Edyth's Houses Part 1 - 3202 N 33rd Street

From city records, we know the house at 3202 North 33rd Street in Tacoma's north end was built in 1936, the same year that Arthur and Edyth moved in. So it's a reasonable conclusion that Edyth had a hand in it's design and construction. One of these days I may do some digging to learn more about its history, and what, if anything, was on the lot when they bought it. It might very well have just been grass and weeds.

Imagine the two of them standing in that vacant lot looking north over Commencement Bay to Brown's Point and Puget Sound. They're in their late 30's. The boys are approaching adolescence and had lived in rentals all their life. Arthur's parents had both died the previous year (1933) and it's likely that Arthur's share of the estate was a substantial boost to their savings. Should they invest their capital in real estate?  Arthur was probably calculating construction costs and the time it would take to travel each day to the College and back. Edyth, we can assume, was enchanted with the view and already laying out out the rooms in her head.  

The view (approximately) from the north end property Arthur and Edyth purchased in Tacoma around 1935

The boys would have been thrilled. Below their property was a wilderness of trees and brush, and beyond the woods were railroad tracks, a lumber mill and a beach that stretched from downtown Tacoma to Point Defiance, from the Gothic towers of Stadium High School, past the ruins of Old Town, the bustle and rolling logs of the Dickman Mill and the toxic wasteland of the Ruston Smelter. Today it's a parkway and a popular pedestrian trail lined with restaurants and waterfront parks, and the path they would have taken to the beach is now the private access road of a gated community. But in the 1930's it was a boys' paradise.

This is either the Dickman Mill (below their house) or the Ruston Smelter (further north)

Dave, Dick and Walker on the bluff below their house.

We don't have pictures of the house being built, but we do have some of the garden shed under construction. It must have been well built, because it's still there, as is the house.

William Zaytzef (lodger & carpenter) with Dick, Dave and their dog

Dick, Dave and Edyth with their dog.

The building of the garden shed at 3202 N 33rd, Tacoma.

The carpenter is William Basil Zaytzef, a recently-arrived immigrant from Russia who they took in as a lodger after the house was built. There's more to his story, and he'll likely be the subject of a future post.

The house was bigger than anything they'd lived in before -- nearly 3000 square feet on a lot that was a full third of an acre. It had, has, four levels, counting the finished basement and attic, three bathrooms and three bedrooms. Its grandeur must have made them feel a little aristocratic, and in some of these photos you almost expect to see a footman attending to matters in the background.

Lillian and William Grohndorff, Edyth's parents, and Dave.

The boys with their Grohndorff grandparents who were visiting from Wisconsin.

The house at 3202 N 33rd, front.

The house at 3202 N 33rd, rear.

Dave and Dick with one of their dogs. The other dog is in the background, by the garden shed.

Richard on right with an unknown friend. This photo gives a good idea of the view, which has diminished only slightly in recent years from trees and development. 

Today, the house looks pretty much the same. The decorative shutters are gone, a shed dormer has been added to the front of the house, and the rear porch as been expanded. Edyth's garden shed is still there, and the view is just as enchanting.

3202 N 33rd, today (2016)

Where our Dads Grew Up

For the first fourteen years of their marriage, Arthur and Edyth were renters, and they never lived anywhere more than a few years. Arthur's income as minister, educator and university professor was probably never enough to build up a savings -- especially while raising three boys -- and a good house in Tacoma's North End would have cost more than four times Arthur's annual salary. That sounds like a bargain compared to Seattle's current (2016) housing market -- where the average house is valued at more than ten times the annual salary of a typical university professor -- but housing values at the time, and for most of the remaining century, corresponded much more closely to one's income.

Their first home was in Cedar Rapids, where Walker was born just ten months after they were married in Beaver Dam on June 27th, 1923. The only record of their stay there is a photograph of the house. Perhaps Walker's birth certificate would have its address, but they weren't in Cedar Rapids long enough to be listed in the phone directory, and I've found no record of what Arthur and Edyth may have doing there. [Addendum, 8/14/21: Walker's birth certificate has the address as 219 S 17th Street, and I've since learned that Arthur was the educational director and supervisor of boys' work at St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church while there in 1924.]

