Biography of Edith Lorraine Brown and Max Charon

This information was from a letter written by Gertrude Edith Brown, their daughter.

How my mother would have enjoyed talking about gardening with Don. She loved flowers especially, and ordered seed catalogs from all over the U.S. She didn't try landscaping, but rather apportioned her planting areas in about foot squares and would try all sorts of plants and when I visited her we'd check each one individually. Some seed packets she received only had three or four seeds enclosed, so she felt they were precious and must be well-tended. She had loved plants all her life, but as oldest daughter in her home she was expected to do a lot of the laundry and housekeeping as her mother was "delicate" - as they used to say - and there were three younger children. Gertrude (that I'm named after), Brinton, and Mary. My mother's name was Edith Lorraine - their surname was Brown. She always hated the arrangement that made her do household chores, until noon or after, before she was free to do any gardening. Then it was so hot and muggy on the eastern Kansas farm where they lived that she couldn't stand to work at it for very long at a time. When I was in my teens, I had very fair skin and burned easily, so I didn't want to go out and get sunburned and it was years before I took even a lesser interest than she enjoyed in gardening. I didn't dislike housework so I took care of household chores and she was free to go out early and she loved it. She'd start planning the following summer's projects in January - when all her catalogs started arriving. Years after I married and had left home - when she passed away - her beloved catalogs continued to be sent for the next three or four years. She'd been a good customer though - had ordered all kinds of flowers and bulbs, fruit trees and berry bushes and some vegetables - not many of any one - but she wanted to try everything.

As long as I'm telling you about my Mother - will say another one of her dreams was to become a teacher. Can't tell you the name of the schools she attended but know it was a "normal" school in eastern Kansas. Think their farm was located in the area of Hutchison or Topeka. Know she "passed" her final exams and was to be assigned a teaching position the next Sept. The School Board required her to have a physical exam and it was found that she had T.B. She was frail but hadn't known of the problem before. The School Board would not accept her for health reasons.

I have an old journal that she used for a scrapbook. In one section of the book she has copies of the test questions - from the exams - quite a few of them - also newspaper clipping of important happenings around 1887 (?), poetry, recipes, one article that interested me especially was about "How to Live on $600 a Year." It tells all of the family's expenses and how they managed to cover everything. Compared to the current living expenses, its unbelievable. One woman here in the mobile home park, on seeing that article in a "Show and Tell About Your Family" program at the club house, said I should show it to some one of our local newspaper - that it would make a very interesting story. I haven't done it yet, though.

She was interested in writing and poetry. Almost all of her letters were written in a sort of rhyming prose and poetry. I find it hard to just get it on paper - but she wrote quickly and with ease in her adopted form.

After her rejection by the School Board and several other possible teaching positions, she gave up and decided to try for work in Colorado. (Do not believe she tried for teaching position in Colo.) She found work at a greenhouse in Colo. Spgs. She was required to work in the violet area, which require low temperatures, and rose area, which require very warm temperatures. The changing temps. was bothering her physical condition and she had to find another type of work.

Her next job was as a pantry girl at the Antlers Hotel. Health restrictions were not as carefully handled as they are today or neither she nor my father would have been allowed to work around foods. Colorado was then thought to be the answer to T.B. problems and they both came to Colorado for that reason. My father was chef at the Antlers Hotel. You guessed it - think they were married in 1898.⁵⁹⁹⁹

Started to write the letter about my Father, right after Christmas, as I had said I would, but stopped to look through family pictures and Mom's 'Journal' and found an old keepsake - my Father's wallet, that had apparently been given to him when he left his family in Germany in 1883.

From what I can remember, my Mother said he had been sent to an uncle in Fort Dodge, Iowa, then, to avoid being inducted into military service, as German youths were, at 14 years. His parents disapproved of this - I think, partially, because the area that was their homeland - Alsace-Loraine, had been part of France until the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and was ceded to Germany, then.

My Father was born on Feb. 22nd, 1870. As shown on the Family Tree of the Charon's in Iowa received by Aunt Mildred and Nita Jean - when they worked out a genealogy of the family in 1975, I think, my Father was the oldest of three children - born to Lippmann (?) Charon and a lady whose surname was Franck - but her given name is not shown.

1 - Max Charon - born 2/22/1870, deceased - 1919

2 - Emmanuel Charon - birthdate is not shown - but placed between my father's name and the other brother

3 - Louis Charon - born May 7, 1872, deceased - 1940

From the placement on the chart - have wondered if Emanuel may have been born in 1871, and possibly passed away while still small - as Louis also came to America, but it would seem Emanuel did not.

