Whatever happened to the Industrialist families of Dayton? (Kettering, Campbell: buyer, live)

[randomparent]

Here's a sweet article Zibby wrote about her grandmother, Gagy, aka Carol (Frank) Philips Levitan. Gagy was Jesse Philips' first wife.

My 93-Year-Old Grandmother and Me

Papa Kal, who is featured in a photograph associated with the column, is Kalman Levitan, a rabbi and Carol's second husband. Levitan was a member of the Department of Defense Armed Forces Chaplains Board and served nine years as Senior Jewish Chaplain and advisor on Jewish activities to the Chief of Air Force Chaplains. He died in 2002. I can find no notice of Carol's death, so it appears that Gagy is still going strong.

Zibby has been married twice and has four children. Her first husband was an associate at Goldman Sachs and son of the president of a hotel-supply distribution center in Denver. Her second husband, whom she wed last year, is a tennis pro. I believe they reside on Long Island.

Zibby's brother, Teddy, is an attorney in addition to being a movie producer. He and his wife, also an attorney, married in 2007 and have three children.

[randomparent]

Just a note to say that although I generally try not to post about living descendants, this family has several prominent members who are particularly open in their social media presence, so that's why I've included information about living family members. If there's a Wikipedia page, a personal promotion website, or photos in the society column of The New York Times, I think they're fair game.

[randomparent]

Originally Posted by Waterman71

So was the Elder Beerman store founded by a famous Dayton family?

It appears that now is the perfect time to come back to this post from 2016. I mentioned in my response that it would probably be best to focus on Thomas Elder, as Arthur Beerman did not come along until the middle of the 20th century. Little did I know when I started researching Jesse Philips that there would be a connection, but of course there would be! There's always a connection when I start digging into this stuff.

I've been puzzling over the Johnson-Shelton Company Home Store, of which Jesse Philips was a business partner, since I first encountered a reference to it in his obituary. When it sold, Jesse clearly made a small fortune that he then parlayed into an enormous fortune through Philips Industries. The store was a little before my time, so I have no personal memory of it, and I could not find anything to sink my teeth into when Googling every iteration of the name I could imagine. What was this store? And where was it?

Then, I happened upon this article, The Rise and Fall of Elder-Beerman: A Time-Line of Dayton's Dying Store, which was published just a couple of months ago.

As I'm scrolling through the time-line, something jumps out at me...

1956: Beerman buys the downtown Home Store.

A-ha! That date looks mighty familiar. Yep, Philips sold the store referred to as Johnson-Shelton Company Home Store in 1956. Mystery solved. Now we know the rest of the story.

Here's a photo of the Home Store, located at 16 South Main, in 1957, just a year after Arthur Beerman bought it.

[randomparent]

And now I have to break for the night. Hope you all have enjoyed this latest dive into Dayton history. Stay tuned because I now turn my sights on the Elders. Maybe. I haven't decided yet.

[randomparent]

Hello again, readers of this on-going thread about the fortunes of the Dayton industrialists! I was recently perusing Dayton real estate listings, and I came upon a vaguely familiar house on Dorothy Lane, which you can see here. I was intrigued by the description of the house, which noted that it was completed in the early twenties by John Patterson for his daughter, Dorothy. This would have been a few years after she married Noble Judah and moved to Chicago.

Anyway, the listing inspired me to go back and look at Dorothy and Noble, who you might recall adopted twin girls named Ann & Katherine in the mid-twenties. Noble and Dorothy divorced in 1933, I believe, and Dorothy then married Randolph Santini and moved to Long Island, where they had a summer home in Nassau County. When we last left off, I think I had shared that one of the daughters, Katherine, died in the eighties, and Ann was still living. Turns out that Ann died in 2014 at the age of 91. She married a trial attorney by the name of Perkins with whom she had four children, three boys and a girl. All but her eldest son survive her, and I think most live in Virginia. Ann's obituary listed four grandchildren.

Here's where it gets interesting, though, Ann's twin sister Katherine also married a Perkins, although one not related, as far as I can tell, to Ann's husband. Katherine's husband, Chiswell Dabney Langhorne Perkins, was a very wealthy business owner, who died in 2006. Given how unique his name is, I thought he might be worth investigating, and it wasn't but a couple of generations before I found his connection to railroad industrialist, Chiswell Langhorne, who was his grandfather.

As another tidbit, both Ann and Katherine went by the surname Patterson rather than Judah until their marriages, which perhaps tells us a little about the custody arrangements following Dorothy's divorce from Noble.

[randomparent]

Dorothy's daughter Katherine and her husband Chiswell had two children, now in their seventies. Their son owns a trading company with two business partners that is based in Pennsylvania. Their daughter also lives in Pennsylvania. I have not traced their children or grandchildren.

[randomparent]

Okay, people. you've gone quiet again. Are you still interested in this stuff? Speak up!

[CarpathianPeasant]

Originally Posted by randomparent

Okay, people. you've gone quiet again. Are you still interested in this stuff? Speak up!

It doesn't hurt to have it here even if no one comments.

Personally, I'm a West Side Hunky from North Main Street, and that West Side now has the national park service. I saw one map that said "Patterson" due south of it.

[randomparent]

Originally Posted by CarpathianPeasant

It doesn't hurt to have it here even if no one comments.

Personally, I'm a West Side Hunky from North Main Street, and that West Side now has the national park service. I saw one map that said "Patterson" due south of it.

I'm glad someone is reading this stuff. I feel a bit like one hand clapping. I really do need to spend a little time on some of the families and homes that are on the north and west side of Dayton. Some really beautiful architecture on that side of town. I'm always drawn to it whenever I peruse real estate listings. Any that pique your interest that we could look into?

[CarpathianPeasant]

Originally Posted by randomparent

I'm glad someone is ready this stuff. I feel a bit like one hand clapping. I really do need to spend a little time on some of the families and homes that are on the north and west side of Dayton. Some really beautiful architecture on that side of town. I'm always drawn to it whenever I peruse real estate listings. Any that pique your interest that we could look into?

There's a lot you can look into, but first kindly figure out that "Patterson" on the west side of the river. Did the Pattersons claim some of that west of the river stuff?