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A Pictorial Chronicle of the Family of Arthur Louis (186?-1901)
and his Wife Esther Levy (1857-1903)
When Arthur and Esther
died leaving five young children, fourteen year old Hilda Blanche,
nine year
old Ione and baby Arthur went to live with their Aunt Elise. Blanch
was the same age as Evelyn, Ione the same age as the twins and
Arthur the same age as Bobs. Henry and Edmund "Eddie" went to
live with Esther's brother in New York, USA..
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Blanche (6th
January 1889) was a serious and reserved person. She did not
as readily embrace all the changes of the new century as her
cousin Evelyn did; she was always beautifully dressed and impeccably
put together, but a little bit old-fashioned. No typewriting
job or bobbed hair for Blanche. Her family was all she
needed. She married William Donald Soutar (1888-1972) and
had six children: Eily, Simon, Yvonne, Donald, Farren and
Marguerite.
Blanche had a
quiet personality but lived a busy social life and was devoted to her husband and
children. She died in 1971.
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Ione was born
in 1894, the penultimate child of Arthur and Esther. Growing
up with her cousins, it was almost as if she and Gertrude
were the twins as they did everything together as children
and young women. All the parties and social events of the
'teens and 20s were attended and she had a career. Ione was
exceptionally independent for her time and had a stubborn
streak.
Ione married
Harold Seymour and they emigrated to the UK but Ione hated
it there and dragged Harold back on the eve of World War II.
Shortly after, they were divorced. They had no children.
Ione worked as a "Stenographer" for a dentist then a
solicitor and later, after retirement, became a matron at a
girls' boarding school. She had found the perfect career for,
even in the family, when children, and later grandchildren,
were too much of a handful; parents had to utter just one
sentence "I'm going to send for Aunt Ione" for everyone to
become perfect angels.
When she got
older, not wanting to live with any of her family, she moved
herself into a home for "gentlewomen" where she died in
1978.
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Why no more pictures of the adult Ione?
If you haven't already guessed, she was usually the one behind the
camera. |
Arthur was the baby of the family and
only vaguely remembered his parents. He was much of a loner as he
had not grown up with his brothers nor, after childhood, did he have
much in common with his cousin Bobs.
Arthur married Sylvia Bodden and they
had two sons, Arthur and Richard. Arthur had inherited much of the
Vendryes eccentricities and he taught his contemporaries and their
children to drive in a black 1940s Ford right into the 1970s. After
all, it was perfectly good so why update it!
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