs!







I decided to Google the address.  Imagine my surprise when I came across the house on Zillow and that it had sold in 2011 for $2,450,000!!  Wow.

Fairies - A Poem by Cornelia Ferguson ca 1944

Fairies by Cornelia Ferguson
ca. 1944

Fairies
Under my window is a flower Bed
Made of roses bright and red.
Over the wall with the greatest of ease
Floats a carriage drawn by bees.
As I look down I see them there-
Two little fairies, stars in their hair,
Then a gust of wind comes by
And carries them back into the sky.

By
Cornelia Ferguson, Grade 6
Main St. School - P. Washington

I think its kinda cute--

Sophia Irvine Ferguson and her sons: Harry M,
Forrest, and Albert Granville

Cornelia "Connie" Ferguson is the daughter of Harry Maxwell FERGUSON and Helen Josephine BOZEMAN.   Harry is the son of Charles Augustus FERGUSON and Sophia A. IRVINE.

Sophia Irvine's parents were B.D. IRVINE and Agnes Marion MORAN.  Agnes was the sister of John Williamson MORAN, the builder of MORAN Place.

Fraternally yours, Augustus W. Aston

Please note that I'll be updating this page with additional information about Gus and his family which has been graciously provided by Emily and Carter Baker.  Through the sharing of information from Moran Place I've made some online friends and acquaintances that have made me laugh, made me think, made me question and, well you get the idea.  Carter and Emily have done all that and more for me.   Should you come across this page and have an interest in learning more about my friend Gus Aston and his family, please contact Emily and Carter. (July 22, 2013).  Scroll down past the original post about Gus to see newly added pictures and information.

Friends were very important to the Moran family.   If you could see all of the pictures and correspondence we have about and from friends you'd know what I mean.  So many times we can't identify the friends and sometimes we are blessed with having an inscription on the photograph as in the case of Pierre Toutant Beauregard and Augustus "Gus" W. Aston.

Fraternally yrs
Augustus W. Aston
1900

Pierre and Gus were friends of James H. Moran III.  He also attended St Albans and the University of Virginia and that is where we believe the friendship developed. This photograph of Augustus Aston was found in a trunk in the attic at Moran Place.  On the back is the image of a woman from another picture that "bled" onto  Gus' picture.

You'd think having a name and date would make it easy but not always.  So I'll share the information I have about Gus Aston here.  Perhaps someone will come along and fill in the blanks.

His name is Augustus White ASTON.  The photograph was taken when he was attending the University of Virginia.  You can't see it very well but there is an imprint under the picture that says "University Store, Holsinger, Charlottesville VA".  Rufus W. Holsinger had a reputation for quality work and was a famous photographer.





According to Gus' world war I draft registration he was born July 21, 1875.  I have seen it listed in family trees as 1874.  I found references to him in Vol. 11 of Corks and Curls (1899), the yearbook for the University of Virginia.  He was a member of The St. Albans' School Club, the German Club, The Thirteen Club, and on page 192 he is listed, Augustus W. Aston of Meadow View.  Meadowview Virginia is where he lived.

I found an article in the Richmond Dispatch dated Sept. 14 1902.  There was a big party honoring the 11th Session of St Albans at Radford VA opening for the year.  Among the many attendees Gus Aston is listed and he was attending "stag".

In 1916 Gus was the best man at his niece's wedding in Knoxville TN.  From the Knoxville Daily Sentinel:  "This evening at 9 o'clock at the Church street M.E. church, South, the marriage of Miss Emily Stringfield KENNEDY and Mr. Ralph Victor THURSTON will be solemnized....Mr. Gus Aston, of Virginia, uncle of the bride, will serve as best man."  Emily KENNEDY's mother was Sarah Elizabeth ASTON, sister of Augustus White Aston, the subject in our picture.  Their parents were Augustus Washington ASTON and Emily Elizabeth KENDRICK.

Census Information:
1880- 5 years old living at home with his mother and siblings.  His father has died by this point.
1890 - the census that was lost to fire
1900 - he is living in Charlottesville VA and is listed as a "law student"
1910 - 34 years old living at home with his mother and sister.  Occupation is cashier.  I have seen in another reference that he was cashiering at the bank.  Later he became the president of "the county bank".  James Moran also became the bank president of the Dresden Bank which his family owned.
1920 - 44 years old and living with his sister.  Their mother has passed on.  Occupation is Banker and cashier
1930 - 54 years old, his sister Mary is still living with him.  His occupation is now listed as Farming.  I wonder if this had anything to do with the depression and so many banks crashing?  The Dresden Bank crashed as well and James Moran had moved on to other business endeavors.
1940 - 64 years old.  His sister Mary is still in the household and his brother William H Aston has joined them.  Augustus' occupation is now Postmaster.

And that is where the trail ends.  I did find him listed in some family trees with a date of death Sept 14, 1943 but I haven't been able to confirm that and I don't know where he is buried.  Drop me line if you can tell me when Augustus died and where he's buried.

