Gaynelle Moritz Nedd Brown Marries a Third Time

The first two parts of Mrs. Nedd's story were posted previously. If you need to catch up with the story, go to "Who Was Mrs. Nedd?"  and "Mrs. Nedd's Second Marriage".

 

Brief overview: Gaynelle Moritz, age 16 (she claimed she was 19) married Earl Joseph Nedd, age 22, in Davenport, Iowa on 15 July 1907. She filed for divorce in Omaha in January 1909. In 1910, she and her two-year-old son, Louis, were living with her parents in Omaha. Earl Nedd lived in Centralia, Washington. Gaynelle remarried to businessman Harry Boyd Brown later that year. Their marriage had dissolved by 1913, but during this marriage, evidence suggests that Gaynelle may have developed her own business enterprise.

In 1918, Gay remarried. This time, she chose Paul Brandom Wagenseller, a Decatur, Illinois native son. Paul and Gaynelle ran off to Boston, Massachusetts, to get married1 (another destination wedding!). Paul’s parents were Blanch Brandom and Charles Newton Wagenseller,2 a former newspaper man and partner in Mueller Manufacturing in Decatur. In fact, Paul's uncle George Wagenseller owned The Decatur Herald.3  Perhaps that's the reason I found many articles including information about the Wagenseller family.

About three years younger than Gay,4 Paul was a musician in high school who had sung in the Glee Club and played a flute in the orchestra.5 After high school, he had gone to law school in Chicago and made visits home to see his father as noted several times in the society columns of The Decatur Herald.6 By 1916, Paul had joined the 1st Field Hospital Corps, I. N. G. serving in Texas. The Decatur Herald ran several articles on him and other hometown boys who joined the same unit.7 Light haired, gray-eyed Paul was still single when he registered for the World War I Draft in 1917.8 

Paul Wagenseller with Glee Club, 1910.

The next year Paul married Gay. With Gay living in Omaha and Paul in Chicago, how they met is a mystery. Perhaps, Gay's association with the Madame Josephine Boyd company took her to Chicago more often than simply the trip to marry Harry Boyd Brown.

By 1920, Paul, Gay, and eleven- year-old Louis had moved to Houston, Texas and were living with Gay’s parents and her brother Ralph. The elder Moritz was working for the railroad, Paul Wagenseller was an accountant, and Ralph Moritz was a salesman for a newspaper.9 Gay’s brother Carl Ray and his family had also moved to Houston, where Carl was the proprietor of a restaurant.10

Meanwhile, Gay's first husband, Earl Nedd and his second wife Mynie had added two children to their nest: Stewart, age 7, and Shirley, a baby. In San Francisco, Earl was a salesman for a meat packing plant.11

Gay’s marriage to Paul Wagenseller lasted longer than her first two marriages, for she and Paul were still together in Houston in 1930. Living in the same city at age 21, Gay’s son Louis, worked as a salesman for a retail grocery and was married to Margaret, a stenographer for an auto parts store. Paul and Gay were still together in the 1932 city directory for Houston, Texas. Paul was an accountant.12

Meanwhile, 1930 found Earl Nedd still in San Francisco, but tragedy had struck his family. His wife Mynie had died in November 1929.13 The census shows that two more children had been added to his nest: Jerome H., age 8, and Patricia M., a baby. Did Minnie die in childbirth? Earl was working in the “executive department” of a “produce company.”14

Apparently, Gay and Paul Wagenseller divorced sometime between 1932 (the city directory date) and 1937, the year Gay married for a fourth time. Next week.

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1 “Massachusetts Marriage Index, 1901-1955 and 1966 – 1970,” database Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 March 2017), citing Paul B. Wagenaeller and Merta G. Nedd (Mority), 1918.

2 “Texas Death Certificates, 1903-1982,” digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 May 2014), Paul Wagenseller, 2 May 1971. This names his parents and includes his mother’s maiden name, Brandom.

3 “Mueller Exhibit Best Displayed,” The Decatur Herald, 1 July 1909, p. 18, col. 3; Newspprs.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9733677/charles_n_wagenseller/: accessed 22 March 2017). Also, “Wag Is Dean of Herald’s Staff,” The Decatur Herald, 5 October 1930, p. 46, col. 2: Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/

9733816/the_decatur_herald/: accessed 22 March 2017).

4 “U. S. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” digital images Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 March 2017), card for Paul B. Wagenseller, serial number 677, Local Draft Board, Decatur County, Illinois.

5 “High School Notes,” The Decatur Herald, 29 Nov. 1906, p. 3, col. 4; Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com/clip/9713353/p_wagenseller_flute/ : accessed 22 March 2017). Also, “High School Boys Glee Club,” photo, The Decatur Herald, 13 April 1910, p. 8, cols. 1-4; Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9713851/

with_glee_club_p_wagenseller/: accessed 22 March 2017).

6 “Twenty-five Years Ago Today,” The Decatur Herald, 26 Dec. 1936, p. 6, col. 2; Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9713602/law_school/ : accessed 22 March 2017).

7 “Paul Wagenseller Enlisted,” The Decatur Herald, 22 June 1916, p. 3, col. 2; Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9713432/the_decatur_herald/ : accessed 22 March 2017). Also, “Paul Wagenseller Praises Treatment,” 24 May 1917, p. 3, col. 3; (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9713653/the_decatur_herald/).

8 “U. S. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” card for Paul B. Wagenseller, serial number 677, Local Draft Board, Decatur Co., Illinois.

9 1920 U. S. census, Houston, Harris County, Texas, population schedule, enumeration district [ED] 90, p. 13-B, dwelling 242, family 282, William Moritz household; digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 March 2017); NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 1814.

10 1920 U. S. census, Houston, Harris County, Texas, population schedule, enumeration district [ED] 90, p. 4-A, dwelling 29, family 51, C. R. Martz [Moritz] household; digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 March 2017); NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 1813.

11 1920 U. S. census, San Francisco, San Francisco County, California, population schedule, enumeration district [ED] 147, p. 1-A, dwelling 1, family 7, E. J. Nedd household; digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 March 2017); NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 136.

12 Houston Texas, City Directory, 1932, “U. S. City Directories, 1822-1925,” digital images Ancesty.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 March 2017), citing Paul B. Wagenseller (Gaynelle).

13 “Town Talk,” The Chehalis Bee-Nugget, 15 Nov. 1929, p. 7, col. 1; Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9712653/minnie_nedd/ : accessed 22 March 2017).

14 1930 U. S. census, San Francisco, San Francisco County, California, population schedule, enumeration district [ED] 38-231, sheet 8-B, dwelling n/a, family n/a, Earl J. Nedd family; digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 March 2017); NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 203. The names of this family and all the info on them have been crossed out on the census. Yet, it has all been transcribed.