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CONVERSE Family History, Part IV

Back row:
Lyman C.Converse, Lloyd A. Goss, Lyle D. Converse

Front row:
Lila Mae (Converse) Buckley, Susan M. (Poole) Converse, Alda I. Converse

 

 

 

 

George Leonard CONVERSE (Jr.)^Δ (1894-1936)

121C1. George Leonard Converse (Jr.)^Δ was born on December 5, 1894, in Groveland, Tuolumne County, California. He married his second cousin, Florence "Flossie" May Converse^Δ, around 1919 and had one daughter:

121C11.

Ardith E. ConverseΔ

22 May 1922

9 Feb 1977

(54)

By the 1920 census, the Converse family was living 115 Semple Street in Modesto, Stanislaus County, California, along with Flossie's widowed mother, Belle, and next door to Flossie's brother John H. Converse at 113 Semple Street. George worked for an oil company.^{[Cen 1920, Vote 1920]}

By 1930 they moved out from the center of town to Dry Creek Road, where they resided next door to George's parents. George Jr. worked as a foreman at a chemical plant and George Sr. as a laborer there.^{[Cen 1930]}

George Leonard Converse, Jr. died on Wednesday, May 20, 1936, in Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, California, just two days before his daughter's 14th birthday. George was 41 years old. He was interred Saturday, May 23, at the Citizens Cemetery (now known as the Modesto Cemetery Association) in Modesto.

Ethel Mae (CONVERSE) HART (1897-1987)

121C2. Ethel Mae Converse was born on May 21, 1897, in California. She married Charles Eugene Hart, a native of Stafford County, Kansas, about 1916 and had three children:

121C21.	Ella Mae Hart	29 Aug 1917	15 Jun 1988	(70)
121C22.	Charles Lyman Hart	19 Jul 1921	3 Jun 1945	(23)
121C23.	Norman Leonard Hart	5 Apr 1926	20 Apr 2008	(82)

Charles moved from Stafford County, Kansas, to California with his family when he was a toddler in the early 1890s. His family settled on the outskirts of Modesto, Stanislaus County, by 1910. Ethel and her parents moved down from Mariposa County^{[Cen 1910]} to the Modesto area in the years that followed. Ethel and Charles wed around 1916 and lived next door to Charles' parents, Frank and Emogene (Woolsey) Hart, and his younger siblings in Claus Precinct, Waterford Township. Ethel's parents lived only a few households away. Charles worked as a farmer.^{[Cen 1920]}

At the outbreak of World War II, Charles registered for the draft in Colusa, Colusa County, California, where he lived with his sister Margaret (Hart) Willms at 611 7th Street. At the time Charles was described as 5' 7½" tall, 165 pounds, with gray eyes, brown hair, and a light brown complexion.^{[Draft 1942]}

Son Charles served in the Merchant Marines during the war and died on June 3, 1945, in Merced County, while on home leave in Modesto. Charles Lyman Hart was buried on June 5 at Pioneer Cemetery in Modesto. He was only 23 years old.

Son Norman also served in the U.S. Navy and after 20 years of service went on to serve 13 years in the Merchant Marines.

Charles Eugene Hart died on November 7, 1966, in Butte County, California. He was 74 years old and is buried along side son Charles in Pioneer Cemetery.

Ethel Mae (Converse) Hart died on March 27, 1987, in Modesto, Stanislaus County, California. She was 89 years old and is buried next to her son Charles in Pioneer Cemetery.

Fred Frank CONVERSE (1897-1964)

121D1. Fred Frank Converse was born on May 26, 1897, in La Grange, Stanislaus County, California. He served in the U.S. Army with the Wagoner Sup[port] Company of the 13th Infantry Regiment during World War I and World War II.^[Grave] He may have married and been widowed between the wars but had no children.^[WWII]

Fred registered for the draft in Modesto on June 5, 1918. He was 21 year old and at the time he resided in La Grange but worked for his uncle (my marriage to his maternal aunt) Earl Victor Laughlin, a farmer in Oakdale. He was described as being of medium height, medium build, with blue eyes and dark brown hair.^{[Draft 1918]} Fred enlisted the U.S. Army soon after and was ordered to Camp Fremont^[WWI], which spanned the areas of Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, and Menlo Park, San Mateo. Camp Fremont served as a training site for the 8th Infantry Division. The war ended before Fred would have arrived in France.

