William Gilliat Thornally 1850 - 1913 My Maternal Great Grandfather

William Gilliat Thornally Sr. This is the only
photo I have of my great grandfather

My maternal great grandfather was English. He was born on June 11, 1850 in Spilsby which is in Lincolnshire, England. William was the son of Samuel Thornalley and Mary Gilliat. He was one of nine children and the second son. He had two older sisters Mary Ann born about 1847 and Susanna Ellen born in October of 1848. His older brother Samuel was born August 17, 1846. His younger siblings were Emma Marie born in 1851, Hepzibah born December 1853, Betsy born 1855, John Henry born 1857, and Eliza born September 14, 1859.

William was christened in the Anglican Church of St. Mary in Thorpe St. Peter on June 22, 1850. In 1851 he was listed on the census with his family when they were living in Thorpe St. Peter also in Lincolnshire. Two teenage servants were shown living with them as were two lodgers who were identified as tile pipe makers. Richard Gilliat age twenty-nine was also living with the family. Richard was likely a cousin of Mary’s.

St. Mary's Church in Thorpe St. Peter, Lincolnshire

When William was six his family suffered a personal disaster that directly impacted William and likely every other member of the family. On February 13, 1857 a decision was made in the legal case Burns vs. Thornalley against William’s father Samuel. Samuel lost the lawsuit and was forced to sell all of the business interests he had inherited from his father Samuel (born about 1797).  After losing everything the family was forced to move to London and William’s father went to work for someone else in order to support the family.

When the 1861 census was taken the family was living at 249 Culbert Road in West Ham, Essex in Plaistow, England. William’s father had a job as a foreman for a brick and tile manufacturer. So, he was doing the same type of work as he had been but as an employee instead of a business owner. Life would have been difficult for the Thornalley family so when William came of age he immigrated to the United States in 1868 when he was eighteen. This fact was recorded on the 1910 US census. William’s older brother Samuel also immigrated to the United States and settled in Cook County, Illinois. The youngest Thornally son remained in England and died in Willesden, Middlesex in 1920. I have not yet researched the daughters but suspect they would have remained in England.

Google street view of West Ham, England

Six years after immigrating to the United States William married Mary McGowan on September 12, 1874. They were married in New York in the Church of St. Francis Xavier in Manhattan. See Mary’s bio published on August 9, 2015 for a photo of the church. William and Mary had five children between 1875 and 1887. Biographies for each of these children can also be found on this blog. Two years after their marriage William renounced his English citizenship and became a naturalized American citizen on October 27, 1876. The ceremony took place in San Francisco. This event marks William was our first ancestor to come to California. Henry Menge arrived in San Francisco eight years later in 1884, followed by the Pattillo family in 1887, and it was another twenty-three years before George Vetter showed up in Pasadena in 1910.

Google earth view of West Ham, England

The 1878 City of Oakland directory listed William and identified him as a carpenter but he and Mary were still living in San Francisco. When the 1880 census was taken on June 4^th they were living on Bush Street in San Francisco. Four years later they had moved to Oakland and were living at 1409 15th Avenue, according to William’s voter registration. This address was actually in the town of Fruit Vale which had not yet been annexed by Oakland. I found a news article from 1884 that mentioned that William and Mary were members of the Fruitvale Congregational Church in Oakland.

This is a Google Earth view of Thorpe St. Peter where William's
family was living when the 1851 census was taken - a much
smaller village.

From 1888 to 1890 William worked as a foreman for the Burnham-Standeford Car Shop Company. Burnham-Standeford worked as a subcontractor to Mahoney Brothers and built the cars for the Powell Street Cable Car in San Francisco. The city directory for 1891 and 1892 listed William and showed that he was employed as a foreman at Gurney Minnesota Thresher Manufacturing Company. They built threshing machines for the farm industry. Then for the next several years, he worked for the SP Company – short for Southern Pacific Railroad. He worked there until 1900. For the next few years, William was listed as a carpenter in the directory – presumably, he was working independently at that time. In 1906 William was elected as the Sanitary Inspector for District 1 in Fruitvale. The inspector role was part-time. I found a news article from the Oakland Tribune about William being asked to tell a group of gypsies to move away from Lake Merritt in his role as the Sanitary Inspector. The article was published on July 20, 1903. Directory listings until Will’s death in 1913 alternately listed him as a carpenter, contractor or sanitary inspector.

