Lost Grandmothers

Leila B. Markham was James M. Lufkin's mother. My paternal grandmother. And yet, I saw her only once in my life, on a family trip to Concord, California when I was about 5. I know very little about her, but now I know a tad more, thanks to Archives.

Dad loved his mom, but she was famously difficult. She and his dad divorced (scandal!) in 1921; Dad was then about 18 months old.

Leila was born in St. Paul MN, the daughter of James E. Markham and Katherine B. (Browning) Markham, and grew up in St. Paul. James was assistant City Attorney for the City of St. Paul. I'm amused that in the census records, his area of work is transcribed as "Girl Preacher." Looking at the original document as preserved on Archive, I certainly had trouble deciphering the handwriting, but I'm quite sure the real word was "Jurisprudence." The census taker apparently didn't know the word or how to spell it: he made it into two words. And the transcriber could make nothing of the handwriting. A similar problem led the household to be listed as "Marsham" in the transcription of the 1900 census.

Leila shows up in the 1990 Census as a 7 year old in her father's household at 642 Goodrich Ave, St. Paul, a residence listed as rented, not owned. She lives with her mother and father and older sister Arline (b. 1890) and a female servant: Lena Rudley, born in Sweden in 1880, and immigrated in 1892.

In the 1910 Census, Leila is not living with her father, who is now divorced and living as a boarder at 494 Ashland Ave. in St. Paul. With him are now apparently James's widowed sister-in-law, Katherine J. Markham. I say she is his sister, not his wife of a similar name because 1) her parents are both listed as born in Ireland, as are James'; and 2) James is listed as divorced. And with Katherine J. Markham there were two Markham girls, possibly her two children: Caroline Markham, age 24; Manne B. Markham, age 27. Edith's older sister, Arline Markham, age 19, is part of the household, but Leila is not. Was she living with her mother, Katherine B. Markham? The family servant has disappeared, as well.

Years later, Leila is found in the 1940 census at age 48 living as a tenant/boarder in St. Paul at 301 Clayton Ave, with one Clara Lucking, seamstress. In the next door apartment, apparently, is Lena Larson. Lena is listed as having been born in 1880, and having moved here from Sweden. The age difference between the two women is the same as that between Lena Rudley (then 19) and Leila Markham (then 7) back in the 1900 census. Was Leila living next door to her former nanny? Or were there just that many Lenas from Sweden in St. Paul at the time? In any case, Leila was working as a typist at a law firm at that time. She had two years of college.

I haven't found the date of her marriage, to Myron Tandy, whom we all knew as "Chief," but the records show that by 1947, she is listed as Leila B. Tandy. Still living in St. Paul at that time, I believe.

This is what I've found messing around with Archives. I was able to establish Leila's death date and place: 10 Nov 1962 at Contra Costa, California. I owe as much to her, at least genetically, as I do to my maternal grandmother, but I never knew Leila, and she has been a mystery to me most of my life.