Lena Elma Wallace
This is the sixth post in my series of biographical vignettes of the ladies who signed an 1882 Autograph book I found at a flea market. The young women were classmates at St. Mary’s Academy, a boarding school for girls on the campus of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.
Lena Elma Wallace was born on April 23, 1865 in Syracuse, New York. She was the second of six children born to William Wallace and Helen Elizabeth Carpenter. Her father was born in New York City in 1839 and began his working life as an insurance agent in Chicago. By 1880, he owned a substantial sheep ranch in Montana. Her mother, Helen Elizabeth Carpenter, was born in 1842 in Chateaugay, New York.
Many of the ladies I’ve written about so far were involved in the arts: singing, playing an instrument, painting, but so far, none have been covered in the newspaper as often as Lena.
The earliest date I have found of her public performances is 1879 when she was 14 years old. She was a vocal soloist in a concert given by Anna Natolia King in Helena. Miss King was a singer of fame at the time but after this event, she isn’t present in the news, at least in the areas I was researching.
On July 8, 1879, the Montana Record-Herald described the teenage Lena’s performance: “Lena Wallace, in solo, surprised and gratified the audience with the sweetness of her voice. For a girl so young she exhibits exceptional musical talent, and the appreciation of her gifts was signified by general applause. With Miss King, she was several times recalled and rendered additional selections to the delight of all.”
Lena continued acting and singing from 1880 through 1886, ages 15 - 21. She acted on stage in musical plays, sang in operas, cantatas, and choir performances, and recited essays. Lena compiled quite a large portfolio of performances and experience on the stage. The list of her accomplishments is quite long so I’ve not included them here. But it is important to note that she was widely regarded as an excellent soprano and held the leading part in many stage productions.
She was well-known in the Helena area and beyond. In July 1881, the Record-Herald reprinted an item from the Elmira, New York publication, The Husbandman. It reported that Lena and friend Claudia Clarke were visiting Elmira, New York, and were having plenty of fun. Lena appears to have traveled frequently, probably for her performances or to visit family, because there are several mentions in the Helena news about her arriving back in town and reporting in which hotels she stayed.
Lena was an adventurous type. After her return to Montana in August of 1881, she and a group of friends left White Sulphur Springs on horseback to scale Mount Edith, the highest point in the Big Belt range at 9,504 feet above sea level. The party consisted of eight men/boys, six women/girls, and a correspondent of The Husbandman, also male. Lena would have been 16 at the time. Included in the party was Lena’s younger sister, Edith. The article doesn’t differentiate between who might have been a chaperone and which of the party were younger.
The party set up camp and spent the night on the mountain. No detail of their accommodations was given. A curious note at the end of the article claimed that as the party was breaking camp, it was decided that the mountain peak’s name of Old Baldy was too common and they decided to rechristen the peak “Mt. Edith.” Old Baldy is a separate peak in the range and I wasn’t able to find out how Mt. Edith actually got its name, or which peak the party was truly on, or if they were simply doing this for the benefit of Edith Wallace, who was described as, “a sweet little girl of twelve years, the pet and most youthful member of the party.” That seems like the most likely scenario.
The Wallace family had lived in Helena, in Lewis & Clark County, in 1880 but at some point after that, they moved to Judith Basin County, to the east of Helena. Lena traveled often, including journeys to Fort Assiniboine in Canada, Ft. Shaw, New York, and an extended stay in Butte, Montana where she was in a play.
In December of 1881, Lena arrived in Helena and checked into the International Hotel for the duration of the holidays. On December 27, she returned to the family home in Judith Basin. I would think she was accompanied by a family member since, at this time, she would only have been 16 years old. It’s highly doubtful she traveled alone but there is no mention of who was with her.
On February 13, 1882, Lena traveled East but no details about her trip were mentioned, but it can be concluded that she was on her way to Indiana. A later article from December 11, 1883, announced Lena was en route home for Christmas from where she had been attending “one of the principal academies (Saint Mary’s at Notre Dame, Indiana).” By this time, it had been roughly a year and a half since she had signed the autograph book.
Lena clearly took an interest in the workings of the government in her state. In January, 1885, she attended the Session of the Legislature at the State House along with wife of the former Governor of Montana, Mrs. Potts, and five other ladies.
Lena was involved in a '“picnic mishap’ in May of 1885. A party of eight headed out in a wagon for a day of sightseeing at the Gate of the Mountains and the lake formed by the Missouri River. While going uphill, a fly landed on one of the horses which “frightened him to such an extent that he wheeled around shortly and before he could be pulled around again, one of the front wheels was jammed against the carriage and broken.”
