Youngest Son

Roger D. Raymo (aged 12)

Chattanooga, 1922

Oldest Son

Arthur J. Raymo (aged 16)

Chattanooga, 1922

New Suit

Chester T. Raymo (aged 13)

Chattanooga, 1922

New Dress

Charlotte A. Raymo (aged 14)

Chattanooga, 1921

The Extended Family

The Raymo & Krumm Families, Chattanooga 1920

From left to right:

Arthur E. Raymo, Roger D. Raymo, Hazel Raymo Krumm, Emma Handeyside Raymo, Evelyn B. Krumm, Charlotte A. Raymo, Chester T. Raymo, William C. Krumm (Hazel's husband), Unknown Gentleman, Arthur J. Raymo

I don't know who the older gentleman on the right is, but I can make an educated guess. He may be Owen M. Raymo, brother to Theodore Raymo and Arthur E. Raymo's uncle. Owen lived in Nankin, Michigan and conceivably could have accompanied the widow Emma Handeyside and the Krumms on their visit to Chattanooga in 1920. He would have been 66 years old at that time.

Cousins

Evelyn B. Krumm and Charlotte A. Raymo, Chattanooga 1920

Evelyn was Hazel Raymo's daughter and first cousin of Charlotte who was the same age. I don't know what became of Evelyn. There is a photograph in Charlotte's collection taken in 1960 of an older woman in Detroit. Pencilled on the back of the photograph is the name Evelyn Rodgin. Perhaps that was her? Anyone know?

Brother and Sister

Arthur Elsworth Raymo and his younger sister Hazel E. Raymo, 1920

Hazel Raymo (1886-1974) was six years Arthur's junior and the youngest of Theodore and Emma's six children. She married William Charles Krumm and they had one daughter, Evelyn B. Krumm. Hazel lived her entire life in Wayne County, Michigan.

Sunday Best

My great grandmother Margaret A. Merrow

Chattanooga, 1920

Cold Snap

Chester T. Raymo and Roger D. Raymo

Chattanooga, 1919

Josephine Greusel

Margaret Merrow's mother was Josephine Gertrude Greusel (1861-1938). She was from a prominent German family of 19th century Detroit. Josephine was the daughter of Joseph Greusel (1820-1903), a German immigrant from Blieskastel, Bavaria and Margaret Doumonds (1828-1902) who was of Acadian and French descent.

Joseph Greusel was a postal carrier for the city of Detroit for more than 25 years. He would often walk more the 15 miles every day in performing his rounds. His brother, Josephine's uncle, Nicholas Greusel (1817-1896) was Union Brigadier General during the American Civil War. He saw action in the battles of Pea Ridge, Perryville, and Stones River. Another brother, John Greusel (1809-1886), was active in Michigan politics, serving in the State Senate and was a delegate to the 1872 Republican National Convention.

Cycling

Arthur Joseph Raymo (aged 13)

Chattanooga, 1919

Sisters and Brothers

Margaret and sister Josephine Merrow

Brothers Chester Raymo and Roger Raymo

Chattanooga, 1919

Josephine Merrow

Flavious wasn't the only Merrow to serve their country during the First World War. Josephine Gertrude Merrow (1891-1949), sister to Flavious and Margaret, was a US Army Nurse.

Here she is wearing her uniform while visiting the Raymo family in Chattanooga in 1919. Josephine never married, spending her entire adult life as a nurse at various VA hospitals. She eventually ended up in Ohio where she died in 1949 at the age of only 57.

As she was a veteran of the First World War, she was accorded a burial at Dayton National Cemetery  (Section 7 Row 6 Site 6) in Dayton, Ohio.

Flavious Merrow

Margaret's younger brother, Flavious Joseph Merrow, was enlisted in the United States Army during World War I. He was assigned to the 119th Infantry Regiment of the 30th "Old Hickory" Infantry Division. He was deployed to France and served as a Private First Class and a machine gunner for his company.

Flavious was killed in action in the opening attack of the Battle of St. Quentin Canal, when the Allies assaulted the fortified Hindenberg Line. His sister Josephine Merrow received the following letter written 25 October 1918 from Flavious's commanding officer, Captain Edgar H. Bain:

Dear Miss Merrow,

By this time, I haven’t any doubt but that you have heard of your brother’s heroic death.  He was killed in action, September 29, 1918 at the battle of Bellicourt, when the 30th Division stormed and took the Hindenburg Line.  He was a machine gunner and died fighting.  I loved your brother and his death was a blow to me.  I was not in the battle, as I was not with my Company at the time.  But he did himself honor. 

 I sympathize with you good people, his sister and poor old mother.  So many of us will pay the penalty of war before it is won.

 I am here now only by the grace of God, as it does not seem possible that I could get through.

Assuring you of my deepest sympathy in your bereavement, I am

Sincerely yours,

Edgar H. Bain

Flavious is buried (Plot A, Row 15, Grave 1) in the Somme American Cemetery in Bony, France.

Lone Scouts

Chester T. Raymo and Roger D. Raymo reading Lone Scout Magazine, the weekly newspaper of the Lone Scouts of America, Chattanooga, 1918. The Lone Scouts were an independent boy's scouting organization until their merger with the Boy Scouts of America in 1924.