Gram pie Death Certificate

As told by Jane Webster (#3c) (the webmaster's aunt) on 2 November 2008, "Belva was raised in Eaten, Ohio by an aunt, Louisa (Kenney) Newton (#10e) [her mother's sister] and Uncle John Newton after her mother died. She was only about 4 months old when her mother died."

Her mother's obituary (courtesy of Matt Kenney, Great- Great- Great Grandson of Albert Kenney) is transcribed by this webmaster below and explains the circumstances of Belva's mother's death. The original obituary transcription obtained from Matt is linked here. The original transcriber is unknown.

SARAH CATHERINE KENNEY LEACH

Sarah Catherine Kenney Leach was born in Delaware Co., Ohio on Nov. 5, 1843 and died at O. P. Morton’s home in Camden, O., on Oct. 24, 1888, age 44 yrs. 11 mo. and 19 days. She was married to Watson Leach of Delaware Co., O. in 1872.

In October she came to Camden to attend a reunion of her mother, brothers and sisters near Sugar Valley. After a visit of several days and on the eve of returning home, she took typhoid-pneumonia and after three weeks died. She leaves her husband and dear little children at home. She was anxious to visit dear old mother and sisters when death came.

(Her children surviving her were Arthur, age 12, Charles, Harold, Homer and Belva Lockwood age 3 mos. Sarah Catherine’s sister, Louisa Conger took the baby and raised her.

She was preceded in death by a daughter, Stella, who was killed in an accident. Also a twin brother, John Peter Kenney died Jan. 17, 1864 while in the Union Army at Lookout Valley.)

Below: Photograph of baby Belva. (Courtesy of Matt Kenney, Great Great Great Grandson of Albert Kenney).

According to an e-mail from Sharon Hinckley (Belva's granddaughter to the webmaster dated Nov 3, 2009, "Belva was indeed raised by her Aunt. Kind of a 'Cinderella story" as I understood it. After her mother died, her dad came back and took her brothers, but left her with her Aunt. Belva apparently got to do a lot of the less desirable chores which, among other things, included getting a board to prop up the family horse in the morning. (Apparently the horse had difficulty getting up by himself.)

Children of her aunt and uncle (ie: Belva's first cousins) included : 1) Mary Leona Conger (1859-1870) (no spouse); 2) Albert Ross Conger (1860-1901) (married Mattie D. Borradaile); 3) Caroline "Carrie: Luella Conger (1862-1935) (married Eli Gilmore Harris); 4) Joseph Edwin "Ed" Conger (1865-1942) (married Margaret Catherine "Katie" Bussard); 5) Herbert Adair Conger (1867-1949) (married Lucy Parker); 6) Katherine Ann "Kate" Conger (1870-1950) (married Elwood M. Shaffer and Walter Marion Reed) ; 7) An infant Conger (1873-1873), and 8) Bertie Adele Conger (1879-1972) (married Claude Hartcourt Kennedy). The purple information is courtesy of Doug Hart's posted ancestry.com information. [These were the children Belva grew up with].

According to the 1900 census, Belva was 11 years old and living with her Aunt Louisa Conger, Uncle John W. Conger, their children, the daughter-in-law of the Congers, and one of their granddaughters in Dixon, Preble, Ohio.

In 1902, when Belva was 13, she completed her lower grades of school in the Dixon Township of Preble County. She wrote the letter below telling her brother, Charles, about the event. There is a transcript of the letter included below, written by the webmaster in 2022. The original letter and commencement booklet for the county was found among Belva's things when her granddaughter cleaned out her house in 2022.

Belva included her letter to Charles with the program below of the Preble county commencement.

The program was quite elegant with a transparent cover that had a blue ribbon and a cut out of "1902 on the cover. By lifting that cover, the next page was more visible. .

Below are the next two pages of the program. Note: Belva's name is highlighted in red (added by the webmaster). She had the highest average grade of all students in the county.

1904: Below are the front and back of Belva's report card. The card states she is being promoted to the sophomore grade. Note, the parents' signatures on the back of the card are E.G. Harris until the last signature, Louisa Conger. E. G. Harris is Carrie Conger Harris, one of Belva's adult cousins. (Grade card: courtesy of Sharon Hinckley).

