It is always good to hear from someone who is interested in your research and even better when they can provide information.
I was therefore delighted to hear from another family historian in the USA regarding some photographs she had bought in an antique store. She thought I might be interested in the pictures as part of my one-name study into the surname Cleasby.
The pictures were of three little girls and were labelled with the children’s names, Ernestine, Dorris and Virginia Cleasby. The pictures show three happy and very well-dressed little girls.
One picture depicts Ernestine aged about two, bare footed and playing with something on a small table.
Ernestine looks a robust child but despite this she appears to have had a very short life. The only records I can find of her existence are this picture and the fact that her sister’s births record them as second and third child.
The second picture shows two girls, one aged about four wearing a bow almost as large as her head, the other is a baby of about one year old. Records show that these are Dorris born in 1907 and Virginia born in 1911.
Ernestine, Dorris and Virginia were the daughters of Dr Ernest Milo Cleasby and Josephine Atwood, Dorris was born in Littleton New Hampshire in 1907 and Virginia in Barton, Vermont in 1911. The family settled in Barton. Sadly Josephine died still relatively young in 1925, Ernest did remarry but more of that in another post.
The family was clearly well respected in the community, probably with Ernest being a Doctor, he appears to have worked at the Cleasby hospital, whether this was named after him I do not know, something for further research.
I hope this post isn’t too dull but it goes to show how much can be learnt about someone through researching a local newspaper. The Cleasby sisters (Dorris in particular) were very involved in their community and led busy lives from being quite young children.
Hold the front page! Eleanor Lyon, Mark Richardson and Dorris Cleasby had the measles in April 1913. The paper almost consistently spells Dorris with one R but most official documents spell her name with two, so I am going to stick to that spelling.
In February 1917 Dorris became secretary of a “Pollyanna club” at her Sunday school. The picture shows the pin members of Pollyanna clubs would wear. I can’t find out much about them but apparently the book was published in 1913 and the first club started in 1916, so Miss Heidger was quick off the mark.
April 1917 Dr Cleasby the girl’s’ mother returns from Brightlook Hospital. The same week disaster befalls Dorris who breaks her arm in two places.
In September 1917 Dorris Cleasby performed in a “splendid program” trained by Miss Skinner where she performed a song holding a baby doll.
May 1918 Dorris had both Liberty bonds and thrift stamps, something much encouraged by her school.
August 1919 the two sisters attended the 12th birthday party of Miss Virginia Hanscome at the cottage of Mr and Mrs at GS Dodge at Willoughby Lake.
Dorris Cleasby visited relatives in Lisbon and Littleton, New Hampshire for a January holiday in 1921.
November. 1924 Virginia Cleasby a high school pupil made a recitation for Armistice Day at the Opera House.
A busy week in January 1929 for Virginia hosting a bridge party and attending a baseball game with Miss Elizabeth Dickens, the two young women were entertained at the home of Dr and Mrs C M Crampton.
June 1932 and Virginia has a visit from Miss Dorothy Curtis from Berlin, New Hampshire.
In January 1935, Dorris spends a few days in Boston with Mr and Mrs Ralph Brahana.
A busy week for Dorris, in February 1935, bridge playing and hosting and food a food sale to organise.
And the same week she went to a basketball game.
In April 1935 the sisters visit friends in Lisbon N.H
In April 1935 Dorris Cleasby entertained her Christmas Club, presumably they were busy all year long!
May 1935 and a trip to Boston for Dorris.
November 1935 and Doris has a trip for about a month to Athol, Massachusetts.
January 1936 Dorris is on the committee arranging a bridge party for the Orient Eastern Star.
January 1936 finds Dorris organising a sewing session at the Women’s Alliance of the Congregational Church.
January 1936 Dorris hosts The Women’s Alliance first meeting of the year.
April 1936 finds Dorris entertaining the young ladies from her Sunday class at her home.
All this social life but Dorris was a business woman too. In July 1936 she visits Waterbury on business.
All this, how did she find time to knit? October 1936 she offered a handmade knitted suit as a raffle prize. I wonder what finished garment was like. I hope it was more appreciated than the crocheted one I had in the 1970s.
November 1936, Dorris attended the Order of the Eastern Star meeting of the Orient Chapter in Barton.
October 1940, Dorris travels to Newport for a reception to Grand Officers at the Masonic Temple.
Virginia went to Toronto in January 1944 and on to Long Beach California with Mrs I J Isbell and her sister Mrs W S Cone, at least that is my interpretation.
Virginia visited Burlington in November 1947 with Mrs Charles Hardy on business.
Sadly the newspaper reports Virginia’s death in 1949, her death certificate shows she had tuberculosis of the lung, she was only 38 years old, again, if a Doctor’s daughter could die from TB you wonder how the general population fared?
September 1951 and another holiday in Boston for Dorris.
In October 1955 Dorris married, this auspicious occasion is given very little coverage in comparison to her other activities, perhaps rightly so. Lawrence Allard had divorced three years previously on the grounds of extreme cruelty, I am unclear as to whether he was cruel or his ex-wife or quite what “cruelty” implies. He was ten years younger than Dorris and they remained married until Dorris’s death.
In 1955 Dorris, now Mrs Allard was guest of honour at a dinner held by Mrs Leigh Carl.
July 1959 maybe a slow news day but the paper reports the exciting news that Mrs Allard had her mother in law and sister in law round for Sunday dinner.
And there the news of the Cleasby sisters runs dry. Dorris died aged 87 in 1995 of severe dementia, she had also been hypocalcaemic for ten years, this would have caused dementia and would probably be treatable now. A sad end for such an industrious and capable woman.
The three Cleasby sisters had no descendants and that is probably why their photograph ended in an antique shop. It has been a pleasure to learn about their lives and to tell their tale as best I can.
Siblings and niblings 