After the war, Fred was enumerated in the census at Camp Merritt, Bergen County, New Jersey, one of three camps established to house troops transitting between the port of Hoboken, New Jersey, and the European Theater. Fred was described as a "wagoner," rather than a private, which apparently alludes to his assigment to the Wagoner Sup[port] Company of the 13th Infantry Regiment.^{[Cen 1920, Grave]} Two weeks after the census was taken, Camp Merritt was officially closed and all remaining troops were reportedly sent 80 miles south to Fort Dix, Burlington County, New Jersey.

Fred apparently stayed on in Bergen County after the war, where in 1930 he was enumerated in Wyckoff, 12 miles west of Camp Merritt. There he boarded with Herbert Staat, a German-speaking immigrant, and both worked as helpers on a hog farm, likely on the adjacent hog farm on Crescent Avenue run by George and Elizabeth Henkel, both children of German immigrants. Fred was not recorded as a veteran^{[Cen 1930]}, perhaps because either he did not see combat or because a wagoner was not considered as active military service.

Fred has yet to be located in the 1940 census, but he returned to Oakdale by 1942 when he registered for the draft. At the time he worked at Smart Brothers in Oakdale and was described as having a light complexion, blue eyes, brown hair, 5' 7" tall, and 145 pounds.^{[Draft 1942]} Eight months later, and after his two younger brothers enlisted, Fred, age 45, enlisted (serial 39684853) as a private in the Army on October 14, 1942, in Fresno, Fresno County. He was a general farm hand and widower with no dependents. He was described as being 67" (5' 7") tall and 134 pounds, and had a grammar school education.^[WWII]

13th Infantry Regiment & 8th Infantry Division

The 13th Infantry Regiment was assigned to the 8th Infantry Division in June 1918 and was at sea on the way to France when the World War I Armistice was signed and the division was recalled back home.

During World War II, the 8th Infantry Division trained in Ireland for the landing on Utah Beach during the Normandy Invasion of July 4, 1944. The 8th pushed south and west through hedgerow country to liberate the French cities of Rennes (August 8) and Brest (September). From Brest the 8th headed back east across France through Luxembourg, crossed the Siegfried Line into Germany, and turned north to clear Hürtgen Forest (November). It crossed the Roer (February 23, 1945) to take Düren (February 25). From Düren the 8th continued east to the Rhine River, near Koeln (Cologne) (March), drove northeast to help clear Ruhr (April), and continued northeast across the Elbe River. On May 2, the 8th and the 82nd Airborne Division liberated the Wöbbelin concentration subcamp, near Ludwigslust, which held about 5,000 prisoners. Many of the prisoners were starving and diseased, and more than 200 died in the first week after liberation. The 8th was at Schwerin when the war in Europe ended on May 8.

Fred Frank Converse died on October 31, 1964, and was buried at the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, San Mateo County, California. He was 67 years old.^[Grave]

Grace Irene (CONVERSE VARAIN) SMITH (~1900-)

121D2. Grace Irene Converse was born about 1899 or 1900 in California. She married Julian Walter Varain on November 11, 1915, in Merced, Merced County, California. They had one son but after two and a half years of alleged drunken abuse, Gracie shot and killed Julian on July 18, 1918, at their home near Virginia Mine in Mariposa County.

121D21.

Walter Julius Varain

5 Sep 1916

6 Oct 1938

(22)

Walter Julius Varain was buried at Granite Springs Cemetery in Granite Springs, Mariposa County. He was 24 years old.^[Grave]

After the tragedy, Grace and her son moved in with her parents and younger siblings on Railroad Avenue (likely North Yosemite Avenue (Highway 120) or North Sierra Avenue) and C Street in Oakdale, Stanislaus County, California, where she was enumerated in the 1920 census.^{[Cen 1920]} Grace has not yet been found in the 1930 census, however, in the 1940 census she was said to have lived in Tuolumne County in 1935.^{[Cen 1940]}

Son Walter settled in Modesto, Stanislaus County, by 1933 and married around 1937. He had one son in 1938, but later that year he was electrocuted and killed while irrigating a field on Carl Hurlburt's ranch on October 6, 1938. He was only 22 years old. Walter was buried at Acacia Memorial Park in Modesto.^[Grave]

Grace became a live-in housekeeper with the 73-year-old widower Jackson Quisenberry and his daughter Fay at 210 Vine Street by 1940. Curiously, she was recorded as "Grace Shrader,"^{[Cen 1940]} however in the Modesto city directories she and the Quisenberrys were both listed at that address.^{[City 1941-1942]}

Grace Irene (Converse Varain) Smith died in the 1970s and was reportedly buried with her son Walter in Acacia Memorial Park in Modesto.

