Week 1 2023
Prompt - I'd Like to Meet
Walter Raymond Simmons 1902-1931
Nancy Simmons to Paul
Simmons to Walter Simmons
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| Walter Raymond Simmons about 1920 |
I would
like to meet and talk to my paternal grandfather, Walter Raymond Simmons.
Walter died in 1931 in Dearborn, Michigan at the age of twenty-nine of
broncho-pneumonia, influenza.[i] Of all the hundreds of
ancestors I have researched, I'd really like to meet my paternal grandfather Walter Simmons.
I know quite a bit about Walter's
family because I have researched the Simmons family line back to the mid-1700s
in Pennsylvania but I really would like to know who Walter was as a person. My
grandmother mentioned once that Walter had a sense of humor. Since my father,
Paul, and my sister, Judy, also had a great sense of humor, maybe it was
Walter's DNA. Yes, my DNA and that of my siblings along with my research confirm
that Walter was of German and Scottish descent and his family was North Central
Appalachia settlers. But I really would like to meet Walter and know him as a
person.
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| Walter, Marvin & Cecil Bernice Simmons about 1906 |
I would like to know about
his early years in Missouri. Walter was born the second child to Reverend
Andrew Lincoln and Elspeth (Leeton) Simmons in Gainesville, Missouri on June 4,
1902.[ii]
Walter's parents were both from Ritchie County, West Virginia and his father
was an ordained Methodist minister and had accepted a multi-church assignment
in Missouri in 1899. It was in Missouri that Walter's older sister, Cecil
Bernice, was born in 1900, and in 1904 his brother Marvin Andrew was born. All
of them were born in Gainesville, Missouri. Does he remember living in
Missouri? Does he remember his father traveling on horseback to seven different
churches in his charge? He was only six or seven when his family moved from
Missouri to Illinois. Did he remember their move to Illinois and how they
traveled to get there?
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| Walter Raymond Simmons about 1909 |
About 1908, Walter's
father transferred to the Illinois Methodist Conference and he served churches
in Bedford, Oakford, Broadlands, and then Henning, Illinois.[iii]
It was in Oakford at the age of nine that Walter's brother, James Russell, was
born in 1911. Did he remember going to school in Oakford? What was it like
being a preacher's kid? What was it like to sit in church every Sunday and
listen to your father preach? And I'd love to know if Walter's father and
mother ever traveled back to West Virginia to visit family.
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| Walter and June (Putman) Simmons - about 1921 |
It was 1915 in Henning, Illinois, when Walter met my grandmother, June Putman. Both of them attended the Henning Methodist Church and went to Henning Public School together. I
know my grandmother played basketball for Henning High School and played the
piano for many church functions. I would love to ask Walter if he played
basketball. Did he watch June play basketball? Did they sit together in church? When did
they fall in love? So many questions.
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| L to R - unknown boys and woman, June & Walter Simmons Wallace Raymond Simmons in buggy 1921 |
Walter married June Putman
in Detroit, Michigan on December 1, 1920,[iv]
and their first child, Wallace Raymond, was born in June 1921. It had to be exceedingly difficult
for June and Walter to leave the small village of Henning, Illinois, and go to
Detroit, Michigan to be married by a Justice of Peace. As was typical for that
time, many young men moved to the city to find work. Walter and June moved to
Detroit, Michigan where Walter took a job as a mechanic at the Ford Motor
Company. I would love to ask Walter about their first home, and what was it
like to work for Ford Motor Company in the 1920s.
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| L to R - Unknown child and woman, Paul & June about 1929 |
On January 29, 1925, my
father, Paul Herbert Simmons, was born to Walter and June.[v] He
was their second child. June traveled back to Henning to birth my father. Did
Walter go with her, or did he stay in Detroit to work? I never asked my
grandmother these questions even though she lived until 1999 outliving Walter
by 68 years. My grandmother was not too forthcoming with past events in her
first marriage. I don't know if it was just too raw or out of respect for her
second husband. She did state once that they were happy years.
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| June, Paul, Walter & Wallace Simmons about 1929 |
It was during the 1920s
that Walter's sister and her husband also moved from Illinois to Detroit to
work in the auto business. They lived very close to Walter and his family. I'd
like to ask Walter how often they traveled back to Illinois to visit his
parents and June's parents. What did they do for the holidays? Were there any
other Simmons relatives living in the Detroit area at this time? Oh! So many
questions.
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| Walter Simmons - Michigan Death Certificate |
Another interesting
historical fact is that prohibition started in January 1920 and ended in
December 1933. This was the period of Walter and June's ten years of marriage.
In February 1931, my father who just turned six years old came down with a cold
and then pneumonia. It was thought he would not recover from pneumonia, but he
did. Shortly after my father recovered Walter came down with influenza and then
developed broncho-pneumonia. He passed away on February 24, 1931, at 28 years 8
months, and 20 days![vi]
He was so young! He left June who was also 28 years old with two sons, Wallace
Raymond Simmons 9 years old, and my father, Paul Herbert Simmons who was 6
years old.
My grandmother remarried
in 1934 and my father and his brother were raised by their mother and
stepfather, Elvis Jackson "Jack" Merritt. Jack lived until 1991when
he died at 92 years. He was my grandpa Merritt. But if I could meet any one of
my ancestors I would love to meet and have a long talk with my paternal
grandfather, Walter Raymond Simmons, my grandpa Simmons!
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| Walter R. Simmons about 1925 My Paternal Grandfather |
[i] Michigan, U.S., Death Records,
1867-1952, Walter Simmons, Ancestry.com
[ii] Ibid
[iii] Union List of Ministers, Andrew Lincoln
Simmons, Central Illinois Conference, The United Methodist Church, Conference
Historical Society, Bloomington, Illinois.
[iv] Michigan Marriages 1868-1925, FHL
film # 2342742, Vol 1, page 602.
[v] Birth Record, State of Illinois,
Vermilion County, Illinois, Vermilion County Clerk, Certificate #17617
[vi] Michigan, U.S., Death Records, 1867-1952, Walter Simmons, Ancestry.com