In 1906, Belva's father (age 62) wrote her a 4-page letter. Postmarked from Marengo, Ohio, it was sent in July. Beside each scanned page below is a transcript of same by the webmaster, written September 7, 2022. Belva would have been 17 when she received this letter. She kept in her possession for her entire life. Her granddaughter, Sharon, found it in 2022 when she was cleaning out the Chevy Chase house, and sent it to the webmaster. It unknown by the webmaster to what the "final settlement" is referring. On Page 4 "Aunt Lou" is referring to Belva's Aunt Louisa, who she was living with.

On April 25, 1906, Belva's father died. In his will, he declared that after paying his debts, funeral expenses, and other expenses, the remainder of his assets be divided evenly among his 6 children: Arthur O., Charles A., Homer W., Belva L., and Ralph M.. To read the will in its entirety, click here.

Below is Belva's Eaton High School grade card, dated 1906-1907. Note, Belva's last name is misspelled. Also note that in the "Apr" column, it says "Not present enough for grads." (Grade card: courtesy of Sharon Hinckley).

Below is Belva's Certificate of High School Record. It listed the subjects, test book used, amount of work done, number of weeks, number of rec. per week, rec. period, and grade (based on a grade scale of 100)

Belva graduated from Eaton High School on May 21, 1908 at 8:00 at the Opera House. The cover for the program is immediately below. When the cover was turned, the open pages are below this image. (Program: courtesy of Sharon Hinckley).

Note below, Belva's name is highlighted in yellow. She sang with her class, played in a quartet, and gave one of the Orations at the ceremony. Her oration was "The Roycrofters." This title had been her graduating thesis.

The next two photographs of Belva are courtesy of Steve Webster, grandson of Charles Leach, Belva's brother. The photographs were stored in an old trunk by his mother, Jane Webster, daughter of Charles and niece of Belva.

According to Sharon Hinckley's Nov 3, 2009 e-mail to the webmaster: "Belva taught 'Normal' school briefly. One of the items found by Sharon when she was going through Belva's belongings was the 1907 teacher's examination for Teachers' Elementary School Certificate. The date of this test is confusing. Did Belva take the test before she graduated from high school. Was the same test used in 1908 or after? Did Belva teach in an elementary school and in a "normal school"? A "normal school is a school where teachers are trained.

The 1910 census shows Belva is 21, a boarder, living in Columbus Ward 10, Franklin Ohio and teaching in a public school.

Ohio Marriage Records 1774-1993 shows that on 20 August 1915, at the age of 27, she married Robert H. H. Spidel in Franklin, Ohio. (Robert's complete name was Robert Hugh Hooker Spidel. ) She and her husband had one child, Roberta Spidel (Smull) 1919-2010. Roberta was born in Washington, D. C.

According to Sharon, "She and my grandfather spent two years in Gila Bend, Arizona early in their marriage. While there Hooker (the name my grandfather was called by) stoned a rattlesnake to death. My mother still has its tail somewhere."

"Below is a picture of Belva on her Horse in Arizona. I believe that my grandfather' first job after graduating from college (at least an early job) was building a bridge over the Gila River in Arizona. At that time, he was working for the Government. He didn't like it. After that time, he either worked for himself or with a partner."

"From there they moved to the Washington, DC area where Hooker made his career as a concrete contractor. Among other things, he built the first covered parking garage for a retail store in the United States. It was for a store called the Hecht Company and was located in Arlington, Virginia".

"Belva enjoyed reading, the theater and traveling. The Farm where she grew up was in Eaton, Ohio."

The photograph below of Belva is courtesy of Steve Webster, grandson of Charles Leach, Belva's brother. The photograph was stored in an old trunk by his mother, Jane Webster, daughter of Charles and niece of Belva.

In 2022, Sharon sent a box of photographs and letters that had been Belva's to the webmaster so that information could be put onto this website. "Pablo"'s connection to Belva is unknown, but in her belongings were three correspondences from him. One was a Christmas card from London, sent in 1921 and the other two were post cards sent in 1922 . All are shown below:

Below are the front and back of a post card from Buenos Aires, sent on February 18th, 1922, followed by a transcription.

