A family of Forteans.
John Lamar Dalie was born 13 June 1902, according to sources, though there is some confusion around this—probably just journalistic mistakes, but still. He was the son of Lamar J. Dalie and Kathryn G. Ritter, a native of Springfield, Ohio. In 1910, Lamar worked as a real estate agent; the family owned its house free and clear, and employed a domestic servant, May Dorst. The following year comes the confusion. In August, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported on the near-death of John Dalie, son of Lamar, who lived in Springfield. According to the paper, though, John was five years-old, but this seems to have been a mistake. Assuming, then, the story refers to the same person, John nearly drowned in Buck Creek, except that his shouts were heard by Robert Miller, a black man held by the city prison for failure to pay a $50 fine, who saved the young boy. (Miller was a ‘trusty,’ which seems to mean that he had some freedom to come and go.) Miller was set free that very night, and given fifty dollars, presumably from either Lamar or Lamar’s employer: the paper reported that the elder Dalie was an agent for John W. Bookwaiter, “the millionaire manufacturer.”
Ten years on, the family was still in Springfield. Lamar continued as a real estate agent, and they again had a 26 year-old servant, a black woman named Leonia Williams. John was 17 and still in school, with no job listed in the census. He had been too young to serve during the war. He eventually graduated from Springfield high, and then attended Wittenberg College, in Springfield, John married around 1928—the 1930 census gives his age at first marriage as 26—but, at the time of that census, was not living with his wife; rather, he was with his family, and unemployed. Lamar, by now in his mid-fifties, remained in the real estate game, but the family no longer had a live-in servant.
John Lamar Dalie was born 13 June 1902, according to sources, though there is some confusion around this—probably just journalistic mistakes, but still. He was the son of Lamar J. Dalie and Kathryn G. Ritter, a native of Springfield, Ohio. In 1910, Lamar worked as a real estate agent; the family owned its house free and clear, and employed a domestic servant, May Dorst. The following year comes the confusion. In August, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported on the near-death of John Dalie, son of Lamar, who lived in Springfield. According to the paper, though, John was five years-old, but this seems to have been a mistake. Assuming, then, the story refers to the same person, John nearly drowned in Buck Creek, except that his shouts were heard by Robert Miller, a black man held by the city prison for failure to pay a $50 fine, who saved the young boy. (Miller was a ‘trusty,’ which seems to mean that he had some freedom to come and go.) Miller was set free that very night, and given fifty dollars, presumably from either Lamar or Lamar’s employer: the paper reported that the elder Dalie was an agent for John W. Bookwaiter, “the millionaire manufacturer.”
Ten years on, the family was still in Springfield. Lamar continued as a real estate agent, and they again had a 26 year-old servant, a black woman named Leonia Williams. John was 17 and still in school, with no job listed in the census. He had been too young to serve during the war. He eventually graduated from Springfield high, and then attended Wittenberg College, in Springfield, John married around 1928—the 1930 census gives his age at first marriage as 26—but, at the time of that census, was not living with his wife; rather, he was with his family, and unemployed. Lamar, by now in his mid-fifties, remained in the real estate game, but the family no longer had a live-in servant.