COMPTON CALIFORNIA

 

My cousin Annie F. Howie is here buried alongside her brother Robert Maitland Howie.  She is a cousin that I never met, although she lived so close by to us in southern California.  Robert and Annie were the children of James Alexander Howie.  Most of you are now saying who was James?  William Rider Howies' father was William George Howie.  James Alexander Howie was one of the brothers of William George Howie.  They had moved out to California back in 1893.  This was much earlier than William Rider Howie who moved with his family from Canada to California in 1935 just after his wife died.  Also, earlier than William R. Howie's parents, Helen Desdemonia Rider (Howie) (Parker) & her second husband Albert Gardner Parker.  They came to Pasadena California just before 1910.

Robert Maitland Howie was just three years old when his family moved him from the family farm in Canada out to California in 1893.   We then find Robert and Annie on the 1900 U.S. Census along with the rest of their family living in Compton California.  Their father James A. Howie was a railroad laborer.   By the 1910 U.S. Census we still find the family living together in Compton, but the census now lists them as farmers between Tweedy Blvd and Abbott Road.  If you look on a current map, this is a large area.  By the 1920 U.S. Census, Robert M. Howie has married Vera Naomi Gains and they have a son.  They are renting a farm next to Thomas Mayo and Flora (Howie) Mayo on Lemon Ave. in Compton.  I believe this is where this next photo was taken.

The year of this photo says 1916 Compton.  Pictured in the photo from left to right. James Alexander Howie and above him his spouse Clara Elnett (Hand) Howie, and below him is Flora L. (Howie) Mayo and her daughter Marjorie L. Mayo.  Above and to the right of Marjorie is Albert Gardner Parker and standing behind him is his spouse Helen Desdemonia (Rider) (Howie) Parker.  Then sitting on the step is the Thomas Mayo and their second daughter Mabel M. Mayo.   On June 5th 1917 we find a WWI draft registration card for Robert Maitland Howie, and then nine years later we find his Burial:
Woodlawn Memorial Park
Compton
Los Angeles County
California, USA.
On the 1920 U.S. Census, we find James Alexander Howie (wd) living with his daughter Annie Howie.  It says he owns the home, 130 So. Rose Ave., Compton, CA.  He was 65 years old, and was working as a night security guard. 

Annie Howie lived a very long time.  She most likely inherited the home from her father where she resided at 130 S. Rose St., Compton CA until her death January 04, 1976. She was 91 years old.  She out lived all of her family except Mabel (Mayo) Somfelde who died in 1986 at 73 years of age.
Using Google maps streetview, we now find the above home is gone, it has been replaced with an asphalt parking lot.

This is about all I have on Cousin Annie Howie.  I wish I had been able to get more information from Dorothy Lecka way back when.  The people are gone as are the farms.  All that is left is a headstone, and as you can see from the above photo taken in 2005, it appears that the headstone soon will be pushed off its base and probably broken as so many headstones are.

Sol Smith Russell died of Hiccoughs

 

Tonight my 3rd Cousin Lillian Rider sent me the names and dates of her grand parents.  I added them to Ancestry.com and then traveled back six generations quickly.  Lillian is a descendant of some very notable and interesting ancestors.

Actors, professors, clergy, miller, author, and politician.  But look at the figure of realestate asset of Sol Smith Russell!  Yes, $2,000,000 and that was in 1902!  Did you also see that he died of Hiccoughs?  He is the second person I have researched who has died this way.  I think so far, this is the best obituary I have read.  This is why I shared it with my readers.  I guess stage actors made bank in those days.

The interesting story here I will have to research is how he went from rags to riches.  Just seven years prior in 1895, I found Sol and his family living in a Penal, Corrective and Charitable Institution.  Grover Cleveland was President of the United States, and had just come through the worse depression of the time.  The 1893 PANIC, where we can find unemployment at over 18%.

Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington D.C.

Vanished people, deportation, Armenian Immigrants

While researching family history and genealogy I find the story of immigration was often caused by persecution.

I am researching the Kooshian family and a horrific story is unfolding. This is a story that I never learned in school.  Youtube has many videos on the subject of Armenian Genocide produced by the BBC network.  Here is part one of a five part video.  I warn you now this video is very graphic.




In the video we hear the current Turkish people denying that there was ever a Genocide. There are always two sides to history. Unfortunately, history has generally been written by the victor. As a result, only one viewpoint is told and exaggerations are made, but occasionally the other angle gets out there. It is then up to the reader to determine what is authentic and what is mere fabrication.

Mehmed Talaat Pasha (1874-1921)

Pasha was the key architect of the Armenian genocide, one of the largest genocides in modern history. Over 1 million people were massacred in the span of 2 years. A member of the Young Turks, Talaat rose up and became one of the three Pashas who ruled the Ottoman government in 1913 until the end of the disastrous First World War. Many Muslim Turks came to see the rise in nationalism of the Christian Armenians as a threat to the existence of the Ottoman state. Programs had already been installed against Armenians in previous years with possibly hundreds of thousands dying. 30,000 died in the Adana massacre of 1909. Once entering World War One, the Ottoman’s endeavor ended in total failure. Russian and Armenian forces set up an Armenian mini-state in 1915 and thus Talaat Pasha sought to punish them. Security forces rounded up 250 Armenian intellectuals and leaders in Istanbul in 1915, and eventually executed them. After passing a Deportation Law, Pasha ordered deportations and executions to be carried out against the whole Armenian population. During the deportations, conditions were deplorable and men were routinely separated from the rest and executed. Many prisoners were tortured and were victims of gruesome medical experiments. More died of hunger and thirst. In some instances victims would be crucified in imitation of Jesus as the perpetrators would say: “Now let your Christ come help you!” Others would have red-hot irons and pincers applied to their flesh. Out of a population of 2.5 million Armenians, between 1 and 1.5 million perished in this period. After the Ottoman collapse, Talaat Pasha fled to Berlin and was subsequently murdered there in 1921. His assassin was an Armenian genocide survivor. 

Why do I post the above story? Well, my cousin Rev. Kooshian is an American with Armenian ancestors. His parents were part of the deportation of Armenians, however his grand parents and grand aunts and uncles were not able to flee their homeland. As the woman in the first video explains, they fled to the church where all the men, women and children were burned alive in the Adana massacre of 1909.

In the very near future genealogy will be based more on the genetic code of DNA. Currently many in my family can trace their roots to the United Kingdom, however there are the Nalick, Lecka and Gejekooshian families whose genetic roots are deep in the Ottoman Empire, and their stories and histories have been lost to wars.

The last video I would like you to watch is the other side of the story. How Muslims, Christians and Jewish people once lived together. I wonder if history just might repeat itself as Nationalism and it's ideals become stronger in the United States.




Rev. Kooshian's great grandfather was from Tarsus. Tarsus can be found mentioned in the Bible as the birth place of Paul and was the Roman Capital city of Cilicia from 72 A.D.

For more reference on Armenian's besides Youtube check out the Armeniapedia.org.