My Nana, Joanna Pruitt Leonard, and her Interesting Life

March 30, 2024 by Beth Wilson in Genealogy

My Nana, Joanna Pruitt Leonard, my mother’s mother, died when I was nine. I have no memories of her that I can remember. She became senile during the last years of her life and she lived in a rest home. We lived 300 miles away when she died. Joanna was born in the morning on 19 February 1881 in Princeton, Indiana at her grandfather Elisha Jones house. (Her grandmother Susan was a midwife.)

Entry in Elisha Jones’s Journal about his granddaughter Joanna Pruitt’s birth.

Joanna’s father, Joseph Pruitt, had died the previous July 1880 in Owensville, Indiana and her mother Emma had then moved back to Princeton, Indiana with Joanna and her older sister Helen. According to Helen, Emma was a very independent woman, as was her mother Susan, and Emma didn’t live with her parents very long. In January 1882 she took her two young daughters, Helen and Joanna, and moved to Kansas to live with her brother Alfred Jones and learn the millinery trade so she could support herself and her two daughters. While in Kansas Emma met James Howey and he finally convinced her to marry him in 1886.

Joanna Pruitt, April 1883, 2 years old, probably in Kansas

In 1887 James and Emma and the two girls moved to San Bernardino, California where James worked as a bricklayer for the rest of his life until he died in 1918.

Helen (Nellie) and Joanna Pruitt, September 1888

Joanna attended school in San Bernardino and had an active social life while she was in high school. The local newspaper mentions her several times attending various events and singing at a few of them.

Joanna Pruitt, August 1896, 15 years old

December 24, 1898, San Bernardino County Sun Newspaper Joanna was 17.

January 1, 1899, San Bernardino County Sun newspaper, Joanna was 17.

After graduating from San Bernardino High School Joanna took the examination for teachers and became a teacher.

January 5, 1900, Daily Times Index newspaper

Joanna was appointed to be a teacher at Oro Grande School and she moved to Oro Grande to teach.

August 11, 1900, Daily Times Index newspaper

Joanna continued to participate in social events in San Bernardino from time to time.

May 12, 1901, San Bernardino County Sun newspaper

July 7, 1901, Queen’s Court, Joanna Pruitt, bottom row, second from right

By 1902 Joanna was teaching 2nd and 3rd grade at Mt. Vernon School.

September 4, 1902, San Bernardino County Sun newspaper

In 1903 Joanna was granted a year’s leave from teaching to attend college at Berkeley University.

May 12, 1904, Daily Times Index newspaper

in 1904 Joanna was granted an additional leave of absence from teaching to go back to Berkeley for another year.

June 2, 1904, Daily Times Index newspaper

As she did in San Bernardino Joanna took part in social activities while at Berkeley as well.

April 12, 1905, Oakland Tribune newspaper

Joanna didn’t return to Berkeley for a third year and in 1906 she returned to teaching in San Bernardino at Fourth Street School and participating in local social events.

September 6, 1906, San Bernardino County Sun newspaper

March 29. 1906, San Bernardino County Sun newspaper

A family keepsake from Joanna, her Saturday Reading Club, a precursor to today’s Book Clubs.

Joanna apparently loved to travel and the newspaper is full of descriptions of her travel throughout California and also to New Mexico to visit relatives in the early 1900’s.

During this time Joanna lived with her mother and step-father at 802 Fifth Street in San Bernardino. She continued to teach at Fourth Street School during the 1908-1909 school year.

Joanna on the porch at the Fifth Street house about 1909.

In early 1909 Joanna was planning to move to the Philippines to live with her sister Helen and Helen’s husband and teach. But something happened and she decided to stay in San Bernardino and marry Willis E. Leonard. Willis was 46 and he had 5 children, his oldest child, daughter Florence, was only 5 years younger than Joanna who was 28. His wife Henrietta had died in November 1908. Willis and Joanna were married December 27, 1909 in Joanna’s home on Fifth Street in San Bernardino.

December 28, 1909 San Bernardino Sun newspaper

After the wedding Joanna and Willis left on a 6 week wedding trip by train across the country and back. While on their wedding trip Joanna collected sterling souvenir spoons from several cities that they visited.

Five sterling souvenir spoons that Joanna collected on their wedding trip in 1909 from some of the cities that they visited.

January 26, 1910, The San Bernardino County Sun newspaper

April 19, 1910 United States Census, Willis, Joanna and son Frank are at the bottom of the page, the rest of the family is on the next page

The rest of Willis’s family is at the top of the page, daughters Edith, Margaret, and Dorothy. Daughter Florence was already married and daughter Helen had died young. There was also a servant living in the house in 1910.