This is the original marriage license for William and Mary
which is currently in the possession of one of their
granddaughters

William’s 1896 voter registration described him as 5'9" tall, with a light complexion, blue eyes, light hair, and no scars or distinguishing marks.

Another Tribune article from 1903 mentioned that William served on a jury to try Victor Walkirez, “an African American man, who confessed to murdering Mrs. Elizabeth Leroy. He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison because one juror, John H. Troy, thought he was insane at the time he committed the murder.”          

   

When I visited the City of Oakland Planning Department I learned that William purchased a plot of land in Fruitvale which came to be known as the Thornally Tract. It was located at Elm (E. 17th Street) between Bray (34th Ave) and Redwood (35th Ave). Over the next few years, William and his eldest son William “Bill” subdivided the tract into twenty-four lots and built single-family homes on the property – including one home for Mary and each of their children.  William and Mary lived in the neighborhood between 1887 to 1906. Each year the person who wrote the directory listings identified their address slightly differently. For example, in 1887 it was listed as “8 Bray Avenue near County Road”. In 1892 the listing read, “Bray between E. 14^th and Old County Road”. The 1896 directory offered “Bray opposite King Avenue”. In total their address was noted in ten different ways. It made it look like the family was constantly moving when in fact I believe they stayed in the exact same place for thirteen years. This is just one of the challenges faced by a family historian.

A portion of the Sandborn map found at the City of Oakland
Planning Department showing the 24 lots in the Thornally Tract.
At that time in 1911 William still owned lots 8,9,10, 13,14 and 17.
The other lots had been sold.

Here's a transcription from another newspaper article about William from around 1906.

Successful Coyote Hunter. Our Sanitary Inspector, W.G. Thornally, went for his vacation to J. Johnson's farm near Rocky Ridge. The coyotes are so plentiful there that it is impossible for anyone who is not accustomed to their howling to sleep at all. Mr. Thornally then went coyote hunting in the old-fashioned way, the same way that rabbits are caught with snares. He was very successful, as he caught a score of them. One is alive and chained in the yard of Mr. Johnson at Rocky Ridge.

William's US Naturalization papers
October 27, 1876

Looking at old newspapers from the period between 1903 and William’s death provides several minor tidbits about his life. For example:

8 June 1903 William inspected the flashing for new light posts as the Sanitary Inspector and found them to be faulty.

8 May 1905 he inspected nine buildings and collected $19 in fees for the Sanitary Inspector’s office.

18 June 1906 William and Mary purchased a lot in Brooklyn from J.F. Valladao.

5 April 1907 a lot was sold in the Thornally Tract.

19 December 1908 William was one of 50 tradesmen summoned to Judge Master's Court to try Peter Claudianes who was charged with dynamiting the Schneck house in East Oakland but in a separate news clip on the same date, we learn that he was excused from jury service because he was a county official.

2 February 1910 William was identified as one person in a pool of about one hundred men as potential jurors.

William's granddaughter Sue Martin Tucker at the lychgate
of St. Mary's Church in Thorpe St. Peter

4 May 1911 William signed a full-page ad supporting Peter C. Frederickson for Commissioner of the City of Oakland as a member of the Greater Oakland Progressive Club. This is particularly interesting because it shows that William was actively engaged in civic affairs and that he had stature in the city. Other’s valued his endorsement. His son William carried on this tradition of community activism as have I by serving on the Alameda County Parks Commission, the Oakland Landmark’s Board and the Oakland Planning Commission – guess it is in my DNA.

When the 1910 census was taken in April William and Mary were both 59. They were living at 1707 Fruitvale with their two youngest children Samuel 23 and Rose 21. William was listed as a carpenter working for himself as a builder. Sam was identified as a house builder and was likely working for his father, and Rose was a stenographer at the SP Railroad company.

These frequent news clips that told of the routine matters of daily life are a now lost sign of the times before the internet when newspapers could afford to hire journalists to follow and report on the news of the times.

