Smith-Pumphrey Baltimore, MD/Washington, DC
Compiled by Susan Hall, February 23, 2010
Lucia Estelle ( nee: Pumphrey) married George Albert Smith; they had two children—Colvin and Gilbert Emmons Smith. (might be Calvin, but it was always pronounced Colvin). Gilbert was a twin, but the twin died in infancy.
Colvin was younger than Gilbert.
Colvin married Leilia (spelling? Pronounced Leelia) she had very dark hair, and was very, very nice and beautiful; they had: Edna, Henrietta, Estelle (named after her grandmother), Albert (named after his grandfather), Paul, Colin, Betty Lee, and Louis.
Gilbert Emmons married Frances Hartung; they had: Frances Estelle (only one of the four born in a hospital—Franklin Square Hospital, Baltimore, July 10, 1929—other three born at ‘new’ home in Green Haven); Gilbert Peter (middle name after Frances’s half brother back in Germany); the infamous Martha Barbara (first name after Frances’s best friend, Martha Ritterbush, who owned the store down at the Wharf in Green Haven. Martha Ritterbush was Martha’s Godmother; Miss Bernadine Ritterbush is her daughter); Carole Catherine (middle name after Frances’s grandmother back in Germany).
Estelle Pumphrey was an Irish Catholic; George Albert Smith was an English Protestant, and also belonged to the Masons. However, I believe both were actually born in America.
Estelle Pumphrey’s brothers: Leon—married Grace, had daughter Helen. Paul--don’t’ know wife’s name, father of Catherine; Luke—no kids, not married. Leon was very rich and very, very strict; definitely the boss in family. Paul was very handsome and distinguished; very, very nice. Luke “liked his beer” to put it nicely; was very fun; died when putting a roof on a house on a hot day and drank ice cold water too fast---well, that’s the story, but who knows the ‘real’ story…..
George Albert Smith’s family was in Washington, DC; owned boats and maybe traded up and down the Potomac River. Not quite sure what they did; always referred to as “ship’s captains”. However, Albert was a carpenter. Was he a carpenter and a captain….a carpenter on a boat…..a carpenter instead of a captain (went away from the family business?)…..I’m not sure.
Gilbert Emmons had been married before he (or during??? Hmmmm…) met Frances. He had a daughter, Sarah…don’t know birthdate or anything else. He divorced (maybe? Ha ha) first wife, then married Frances. Don’t really know if meeting Frances was the cause of divorce, or met her after.
Frances (nee Hartung) was a governess to the American consulate Longyear family; their only child was a son named Robin. German, of course, was the native language for Frances, but as she was fluent in French, she was hired to speak only French to Robin; her best friend, Lucy, also German, was hired to speak only German to Robin. A governess was an extremely important job and they were regarded as part of the family, complete with their own maids, eating with the family (to no doubt supervise the kid’s manners and language), and traveling first class with the family. Gibson Island was one of the homes the Longyear family owned; there was a home in or around Boston, a house in Foxboro/Wolfsboro, Maine, and of course the house in DC. How fun that two best friends were able to travel to so many parts of the world together….and get paid to do it!!!
Gilbert and Frances met because of a stopped-up toilet (wonder how Disney would handle that premise for a movie…) Her dear little charge put a shoe down the toilet, so the plumber was called in….Gilbert now enters the picture. Just think if Gilbert had been attracted to Lucy instead of Frances!!! The little child seemed to have a penchant for throwing shoes down the toilet, so Gilbert was called out a few times. He used to tease Frances that she was doing it on purpose so she could keep seeing him. The progression of what happened from there, who knows….except Frances Estelle decided to become her own little presence to wreak havoc upon, I mean, grace, this world…a “hurry up” wedding was in order….Gilbert decided to play “bait and switch” with the Episcopalian and Catholic churches….and the rest, as they say, is history!! (and us!!!)
Gilbert and Frances were married in an Episcopal church….she was a devout Catholic, but didn’t know if a Catholic church looked different than what she was used to in Germany. Just saw the “backwards collar” and pretty church; Gilbert told her it was Catholic, and she didn’t speak enough English to know the priest wasn’t speaking “Catholic”; she was still not fluent in English, as she had only been in the Country for a year or so, and she was constantly speaking French to the boy with the unfortunate name of Robin. Frances told Martha (aka Muzz), years and years later, that she tried to annul the marriage once she found out, but at that time you had to have a lot of money to do that, and that was not a possibility. Whether to annul it and go her own way, or annul it and get re-married in the Catholic church, is not clear. (I can make some guesses, though!!)
Little House in Green Haven:
Estelle and Albert had a summer home in Green Haven. They would go by boat from Baltimore to the Wharf in Green Haven. At that time, Green Haven was nice; it was sparsely populated and the perfect place to go to get away from the oppressive heat of the city. Estelle and Albert owned most of the square block between 203rd and 204th Streets; Catherine Avenue and East Shore Road were the other boundaries. Their house was the white/brown shingled house with lots and lots of big windows. When Frances and Gilbert decided to move down there, Albert and Gilbert built the “original” base of the house, it had one floor and few rooms. The house that eventually became Fran&Ed’s was not there until years later. When Martha and Carole (they were only a few years apart so were the closest of the 4 siblings) had to make the required half-hour, daily visit to the grandmother (Estelle), they would have to go from their house, through a path that went across what eventually became the backyard of Sis&Ed’s house, to the next lot which was Grandmum Estelle and Gradpop Albert’s house. There, they would each have a cookie or a Hershey Bar, fidget and hate it for the half hour. By then, it was almost twilight; Grandmum would shuffle (she always shuffled) to the window, peer out, then tell them, “It’s twilight, you better go now. Hurry home or the jackals will get you!!”. Carole and Martha/Muzz would fly over that path so fast so the “jackals” wouldn’t get them. Halfway home, Martha would invariably let go of Carole’s hand and start running for her life towards home, all the while both of them screaming at the tops of their lungs. Of course, they had no idea what a jackal was, but they sure didn’t want to be gotten by one!! In Martha’s mind, a jackal was a great big, dinosaur-like bird that would eat them.
Eventually, for whatever reason, a house was put up between the Really Old Smiths and the Relatively Young Smiths, which the R.O. Smiths moved into, renting out the bigger, huge-windowed house. They eventually sold that house, staying in the smaller house (I guess they liked the yard that had jackals in it).
Martha was between 5 and 10 years old when the R.O. Smiths died, first Grandpop Albert (who she liked a lot), then a year or so later Grandmum Estelle (who she didn’t like at all and can’t even remember ever having a hug from her). The funeral might have taken place at the old, original St Jane Francis church. They are buried in the Glen Haven Cemetery on Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie; some of the first bones to be there as it had opened fairly recently back then.
Martha was maybe 7 or 8 years old when the upstairs was put on her house.
Fran&Ed moved into the grandparent’s house at some point after the R.O. Smiths took up residence at Glen Haven Cemetery.
FYI…
At some point in someone’s life in either Germany or America, someone decided to do some research on FrancesFromGermany’s family. It was discovered (or so they say) that those roots can be traced back to Saint Cecelia. I have no idea who St Cecelia was, what she did, when she died, or how she got her halo, but apparently we have a Saint in our family. It would stand to reason that the Saint is on Frances’s side, and not Gilbert’s!! I don’t think a Saint on his side would have looked too kindly on him switching around the churches to fit his needs!!!! (or the reason he needed to do the switching!! Ha ha) I think on his side, the only “saint” would be the Saint Bernard dog!!
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