Updated June 17 2013:  Thanks to EastPiney we now know that Gus is buried in the Aston Family Cemetery in Cedarview Virginia.  Here's the link to his memorial on Findagrave.

Updated July 26 2013:

Emily Elizabeth Kendrick
1835 - 1913

Augustus W. Aston
1815 - 1876

Gus' parents were Emily Elizabeth Kendrick, pictured in 1862, and Augustus Washington Aston.  Emily and A.W. were married in 1862 and made their home at Cedarville which is also the name of the community where they lived.

A.W. had purchased the house in 1860.  Before it became Cedarville and home to the Aston family the house had been an Inn and stopping point on the route going west through the Cumberland Gap.  If only houses could talk I'm sure it would have many interesting tales to tell us!

Cedarville, front view, post-1900

Cedarville, back view, post-1900

Emily and A.W. Aston had several children beginning in 1863 with the birth of James Samuel followed by William Houston, Sarah Elizabeth, George Crismon, Bennie and Mary Emily.  Augustus "Gus" was their last child born in 1874.  In addition to building a family with Emily, A.W. was busy building business partnerships usually with relatives.  He owned several stores with one being in McKinney, Texas.  Not willing to rest on his laurels A.W. built a gristmill at Cedarville just prior to his death in 1876.  On June 8, 1876, Augustus Washington Aston died leaving behind his widow Emily to raise their four surviving children and to carry on the operation of Cedarville and his many businesses.  A few years later the grist mill was torn down and the stones moved to the Aston Cemetery.  They have since been moved to a private farm. The mill was later re-opened in Meadowview by AW.'s son, Will, and operated as Aston Milling and Mercantile Co., Inc.

Pictures of Cedarville, Emily Elizabeth Kendrick Aston, and Augustus Washington Aston are used here with permission of Emily and Carter Baker who also provided me with the material for today's post.  Other posts will follow soon.

The Shumates - We Are Family, ca. 1905

Left to right:
Clay Porter Shumate, Pattie "Sittie" Shumate, Harriette Mary "Hattie Mai" Shumate, Martha Belle "Mattie" Shumate, Francis McLean "Mackie" Shumate, Virginia Shumate, Louise Shumate, Mai Belle Shumate

This is an amazing picture.   When we first saw it about a year ago we didn't know who these people were.  Were they Moran relatives?  Friends?  A club?  But now, after a year of sorting through things it became clear that this was a picture of Virginia Shumate before she was married to Kent's grandfather, James H. Moran III.  She's the third from the right.

What is more amazing is that it became clear that some of the other folks look familiar too.  And then like a light bulb going off over my head it was obvious to me that this was a group picture of Quincy Shumate and Nathan Shumate's children.   

In a nutshell, Quincy and Nathan were brothers, born in Kentucky.  Quincy married Louise "Lou" Elizabeth McLean and had five children: Porter, Pattie, Harriette Mary, Martha Belle and Francis McLean.  Quincy and family moved to Newbern TN sometime in the late 1800's.  His brother Nathan stayed in Kentucky in the Rockcastle County area.  Nathan married Margaret "Maggie" Jane Adams and they had three girls: Mai Belle, Virginia, and Louise.  Their mother died in 1896 and their father married Annie Elizabeth Purcell.  The three Shumate girls were not happy with this arrangement.  We think Virginia, Louise and Mai Belle moved to Newbern to live with Quincy sometime after their father remarried.  The girls did not get on with the new wife.  Nathan died a few years later in 1899.  The 1990 Census records show the girls living with Quincy in Newbern. 

Clay Porter Shumate married Pauline Prather.  He moved to Temecula California and married Mary Ethel Martindell in 1913. He died August 8, 1918.  I don't know where he is buried. **Updated Sept 8, 2014.  He's interred at Mount Hope Cemetery, San Diego California.  It is unknown at this time what happened to Mary Ethel.

Pattie "Sittie" Shumate may have been married to a man with the last name of Newman.  I know that later she was married to Selwyn Dennis Tucker and they lived in Memphis.  

Harriette Mary "Hattie Mai" Shumate was married to Allison M. Tyler.  Allison died in 1914 and Hattie Mai married Charles Bowden Kingry.

Martha Belle "Mattie" Shumate married Harry Lester Baum. They divorced in 1936 and he married another woman.  I have not yet found when or where Martha Belle died and is buried.

Francis McLean "Mackie" Shumate married James Vernon Thomas.  Sometime around 1919 I believe Mackie and James divorced.  She married Thomas Ogilvie MacPherson and lived in California.  A letter from Charles Kingry to Virginia Shumate has a lot of family history in it including the fact that Mackie attended the funeral services of her sister Hattie Mai in 1956 and that Mackie was living Banning, California at that time.  Check out the link for Thomas Ogilvie MacPherson III.  Until now I didn't realize how he fit into the Moran puzzle.