Google street view of Spilsby where William was born

By 1907 the Thornally household had moved to 1707 Fruitvale and they remained there until 1912. That home still exists and is in good condition. At the time of his death, William was living at 1665 35^th Avenue, so he had returned to his old neighborhood. That is the house in the Thornally Tract that he had built for my grandparents John and Emma Thornally so William must have moved in with his son after his wife Mary died.

I found the book Fifty Years of Free Masonry by Edwin Allen Sherman & G. Spalding on Google books and learned that William was one of twelve men who filed a petition to establish a Free Mason Lodge in Fruitvale – Lodge No. 336. They were successful in receiving a charter in October of 1898 and William was involved with the construction of the building which still exists in 2019. Several years ago the building was acquired by the Fruitvale Unity Council renovated and converted into a commercial and community use building. William and his sons William Jr., Harry and John were all active members of the masons.

Graphic from the book Fifty Years of Masonry in California by Edwin A. Sherman published in 1898. This book is about Royal Arch Masonry which "is intimately connected with the political disturbances of England and Scotland ..."

 

An excerpt from Freemasons Grand Lodge of California. This is a transcript of the 15th Annual Communication held at the Masonic Temple, in the City of San Francisco on October 10-14, 1899.

William died on May 11, 1913 from chronic heart problems. I found two obituaries for him.

Retired Contractor of Fruitvale Dies

Fruitvale.  March 11 William G. Thornalley, one of the pioneers of this district, and widely known, died at his residence 1665 thirty-fifth Avenue. Thornally has been ill for some time, but death came unexpectedly. Thornalley's wife died a year ago, and it is thought that lose helped to bring on this death. He was a retired contractor and builder. He took a keen interest in public affairs and was a member of Fruitvale Masonic Lodge. He is survived by four sons and one daughter. The sons are W.T. Thornally Jr., Samuel Thornalley of the Melrose police force, Harry and John Thornally. The daughter is Rose Thornalley. No arrangements have yet been made for the funeral.

William, Mary and Lottie Thornally's
headstone at Evergreen Cemetery
in East Oakland.

THORNALLY— In Fruitvale. March 11, 1913. William G., beloved husband of the late Mary M. Thornally, and father of William G. Jr.". John, Harry M., Samuel, Rose and the late Lottie Thornally.  A native of England. A member of Fruitvale Lodge No. 336, F. & A. M.

Friends and acquaintances are respectfully invited to attend the funeral services tomorrow (Thursday). March 13. 1913. at 2:30 o'clock p. m. at the Fruitvale Masonic temple, East Fourteenth street and Thirty-fourth avenue. Services under auspices of Fruitvale Lodge No. 336, F. & A. M. Interment Evergreen cemetery.

William's obituary and his masonic pin.

Street View of Thorpe St. Peter

Street view of Spilsby, England

Maude Pattillo 1893 - 1978 My Grandaunt on My Father's Side

Maude with friends in Los Angeles Park 1910

Note: This post was written jointly with Maude's granddaughter Joyce Tucker Modugno.

Maude Pattillo is the last in this series of the children of James William Pattillo and his wife Carrie Brooks Stover. Maude was the twin of Ruby but her life was much different from Ruby’s life. She was born on March 25, 1893, in Los Angeles, California. She and Ruby had three older siblings Jo, Mary, and Lewis and a younger brother Elmer. Biographies for each sibling can be found on this blog.

Maude attended the Girls Collegiate School and graduated from Manual Arts High School, so she stayed in school longer than some of her siblings. On February 15, 1907, Maude was invited to attend a recital given by Miss Mamie Adamson. This was a large event written about in the Los Angeles Herald newspaper.

Maude as a young girl

After graduating from high school Maude took a job as the “Gold Cashier” at Bullock’s Department Store in downtown Los Angeles. Her job was to calculate the exchange value for certified gold nuggets or dust and pay out cash for store purchases. Sounds like an interesting position. I believe that was the only time she worked outside the home.