My mother said my Father's uncle was a caterer and handled many weddings for wealthy families in the area. From an obituary of my Father my Mother had placed in her 'Journal', it said he lived with the uncle and attended school and was a good scholar. My Mother said the uncle had taught my Father the catering business - but said he worked for the uncle from the time he arrived and didn't receive much schooling. My Father, having been trained as a chef, baker and caterer - worked for the uncle and later on his own. He is said to have worked in many fine restaurants and hotels in Eastern U.S. - before going to Colorado - the Colo. Spgs. area in 1893. He also had 'consumption' or tuberculosis as it is now known and had been advised to come to Colo. for his health. There was a financial panic in 1893 and I have wondered if there might have been a lull in his business in the East and he was also drawn to Colo. Spgs. - Cripple Creek and Victor - as they were the location of many successful mining operations. That was a peak period in the area and many new wealthy mine owners, with expensive homes were living it up there.

He worked at the Imperial Hotel in Cripple Creek and possibly also hotels in Colo Sprgs. Don't think he and my Mother became acquainted until 1896 or '97 as have found two letters of recommendation among keepsakes for her. 1 - dated in 1892 from the Supt. of Schools of Waterville, Kans. - recommending her for a teaching position. She would have been 19 then and apparently didn't get a teaching position then, as the second letter was written in 1895 by the Supt. of the Ossawatomie (Kansas) Mental Institution. She had worked there for 2 - 3 years and had also continued her studies for teaching. I believe this was the time that she passed the teaching examination and had been accepted by the School Supt. - when a required physical showed she had consumption - which she had not known of before. She was also advised to go to Colo. for her health.

An odd thing about the 'Journal' is that you really have to look for a date. The clippings may mention a day of the week and time of day - but for a complete date - there are very few and you are left to piece together and deduce the date from the other information given and other clippings around it.

She (my mother) has told me she first worked in a greenhouse in Colo. Spgs. Don't know whether this was part of the Antlers Hotel or not. Know that with her life long love of growing flowers - this seemed like a dream come true. She could grow flowers and get paid for it. She found it had its drawbacks - as her assignment was caring for violets and roses. The violets required a cold area and roses must be kept very warm and humid and working between the two was detrimental to her already frail condition.

Her next job was at the Antlers Hotel as a pantry-woman. She and my Father worked close together and became friends. They were married in Victor, Colo. - June 16, 1898. You know of their three children:

1. Harold Max Charon - born 6/29/1899, deceased 1969

2. Charles Gordon Charon - born 1/19/1903, deceased 1943

3. Gertrude Edith Charon - born 6/23/1910

My Mother told me that she started 9 pregnancies, but miscarried six of them. I was her last pregnancy. With no contraceptives and little knowledge, the women of that time suffered a lot - to say nothing of their husbands trying to make a living and help an often frail and ailing wife and large families.

They seemed to follow mining booms as in early years my Mother said they lived in Colo. Spgs., Victor, Cripple Creek, Colo. and I think Cheyenne and Casper, Wyo. and then returned to Denver for several years. I was born while they lived at 1262 Elati St. in Denver and my Father was proprietor of a restaurant in the 1500 block of California St. - across from the Denver Dry Goods. Have a clipping dated 4/6/1909 showing restaurants in Denver then and show the Tourane Cafe at 1541(?) Tremont St., Denver - and my Father and a man names Harry Conway were partners in this venture.

When I was 2, they moved to Leadville, Colo. They never mentioned it, but both of them thought the others health might be benefited by the high altitude. It came out at the time my father passed away in 1919 that they both hated it there, but had stayed on because of their original idea for moving there.

After my Father's death, we - my Mother and we three kids - moved back to Denver in summer of 1919. We looked and looked for a house to rent and finally found the lower floor of a duplex at 2524 Curtis. I think the reason for the lack of housing was due to the fact that Denver had been a military base during the 1st World War and when we got there the Armistice had just been handled so there were still many military personnel that would be discharged in the next few months.

My oldest brother - your Uncle Harold - obtained a job at Charley's Restaurant (proprietor - Chas. Shipman) on lower 17th Street. My Father had kept to the Old World tradition and insisted that Harold, as eldest son, learn the business like his Father before him. I know Harold would have preferred to become an electrician, but bowed to his Father's wishes. So he was chef, later, at the Albany Hotel, the Cosmopolitan, the Hilton, Boggio's and for a time worked at St. Joseph Hospital. Aunt Mildred disliked the hours he was required to work in the restaurant business and talked him into getting a job at Schwayder's when it was located at Mississippi and Brdwy. He worked there for a number of years and retired from there. Funny thing, though, the men he worked with eyed the foil wrapped bundles that Harold brought for lunch and put on the molding machines to cook slowly during 1st half of shift. He agreed to make foil packets for the others and bring them for their lunches - pro-rating the cost of the food. He did that for quite a while.

