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Gard's Grassroots Genealogy; Otha & Mary Alice [Gard] Stanley

Help me pull the weeds!

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Info Section for Otha and Mary Alice Gard Stanley; this section is still "out for review" although I expect few corrections, I hope there will be additions.

    Otha Lonzo Stanley was born 1 Oct 1867 in Mercer Co.,Missouri to very young parents. His father, “Billy” was not yet 18 [tho a civil war veteran] and his mother, Sarah Jane, was just 21.   My mother's story was that the family lived in Decatur Co., Iowa and his parents wanted him to be born in Missouri.    This could be because Sarah Jane’s mother was still living Mercer Co. with small children and other relatives that could help.

    My mother told me that he was named Lonzo after a family member named Alonzo but they didn't know how it was spelled. I've found no Alonzo Stanley that I can relate but Alonzo may not have been a Stanley. I don't know where the Otha name came from; there was a bluegrass musician in Tennessee by the name of Otha Stanley but he was a bit younger and I can't imagine a connection.

    Otha’s parents lived in Decatur Co., Iowa for a while, moved a short way to Harrison County, Mo. and then to Humiston, Wayne Co., Iowa in the late 1870s. The Humiston newspaper at the time was the "HUMESTON NEW ERA, Established 1880" by Heck Sanford; it appears that Otha apprenticed there for a while and the paper followed his career in California. Interestingly, it was purchased in 1946 by Merle and Marjorie Stanley; they might be related.

    Otha would have come to California about 1884 from Humeston with his Parent’s family, first to Lower Lake [his father’s great uncles, James Robert and Lemuel were there at one time]. Otha would have been about 15 at the time; I wonder if he had finished high school.

    The Humiston New Era of Thursday, 07 Oct. 1886 reports that he was head printer at the Lake County Journal. Norma had a copy of "Vol.1. No.1. of the Daily Avalanche published by Moore and Stanley" Feb.18, 1887; The Lake Co. Bee stated the publisher was J. W. McCraney. I don't know what happened to the paper. In 1890 he was the proprietor of the "New Era", the first newspaper in Kelseyville. An 1891 history of Lake Co. has the New Era founded in 1889 as a weekly of "merit and push". [The article included the Middletown Independent of cousins Alfred Ozias and A. Mortimer Stanley under the same description.] I have no idea what happened to the paper and assume it was named after the Humiston paper. The 01Aug.1891 masthead said Vol.3. No.19 of "The Kelseyville New Era by Otha L. Stanley". By 1895 he was working for the Clear Lake Press.   I have not found the family in the 1880 census and the 1890 census is gone.

    On 17 Jun 1896 in Kelseyville, Lake Co., Calif. Otha married Mary Alice Gard on her 24th birthday. Mary was the youngest daughter of Charles and Nancy Webb Gard and the only one of their children born in Lake County. She was born soon after her family moved to Kelseyville. I'm sure that she went thru school at least most of the way as I have a photo of six young ladies including Otha's sister Inze that sure looks like a high-school graduation photo. Cousin Robbie was impressed by her ability to write poetry.   Also, I recall that she wrote well and was well spoken. One affectation that I did notice was her adding a’ before action verbs [I’m a’going to the store]. My mother said she never noticed that but she grew up with it.   Mary [I called her Mimi] did not talk to me about Otha but my wife asked about him and she said “he had the bluest eyes and a great sense of humor”. I have a cabinet photo of him taken in Kelseyville probably about the time of his marriage; he has a strong face, maybe receding hair, is a bit Scandinavian looking and resembles a very young Tom Smothers of the Smothers Brothers. A photo of Mary, taken about the same time, shows her as quite a nice looking young woman and was taken at 10th and Broadway in Oakland. Otha’s brother Owen and my mother ended up in Oakland but this indicates an earlier connection that I was not aware of. Mary’s father was a teamster and might have hauled to the area; I recall Robbie saying he was in S. F. at one time. Oakland is much easier than S.F. to reach by land but I’d expect passenger traffic to go by railroad from Calistoga which works to Oakland better or by ferry from Vallejo which works to Oakland. She had several older brothers to accompany her if she did not go with Otha.

