Virgil Beeson in the 1920s

My grandfather, Virgil Augustus Beeson, was married to Charlotte Howe Lewis. Toward the end of World War I, he was sent as an officer to Europe where he managed a supply company during and after the war. When he returned to Arkansas in 1919, he found that his wife had gone to California, presumably with another man. He was appointed the leader of the Arkansas National Guard. Eventually, he filed for divorce. Meanwhile he became embroiled in a power struggle for leadership of the Guard. Charlotte came back, the divorce was pretty scandalous and was reported in the newspapers. she was granted a divorce decree. About the same time, the governor sided with the other guy about leadership of the National Guard. Somewhere in this, he met my grandmother and they married and left Arkansas, perhaps "in disgrace". What exactly they did over the next few years was not documented well, but I've worked out some things. Perhaps they were in New York to see Jack Dempsey's last successful title defense in September 1923 at the polo grounds. My mother was born in November of 1924 in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1925, Virgil was issued a real estate license in south Florida. There was a real estate boom at the time, so perhaps he was drawn down there to cash in. Beverly was born in North Carolina on September 14, 1926. The timing is interesting. I don't know why they were there at the time. A great hurricane hit south Florida in September 1926, but it hit slightly after Beverly was born. There weren't satellites and such in that time, so there wasn't much warning of the hurricane's approach -- thus it seems they must have left before knowing of the hurricane. Some pictures have come down to me and I have been able to identify a number of them from this period. There are some from the town of Hollywood, Florida which have been confirmed by the town Historical Society.

Hollywood Theater

Hollywood Station

Jack Kagey mansion

Hollywood Boardwalk

There are a couple from Blowing Rock in North Carolina. The description of the town says many people from Florida go there in the summer to escape the heat and humidty, so perhaps that's why the family was there, since Aline was pregnant.

Two weeks after Beverly was born, Virgil left North Carolina driving the car. Aline and the girls followed on the train. They sent telegrams to each other during the trip.

In 1928, the family was in San Francisco. Grandmother Aline started a typing service and a few years later she sold her interest to her partner and the family moved to Los Angeles for good.

A couple of young men

This first guy is superman's pal, Jimmy Olsen. Okay, I don't really know. This is the guy from earlier. Maybe they made ice cream and this picture goes with it?

Some Children

I'm not sure who these are. The first two show the same house. Maybe the third does, too.

A Family Photo

Here's a photo where I'm not sure of much of anything. The woman second from left is Octavia, but the rest? The man on the right might be Douglas Gray. Is the grinning man on the left the same one from the earlier pictures? If we figure out one of the children, the relative ages might tell us something. Or if I knew anything about fashions for various eras.

Aline Ford making some thing

Here in Aline making something with a young man. What are they making? Who is he? Is it Homer? Some never to be identified friend? Don't you love the styles?

Aline Ford's Photo Album

I just finsihed scanning one of my grandmother's photo albums. There are 106 pictures. Most are pretty faded, so the quality isn't that great, but they are interesting nonetheless. I'll go through them in the order they are in the album. I don't know the significance of these first two (or where they were taken), but since Ben Ford worked for the railroad, perhaps that is why they are in the album. I don't know the point of these two, either.

Marian Gray, Dean of Women at Albion College

Marian Gray was the child of May Lutes Gray, sister of Octavia Lutes, and thus my grandmother's first cousin. In 1927, she became the dean of Women at Albion College. The librarian there dug up a couple of articles in the campus newspaper. The first announces her appointment. She died in 1947 at the age of 48. The weekly looks back on her 20 years at the college. She apparently never married and was the only surviving descendant of May Lutes Gray. My mother thinks she died of cancer.