After - or rather - for a couple of years my Mother took care of little children by the week. We had some little cuties living with us, whose single mothers or fathers just couldn't cope with them, a job and a gentleman or lady friend that didn't welcome someone else's child. Those poor little dolls were just extra baggage to them. My Mother received board payment pretty well for 2 - 3 weeks, then the parents would get behind and she would have to refuse to care for them any longer. From her (my mother) previous restaurant experience - as she had helped Father in his various ventures - she took over the pantry woman's position from your Aunt Mildred after she and Uncle Harold were married. (Your Uncle Harold and Aunt Mildred both worked at Charley's Restaurant.)

She (my Mother) worked there for several years, and it was there she met and later married Harry Collier - that you probably remember as "Grandpa Harry." He had formerly lived in Penn. and had worked in the coal mines all his life. He was the Father of six children, who by then were all grown, married and raising families of their own. His wife had passed away and he was lost and lonely and drifted out to Denver. For the record, he and my Mother were married June 12, 1922. I was 12 then and can say he was very kind and a good Father to me.

My younger brother - Charles - your Father - was always interested in cars and had worked for a Clyde Heller from the time he was 15 in Leadville. He obtained a job easily in the same work when we returned to Denver in 1919. Part of the time he lived at home and part time he boarded with the parents of one of his friends - until he and your Mother were married. I believe you remember your early years much better than anything I could tell you.

At the beginning of this letter I mentioned a keepsake - my Father's wallet. It is a leather tri-fold - about 3" x 5" and is lined with gold colored satin with floral cluster embroidered on a folder for papers on the inside. There is a space for two pictures of I assume his Mother and Father. The photographer was Franz Neumayer of Munchen. Could that be Munich?

There is also a little notebook with the gold satin cover that has names of probably his Mother's brothers -

Adolph Franck

c/o Henbry Bros. & Co.

Joliet, Ill.

and

L. Franck

8 Sevington St.

Sutherland Ave.

London (W?)

There are a couple of pages of what appears to be listed clothing or equipment, written in German. Then two more addresses - for a Meyer's Hotel and butcher (it indicates) by the name of Joseph Stern - both of these are in New York City area, but give no street addresses.

Then, I found a much folded document that Charles and I taped together and had filmed but could not read the German script. There is a retired teacher who formerly taught German that lives in our mobile park. I was advised to take it to him for translation. He had company from out of town so couldn't handle it till later. Have received his translation and am also enclosing a photocopy of the document. Possibly you are acquainted with someone that can go over it, too. Here is his translation:

Dismissal Document

The (Bavarian) Royal Government of Unterfranken and Aschaffenburg, testifies that Max Charon of Roevelsc, Circuit 12 Kitsingen, was born there February 23, 1870, lived there (Warnlitischer) religion: Appeared before this court to request dismissal and severance from the royal government in order to emigrate to the United States of America, thereby renouncing his citizenship with all its rights and privileges.

This request of dismissal is valid only for the person explicitly mentioned in the writ, and was delivered to the aforenamed person on the 3rd of December, 1883, by the government of Unterfranken & Aschaffenburg.

(signed by) Kohlmueller

______________________________________

The man that translated it said it was by no means accurate in many of its details, that perhaps someone born in Germany could do a more accurate job.

I have also sent a copy to Bruno and he said he had German born friends at work that might be able to translate it. Haven't heard from it about it, to date.

Hope this is sort of what you wanted -

Love, Aunt Gertrude

P.S. Forgot to state in this letter that my Father's parents were Orthodox Jews. They carefully observed all the rites of their religion.

In addition to renouncing his citizenship in Germany when he came to the United States, he also gave up his rights and privileges within the Charon family when he married my Mother as she was a Gentile. The family's beliefs forbid a mixed marriage between a Jew and a Gentile. To them, he was considered dead, when he entered into a mixed marriage.

We always seemed to live in small towns where there were few Jews and no synagogues or Jewish schools. Because of this my Father said we must have religious training and should be taken to Mother's church and go to public schools. My brothers were almost grown when he passed away and I was 9 and in the 3rd grade. We had attended a Methodist church in Leadville and gone to public schools. My Mother knew nothing of the Jewish religion, so did not try to enter me in Jewish school or take up the Jewish faith.

Card in Wallet:

Max Charon

109 Spicer (Cook) 1900

" " 02 - 03

Waiter at National Restaurant 1905

(306 Victor Ave)⁵⁹⁹⁹