Bessie
Viola Beatrice BLAKE
wager11
1882
- 1968
- BIRTH: 23 NOV 1882, Woodstock, Carleton County, New Brunswick, CANADA
- DEATH: 27 JAN 1968, Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan
Father: James Wellington BLAKE
Mother: Ada DOW
Family 1 : Roy SWABY
- MARRIAGE: 7 JUN 1904, Bay City, Bay County, Michigan
1. girl, stillborn
2. Harold Blake SWABY
4. Ada Jeanette SWABY
5. James Alfred SWABY
____Henry BLAKE_____
| (1786/7 - 1853/4) m 1822
_William BLAKE__________|
| (1826 - 1864) m 1849 |
| |____Sarah GRAY_____
| (1801/2 -
1868) m 1822
| (1853 - 1904) m 1881 |
_____Thomas JONES_____
|
| ___James JONES___________| (1745 - 1819) m
|
| | |___Abigail PUTNAM___________+
| |___Mercy JONES_________|
|
(1833 - 1912) m 1849 |
____Abiel BRIGGS_____+
|
|_____Lydia BRIGGS______| (1762 - 1844) m 1788
|
(1795-1885) m 1814 |_____Elizabeth CHASE______
|
|-
- Bessie BLAKE
| (1882 - 1968) m 1904
____Amos DOW___________ +
|
___ David DOW___________| (1773 - 1837) m
| | (1801 - 1888) m |___Anna TIDLEY___________+
|
__ Amos DOW____________|
|
| (1825 - 1879) m 1860 | _____Titus WAY___________+
|
| |____ Mary WAY___________| (1756 - 1830) m
1797
|
| (1799
- 1881) m |___Elizabeth
PORTER________
|____Ada
DOW___________|
(ca1756 - before1830) m 1797
(1861 - 1907) m 1881 |
_____Peter WATSON_____
| _____ William WATSON_____| (ca1760 - ....) m
| | (1801 - ....) m 1824 |__Louise ?????__________
|___Sophia WATSON________| (ca1761 -
1853) m
(1842
- 1871) m 1860 | ___Joseph WOLVERTON__+
|_Jane Philips WOLVERTON___| (1780 - 1843) m 1798
(1804 -
....) m 1824 |___Jane LARLEE_________+
(1781 -
1853) m 1798
TIMELINE
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904 - MARRIAGE
1905
1906
1907
1908 - Flora born
1909
1910
1911 - Ada born
1912
1913
1914 - James born
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967 - DEATH of Roy
1968
INDEX
wager11
Bessie was born in New Brunswick, but moved with her family to Chatham, Ontario, which is near Detroit, Michigan. Eventually the family moved to Bay City, Michigan. Bessie was very musical and rode her bicycle for miles through the country to give music lessons for 50 cents apiece. She met Roy Swaby at her home during a summer vacation. When she won a citywide voice competition, she was given an opportunity to study at the New England Conservatory in Boston, but chose to marry Roy instead. They had planned a honeymoon in Detroit, but while they were on the train, Roy realized he only had enough money to get to Saginaw. After a stillborn birth and the death of their second baby, Harry, the Swabys had two girls and a boy, who grew to adulthood. When both her parents died leaving behind two boys who still had not reached the age of majority (Ted and Harmon), she finished raising them along with her own children. Bessie continued to sing in the Grace Methodist Church choir. In her final years, she suffered dementia, but outlived her husband by five months.
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