No one was injured, just the adrenaline surge of the fright of what could have been much worse. I can imagine a horse suddenly balking and the wagon you are riding in up the side of a mountain would, indeed, be frightening. The plan to tour the canyon by boat didn’t happen due to the delay. The broken wheel was bound together “with a sapling” by the ingenuity of the gentlemen and the remainder of the day was pleasant for all.
On January 12, 1887, the Record-Herald announced that Miss Lena Elma Wallace had departed Helena to visit her mother in New Jersey. While there, she was to be married to Lieutenant Lloyd Milton Brett of the U.S. Army, Second Cavalry.
Lena and Lloyd were married on February 7, 1887, at St. Peter’s Church in Spotswood, New Jersey. Following the wedding, they returned to Helena for a week before continuing on to Ft. Bidwell in northern California where Lt. Brett was stationed. They were noted as arriving the evening of February 21 and were guests at the Grand Central Hotel.
The couple moved around quite a bit in the following years, as is common for those in the military. In 1900, Lena was in New York with their two daughters and Lloyd was in Post Zamboanga, Philippines. Over the years, their homes included Honolulu, Ft. Yellowstone, Boise, Idaho, and Ft. Meyer in Virginia
.In March of 1900, Lena received word that her brother, Robert Bruce Wallace, had died. Robert was a Colonel in the Army at the time and had been wounded in the Philippines. He was in transit back home because of his injuries, but while on an overnight in Arizona, he died suddenly. He was 31 years old and one of the youngest Colonels in the Army.
In March of 1900, a petition to probate Robert’s will was filed by his brother and sole executor, William Wallace, Jr. William presented a document showing that Robert left an estate consisting of government bonds, an interest in livestock, a life insurance policy, and other property worth around $5,000. The will designated 50% of the estate was to go to his mother and 25% to his sister Gertrude. To his other sisters Lena and Edith, his father William, his brother William, and his sister-in-law Elizabeth, he left 5% each. Another document was filed along with the petition which stated William Wallace, Jr. and his wife Elizabeth (Robert’s sister-in-law), forfeited their share of the allotment to Gertrude Wallace. This would have made Gertrude’s share 35%.
Brigadier General Lloyd M. Brett died of heart disease at Walter Reed Hospital in DC. He was recognized in many posthumous celebrations.
After her frequent presence in newspapers in her youth, there is little about Lena over the last decades of her life other than in regard to her daughter’s weddings, visits made to friends or military members, or obituaries for relatives. Lena died in Flushing, New York on March 31, 1948, at age 83. She is buried next to her husband in Arlington Cemetery in Virginia.
Lena wasn’t the only outgoing woman in her family. Both of her daughters led colorful lives and had no fear of speaking their mind.
The couple’s first daughter, Helen Elma Brett, was born on October 13, 1889, at Ft. Bidwell. She was married on December 16, 1907 to Francis John Tyler in Washington, DC. He was the son of Major John Tyler. She very possibly met him through her father.
Perhaps things already weren’t going well in 1908, or maybe it was for a different reason, but Helen filed a Certificate of Registration of American Citizen with the Consul-General of the U.S. at Berlin, Germany. It certified her date and place of birth and states she left her residence in November 1908, less than a year after her marriage, and arrived in Berlin on September 26, 1910.
There is a gap of nearly two years between Helen leaving home and arriving in Berlin for the purpose of “Study.” She is noted as being married to Francis J. Tyler and that their permanent residence is New York City, but she gave her emergency contact as her father, Colonel Lloyd Brett, in Boise, Idaho where he was stationed at Yellowstone.
On this document, she signed as Helen Brett Tyler. I have found it is very common during this period, once a woman is married, to replace her original middle name, in this case Elma, with the woman’s maiden name. If only a middle initial is documented, it can cause uncertainty of whether I have the right person, but in another way, it is an indicator of the woman’s maiden name, which can help. The catch is to determine if that’s why the initial is different than expected. It’s much easier when the maiden name is written out as Helen did on this document.
Seven months later, in April of 1911, Helen arrived in Paris, France to study vocal music. She was still married to Francis Tyler at the time and again gives their permanent residence as New York City. I’m not sure what Francis was up to all this time. Maybe that was the issue.
Following her study in Paris, Helen did return to the United States, but I don’t know exactly when. What I do know, is that Helen again left the U.S. on May 23, 1914 and was living in Berlin at Nicolsburger Platz 6. On August 25, 1914, only three months later and almost certainly because of the start of WWI, she submitted an Emergency Passport Application to the American Embassy in Berlin. Her name is given as (Mrs.) Helen B. Tyler, but other than the title, no mention of a marriage or Francis Tyler is present, although this could be because there is no specified place for it.