Albert W. CONVERSE (~1901-1926)

121D3. Albert W. Converse was born about 1901 in Calfornia.^{[Cen 1910, 1920]} He committed suicide on October 27, 1926, in Tuolumne County, California, and was reported to be 27 years old.^{[Dth 1726]}

The last record before Albert's death was his voter registration for the 1926 election. He registered as a Republican in Red Cloud Precint (Greeley Hill), Mariposa County, and gave his occupation as a "cow man."

Albert's niece recalls that he was sister Doris' favorite brother and was married. Details of his marriage are not yet known.

Doris Agnes (CONVERSE) NICOLAYSEN^Δ (1906-1983)

121D4. Doris Agnes Converse^Δ was born on August 7, 1906, in California. She married Dwight Lenwood Nicolaysen around 1922 or 1923 and had one daughter:

121D41.

Beverly NicolaysenΔ

--

--

--

Doris and Dwight met at an all-night dance in Coulterville, Mariposa County. They married when she was 16 years old and he was 20.^{[Cen 1930]}

In 1940, the family lived at 706 Emerald Avenue on the west side of Modesto. Dwight worked as tractor driver on a ranch. Doris worked as a housekeeper.^{[Cen 1940]} They remained on Emerald Avenue through at least 1948, and then moved a half mile north to 1149 Elm Avenue by 1957. Dwight worked as a ranch foreman.^{[City 1948, 1957-1960]}

Dwight Lenwood Nicolaysen died on August 25, 1959, in Modesto, four days after his 57th birthday.^{[Dth 1959]} He was buried at Modesto Pioneer Cemetery.^[Grave]

Doris Agnes (Converse) Nicolaysen lived another 24 years and died on November 23, 1983, in Tuolumne County. Her daughter recalls that she was living with her youngest brother Elmer who lived near Jamestown. Doris was 77 years old.^{[Dth 1983]}

Earl L. CONVERSE (1911-1972)

121D5. Earl L. Converse was born on December 31, 1911, in Greeley Hill, Mariposa County California. He married Mildred L. Trogdon about 1932 and had two children:

121D51.	Leonard Converse	6 Jul 1932	27 Jul 2014	(82)
121D52.	Peggy Converse	--	--	--

Earl and his parents moved to Modesto, Stanislaus County, about 1931, where he and his father worked as laborers.^{[City 1931]}

After Earl and Mildred wed they lived at 246½ Kimble Street in Modesto by 1933^{[City 1935]}; and then they moved some ten blocks southwest to 1214 9th Street, along the railroad tracks, by 1935.^{[City 1935]} Perhaps later that same year, the Converses moved to the south side of town on Benson Avenue, either street address 635^{[City 1940]} or 397^{[Cen 1940]}. Earl worked at a gravel pit. Earl's widowed father lived with the family.^{[Cen 1940]}

Earl's draft registration described him as being 5' 7" (67"), 151 pounds, with a ruddy complexion, blue eyes, and brown hair. He gave his occupation as a machinist.^{[Draft 1940]}

Earl's younger brother, Elmer, enlisted in the U.S. Army in January 1942 and Earl followed suit six months later, enlisting in Sacramento on July 20, 1942. His enlistment papers described him as being 66" tall and 152 pounds.^[WWII] Earl was discharged on September 29, 1945.^[Vet]

Earl and Mildred apparently divorced and Earl remarried to a woman named Joyce M. by 1948. He and Joyce lived at 806 South Santa Cruz Avenue, on the south side of town near the Tuolumne River. Earl worked at Cal[ifornia] Packaging Corporation.^{[City 1948, 1952]} Earl was no longer noted in the Modesto city directory after 1952, but Joyce was listed living alone by 1957 at 510 4th Street and worked in the kitchen at the county hosptial.^{[City 1957]}

Mildred and son Leonard lived at 1810 Seattle Avenue, across the river to the southwest, in 1952, where she was listed as the "widow of E. L." and worked at a factory.^{[City 1952]} She remarried to James "Jim" L. Showers by the following year and continued to reside at the same address.^{[City 1953]} But the marriage was likely shortlived. By 1958 Mildred remained at the same address but Jim was listed at another address. By 1966 Jim had married a woman named Eloise.^{[City 1966-1967]}

Earl L. Converse died in November 1972 in New York. He had been living in Syracuse, Onondaga County.^{[Dth 1972]} He was 60 years old.

