Thursday, August 19, 2010

Frank Roger Williams Jr.

Frank Roger Williams Jr. was born October 1918 in Houston, Texas. His parents were Ida Sweet Mason and Frank Roger Williams Sr. He married Elaine Rawley (Lola Elaine Rawley according to her birth certificate) they divorced some years later. To this union were seven children (out of the seven children, six are still alive, out of respect and privacy, I will not name them)

Frank Roger Williams Jr. died January 28, 1973 in Houston, Texas. He died of Pneumonia due to Carcinoma of the Lung and is buried in Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery in Houston. I believe he spent one year at the University of Texas; a short span of time in the Navy during WWII and while it is listed that his occupation at the time of his death was "distributor for a coffee company" (I believe General Foods) according to his children this was not the case. Frank Sr. and Frank Jr. lost their investment (Williams Distributing Company) in or around 1955 when the price of coffee plummeted. From the time of the failure of the distributing company until his death in 1973 Frank Jr. struggled to support his family. 

** Family Rumor: Frank and his expanding family purchased a home on 1826 Matamoras in Houston, Texas. He built onto, upgraded and made a nice, large home of increased value. Frank's father Frank Roger Williams Sr. was a well respected Houstonian ran into some gambling debts, in 1955 in order to resolve these debts Frank Sr. negotiated a private deal with Frank Jr. to sign his home on Matamoras over to Sylvan Beach, which was a gambling company, in turn Frank Sr. would sign over the Williams family home on 2717 Bagby in Houston to Frank Jr. In or around May 1955 Frank Jr. signed over the house on Matamoras to Sylvan Beach and moved his family into the house on Bagby. It was very shortly after this move that Frank Jr.'s oldest daughter contracted polio. When Frank Sr. died in 1958 the Bagby house had not been signed over or put into Frank Jr.'s name, his mother, Ida, rented out the home and Frank's family was dispossessed. It must be noted that upon Frank Sr.'s death Ida did not probate his will and to date it remains an ethereal document.

I am currently searching for supporting or refuting documents.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Family History of Luce

5 Generations Luce Family

Elaine Rawley Williams m. Frank Roger Williams Jr.

Parents of Frank Roger Williams Jr.
Frank Roger Williams Sr. m. Ida Sweet Luce Mason

Parents of Ida Sweet Luce Mason
Kathryn (Kate) Montgomery Luce m. Virgil A. (Augustus / Augusta) Mason

Parents of Kate Montgomery Luce
Rachel Harness Whitman m. Matthew Rogers Luce

Parents of Matthew Rogers Luce
Abner Luce m. Jane Rogers


LUCE FAMILY NOTES:
I traced the Luce family back to 1537 Gloucestershire, England. If you would like to make a full Luce family study, a Pedigree Chart is available on http://www.familysearch.org/ (thank you Latter Day Saints) or I've created a family history on Ancestry.com - Williams, Luce, Rawley Family Tree.

Also, I've attached photos, correspondence, rumors, questions and most of what I have thus far on each family member (other family member information is attached to other blogs by me). If you recognize any of the "unknowns" in the photos, are related to me or just have any more information than I have, I would love to hear from you!!