Gay Nedd: Fourth Marriage and Later Life

For previous posts about Mrs. Nedd see "Who Was Mrs. Nedd?," "Mrs. Nedd's Second Marriage," and "Gaynelle Moritz Nedd Marries a Third Time."

We left Gaynelle in Houston, Texas, married to Paul B. Wagenseller to whom she had been married about 14 years. The last record of their being together was a 1932 Houston City Directory. When the marriage ended is unknown.

And then, somehow, Gay and her first husband, Earl J. Nedd, got together again. They remarried in Denver, Colorado on 17 January 1937.1 The next year, Paul Wagenseller took off for a trip to Europe.2

How romantic for the two young lovers to reunite after thirty years! you might think so, but no. Apparently, the second marriage between Earl and Gay didn’t fare any better than the first. By 1940, Gay Nedd, manager of the guesthouse where my aunt Neville stayed in 1939, was divorced.3 Earl Nedd was married to Helen and living in San Francisco again with his daughters, Shirley and Patricia, and two of Helen’s sons. Earl was manager of the meat packing company.4

Finding more details about Gaynelle after 1940 is difficult without going to the various places where she lived. She seems to have been an attractive and enterprising woman, not content to live with someone who didn’t suit her. She likely never married again, for the name Nedd is on her tombstone. When she lived on her own, she was self-sufficient and enterprising. The husbands she chose were men of some means who went on to lead financially successful lives. Evidence indicates that her son Louis and his family lived near her much of his life. Eventually, she returned to Houston, Texas, lived to the age of 84 and succumbed to lung disease on 20 February 1975. She was buried in Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery. Her devoted son Louis supplied the information for her death certificate.5

Find A Grave photo by "Moon Child."

As for the later lives of Gaynelle’s husbands:

1. When Earl Joseph Nedd registered for the World War II draft in 1942, he lived in San Francisco and was employed by the South San Francisco Packing & Provision Company. He named his daughter, Mrs. R. G. Davey, as the person who would always know his whereabouts.6 Earl died at age 66 on 22 July 1952 in San Mateo County, California, and was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery.7

Earl J. Nedd's signature from his World War II draft registration.

2. Harry Boyd Brown lived for a time in Germantown, Pennsylvania. On his World War II draft registration, he named Miss Jeanne Brown of Pikesville, Maryland, as the person who would always know his whereabouts.8 Was she his daughter? After an illustrious career of twenty-two years with Philco, part of that time as National Advertising Manager,9 in demand as a speaker for advertising conventions, and writing for industry magazines, he retired in 1950. But he wasn’t finished working. He became president of the Kenya Gem Corporation 10 and copyrighted a couple of advertising slogans. He died at age 84 in Dade, Florida in 1968.11

Harry Boyd Brown's signature from World War I draft registration

Harry Boyd Brown's signature from magazine article cited in 9.

3. Eventually, Paul Brandom Wagenseller had his own law practice in Houston, Texas. On his World War II draft registration, he named his father as the person who would always know his whereabouts.12 At some point, he remarried. He died 2 May 1971 and was buried next his "beloved wife," Grace (nèe Tatters), at Forest Park East Cemetery, Webster, Harris County Texas. 13

Paul B. Wagenseller's signature from his WWII draft registration.

Wagenseller, Paul & Grace, Find A Grave photo by "Taterhands."

Online research can reveal much about our ancestors and anyone else who intrigues us. My effort to answer the question "Who was Mrs. Nedd?" was piqued by my aunt Neville Troutman's statement in a letter from Denver, Colorado to her sister Virginia in Winside, Nebraska that she liked Mrs. Nedd, her landlady and employer at a rooming house there. Aunt Neville didn't like just anyone and everyone. Something about Mrs. Nedd must have impressed her. I wanted to know more. Through records on Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, Newspapers.com, Hathi-Trust.org, Findagrave. com, and Google, I have learned much about the life of this intriguing woman and the people surrounding her. If she were my ancestor, I would go into more depth with research in the places where she lived, but this much has satisfied my curiosity.

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1 Arapahoe County, Colorado, “County Marriages and State Indexes, 1862-2006,” digital image FamilySearch.org (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 21 March 2017); entry for Earl J. Nedd and Gaynelle M. Wagenseller, 17 January 1937.

2 “New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957,” digital images Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 March 2017), citing Paul Wagensellar, arriving New York, from Southampton, England on the Champlain, 13 October 1938.

3 1940 U. S. census, Denver, Denver Co., Co., pop. sched., ED 16-21, sheet 10-A, no. 135, Gay Nedd household.

4 1940 U. S. census, San Francisco, San Francisco County, California, population schedule, enumeration district 38-378, sheet 5-A, visit no. 4, Earl Nedd household; digital image Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com ; accessed 27 March 2017); NARA microfilm publication T-627, roll 312. 
5 “Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982,” digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 March 2017), for Gaynelle M. Nedd, 29 February 1975. 
6 “U. S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942,” digital images Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 March 2017), card for Earl Joseph Nedd, serial number 2552, Local Draft Board, San Francisco County, California. 
7 “San Mateo California Colma Cemetery Index, 1887-2001,” database Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 March 2017), citing Earl J. Nedd, 1952. 
8 “U. S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942,” digital images Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 March 2017), card for Harry Boyd Brown, serial number 2149, Local Draft Board, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. 
9 Harry Boyd Brown, “Mystery Control Will Deliver the Radio Prospects of America to the Philco, Dealers,” Radio Today, July 1938, p. 8 (http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Today/30s/Radio-Today-1938-07.pdf : accessed 22 March 2017). 
10 Anne Haywood, “Your Career,” Shamokin (Pennsylvania) News-Dispatch, 16 Dec. 1958, p. 4, col. 2; Newpapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10218755/h_b_brown_career/ : accessed 27 March 2017). Searching Newspapers.com for "Harry Boyd Brown" results in numerous article about him and his career in advertising.
11 Social Security Administration, “U. S. Social Security Death Index, 1935-Current,” database Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com, accessed 24 March 2017), entry for Harry Boyd Brown, 1968, SSN --- -- -061. Also, for the advertising slogan copyright: Library of Congress, Catalog of Copyright Entries, Ser. 3, pt. 11B, v. 13-15, 1959-1961, Labels (Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1891- ) 42; Hathi-Trust (http://www.hathi-trust.org : accessed 11 April 2017) search words: "'Harry Boyd Brown' copyright".
12 “U. S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942,” digital images Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 March 2017), card for Paul Brandom Wagenseller, serial number 4463, Local Draft Board, Harris County, Texas. 
13 Find A Grave, database with images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 24 March 2017), photograph, memorial # 131971537, Paul Wagenseller (1893-1971), Forest Park East Cemetery, Webster, Harris County, Texas; gravestone photographed by “Taterhands.”  

© 2017, Z. T. Noble

 

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.