Friday, November 29, 2013

Passport Application - William H. McHenry - 1873

William H. McHenry, son of John Hardin McHenry (a lawyer) and wife, Hannah Davis, was living in St. Louis, MO at the time of his application. He stated that he planned to travel to Great Britain, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, and Italy.

Note: Although the application appears to state the applicant's name as William H. M. Henry, I could not find any person by that name in the pre-1850 census records; however, I did find the John H. McHenry family in Ohio County in the 1840 and 1850 census. The 1850 census, which is the first census that shows the names of all family members, shows a child named William of the approximate age of our William H. and a younger brother named John; this is important because the Application (below) was notarized by a John H. McHenry, Jr. from Daviess County. Further research shows a date of birth conflict, i.e. the Application shows the date of birth as 16 Feb 1833 and the grave marker for William H. McHenry has 16 Jan 1830 (same day but one month different and three years of difference). Also, research shows that the brother that apparently notarized the Applicant's signature, John, is found to be Colonel John Hardin McHenry, Jr., who did reside in Daviess County during the 1870's (the time of the Application). Although none of this is certain, I conclude that the Applicant's name was William H. McHenry, not William H. M. Henry. One last thing: the grave marker notes that William H. McHenry was an "editor and scholar." Findagrave says he was the former "Chief Owner" of the St. Louis Newspaper, which fits with the residence described in his Application.

APPLICATION:
Name:  William H. McHenry
Birth Date:  16 Feb 1833
Birth Place: Ohio County, State of Kentucky
Age: 40
Passport Issue Date:  18 Apr 1873
Passport Includes a Photo:  No






Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Passport Application - Leroy Gregory - 1918

Leroy Gregory, the son of William Francis Gregory and wife Zelma, was born at Hartford August 21, 1869. He was living in Atlanta, GA at the time of his Passport Application. He states that his occupation was banking.  His application was for the purpose of traveling to England and France to work with YMCA Overseas Service.  A letter that accompanied his application states that Mr. Gregory "has been appointed a Secretary of the National War Work Council of the YMCA for temporary service with U.S. troops serving in France."  This was a volunteer position that was designed to aid our young men that were engaged in war far from home. His service with the YMCA was planned to last three years, although the Armistice was signed November 11, 1918 and Mr. Gregory was home and living in Atlanta by the time of the 1920 census. He died in Atlanta, GA November 15, 1930, at the age of 60.

APPLICATION:
Name:  Leroy Gregory
Birth Date:  21 Aug 1869
Birth Place: Hartford, Kentucky
Age: 48
Passport Issue Date: 10 Jul 1918
Passport Includes a Photo: Yes
Residence:  Atlanta, Georgia
Father Name:  Wm Francis Gregory
Father's Birth Location: Boyle County, Kentucky
Father's Residence: Deceased

The photo at left is not related.


Saturday, November 23, 2013

Passport Application - William B. Foster - 1922

William B. Foster, Jr., the son of William B. Foster, Sr. and Sarah Jane Carson, was born at Hartford, Ohio County, 15 May 1869. His Application for Passport includes his wife, Helen Dunham Stewart Foster and his three daughters: Katharine, Helen Stewart, and Wilhelmina. He states that he is a Professor of Chemistry at Princeton University. The family planned to visit Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Great Britain, and Ireland.  The application is supported by a letter from his brother, Dr. A. C. Foster, who lived in Owensboro. He taught chemistry at Princeton for forty years and died 24 May 1957. There is currently a William Foster Memorial Prize given each year at Princeton's graduation to the outstanding junior in Chemistry. 

PASSPORT APPLICATION:
Name: William Foster
Birth Date: 15 May 1869
Birth Place: Hartford, Kentucky
Age: 53
Passport Issue Date: 13 Dec 1922
Passport Includes a Photo: Yes
Residence: Princeton, New Jersey
Father Name: William Foster, Sr.
Father's Birth Location: Ireland, Newsy

The left portion of the following image is not related.


Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Passport Application - John William Ford, Jr. - 1923

John William Ford, Jr., son of John William Ford, Sr, was born in Fordsville. His family moved to Montgomery, Alabama.  In 1923 John William Ford, Jr., a student Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, applied for a passport for the purpose of traveling to Germany, British Isles, France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, and Austria. His application stated that he planned to "Work for Passage" - in other words, he would work on the ship instead of buying a ticket.

John William Ford, Jr. died 12 June 1989 in Orlando, Florida.

PASSPORT APPLICATION:
Name: John William Ford, Jr
Birth Date: 13 Nov 1899
Birth Place: Fordsville, Kentucky
Age: 23
Passport Issue Date: 11 Jun 1923
Passport Includes a Photo: Yes
Residence:  Montgomery, Alabama
Father Name:  J. W. Ford
Father's Birth Location: Fordsville
Father's Residence: Montgomery, Alabama

The photo on the left of this image is not related.


Saturday, November 16, 2013

Passport Application - Robert Allison Davenport - 1925

Robert Allison Davenport was born in Beaver Dam 16 Sept 1874, the son of Flavius Josephus Randolphus Davenport and wife, Josephine Austin. He was living in Dawson, Texas when he applied for a passport. Mr. Davenport planned to travel to Peru and Ecuador for the purpose of erecting and repairing cotton gin machinery. It looks like he was employed by Alexander Eccles & Company, a British company that had an office in New Orleans.

I found Robert Davenport's family living in Ellis County, Texas in the 1880 census.

robert a davenport



PASSPORT APPLICATION:
Name: Robert Allison Davenport
Birth Date: 16 Sep 1874
Birth Place: Beaver Dam, Kentucky
Age: 50
Passport Issue Date: 18 Mar 1925
Passport Includes a Photo: Yes
Residence: Dawson, Texas
Father Name: F. J. R. Davenport
Father's Birth Location: Beaver Dam, KY
Father's Residence: Deceased





Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Passport Application - Olive T. Dargan - 1911

Olive T. Dargan applied for a passport on April 15, 1911, in Suffolk, Massachusetts.  Her application states she was born in Rosine, and that she currently lived in Almond, North Carolina.  I searched the census records and found Olive T. Dargan in the 1920, 1930, and 1940 census living in North Carolina. She was listed as a widow.  I found her death certificate online; it says her date of birth was 13 Jan 1868 and her date of death was 22 Jan 1968, Asheville, NC (so she lived to be 100). It shows her full name as Olive Tilford Dargan and shows her parents as Elizah Tilford and wife, Rebecca Day.  Her occupation is shown as "Writer & Poet."  The "Informant" for the death certificate was Mrs. Clarence P. Oliver, Austin, Texas.

The 1870 census shows the Tilford family living near Short Creek, in Haynes, Grayson County, KY, and the 1880 census shows the family living in Ripley County, MO.

I also found that she married Pegran Dargan 2 March 1898 in Fannin County, GA, which is near the Tennessee and North Carolina state lines.  Not too far from Asheville, NC, where she died. Her husband died in 1915.
_______________________________________________________________
From the internet: "Olive Tilford Dargan (Jan. 10, 1869–Jan. 22, 1968) was born on a farm in Kentucky. She was educated at the University of Nashville and Radcliffe College. She taught in ArkansasMissouriTexas and Canada before moving to the southern United States for health reasons. In 1898 she married Pegram Dargan of South Carolina. Tilford published a number of novels, dramas, and books of poetry. In 1916 she received the Southern Society of New York prize for the best book by a Southern writer, and in 1925 she was awarded the Belmont-Ward Fugitive Prize. Two novels published under the pseudonym Fielding Burke describe labor conditions in North Carolina mill towns. Dargan received an honorary degree in Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1925."
________________________________________________
"Literature survived loss for a great mountain writer
by Rob Neufeld, 2011 

In the late 1930s, children in the Swain County town of Almond saw an old bag lady walking around, muttering to herself.  The woman was the celebrated playwright, poet, and novelist Olive Tilford Dargan.  The bag contained gifts she gave out to local kids.  The muttering was poems she recited in the act of composition. Perhaps one of the poems she was turning in her head was “Annie’s Garden,” which appeared in “The Spotted Hawk” years later.  It expressed the solace Dargan had taken in her West Asheville refuge, Bluebonnet Lodge (located at the end of Balsam Avenue, since razed) before having to leave it for a while because of dark clouds of suspicion.