Below is a second card showing Washington D.C.'s cherry blossom in bloom and a message from Pablo.

[In both of Pablo's postcards, he talks about the "Knickerbocker" disaster. A google search explains that the Knickerbocker was a movie theater in Washington D.C. The theater's roof collapsed on January 26, 1922 under the weight of snow from a two-day blizzard. As a result of the collapse, 98 people were killed and 133 were injured.]

In 1921 and 1922, when Pablo was writing to Belva, she was living at 2901 South Dakota Ave. N.E. Washington. D.C.

The next four photographs are courtesy of Steve Webster, grandson of Charles Leach, Belva's brother. The photographs were stored in an old trunk by his mother, Jane Webster, daughter of Charles and niece of Belva. Image 1 Roberta - August 1927; Image 2: Roberta - Christmas 1927; Image 3: Roberta - January 1928, Image 4: Roberta and Belva - August 1928.

According to the 1930 census, Belva lived in Bethesda Montgomery, Maryland and District 7, Montgomery, Maryland in 1940.

Sharon believes the photo below was taken on a trip her mother (Roberta) and grandmother made to Europe in the late 30s right before the start of World War II. Sharon's mother, Roberta, had not yet met Sharon's father. Sharon's grandfather did not go on that trip. Labels added to the photograph by the webmaster show Roberta sitting far left in the front row and Belva sitting 2nd from the right in the front row.

The date on the receipt for the steamship line below confirms that the trip was in 1938.

The next three images show the cover of the "Gateway" Travel Coupons booklet and pages inside the booklet.

Belva and Hooker built a house at 3708 Dunlop Street in Chevy Chase, Maryland in 1947. They resided in the house until their deaths. Their daughter lived there until her death. Their granddaughter (Sharon Hinckley) lived in the home as a child. After the death of her mother, Sharen rented out the house until August 2022, when she sold it. The total cost to build the house in 1947 was $36,000.

Also in 1947, Belva returned to Eaton, Ohio to attend the annual banquet of the Eaton High School Alumni Association. It was the 40th anniversary of her high school graduation.

Below: Two of the Spidel Christmas cards, front at left, inside message at right. (Courtesy of Sharon Hinckley)

In 1957, Belva received the following letter, announcing her 50th high school reunion. It is unknown whether Belva attended.

Hooker died on April 7, 1962. Many condolence letters and cards were sent, as well as flowers. One card, shown below, was in Lowes Florist flowers sent to Belva from her niece and nephew.

In 1963, Belva sold some of her property, as indicated in the two letters below:

Over the years, Belva exchanged many letters with her brothers, cousins, nieces and nephews, other family members, and friends. She kept many of her letters, which were found in 2022 by Sharon Hinckley, when she sold the house. Letters were sent to the webmaster, where the letters were read to get information about the family.

On April 16, 1962, Belva received a letter from Russell Leach (#3) her nephew (son of Charles Leach (#5)) and at the time, City Attorney of Columbus, Ohio. He said, "Dear Aunt Belva, Helen and I want to express our sympathy to you, Roberta, and Sharon, in your great loss. While we haven't had the chance to see you and your family often, we join in your feelings for Uncle Hooker's death was a loss to us too - all of us have admired, respected and loved him. I can imagine that his unexpected death was a terrible shock to all of you, but it is much better to lose a loved one that way than to see him suffer. When Dad died, I was quite resentful that he left while still a productive person and quite healthy until his attack. But I've since seen others wither away and am sure now that we were fortunate. We were also very fortunate in having had him with us for as long as we did. Helen, Dorothy, the kids and I visited Bloomfield Township Cemetery three or four weeks ago. It is still a beautiful spot and quite well maintained. After Dad died, Uncle Homer gave me a start on our geneology which I've worked on for the kids informaton. Enclosed is a copy in case I hadn't sent one before. All our love, Russell." [Helen was Russell's wife and Dorothy, his sister and Belva's niece].

