A Member of the Club(s) - George Fred Roe Joins Several

 George Fred Roe was born in Candor, Tioga County, New York on 26 November 1863, the son of George Whitley and Sarah (McPherson) Roe. His father died from illness in June 1864, an illness that he caught while fighting with Company K, 97th New York Volunteers in the Civil War. He was just 30 years old, and George Fred was six months old. Losing his father at an early age likely colored the rest of his life and the organizations he belonged to. George was obviously a joiner.

SONS OF VETERANS

The Sons of Veterans was a part of the Union Sons of Veterans of the Civil War.  This group was organized into "camps," and George was Commander of Wilderness Camp No. 99 when it was formed in March of 1908 in Candor. Besides a Commander and other leaders, the "Camp" had a Principal Musician, a Color Bearer, Camp and Picket Guards, and a Council. It had forty-four members when it was organized, although it was later disbanded. He and the other members were proud of their father's service, and this group was formed to honor that service.

IMPROVED ORDER OF RED MEN

George Fred was a Senior Sagamore in the improved Order of Red Men (I.O,R.M). This was an organization formed for white men that was supposedly modeled after Native American rituals. Their 1886 member requirement was:

"No person shall be entitled to adoption into the order except a free white male of good moral character and standing, of the full age of twenty-one great suns, who believes in the existence of a Great Spirit, the Creator and Preserver of the Universe, and is possessed of some known reputable means of support." 

Local units were called tribes and presided over by a Sachem (which George was at one point) and the local meeting sites were called "wigwams." The state organization was called a "Reservation" and was governed by a Great Sachem and a board of Chiefs, including Senior Sagamores. There was an active female auxiliary called the Degree of Pocahontas. George served as a "warrior" for that organization, likely a protector of some sort. And as you might expect, members dressed up in what they assumed was Native American garb, including fringed leather pants and shirts and feather headdresses. They justified all this by claiming they were actually preserving authentic Native American traditions.

FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS

Another group that George Fred Roe belonged to was a more common one - Candor Lodge #411 F. & A.M. The Candor Masonic group was started in July of 1856, and a charter was granted the next year by the Grand Lodge of the State of New York. This organization, like many Masonic organizations,  is still active today. 

In his later years, George Fred Roe built "The Ark", a gospel bus he took all around the area, preaching the gospel. It's unclear how this activity impacted his membership in the above organizations, but he was still active in the Order of Red Men in 1925, three years before his death on 20 December 1925. 

My Favorite Discovery - An Onstage Wedding

 I started researching my family more years ago than I care to count. I had been working on my father's line for several years when I discovered that my grandmother, Florence Halliday, had been married before she married my grandfather-- and that she had a child with her first husband. No one had thought to mention that fact to me (one of many things no one thought to mention.)

Florence Halliday was born in What Cheer, Keokuk County, Iowa on 15 February 1897 to Robert and Margaret (Clark) Halliday. [1] Robert was a coal miner, born in England. Margaret's parents were from Scotland. Florence was one of seven children--six girls and one boy. The family moved around a bit as was the case with most coal miners but always stayed in the same general area.

On 25 January 1916, 16-year-old Florence married 24-year-old Harold Edwards in Eldon, Wapello County, Iowa. Florence was actually 18 years old. Harold (listed as H.W. on the license) was a salesman. They had two witnesses: J.M. Baker and J.G. Moore, and they were married by a Justice of the Peace, A. Seaman. Brides often list their ages as a bit younger, but the age discrepancy is a bit puzzling in this case and may have just been a clerical error.[2]

The Cedar Rapids Gazette of 1 February carried a short article about the marriage.[3]

What?? Married on the stage?? Apparently, Harold had previously been on the stage before becoming a salesman. He must have been a character, and a combination of actor/salesman was likely quite charismatic. The marriage took place "on the stage in the last act." So they were married in the middle of a play. "$1 for a Kiss" was a locally written and produced show that never gained any popularity, as far as I can tell, so how a wedding played into the plot is unclear. 