The rain it raineth every day
From skies of wrath and rue,
But I’ve a garden where I play
Whatever skies may do.

While living in West Asheville, Dargan had published the novel “Call Home the Heart,” and its sequel, “A Stone Came Rolling,” in which the author had followed her beloved mountain characters to the mills in Gastonia, wrote about it, and gotten labeled a proletarian writer. She used a pseudonym, Fielding Burke, but a New York reviewer blabbed her identity.

The folks in Almond saw Dargan as a person, and not as a public figure.  They loved her short stories about them, published first as “Highland Annals” and republished with Bayard Wootten photos as “From my Highest Hill.”

“Nobody knew anything about it and no one cared,” Almond resident Sylvia Latshaw recollected about Dargan’s blacklisting.  “We weren’t even reading the daily papers.  We don’t get them out there.  And we didn’t have time to read them if we did.  There she (Dargan) stayed until the hue and cry died down.”

Eventually, Dargan returned to Bluebonnet Lodge.   She lived there for thirty more years, dying in 1968 at age ninety-nine. In 1944, Dargan sold her Almond land, and loggers stripped it of trees.   At the same time, the Tennessee Valley Authority was flooding much of low-lying Almond to construct Fontana Dam. At age 87, Dargan published two more books, including the award-winning volume, “The Spotted Hawk.”

In her last years, Dargan sold a couple her Bluebonnet House with the stipulation that she could continue to live on the top floor.  Though she willed her papers and library to the University of Kentucky at Lexington, her native home, her death was followed by the accidental disposal of her material. Dargan is buried in Green Hills Cemetery in West Asheville.  A state highway historical marker was erected in front of the West Asheville Library in 2000. Her legacy is her published work.  One poem in “The Spotted Hawk,” titled, “Vain Rescue,” imagines her death amid woodland wonders:

But rising now no inner fires outflow,
No gleam around me save a pale moon’s haze.
I know a wood of beech and birch and snow
That waits my step. And come the June-warm days,
Where two brooks wed I’ll find a lulling seat,
And stir white pebbles with my slow, bare feet."



















PASSPORT APPLICATION:
Name:  Olive T. Dargan
Birth Date: 10 Jan 1870
Birth Place: Rosine, Kentucky
Age:  41
Passport Issue Date: 17 Apr 1911
Passport Includes a Photo: No
Residence:  Almond, North Carolina


Saturday, November 9, 2013

Passport Application - Charles Courtney Curran - 1921

Charles Courtney Curran, born at Hartford, son of Ulyssess T. Curran, was living in New York City when he applied for his passport. The passport includes his wife, Grace W., and his daughter, Emily. The application reveals that Mr. Curran is an artist (painter) and has previously lived in Paris during 1888-1890 and 1900. Mr. Curran's occupation is shown as "Secretary, National Academy of Design." On this trip the family plans to visit Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium, and Holland.

An online search found the following:

"Early American Impressionist Charles Courtney Curran was memorable both for his elegant interior and exterior portraits of women and children, as well as for his leadership role at the Cragsmoor Art Colony. Often compared to fellow American Impressionists Mary Cassatt, Frank Benson, and Edmund Charles Tarbell, Curran’s iconic paintings featuring graceful young women in flowing dresses set against the vast expanse of nature captivated art critics and the public, as well as his contemporaries. Curran’s impressionistic techniques utilizing loose brushstrokes and a vivid palette combined with his nostalgic subject matter encapsulate the leisurely summer beauty of Cragsmoor. 

Charles Courtney Curran was born in 1861 in Hartford, Kentucky and raised in Sandusky, Ohio. He studied under Thomas B. Noble at the Cincinnati School of Design for a year before moving to New York City in 1882 where he first attended the National Academy of Design and later studied at the Art Student’s League under Walter Satterlee. At the age of 23, he made his public debut at the Academy of Design, a venue that showcased his work for the remainder of his career. In 1887, Curran’s paintings also began exhibiting at the Pennsylvania Academy where he continued to show his work for nearly three decades. He left for Paris in 1889 where he studied under Jules Lefebvre at the Académie Julian for two years. Upon his return to the United States, the artist settled in New York and began teaching at the Pratt Institute and Art Students League. 

