Orphan Parade: Cleora Schlomer Heagy

Cleora Schlomer, college yearbook portrait, ca.

My great-grandmother Cleora and her little brother Ralph lived in an orphanage for three years.  The orphanage was called St. Thomas, and it was run by Catholic nuns--the Sisters of Providence-- in Great Falls, Montana, est. 1909. 

St. Thomas in the 1930s, more than a decade after Cleora and her brother lived there.

 I don't think this building is still standing--currently the St. Thomas orphanage is in a different building and is called the St. Thomas Children and Family Center, operating as more of a daycare.

Originally, though, the orphanage was designed to " care for children from broken homes, orphans or children in need of care for at least a year". 1   Also "it was a school and a boarding house for children who lived in rural areas, and a safe environment for children whose parents were faced with hard times." 2  In its early years, most of the children were under the age of 12.  3 

Cleora and Ralph would have fit most of the above descriptions.  They were partly orphaned in 1914 when their mother, Frieda, died of appendicitis at age 29.  4  Cleora would have been six and Ralph five.  The family was living in Great Falls, MT, and since both parents had immigrated from Germany on their own,5 they really had no extended family support.  Apparently John, the father, tried to manage with the children at home for a few years, but then admitted them to St. Thomas in 1918.  6

https://www.providence.org/about/providence-archives/past-forward-newsletter/winter-2001/historical-photos-from-st-thomas-orphanage

So what changed in 1918?   We aren't entirely sure why John would decide to put his children in the orphanage (this is pre-Depression era), but we do know that John worked at the American Brewery in Great Falls.  7  In 1918, the American Brewery was closed because of the Prohibition (which had passed "early" in Montana on a November 1916 referendum, to go into effect Dec. 31, 1918--they saw the writing on the wall.)

Most likely, John was scrambling for work.  By 1920 the census pegs him as a "laborer" for a brewery, along with several others on his street.8  I wonder if he is not listed as a "brewer" because technically they would not have been brewing.   An article in the Smithsonian Magazine explains that several breweries survived prohibition by retooling or redirecting their equipment to make such concoctions as:  ice cream, cheese, dyes, soft drinks, near-beer, and legal malt extract (which customers bought with a wink, to use for "baking" at home--definitely not home-brewed beer). 9 I don't know which brewing company John moved to or what products they were making.

 

In any case, by June 1921 John retrieved his children. 9  Cleora's daughter-in-law Bev Heagy thinks that he might have finally brought them home because Cleora would have been thirteen and old enough to cook and keep house.  "She cooked like a nun."

The St. Thomas Orphans riding in a parade in Great Falls the year after Cleora and Ralph left.  Very likely this was an annual event, so Cleora and Ralph had probably been on parade a few times.  These are most likely their friends.

 Cleora's son Ebert says that his mother did not really ever talk about her orphanage experience, good or bad.   She remained Catholic and wore a little crucifix (but didn't drive or ask for ANYTHING, and her lunkhead sons never offered to chauffeur her to attend Mass, says Bev.) So, hopefully it was a good experience, especially in contrast to her interactions with her father John, which were at times angry/drunk/and probably abusive.  Sometimes if she walked home from school and he was in bad mood, she would hide out by the railroad cars.  Luckily Cleora was allowed to attend Paris Gibson High School and then received her teaching certificate from Dillon Normal (teaching) College.  She eventually married into the Heagy family, who were an easier-going, fun-loving bunch.

A page from Cleora's Dillon Yearbook.  "Chinook" is, I believe, the name of the house, not the Montana town.  I bet the dorm life had some comparisons to the orphanage--minus the nuns.  I also love how identical their hair-dos are.  Just like if you were to walk down the halls of a high school today.

Little brother Ralph also escaped the abuse a little more dramatically by running away and legally changing his name to John Johnson (interestingly, the same first name as his Dad?!).  He served in the army in World War II, married, and lived to the ripe old age of 92.  Here is a copy of his obituary.  Ebert thinks Ralph/John looks a lot like John Sr.

As far as Cleora's relationship with her father, most likely it was moderated by the presence of her husband Charlie, who built a house next door to the Schlomers (734 14th St SW), where the couple remained in close proximity.  Cleora's son Ebert was unsure if Charlie first built the house and then courted Cleora or the other way around.

John, Cleora, and John's wife Josephine?

  The house that (I believe) was John's (804 14th st) was recently up for rent, described as 

Vintage home on an acre with Sun River in back! Room for horses!Room for horses and gardening. Located on the Sun River. Very private, rural living within the city limits.  Home is next door to 734 14th St SW, and backyard faces the Sun River levee. Property has river access, but no dock.  10

 John remarried, divorced, remarried the same gal, and when she was gone married one more time.  He did not live out his days in the Great Falls house, but lived in California and Oregon where he died in 1962.11

Sources:
1.  Montana Historical Society Research Center, Montana History Compass, "Montana Orphanages", ed. Barbara Pepper Rotness, last viewed June 2018, www.http://mthistory.pbworks.com/w/page/100755328/Subject%20Guides%3A%20Genealogy%20Guide%3A%20Montana%20Orphanages
2. http://www.stthomaskids.org/about/history
3.  https://www.providence.org/about/providence-archives/past-forward-newsletter/winter-2001/historical-photos-from-st-thomas-orphanage
4.   Death Certificate for Freida Bornemann Schlomer, #4516, Great Falls, Cascade, Montana, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
5.  "Maryland, Baltimore Passenger Lists, 1820-1948," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2CSK-X98 : 15 March 2018), Frieda Bornemann, 1906; citing Immigration, Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, NARA microfilm publications M255, M596, and T844 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL film 1,454,840. John's ship manifest has been found (as he reported on his naturalization record) but somehow his name is not on it.  It is assumed that he traveled alone since he does not appear with any family members in census or other records, and his known siblings remained in Germany
6.  Correspondence from St. Thomas archives, in possession of Jaclyn Day, SF, Utah.
7.  Mortuary invoice for Mrs. Freida Schlomer, copy in possession of Jaclyn Day, SF, Utah.  John's place of employment is listed as American Brewery Co. 
8.   "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M83J-QKX : accessed 1 November 2018), John Schloma, Great Falls Ward 5, Cascade, Montana, United States; citing ED 32, sheet 12B, line 86, family 281, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 968; FHL microfilm 1,820,968.
9.   www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-some-breweries-survived-prohibition-180962754/
10.   https://greatfalls.craigslist.org/apa/d/vintage-home-on-an-acre-with/6721679902.html
11.   "Oregon Death Index, 1903-1998," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VZH5-GBR : 11 December 2014), John Schlomer, 25 Jan 1962; from "Oregon, Death Index, 1898-2008," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2000); citing Coos, Oregon, certificate number 152, Oregon State Archives and Records Center, Salem.

Other insights/lore obtained from interviews in 2018 with Cleora's son and daughter-in-law, Ebert and Bev Heagy of Montana.