    I thought that at the time of their marriage, Otha was unemployed as old letters show he was searching along the coastal towns’ newspapers looking for a job. He landed a job with the Heeser family's "Mendocino Beacon" and Mary moved there to be with him. A clipping Norma had indicated that, at the time of his marriage, he was forman of the Beacon, was married in Kelseyville and came back to Mendocino immediately after the wedding. He would have hired in under Wm. Heeser.   My mother and Mary Alice remembered that he worked for Auggie Heeser who was a bit younger than Otha, considered a friend by Otha, and owned the paper until he died in 1966. Otha was an editor on the paper for several years [his obit from the Beacon says associate editor and foreman] altho this isn't always evident from reading the paper.   However, there were several mentions of him and his family as O. L. Stanley including his excellent passing grade in the test for census taker, his involvement in local plays, my mother's birth, his 3 terms as a school trustee and his purchase of property on Clara St. [not mentioning it was in Ukiah]. The house in which they lived on Little Lake St. is still there [Mendocino City is a historical district] diagonally opposite “Jessica Fletcher’s house”. Charles, Leonora and Park were born there. I have 3 "Mendocino Views" photos under O. L.'s name one of which seems to be the interior of their house. [Mendocino City seem to have been known as this at the time to differentiate it from the county; my mother always said "Mendocino City"].

    Thanks to Phil Carnahan, I have the info that Otha purchased a house at 122 Clara St. in Ukiah on 06Oct.1903 from Norton Wagonfeller and sold it to Reid 23Aug.1907. May 2008 it was looking good. Phil's record has a sketch of the floor plan and it looks like it is the same [crowded for 5 kids]. Oops, the 1880 census has him as Norton Wagonseller. Did I get caught on an early s that looks like s?

    Otha and Mary are on the 1900 census, enumerated by Otha, with Charles and Otha’s brother Owen. Interestingly, the census has Otha born in Iowa.   Also, Mary’s parents are listed as being from Missouri. This is corrected in the 1910 census and just “United States” in the 1920 census! Mary told me her parents were from Mo.; I think that is what she thought. I’d heard that Otha helped Owen thru high school in Ft. Bragg. Owen seems to have repaid them by helping my mother thru college. My mother was born at the house on Little Lake St. Just after the census was taken. Park Owen Stanley was born there in 1902 indicating that Otha was quite close to his brother. My mother’s birth was not recorded. Her sister, Norma, for my mother’s 60th birthday, got her a birth certificate. All this requires is a record of the birth and a witness. The family bible was the record and the guy that lived next door was there 60 years later.

    "On 5/3/1903 O. L. Stanley, connected with the Beacon for 7.5 years, left for Ukiah; assumes foremanship of Dispatch."   Hmmm, their prose can be even more terse than mine.   Frank Beach took over for Otha at the Beacon; Frank was the husband of Flora Stanley, the daughter of Ozias LaFayette Stanley a brother of Otha's grandfather, Jesse Stanley. Ozias was occasionally listed in newspaper articles as O. L. Stanley sometimes adding confusion.

    While in Ukiah, they lived in the house on Clara St.; Harold and Norma [Stanley Ledbetter] were born there. Clara St. is a short street going east from State, the main street of town. It had a reputation as being a "garden area". When we were there I thought I had an address but the whole block of numbers were missing; I called Norma but she couldn't recall anything about the house. She was very young when they left and I guess hadn't gone back.

    Otha went to work for the Dispatch-Democrat in Ukiah. Thanks to Ed Bold and Phil Carnahan of the Mendocino Co. Historical Society, I have pretty good information about Otha’s employment in Ukiah [Phil supplied more info I didn’t have]. The Dispatch-Democrat was owned since 1898 by John Bunyon Sanford. Sanford was originaly a teacher and principal in Mendocino schools before buying the paper; he also spent many years in the Calif. State Assembly and Senate. I have no idea if he was related to Heck Sanford who started the Humiston New Era in 1880; I would be surprised were he not but I can’t prove it.

