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Marriage of Paul Harris |
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Paul Harris Marries Update (also see update December 2011) |
| As always in the RGHF,
when we can update material, we do so. Under the page on
PAUL HARRIS MARRIES, we wondered what was their connection with 416
W 60th. The use of 416 W 60th for the marriage of Paul Harris and Jean Thomson may have been solved by an entry in the Genealogy of Jean Thomson provided by PDG Ian Campbell, coupled with another photo by Neil Dahlmann.  This
house clearly has two numbers 414 and 416. Ian Campbell in his genealogy
of Jean Thomson wrote:"Jean's older brother John Youngson Thomson (b.1874) travelled to the United States with his wife Annie (born Anne) and his daughter Joanna (aka Joey) on the Anchor Line ship SS California sailing to New York, USA from Glasgow, Scotland on 28th May 1910, with an ultimate destination of seeing his son Alexander at 414 West 60th Street, Chicago, Illinois, USA, presumably to attend the marriage of his daughter Jean (aka Jane) to Paul Harris on 2nd July 1910." John and Annie remained in Chicago for some years before returning to Scotland. The 1910 US Census shows 5 members of the family at 414 W 60th, Jean's brothers and sister. They were: John Youngson Thomson, then aged 33, Alexander Thomson 30, Jean Thomson 27, James Hay Thomson 25, Mary Thomson 23. Somewhere in the same area, but exactly where we are not sure, were Jean's parents John and Anne Thomson and Jean's sister Joanna 19. The three of them had travelled out to North America in 1910. Only Jean's oldest sister Anne Ferguson Thomson is missing. She had accompanied brother James to North America in 1906. Later, in 1930, John and his wife Anne were shown in the census as living with their unmarried children James and Mary in the same part of Chicago. It seems fairly certain that, Anne Ferguson Thomson apart, and she may have been present, the entire family had gathered together for Jean's wedding to Paul Harris, which took place in the same building, 414/416 W 60th where several of them were staying. Joanna returned to Scotland and married the Rev. John Howe who had studied at McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, USA, from 1910 to 1913. He was Licensed by The Presbytery of Chicago on 21st April 1913 and was Ordained as a Minister of the Presbyterian Church of America on 30th April 1913. The Rev Paul McClanahan who performed the wedding, was the minister of a local Presbyterian Church so may well have been a friend of John Howe. Howe was admitted as Minister of Elder Memorial Presbyterian Church, Leith, Scotland,on 19th February 1914. He then transferred to Greenock (South) Church, Scotland on 22nd June 1920 and then to Annbank Old Church, Tarbolton, Ayrshire on 3rd May 1931. He acted as Chaplain to the Lord High Commissioner at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland held in Edinburgh in May 1931. The Lord High Commissioner was the former well known Member of Parliament, James Brown, who was born and lived in Tarbolton, Ayrshire, where John Youngson Thomson had his Ministry at Annbank Parish Church. On his visit to Scotland in 1934, Paul Harris (who was the brother in law of John Youngson Thomson) whilst visiting John took dinner with that very unusual character, Honourable James Brown, M.P. Paul was very impressed with Mr Brown and appears to have been presented with a photograph of Their Graces House Party and Suite taken at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1931, the photograph being still displayed at Rotary International Headquarters in Evanston, Chicago, USA. It can be seen in our pages on the Paul Harris Gallery. RGHF Senior Historian Basil Lewis, England, 27 August 2011, posted by Jack Selway Update December 2011: In the first decade of the 20th century, Paul Harris was, by his own admission, something of a nomad in Chicago. (1) In the Chicago Directories for the period, he appears to have been in various small hotels or boarding houses. In 1900 he was at 519 LaSalle Ave and in 1901 in Oak Park. From 1902 to 1904, he was in Evanston but in 1905 he is shown as being at 291 Ashland Blvd. In 1906 he was at the New South Hotel and the following year at the Hyde Park Hotel. In 1908 he had moved to the Hotel Windermere and in 1909 to Hinsdale. The hotels were mostly in the Hyde Park area. According to the 1910 US Census on May 5, 1910, he was living at 1258 Michigan Ave but the 1910 Chicago city directory indicates he had a residence in Hinsdale. (2) Two months after the Census, on July 2nd, 1910, Paul and Jean were married. We do not know where in Hinsdale, Paul was living. Jean, however, was living at 414 W 60th Street where her brothers, John, James and Alexander were also lodging, as well as her sister Mary. The rest of Jeans family were also somewhere in Chicago at this time. These were her parents, John and Anne (nee Youngson), sister Joanna, and another sister, Ann, who was living in Canada. Curiously, the marriage licence shows that the wedding took place at 416 W 60th and this appears to be the same building as 414. After his marriage to Jean Thomson in 1910, it seems that Paul and Jean were living at 3605 Pine Grove Ave on the North side of Chicago. There they lived until they were able to secure the property at 10810 Longwood Drive (Comely Bank).(2) There they were to spend the rest of their lives. The Plat book records that the Harrises entered into transactions with a Mr and Mrs Dickey for the property at Longwood Drive on October 23, 1911.(3) Meanwhile, John and Ann, Jeans parents, were still in Chicago in 1920, living with Alexander, James, Mary and Joanna somewhere in the 103rd Precinct in Chicago. Although as yet. we have not established the actual address, it may well have been 10501 South Hamilton. In 1921 Alexander, and in 1922 James became naturalised American citizens using this address as their home base although on April 27th, 1921, Alexander had married Jennie Harper. 1- The Founder of Rotary: While he loved to study life in general, he was particularly anxious to know the ins and outs of his own city. To facilitate his studies of different localities he made frequent changes of residence, a practical solution of the problem so long as he remained unmarried but fin- practicable thereafter. During his fifteen years of bachelor life he resided in thirty different parts of Chicago and neighboring suburbs. Up to the very day of his marriage he was setting new records for change of domicile. Paul claims the long-distance champion ship in this regard, in fact, he sampled every thing from Hells Half Kitchen up. Business considerations prevented his adopting a migratory plan of office occupancy. There was always one address at which he could be found. 2- This information was provided by PDG Fred Carvin. 3- This information was provided by PDG Fred Otto Apart from the above, PDG Ian Campbell assisted with Thomson family information RGHF Senior Historian Basil Lewis |
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