Two years after completing high school Maude married Otto William Baty on September 4, 1912. Maude was nineteen and Otto was twenty. Otto was the son of William Rosecrans Baty (1859-1954) and Lillian “Lily” Elizabeth Schawm (1870-1932). He was born in Iowa on June 25, 1892. When they were first married, they were living in Los Angeles with Maude’s parents but when the 1920 census was taken they were living in Fresno, California at 3406 Nevada Street. The census noted that Otto was working as a cement worker so he might have been working with his father-in-law or somehow gotten a job because of his connection with Maude’s father.

Otto Baty

A little more than nine months after Maude and Otto were married Maude gave birth to Evelyn Virginia Baty on June 28, 1913. Maude was twenty at the time. Three years later, Dorothy Baty was born on April 16, 1916. Dorothy was born at Inglewood Park Cemetery – a rather strange place to be born but that is where her father was working at the time as a groundskeeper and gravedigger. Dorothy was born a few months after Maude’s mother Carrie had died. Maude and Otto’s third child Robert Lawrence Baty was born when Maude was 29, on November 19, 1922, and their last child – a son Jerry Otto was born several years later on January 12, 1930, when Maude was thirty-six. Maude’s brother Elmer died on September 30, 1925, when Maude was thirty-two and her father died eleven months after Elmer.

In April of 1930, Maude and Otto were living at 3924 Huntington Boulevard in Fresno with their four children. They owned their own home which was valued at $11,000. This valuation was right in the middle of others on the census page. Otto was still working as a cement contractor when the census was taken. In May of 1931, the Van Nuys News reported that Maude and Otto attended a reunion at the home of Frank Swallow in Fresno. Maude’s brother Lewis and his wife Anna also attended as did Mr. and Mrs. John Adams of Roseville, and Mr. and Mrs. Fred Buntain of Modesto. Bessie Buntain was a Pattillo cousin.

Baty home in Fresno

In 1932, Maude and Otto moved back to Los Angeles and in 1934 they were living in the San Fernando Valley at 1600 Mission Boulevard. That is where they were when their daughter Evelyn married Don Weirick on May 12, 1934. From 1940 to 1950 Maude and Otto were living at 10721 Zelzah in the Granada Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles.

According to Joyce Modugno, Maude’s granddaughter, “The reason the Baty family moved to Los Angeles was because of the Great Depression. Work in the concrete construction business was scarce for non-government workers.” Joyce’s mother told the story that “the “folks” never really wanted to move from Fresno, but they had no choice. Otto loved living near the Western Sierra’s with the lakes and hunting. Maude loved their home on Huntington where she had many friends.” Joyce’s mother, Dorothy “was approaching her senior year of high school and never let anyone in the family forget that she was torn away from her school and her friends.”

When they moved to Los Angeles, Joyce continues, "The area that they settled in was just less than a mile from the San Fernando Mission "San Fernando Mission Blvd". That house remained until the northern end of the 405 freeway was built in the late 1960's-early 1970s."

Home on Zelzah Avenue

Joyce explains, “My grandfather quickly reinvented himself by realizing that the northern portion of the San Fernando Valley was a rural area primarily covered with mile after mile of orange groves, grapefruit groves, and lemon groves.  He had a good knowledge of citrus trees since upon moving from Iowa to California as a child, his family had settled in Highgrove near Riverside, the original home of the "Navel Oranges" famous as the eating orange which ripened in the mild California fall and early winter. He knew a great deal about the insects and diseases that attacked the citrus and he saw this as an opportunity to start a business in the area of Granada Hills.  Dorothy Baty would tell the story of her father Otto going to the Security National Bank in San Fernando, introducing himself to the manager, explaining his plan to start his "pest control and citrus fumigating" business and after a handshake with the manager Tom Binda, walked out with his business loan!  This type of trust in the middle of the Depression. Otto's business was a great success providing work for many members of the family including Joyce’s Uncle Bob and her father, Ransom Tucker after WWII was over. Joyce’s mother Dorothy also worked for the company after Ransom died suddenly in 1959.

Page from the book that tells about
Otto's fumigation business

Otto was a very successful entrepreneur who utilized the latest technology and equipment to grow orange trees. A book about Granda Hills said this about Otto, "In 1938, Otto W. Baty migrated to Granada Hills from Fresno, California.  The Baty family built their home and cultivated 40 acres of citrus trees at 10721 Zelzah Avenue - today the site of the Granada Village Shopping Center at the northwest corner of Chatsworth Street and Zelzah Avenue.  Baty established the Otto W. Baty Company, known locally as "Baty's", one of the San Fernando Valley's most successful commercial fumigation services for local citrus orchards."  Photo supplied by his daughter-in-law Marilyn DeFreitas Baty. He moved away from Granada Hills in 1955.”