    Next, probably 15Jan.1904, Otha bought into the Republican Press with W. O. White. Alf. Pennington had the position in 1898 being succeeded by J. M. Mannon then Otha. “About 17 Mar.1905, Stanley left because of ill health”. He stayed on for a while as a foreman apparently selling his equity back to White. White kept the paper until he died in 1915. The Dispatch-Democrat said that Otha then returned to that paper as foreman for several years; I feel it was until 1907. They stated “He then went to Lakeport to conduct the Bee for W. L. Rideout. Shortly afterward his health began to fail and he resigned his position and began to live in the open. He established a small job shop in Lakeport and worked at the trade as he was able, but of late years has been practically bedridden, although he would not give up and kept to his feet until within a few days of the end.”

    The Republican Press was originally the Ukiah City Press when taken over by Arelious O. Carpenter in 1878. He took in a partner by the name of Paine in 1879 and sold out to him in 1881, well before Otha got to Ukiah. I include this as Carpenter was a printer, photographer and published a book on the history of Lake and Mendocino Counties in 1914, a copy of which Norma’s husband Vic saved from the city dump. He is also the father of Grace Hudson who became famous in Ukiah due primarily to her paintings of the local natives. I’m sure Otha knew him. Otha took several views of Mendocino County; those which I have have the look of being professionally published.

    I don’t know when Otha contracted T. B.; the Beacon obit says he got serious pnumonia about 1908, recovered then got T. B. "in his weakened condition. I thought it was when he was in Mendocino City which says something about what I think of their climate. It is so different from the climate of Ukiah or Lakeport. It looks like it affected him in Ukiah and in Lakeport. I also don’t know how to feel about the job changes. In those days pensions were not much consideration and one needed to get the best position one could. I suspect OSHA would not approve of air quality in the printrooms.

    Norma’s husband, Vic, showed us the house up 4th St. in Lakeport [#590] that he said Otha built [cousin Carol Lee felt it was the location of Otha's print shop] and said he also owned a boat on Clear Lake.   I'm sure Otha worked as a printer and it probably was at the Bee, as I recall Mary Alice taking me there to meet the linotype operator when I was very young. The office was on Main St. in Lakeport very near 4th St.

       Otha died 14 May 1911 in Lakeport, Lake Co., Calif. and was buried in the Kelseyville Cemetery in Kelseyville, Lake Co., Calif. I never knew him. All the local papers wrote very nice obituaries about him including one written by the editor of the Calistogan.

    Otha's death left his widow, Mary, with 5 children and no income. Otha's mother died Christmas day 1907 and his father remarried in 1910; he left Lake County for Southern California, I need to find out when. I don't have reason to think the larger Stanley family was close to Otha's family altho there were several cousins in the area and Otha's siblings didn't seem to be prosperous. An exception was his little brother, Owen Garret Stanley [the Garret name was from Sarah Jane's mother's family adding credibility to the guess that they went to her mother's when Otha was born], who Otha helped thru Ft. Bragg High School but was only 5 years out of Stanford when Otha died. Owen was only a baby when the family came to California and repaid Otha's help by helping my mother thru the University of California; they were always close. I have a tintype of Otha with his father and Owen looking like a high-schooler; this could have been on the occasion of their father leaving for southern California.

    Mary Alice [I have a strange feeling calling her that as I recall her being called Mimi, possibly because I couldn't handle Mama or whatever the family called her] had siblings in the area: George d. 1933, Will d. 1936, Charles d. 1938, Fannie d. 1939, John d. 1945 and Jim d. 1948 and her mother, Nancy Webb Gard, lived with Jim in Kelseyville until she died in 1925.   I know that Mary Alice was close to Jim but I don't think any of them could be considered as affluent enough to be of much help with the exception of "Aunt Fannie" [Susan Francis Gard Thomas] and her husband "Uncle Benty" Benton Thomas. I heard a lot about them as I grew up.

