Sometime around 1910, following the death of Mary, George McIntosh took several of his children to the Davis Child Shelter located in Charleston, West Virginia. A Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham, who evidently had no children of their own, took Charles McIntosh from the shelter in Charleston. When Charles would not stop crying that night, Mrs. Cunningham gave him a ceramic figurine of a little girl. He never saw his siblings again until he wasan adult. Charles was a heavy-set man, with sandy hair, and a ruddy complexion. He had blue or gray eyes. He married Lena Crawford. She was born 02 August 1907, and died 19 January 1984. She is buried in Crawford Cemetary, Emmart, WV. Charles and Lena eloped , despite her father’s demand that Charles ask for his consent to the marriage. For a time they had their own home, maybe the place that the Cunninghams left him, but eventually they settled in her parents' home, where they both died. Charles had strong feelings, including, I was told, a hot temper. He also thought very highly of his Father-in-Law. A schoolteacher, Charles taught for most of his adult life in one- and two-room country schools and was good with children. Charles and Lena attended a neighbor's funeral one day and Charles was in a hurry to get her home out of the cold. The next morning he woke up with what he thought was indigestion, went upstairs to take something for it, and fell dead. This was18 January 1958. A niece of Charles and Lena, Mary Crawley, recalls: “My favorite and dearest toy during my first few years was a red, white, and blue teddy bear, as big as I was when I received it, that, my mother told me, Uncle Charlie had left, gift-wrapped, on our front porch the Christmas Eve when I was six days short of a year old. (If you're familiar with Winnie the Pooh, think of the last story, when Christopher Robin says to Pooh, "When I'm a hundred, you'll be ninety-nine.") Some years later, we came home one evening shortly before Halloween to find a bag of candy, mostly spicy little pumpkins made of sugar, on the porch, and I had no doubt who had left it.” Child of Charles McIntosh and Lena Crawford 1.Charles Crawford4 McIntosh, born 23 March 1928; died 08 July 1988. Charles attended West Point and, after fulfilling his service obligation, became a doctor and practiced in Bergen County, New Jersey. He married Margaret Ann "Peggy" Hardart the day he graduated from West Point, and they had four children--Kimberly Ann (1952-1975), Charles Crawford Jr. (Chuck), Karen Lynne, and Pamela Kaye. Chuck married Susan Newton in the 1987; they have no children so far and live in upstate New York, raising and training standard bred racehorses. Pam is married to Tony (Anthony, I suppose) DiZuzio; they live in Florida and have a daughter, Margaret, who I think is about ten by now. Karen is unmarried and lives with her mother on the old Crawford farm at Walkersville, West Virginia, and works as a nurse in Weston. 2. Lena Virginia Bleigh But both Charlie's obituary and Lena's will referred to Lena Virginia Bleigh as their foster daughter, although she was a little too old actually to be their daughter, and Charles's children all called her Aunt Barney. Some years after Uncle Charlie died, she got a job as librarian at the Walkersville Grade School, where Aunt Lena taught, but she also continued to take care of Aunt Lena, who became an invalid in her last few years, and was with her when she died. Aunt Lena's will stipulated that Virginia was to have a home for the rest of her life, and she stayed on the family place until she died in 2000. Charles Edward McIntosh was an older brother to my maternal grandmother Jessie McIntosh Belcher. She and her siblings were left in an orphanage after the death of their mother. Most of the personal info on Charles McIntosh came from Mary Crawley, a niece to Charles Edward McIntosh. Thanks to her for the memories of my grandmother’s brother. It is just another piece added to my family puzzle. There has always been a fondness in my heart for the Scottish people. It is a treasure past down through my dad. Copyright 2004 Belcherblues.com. |