Amy (Squires) Knox And The Red Cross Of Livermore, California

My wife Ellen's cousin, Pam Marino of California, has kindly provided the photo below which shows Ellen's great grandmother Amy (Squires) Knox in her role as Chairwoman of the local Red Cross in Livermore, California. The photo is dated as being taken in 1918.

Amy Knox was the wife of Thomas Elliott 'Tom' Knox, the Mayor and Postmaster of Livermore, California in the early 20th century. Tom was nominated and appointed to the position of Postmaster by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903.

The occasion and location of the photo was not noted in the photo's back, just Amy's name as "Mrs. T. E. Knox Chairman Livermore Red Cross." The man standing beside Amy bearing the U.S. flag appears to be a member of the Livermore Fire Department based on the "L F D" insignia on his peaked cap. It is possible that the photo was taken at the first Livermore Rodeo. in 1918, with World War 1 raging, the Red Cross was in desperate need of funding and so each California city and town was assessed $1,200. A man named John McGlinchey devised the idea to hold a fund raising rodeo. That first rodeo was successful in raising the needed funds for the Red Cross and the tradition of the Livermore Rodeo was born.

My thanks to Pam for sharing the photo in all of its historic glory.

Great Grandaunt Emily Visits The Latimer Family In Canada

It was the Spring of 1933 when Emily (Squires) Wiggin set off on a trip around the continental United States and Canada. A year earlier, Emily became a widow when her husband Charles died in their home state of California. This trip would take her from the Pacific to the Atlantic and then north through Canada on her return home. The trip would also include a two-day visit in Orillia, Ontario to see how her niece, Mattie (Knox) Latimer was getting along.

(from left to right, Knox Latimer, Emily (Squires) Wiggin, Mattie (Knox) Latimer, and Albertine Latimer)

Mattie was the oldest child and only daughter of Emily's older sister Amy (Squires) Knox. Amy and her husband Thomas were solid fixtures in California where Thomas had served for many years as Postmaster and Mayor of Livermore and then as a County Supervisor.  Mattie had not remained in California however, moving to Canada soon after marrying Edward Latimer in 1906.

Fortunately, Emily kept a diary of her trip and so we learn directly from her that on Saturday, May 6, 1933, she arrived in Toronto at 7:45 a.m. to a downpour where she was welcomed and greeted by Charlotte (Latimer) Mullett, the sister of Edward Latimer, Charlotte's daughter Doris Mullett, and Albertine 'Abby' Latimer, Edward and Mattie's eldest child who would accompany Aunt Emily to Orillia for her visit.

(left to right, Tess Latimer, Albertine 'Abby' Latimer, Emily (Squires) Wiggin, and Mattie (Knox) Latimer)

After a breakfast of coffee and toast, Aunt Emily and Abby reached Orillia by train around noon where they were met by Abby's brother Knox Latimer. As Emily described the visit, "After dinner with Mattie and family, who all gave me a warm welcome, we went through a nearby hospital, then Knox took us, Mattie, Tess [Tess was Ellen's mother Olive Theresa Evelyn (Latimer) Wagner] and me for a ride in a truck to a Park and Statue of Champlain...Hazel and Jack also came over to see me. Had a most enjoyable day."

(Edward Knox Latimer, May 1933, Orillia, Ontario)

It sounds like it was also a tiring day, for in her entry for Sunday, May 7th, Emily starts off with, "Everybody slept late, but all were on hand for dinner. Ed [referring to Mattie's husband Edward Latimer] not so hilarious today as yesterday."  Following a Sunday afternoon drive around the town of Orillia to see the sites, Emily caught the 7:10 p.m. train back to Toronto where she purchased some post cards and her train ticket to Vancouver. After commenting in her diary that "Albertine was lovely and invaluable," she "went to bed right away on the train and slept well."

(Olive Theresa Evelyn 'Tess' Latimer, aged 13, May 1933, Orillia, Ontario)

Finally, my sincere thanks to Ellen's cousin Pam Marino of Jamestown, California for the previously unseen by us photos and diary pages for which she granted permission for me to share with other family members through this post!

