Parallel Lives of Stelle and Daisy, Part 4: Daisy's Divorce

About 10 years after my paternal grandfather’s sister, Estelle and her husband Tell Worley divorced, Daisy and Will Worley divorced as well.

Daisy Troutman Worley, c. 1915

During the late '20s, Will went to California for six weeks to look for business opportunities. While he was gone, Daisy and the children stayed with Clint and Mary. Will bought a fruit ranch and sent back a box of raisins and dried peaches.[1] By 1930, Daisy and Will had moved to Merced County, California, in the heart of the green and fertile Central Valley. They have an additional child, Harold, age two, who was born in California when Daisy was 42, so they have been there at least two years. He worked a vineyard and his three sons, Marvin, age 21, LeRoy, age 19, and Charles, age 17, helped him work the farm. Thelma, age 13, and William, age 10 are at home and attend school. Daisy’s occupation is “none,”[1] but we all know what that means. She has no income, but she cleans house, cooks, sews, mends, gardens, and in general, keeps the household running smoothly. But that will change.

By 1940, Daisy and Will are no longer together. Marital status “divorced,” Will, age 56, lives on Cressy Way, Merced, California, with his sons William, Jr., 20, and Eugene, 12, and daughter Thelma Hughes, 24, divorced, and her daughter Didere, age 4. Will, Jr. seems to be the only one employed.[2]

As for Daisy Virginia, age 53 (fudged on her age a bit), she is living on Tuolome Street, Fresno, California, and married to Leslie Fogelman, age 52. They have been living in that place at least since 1935. Leslie is employed as “lumber president” at a lumber company.[3]

Who was Leslie Fogelman?

Born in Phillips County, Kansas in 1887 to Robert and Hattie (Heath) Fogelman, Leslie grew up a farmer’s son, the oldest of four children.[4] When he registered for the WWI draft, he worked as a clerk in the Farmer’s Union Mercantile Company, in Phillipsburg, Kansas. Described as short, medium weight, with grey eyes and light brown hair, he had lost a fore-finger on his left hand. He had a wife and two children.[5] By 1920, still in Phillipsburg, he had been married to Effie B. for about about ten years; they had two daughters, Guenthe, age 8, and Pauline, age 3. Leslie was working on his “own account” as a “grocery man” in a retail store,[6] which could be the same job as the clerk in the mercantile company. Ten years later, Leslie is in California, age 41, “widowed,” living in a rooming house and working as a proprietor of a grocery.[7] Did Leslie fudge on his marital status, too? Was he actually divorced? What happened to Effie and his daughters has, as yet, not been discovered. And by 1935, he and Daisy Virginia Troutman Worley were married.

Wish I knew how they met.

Les Fogelman died 17 January 1959, at the age of 71 and was buried at Mountain View Cemetery, Fresno, California.[8] Daisy Virginia Troutman Worley Fogelman lived longer than any of her siblings and their spouses. She died at the age of 92 on 28 July 1977 and was buried beside Les in the same cemetery. [9]

As for Will Worley, the father of Daisy’s children, he and his son Lee eventually returned to their roots in Smyth County, Virginia. My husband and I had the privilege of meeting Will about 1972 when we purchased property from him in Rich Valley. He died at age 89 on 03 September 1973 and was buried in the hillside cemetery at Rich Valley Presbyterian Church near his former in-laws, Daniel A. and America Troutman.[10] Will and Daisy's son, Lee owned a country store grocery and gas station in Rich Valley. He married a Rich Valley girl, Louise Patrick,[11] and raised his family there.

Will Worley (r.) and his son Lee, Rich Valley, VA., c. 1960

Lee and Louise Worley with sons Jim and Ed, c. 1960.

Photo courtesy of Find A Grave contributor, James Archer.

 Lee and Louise are also buried at the Rich Valley Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Smyth County, Virginia.

Photo courtesy of Find A Grave contributor, James Archer.

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[1]  Neville Lamson, Omaha, Nebraska, to Zola T. Noble, Anderson, Indiana, letter, 25 August 1989, information on her father's family; Troutman, Neville (Max Lamson) binder, privately held by Noble, [E-ADDRESS & STREET ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Anderson, Indiana, 2016.
[2] 1930 U. S. census, Merced County, California, population schedule, Winton precinct, p. 140 (stamped), enumeration district [ED] 11, sheet 1-A, dwelling 5, family 5, William T. Worley, wife D. Virginia, image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 December 2015) microfilm publication T626, roll n/a. 
[3] 1940 U. S. census, Merced, California, population schedule, enumeration district 24-34, sheet 7-B, visit no. 149, William Worley; digital image Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com ; accessed 06 January 2016); NARA microfilm publication T-627, roll 3321. 
[4] 1940 U. S. census, Fresno, California, population schedule, enumeration district 10-144, sheet 9-B, visit no. 178, Leslie Fogelman, see Virginia Fogelman; digital image Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com : accessed 06 January 2016); NARA microfilm publication T-623, roll 0236. 
[5] 1900 U. S. census, Phillips County, Kansas, population schedule, Freedom township, enumeration district [ED] 121, sheet 9-B, dwelling 162, family 162, Robert Fogelman; digital image FamilySearch.com (http://familysearch.com : accessed 06 January 2016); NARA microfilm publication T623, roll 1728. 
[6] “U. S. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” images Ancestry.com (http://www. Ancestry.com, accessed 06 January 2016), card for Leslie Oscar Fogelman, serial number 15-2-44-A, Local Draft Board, Phillips County, Kansas. 
[7] 1920 U. S. census, Phillipsburg, Phillips County, Kansas, population schedule, enumeration district [ED] 157, p. 9-B, dwelling 246, family 247, Leslie O. Fogelman family; digital image FamilySearch.com (http://www.familysearch.com : accessed 06 January 2016); NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 544. 
[8] 1930 U. S. census, Merced County, California, population schedule, Merced City, p. 41 (stamped), enumeration district [ED] 24-3, sheet 7-A, dwelling 67, family 72, Farmer Lowe, see Leslie Fogelman, image FamilySearch.com (http://www.familysearch.com : accessed 06 January 2016); microfilm publication T626, roll 178. 
[9] Find A Grave, database and images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 21 February 2014), photograph, memorial page for Daisy Virginia Fogelman (b. 1885 and d. 1977), Find A Grave memorial no. # 74354938, citing Mountain View Cemetery, Fresno, California; photographs contributed by “Nancy/catsaver.” 
[10] Find A Grave, database and images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 07 January 2016) photograph, memorial page for Leslie O. Fogelman (b. 1885 and d. 1959), Find A Grave memorial no. # 74355048, citing Mountain View Cemetery, Fresno, California; photographs contributed by “Nancy/catsaver.” 

[11] Find A Grave, database and images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 07 January 2016), photograph, memorial page for William Tell Worley (b. 1884 and d. 1973), Find A Grave memorial no. # 72043828, citing Rich Valley Presbyterian Church Cementery, Saltville, Virginia; photograph contributed by James Archer.

[12] 1940 U. S. census, Rich Valley, Smyth County, Virginia, population schedule, enumeration district 87-14, sheet 19-B, visit no. 271, Alexancer Patrick, see Lee R. Worley, sonin-law; digital image Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com ; accessed 11 January 2016); NARA microfilm publication T-627, roll 4295.

© 2016, Z. T. Noble