The house in Cedar Rapids where Walker was likely born, on April 14th, 1924

The house as it appears today (2021) at 219 17th Street Southeast, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

In 1925, they moved to South Bend, Indiana, where Arthur was employed as the Director of Religious Education at the First Methodist Episcopal Church. The South Bend City Directory provides Arthur's employer and position, and their home address: 1003 Sherman Avenue.

The house at 1003 Sherman Avenue in South Bend, Indiana, where Arthur and Edyth lived from 1925 to 1927.

The house in South Bend as it appears today (2016). This is where David was born May 14th, 1927.

David was born in South Bend in May of 1927. By the Fall of the same year, Arthur had taken a position as Professor of Religious Instruction at the College of Puget Sound.

Their first house in Tacoma was just north and west of campus, at 3225 North 20th Street. Edyth called it "Bell's House", so we can assume that was the name of their landlord. They were living here when Richard was born, on October 28th, 1928.

3225 N 20th, Tacoma, where Arthur and Edyth lived from 1927 to 1929. Walker is visible left of center.

3225 and 3219 N 20th in Tacoma, as they look today (2016) 

Walker with an unidentified dog in the front yard of 3225 N 20th, Tacoma

Walker with the newborn Richard, and Dave, at 3225 N 20th, Tacoma.

In 1929, they moved a few blocks south and west to 3016 N 16th.

3016 N 16th, Tacoma, where Arthur and Edyth lived from 1929 to 1931

They were here for two years, but the only pictures we have were all taken in the back yard.

The boys (David, Walker and Richard) in the backyard at 3016 N 16th, Tacoma

In 1932 they've moved again, eight blocks south to 1114 N Alder Street. The house is just one block west of campus, but Arthur had to walk just as far to reach his office in Jones Hall. There's a photo that was taken about this time with the boys standing on the rear bumper of an impressive new automobile. But Arthur wouldn't have needed a car, and Edyth never learned to drive. So I doubt it belonged to them.

1114 N Alder, Tacoma, where Arthur & Edyth lived from 1932 to 1936

We have many pictures of the boys from these years. It's been fun comparing the photos against the existing structures and landmarks in the neighborhood today, and surprising to see how little has changed.

In 1936, they moved again, briefly, to 3201 N 9th Street. Their migration along the west side of the CPS campus had been a steady progression from its north to its south end, a few blocks every few years. But in 1937 that pattern would change when they purchased property in Tacoma's north end and Edyth began exercising her architectural ambitions. The three spectacular homes she designed and helped to build for the family will be the subject of a future post.

Friedrich Properties in Beaver Dam, 1873, 1890 and 1910

In the 1873 Plat Book for Dodge County, Wisconsin, our great-great grandfather Johann Freidrich owns a quarter-section, or 160 acres, of Section 22 in South Beaver Dam Township.

From the 1873 Plat Book of Dodge County showing the property boundaries of Johann Friedrich in Section 22 of the South Beaver Dam Township

In Google Earth, the boundaries as platted 150 years ago are still clearly visible, despite the property now being part of the Shaw Marsh Wildlife Refuge which extends into the green area in the upper left of the photo.

Google Earth view showing the 1873 property boundaries of Johann Friedrich's farm 

This Street View capture was taken from the southwestern corner of the property (bottom-left) looking north.

Google Street View looking north from the southwestern boundary of what what was Johann Friedrich's farm in 1873

Johann died in 1883, and in the 1890 Plat Book, his eldest son, William owns two parcels -- 80 acres in Section 14 and 10 acres in Section 15. William's father-in-law, Fred Zarwell, now owns the old Friedrich property in Section 22.

From the 1890 Plat Book of Dodge County, showing properties owned by Johann's son, William Friedrich, and William's father-in-law, Fred Zarwell

In the 1910 Plat Book, our great grandfather, August Friedrich, appears, with 90 acres in Section 14.

From the 1910 Plat Book of Dodge County Wisconsin, show the boundaries of the farm owned by August Friedrich

The property lines, including the little 10-acre parcel added to the southeast corner, are still well-defined in this Google Earth capture.

Google Earth view with the 1910 boundaries of August Friedrich's farm

In this street view capture taken mid-way up the western border looking southeast, we can see the house, still standing, where August and Lena raised their family.

Google Street view looking southeast from the middle of the western border of what was August Friedrich's farm in 1910.

