Researching Actors and Actresses

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Comment by Myss Story on August 13, 2009 at 9:33pm

November 17, 1879 William A Lavalle plays the role of the mine foreman at Hamlin's Theater Chicago in a production called "Hearts of Oak" or "Herne's and Belasco's American Play, in 5 Acts and 6 Tableaux from page 193 "The Life of David Belasco" Google Books. It went on tour but returned to Chicago March 15, 1880.

Comment by Myss Story on August 13, 2009 at 8:32pm

The likeliest two obstacles are : that middle names were used, and that Lavalle has been mispelled in all possible ways in yet unrecognized records. I wonder what the A stood for. I agree the U.S. Civil War spy story may be a yarn.

I found a James and Anna and a James and Bridget but not in Butler. I wonder why that was significant for him to mention Butler.

It may be he was only child of a first wife dying young. He'd just be a son to the head of household, even with different mother and siblings, so not clear on records.

In my brief experience the death records I read for some family were very poor sources for accurate information, really hearsay based upon poorly recollected memories. People giving the info at time of death often are not original family and really don't know, go by what the deceased said before or what they think they said, in distressing circumstances.

My gggmother quit using Sarah, and went by Katharine S. Lodge. Her son apparently misunderstood what the S stood for, and made the death certificate as Katharine Stella Lodge. He even named one of his daughters Stella.

Very interesting puzzle you have!

Comment by Kate Steere on August 13, 2009 at 6:39pm

Hi :)
On his marriage record to Henrietta, he lists his parents as James and Hannah(Sweeney) Lavelle. According to his death record, his parents were from Philadelphia. According to a lengthy interview he gave, his parents were James and Anna(Sweeney) Lavelle, from PA, and he was born in Butler, PA, and lived on a farm in Butler until he ran away to become a spy for the Union in the Civil War...yeah...

Unfortunately, I cannot prove that James and Hannah/Anna were in Butler, I can't find a William that fits, of that was his first name? I can find no record of him being in the Civil War. His birth year ranges from 1846-1852, so he would have been a very young 'spy' if he ran away in 1861/62.

I know there is an article regarding a William fighting with his mother Catherine in a NYTimes article, and somehow she ends up dying, but I can't connect the two of them. There is also an incidence of a William A Lavelle stabbing a theatre manager circa 1901(?) and I never see a sign of him returning to NY again. He did make a trip to Australia to manage a Wild West Show circa 1912-1913, for Bud Atkinson. The show flopped and the troupe was stranded but I find William and I suppose the cast and crew of the show arriving from British Columbia around 1913(?)

(I'm doing this from memory so I might be off a year or two)

I'm guessing that at the point in time he was born that it was very unusual for a family to have one child, so I was hoping to find someone who was searching for William or his parents, but I've never bumped into one else in 3 years, one of Henrietta's researchers got in touch with me and we shared info, but they were also looking for William, who was her second husband as well. On her marriage record to William she claimed to be a Widow, but supposedly, her first husband was alive and well with another family in PA.

Comment by Myss Story on August 13, 2009 at 6:27pm

I've looked in the usual places-found your post on rootsweb, too. I find likely candidates for William in a James Lavalle marr to a Catherine Sweeney in Ancestry trees. Are you familiar with the Lavalle tree there? Time frame looks right. It may even be that William was born in Ireland, which is where that family comes from. He may truly not known where he was born. Also, it's not unusual for a woman to be called by one name and listed by another. My Katharine was Sarah in her early life. The family is in Scranton, it's not unsual for people not to know exactly where they were born.

I found 2 US census for William and his wife Henrietta, one says Denmark, the other Germany. It may well be that Germany "ruled" Denmark at the time of her birth. The map was changing as each census came along. I think I found her as Henrietta Anderson with her mother Caroline Rosch in 1900 NY census. She is listed as an actress. He married 2 Scandinavian women? That's interesting, maybe one was a sister or a cousin...

Comment by Kate Steere on August 13, 2009 at 6:14pm

Hi ;)
The ad is from the "Wilds of the West" show that he was in in NY about the time his only son(that we know of) William/John Henry was born. I have him on the Chicago directory in 1873, and that is the earliest 'proof' we have for him. He is listed as William A Lavell actor, and I believe it is him. He was supposedly an actor in McVickers Theatre, also led his own troupes, and survived a fire in Wisconsin around 1893.

He married Henrietta Rosch, a dancer from either Sweden or Germany, depending on which census you believe. :) She was his second wife, we believe his first wife was Clara Erickson, who was Swedish, and on the one census where she has an occupation, she listed actress...LOL

But, I have never found William and Clara together except on their son's birth record of Nov 11, 1887. Clara is listed as Carrie, I believe William is 37, Carrie is 21.

Anyway, Buffalo Bill actually sued another show William was in in June 1910, so we finally found proof that Buffalo Bill 'knew' our William. :)

I'll post a couple of articles in the discussion forum when I get my kiddos to bed.

Comment by Myss Story on August 13, 2009 at 4:59pm

Yes, I think in those troupes, people 'multi-tasked' behind the scenes, getting an opportunity to "tread the boards" from time to time. Your group logo has a snippet of William Lavelle, I assume, for the Wild West show. I found 2 passenger lists on Acestry for the WW show a while ago, one was on the Amazon in 1893. I'll rummage around and see if your William was there.

So far no photos except for Flo's father in an online newspaper archive Papers Past for New Zealand, which is not too pertinent. He was a lecturer as well as a clergyman, and even came to New York to promote a book on the English perspective of the Am. Rev. So I suspect he was a bit of a ham himself, LOL!

Comment by Kate Steere on August 13, 2009 at 3:10pm

I was curious- do you have any photos of Geraldine or Flo that you want to put up on the group?

Comment by Kate Steere on August 13, 2009 at 2:57pm

:) you're welcome-its weird, I tried finding Richard, Geraldine and the children in Philadelphia in 1900, but I can't do it, I tried Camille no last name, nothing seems to fit. But that's actors for you, LOL-

I think your Richard Baker and my William were similar- I found an article that named William a supernumery, which was basically an extra who helped do the backstage work. William was also possibly a stage manager for a couple of famous 'extravaganza' type shows, but its very hard to trace who the extras were.

But also I see cast lists where William was an actor, like in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and "Hamlet"...

Comment by Myss Story on August 13, 2009 at 2:53pm

I have a family history book that briefly mentions Camille's husband as Richard James Bakers. I wonder if the OCR read the "F" as a "J", or if the author of the fam. hist book made a typo. I know for certain she did for another family member. F and J in script certainly can be confused, if taken say from a telegraph transcription. I note Camille's half-bro Charles Lodge was listed as "Dodge" in a newspaper bit.

Comment by Myss Story on August 13, 2009 at 2:43pm

re the interrment notice...thank you for the source. I should follow my own rule and if a name keeps appearing no matter how contrary to my opinion, look at it!
The Chestnut street address was on Camille's death certificate. So... now to look for Richard F Baker. It is a coincidence... I was researching another Beard-Belcher descendant, Flo's brother George FW Belcher moved to Detroit in 1932. His ex wife lived just across the river in Windsor Ontario, Canada.

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