In 1958, Otto owned a 60-acre ranch in Ojai Valley that he named the "Lily E" after his mother. He raised black Angus cattle, grew oranges and kept bees. But by about 1961, the handwriting was on the wall for the citrus industry in the San Fernando Valley so Otto sold the ranch in Ojai and moved to Los Osos where he and opened Baty's Bottle Shop - a liquor store where his two sons worked for him. Joyce’s grandparent's youngest son, Jerry and his family, lived on the ranch, helping the "old man" out until they all moved to Los Osos.” 

Newspaper article about Maude making hooked rugs.

One of Maude’s many interests was making hooked rugs. A newspaper ran a story about Maude and noted that she had won a number of awards. She also enjoyed gardening and I’ve been told had a lovely garden at her home that was full of fruit trees, a vegetable garden and many varieties of roses, camellias and seasonal flowers. Joyce comments, “Maude certainly had a green thumb”. 

Of all the Pattillo siblings Maude was the most actively engaged in community affairs. I found several newspaper articles about her between 1946 and 1958 – after her children were raised. Maude was very involved with the Granada Hills-Northridge Garden Club. In May of 1946, the Van Nuys News ran a story about Maude organizing a garden club sponsored blood drive for the Red Cross. According to her granddaughter Joyce, Maude was given an award from the USO for all the blood they collected. The need for blood was probably related to World War II which had ended nine months previously.

Maude's garden club ran a successful blood drive in  1946.
Maude second from the left in the front row of women.

In June of 1946, Maude again hosted a garden club tea at her home with the Granada Hills Garden Club. This was a floral display titled Rainbow Gardens. In April of 1950, Maude hosted another event with the Garden Club. After the club meeting and election of officers the group had lunch at Pierre’s in Pasadena and then they toured the gardens at the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. I would have enjoyed that event. The club had forty-eight members according to the news story and was federated with the California Garden Club, Inc.

In February of 1951, the paper reported on another garden club event hosted by Maude – a tour of El Descanso Gardens located in La Canada/Flintridge as part of a three-day event hosted by the California Arboretum Foundation. The last article I found was from February of 1958 when they reported that Maude helped host a luncheon for the Granada Hills Women’s Club. The Glas Belles choral group provided entertainment for a luncheon hosted by Mrs. John Zenio. According to Joyce, Maude was a founder of the Granada Hills Women’s Club. 

Another garden club gathering.

Of all her siblings Maude was also very generous. She and her husband Otto opened there home to at least two of her siblings at various times. Her younger brother Elmer and his wife Winifred were living with Maude and Otto when the 1920 census was taken and her older sister Mary lived with them for several years when Mary was divorced and needed financial support.

One thing that is noteworthy about Maude is that everyone who knew her personally commented on how stylish she was – that she loved nice clothes and lingerie. My mother Lottie said, “Maude was always well dressed and had her hair and makeup done”. Laine, a grandniece said that she heard that “Maude was outgoing, quite a character and forward-thinking as a young woman." Joyce heard that "Maude was a bit spoiled and short-tempered – but not with her." She recalls, "I remember my Mom whisking me away when those two old sisters got to fighting and using words I wasn't supposed to hear!" Both Laine and Joyce report that Maude was her father’s favorite so he spoiled her. After Maude married Otto, he took over spoiling her. 

Otto and Maude in her mink stole

When she was middle-aged until her death Maude suffered from diabetes – the same disease her mother had. Prior to her death at age 84 she spent a short time in a convalescent home. She died on January 22, 1978, when she was living in Los Osos, in San Luis Obispo County, California. She was interred in a niche near Otto, Dorothy, and Jerry at Los Osos Valley Memorial Park. Of all the Pattillo siblings only Mary was still living when Maude died and she died three years later in 1981.

