Whatever happened to the Industrialist families of Dayton? (Middletown, Lancaster: 2013, buy)

[randomparent]

So to recap, because the sequence is a little weird in the above post...

Dorothy Forster Patterson married Chicago attorney and politician, Noble Brandon Judah, on 12 May 1917.* They resided in Chicago and adopted twin daughters, Katherine and Ann(e), in 1923. The Judahs divorced in 1933. Dorothy soon married New York businessman, Randolph Riger Santini, and they resided in Brookville, Long Island, but began purchasing property in Virginia horse country, where Dorothy eventually relocated. Randolph died in 1940, and Dorothy began an affair with the next door neighbor, horse breeder Howell Edmunds Jackson, who divorced his wife Vera in 1942 to marry Dorothy. The third time seemed to be the charm. They remained married until Howell's death in 1973. Dorothy followed in 1986, and both were buried in Virginia.

I have traced one of the adopted daughters. She died in Chicago a couple of years ago, but in the interest of the family's privacy, I'll leave it at that.

* Dorothy's brother, Frederick, had also married in 1917 just a few months earlier. That must have been a very busy time for the Patterson household!

[SWOH]

Absolutely amazed by all of the hard work and research going into this randomparent. Thank you!!

[randomparent]

Originally Posted by SWOH

Absolutely amazed by all of the hard work and research going into this randomparent. Thank you!!

Eventually I'm going to tucker out, but I'm having a ball at the moment. I grew up so close to these family's estates, and I drove by their homes frequently. Family members of mine worked for the companies they started... and still do. So it's really interesting for me to put the puzzle pieces together and see what happened. Right now I seem to be stuck on the Pattersons, but there's just so much! I can't tear my eyes away. I'm glad I have somewhere to share what I'm learning; otherwise, I'd be driving my husband and children crazy. They already think my passion for family history and genealogy is a little nuts. And they don't understand my passion for Dayton history AT ALL. What can I say? You can take the girl out of Ohio, but you can't take the Ohio out of the girl.

The OP hasn't been back. I wonder what he'll think when he sees all the information I've been vomiting up over the past couple of days. I'll keep going as long as people want to read my ramblings, but you have check in occasionally and let me know you're still interested.

[randomparent]

Frederick and Evelyn's house today. It's...um...well, just see for yourself. This home was a Dayton Philharmonic Showcase House in 2003, so that may account for the decor, which I think is best described as eclectic.


245 Park Road

The house has been in private hands for several decades, but, believe it or not, it also served as a convent at one time.

[randomparent]

Oakendale, the estate Howell Edmunds Jackson owned prior to marrying Dorothy Patterson and where he and Dorothy lived together during the marriage. The house was built in 1938. Since this is a real estate site, the link will eventually expire. Sorry. View it while it lasts, and see how the other half lives.

[randomparent]

A couple of corrections...

Armenal Woods Patterson's daughter from her first marriage was also named Armenal. Frederick, Evelyn, Armenal. Gah! What is it with the Pattersons naming their children after themselves? It can get very confusing.

Howell Edmunds Jackson's first wife was Mary Gatins, not Vera. Vera Gilbert was Randolph Santini's first wife. Randolph Santini's middle name was Rogers (it was repeatedly misspelled in news clippings as Riger) after his maternal grandfather, sculptor Randolph Rogers, who created the bronze Columbus Doors at the U.S. Capitol Building. Recall that Randolph Santini was Dorothy Patterson's second husband.

[randomparent]

If you haven't noticed yet, I certainly have; the genealogy of Dayton's founding families is very interconnected. The same names pop up over and over, because almost all of them intermarried at some point. However, not all of the descendants ended up living in splendor. The vast majority live just like me: a college-educated professional, married with kids, living in the suburbs. Maybe a Dayton suburb. Or maybe somewhere else. That said, if you grew up in Dayton, chances are that you attended school with some of them. I certainly did.

On that note...here's a family history website that details some of the Huffman-Barney descendants through the years with lots of fascinating tidbits and photographs of early industrial Dayton, which I ran across while researching the Gorman family. (Armenal Wood Patterson was first married to a Gorman. More about them later...maybe. This is getting complicated.) My compliments to the family historian who put it together. Nicely done. Even better, now I know the source of an unusual name borne by a high school friend who is clearly related to this family. What happened to him? Good things. He's done well for himself, and that's all I'll say about that.

[randomparent]

Back to the Pattersons...

It's like Rome; all roads lead to the Pattersons!

Randolph Santini, Dorothy Patterson's second husband, was a working man, of good character apparently, but still a working man. His first wife was a young Newport socialite named Vera Pierrepont Gilbert. Yes, those Pierreponts. Their engagement was not received happily by her family. Although this is not specifically about the Pattersons, it made me wonder about the pressure on young female heirs like Dorothy to marry well. Or maybe in Dayton it was different and the pressures less than those for long-established East Coast families. Dayton does have a pretty strong working class vibe, and it did at that time, too. The Barn Gang and friends were self-made men.

Here are a couple of strange and wonderful historical articles, featuring young Vera and her descent down the socio-economic ladder. I love the flowery & hyperbolic language. Enjoy!

Distressingly Happy

Gave Up Luxury For Love In a Cottage

[robertbrianbush]

Originally Posted by randomparent

I think I may need to take a break for awhile today, because my eyes are starting to cross from all this time staring at a screen. I. promise to come back and post about the Ohmers next. I'm also thinking about the Huffmans and perhaps the Schantzes, although I get a little scared of what that might entail. Those families just seem way too big to give a succinct overview. The Schencks might be interesting. I had a teacher named Schenck, and I've always wondered about her....

The Sorg family of Middletown, twenty minutes or so south of Dayton, is pretty fascinating too. When Paul Sorg passed
away in 1901 he left an estate of $75 million, the largest
estate in Ohio history at that time. The Sorg Mansion, a beautiful Richardson Romanesque home, still stands. Abandoned for years, I believe somebody is renovating it now. It was either never
or very briefly the Sorg family home...Paul Sorg died around the time it was being
finished and his wife immediately moved the family to NYC. A Middletown
researcher did track down Paul Sorg's grandkids or great grandkids (can't
remember exactly...I read the article several years ago...who were still
moving in NYC high society at the time, in the 50s or 60s. Amazingly,
they were completely unaware of the existence of the Sorg Mansion,
one of the most opulent ever built in Ohio, or of the origin of their family fortune
in Ohio!
Paul Sorg, who built the mansion, was also responsible for the construction
of Middletown's Sorg Opera House, which was across the street from the Sorg
Mansion and connected to it by a tunnel. Still standing, there have
been recent efforts to restore the opera house which have met with funding difficulties.
Sorg made his fortune in Middletown's paper industry (Sorg Paper, with a Middletown headquarters and mill) and tobacco as well as serving in Congress.
He made a significant contribution to Dayton's history as well by giving a
young man from Jacksonburg, a small village near Middletown, by the name
of James Cox, his start. Cox, of course, would go on to become the owner
of the Dayton Daily News, the founder of the Cox media empire, governor
of Ohio (in that office at the time of the 1913 flood), and the 1920
Democratic presidential nominee.

[randomparent]

Wow! I've never heard of the Sorgs, but I'm certainly familiar with the Cox contributions to Dayton and Ohio history. Very cool.