Willis Leonard had owned a small department store in San Bernardino, and then one in El Paso, Texas. He then returned to San Bernardino with his family in 1900 and opened another store. Later he sold the store and became manager of the Insurance, Loan, and Land Company. He was involved in a very successful real estate business in San Bernardino for a few decades until the Depression hit and he lost much of his real estate wealth.

May 24, 1910, San Bernardino County Sun newspaper

January 1, 1913, San Bernardino County Sun newspaper

Over the years Joanna was very active in San Bernardino’s social life and a member of various clubs.

April 25, 1913, San Bernardino County Sun newspaper

Leonard Home, 427 Magnolia Avenue in San Bernardino, built in 1915 by Willis E. Leonard. Elisabeth Leonard Gardner was born in this house in 1916. (This house still stands and was completely renovated and then sold in 2022.)

Probably 1918, Joanna with daughters Elisabeth and Lois

16 January 1920, United States Census, Willis and family near the bottom of the page, by now 2 other children have joined the family, Lois and Elisabeth.

Leonard Family about 1924, Joanna back row 2nd from right, daughter Elisabeth in front of her

April 3, 1930, United States Census, Willis and Joanna Leonard with their daughters Lois and Elisabeth and Joanna’s mother Emma Howey.

When the Depression hit Willis Leonard lost much of his real estate wealth. They sold the Magnolia house and bought a smaller house on Pershing Avenue in San Bernardino.

June 1937, Pershing House, 3233 Pershing Avenue, San Bernardino

April 5, 1940. By the 1940 United States Census Willis and Joanna were living alone in their house on Pershing Avenue in San Bernardino.

Willis and Joanna in front of the Pershing Avenue house

Leonard Family, Christmas Day 1937, Joanna back row left

Willis Leonard died October 14, 1944 at home of a heart attack. Daughter Elisabeth was there and remembered that because of war time it took the doctor quite a while to get there but Willis had died instantly.

October 15, 1944, San Bernardino County Sun newspaper

October 18, 1944, San Bernardino County Sun newspaper

Joanna continued to live in San Bernardino after Willis died until she became senile and was moved to a rest home in Pasadena where she died in 1960.

November 8, 1946, San Bernardino County Sun newspaper

July 25, 1954 San Bernardino County Sun newspaper

August 13, 1960, San Bernardino County Sun newspaper

Amanda Peoples Gardner and the paper trail she left behind that defined her

June 30, 2020 by Beth Wilson in Genealogy

This is a photo of my Great-Great-Grandmother on my father’s paternal side, Amanda Peoples Gardner. It is a tintype, a kind of photography that was introduced in the United States in 1856 and was popular until about 1867. This was probably taken in the late 1860’s or early 1870’s when Amanda was in her thirties. Amanda had a short life and the small paper trail she left behind provides more questions than answers about her.

Amanda Peoples was born 8 July 1838 in Jefferson County, Ohio, the daughter of Robert and Anna (Palmer) Peoples. By the 1850 Census (see above) the family was living in Rome Township, Athens County, Ohio. Amanda was 12 and attending school, the second youngest of 9 children. There is no indication of any physical or mental problem listed for her in the far right column where it would be posted.

Amanda married James Monroe Gardner 15 December 1859, in Meigs County, Ohio after her family moved there from Athens County. She was 21.

Meigs County, Ohio Marriages, Volume 2, page 342.

In July 1860 James and Amanda were living in Lebanon Township, Meigs County, next to James’s Aunt Frances (Gardner) Smith and her family. James was a successful farmer with land and personal property worth $1200. Their first child, William Sidney Gardner (my Great-Grandfather), was born in January 1861 at Guthrie Mills, in Orange Township, Meigs County. Their second child, Lucinda Haddasa Gardner, was born in Bowling Green, in Warren County, Kentucky in June 1864. James’s aunt Lucinda (Gardner) Bolla was living with her family in Bowling Green in 1860 and her husband William Henry Bolla started working for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad before 1865. James and Amanda may have been visiting them at that time or James may have been traveling while Amanda stayed with them. Although James started as a farmer, he ultimately became a bridge builder for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad which meant he must have traveled quite a bit working on the Railroad. The L & N Railroad was finished in 1859 with 187 miles of track in use and by 1861 the Railroad had 269 miles of track. James’s uncle by marriage, Henry Bolla, may have helped him obtain the Railroad position. James and Amanda’s third child, James Clinton, was born in Ohio in February 1867 but he died about a month later in March 1867. He was buried in the Keno Cemetery in Meigs County, where Amanda’s mother was buried and later, her father as well. This was undoubtedly a very difficult time for Amanda with the death of a child and her husband gone much of the time and apparently she was suffering from some kind of mental illness.