Here are the boundaries of all Friedrich properties superimposed onto a satellite image with Beaver Dam Lake and the city at the top, left of center.

Satellite view superimposed with the property boundaries of Johann, William and August Friedrich's farms from the 1873, 1890 and 1910 Dodge County Plat Books. Beaver Dam is visible at the top, left of center.

Pelham Bay, World War I, and Ensign Arthur L. Friedrich

Arthur was a freshman at Lawrence College when the U.S. began sending troops to Europe in April of 1917. The small number of American volunteers eager to fight the Kaiser was a disappointment to Woodrow Wilson who, in May, made enlistment compulsory through the Selective Service Act. At the same time, he authorized a massive propaganda campaign to drum up support for American involvement in the European war. Whether or not Uncle Sam's stern demands for sacrifice had any effect on Arthur is unknown, but on June 5th, while home on summer break in Beaver Dam, Arthur "Friedrich" (he hadn't yet changed his surname to one that sounded less Hun-like) dutifully registered for the draft, along with every other American male between the ages of 21 and 30.

Notice of the first of three Selective Service registrations conducted in 1917-18.

On the registration card he lists his brother, Elmer, as his employer, and his occupation as "farmhand".

Arthur Friedrich's Selective Service Registration Card, dated June 5, 1917

In the Fall, presumably, he returns to Appleton to continue his undergraduate studies. In the 1917 Lawrence College Yearbook, The Ariel, I found several pictures of Arthur, looking proud and confident under what was then a nearly full head of well-oiled hair.

Arthur Friedrich as a freshman at Lawrence College in Appleton Wisconsin, from its yearbook, The Ariel, 1917

In a notice postmarked March 18, 1918, Arthur is notified that he had been classified and recorded in Class 1, members of which were eligible and liable for military service. Because Arthur was in good health, unmarried and without dependents, his only hope of avoiding forced conscription was to a) commit a felony or other "infamous" crime, b) prove himself "morally unfit", c) enroll in a theological or divinity school, or d) enlist. He may have looked into (c) and perhaps even stopped by Northwestern University on his way to Chicago, which is where, I'm guessing, on May 10th, 1918, he enrolled with the U.S. Naval Reserve Force as a Seaman, 2nd Class.

Arhur Friedrich's dog tag, showing the date of his enlistment with the Naval Auxiliary Reserve (10 May 1918) and his date of birth (12 Nov 1894). 

He may have remained a Seaman, and spent the War doing patrols on Lake Michigan. But the Navy was in desperate need of deck officers for the merchant supply ships that were shuttling troops, munitions, food and construction materials across the Atlantic. The Reserve commanders were told to keep an eye out for promising candidates and to refer them for officer training. Arthur was among those chosen, and in the Fall of 1918 he traveled to New York and reported to the Deck Officers' School at Pelham Bay.

Arthur is in there somewhere among the 520 graduates in Class 15 of the USNRF Deck Officer's School at Pelham Bay, NY. Dec, 1918.

The training consisted of an intensive eight-week program in Navigation supplemented with lectures on Seamanship, Ordnance, Anti-Submarine Warfare, Semaphore and Signalling. This was long before satellites and GPS, and officer training was almost entirely devoted to reading charts and navigating using only a sextant, compass and chronometer.

