and died 19 July 1947 in Wilmington, North Carolina
married 17 March 1912 in Jacksonville, Florida
Ida Corrine Leigh born in Jacksonville, Florida
and died 21 November 1916 in Atlanta Georgia
and also married 3 July 1921 in Wilmington, North Carolina
Harriet Vina Wolff born 28 August 1892 in Brunswick County, North Carolina
and died 19 December 1978 in Wilmington, North Carolina
who was the widow of Jesse Linwood Marshall
who died in Wilmington, North Carolina on 13 May 1916
Each of the Wettigs of Amerika Newsletters has had some description of the Harry Wettig (3) family. Well, after all I do know more about them than any other! But, there was one part of my father’s life that I did not know about, his first marriage to Ida C. Leigh. I have made a concerted effort and have a brief picture of the years from 1909 to 1916. Here is the story, but there is more research needed.
Harry Wettig was born in Atlanta. He always claimed July 4th as his birthday, but most other information suggests that it was really July 13, 1891. He was the firstborn of six children of Henry and Ella Patricia (O'Halloran) Wettig. We know nothing of his early life, except that he was well educated and industrious. He did not follow the traditional Cabinet Making trade of the Wettig male children. Instead, he became a printer; an extremely good printer. He was still in Atlanta at the Census of 1910, at the age of 19. We know that Harry worked in the printing business before leaving Atlanta. In 1909 and in 1910, The Byrd City Directory of Atlanta listed Harry L. Wettig who worked as a cutter for the Byrd Printing Company. He was living at 119 Plum Street with his parents, Henry L, a Cabinet Maker, and Ella Wettig. It is interesting to note that he was also using the initial “L” at that time. He was given the name Lewis, his father’s middle name, to remember Johan Heinrich Ludwig, one of the first immigrants to arrive in 1849. To my knowledge he never saw Ludwig or Georg, the other brothers of the three who emigrated to the United States from Prussia. In 1911 there was no mention of Harry in the Atlanta Directory.
There is some recollection of stories about DeLand, Florida, and bicycle riding in that area that might fit with the 1911 and 1912 gaps in this story. There is no confirmed record until 1913, when we find Harry in Jacksonville, Florida, working as a (paper) cutter at The Drew Press. He had arrived in Jacksonville after publication of the 1912 Polk Directory for Jacksonville, and was not included in that issue.
Harry worked with The Drew Press during the years 1913 - 1916, for which information is available. The Drew Company was very large. It is described in the 1915 Polk Directory as follows - “The H& W. B. Drew Company, 30&Mac218;Œ West Bay. Horace Drew, President; Wm. B. Drew, Treas.; C. R. Simonds, Se.. Booksellers, Stationers, Engravers and Printers. Retail Store, 45 - 49 West Bay and 46 West Forsyth. Office Furniture and Typewriter Department 32 West Forsyth. Lithographing, Binding, Accounting Department, 30&Mac218;Œ West Bay. Telephones - Private system connecting all departments. Bell 7100. Auto M2737.” We have a 1995 picture of the only remaining building in the Drew group. It is at 45 West Bay Street in Jacksonville. We also have a 1913 picture of the same building which was included in the City Directory for that year. In 1913 this building was three floors. In 1995, today, the building is only two floors. At some point in time the third floor was removed and the roof lowered to cover the remaining two floors. Now that is some feat! (Editor's note: I do have those pictures somewhere, and will publish them when I find them!) I always marveled at the breadth of knowledge that my father had of the printing business. He was a cutter in his first year there. He was a salesman in 1915 and in 1916 was a Binder. And, he never stopped learning about the printing business.