In 1903, fellow artist and friend Frederick Dellenbaugh invited Curran to visit Cragsmoor. A bourgeoning summer art center started by Edward Lamson Henry, Cragsmoor was located along a plateau in the Shawangunk Mountains of the Hudson River Valley. Captivated by the landscape and creative atmosphere and Curran set up a summer home and studio. He soon established himself as a central figure of the art colony, painting, teaching, and with the help of his wife, editing the student art publication Palette and Brush during his summers in Cragsmoor. While he is best known for his sweeping landscapes featuring young women and children, Curran also painted many portraits and created a series of works featuring the Imperial Temples of Peking. 

For nearly thirty years, until his death in 1942, Curran split his time between Cragsmoor and New York City. He continued to paint and maintained teaching positions at Pratt Institute, Cooper Union, and the National Academy. In addition to his role as a leader of the Cragsmoor Art Colony, Curran remained an active member of the American Water Color Society, Society of American Artists, and the National Arts Club." Source: Caldwell Gallery

1861 Born February 13 in Hartford, Kentucky
1880 Attends Cincinnati School of Design
1881 Attends National Academy of Design, New York
1886 Attends Art Students League, New York; studies under Walter Satterlee
1887 Earns first exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
1888 Marries Grace Winthrop Wickham of Norwalk, Ohio
1889 Travels to Paris to attend Académie Julian, Paris with Benjamin Constant,
         Jules-Joseph Lefebvre, and Henri Lucien Doucet
1903-42 Spends summers painting and teaching at the Cragsmoor Art Colony,
         Cragsmoor, New York
1904 Begins teaching at the National Academy of Design Pratt Institute Art School,
         Brooklyn, New York and Cooper Union, New York
1936 Travels to Peking, China; Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Yugoslavia
1942 Dies on November 9 in New York City
1888 Third Hallgarten Prize in Oils, National Academy of Design
1890 Honorable Mention, Paris Salon
1893 Clark Prize, National Academy of Design
1893 Medal, World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago
1895 Second Hallgarten Prize, National Academy of Design
1895 Silver Medal, Cotton States and International Exposition, Atlanta
1900 Honorable Mention, Universal Exposition, Paris
1901 Silver Medal, Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, NY, Assistant Director
1904 Carnegie Prize, Society of American Artists, New York
1904 Silver Medal, Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis
1905 First Corcoran Prize, Society of Washington Artists
1906 Shaw Fund Prize, Society of American Artists
1920 First Altman Prize, National Academy of Design
1933 Salmagundi Club
1883-1900 National Academy of Design (1904, 1916, 1920, 1925)
1887-88 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1892-1903, 1905-1906, 1908-1910,
         1917-1927)
1888 Art Institute of Chicago (1894-1903, 1905-1907, 1910-1916, 1919)
1888 Art Students League, New York (1890)
1890 Salon, Paris
1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago
1895 Cotton States and International Exposition, Atlanta
1900 Universal Exposition, Paris
1901 Pan American Exposition, Buffalo
1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis
1904 Society of American Artists, New York (1906, 1933)
1905 Society of Washington Artists
1911-13 City Art Museum, St. Louis
1980 Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington

Source: CaldwellGallery.com

Charles Courtney Curran.jpg


APPLICATION:
Name:  Charles Courtney Curran
Birth Date: 13 Feb 1861
Birth Place: Hartford, Kentucky
Age:    60
Gender:  Male
Passport Issue Date:  9 May 1921
Passport Includes a Photo: Yes
Residence:  New York City, New York
Father Name:  Ulyssess T Curran
Father's Birth Location: Harrisburg Pennsylvania
Father's Residence:  Deceased
Spouse Name: Grace W

The left portion of the following image is not related.


Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Passport Applications - Norval and Kenneth Cooper - 1924

Two brothers, Norval and Kenneth Cooper, sons of Edwin P. Cooper, both born at Olaton (1894 and 1896), moved from Ohio County to Pierre, South Dakota with their family. Their applications stated that their occupation was "rancher and cowboy" and they applied for a Passport to travel to England to participate, as a contestant, in the Imperial Rodeo, which was held at Wembley Stadium in London.  Note that Kenneth's wife, Helen, accompanied him on the trip.

APPLICATIONS:
Name:  Norval Cooper
Birth Date: 18 Jan 1894
Birth Place: Olaton, Kentucky
Age:    30
Passport Issue Date:  22 May 1924
Passport Includes a Photo:  Yes
Residence:  South Dakota
Father Name:  Edwin P. Cooper
Father's Birth Location:  Beaver Dam, Kentucky
Father's Residence: Pierre, South Dakota

The left side of the following image is not related:



Name:  Kenneth Cooper
Birth Date:  2 Apr 1896
Birth Place: Olaton, Kentucky
Age:  28
Passport Issue Date:  22 May 1924
Passport Includes a Photo:  Yes
Residence:  Pierre, South Dakota
Father Name:  Edwin P. Cooper
Father's Birth Location: Beaver Dam, Kentucky
Father's Residence: Pierre, South Dakota

The left side of the following image is not related:


Saturday, November 2, 2013

Passport Applications - Opal D. Cooper - 1919, 1921, and 1923

The son of Louis Henry and Ellen Cooper (Louis Henry and Ellen Cooper had moved from Ohio County to Chicago by the time their son made his first application for passport). Opal was born in Cromwell, had served in Europe with the American Expeditionary Forces during WWI (1918-1919), and was living in New York when he applied for his first passport; for this second and third passport, he was living in Paris. The applications indicate that Opal was part of an American Jazz Band known as the "Red Devils" that traveled all over Europe. The third application indicates he was a singer - he also played the banjo.  Opal died in New York in 1974 following a lifelong career in the music industry. There is a seven page biography of Opal in the following book: Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919, by Tim Brooks.

The band is mentioned on this web site: http://www.jazzageclub.com/venues/the-frolics-paris/

Also, I found the following regarding "The Red Devils" -

The Red Devil's were a five man band who were organized from elements of Will Marion Cook's Southern Syncopated Orchestra which was entertaining London in 1919. Some of the members may also have been associated with Seth Weeks, the mandolin virtuoso. Elliot Carpenter, Opal Cooper, Sam Richardson, Roscoe Burnett and Creighton Thompson formed the group and went to Paris in 1920. "The offer of more money took them to London in August 1920 for a job at Rector’s Club where the band was renamed the Red Devils. They also played the music halls and appeared at Rector’s Club in Paris. They remained in London until December 1922. Indiscipline among the musicians and problems over tax led to the break up of the band in 1923. While in London they recorded for the Gramophone Company." Excerpt and picture from “Hatch and Carpenter in England” by Arthur Badrock. 

I think Opal is the person in the center of this photo.



First Application:
Name:  Opal Cooper
Birth Date:  3 Feb 1889
Birth Place: Cromwell, Kentucky
Age:  30
Passport Issue Date:  20 Oct 1919
Passport Includes a Photo:  Yes
Residence:  New York
Father Name:  Louis H Cooper
Father's Birth Location:  Cromwell, KY
Father's Residence: Chicago, Illinois 



Second Application:
Name:  Opal Cooper
Birth Date:  3 Feb 1889
Birth Place:  Cromwell, Kentucky
Age:  32
Passport Issue Date:  2 Apr 1921
Passport Includes a Photo:   Yes
Residence:  Paris
Father Name:  Louis H Cooper
Father's Birth Location:  Cromwell, KY
Father's Residence: Chicago, Illinois

The left portion of the following image is not related to Opal Cooper.

















Third Application:
Name:  Opal D Cooper
Birth Date:  3 Feb 1889
Birth Place:  Cromwell, KY
Age:  34
Passport Issue Date: 29 Mar 1923
Passport Includes a Photo: Yes
Residence:  American Express Co, Paris
Father Name: Louis Henry Cooper
Father's Birth Location:  Cromwell, KY

Father's Residence: Chicago, Illinois