Week 1	Monday:	The Compass.
	Tuesday:	The Compass continued and Polaris.
	Wednesday:	Uses and descriptions of Parallel Rulers, Dividers, the Lead, Sounding Machine and Log.
	Thursday:	The Chart.
	Friday:	The Sextant.
	Saturday:	Fixes, Angles by Bearings and Sextant.
Week 2	Monday:	Examination.
	Tuesday:	Latitude and Longitude.
	Wednesday:	Dead Reckoning, Plane and Traverse Sailing.
	Thursday:	Middle Latitude Sailing.
	Friday:	Mercator Sailing.
	Saturday:	Great Circle Sailing and the Chronometer.
Week 3	Monday:	Examination.
	Tuesday:	Definitions relating to the Celestial Sphere
	Wednesday:	Time-Solar, Mean and Conversion of.
	Thursday:	Sidereal Time-Right Ascension.
	Friday:	The Nautical Almanac.
	Saturday:	Correction of Observed Altitudes.
Week 4	Monday:	Examination.
	Tuesday:	The Line of Position.
	Wednesday:	Latitude by Meridian Altitude of the Sun.
	Thursday:	Azimuths of the Sun Altitude of the Sun.
	Friday:	Marc St. Hilaire Method by a Sun Sight.
	Saturday:	Marc St. Hilaire Method by a Sun Sight.
Week 5.	Monday:	Examination.
	Tuesday:	Planets and Star Identification.
	Wednesday:	Latitude by Meridian Altitude of a Star. Latitude by Polaris Altitude of a Star.
	Thursday:	Marc St. Hilaire Method by a Star Sight.
	Friday:	Longitude by Chronometer Sight of Sun (Time Sight).
	Saturday:	Longitude by Chronometer Sight of Sun (Time Sight).
Week 6	Monday:	Examination.
	Tuesday:	Longitude by Chronometer Sight of a Star.
	Wednesday:	Examples on Time Sights (Stars and Sun).
	Thursday:	Latitude by Ex-meridian Altitude of the Sun.
	Friday:	Latitude by Ex-meridian Altitude of the Sun).
	Saturday:	Finding Watch Time of Local Apparent Noon.
Week 7	Monday:	Examinations.
	Tuesday:	Compass Error by an Azimuth.
	Wednesday:	Correcting Longitude by a Factor.
	Thursday:	The Navigators' Routine (Day's Work at Sea).
	Friday:	Day's Work.
	Saturday:	Day's Work.
Week 8	Monday:	Day's Work.
	Tuesday:	Day's Work.
	Wednesday:	Day's Work.
	Thursday:	Compass Adjustment.
	Friday:	Final Examination.

Arthur's training began on November 4th, and though I'm sure they all made a show of disappointment when Armistice was declared just a week later, I'm guessing most of the cadets in his class were secretly happy to be denied the opportunity of going to war. Being a Naval deck officer with the Merchant Marine was a dangerous assignment. Statistically, one's chances of dying in a war are higher for mariners than for any other branch of the service, and the merchant mariners suffered more than most in World War 1. Six USARF ships were torpedoed and sunk while Arthur was studying at Pelham, and twelve of his classmates were killed.

Two of Arthur's classmates from the officer's training program at Pelham Bay, cadets William Stillman and Chester Cubberly, who were killed when their ship, the S.S. Frederic R. Kellog, was torpedoed by a German submarine in 1918.

Most, if not all the cadets, chose to continue their studies at Pelham. But it must have been hard, working toward a commission now made redundant by the war's end, remaining on base while the city all around them celebrated the victory. They even worked through their Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Armistice must have have taken some of the wind out of their sails.

Arthur completes the program at the end of December and earns rank of Ensign, the Navy's lowest officer rank and the equivalent of 2nd Lieutenant in most other branches of the service. In a letter I have, dated December 31st, 1918 and signed by Lt. Commander George E. Beckwith, Arthur is ordered to report directly to the Supervisor of the Naval Auxiliary Reserve Force at the Municipal Ferry Terminal, South and Whitehall Streets, New York City, "for such duty as he may assign to you." Arthur writes to the supervisor and requests a 10-day leave of absence to settle matters at home.

Lieutenant Commander George E Beckwith who was pulled from retirement to supervise the Naval officer training program at Pelham Bay, New York. His signature appears on the letter granting Arthur Friedrich his commission as Ensign and assigning him to shore duty at the Municipal Ferry Terminal. 

On January 6th, Arthur writes again to his USNRF Supervisor, requesting an additional six days leave to insure his undergraduate studies at Lawrence College won't be interrupted by his duties. The tersely-worded denial of extension is postmarked January 11 and mailed under standard postage to Beaver Dam, so Arthur may very well have been absent without leave for several days before, finally, reporting for duty in New York.

View of New York City's financial district showing the U.S. Naval Auxiliary Reserve Force's headquarters at the Municipal Ferry Terminal where Arthur was assigned between January and March, 1919.

On March 20th, 1919, after only two months at the Naval Auxiliary's Municipal Ferry Terminal headquarters, he's relieved from active duty and ordered "to immediately proceed to [his] home at R.F.D. #5, Beaver Dam Wisconsin," which he does without delay. He arrives home at 5:15 P.M. and wastes no time in requesting the compensation due to officers travelling under orders, of eight cents per mile.