        Uncle Benty had a ranch at Finley and was a teamster [as was Charles Gard] and had a small house on a corner of his property that he let Mary Alice's family live in. I'll bet he supplied the cow that gave them milk and cream and may have supplied the horse, "Rowdy"; Rowdy may have been with them in Mendocino City. My mother told me about one trip from Mendocino City to Kelseyville by horse and wagon that took at least 2 days each way; they camped on the way. It is less than 40 minutes now. As I recall, the house in Finley was being torn down at the time of my mother's death.

    Both Norma and my mother told me many times how much they enjoyed Benty. My mother said that he had a voice loud enuf that, coming over Hopland Mountain on a road so dusty that Benty's freight wagon and the passenger stage had to stay a long way apart, he could still converse with the stage driver over the noise of the wagons. Norma could not corroborate this but offered that he would talk to the farmers on the neighboring ranches while milking the cows before 6am. Norma told how she would sleep on the porch in hot weather and Benty would come by and dump he out of her cot; she loved it.

    I was sent by the Lake Co. Genealogical Society copies of the county assistance papers for the kids; she got maybe $20 per month to raise a family. She took in sewing to augment this and they survived happily if not affluently. My father, when closing out their apartment, showed me a class ring [don't know what class] that her class bought my mother as there was no way the family could afford one.

    Mary Alice was still in Finley in the ‘20s according to Robbie [Thora Gard Weight]. Robbie, granddaughter of Mary Alice's brother James Alexander Gard, was raised for her first 5 or so years by Mary Alice as was a youngster whose name I can't recall. Robbie remembers when my mother came back from college or Oakland in the ‘20s and sewed a dress for her. Mary Alice's kids all became sufficiently successful to raise families of their own outside Lake County [except for Park who was on the move with the USGS and didn't marry until later in life]. Park and Harold stayed around Lakeport for a while and, I'm sure, helped Mary Alice.

    The Lake Co. Genealogy Society has a page on "Women's Clubs of Lake County 1923 -24". This indicates Mary, with her sister Susan F. Thomas and others, were federated members of the Finley Country Club.

    Carol Lee remembered that Mary Alice worked at Hoberg's resort on Cobb Mtn. in the late '30s and maybe early '40s as a maid doing washing and ironing. She was also active at one time in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.

    I recall that Mary Alice attended the First Christian Church on First Street just above Main. The building is still there looking good but has been a hair salon for some time now. I have a suspicion that the founding of the church may have had something to do with Mary’s mother-in-law, Mahala Gard, as she and Jeremiah seemed to have been involved for several years in founding of churches of that denomination but it is only a suspicion.

    At some time, I don't know just when, my folks bought a small house at Fourth and High in Lakeport [said by my father to have been a radio store at one time] for Mary Alice. It was next door to Vic and Norma's so I'd guess it was late 30s; it was on the Sanborn's Fire Insurance map of 1934 but not 1923 [I'm hoping for more info from Steve soon]. The north-east side of the same lot between 4th and 5th was the location of my Father’s family’s home; it burned around 1924 and that part of the lot was vacant when I lived there. Mary Alice's little stucco house had two small bedrooms, a bathroom between them, a living room and kitchen. It had oil heat. The living room had a small oil burner that went “whoosh” when it ignited and scared me and a stove that was oil-fired on in the middle and wood on the right side. The wood side heated the kitchen; it had a small oven that I don’t recall anything about. I don't recall much about her cooking when I lived with her in the middle '40s; Carol Lee says she was a "meat and potatoes cook".

    My mother was quite sick at one time so I lived with Mary Alice and went to Lakeport Grammar School in the 2nd grade. She got me thru a tonsillectomy which Dr. Charlie Craig did on his dining room table using a jackhammer. Out the back door was a large horse-chestnut tree. My cousin Steve [Ledbetter] and I would, just before Thanksgiving, go into her backyard, find the rather horrible looking spiky-shelled chestnuts and stomp on them to remove the outer husks. The inner chestnuts made such good turkey dressing that we still make it to this day; I can't think of a reason to do anything else!