When he came to Jacksonville, Harry met Ida C. Leigh, who worked at Drew Printing Company. They were married on the 17th of March, 1912, — St. Patrick's Day. The marriage was performed by J. S. Harrison. There is no indication of his position; whether priest, minister or civil official. The marriage was witnessed by M. B. Toole, A. Mack Nichols, Mrs. S. A. Myers and Willie Greene. Harry and Ida lived at 2225 Hubbard from 1913 until 1916 when they purchased a house at 112 East 10th Street, just around the corner between Hubbard and Market Streets. I have a picture of this house taken when I was in Jacksonville in April 1995. (Editor's note: This is with those other pictures!) This second house was purchased from J. A. Dowling. Ida’s sister, Bella, who also worked at Drew’s, boarded with them. Grace Bradshaw has a picture of one of the houses in which Ida and Harry lived. (ibid)
Ida C. Leigh, (and it could be speculated that the middle name was Corrine, her daughter Ella’s middle name) is listed in the 1911 and 1912, editions of the Polk Directory for Jacksonville. She lived with her sister, Bella, at 1046 Roselle in 1911. This was a home owned by G. D. Greene. It was on Roselle between Copeland and Estelle streets. In 1912, they had moved to a Boarding House run by Adelaide M. Ford, widow of Henry Ford, at 512 East Main Street. There was also a Jessie L. Leigh living at this same address. He/She was also employed as a Clerk at Drew’s. (It may be that this is another sister (the name was spelled “Jessie”) or a brother. Grace Bradshaw remembers that there was a sister named Bella and another named Jessie. Grace also was in contact for many years with an Aunt Grace (Leigh) who was a much younger sister of Ida. This is the first attempt to locate information about the family of Harry and Ida, and Ella and Grace. I have not yet found information about the move from Jacksonville back to Atlanta, and the death of Ida in 1916.
Jacob Moses Wolf and Mary Eliza Turner were married in Northwest Township, Brunswick County, North Carolina, on 22 January 1880. In 1892, they were living with their four children, George, Alonzo (Lonnie), Marshall and Sarah (Sallie), on a farm. On the 28th of August a daughter was born. She was named Harriet Vina and was destined to be the matriarch of the Clan Wettig, with all of its family and extra-family connections, in this southeastern area of North Carolina.
The family was completed by the birth of another daughter, Annie, in 1895, and the "adoption" of nephew, John Franklin, whose mother, Annie, Mary Eliza's sister, had died in childbirth. They had a seventh child, Mary, who died when she was three years old in 1900.
Following is the story as told to Erin Wettig by Vina several years before her death: The Wolf family lived on a farm that grew Sweet potatoes as its main crop. They had a big white Ox that was used to haul the potatoes to the Potato Hill for storage at harvest time. Mary Eliza's Beehives, located in her flower garden, were of special interst to Vina. She remembered that on one occasion the beehives overflowed and they had to wrap their hands, arms and faces carefully and go out to save the honey.
On Thanksgiving Day, when Vina was seven years old the family moved from Brunswick County, across the river to the City of Wilmington. The move was made in order to find better schooling for the children and so that Jacob could apply his skills as a carpenter to better advantage. Vina's first school was the Annex to the old Union School located at 5th and Ann Streets in Wilmington. She then moved to the Union School at 6th and Ann.
The person in the Church who most influenced Vina's life (as well as the lives of all of her children. Editor's note) was Miss Florence Bonitz. Vina spent her life in support of the Church and worked with both Miss Bonitz and Miss Anna Savage in many of the activities of the Church. All the parties and recreation of the community centered around the Church.
Vina tried working with her Aunt Florence at the cotton mill. Her job was to feed the various colors of thread into the machine to make various designs of gingham cloth. She soon decided that this was not to be her life's work and she found a job in the bindery of a new printing office where she worked until she was married.
Vina's earliest recollection of boyfriends was one young man who went to the same church with her. He delivered the local newspaper on Sunday morning and would always bring her a bouquet of flowers from his grandmother's flower garden. They remained friends through the years but never had a serious courtship. Another young man, a friend of her brother, Lonnie, was persistent in his courtship. He brought her candy and flowers and after five years of "going steady" she and Jesse Linwood Marshall were married on 9 June 1915.