A Certificate of Registration does not serve as a passport, which is why Helen needed to apply for one at the time so she could “remain abroad or to return to the United States.” She gives her permanent residence as Ft. Yellowstone, which is where her father was stationed.
Her marriage to Francis did end in divorce at some point before 1920. On September 1922, Francis remarried to Hazel Huntington, a singer in New York. He died in 1941.
Helen’s second marriage was to Thomas Ashcom Gourley on July 9, 1920 at Lena’s home in Manhattan. The couple honeymooned in Stamford, Connecticut and made their home in Wilmington, Delaware. A Society page item places Helen and Thomas Gourley at a house party in Holland Point, Maryland on the Patuxent River, given by Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Briscoe Gourley.
Helen had spent a significant amount of time in Europe and worked frequently as a French teacher after her return. In June of 1921, an article in the Baltimore reported that French classes at the School of the Theatre were to be taught by Mme. Helen Gourley in the absence of Madame Yvette Guilbert.
Helen and Thomas’s married had ended by 1930 since Thomas is on the census living with his mother, sister and her husband. He worked as the manager of the family farm. The same was true for 1940 and 1950. Thomas died in 1973.
On April 3, 1942, Helen married John Francis Small in Norfolk, Virginia. While Helen retained the surname of Small for the remainder of her life, the couple appears to have at least separated, if not divorced at some point. In John’s obituary in 1954, it says he had retired from his engineering and appraisal company, General Valuations Company in New York City some time before his death. Neither Helen, nor any other survivor, was mentioned. A curious note in John’s obituary is that he was the author of “the widely circulated metaphysical writing, Brother John Papers.” I haven’t been able to find any reference to these online but would love to come across a copy.
Helen died May 11, 1973, at her home in Chappaqua, New York. And just as in John’s obituary, no significant other was mentioned, either past or present. Helen was 83 years old and her survivor was given as her sister, Lloyd Brett. (Mary Elizabeth assumed the first name of Lloyd.) Helen was described in her obituary as educated in France who worked as a private French teacher in Westchester. She is buried in Arlington Cemetery by her parents.
Lena’s youngest daughter appeared to be the more assertive one who had much more of a public presence than her elder sister. She is included in the society page items of her family attending parties and galas as a child, and she was also educated in France.
On September 18, 1920, she married John Richard Wilmot Diehl, a member of the military. Although the marriage record shows her name as Mary Elizabeth Brett, she had begun using Lloyd as her first name by 1920. In a later interview, she commented on the change of name, “I was always my father’s daughter — and he was my hero in everything he did.”
The Diehl marriage was over before 1929 when John remarried to Consuelo Seggerman Barbour in El Paso, Texas. He died of lobar pneumonia two years later on March 9, 1931.
Lloyd Mary moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she was very active in community organizations, the war effort, and the political scene. In 1937 she was a featured honored guest at the Reunion of the Army’s 80th Division, her father’s unit. Her occupation at the time was as private tutor to the children of a local family.
In 1938, she is again pictured in the paper as she started her new job at the Allegheny County Bureau of Assessment & Tax Revision. Lloyd Mary may have been her father’s daughter, but she followed in her mother’s footsteps as a singer. On March 22, 1938, she appeared as Miss Mayne in the play “Autumn Crocus” at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. Her years of experience in New York productions was noted.
In 1940, the Pittsburgh Press reported Lloyd Mary’s participation in the Memorial Gold Cross First Aid & Ambulance Corp of Allegheny County. It was comprised of women engaged in business and professional careers. In two months, 250 women had enrolled. Their focus was education and preparedness training for a crisis or casualty event that may happen within the U.S. They coordinated training sessions on how to handle an ambulance over rough terrain and in adverse conditions, including through woods, brush, mud, and snow. The classes would be taught by military personnel and class members would be tested on endurance and skill. Lloyd Mary donated her French teaching salary to purchase uniforms.
In 1941, she held a leading part in a movie titled “It Happened in Pittsburgh” which ran for one week at the Nixon Theater. The Gold Cross corp sponsored the film, which featured citizens of Pittsburgh, to raise money for ambulance teams. She was also the Historian for the American Legion Auxiliary: Schenley Unit 663 and in 1943, went to work for the United States Employment Services.
Lloyd Mary died February 5, 1994 in Pennsylvania at age 98.
Lena Elma Wallace was a positive force for education and the arts and clearly instilled that value in her daughters.
Such a lovely idea to investigate the stories of these ladies.
Cynthia, These stories are amazing. I love that you have brought all of these women back to life. This will make a great book, and something for the school to have in their library. Awesome research!