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Thursday, July 29, 2021

Running with a lot of loose ends and assumptions. That "Henry Ellis Flower" is the architect "H. E. Flower" ordering a lot of terra cotta from the Burlington Architectural Terra Cotta Company, mentioned in turn of the 20th century industry magazines. That Henry's father Reese W. Flower Jr. is a nephew of the same named Reese Wall Flower, that like the rich and middle class cross referencing relatives across direct blood lines with such titles as Jr and or "II" and "III" like the Coxes or the Astors etc. That Henry's father was one of those nephews who contested the will of unmarried uncle Reese who did not want a $100 bequeath but the farm on which the U. of Penn eventually built an observatory in 1897. That uncle Reese's death in 1875 and the University's building the observatory in 1897 is a lot of time in court contesting etc. That the corner house 3600 Powelton Ave. is in the Flower family from the 1890s onward in social pages until 1936 when James R. Clendenin dies and the contents of the house auctioned off in a downtown auction house of quality goods in 1937. More nephews and nieces to bequest to. But the thought occurred to me along with all the loose ends and assumptions of an obscure short lived Philly architect who died on the cusp of the Influenza Epidemic of August 1918. That in 1913, Clendenin, a successful insurance salesman, buys the house next door as project to keep his "retired" brother in law architect busy with some architectural aspects and a place for relatives, nieces and nephews to stay at on the holidays?

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