Christiana Edson
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth: Unknown
Christening:
Death: Unknown
Burial:
Parents
Father: Richard Edson 1
Mother: Agnes
Daughter Unknown Edson
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth: Abt 1741
Christening:
Death:
Burial:
Parents
Father: Nathan Edson
Mother: Mary Sprague 2
Spouses and Children
Dorcas Dorothy Edson
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth: 20 Jun 1911 - Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona
Christening:
Death: 12 Jun 2009 - Eckert, Delta, Colorado
Burial:
Events
• Met the Perry Family: Abt 1920.
Parents
Father: Peter Isaac Edson 4 5
Mother: Rose Elizabeth "Rosebeth" Towar
Spouses and Children
1. *Charles Lyle "Blackie" Davis
Marriage: 20 Mar 1935 - Las Vegas, Nevada
Children:
1. Dorothy Alice Davis
2. Joseph Allen Davis
Notes
General:
Memories From about 1913 to about 1935 ArizonaOne of my first memories concerns snakes. I was about three years old. I know this because we were moving from Wilson District to Acre City. My knowledge of family history places my age at about three. My mother and sister had returned to the farm to pick up some remaining articles. I remember well how I wished to see if I had left any thing in my special closet. I opened the closet door and beheld an untold number of writhing snakes. I can see them yet. The scene fades. Of course they were only gopher snakes: a welcome creature in the eyes of any farmer who irrigates his land. My fear was irrational and lasting. My poor mother, bless her, was faced again with her problems. You see, she, not knowing that the family was soon to move on the desert, and being a idealistic person, had in the beginning tried to inculcate within her little child a love of all God's creatures, including snakes. She succeeded all too well. The family did move to the desert to a place where rattlesnakes were abundant. I do not remember this incident, but I have been told that I was observed, just in time, trying to make the acquaintance of a somewhat annoyed rattler. Now my mother needs must set about to the task of teaching me regarding snakes, at least, there is a limit to love and understanding. This she, as you see, did most successfully. However, now she has on her hand a hysterical fear ridden child. Such are the problems of parenthood. I recovered from the hysteria, but years past before I could regard snakes with something less than repugnance. I spent my fourth birthday in Acre City. My fifth birthday was spent at 1020 E. Moreland, Phoenix. This is where I lived during the remaining years of my childhood. I remember my nightly concerns of snakes while living at 1020 E. Moreland. I imagined that there were snakes writhing about under my bed. I absolutely knew, however, that this was fantasy. Nevertheless I was not able to go to sleep until I got out of bed and felt around under the bed carefully assuring myself that there were no snakes. The story has a happy ending, for me at least, not for the snake in question. Years later, I was in my teens, I was spending time out at the Perry's. They lived out in the country - Camelback Road and 19th Ave. It was called 19th lateral then. Anyhow, it was the country. There were chickens, cow, and such. I was gathering the eggs when, to my horror , I discovered a huge, harmless king snake trying to slither through a knot hole. But, alas, the poor snake had mistaken a china egg for a real egg. A china egg, you know, is put into a hen's nest to encourage the hen to lay in that place. The china egg, a big bulge in his torso, would not go through the hole. Half of the snake was on the out side futilely straining the other half was in the hen house. What could I do! I couldn't leave the creature there. Well I look a hold of hen house half (amazingly the skin was cool and dry, not offensive in any way). I pulled and pulled. Joy, joy! I got him out of the knot hole and away he slithered out the door and out of my life. I still do not wish to encounter rattle snakes. In the that part of Arizona I have been told coral snakes are occasionally found. They are very poisonous. I am afraid of them. Garter snakes are harmless. But I am afraid I would not be able to tell one from the other. So I am a bit doubtful when I encounter a garter snake. But repugnance, unreasonable fear? No! My mother was right. Snakes, like all of us, are Gods creatures. Are typhoid germs God's creatures, likewise? Let me remark in passing. You may have never heard the rattle of a rattlesnake, However, if, on a desert hike, you should hear such a sound, you will be in no doubt as to what it is. The same is true of the mountain lion's scream. Once, while my sister Hope and I were spending a summer at Prescott, we came upon huge black rattlesnake. At first we decided to go quietly on our way. However, there were children near by. We could hear their shouts at play. "Suppose I found that one of these kids got bit got by a rattler" said my sister. "I would feel terrible." Even though he was God's creature, we proceeded to kill the him. I ran for a young tree; at least it was a bushy branch of something and I was waving it around accomplishing nothing. My sister very deliberately chose a solid club like branch and calmly approached the beast and bashed his head in. By the way, before he expired he was agitating his rattlers 'macho'. That same summer, in my wanderings, I came upon the prettiest little brook. The sight I came upon, however, was not so pretty. Here was a water snake devouring a frog. The snake had grabbed the frog in the middle and the poor thing's head was on one side of the snake's mouth, and the hind legs were wriggling desperately on the other side. I thought of the poet's comment about nature: " Where every prospect pleases and only man is vile." I think the frog might have said , "Only snakes are vile." I do not think that Alexander Pope really knew much about nature.