The last thing that caught my eye about the marriage was the reception given to them by the "Sons of Rest" society. This led me on a merry chase. There are several references to the "Sons of Rest." The most common is a connection with hobos. Hobos were often called sons of rest. They are even described as such in a poem written by H.H. Knibbs: [4]

"We are the true nobility;

Sons of rest and the outdoor air; 

Knights of the tide and rail are we.

Lightly meandering everywhere."   

 But a group of hobos doesn't quite fit here. 

In England, a "Sons of Rest" society was formed to provide leisure activities for retired men. Interesting, but again, it didn't fit here.[5] 

But there appears to have been some type of Order of the Sons Of Rest that college students were involved in. Many men were listed in yearbooks as members of this group. So far, I've uncovered no information about the group's purpose, but it's likely a social/fraternal organization, and I suspect it was formed partly in jest. This is the most likely Sons of Rest who gave the couple their wedding reception.

Florence gave birth to a son, Richard Eugene Edwards, in August of that year.[6] He appears to have had some physical issues. It is unclear what those were. He lived most of his short life with Florence's mother Margaret Halliday. When he died in 1934 at the age of 18, he was listed as an invalid.[7]

The marriage of Florence and Harold Edwards didn't last very long. In April of 1919, Florence filed for divorce in Monroe County, Iowa. The divorce petition stated that the couple had lived together until February 1917 - just a bit over a year. At that point, Harold abandoned Florence and never returned.[8] 

Florence was granted exclusive custody of Richard, and Harold was ordered to pay $12 a month for support and maintenance of the child. This obligation would be released if Florence remarried. That marriage, to my grandfather George Michael Martin, didn't happen until September of 1925.[9] 

I wish I had heard this story while my grandmother was still alive. She died in 1967, but the story gave me an interesting picture of her as a young woman. I would have liked to have known more about that young woman.

One last note to this story. Harold married Blossom Cheek within a week after the divorce was finalized.[10] He died in 1930 in Jacksonville, Illinois.[11]

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[1] Birth Certificate, Florence Halliday, 1897, Keokuk County, Iowa. Copy received from grandmother's files.

[2] "Iowa Marriage Records, 1880-1947," digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 7 June 2023); Wapello County, p.90-93, #1454, Edwards-Halliday marriage, January 1916. It is unclear why he uses H.W. on this record and H.R. everywhere else.

[3] "Married in Eldon," The Gazette (Cedar Rapids IA), 1 February 1916, p.2, col.3.

[4] Knipp, Henry Herbert, "Ballad of the Boes," Songs of the Outlands: Ballads of the Hoboes and Other Verse (Houghton-Mifflin: Boston, 1914), p.47.

[5] "Sons of Rest," Wikipedia, wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sons_of_Rest: accessed 13 August 2024).

[6] Birth certificate has not been located. Should be 18 August 1916, likely in Albia, Monroe County, Iowa.

[7] "Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org: accessed 8 June 2023); Richard Eugene Edwards, 12 September 1934, Franklin County. FHL film #1,712,057, image #948.

[8] "Court Records, v.31, 29 April 1918-29 October 1920," digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org: accessed 8 June 2023); District Court, Monroe County, Iowa, Record No. 31, p. 235, April 1919 term, 1 May 191, #9819, Divorce Decree Florence Edwards, Plaintiff vs H.R. Edwards, Defendant.

[9] "Iowa, Marriage Records, 1880-1947," digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 9 June 2023); Monroe County, #94, 68, 012948, September 1926, Martin-Edwards.

[10] "Cheek-Edwards," Herald and Review (Decatur, Il), 9 May 191, p.9, col. 4-5. 

[11] "Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths Index, 1916-1947," database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 9 June 2023); Jacksonville, 2 December 1930, Harold R. Edwards.