Last post, I mentioned that the son of George F. Moore married a woman named Luella Lockwood. Her family is pretty interesting, so I’ll write a little about them. Luella’s parents were Charles T. Lockwood and Josephine Crofoot (possibly a niece of Michael E. Crofoot, the namesake of The Crofoot in Pontiac, Michigan). C.T. Lockwood was born in New York in 1835. He and Josephine Crofoot married in 1861 in Oakland County, Michigan and had 2 children. In the August 1870 census, the family was living in Pontiac and C.T. taught music. Their children were Luella, aged 5 and LeBaron, aged 2. C.T. was a composer and wrote a number of songs, and his wife Josephine was also a “teacher of piano and voice culture,” especially after her husband’s death in October 1870.
Luella Lockwood was born in Pontiac, Michigan on February 4, 1865. As mentioned above, when the census was taken on August 20, 1870 she was five years old living with her family and a servant named Nellie Jeffers. In the 1880 census, Josephine (37), Luella (15), and LeBaron (12) were living on Clark Street in Pontiac. Josephine was a music teacher while her children were going to school. On May 12, 1885, Luella married George F. Moore, Jr. in Pontiac. On January 6, 1887, their daughter Ruth Janet Moore was born in Detroit. According to the society pages in the Detroit Free Press, Luella passed the winter of 1890 at Colorado Springs and returned home in April 1890 (Apr. 27, 1890, p. 9).
A huge article from Dec. 4, 1891 detailed the Annual Ball at the Light Infantry Armory, “a brilliant gathering of Detroit’s beauty and fashion.” (Detroit Free Press, p. 1-2). George and Luella, George’s parents, and George’s sister, “ladies and gentleman who viewed the dancers from the gallery,” occupied box 16.
Luella spent the summer of 1892 at Normandie-by-the-Sea, a hotel in New Jersey. She then visited her sister-in-law Adela (Mrs. J. Ledlie Hees) at Fonda, New York. (Detroit Free Press, 9/25/1892, p. 17)
Left: From Facebook, the “Normandie-by-the-Sea located in what is now the Normandie section of north beach in Sea Bright. It was quite a massive resort, including its own train station, which is the small building shown on the left side of the image… . The building was unfortunately destroyed by fire on Sept. 29, 1916.”
Luella and George’s son, George F. Moore III, was born August 31, 1895 in Pontiac. In 1900, the family was living in Pontiac on North Saginaw Street. Luella’s mother, Josephine, was living with them, as were a servant (Emma Howden) and a nurse for the children (Pearl Owen). Ruth was 13 and George III was 5. Luella’s father-in-law died at Magnolia Springs, Florida on March 25, 1904 and the newspapers noted that it was sudden and that George Jr. was with him. George Jr. filed for divorce from Luella on August 4, 1904.
“George Frederick Moore has begun suit for divorce from Luella Lockwood Moore, to whom he was married in Pontiac in May, 1885. He charges his wife with wilful desertion since April 27, 1901, which Mrs. Moore, in an answer filed yesterday from Pontiac, denies. She also sets up that her husband did not sufficiently provide for her support. She asks that his bill be dismissed, but in case the decree is granted, she asks the custody of their 8-year-old son. They also have a daughter, aged 17. Moore is a prominent Detroit business man.”
Detroit Free Press, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 1904, page 10
The divorce was granted December 20, 1904. George Jr. died only four months later, on April 23, 1905 in Los Angeles. His will, written in April 1904, left his estate for the two children to be divided between when George III reached age of 30 (Detroit Free Press, Apr. 29, 1905, p. 12).