Mildred L. (Trogdon Converse) Showers died on July 22, 2002, and was buried with her mother, Osa May (White) Trogdon, at Acacia Memorial Park in Modesto. Mildred was 88 years old.^[Grave]

Evelyn E. (CONVERSE) FOGDERUD^Δ (1918-1986)

121D6. Evelyn Elizabeth Converse^Δ was born on October 28, 1918, in Oakdale Stanislaus County, California. She first married David Enoch Overholtzer, a native of Modesto, Stanislaus County, in 1933 and had two children before they divorced. She later married Floyd Olaf Fogderud and had two more children:

121D61.	Arnold Overholtzer	--	--	--
121D62.	Charlene OverholtzerΔ	1940	2021	(80)
121D63.	Betty Fogderud	--	--	--
121D64.	Jerry Fogderud	--	--	--

Evelyn and David married in 1933^[Grave] and started their family in Stanislaus County. By 1941 they moved to Oakland, Alameda County, where they lived at 136 5th Street and David worked as an electrician for West[ern] Electro Mechanical Company.^{[City 1941]}

Evelyn and David divorced and Evelyn remarried to Floyd Fogderud on April 23, 1947, in Modesto. In 1958 they moved Hannaford, Griggs County, North Dakota, about three miles north of Floyd's birth place at Walum.

Floyd Olaf Fogderud died in 1983 at about the age of 67. He was buried at Saint Olaf's Lutheran Cemetery in Walum.^[Grave]

Evelyn Elizabeth (Converse Overholtzer) Fogderud died on October 26, 1986, just two days short of her 68th birthday. She was buried with Floyd at Saint Olaf's Lutheran Cemetery.^[Grave]

Elmer Francis CONVERSE (1920-1986)

121D7. Elmer Francis Converse was born on April 14, 1920, in Oakdale, Stanislaus County, California. He served in both World War II and Korea as a corporal.^[Grave]

Elmer was working for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Yosemite National Park in 1941. He served in Company 942 at Cascades Camp (variously designated as YNP-6 and NP-20), which was located at Cascade Creek and the base of Big Oak Flat Road, which runs up behind El Capitan. His draft registration card at the time described him as being 5' 6" tall, 170 pounds, with a light complexion, gray eyes, and brown hair.^{[Draft 1941]}

Elmer enlisted in the Army on January 12, 1942. He was the first and youngest of three brothers to enlist. He was released from service on October 26, 1945^[Vet], but reenlisted 11 weeks later as a private in San Francisco on January 15, 1946 (serial 39085723). His terms of enlistment was to serve with the medical department in the Hawaiian Department. At the time it was recorded that he had completed one year of high school and his civilian occupation had been nursery and landscaping labor.^[WWII]

Elmer again enlisted in the Army on December 27, 1950. Per orders dated November 13, 1952, Corporal Converse was at Camp Stoneman, Pittsburg, Conta Costa County, and was to board troop transport U.S.S. General J C Breckinridge (T-AP-176) at Fort Mason in San Francisco on November 14 for shipment to the Far East Command and the Korean Campaign. The Breckinridge was later awarded the China Service Medal for the period of January 4 and 5, 1953, seven weeks after Corporal Converse shipped out. (The awarding of the China Service Medal, rather than the Korean Service Medal, to the Breckinridge perhaps refers to service in the Republic of China (Taiwan).) Details of Corporal Converse's service during the Korean War is not yet known, but he was released from service years later on November 30, 1959.^[Vet]

Elmer Francis Converse died on May 16, 1986, in Tuolumne County and was buried at Oakdale Citizens Cemetery in Oakdale. He was 66 years old.^{[Dth 1983, Grave]}

Lawrence Converse GREELEY (1904-1982)

121I1. Lawrence Converse Greeley was born on March 1, 1904, in Jamestown, Tuolumne County, California. He married Jessie (Fine Johnson?) in the summer of 1933. She died suddenly the following year on February 10, 1934. Later Lawrence remarried to Doris Eulavelle Williams.