    Mary Alice's son Harold and wife Francis lived on 6th or 7th above High St. We would stop by occasionally to see them. I think it was their son Jimmy that told us that Harold was a realator at the time and they lived in several houses in the area wherever they could get the best rent. This could explain why we can't find the house now. Harold’s office was at the first location of the first Meddaugh’s Drug Store.

    My mother was a school teacher and was away from home during the day. Mary Alice stayed many times with us before and during the time I was in school. I remember her walking me a mile or more to pre-school classes at Mills College the other side of highway 50 [now MacArthur Blvd]. We were less than a half mile from grammar school and I don't remember her taking me there all that often.

    I don’t remember her cooking too much [I was young, I got fed, I was happy] but I do remember her helping me make cookies and baking powder biscuits. She also made fried chicken, white bread and pumpkin, mincemeat and raisin pies for holidays, things my mother rarely did.

    In the second grade I lived with her in Lakeport. After that, she lived with us in Oakland for a while. Even later, she contracted cancer and lived for quite a while with my parents in Oakland. She spent her last couple of years in a nursing facility on Seminary Ave. My mother did a lot to decorate the place and had Mary Alice and some of her friends by for dinner occasionally.

    After Lauren was born in 1958, in 1961, we had twin girls. If a girl, she was to be Renée Michelle. We had to come up with more names so they were Renée and Michelle. We chose Renée's middle name to be Marie after Mary but using the French spelling. I don't think Mary Alice appreciated the change in the spelling. Mary Alice died 1 April, 1963 in Oakland at the age of 91 and is buried in Kelseyville next to Otha.

    Mary Alice raised 5 kids of her own and helped raise Robbie, ?, me and I'm sure Steve and Harold's kids Jim and Carol Lee. I'll bet there were others I don't know about; that's the way she was.

    Notes from Ed Bold:, Oct.'06

A. O. Carpenter took over the Ukiah City Press, that later became the
Ukiah Republican Press, in Oct. 1878, he gained a partner by the name
of Paine in Feb.1879, and in 1881 Paine bought out Carpenter.

Ukiah Republican Press
Sept. 1898 Alf Pennington, editor, W. O.White, business manager
May. 1901 "         "         , editor and manager
Aug. 1902 Press Publishing Co. (J. M. Mannon)
Jan. 15, 1904     W. O. White and O. L. Stanley
March 17, 1905 W. O. White only (Stanley left because of ill health)
White had the paper till his death Aug. 13, 1915.
He died of appendicitis.

Dispatch Democrat
1898 J. B. Sanford
1913 gained a partner   E. P. Thurston

When O. L. S. retired as White's partner he stayed on with the URP
as a foreman.   DD March 17, 1905 1:3

This is all that I have come up with so far, I hope it helps.