Luella, like her father, became a composer. The Detroit Free Press wrote an article discussing the publication of one of her songs “Dearie, I’d Do Anything for You.” The article also talks a little about her father (May 24, 1908, p. 40 – see article at left). In May 1910, the newspaper called her “Detroit’s well-known song writer” who was “having tremendous vogue with her song, ‘Yester-Eve.'” (May 8, 1910, p. 24). In June, “Cecille Berryman [was] singing Luella Lockwood Moore’s songs at Penobscot Inn.” And “Joseph Sheehan, the operatic tenor, [was] singing it in vaudeville.” (June 19, 1910, page 11). On June 22, 1910, she left for a visit to New York City. (Detroit Free Press, Jun. 23, 1910, p. 7). Her daughter Ruth married Roy E. Wiant on June 28, 1911 and the wedding service featured two of Luella’s songs: “During the entrance of the bridal party Miss Elizabeth Moore sang ‘Bridal Veil and Orange Blossoms,’ the music of which was composed by the bride’s mother…. The marriage service was read…during which ‘Perfume,’ a new composition by Mrs. Moore, was played by the organist, Mr. C. W. Morse.” Obviously, fashion was a big part of the day. The article let us know that “Mrs. Moore, mother of the bride, wore a gown of white lace, embroidered with silver spangles and white silk pattern figures with touches of pink under the net. The bodice was cut in a square. Mrs. Lockwood, grandmother of the bride, wore a handsome gown of soft gray marquisette under gray satin, with a garniture of lace in various shades of pink and old gold” (Detroit Free Press, Jul. 2, 1911, p. 49). In mid-July 1911, Ruth and her husband returned from their honeymoon and moved into Luella’s house at 300 Forest Ave. West while Luella was vacationing in the Adirondacks (Detroit Times, July 14, 1911, p. 6). In Fall 1911, the Wiants moved to Philadelpia.
The Colorado Springs Gazette of May 5, 1912 read, “Mrs. Luella Lockwood Moore of Detroit, is spending a short time at the Antlers. Her musical compositions have been favorably received and Fink’s orchestra is using several of them at the hotel. Among them is a suite of three numbers called “My Lady’s Boudoir,” the subtitles of which are “Perfume” (a barcarolle); “Chiffon” (a caprice); and “High Heels and Buckles” (a ballata)” (p. 4).
Luella’s daughter Ruth gave birth to a son named John Ledlie Wiant (Jack) in Philadelphia on April 21, 1914. The next year, Ruth and her husband moved back to Detroit and bought a house at 129 Palmer Ave. East (Detroit Times, Jul. 14, 1915, p. 8). On October 25, 1915, there was a song writer’s contest at the Orpheum Theatre with seven participants, including Luella (now living at 38 Hague Ave.) and her song “Mother’s Kiss is the Sweetest Kiss of All” (Detroit Times, Oct. 25, 1915, p. 2). Luella’s son George F. Moore III married Doris Blakesy in Detroit in March 1918. In the 1920 census, Luella, her mother Josephine, George III, Doris, and a servant named Margaret Ballard were living on Atkinson in Detroit. George was an insurance broker.
In August 1922, Luella, her daughter, and her grandson were spending the summer season at the Gratiot Inn in Port Huron, Michigan. In an article in the Detroit Times, Luella told a reporter, “I really don’t know just how I create my compositions. Of course I have studied some, but mainly I believe it was because of my father’s marked ability and because of God’s will.” She continued, “I believe my vacation here at Lake Huron will be conducive to assist me in writing several songs which I can offer before the winter. These wonderful cool days and the fresh breezes off the lake, cannot fail to help me.” (Detroit Times, Aug. 13, 1922, p. 38).
In September 1922, Luella’s brother LeBaron Lockwood was working as a photographer and living in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The local newspaper there reported that Luella was “terribly injured in an automobile accident in Detroit. Mr. Lockwood, who received word from his mother in Detroit about the accident, states that Mrs. Moore has not yet regained consciousness…” (Sault Ste. Marie Evening News, Sept. 30, 1922, p. 3). I wasn’t able to find an article in the Detroit newspapers about the accident, but I know Luella did regain consciousness. Meanwhile, in September 1923, George and his wife Doris divorced. The next few years were tragic for the family. Luella’s daughter Ruth died on October 25, 1925 at the age of 38. Her cause of death was a grand mal seizure/epilepsy with a contributory cause of terminal broncho-pneumonia. George III died the next year at the age of 30. He died of edema of the brain. Luella’s mother Josephine Crofoot Lockwood died on August 24, 1927 at the age of 84. She had been a widow for 57 years. Luella died just a few months later at the age of 62. She died October 18, 1927 of hemiplegia (defined as paralysis of one side of the body) and edema of the lungs. She was buried in Elmwood Cemetery. At the time of their deaths, George, Josephine and Luella were living at 1129 Atkinson Avenue.
Wells & Wilson Family History 