Lawrence Converse Greeley died on October 29, 1982, in Merced, Merced County, California. He was 78 years old. Lawrence was buried in Snelling District Cemetery in Snelling, Merced County.^[Grave]

Lawrence's widow, Doris Eulavelle (Williams) Greeley died 13 years later on April 14, 1996, in Alameda County, California. She was buried with Lawrence in Snelling District Cemetery.^[Grave]

Gladys Sarah (GREELEY) GARDNER (1906-1980)

121I2. Gladys Sarah Greeley was born on April 17, 1906, in California, likely at the family ranch on Greeley Hill in Mariposa County. She married Floyd John Gardner and had one son:

121I21.

Robert Gardner

1927

2018

(90)

Floyd served as a private in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War I.

Floyd died on March 23, 1980, in Escalon, San Joaquin County, California. Gladys died there three months later on July 3, 1980. He was 81 years old and she was 74. Both are buried at the Coulterville Cemetery in Mariposa County.

Laverne "Der" Everett GREELEY (1917-2006)

121I3. Laverne "Der" Everett Greeley was born May 18, 1917, at the family ranch house in Greeley Hill, Mariposa County, California. He married Lavona J. Bradberry, originally from Alabama by way of Oakland, Alameda County, California. They had three children:

121I31.	Wayne Greeley	20 Jan 1939	Bef. 2006	--
121I32.	Rodney Greeley	24 Oct 1943	12 Nov 1984	(41)
121I33.	Janet Greeley	--	--	--

Der, and his cousin Lyle Converse, owned ranches in Greeley Hill near their fathers' ranches and lived the cowboy life. Der was average height and stocky with curly snow white hair. He and Lyle won first place in the Mariposa County Fair's cattle penning competition in 1982 with a time of 45.9 seconds. They were 67 and 65 years old at the time!

Lavona J. (Bradberry) Greeley died on December 23, 2004, presumably in Mariposa County, California. She was 90 years old and was buried in Coulterville Public Cemetery.^[Grave]

Laverne Everett "Der" Greeley died a year and a half later on September 1, 2006, at the age of 89. He had battled diabetes. Der was buried with Lavona in Coulterville Public Cemetery.^[Grave]

Lyman Covell CONVERSE (1914-1986)

121M2. Lyman Covell Converse was born May 12, 1914, in Jamestown, Tuolumne County, California. He married Merodine Hill, a native of Fortuna, Humboldt County, California, on April 5, 1941, and had three children:

121M21.	Carol Converse	--	--	--
121M22.	Dean Converse	--	--	--
121M23.	Diane Converse	--	--	--

Lyman Covell Converse died on December 13, 1986, in Merced at the age of 72.

Merodine (Hill) Converse died on the evening of June 24, 2016. She was 99 years old.

Lyle Delmore CONVERSE (1915-2003)

121M3. Lyle Delmore Converse was born in Greeley Hill, Mariposa County, on July 4, 1915, the year of the World Fair in San Francisco, which his parents attended soon after he was born. Lyle was a tall and lanky cowboy who had a ranch in Greeley Hill near his father's.

Lyle married Dorothy L. Johnson in October 1940.

Lyle and his cousin, Laverne "Der" Greeley won first place in the Mariposa County Fair's cattle penning competition in 1982 with a time of 45.9 seconds. They were 65 and 67 years old at the time!

Lyle Delmore Converse died on May 2, 2003, in Mariposa County. He was 87 years old.

Dorothy L. (Johnson) Converse died on February 7, 2008, in Quincy, Plumas County, California, further north up the Sierra Mountains. She was 86 years old.

Dorothy left the family ranch to the grandson of Lyle's cousin George Leonard Converse (Jr.).

Alda Ione (CONVERSE) BONHAM (1920-2001)

121M5. Alda Ione Converse was born August 21, 1920, in Groveland, Tuolumne County, California. She married a Bonham and lived in Stockton, San Joaquin County, California. They had no children.

Alda Ione (Converse) Bonham died at the age of 80 on March 15, 2001, in San Joaquin County.

Lila Mae (CONVERSE) BUCKLEY (1925-2004)

121M6. Lila Mae Converse was born December 3, 1925. She married William W. Buckley, a native of Alameda County, California, and lived in Bonanza, Klamath County, Oregon. They had no children.

William Buckley died on June 22, 2001, in Klamath County, Oregon. He was 76 years old.

Lila Mae (Converse) Buckley died three years later at the age of 78 on September 6, 2004, in Bonanza, Klamath County, Oregon. She was buried the following Saturday, September 11, at the Eternal Hills Memorial Gardens in Klamath Falls.