We know little about the one year that Vina and Jesse had together. She was expecting her first child in June 1916. Jesse became ill on 13 May. The doctors couldn't determine the cause of the illness and he died that day, before he arrived at the hospital. This was a very hard for a 23 year old girl. The next month, 21 June, 1916, Jesse, Jr. was born. Vina went to work as the supervisor of a playground at the Immanuel Presbyterian Church. She later worked as cashier and bookkeeper for Parkers Grocery. Grandmother Mary Wolf took care of Jesse.
This was during the years of World War I. As the War came to an end, Jesse was now 4 Years old, her father had recently died, and Vina decided that she needed more income. She went to the new Wilmington Stamp & Printing Company that was just opening and aksed for a position in the bindery. It was there that she met the young partner, Harry Wettig. They were married on the 3rd of July, 1921.
The Story of the Family of Vina and Harry is a long and exciting and happy one. They had decided to be married, but expected to wait for a "decent" period of time as was the custom in both the Wolf and Wettig Families. But that was changed when Ella, age 9, developed a severe infection with Erysipelas. Georgia, Harry's sister about age 21, was staying with Harry and the two girls, Ella and Grace. She had no experience with illness such as this, although within a few years she was graduated from Nursing School and spent 30 years as a Public Health Nurse. Ella had reached the critical stage when Harry and Vina went down to the Church, got married and Vina went home to take care of Ella.
Ella survived and the Family Wettig, now composed of his and hers, soon became a family of his, hers and ours. Frances was born in 1922, Jeanette in 1923, Harry, Jr. in 1925 and Elizabeth in 1927. When Frances was born the family lived on the outskirts of Wilmington in an area called Garden City. Harry had a house built on south 4th street, near the Printing Company. It was there that the family lived through many enjoyable years. There was an age spread of 12 years from Ella down to Elizabeth. Jesse was almost 10 years older than Harry and their interests were not very close. But, one thing that they all had in common was an interest in singing. They gathered around the space heater in the sitting room and Mama (Vina) taught them all kinds of songs like "Froggie Went A'courtin - Rap Strap Penny Winkle Flammy Doodle Yaller Bug" and all the old songs of the Civil and World Wars. They learned the classical ballads sung by Nelson Eddy and Jeanette McDonald, and from Grace they learned all the show tunes and dances.
Washing dinner dishes was never a thing that you tried to avoid in the Wettig home. That was the time when all the kids gathered in the kitchen, and while the dishes were being washed and dried, Grace would "tell" the movie that she saw - maybe two or three times - that afternoon. Grace saw every movie that came to town. Given a choice, I (Harry, Jr.) would always prefer to let Grace go to the movie and then come home and tell me about it! I could laugh and cry and really understand the story when acted out by Grace. Of course, Daddy (Harry) and Mama didn't come into the kitchen during all of this kid stuff, but if Grace paused too long the call would come from the sitting room, "Then what happened?"
Grace's interest in dancing led her into partnership in the Grace and Louise School of the Dance. My recollection is that they had students of all ages, but probably 30 or so from age 22 downward. The recitals that they put on from this school were great. I can remember playing the small Theaters in the surrounding area. Elizabeth and Jeanette were the stars with their acrobatic as well as dancing skills. I often say that I remember them as walking better on their hands than on their feet.
The costumes for all of these performances were made by Mama. She had a real talent for costuming. I can remember when Elizabeth did a "Jack in the Box" routine. Mama made a costume that I couldn't believe - still can't! It collapsed around Elizabeth until the box was opened and then sprung out into place as she cavorted over the stage in her routine! It was beautiful, made of hoops and cellophane!
The Wettig children and Jesse, always did well in school. Frances, of course, was the best. They also did well in their relations with adults, other children and with the community. They had a good upbringing!
I hope that this description of the early life in the family will help to recall for some of us how good those days were. I hope too that some of the young ones in the Wettig Clan of today will better understand their heritage and how we got the way we are! For all of you other readers, if any, I hope that you understand that this was a very special family.