Our Family's Century
1920-1940
The 20's roared, Prohibition failed to prohibit and Flappers.... well.... flapped. Until the depression hit in 1929 and crashed the party, that is.
Our family sent its first representatives off to college (unless you count a few cousins and Mary Whelan who went to normal school) during this period and did pretty well until the depression hit, forcing my Grandfather to stand in bread lines and sell apples (he ate more than he sold...). But by the time the 1930's were over, though, most of the family was back on its feet again.
| The 1920's: Long Live Bathtub Gin! Paul Berke/Burkauskas operates a large still in his attic, but drinks most of the profits. Joseph Bartash/Bartasevicius has a secrect hiding place for his home brew; a step on a hinge in a backyard shed conceals it well. Of course, not everyone was in the act. George and Josephine Knapp LeFevre are thrilled with prohibition, and would have thrown a fit had they known that their son Wallace used to give away bottles of liquor at Christmas! They, at least, were not making their own... |
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| 1921: Katherine Whelan Brown, sister of Mary Whelan LeFevre, is elected to the New Jersey State Assembly by a majority of 47,000. The first woman to be elected on the Democratic ticket, she serves again in 1922 and 1923. Later she is the first woman to serve on the governing body of Hudson Co., NJ, and also is a guest at the Roosevelt mansion at Hyde Park from time to time. (Right: The hat that ate Mrs. Brown). |
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| 1922: William J. Miller leaves his hometown of Port Alleganey, Pa. Fresh out of High School, he comes to Rochester, NY, to seek oportunities in the newspaper business. It is not long before he finds on job on the "Post Express." Later he works for other Rochester papers as a court reporter and night telegraph editor. He briefly serves as a City Editor in Middletown NY. (Right: William at center in Middletown). |
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| 1923: Irene Johanna Bartash is born in Rochester, NY, to Joseph and Veronika Gudelis Bartash. (Right: Irene at the age of two. She later fell off of the contraption she is riding and split her lip!). |
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| 1927: Katherine LeFevre is one of the "Graceful Wielders of the Blue Sword," the fencing team at Barringer High School in Newark, NJ. (Right: Katherine at right with foil, from a photo published in "The Newark Evening News"). |
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| 1927: William J. Miller and Katherine J. LeFevre enter the University of Rochester as Freshmen. Tuition is $300 a year, and initiation rituals are harsh. Female members of the class are forced by their Sophomore sisters to dress in prison uniforms and serenade inmates at the Monroe County Jail. Male members of the class engage in frequent- and literal- brawls with other classes. "Bill" becomes president of the Freshmen class, and holds many other positions as well, such as his seat on the Academic Honesty Council. He also writes a regular newspaper column about campus life called "Majoring in Life." Oh, and they attended some classes too! (Right: Katherine the Flapper models her new racoon fur coat before leaving for college). |
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| 1928: Mary Magdalene Flick Miller crosses the street and steps into eternity one December morning. The 76 year old woman is struck and killed by a trolley while enroute to Christmas festivities. She is survived by 28 grandchildren (among them William Miller). (Right: Mary Magdalene around the turn of the century. When one realizes that this was cropped from a picture her and her 12, yes 12, children, one will understand why she is frowning)! |
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| 1928: William Henry Whelan, aged about 75 or 80, dies in Jersey City, NJ. He was the father of Mary Whelan LeFevre and Katherine Whelan Brown and was himself active in politics for the Democratic Party. He held the post of President of the Board of Public Works for 8 years and-- after he went totally blind-- became an inspector of overhead electrical wiring. William's brother Joseph was also active in politics, as was William's son William A. Whelan. (Right: William H. Whelan about a year before his death). |
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| 1929: The Crash. The Berkes fair the worst, standing in bread lines and receiving welfare. Other branches of the family manage to go on fairly well. The LeFevre's are eventually hurt badly, but the Bartash family manages to survive on their savings. Frank Whelan, brother of Mary Whelan LeFevre, works as a runner on Wall Street and probably has a front row seat to the Depression. |