1916--1928--World War took place. The years of prohibition occurred. Women shortened their skirts and bobbed their hair. During these years my father attempted different things to make a living with middling success. We considered ourselves 'poor folk', but we always had plenty to eat , a secure home for a child, adequate social life and amusements. My sister finished nurses training in 1923. As my mother became more and more an invalid my sister took over the management of the home. When she started nursing she shouldered a good deal of the financial burden of the home. In all I must say that she didn't get much thanks for it. She was taken for granted. The motto she might have taken for herself could have been "No good deed goes unpunished", During these years I was not an asset to the family as I contracted tuberculosis when I was five years old. I enjoyed only one semester of Kindergarten. My hip as well as my lungs were infected. For one year I was in traction. I attended fifth grade at Garfield Elementary. It was, I think, the happiest year of my life However the tuberculosis kicked up again. The only year I was in a classroom until eighth grade. My mother taught me at home through the other grades. She was a good teacher. I soon was in the top section of the eighth grade. I attended Monroe School. It was located on Monroe and 7th Street. I attended Phoenix Union High School. Thanks to my mother's teaching, I never have had any trouble doing school work. She awoke my interest in learning and also introduced me to good books. My sister, too, spent many hours with me. Told me endless stories. She made them up as she went along. They were fabulous. I liked Zane Grey's books when I was child, but none of them were more delightful than the tales my sister told me.
1928May third my mother died. October - The Wall Street Crash . The same month my Grandfather died. My father lost his little produce business.. It was the end of an era for our family as well as the nation. I finished High School in the spring of 1931. I decided to become a nurse as was my sister. Up until then the depression had not affect my sister and me as much as might have been expected. We never had any money. Her income from nursing and the little dad made from occasional jobs evidently kept us going. I really don't remember much. Hope made arrangements for me to enter a nursing training school in Riverside California. This particular school was a forerunner of what nursing schools finally have come to be. Had I been able to finish I would have had an excellent start. However, the financial condition of my family deteriorated. My sister could not get enough cases to carry on, and my father could get nothing. There was no money to send me. For several months all I had for spending money was five dollars. I knew I had to return home, which I did. I borrowed twenty dollars for my trip, and had one heck of a time paying it back.
This all sounds pretty bad, but really it wasn't. For one thing the next thing I would have had to do , if I had stayed in the nursing school, was my stint in surgery. The idea was scaring me to death. Of course, if I had not found it necessary for financial reasons to quit, I would have stuck it out. But the fact I that I was going home was sort of a relief. Also, once at home I could get "mother's helper" sort of jobs . My sister got occasional cases. Dad found some lawn work here and there. We did not ever go hungry or need something to wear. Old 1020 E. Moreland was up for sale for taxes. But no one was buying so we stayed on. Hope got a job running a small tuberculosis sanitarium in the fall of 1932. I started to attend Phoenix Junior College as it was called then. I finished Junior College and attended Tempe State College, now Arizona State University, for one semester. There several reasons for my dropping out of college, but the main reason was that I wanted to get married, which I did. I, as everyone knows, married Charles Lyle Davis. It was then a whole new ball game which I may or may not enlarge upon later on. However, let it be known-college dropout that I was, I finally got my BA degree in 1978-better late than never.
Further stories about Dorcas by Helen
When Dorcas was a sophomore in high school she was excruciatingly shy and felt that she was socially backward. She loved to study and was - as still is - very smart. In order to get some recognition from the football players she would supply them with answers during tests. One particular day she had been sick and had not studied. She told the class that she did not want to give away any answers because she knew that if everyone had the same wrong answer they would get caught.
The day after the test the teacher was very angry and said that he knew that the class had been cheating and that he had set up a trap and that was the one day that no one had cheated. The kids in the class were amazed and wondered how my mother had known. She of course told them that she had not known.
It was a vitally important event in her life. She never cheated on any thing again. I was in high school when she told me this story and she explained that it wasn't just the fact that she might have been caught - which certainly would have been bad enough for such a sensitive little girl - but she realized that it was simply not worth it. She realized that her evaluation of herself was the important thing, not the grades, not the esteem of her classmates but her own sense of who she was and what she stood for.
