Merida's Family
Through the Years...
Recently we connected with Carol Diephuis, a grandaughter of Edgar Turgeon, our grandmother Mary's younger brother. As most of Mary Smith's siblings made their way to California, we know very little of our family's history. And of this history we do know, most of this has been learned through stories contained in newspaper articles.
Joseph Turgeon was the first to make California his home. We see his address listed as 536 Williams Street in Oakland California in 1918. The source was his WWI draft registration card which showed he was 33 years of age, tall and in good health, and living with his wife Vera. In the 1920 census, the rest of his brothers and sisters still claimed South Dakota as "home"; however, by 1930 Edgar, Flora, and Laura had joined Joseph in California. It would be a few more years before their mother and Peter Delire, their step-father, would make Oakland their permanent home. A reference in 1935 shows that Merida and Pete Delire, an Agent with the New York Life Insurance company, still lived at 424 Center Street in Sioux City, Iowa. Their house was across the street from St. Bonifice Catholic church, and this whole neighborhood is now listed on the historical national registry.
Recently, Carol sent a photo of Merida's family taken sometime between 1897 and 1899. In this photo, we see Merida surrounded by her children - from left to right are Francis (1892), Laura (1888), Joseph (1886), Flora (1894), Edgar (1890), and Mary (1883). Zelia (also seen as Delia) is not in the photo as she died from typhoid fever a few years earlier.
Click to Enlarge
A Family Reunion after WWII
After WWII, the Smith family went on a road trip from Stickney, South Dakota to Oakland, California. Below is a photograph recording this family reunion. As we didn't know who exactly who were the people in these photos, Carol's mother identified them for us.
(From Left to Right: in the front row she identified the people as her father, Edgar F. Turgeon, her Aunt Flora, Merida, Aunt Mary (Edgar's oldest sister), Aunt Laura, who was Flora's next oldest sibling, and her uncle Joe. In the back row (from left to right) is Al Seward (husband of Vera Lee), Vera Lee (daughter of Edgar's brother Joseph and Vera), Vera (wife of Joe Turgeon), Cecile (daughter of Merida and Peter Delire, an unknown, and Bill (Aunt Mary's husband). The "unknown" person (tucked between Vera and Cecile), is Mary Cecile smith, daughter of Mary and Bill Smith.
Before WWII
The photo probably was taken prior to the outbreak of WWII. In the back row, from left to right, is Merida, Eddie Renshaw (Cecile's husband), Cecile, Joe Turgeon, Flora Turgeon Steichen, Laura Turgeon and Flora's friend Elizabeth. Carol wrote this about Elizabeth,
"Elizabeth was Aunt Flora's best friend and handled all the money that Aunt Flora's home store in Oakland brought in. Unfortunately, no one knew that Elizabeth was a gambler, and so some of what was Aunt Flora's money was lost."
The two younger women sitting on the floor are Mary Steichen (Aunt Flora's daughter) and Vera Lee. I would like to thank Carol's mother for helping identify these people in the photos and for providing us the family picture of Merida and her children.
Click to Enlarge