==========================================================================================================================
     HUSBAND Otha Lonzo STANLEY
     BIRTH:   1 Oct 1867                PLACE: ,Mercer Co.,Missouri
     MAR.:   17 Jun 1896                PLACE: Kelseyville,Lake Co.,Calif.
     DEATH: 14 May 1911                PLACE: Lakeport,Lake Co.,Calif.
     BURIAL:                            PLACE: Kelseyville Cem.,Kelseyville,Lake Co.,Calif.
     FATHER: William Clemens STANLEY        MOTHER: Sarah Jean BROWN
==========================================================================================================================
     WIFE    Mary Alice GARD
     BIRTH: 17 Jun 1872                PLACE: Kelseyville,Lake Co.,Calif.
     DEATH:   1 Apr 1963                PLACE: Oakland,Alameda Co.,Calif.
     BURIAL:                            PLACE: Kelseyville,Lake Co.,Calif.
     FATHER: Charles GARDMOTHER:             Nancy Ann WEBB
==========================================================================================================================
     CHILDREN
==========================================================================================================================
      1. NAME: Charles William STANLEY
     --- BIRTH: 18 Nov 1897            PLACE: Mendocino City,Mendocino Co.,Calif.
         MAR.:   11 Dec 1932            PLACE: ,Wash.
         DEATH: 21 Dec 1972            PLACE: Long Beach,Los Angeles Co.,Calif
         BURIAL: 23 Dec 1972            PLACE: Long Beach,Calif.
         SPOUSE: Ilene Grace AKIN
     --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      2. NAME: Otha Leonora (Lee) STANLEY
     --- BIRTH:   1 Dec 1900            PLACE: Mendocino City,Mendocino,Calif.
         MAR.:    8 Jun 1929            PLACE: Oakland,Calif.
         DEATH: 16 May 1979            PLACE: Alameda,Alameda Co.,Calif.
         BURIAL:                        PLACE: Lakeport,Hartley Cemetery,Lake Co.,Calif.
         SPOUSE: Oscar Edson (Bob) MEDDAUGH
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      3. NAME: Park Owen STANLEY
     --- BIRTH:   5 Mar 1902            PLACE: Mendocino City,Mendocino Co.,Calif.
         MAR.:    7 May 1950            PLACE:
         DEATH: 30 Aug 1967            PLACE: Miami,Ariz.
         BURIAL: 1 Sep 1967            PLACE: Pima Cemetery,Pima,Ariz.
         SPOUSE: Vera MATHERSON
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      4. NAME: Harold James STANLEY
     --- BIRTH: 17 Sep 1903            PLACE: Ukiah,Mendocino Co.,Calif.
         MAR.:   24 Nov 1926            PLACE:
         DEATH: 25 Mar 1974            PLACE: Santa Rosa,Sanoma Co.,Calif.
         BURIAL: 28 Mar 1974            PLACE: Kelseyville Cem.,Kelseyville,Lake Co.,Calif.
         SPOUSE: Francis FRASER             There are other marriage(s)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      5. NAME: Norma Jean STANLEY       PLACE: Ukiah,Mendocino Co.,Calif.
         MAR.:    4 Aug 1933            PLACE: Lakeport,Lake Co.,Calif.
         DEATH: 26 Jan 1994            PLACE: Grass Valley,Nevada Co.,Calif.
         BURIAL: 31 Jan 1994            PLACE: Kelseyville Cem.,Kelseyville,Lake Co.,Calif.
         SPOUSE: Victor Clarence LEDBETTER
==========================================================================================================================

NOTES:
     Marriage witnessed by George and Sarah Piner.

     HUSBAND Otha Lonzo STANLEY
       NOTES:
               Pension application for kids said he arrived in California in 1885. In 1890 he was the proprieter of the weekly "New Era" the first newspaper in Kelseyville.
               He died of TB.
               From Mendocino Beacon Oct 31 1903 he purchased house on Clara St. (this was in Ukiah) and become foreman of the Dispatch (Ukiah)
               A note from the Beacon says: 1/9/04 O.L.Stanley, father of Mrs. F.W.Beach of this place & uncle of Otha L. Stanley died n Anderson. (That would be Ozious Lafayette Stanley).
               On 5/3/1903 O. L. Stanley, connected with the Beacon for 7.5 years left for Ukiah; assumes foremanship of Dispatch. Place left filled by Frank W. Beach of Lake Co.
               3/8/02 son born to m/m O. L. Stanley
               5/3/02 Secretary of excecutive committee played Ebenezer Goodley, henpecked in comedy "What Happened to Jones"
               6/7/02 At school election, O. L. Stanley was elected trustee for 3 yrs to succeed himself.

               Norma says he was editor and forman of the Beacon for 7 years. He held a like position with the Ukiah Dispatch Democrat for about 4 years. He then moved to Lakeport as a journalist and printer for the Lake County Bee until he died.

     WIFE     Mary Alice GARD
       NOTES:
             Married on her 24th birthday and moved directly to Mendocino City on Little Lake St.

     CHILD 4 Harold James STANLEY
       OTHER MARRIAGES:
         Mary COTHRAN
Dee ?

     CHILD 5 Norma Jean STANLEY
       NOTES:
         Lived in Grass Valley for 25 years and in Lake Co. for 50 years. Also, some time in Wheatland. Graduated from Heald's Business College.

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11Apr.'07 added Carol Lee's comments

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30May.'08 added 122 Clara.