This
is follow up research material to my Gordon-Schlichter Wedding piece. Out of curiosity and other research on
material on a novel I want to write, I ran into follow up to the wedding piece.
And it is not a very happy trail.
The
groom James Lindsay Gordon died in 1904 at his residence of
 |
| 1903 lot map |
15 W 17 Street
in NYC. Apparently he and Emily Adele
had one child Edith Churchill Gordon born in 1900. That leaves a widow and a four year old child
in a five year marriage. Then following
the little out there mostly on the Gordon family genealogical sites, Emily
Adele dies in 1908.
Which
leaves the question, who raised Edith? The Schlichter grandparents and or
friends and or family of the Gordons?
James
was a brother of a famous lawyer, prolific writer and poet in the form of his
older brother Armistead Churchill Gordon. The Armisteads and the Churchills are
no doubt founding father names in Virginia history. The Churchill name may be related to the
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill but it is closer in fact to the Kentucky
Churchills as in Churchill Downs.
More
on Edith shortly.
The
photo above is an unidentified archive item. At first I thought it a good candidate for the
Barton School on Frankford Avenue and Buckius Street in “Goosetown” or
quasi-Harrowgate overlapping with Frankford in Philly.
Of
course, it is three stories and not two as described in sporadic literature
produced over the years by the Board of Education bureaucracy. That they added a third story between 1860
and 1905 is possible but it is only speculation on my part at this point in
time. Something about the photo says
that it might just be the old Barton School.
 |
| 1891 |
If so, then the house to the left of the photo would be the first
Schlichter residence before the rope baron bought the school in 1905, knocked
it down and then proceeded to build a large residence or mansion after a
lifetime of pinching pennies and rewarding a lifetime of achievement and a rags
to riches story with the Schlichter Rope Mill. That mill, one of two mills, also figures briefly
in my novella Fresh Kills.
 |
| 1910 |
Enlarging
the simple Quaker like farmhouse residence to that of some grand Queen Anne
like residence would fit the time frame of having a daughter and grandchild
moving back in and along with many famous and distinguished Southern relatives
coming to visit James Lindsay Gordon’s only child Edith Churchill Gordon.
As
for Edith, the next time she shows up is as the middle wife, number two of three, of a playboy
husband Harry Hays Morgan Jr.. Harry had a rather lackluster career as a
Hollywood extra in movies, no doubt hanging around for the next Beverly Hills
Party to attend. His career ends in
1948, the same date noted as Edith Churchill Morgan’s year of death.
 |
| Gloria left, Thelma right |
Edith depending on the timeline, was one time sister in law of her husband Harry’s
some might say notorious twin sisters Thelma and Gloria. Thelma as the Viscountess Furness was Edward
VIII’s last major mistress before Thelma introduced him to Wallis Simpson. We all know where that went.
Gloria
Morgan married Reggie Vanderbilt and was involved in the big custody battle
over little miss rich kid Gloria Vanderbilt, the latter Jeans Queen and mother
of CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
Oh
the rich and famous.
My
email address is located on the blog title page. Please feel free to write in regards to any
thing, photos, research sources, related to the Schlichters of Philadelphia, James Lindsay Gordon, Edith Churchill
Gordon or the Barton School.
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