Who Were They?

Today’s photograph relates to Millard and Esther Fillmore, being this is Eylar Millard Fillmore, their son. Esther’s maiden name was Eylar and the couple decided to give him this traditional name. Eylar was born in 1889 in Pomona, CA and lived his entire life in the Los Angeles area.

This photo is identified on the back as Eylar’s graduation photo. At first I thought high school because his face is still soft and boyish. However the photo looks like something from a later time. Could this be from 1907?

Eylar registered for the draft in 1917, and in 1919 requested a passport so he could travel to Sonora Mexico on behalf of the Ford Motor Company. He was an Assistant Manager in the Ford organization by that point, so it makes me wonder if he was visiting a manufacturing plant or other supplier.

By 1930, Eylar was married to Lois M and they had a daughter Eloise who was 8 at the time of the census. They lived in Santa Barbara, just north of Los Angeles.  I found some other records indicating that by 1938, the couple had returned to the Los Angeles area and Esther lived with them. Their home on W 25th Street still stands and is just west of University of Southern California (USC). The 1940 census indicated that Eylar was in real estate.

In the 50s, Eylar and Lois lived in a lovely home in San Marino, the bedroom community surrounding Huntington Library, suggesting they had some affluence by this point. The home still stands and is simply beautiful. It is a Spanish style two-story bungalow. I wasn’t able to find much information on Lois or Eloise. Eylar lived until May 1984 when he passed away at the age of 95 in Arcadia, CA.

Interestingly, during my research I found an Etsy shop that sold two photos identified as Eylar Fillmore as a child, plus one of a girl identified as his sister. However, even on the 1910 census, Eylar’s mother indicated she had only one child living and one child born. At the age of 58 it would not have been likely that she gave birth after the census, so that is a mystery. The handwriting on the photos looks an awful lot like the handwriting on my photos, which is very intriguing. Maybe they adopted?

So concludes the story of Millard – not the president – Fillmore, his wife Esther and son Eylar. I hope you have enjoyed the exploration of this slice of history.

UPDATE: It just occurred to me that Eylar’s wife was named Lois M. and I previously posted this photo of Lois Montgomery. They were in the same stack at the shop, so I bet they belong together.