{"id":1518,"date":"2017-03-01T16:24:37","date_gmt":"2017-03-01T16:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/?p=1518"},"modified":"2019-07-18T17:40:53","modified_gmt":"2019-07-18T17:40:53","slug":"a-family-of-two-and-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/a-family-of-two-and-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"A Family of Two, and Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-jl3wfndf-b99e42dcf2cefc0254929984704b0e9e\">\n.avia-section.av-jl3wfndf-b99e42dcf2cefc0254929984704b0e9e{\nbackground-repeat:no-repeat;\nbackground-image:url(https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_1942_Phila_3-1459x630.jpg);\nbackground-position:0% 0%;\nbackground-attachment:scroll;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div id='av_section_1'  class='avia-section av-jl3wfndf-b99e42dcf2cefc0254929984704b0e9e main_color avia-section-no-padding avia-no-border-styling  avia-builder-el-0  el_before_av_one_full  avia-builder-el-first  avia-full-stretch avia-bg-style-scroll av-minimum-height av-minimum-height-30 av-height-percent  container_wrap sidebar_right'  data-section-bg-repeat='stretch' data-av_minimum_height_pc='30' data-av_min_height_opt='percent'><div class='container av-section-cont-open' ><main  role=\"main\" itemprop=\"mainContentOfPage\"  class='template-page content  av-content-small alpha units'><div class='post-entry post-entry-type-page post-entry-1518'><div class='entry-content-wrapper clearfix'><\/div><\/div><\/main><!-- close content main element --><\/div><\/div><div id='after_section_1'  class='main_color av_default_container_wrap container_wrap sidebar_right'  ><div class='container av-section-cont-open' ><div class='template-page content  av-content-small alpha units'><div class='post-entry post-entry-type-page post-entry-1518'><div class='entry-content-wrapper clearfix'>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-31f2q6-0fff0c7750c3c317f07352f75e287c75\">\n.flex_column.av-31f2q6-0fff0c7750c3c317f07352f75e287c75{\nborder-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;\npadding:0px 0px 0px 0px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='flex_column av-31f2q6-0fff0c7750c3c317f07352f75e287c75 av_one_full  avia-builder-el-1  el_after_av_section  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  first flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding  '     ><p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-207p4u-a72ca016b93566b050841cf8cc79210d\">\n#top .av-special-heading.av-207p4u-a72ca016b93566b050841cf8cc79210d{\npadding-bottom:10px;\nfont-size:36px;\n}\nbody .av-special-heading.av-207p4u-a72ca016b93566b050841cf8cc79210d .av-special-heading-tag .heading-char{\nfont-size:25px;\n}\n#top #wrap_all .av-special-heading.av-207p4u-a72ca016b93566b050841cf8cc79210d .av-special-heading-tag{\nfont-size:36px;\n}\n.av-special-heading.av-207p4u-a72ca016b93566b050841cf8cc79210d .av-subheading{\nfont-size:14px;\n}\n\n@media only screen and (min-width: 480px) and (max-width: 767px){ \n#top #wrap_all .av-special-heading.av-207p4u-a72ca016b93566b050841cf8cc79210d .av-special-heading-tag{\nfont-size:0.8em;\n}\n}\n\n@media only screen and (max-width: 479px){ \n#top #wrap_all .av-special-heading.av-207p4u-a72ca016b93566b050841cf8cc79210d .av-special-heading-tag{\nfont-size:0.8em;\n}\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='av-special-heading av-207p4u-a72ca016b93566b050841cf8cc79210d av-special-heading-h3 blockquote classic-quote  avia-builder-el-2  el_before_av_textblock  avia-builder-el-first  av-inherit-size'><h3 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >A Family of Two, and Friends<\/h3><div class='av-subheading av-subheading_below'><p>10 March 2017<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"special-heading-border\"><div class=\"special-heading-inner-border\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-jl3wry3k-95a752b10e54f44e83f991d9045f083d '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock image-border'  itemprop=\"text\" ><p>By 30 October 1944, Mrs. Mary M. Dawson at 5901 Lawndale Street in Philadelphia was informed that an award of the accrued amount of her husband\u2019s disability payment was approved and that it would soon be sent to her, as unmarried widow of James A. Dawson, Pvt. Med. Dept.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The next thing we know from family records is that on 28 August 1945 the Veterans Administration sends her notice of transferral of her case file to her new address at 234 N. E. Third Street in Miami, Florida.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_1942_Phila_3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-1519 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_1942_Phila_3-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_1942_Phila_3-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_1942_Phila_3-80x80.jpg 80w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_1942_Phila_3-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_1942_Phila_3-1030x1030.jpg 1030w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_1942_Phila_3-36x36.jpg 36w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_1942_Phila_3-180x180.jpg 180w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_1942_Phila_3-705x705.jpg 705w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_1942_Phila_3-120x120.jpg 120w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_1942_Phila_3-450x450.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_1942_Phila_3.jpg 1459w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This photo was most likely taken in the train down to Florida in late winter 1944-1945.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Why did Mary at age 56 and Marian at age 21 go to Florida in 1945? For that matter, why did Paul Emile go to Florida in 1946 at age 35, finally staying in 1947?\u00a0Why did our father leave a thriving business? Why did our mother leave her hard-won Department of Justice position in Philadelphia where, it should be noted, she would have eventually had a comfortable and secure income? Did they know people in Miami, or did a job offer attract them?<\/p>\n<p>We don\u2019t have anything that gives us a direct answer. To different degrees, both of them had been unsettled by wartime and the Great Depression of the 1930s, and disappointed by their job searches for the careers in music they had first set their caps on. As our mother said when her parents re-located to St. Petersburg earlier, perhaps they all had just \u201cgot sand in their shoes\u201d and were drawn by the bright, sunny climate after the dark days up north.