On April 16, 1962, Belva received a letter from E.R. Kennedy (Edwin Russel Kennedy). He was one of the sons of her cousin Bertie Conger Kennedy. The letter began, "To say that I was shocked at the news of Hooker's passing would be putting it mildly. I had heard that he had been having sickness, but I'd thot it was just like all of us as the years take their toll and possibly not too serious - and then this! Having gone thru it myself, I can feel for you. It is somewhat like getting hit by lightning and having part of you destroyed. I have a motto under the glass on my desk that seems to help quite a bit. It says: 'God grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change, Courage to change things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.' I like to remember Hooker as I last saw him when we visited you in 1941- a kindly man, friendly and with a great sense of humor. I can remember the smile in his eyes, when my boys played that 'Frenchie' record on the phonograph as he awaited your comment. (It seems that record was 'persona non grata' with you , and he was quite amused that your hospitality prevented you from exploding- incidently you didn't!). But Lucile & Hooker are now gone! We can't bring them back, as much as we would like too- so we can just treasure in our hearts the many joys, secrets, love and companionships we have had with them.....Meanwhile, my deepest sympathy, Love, Russel" [According to ancestory.com. Lucille was Ruby Lucile Imlay Kennedy, Russel's wife, who had died in 1959].

One of her cousins, Agnes Kenney [daughter of (10J) Alavander Kenney].. the brother of Belva's mother Sarah Catherine Kenney (#10)], was especially active in letter writing. Agnes was 5 years older than Belva and died one year before Belva, at the age of 91. Agnes had never married, owned her own 14- room home at 60 King Ave. in Columbus,Ohio, played euchre and went to dances at the Senior Citizens Club, wrote articles that were published for money in newspaper journals and magazines, and rented out extra rooms for money. Some of the articles she submitted for publication included "History of Negroes in Columbus" and "History of Germans in Columbus."

In a letter dated July 7, 1966, Agnes wrote that she had gone to Allen's farm [Allen was her brother and the farm had belonged to her grandfather Albert G. Kenney.]. She said, "The 'old home place' of Grandfather Albert G Kenney - for which he made & baked his own brick in his own made kiln- is now thoroughly modernized - both-furnace (oil) all- else kitchen, etc. I envy them their cold artesian well water."

In a letter dated Dec. 1967, Agnes shared, "Just heard from Art's wife (up at the "old brick "(which bricks were made by and built into home by our mutual grandfather Albert G. Kenny)." [Art was the youngest of Agnes' nephews, son of her brother Alan and sister-in-law Grace, and Art was re-modeling more of he old homestead. Apparently "old brick" is the name used by the family to refer to the old homestead.]

In a letter dated March 28, 1971, Agnes wrote, "Well, I (almost forgot) to congratulate you great-grandmother! It just doesn't seem possible, does it? And being an old maid I'm even more astonished at (not birth) but how time flies and flies!"

Many letters were sent (1970-1975) to Belva from Glenn M. Taylor, who lived in Richmond Indiana. By reading these letters, the webmaster determined that Glenn had been Belva's boyfriend, when the two were teenagers, 60+ years earlier. They had parted their ways when Glenn went off to college in Delaware, Ohio. They both eventually married other people. When Glenn began writing to Belva in 1970, he was 82, had become a widower after being married to the same woman for 59 years, and was lonely. Belva was also 82, a widow, and nine days younger than Glenn. In his numerous letters to Belva, he told her about his 6 children and 15 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren, trips to see them and his nieces and nephews all over the US, a Senior Citizens Group he belonged to, his health, and he shared that he wanted to see her and correspond by letters with her. They met once in 1971, at "The Country Club", after not seeing each other for 63 years. Fifteen months after his wife's death, Glen proposed marriage to Belva, but she just wanted to remain friends. Glenn signed his letters "As Ever Glenn;" "As Always, Glenn;" and "Your Friend, Glenn."

Belva died on 24 February 1975 at the age of 86. She is buried at Rock Creek Cemetery is Washington, District of Columbia with her husband, according to her Washington Post Obituary. (Photo below: courtesy of Find A Grave website)

#5e Belva Lockwood Leach

1888-1975