Virginia Shumate Moran married James Henderson Moran III in 1911 in Dresden TN. 

Louise Shumate married Joseph Clay Durway.  You can read a bit more about her here.

Mai Belle Shumate married Newton Temple Harris Sr and lived in Texas.  You can see a picture of Mai Belle here taken on Mother's Day 1952.  She has a vase (one of a pair) that her father Nathan had given to her mother before they were married in 1882.  We have the matching vase, albeit at some point in history it was broken but was still a cherished memento.  It was made by Webster & Brothers and is stamped "hard white metal".  The pattern number is 44.

There is so much more to say about this family and will be!  Some of it has been said before in this blog so if you're interested be sure to use the search function or feel free to browse the archives.  Check back soon, I'm always adding new information.

Lillian Haynes Dobson and Walter Kenneth Hyde

This image comes from the Ward Seminary
1913 Yearbook.  It was supposed to represent
Lillian when she was born (1896),
When she was a school girl (1913), and her
life as a leader of society in 1930.  Sadly
that did not come true.

Lillian Haynes DOBSON was the daughter of Matthew Hughes DOBSON and Roberta A. ALLEN of Nashville Tennessee. She was also the sister of Matthew Hughes DOBSON who married Sophia Eleanor EZZELL, the daughter of Fannie MORAN and James EZZELL.  Lillian was born August 14, 1895.  She attended Ward Seminary which became the Harpeth Hall School.  She was the President of the Senior Class in 1912, just one of the many honors she received at school.

William Kenneth HYDE was born in Illinois on June 18, 1893.  His parents were Walter H. HYDE and Ellen Hyde.  He attended Vanderbilt University and is listed as being in the graduating class of 1918.  Nashville City Directories indicate he was a Mechanical Engineer.

William Hyde and Lillian Dobson were married in March, 1916.  The young couple had such promise but it wasn't meant to be.  William and Lillian contracted pneumonia in the fall of 1918.   Lillian was pregnant at the time.  William passed away on October 7, 1918.  The following day their infant son was was delivered, stillborn.  Soon after his delivery, Lillian too slipped the bonds of her mortal coil.










The family were interred together on October 10, 1918.  The headstone inscription is very poignant:

Lillian Dobson Hyde Died Oct. 8, 1918, Age 23.

Walter Kenneth Hyde Died Oct. 7, 1918, Age 26.

And Infant Son.

Laid to rest together October 10, 1918.

How many hopes lie buried here.

1888 Demon Alcohol Leads to Murder

Picture was added April 18, 2013
The right image is the original scan.  The left I tried using color
correction software.  Neither is great but it's better
than nothing!  ca. 1880

While researching some of the Irvine relatives I came across Harry Clinton Irvine, the first born son of Agnes Moran and B.D. Irvine.  His nickname was Buck.   The Irvine branch of the family seemed to be full of piss and vinegar as my own mom would say.  They were a wild bunch.  In an earlier post I related the story of Sid and Tom Irvine and the murder of J.W. Kerr in Bowie Texas.  Tom did the actual killing but he left the state leaving Sid at the mercy of the law.

Back to Harry.  Harry was born Oct. 9 1857.

In regards to Harry, I came across the Hamilton Daily Democrat of March 5, 1888.  It seems that Harry and Tabe White were quarreling over a jug of whisky.  Harry shot and killed Tabe.  I've not found anything else regarding this crime.

The last thing I know about Harry is that he died at the age of 39 on May 7, 1897 and is buried in Moran Cemetery, Dresden Tennessee.  Cause of death is unknown.

Updated September 14 2019.

I came across the following newspaper article in the Memphis Daily Appeal, dated Mar 6 1888, which sheds more light on the Whisky incident. 

Killed a Negro

Tobe White, a Desperate Character, Shot by Harry Irvine at Dresden.

Special Dispatch to the Appeal

Dresden, Tenn., March 5--On Saturday afternoon at 5 o'clock Harry Buck Irvine, white, shot and killed Tobe White, colored, at this place.  The difficulty originated at the depot in the afternoon over a jug of whisky.  White and a white man were fighting, when Irvine tried to separate them.  This enraged White, who assaulted Irvine with Brickbats.  Soon afterward Irvine went to his father's residence, got a pistol, came down to the square and shot him through the left side, the ball ranging downward into the bowels and causing death about midnight.  White was the most notorious and daring negro in this section.  He it was who defied the four-mile law of the town for two years until he was sentenced to jail for twelve months by Judge Swiggart.  Public sympathy is with Irvine.

I can also update information regarding his death.  Here is the obituary that appeared in The Tennessean on May 8 1897.

The Tennessean

May 8 1897

Deaths

Dresden, May 7-(Special:) Death visited the home of Mr. D.D. Irvine and wife last night, taking therefrom the oldest son, Mr. Harry Irvine, aged about 40 years.  He was ill for about three weeks with malarial fever.  The remains were interred this afternoon at the family cemetery north of town.