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>There are quite a few photos of our grandmother Dawson down in South Florida amongst her<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>friends.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In contrast, there are none of her as a mother in St Petersburg, nor in Philadelphia or Willow Grove\u2014except for one family photo in 1925\u2014nor later as a grandmother with her grandchildren.That could indicate that Miami proved to be a place where she could be herself and was happy to be among friends downtown\u2014the kind of friends who wanted to gather together with her and take her picture.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Mary_Friends_1945.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1521\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Mary_Friends_1945.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"921\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Mary_Friends_1945.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Mary_Friends_1945-300x173.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Mary_Friends_1945-768x442.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Mary_Friends_1945-1030x593.jpg 1030w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Mary_Friends_1945-1500x863.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Mary_Friends_1945-705x406.jpg 705w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Mary_Friends_1945-450x259.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The photo above shows our grandmother Dawson in Miami, possibly in winter of 1945 shortly after arrival in Miami. She looks much younger here than she does three years later in our mother\u2019s 1948 wedding photos. It is possible that the woman to the right is Lillian, and the younger woman to the left is Anne. We have other photos of both of them but no last names. Some of the other first names that are listed in our grandmother\u2019s papers include: Bessie, Ethel, Tommy, Harold K, Lillian and Ed. Additional names that we cannot match-up with photos are: William Nugent\u2014died January 5, 1959\u2014and Harry Joseph Parent\u2014died February 19, 1957. Some of the young women in her apartment house thank her for being a \u201csecond mother\u201d to them on the back of the photos they give her.<\/p>\n<p>[Slide show of Mary Dawson friends.]<\/p>\n<p>If the two-member Dawson family had thought that career prospects would be better for Marian in Miami, the years 1945-1947 proved that their timing was off. Our mother certainly tried, beginning with radio-related jobs, then secretarial, then unemployment, and then jobs in retail\u2014all the while doing more and more work in music that likely did not pay a dime.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>In the 1945-1946 academic year Marian earned high marks for her semester of work at the University of Miami.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>But jobs at Pan American Airways, Professional Insurance Company, and National Silver were all short term for relatively small amounts\u2014$35.00 per week for a 40-hour week at National Silver, for instance. Her unemployment benefit was $15.00 per week in between jobs.<\/p>\n<p>Predictably for our parents\u2019 luck, a pretty sizable recession of -12.7% hit the US economy in 1945 as World War II ended and veterans returned to the country. (Compare this with the -26.7% of the Great Depression and the -5.1% of the Great Recession.) But Miami had benefited enough from the World War II economy that it bounced back faster. So many veterans wanted to return to the same location of their military bases in South Florida that they flooded the University of Miami on the GI Bill\u2014resulting in a housing and employment boom. During the winter months of the war years Miami had accommodated 152,000 persons additional to its 1940 population of 173,000. By 1950 it had a population of 249,276 and has continued to grow<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>faster than much of the rest of the United States.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_MusicNewspaper_2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-large wp-image-1520\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_MusicNewspaper_2-847x1030.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"847\" height=\"1030\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_MusicNewspaper_2-847x1030.jpg 847w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_MusicNewspaper_2-247x300.jpg 247w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_MusicNewspaper_2-768x934.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_MusicNewspaper_2-1233x1500.jpg 1233w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_MusicNewspaper_2-579x705.jpg 579w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_MusicNewspaper_2-450x548.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dawson-Marian_MusicNewspaper_2.jpg 1315w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 847px) 100vw, 847px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In the two years before she met our father in late 1947, Marian was welcomed by the music community and she made many friends, most of whom she would know for many years.\u00a0She was a principal member of the American Guild of Variety Artists and she also belonged to the Miami Music Teachers Association. She was featured in many music revues and appeared in Rigoletto, Madame Butterfly and The Gondoliers with the Miami Opera Guild. She also modeled for a number of agencies in Miami. The photographers she met in both the music and modeling work account for the high quality of many of her photos taken at this time and later at her wedding.<\/p>\n<p>[Slide show of modeling and opera photos.]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<\/div><\/section><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By 30 October 1944, Mrs. Mary M. Dawson at 5901 Lawndale Street in Philadelphia was informed that an award of the accrued amount of her husband\u2019s disability payment was approved and that it would soon be sent to her, as unmarried widow of James A. Dawson, Pvt. Med. Dept.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dawson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1518"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1728,"href":"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518\/revisions\/1728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bluenotegarden.com\/familyhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}