Tag: Church of the Brethren

The Fraker Family with Art Troup

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Benjamin Franklin Fraker family front.jpg

The man and woman seated in the above photograph are Benjamin Franklin Fraker (1870-1955) and his wife, Sarah Rebecca Mowery (1870-1934). They lived in the vicinity of Carlisle, PA and had two children. Both Benjamin and Sarah are buried in Letort Cemetery, formerly Kutz’s Church Cemetery, located at the site of the Letort United Methodist Church in Carlisle [See findagrave.com memorials 38796055 and 38796064.]

Benjamin, also known as B. Frank and B. F., was the son of Andrew Fraker and Martha Warren. (I had no luck finding out more about them.) His obituary states, “A retired farmer, he lived for many years in the Middlesex township and was also a former employee of the Carlisle Frog, Switch and Manufacturing company.” Benjamin probably had a brother named William Arthur Fraker (1870-1944), but the record is unclear and genealogists differ.

An attentive reader of these pages will recognize Sarah’s headgear and identify her as a Dunker or Dunkard. Her obituary identified her as “a member of the Carlisle Church of the Brethren, president of the Women’s Missionary Society of the Letort Evangelical Church, and a teacher in the Sunday School.” Her parents were Benjamin Mowery (1838-1901) and Mary Magdalene Plough (1839-1913) and they are buried with the Plough family in the Huntsdale Church of the Brethren Cemetery.

Their daughter Mary Ellen Fraker (1899-1969) is standing behind her father. Her first husband, Arthur Raymond Troup (1896-1946), is to her left (and conspicuously in the center of the photograph). Mary Ellen and Art were married on 6 June 1918 in New Kingston, PA. They had four sons, the youngest of which was Reverend Kenneth L. Troup, a prominent United Methodist Church pastor whose obituary you can read here. Art died early of complications associated with a duodenal ulcer. Mary later married a man named West but I could find nothing more about that union that I could confirm.

Seated on the arm of his mother’s chair is Andy, Andrew William Fraker (1903-1980). He is frequently identified as William Andrew Fraker, or W. Andrew Fraker, adding to the confusion of the Fraker family genealogy. The inscription on the back of the photograph was written by one of Andy’s children. Andy married Mary Ellen Clouser (1909-1992) in 1925 and they had six sons and five daughters.

Benjamin Franklin Fraker family back.jpg

Here is another photograph of Art Troup:

Arthur Raymond Troup 1 front.jpg

Arthur Raymond Troup 1 back.jpg

Feete Family

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Carrie M Feete front

The above photograph depicts Carrie May Feete (1869-1962) according to the inscription on its back:

Carrie M Feete back

Carrie was the only daughter of Henry Calvin Feete (1838-1924), a constable and undertaker in Middletown, MD, and Mary Elizabeth Null (1841-1907). Carrie’s six siblings were all brothers.

Carrie married William Hamilton Leatherman (1868-1928). William was a farmer who died on the farm where he was born. William was the son of George Leatherman (1827-1907) and Rebecca Elizabeth Johnson (1827-1908). George was known as Elder George Leatherman and was a farmer and a minister in the Dunkers church, also known as the German Baptists or Church of the Brethren. There is much material about the Leathermans of central and western Maryland available on the Internet and in libraries, so I won’t go into a lot of detail here. If you want more dope just ask me. Generally, there were two Leatherman clans which intermingled together and with the Harshman and Warrenfeltz families. Below is William:

William H Leatherman front

William H Leatherman back

Carrie and William had four children. Two of them, Carroll Feete Leatherman, Sr. (1898-1977) and Leslie Daniel Leatherman (1900-1940) are pictured below:

Carroll and Leslie Leatherman front

Carroll married Eleanor Martha Hedges (1901-1988) and they had one child, Carroll Feete Leatherman, Jr. (1933-2014).

Leslie Married Pearl Elizabeth Harshman (1901-1923) in 1922 and she died suddenly the next year. In 1924 Leslie married Nellie May Leatherman (1898-1975) and they had one son, Richard Lee Leatherman (1926-2010).

Carroll and Leslie Leatherman back

Carrie’s brother Alva Daniel Feete (1873-1942) married Lulu K. Welton (1876-1932) and they had no children:

Lula Feete front

Lula Feete back

Carrie’s brother Charles Henry Feete (1867-1947) started his professional life as a telegrapher for the Mutual Union Telegraph Company offices in Ellicott City and Rockville, MD. After bookkeeping in Chicago for about two years he returned to Frederick County in 1899 and, following in his father’s footsteps, established the C. H. Feete and Brother “ambulance and undertaking” business in Brunswick in partnership with is brother, William ((Null)) Feete (1873-1906). Charles’ obituary says he was “long considered Brunswick’s ‘first citizen.'” When he died he left the business to his sons who are pictured below, Charles Floyd Feete (1894-1954) and Bernard Lee Feete (1899-1963). The stamped name “Carroll H. Feete” refers to another of Carrie’s brothers, Carroll Hoffmeyer Feete (1878-1924).

Lee Feete frontLee Feete back

Floyd Feete 2 frontFloyd Feete 2 back

Floyed Feete 1 front

Floyd Feete 1 back

I bought these photographs from an antique dealer in the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore in March 2017. It came with a number of other photographs of more distant family members and associates which you will see in these pages at some point down the road.

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The Garner Family

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ralph-and-gladys-garner-front

The above photograph depicts John Jacob Garner (1873-1958), his wife Lydia Mae Royer (1871-1950), and two of their four children. The Garners were members of the Church of the Brethren and Lydia appears in traditional headgear as she does in the photograph seen here on her findagrave.com memorial page.

Sitting on her mother’s lap is Gladys M. Garner (1905-1910). I was unable to find out how Gladys died at such a young age. She was enumerated in the Census of 1910 on 20 April 1910 in Manchester, MD. She is buried with her parents, brother Jonas Sterling Garner (1910-2009), and sister Rachel H. Garner, in Meadow Branch Cemetery, Westminster, MD (61586941, 61586920, 42503690, and 6158696.)

To the left is her brother, Ralph L. Garner (1902-1989). He married Anna V. Myers (1908-1983) in 1930. They did not have children. They are buried in Pleasant Valley Cemetery in Westminster, MD. Their obituaries are here, 54071591 and 54071594.

It is worth noting that many members of the extended family spent their last years living in the Fahrney-Keedy Memorial Home.

Below is the back of the insert to the frame which contained the photograph. I bought the photograph and insert at an antique store in the Baltimore neighborhood of Hampden in October 2016.

ralph-and-gladys-garner-back