Who Were They?

Lost and forgotten photos from the past

Eylar M Fillmore

Mrs Marvel

9 comments

October 23, 2012

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.

Esther or Alveda Fillmore

Mrs Marvel

4 comments

October 22, 2012

This photo accompanied yesterday’s photo of Millard Fillmore, and you can see they were produced by the same photographer. However, this cabinet card is much longer than the standard, making it about 4.5″ by 8″. On the back is written “Alveda Fillmore” but this is the only reference I can find calling her Alveda. However a census entry did list a middle initial “A,” so who knows.

Esther was born in 1852, in Ohio to Alfred and Rebecca Eylar. Alfred was a farmer. Esther had two older brothers, Daniel (1846) and Alfred R (1849). I found one census record in the 1860 Federal census that put the family in Pontiac, IL.

About 1875, Esther and Millard married and by 1888, they are living in Pomona, which is right outside Los Angeles, CA. Millard indicated to the state voter registrant that he was a capitalist by occupation, but I believe he meant more like venture capitalist. In 1896 they lived on Maple Ave, Los Angeles, at a location that today is part of a school athletic field.

The family shows up on the 1900 census, with Millard as a machinist and a son Millard E aged 11, then on the 1910 census having Millard retired. Esther is listed on the 1930 census as widowed and living with a companion at age 78. By this point, her son Eylar had moved to Santa Barbara with his family. More tomorrow on Eylar.

UPDATE: Iggy found a death record for Esther Alverda Fillmore of January 3, 1940. Thank you!!

Millard Fillmore

Mrs Marvel

7 comments

October 21, 2012

You can imagine how excited I got when I found this cabinet card, which is identified as “Eylar’s father, Millard Fillmore, 1887.” Since I was in a shop I couldn’t exactly Google the former president to determine if this was a legitimate photo of our 13th president, and I’m a bit uncertain about the 19th century presidents as it is. So, I bought it and those that accompanied it, just to be on the safe side.

Well, one Wikidpedia entry later, I had confirmed this is not a photo of Millard Fillmore (1800-1875) the former president of the United States. Bummer. Fillmore the pres was in office 1850-1853, succeeding Zachary Taylor, who died in office after only 19 months, in what some suspected was poisoning, but of what turned out to be cholera and severe diarrhea. Fillmore, as Taylor’s Vice President, was inaugurated as President in July 1850 and promoted several policies that favored slavery, which was a major dividing issue in America at the time. He was the last of the Whig presidents, the party which Abraham Lincoln left in order to run as the first Republican presidential candidate. Fillmore apparently hated Lincoln. He wasn’t much liked as a president and is consistently ranked in the bottom 10 of American presidents. Fillmore did have a son named Millard P, but he was born in 1828. Millard P. apparently was so angry with his father for remarrying after the death of his wife that the younger Millard never forgave him and had most of the family papers burned upon his own death. Wow, now that’s a grudge.

Whew, I am sort of relieved this is not a photo of him!

This is Millard Fillmore, born 1849 in Vermont. His wife was named either Alveda or Esther, depending on who you ask, and they married in 1875. Esther was from Ohio. Esther’s last name was Eylar, and as was relatively common in Victorian families, her first born carried her last name. This was frequently done when a female was the last person bearing the name as a surname. Tomorrow, Alveda/Esther Fillmore.

The photographer used was Stevens, located in McVicker’s Theatre Building, Chicago, IL. I could not find a citation for the family living in Chicago, or even Illinois, but perhaps with more research something shall turn up.

Lois Montgomery

Mrs Marvel

4 comments

October 19, 2012

 

This photograph features Miss Lois Montgomery at about age 13. The photo is set into the mount and sealed. Take a look at that fascinating hat! I haven’t seen anything quite like it before. Young Lois is wearing a shirt and tie look, dating this to about 1915-1920 by my best guess. I do not have a location for the photo. The card itself is just slightly wider than a CdV, so it’s about 2.5″ by 3.5″.

Baby

Mrs Marvel

2 comments

October 17, 2012

This image of an infant is undated, unidentified and does not even have photographer’s information. I can tell it is from the mid 1860s, but that is about it. Sometimes it is fun to make up a life story for one of the unnamed photo subjects. For instance, this child turned out to be a prodigy at violin, traveled the world spreading beautiful music, but had an unnerving affinity for chocolate cake. Hmmmm.

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