Maude in middle with one or two of her sisters and friends

Jo Pattillo standing at left, Maude seated at left, Otto in front
on left with Evelyn in a big bow in front of Otto.

Otto's parents Lillian and William Baty (left)

William Baty portrait

Otto's Office on Rinaldi Street in Granada Hills, San
Fernando Valley was painted dark green and had yellow awnings

Maude with sons Robert and Jerry

Maude with daughter Dorothy in San Francisco

Maude with son Robert

Maude's daughter Dorothy

Baty Family - Robert, Jerry, Dorothy, Evelyn, Maude & Otto

Otto and Maude

More hooked rugs. Maude on right.

Maude's daughter Dorothy and Maude's
granddaughter Joyce Tucker Modugno

Ruby Tipton Pattillo 1893 - 1969 My Grandaunt on My Father's Side

One of only a few photos I have of Ruby

Ruby and her twin sister Maude were born March 25, 1893, in Los Angeles, California when the family was living at 142 East 81^st Street. Our family lore suggests that their mother Carrie Brooks Stover Pattillo gave birth to three sets of twins. Only Ruby and Maude lived to adulthood. I have found no records for the other sets of twins. It is also believed that it was a difficult birth and that Ruby was deprived of oxygen for a time. As a result, she suffered some sort of mental deficiency. Possibly because of this and for other reasons Ruby was estranged from the family during much of her life. As a result, not a lot is known about Ruby or the life she lived.

Ruby was listed on the 1900 and 1910 censuses living with her family. In 1900, Ruby was seven and the family home was at 212 Jefferson Street in Los Angeles. They were still in Los Angeles in 1910 when Ruby was seventeen. I found Ruby in the 1914 directory living at 1309 W. 51st Street and in the 1917 book living at 1329 W. 53^rd Street. 

Harper Dell Royce's headstone found on the FindAGrave site

Ruby and Royce's marriage certificate 

On April 4^th in 1927, Ruby married Harper Dell Royce. It was a second marriage for Harper who first married Daisy Jane Kurtz in 1892. Harper was born in Murray, Iowa on July 14, 1871. He was the son of Dorvil Arthur Royce and Frances Bell. Harper was listed as a widow on the 1910 census. That same year he moved to Los Angeles. Harper was more than twenty years older than Ruby. Sometime after 1934, Harper married for a third time to Lillian Hester Kurtz. I have not found any record of the dissolution of Ruby’s marriage but presumably, they were divorced. Harper was killed in a car accident on May 8, 1947, and is buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Los Angeles.

I found several voter registrations for Ruby between 1930 and 1958. Interestingly, from 1930 to 1936 she registered as a Republican but in 1946 she switched to the Democratic party and continued to register as a Democrat until 1958. She was living in Los Angeles during this time at various addresses. On her 1930 registration form she was listed as a typist – so she was employed whereas when she was married to Harper she was listed as a Housewife in 1934. At that time, they were living at 111 Melrose in Los Angeles. 

336 N. Kilkea Drive where Ruby lived in 1939

In 1939, Ruby resided at 336 N. Kilkea Drive, Los Angeles. In 1946, she registered at 663 ½ S. Kenmore Avenue, and in 1956 and 58 she was at 443 S. Catalina Street. No other details were provided on those registration records.

 

443 S. Catalina Street where Ruby was living in 1956 and '58

At various times Ruby’s father James, her brother Elmer and his wife Winifred, and her sister Mary each lived with Ruby’s twin Maude and Maude’s husband Otto. I also have records of their cousins Ada and James Nelson Pattillo living with family members. But, at no time after reaching adulthood did Ruby live with her sister Maude or any other member of the family – at least not that I’ve found a record for or heard about. So, she was an independent woman.

Ruby died on May 14, 1969, and is buried in Los Angeles but I don’t know where specifically.

Maude and Ruby as toddlers

Ruby's mother Carrie left and Ruby holding her cat

1914 Los Angeles Directory lists Ruby at 1309 51st Place

306 W. Palm where Ruby lived in 1932

Marriage record for Ruby and Royce

Grainy headshot of Ruby

Sources for the Post: US census, City of Los Angeles Directories, Voter Registration records, Ruby's marriage certificate, Google search and Google Earth, my second cousins Laine and Joyce