OMG! Not Another Politician In The Family Tree

My family was politically active. We voted. Regularly. Never missed an opportunity to exercise our franchise. We always took the responsibility, and the privilege, of being able to cast a ballot very seriously. 

We campaigned for candidates. I spent many hours dropping off campaign literature before I was even old enough to vote. My father, in particular, often lead campaigns for candidates with whom he was close. We were never candidates. We just managed the political campaigns for those who sought elected office.

Ellen's family, on the other hand, is full of elected officials both in Canada and the United States. One of her great grandfathers was the Mayor of Livermore, California. Several of her cousins were the Mayor of Berlin, later Kitchener, Ontario. Her cousins have been Members of Parliament at both the provincial and federal levels, and a second great uncle was a Canadian Senator. Recently, I found another politician 'hanging' in her family tree - Jonathan Joseph Merner (pictured below from his official Parliament of Canada biography).

Jonathan, Ellen's first cousin, three times removed, was born  in Blake, Huron County, Ontario, then Canada West,  and raised on the family farm. His father, Gottlieb Merner, was a younger brother to Sen. Samuel Merner and had immigrated with his family to British North America around 1837 or 1838 from his native Switzerland. When Jonathan was quite young, his family moved to the village of Hay in Huron County, Ontario where Jonathan attended school. Eventually, Jonathan struck out on his own, finding employment with Mr. D. D. Steinbach, a general merchant in Zurich, Ontario. His experience with Steinbach enabled Jonathan to open his own successful mercantile shop, which would come to include a large evaporator and apple jam factory. 

On September 21, 1911, Jonathan was elected to represent the federal riding of Huron South in the Parliament of Canada as a member of the Conservative Party. He represented the people of his riding in southwestern rural Ontario for the next ten years, losing his Parliamentary seat in the December 1921 election.

Jonathan died of an embolus during pancreatic surgery at the Hotel Dieu hospital in Windsor. Ontario on February 25, 1929. His death registration lists his occupation at the time of his death as Retired Builder.

Interestingly, Jonathan's biography on the Parliament of Canada website lists his date of death as February 26, 1929. For the government being off by one day might be close enough; for a genealogist, it's wrong.

The Berkely, California Squires

Thomas Elliott Knox and Amy Jane Squires arrived in the Oakland, Alameda, California vicinity around the same time. Thomas arrived from Seaforth, Ontario, Canada and Amy (pictured on the right) from Sheffield, England around 1875. Thomas, a young plasterer, arrived on his own, perhaps the death of his father and namesake motivating him to leave home in Ontario. Amy arrived with her parents, John and Mary (nee James) Squires and her three sisters and four brothers. While Thomas settled in Oakland, the Squires settled in nearby Berkely.

They were there to see the first telephone service be installed in the area around 1882 and likely worked on the development and construction of housing tracts and business districts that encroached on the surrounding farmland.

According to an October 1932 article in the Oakland Tribune newspaper highlighting the celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary, Thomas, or 'Tom' as he was often called, met Amy through a business deal with her father. I susepect that Thomas, the plasterer, and John, a brickmason, met each other while working on the same construction site. No matter how they met, Thomas and Amy, my wife Ellen's great grandparents, were married in 1882 and moved to Livermore where Thomas rose to civic prominence, first as a pioneer vineyard owner and later as town postmaster, and Mayor. In all, Thomas spent 16 years as a member of the board of trustees, 13 years as postmaster, and three years as a member of the county board of supervisors.

Amy's father, John Squires also involved himself in civic duties becoming one of the first Berkely town treasurers and tax collectors prior to his death in 1914. John's son, Harry followed in his father's footsteps holding the post of city assessor for many years. Amy Squires' sisters also married men of some public prominence. Her sister Emma married John M. Foy who was the Secretary for the State Board of Harbor Commissioners and her sister Olive married Frank L. Naylor, the son of Addison Naylor, President of the First National Bank of Berkely. Frank would work his way up through the banking business to succeed his father as bank president by 1920.

All in all, they formed an impressive group of men and women who contributed to the early growth and prosperity of the Oakland, California area.

As for Amy, when interviewed about the secret to a long and happy marriage, she answered, "Men like comfort. And I've never been too busy to see that things were just right for Tom."