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| 1929: At a college dance William Miller meets Katherine LeFevre. She gives up a guy with a red convertable to go out with Bill, who insists that she take off the class ring he gave her before they meet again! Kay seems to have been something of a flirt in college; she once danced with the future president of Xerox, who was also attending the U of R at the time. As Bill and Kay cut classes together to go for romantic walks along the river, their grade point averages go south... but who ever let school stand in the way of true love? (Right: Kay and Bill in the early 1930's). |
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| 1931: Graduation day at last for Bill and Kay. Bill is described in his yearbook as "one of the more mature members of 1931. He came to college, a journalist of five years' experience, peculiarly fitted to counsel his love-sick friends... as president of the class in our freshmen year, Bill awed us by his serious maturity. Now we... envy him his evident success in the frivolous pursuits, known as Majoring in Life. Doesn't bother much with studies. We suspect him of posessing that mysterious "savoir faire." It is further noted that he was the Sophomore Banquet toastmaster, served on the College Activities Committee, Academic Honesty Court, Yearbook Staff, Hellenic council and Frosh Camp. He was also on the track team. Kay, on the other hand is wirtten up in her yearbook as "the dorms most consistent [class] cutter; eight o'clocks, quizzes and labs suffer equally while morpheus holds sway. Just another datum for the old theory that sleep aids beauty. Kay's charm and wit are not lost on the masculine element: witness the East Avenue Hikes, Sunday breakfast dates, the galaxy of masculine faces on her bureau (changed frequently), to say nothing of a good looking Villanova ring she wears." She was class treasurer, Secretary of the Sorority Council, worked on the paper and yearbook, served on the initiation committee, Silver Bay Club and the Newman Club. She was also involved in clogging, baseball and hockey, as well as attending the Eastman School of Music. Both became teachers. (Right: Kay and Bill on graduation day). |
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| 1934: Kay LeFevre and Bill Miller are married in Newark, NJ. (Right: The happy pair after the ceremony). |
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| 1934: Walter Berke goes to work for Bausch and Lomb in Rochester as an errand boy. Fresh out of High School, he has to support his parents and two younger siblings on his meager salary. Later he enters the diamond tool workshop, where he does fine cutting work until he retires at the age of 65. |
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| c. 1935: George LeFevre and Josephine Knapp LeFevre move from the farm they have run since 1910 to live with their son George in Walden, NY. They are getting old and were perhaps feeling the pinch of the depression as well. They had celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1932. (Right: George and "Jo" in Walden). |
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| c. 1937: Wallace Ropes LeFevre suffers a heart attack and breaks his leg. A few months later, his pension is sliced due to the depression. In December, Wallace and Mary move to Rochester to live with their daughter Katherine and her husband Bill Miller. His illness-- and his wife's prayers for over 30 years-- probably spur his conversion to Catholicism at Easter, 1938. (Right: Wallace the day of his conversion). |
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| 1938: Ona Vilimavicaite Bartaseviciene Druktiene dies in Uzventis, Lithuania, at the age of 86. She was the mother of Joseph Bartash. Her first husband, Teofilius Bartasevicius (in the Lithuanina language there are different surname endings for men and women as well as young women and married women etc.). had died in 1894 after either falling into a lake or being hit by a falling tree. After his death Ona had married Leonid Druktenis, a drunkard who abondoned her for several years and came to America. He eventually returned home. (Right: Ona about 1936 |
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| 1939: George LeFevre dies at the age of 80, after a short illness. (Right: George in 1931). |
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| 1940: The Millers and LeFevres move into a new home that they had built on Wildmere Road in Rochester. The LeFevres use their remaining savings to pay for the house. |
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| 1940: Wallace LeFevre dies at the age of 56. A lifelong heavy smoker, he lives 3 months after being diagnosed with Lung Cancer. |
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