SOPWITH AVIATION COMPANY

WOW! What a weekend... I totally got lost chasing the rainbow, but I found the pot O' GOLD!

I really let my nose follow the money, and had a grand adventure that I hope you too will enjoy the story.

This isn't exactly a story of our genealogy, so if you are just here to read my blog to discover more family roots, then you may not be interested in this story...
but you just might.

With well over 30,000 + names in my tree now, there are so many famous folks with great stories to tell, I could spend twenty four hours a day, everyday writing.  I'm going to take this story in a different direction from the norm of my past writings.  This past weekend, I was on one of my so called wealthy branches.  Not that the farmers and the teachers and the preachers didn't have stories to tell.  Just the wealthy people got their names in the newspapers so much more, and make for some terrific reading.  I just get lost thinking of what it might have been like to live that life.  The life of the uber wealthy.  I know I have found one when they have more than one ocean voyage in a year, and this goes on year after year.  I know I have found one when the journalist only needs to address them by one name.  You know, like Beyonce, or Kardashian!  They are just that famous.  
So first off, I guess it is obvious that this story is on my paternal branch of my tree.  I wish I could find out more about my maternal branch, but so far there aren't as many online resources to search for newspapers and other documents from Europe as there are in the United States.  Well, that I have found anyway.
So, the year is 1934, and the newspaper, The Cincinnati Enquirer.  I just happened to be researching the wife of the brother-in-law to my 9th cousin, once removed.... YES! You got it, Violet Dorothea Grubb, and I found this article.  

Sunday, September 9th, 1934

I had just learned through research that Violet once greeted President Woodrow Wilson by inviting the President upstairs to meet her doll. After graduating from St. Mary's Hall in Burlington, New Jersey, a private finishing school for girls; Violet was presented in London to the King of England. I'm unsure of the year, since it wasn't given, but I found her in attendance in 1915, so, it had to have been either King Edward VIII, or his father King George V.   Most likely King George V.  Since his son, Edwards' reign was short lived. On April 21, 1928, Violet married James Imbrie, a New York investment banker, as was his father James Imbrie, Sr.. The 1920 U.S. Census for the Imbrie family in Manhattan, New York City, shows eight servants: beginning with a Swedish cook, followed by a Swedish kitchen maid, Swedish laundry maid, Danish waitress, Swedish nurse, Finnish chambermaid, and finally an English nurse.  James Imbrie Jr. & Violet Grubb had one son, James Imbrie III, born on July 21, 1929.  While it appears that James III was actually blood of James Imbrie Jr., he ends up taking the name of his step-father, and goes on to be James Joseph McLean the entirety of his life.  James Imbrie & Violet divorced on March 24, 1933. Violet then married James McLean and raised her three sons in Darlington, Maryland.  

That little newspaper clipping above grabbed my eye.  Keywords being Newport, MUG, and yacht races.  Yes!  You got it, 1934 and the America's Cup!  So who was this "Tom", the man with one name? 

T.O.M. Sopwith c. 1890

T.O.M. Sopwith is a play on names.  Actually, Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith.  Born January 18th, 1888, in Kingston, London, England.  His sister was Violet Sopwith who married  General Edward Burd Grub.  They were the parents of Violet Dorothea Grubb.  He is the pot O' GOLD at the end of my rainbow.   He actually is not a blood relation, he is so far removed I don't think I can even count all the people in between he and I.  Katherine Stone Mather (1912-1977) is my 9th cousin once removed.  Her mother was Katherine Boardman Hoyt (1887-1965).  Her daughter Katherine Stone Mather was the wife of Edward Throckmorton McLean, who was the son of Alice McLean.  His brother was James William Tinker, who by the way took the name of McLean.  This James T. McLean married Violet D. Grubb, the relation to T.O.M.  Whew!  Did ya get all that?!?!?

So, back to "Tom". 

T.O.M. Sopwith

A young lad from England who had a need for speed!  He liked racing cars at a young age, and quickly met some boys by the name of Wright.  They were a few years older than he, but since his father was an engineer he had the smarts and quickly blended in.

I'm sure if you would ask a Brit who invented flight they just might mention Tom Sopwith.  While here in the United States we would say the Wright Brothers.  

Here, I don't want to tell his story, let "Tom Sopwith" tell it himself.  Click on his name to view a terrific thirty minute documentary from 1984 of him from his first plane made from a tractor to the HARRIER which can fly up-down-backwards, and STOP in mid air.  Tom Sopwith was the TRUE aviation pioneer! 

T.O.M. Sopwith 1934
Americas Cup

Anytime I find the name VANDERBILT in my research, I know I have an exciting story to behold. Harold Vanderbilt and Thomas Sopwith raced for the America's Cup against one another.

Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith 1984 England

As you see from the video, Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith built the planes of WWI, and was apart of the inspiration for the planes of WWII and beyond!  He lived to the age of 101, passing on January 27, 1989 in Somborne, Romsey, Hampshire, England.

I hope you enjoyed this brief story.  Now back to the race of the America's Cup in 1934.  Click here!

Violet Dorothea and her mother Violet Sopwith

Katherine Stone Mather, remember our 9th cousins, once removed.  Well, she was the daughter of Amasa Stone Mather (1884-1920), and grand-daughter an heir to Samuel Livingston Mather (1851-1931).  A steel industrialist.  When he died he was known as the wealthiest man in Ohio.