It’s been years since I wrote about my great-grandfather’s brother Eugene (see my previous posts here, here and here), but I never gave up trying to learn new things about him. Thanks to more newspapers coming online, I was able to take a closer look at the later years of Eugene’s life.
I’ve written about his marriage to Ladonna Jackson in 1915. Try as I might, I couldn’t find much information on her, other than her parents were Joseph Jackson and Anna Metcalf. I don’t know exactly how long the marriage lasted, but it couldn’t have been long; on the 1950 census, he claimed that he was “never married”. Maybe that was a chapter he wanted to forget?
Eugene is not listed on the Rochester City Directories from 1917-1922 (although his Word War I draft card shows a Rochester residence as 500 Central Ave.); I couldn’t even find him on the 1920 census. There are a few articles that refer to his performances in plays and vaudeville acts in New York and Vermont during this time.
Eugene’s residence between 1923-1937 was with his sister Evelyn and her husband Charles Weilert at 421 Garson Avenue in Rochester, though he still traveled extensively as an actor and part of vaudeville’s Bunny Stricker Players. I should note that he was counted twice in the 1930 census: once with Evelyn and and also boarding with a widow and her housekeeper in Washington, Warren County, NJ.
Starting in 1938, Eugene began his Florida life, living at the Keystone Court Camp and in 1939 at the Hi-an-Dry Camp, both in Miami. It seems that he became a “snow bird”, traveling to Florida in the winter and back up to New York in the summer. His 1942 residence became Blue Point, Suffolk County, NY (on Long Island), according to the World War II “old man’s draft”. This is where my attention started to perk up.
Jumping ahead real quick, Eugene died on December 3, 1954 in Martin County Hospital, Stuart, FL. Most of obituaries state his survivors as his sisters Evelyn and Ella, but the obituary in the Democrat & Chronicle mention “his beloved friend, Mrs. Belle Boyd of Blue Point”. Who could this be, I wondered? A neighbor maybe?
“Belle Boyd” was Charlotte Isabelle (Bird) Boyd, who lived in Blue Point on 153 Blue Point Avenue. Doing a little newspaper research on her, I found her phone number and it was the same number listed on Eugene’s draft card! Now, before we jump to any conclusions, it seems that Belle (who often went by Isabelle) was a widow who often had people stay with her and rent from her. It looks like Eugene was boarding at her place.
Regardless, both Eugene and Isabelle (and her mother at first) spent winters at Seymour Gideon’s Cottages & Trailers in Jensen Beach, Martin County, FL at least starting in 1947. True to his calling, Eugene played piano in the orchestra at the camp. Both Eugene and Isabelle struck up a friendship with Seymour Gideon and are found in various social articles with him.
A final clue about Eugene and Isabelle’s relationship: a 1952 article mentioned Eugene being discharged from the hospital after throat surgery and traveling back to Blue Point with “his nurse, Mrs. Bell Boyd”. Yes, Isabelle did have nursing experience; in 1942 she took community courses in nursing, probably as part of the war effort.
I have to wonder if Isabelle was by Eugene’s side when he died, or if she had a hand in his December 7 burial at All Saints Cemetery in Jensen Beach. I may never know all the details, but it seems clear that Isabelle was important to Eugene.
Beautiful Water Genealogy 