On 2 August 1867 John Q. Adams who had been married to Amanda’s sister until she died in July 1867 brought Amanda into Court after the Court sent him a warrant ordering him to do so. One wonders where James was at this point although with his work he must have traveled quite a bit. Family stories say that he kept the railroad tracks working during the Civil War and was captured more than once and then released when they found out what his work involved. The Court declared Amanda insane and said it was of less than 2 years duration. The Court determined that she was a legal resident of Chester Township and was not dangerous. A doctor was ordered to file his certificate as medical witness and his records and the records of the Court were to be sent to the Superintendent of the Central Ohio Lunatic Asylum.

On the 14th of September in 1867 on motion made by __________ Gardner the Court said that he was a suitable person appointed to take Amanda to the Central Ohio Lunatic Asylum and he was ordered to do so “with all convenient speed”. It is not known whether this was James or another Gardner. By the summer of 1868 Amanda must have been back home again because their fourth child, son Harry was born in Louisville in early May 1869.

The 1869 Louisville City Directory shows the family living at 335 13th Street and James is a bridge builder for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.

As shown above in the 1870 Census, the family was living in Louisville and doing very well. James was a bridge builder and had $6,000 worth of real estate. Amanda is apparently well and at home. The next page of the Census shows a cook and Ella Peoples, aged 15 living with the family. Ella was probably a niece of Amanda’s. In 1871 Amanda lost another child when son Edwin was born in Louisville in February 1871 and died in June of that year. Daughter Mary Eliza was born in March 1872 in Louisville but by the time son Robert was born in September 1874 the family was living in Dover, Lee County, Iowa. James bought land there in 1875. The last child John was born there in February 1877.

In the 1880 Census taken on June 3rd in Franklin Township, Lee County, Iowa, Amanda is listed as “In Insane Hospital” suffering from “Mania” So she must have been sent away again.

James and Amanda’s children including my Great-Grandfather, William Sidney Gardner, on the back left. Photo taken about 1885.

Amanda Gardner died 7 March 1884 at the age of 45 and was buried in the Clay Grove Cemetery in Lee County, Iowa near the farm where her family lived. Her tombstone is next to her husband and her father-in-law and mother-in-law. They all died within a few years of each other.

Her obituary said her “mind has not been just right for the last 16 years” but she died at home with her family. James apparently was out of state when she died and he remarried one month later. One has to wonder about those circumstances. James died two years later and his will stated that the younger children were to stay with their step-mother but the older children soon bought out their step-mother and she apparently left. James’s will also stated that the children were not to be under the control of Amanda’s two maiden sisters so there must have been some ill will there as well. These two sisters stayed close to family members and moved to Nebraska where William and his family later relocated.

This obituary written by Amanda’s sister a few months after her death said that “She was troubled with weakness of mind for some years and was an inmate of Mt. Pleasant Asylum. This was caused by opposition to her religious faith.” What that all means is impossible to determine now and one can only wonder about the other events of her short life.

Nana's Dressing Table

October 19, 2019 by Beth Wilson in Genealogy

My Nana, my mother’s mother, died when I was nine. I have no memories of her that I can remember and we lived 300 miles away when she died. My mother inherited some of her belongings, and I received them from my mother, and I cherish them. Nana was born in 1881 and she was married in 1909, an older bride for that time period. Her husband, my Grandfather, was 18 years older than she was and a widower with five children, the oldest only five years younger than my Nana. It was not an easy situation at times but the family was well off until the Depression hit. I gathered a few things to share that might have been on Nana’s dressing table from time to time.

This sterling vanity dresser set with a mirror and shoe horn were probably part of a larger set. The mirror is engraved with my Nana’s initials J. P. L. and it is marked sterling. The mirror is marked with F & B in a flag, the trademark of Foster and Bailey, a company that became Theodore Foster & Bros. Co. in 1898. I suspect the set was made between 1910 and 1920. Although it is the same design, the sterling shoe horn has a different trademark, one from the Webster Company.