The following summer, the Navy Department's Bureau of Navigation planned for a series of "summer cruises, in order to afford officers an opportunity to qualify for transfer to a Class where they will be eligible for confirmation in rank." Arthur apparently took advantage of the opportunity, because on November 1st, 1921, he was transferred from Class 3 to Class 6 and his rank was confirmed. The confirmation qualified him to receive the Victory Medal and Clasp due to Naval officers serving in World War 1. The application was filed, but the medal and clasp, if he ever received them, were either lost or discarded.

On May 9th, 1922, Arthur is honorably discharged from the U.S. Naval Reserve Force with the rank of Ensign. As far as we know, he was never recalled to active duty.

Our family Webb and its connection to Shakespeare

Our Frederick-Grohndorff pedigree has only four or five generations in America. The rest is in Europe, the Russian Steppes, Africa, Gondwanaland, the primordial sea, several generations of supernovae, and the Big Bang. I've followed the paper trail to the 1850's, and tracked their emigration from Germany, Prussia, and Bohemia. But to go further would require that I get off the couch. The internet is big, but the universe is even bigger, and the larger story of our family history is in languages I don't speak, in handwriting I can't decipher, and in libraries far, far away. So to keep myself amused, I sometimes stray to side branches connected to our family tree only by marriage. Our parents and grandparents, and most of our great aunts and uncles married within the clan of recent immigrants from north and central Europe. But a few were a bit more adventurous.

Our great aunt, Clara Alma Friedrich, married Edward Charles Taylor. And her cousin, William Friedrich married Edward's sister, Maude Taylor. Edward and Maude were children of George Alexander Taylor and Martha Minerva Webb. The Taylor line has been in America since at least 1630, and the Webb line has been here longer than the Pilgrims.

George Alexander Taylor (1845-1885), father of Edward Charles Taylor (husband of Clara Alma Friedrich), Leipsig Cemetery, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. The inscription refers to Company A of the Wisconsin 17th Infantry, with which George served during the U.S. Civil War.

Vine Taylor (1780-1859), grandfather of George Alexander Taylor, Beaver Dam City Cemetery, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin

Oliver Taylor (1748-1797), father of Vine Taylor, Hartland, Windsor County, Vermont

Samuel Taylor Jr. (1716-1800), father of Oliver Taylor, Hartland, Windsor County, Vermont

Samuel Taylor Sr. (1688-1734), father of Samuel Taylor Jr., Northampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts

John Taylor came to America with the British Navy in 1630, and died at sea in 1645. He had a grandson, Orthniel Taylor, who fought with the Colonial Army against the British in the American Revolution. Orthniel was a step-brother of Samuel Taylor Sr., whose headstone appears above. 

The mother of the two Taylors that married into our family, Martha Minerva Webb, has an American pedigree that's even longer. No Webb descendant has yet bothered to post pictures of their headstones, but someone did post a picture or Martha and her immediate family.

The family of Charles Douglas Webb and Laura Deborah Berry, taken about 1889. Standing, left to right: Charles Curtis Webb and his wife, Mary Calkins, Martha Webb Taylor, Minnie, Willard, and Lynn Burr Webb.

Everyone in the picture, with the exception of Laura Deborah Berry (the scary bald lady on the right), was a first cousin of William Shakespeare. And when Martha's son, Edward, married our great aunt Clara, that made us, at least by marriage, first cousins of the bard -- or "Bill", as we may now call him. Her daughter, Maude, married William Albert Friedrich, our first cousin twice removed but, frankly, I don't know what that makes us. Second cousins, eleven time removed, perhaps? 

Cousins, as you know, share a common grandparent. Shakespeare, like most people, had four and the Webbs have a bloodline relation to all but one of them. Shakespeare's two grandmothers were sisters, his parents were cousins, and his family tree looks like kudzu. 

In 1533, in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warkwickshire, England, Henry Alexander Webb (that's the 9th great grandfather of the old man in the photo above) married Grace Arden. Grace's brother, Robert, was married to Henry's sister, Mary, and Henry's other sister, Abigail, married a man related to neither of them: Richard Shakespeare -- which was fortunate, because their grandson, William, was already dangerously close to being born with eleven toes.