Researching Actors and Actresses

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Comment by Kate Steere on August 17, 2009 at 1:41pm

HI Myss-
I got something for you, possibly! :)
June 19,1890, a Mr Richard Baker was working for the Chicago Opera House conducting the "The Crystal Slipper, or Prince Prettywiz and Little Cinderella ."
The ballets will be led by Frl. Clara Qualitz and Mlles Morondo and Henrietta Rosch and Mr William Martini, are being arranged by Sig Romeo.

Henrietta Rosch was William's second wife. :)

Comment by Kate Steere on August 17, 2009 at 1:11pm

LOL :) I have Hazel eyes which sometimes turn ice blue when I'm really annoyed(so I've been told).

hmm, I've never googled "Lavelle pony" before, LOL! In one obituary, William was "President of the National Indian League of America". I haven't been able to find anything on this, while I was able to find other info on the obituary. I'll post William's and Henrietta's obits in a discussion thread above.

Comment by Myss Story on August 17, 2009 at 1:05pm

5'8" could be tall for those times. Many people were less than 5'5" in those days. Hazel eyes, blue eyes, depends on shade of blue. Ok I'm stretching it. 4 months service is not bad, the original enlistments were supposed to be for 3 months.

But, I think, here goes another one. I found a google book that said there was a Modoc Indian encounter in which Pvt William Lavelle died in 1873. It was witnessed by the autobiographer. Recreation, Volume 8 By American Canoe Association, League of American Sportsmen article "Hunting Indians in a Fog" by Lt. C.B. Hardin, USA. page 105. My search terms were "Lavelle pony". Oh, he is a tricky one indeed.

Comment by Kate Steere on August 17, 2009 at 1:31am

I found the William from Fort Buford, he was an list of Army enlistments, on Ancecstry.com. it looks like he enlisted February 1870, in Boston, MA, he was from Ireland(appears to be Leitrim(?) County), Hazel Eyes, Brown hair, and he's 5'8 and a half inches tall. He was in the 7th, co. F, and was discharged November 30, 1870 for disability at Fort Buford, Dak by a Private. So I would say this is the same guy you found on Google.:)

From what I've read of our William, he was described as tall, and I don't know if 5'8 was tall then? Also I think William A had blue eyes, but I'd have to check on that.

It would be great to be able to connect this William to William A, just to have soime military service for him, even if it was just 4 months? ;)

Comment by Kate Steere on August 17, 2009 at 1:01am

I thought that the William Lavelle from Fort Buford was our William, I found him on the 1870 census there, but I can't connect him to the actor. The census indicates he was from Ireland, but I can't find anything else on him. I would assume that William A was discharged about the same time.

Another theory we had was that William A grew up around actors, possibly his parents were actors which is why we can't find them?

thank you for your help-
he's a tricky one :)

Comment by Myss Story on August 17, 2009 at 12:30am

oh, my bad, I fixated on Jackson instead of Jefferson Barracks. I'm liking the Dakota Frontier angle. The Indian Wars were from 1865 to 1891. Some infantry were given Indian ponies to ride because the marches were so terrible harsh. I can see a young man learning to handle those ponies, gaining valuable experience for a wild west venue.

Comment by Myss Story on August 17, 2009 at 12:22am

It appears the 7th Regiment may be the same one 6 years later was led by Custer.
As far as I can, it was the 7th of Illinois

Comment by Myss Story on August 16, 2009 at 11:58pm

from: google books " A Report of Surgical Cases Treated by The United States Army from 1865 to 1871" page 66 CCXXXI Note of a Gunshot Wound of the Carpus by James B Kimball, Assistant Surgeon USA Private William Lavelle, Company F, 7th Infantry, aged 21 years, accidentally received on June 7th 1870, a gun-shot wound of the left wrist, the ball passing through the center of the carpus. He was admitted to the post hospital at Fort Buford, Dakota Territory, where fragments of bone were removed from the wound, and the injury was dressed with carbolic acid. He was discharged November 30, 1870." A likely prospect?

[oh how lucky he was-that was modern then, to use carbolic acid--Lister and Semmelweiss had a hard time pursuading doctors to use it]

Comment by Kate Steere on August 16, 2009 at 11:56pm

I've tried researching the 68 Pennsylvania, and there isn't a Lavelle listed on any records I can find, there is a William N Lavelle in an Illinois regiment, but it wasn't him.

Its possible he did enlist in 1867 and worked as a scout out west, as I can't find anything on him in the 60s at all, and its possible he was discharged at Jefferson Barracks. I don't know how to find these records. Here's a link on Jefferson Barracks:

http://www.mcwm.org/history_jbtimeline.html

I think its likely a lot of the Civii War story he tells in the interview was something he had put together as part of his 'schtick' as 'Col. Wm Lavelle", and maybe he had friends who served? But, its also possible parts of it have a bit of truth?

I'm trying to find anything that would tell me how a guy who acted with Edwin Booth turned into a Wild West Actor? Maybe he was told many times how much he resembled Cody and decided to go in that direction as he got older?

Comment by Myss Story on August 16, 2009 at 11:39pm

I've been checking on US Civl War for William Lavelle per the article you posted. There was a Penn Regt [6]8,[ 8]8th and 168th but it didn't get to New Orleans. Oddly, Camille's father enlisted in NY and ended up in the South. Because of attrition, different regiments were merged or reassigned to other regsts. He was sent to Jackson Barracks as a contract surgeon to tend to wounded soldiers around1864. There was an outbreak of cholera with soldiers quarantined at the JBs, which Dr. Lodge had also treated earlier at home in England.They had no idea what caused it. Jackson Barracks is a pretty famous place although I think part is being torn down or closed as a museum. But point being, it's in New Orleans not Missouri. However, he could have been sent over to Mississippi as there was duty there at Ship Island 80miles east of NO. The mustering out year seems late for the above mentioned Penn Regts. He might have ended up with NY or other state regts. As to the spy reference, there were regular reconnaisance details, so he could have been sent on those details. I think difference between recon and spying is that recon takes in the surrounds , while spying involves some kind of masquerade. But, maybe that was triggered the actor's career!

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