I have another sterling dresser set from my mother’s half-sister. She never married so the set is engraved with her maiden name initials, E. M. L.. The set also included a frame for a comb that is not in the photo. I have not been able to identify the trademark on these pieces.

This is one of my Nana’s calling cards or visiting cards and her calling card case.

Calling cards were a simple means for servants to introduce someone's arrival, although complex rules developed around their use. After the invention of the telephone, the use of personal calling cards declined and they ultimately disappeared.

This beaded evening bag belonged to my Nana or her mother. I couldn’t find any markings on it at all although the interior bag part is very worn and in pieces. It may have been made between 1900 and 1920.

My mother told me that my Nana had a friend bring this cameo back to her from Italy. The chain is not original to the piece. The gold on the cameo is marked 14k. I have always loved this piece. It is especially dear to me because I have a photo of my Nana wearing it. I have only worn it a few times since I inherited it because it is so fragile.

I wish I knew more about this green glass jar that belonged to Nana. My mother always had face powder in it while I was growing up. It has no markings of any kind. I keep it in one of my china cabinets because I don’t want it anywhere where it could be damaged.

Having something that belonged to an ancestor is so special. It brings them closer to have something and touch something that they touched too.

Grandpa's Keepsakes and Their Stories

September 29, 2019 by Beth Wilson in Genealogy

If we are lucky, we inherit bits and pieces of possessions from our ancestors and they can provide wonderful insights into their lives that we might not have known about otherwise. They become, not just family heirlooms, but something that can give us a closer understanding about those who came before us. Family possessions and paper ephemera we inherit provide all kinds of clues for us. My husband’s maternal grandfather, Perry Frederick Zwisler, was a fascinating man and the keepsakes we have inherited from him, with some research as to their history, provide interesting clues as to who he was and how he lived his life. The photo above was taken in the 20’s probably. He was born in 1896 and he died in 1987 at the age of 91.

Grandpa Zwisler came from German ancestry. His mother and her parents were born in Germany and his father’s parents were both born in Germany. This Anchor Puzzle probably belonged to Grandpa and it was made by F. AD. Richter & Co. in Rudolstadt, Germany. They had an American office in New York City and the puzzle was made between 1900 and 1920.

The puzzle has individual clay pieces that can be rearranged into many different patterns and designs. Grandpa had the kind of mind that would have enjoyed manipulating these puzzle pieces. Before he died, Grandpa Zwisler filled out a Grandparent’s Book for me that provides wonderful details, in his words, about his life. By the time Perry got to high school, his interest in how things worked and engineering had developed. He said his favorite subject was Mathematics and he liked running the machines and making things. In Shop he made a dandelion digger, a screw driver, a chain and chain hook, and a hexagonal bolt. During high school he also made a cannon and candle pins for bowling in Wood Shop.

Perry’s father started working at the Hampden Glazed Paper Company in 1882 and Perry worked there as well during the summers while he was in high school. Perry was named after one of the owners of the company, Ralph Perry Fowler. In the summer of 1912, when he was 16, Perry’s foot got caught in a company freight elevator and he lost all the toes on that foot. His doctor told him he was one of the first industrial patients to be taken care of by the mill, under the new Workman’s Compensation Law.

After high school Perry wanted to go to an engineering college. He entered the Co-Operative School of Engineering of Northeastern College (later Northeastern University) in Boston in 1913 and graduated in 1917 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. During that time he was editor of the Co-op, a monthly news magazine and editor of the 1917 Cauldron, the annual year book. A page from the 1917 Annual summarizes Perry’s college activities.

Perry’s first job in 1917 was at the Fisk Rubber Company in Chicopee Falls in the Engineering Department designing tire treads . He said that he only worked there a few months. This post card shows the building about that time period.

Perry started working at the Springfield Armory in 1918 in the Engineering Department designing, building and testing the first 35mm cannon to be used on an airplane and he worked there until 1920 when he was laid off due to lack of work.

In 1918 Perry made these brass candlesticks by hand and put his initials and the date on the bottom.

Once he was laid off in 1920, Perry built a garage for his mother to house the family car and that was the start of his Building Contractor business.

Perry is on the left in this photo with his 1921 Nash and the new garage. He had a successful Building Contractor business and built many homes in the Holyoke, Massachusetts area until the mid 1940’s.

The family home that Perry built in Holyoke, Massachusetts in 1926.

About 1940 Perry started working at the Citizen’s Coal Company and by 1946 he had stopped all his Building Contractor work and was working there full time.

These possessions of Perry’s tell us about his life and we cherish them and the stories that they tell.