Eli Varnum Edson
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 11 Apr 1879 - Lloyd, Wisconsin
Christening:
Death: 8 Nov 1918 - Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 5
Burial:
Parents
Father: Henry Wells Edson 5
Mother: Frances Deliah Gundy 5
Spouses and Children
1. *Gertrude Ward
Marriage: 21 Jul 1917 - Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
Children:
1. Alice June Edson
Notes
General:
Dorcas Dorothy Edson Davis story:
When her Uncle Eli died, Dorcas who was 7 at the time cried and cried. Her mother did not understand Dorcas's grief. The little girl had barely known her Uncle. Dorcas did remember the strong kind man that had saved her from a monster that was coming toward her. It was Dorcas's first memory of an automobile. She remembers that the car had big eyes and a grinning mouth. Uncle Eli picked up the frightened little girl and put her on his shoulders. She believes that she was about three at the time. Dorcas also remembers picking up wood chips with her Uncle Eli.
3
Elizabeth Edson
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth: Abt 1643 - Salem, Colony Of Massachusetts Bay, New England 7
Christening:
Death:
Burial:
Parents
Father: Deacon Samuel Edson 6 7 8
Mother: Susanna Orcutt or Bickley 6 7
Spouses and Children
Elizabeth Edson
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth: 29 Aug 1684 6
Christening:
Death:
Burial:
Parents
Father: Samuel Edson 6 9
Mother: Susanna Byram 6
Elizabeth Edson
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth: Abt 21 Aug 1562 - Fillongley, Warwickshire, England
Christening:
Death: Unknown - Unknown
Burial:
Parents
Father: Thomas Edson 1
Mother: Ellen 1
Gamaliel Edson
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: Unknown 10
Christening:
Death: Unknown - Madison County, New York 10
Burial:
Parents
Father: Nathan Edson 4
Mother: Mary Hall 11
Henry Wells Edson
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 7 Nov 1809 - Stockbridge, Madison, New York
Christening:
Death: 6 Feb 1882 - Loyd, Richland County, Wisconsin
Burial:
Parents
Father: Alfred Edson 12
Mother: Lydia Stewart
Spouses and Children
1. Mehetable Orcutt 5
Marriage: Stockbridge, Madison, New York
Children:
1. John Henry Edson
2. Silence Edson
3. Alfred Edson
4. Robert Edson
2. *Frances Deliah Gundy 5
Marriage: 13 Dec 1868 - Loyd, Richland County, Wisconsin
Children:
1. Adam Lemuel Edson 5
2. Viola Ninetta Edson 5
3. Peter Isaac Edson 4 5
4. Eli Varnum Edson 5
Hope Towar Edson
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth: 18 Oct 1900 - Iowa Falls, Hardin County, IA 13
Christening:
Death: 1986 - Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona
Burial:
Parents
Father: Peter Isaac Edson 4 5
Mother: Rose Elizabeth "Rosebeth" Towar
Spouses and Children
1. *Wesley Martinie
Marriage: Abt 1933 - Florence, Arizona
Children:
1. Francis Robert Martinie
2. Erma Lorene Martinie
Notes
General:
The Chase It was an unusually cool October day. The heat of the Phoenix summer was becoming a silent memory. This was a perfect day for Hope to take Dorcas for a ride in the buggy. Dorcas was eight years old and was excited to have a special day out with her big sister. They decided to take a ride in the country which is now McDowell and 7th Street.
Hope was an excellent horsewoman and she had to be with Jack. Jack loved to run and he always was looking for a reason to be scared. Jack was feeling fine. The cool air felt good on his back and a gentle breeze was making the dry grass dance and the branches of the paloverde sway. Jack was disappointed. Grass and paloverde were familiar to him. They were not good enough reasons to run.
Suddenly Jack saw just what he was looking for. He had never seen an ostrich before. The big bird saw the buggy. The ostrich had no choice but to check out this intrusion and chase it away. The ostrich was determined to rid his field of the horse and buggy and Jack was more than willing to give the ostrich a real chase.
Hope was not afraid. She knew how to handle the strength of the racing horse. She held the reins firmly and gave Jack the direction he needed to go to escape the fury of the galloping ostrich. Off they went across the desert. Dorcas was holding onto the buggy for dear life.
The ostrich had won. He had chased the intruders from his territory. But Jack continued to run. Finally Hope was able to slow him down. She talked to him gently and Jack decided that it was okay. The monster was no longer chasing him.
Dorcas was so proud of her sister. She always knew that Hope would never be afraid of anything.
Year about 1919. Phoenix Arizona 3