Martha Belle Baum (Marty)

Dr. Harry Lester Baum with his daughter Martha Belle Baum (Marty).
Taken about 1922 on the porch steps of the Baum home in Denver Colorado

This card was attached to
Marty's birth announcement/
baby calling card.

Martha Belle Baum, affectionately known as Marty, was the daughter of Dr. Harry Lester Baum, a prominent Denver physician and Mason, and his first wife Martha Belle Shumate.

Note the shred of blue ribbon
still attached to the card. Perhaps
Harry and Martha had planned
for a boy and didn't have
pink ribbon on hand!

Marty was born July 28, 1919 in Denver Colorado.   We have the birth announcement envelope and calling cards of Marty and her parents that were sent to Mr and Mrs J.H. Moran (James Henderson Moran III and Virginia Shumate Moran).  Virginia was the sister of Marty's mother.

Envelope addressed to
Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Moran 

Marty married Willis Turner Frank and I believe they had at least one child.  In addition, I think she and Willis divorced. At some point it appears that Marty became involved with Vernon V. Porter as a business partner and as "very good friends" as reported in the 1960 case Quandary Land Development Company vs. Vernon L. Porter but parted ways both as business partners and as friends.



Unlike her mother, Martha Belle Shumate Baum, we know that Marty Frank, Martha Belle Baum, passed away in Pinal Arizona in May 1983 but we don't know where she is buried.







If you are a Baum relative we'd like to hear from you.  Perhaps you can fill in some of the questions we have regarding the death date of Martha Belle Shumate and where she is buried and perhaps we can fill you in on your Tennessee relatives. To contact us leave a comment and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.

1926-1927 Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Directory, Dresden Tennessee

The Moran's were very involved in the Methodist Church of Dresden, Tennessee.  In 1869 the church purchased its first organ with the help of a young music teacher from Nashville named Sophia Riley Gunn who was just 16 years old.  She volunteered to solicit funds for the organ and when enough money had been collected she was asked to travel to Nashville to select and purchase the new organ  Sophia became the church's first organist.  Two years later she would marry a local businessman named John Williamson Moran.

With that auspicious beginning the Moran's began a relationship with the Methodist Church that spanned over a hundred years.  However, it takes many more people to build, grow and maintain a religious organization and we thank each of the individuals for their time, money, and devotion to the Methodist Church of Dresden.

Methodist Episcopal Church, South
Dresden Tennessee
1926-1927
Rev E.L. Robinson Pastor

The Last Shumate Sister, Louise Shumate Durway

Back of Louise Shumate Durway's headstone.

I am always on the lookout for the Shumate name as it relates to my husbands family.   Louise Shumate was the third and last daughter of Nathan McClary Shumate and Margaret (Maggie) Jane Adams of Rockcastle County Kentucky.






According to census records she was born about 1891.  Until a few days ago the last place I could track her was in 1900 in Newbern Tennessee.

Mrs. Newton Temple Harris (Maibelle Shumate)
Mrs James Henderson Moran (Virginia Shumate)
Mr. Joseph Clay Durway
Gratefully acknowledge your kind
expressions of sympathy in
their bereavement.

After the death of her parents Louise and her sisters, Virginia and Maibelle, lived with their uncle Quincy Shumate and his wife, Lou Porter, and their children: C. Porter Shumate, Hattie Mae Shumate, Pattie Shumate, Francis (Mackie) Shumate, and Martha Belle Shumate.  Many people even list Louise and her sisters as daughters of Quincy rather than being his nieces.

Front side of Louise Shumate Durway's headstone. According to the writing on the back, the numbers
correspond to the sender of each floral arrangement.  Joseph Clay Durway sent #1, Virginia Shumate Moran sent the astors marked #2, another Durway sent the flowers marked #3 and #4 is Becky's Bouquet.

I came across some photographs many months ago along with a calling card that said Mrs. Joseph Clay Durway.  The photographs were of a grave and headstone that said Durway.  Another photo showed the headstone but flowers were in front of it and I didn't pay much attention to it because I didn't know any Durways  and didn't know where they fit into the Moran genealogy puzzle.  In addition there were a few other pictures and a bereavement card with some names that I recognized and one I didn't.   I looked closer at one of the photo's two days ago and saw a partial name, Louise XXXmate, wife of Joseph Clay Durway.  Immediately I realized that had to be the lost Shumate sister and that she had married a Durway.

Louise Shumate Durway
calling card

Some quick searching confirmed what I suspected.  However, I am still at a loss as to when the couple was married and when she died.What I do know is that in 1900 she was living in Newbern Tennessee.  By 1910 she was married to and living with Joseph Clay Durway in Fort Worth Texas.  She appears again in the 1920 census with her husband.  She has been replaced in the 1930 as his wife by a woman named Mary Violet Parker.  A search of the Fort Worth City Directories shows Joseph C. Durway living with his wife Mary as early as 1924.  The logical conclusion based on the photographs is that Louise Shumate Durway died between 1920 and 1923.

I imagine that Louise met Joseph when she visited her sister Maibelle who married Newton Temple Harris of Fort Worth. Many of the Moran's extended family moved and settled in Texas including the Scott clan of Gainesville Texas.  One thing I do know is that Louise enjoyed drawing and painting because we also have a piece of her work signed by her. 

Art by Louise Durway.

Update- January 10, 2018

Joyce posted on another entry that Louise Shumate married Joseph Durway in Fort Worth, Texas in June 1909.