by Paul R. Spitzzeri
Thanks to Vincent Hurteau and his family, the gifts certainly keep coming in “Loose Leaves from the Family Tree,” a binder filled with remarkable material regarding the “Los Angeles branch” of the Workman family. We turn now to reminiscences provided by members of the family, starting with those of Maria (pronounced Mar-aye-uh) Boyle Workman, who dictated her recollections to her youngest child, Thomas on 8 November 1919.
This was nearly two years after the death of husband William Henry and she began by noting that “the paternal ancestor of the Workman family,” at least the specific one in her realm of knowledge, “was Thomas Workman” and she listed six of the eight children born to him and Lucy Cook. This included the youngest, Mary, of whom it was said that “she wrote a beautiful hand illuminated book on the 91st psalm which must have taken a lifetime.” The Homestead received a donation five years ago from descendants Jonathan and Elaine Krebs of some of Mary’s remarkable artwork with her piety the centerpiece of these fine renderings.
Maria also briefly mentioned Mary’s siblings, Agnes, Mary and Thomas, Jr., while adding “I do not know what sort of work the men of the family did but they seem to have had enough income to live comfortably.” Thomas, Sr., was a glazier by trade, but inherited property from a childless aunt and uncle, with this providing support for his children in the four decades or so after his death in 1843.
She recorded that her future father-in-law, David, left England at age 18 (it assumed at the time he was born in 1800, rather than two years earlier as it was subsequently discovered) and migrated to the United States, “going west immediately to Missouri.” He wedded Mary Hook and “became engaged in the saddlery business at Boonville,” though his first residence was at nearby Franklin. After her death in childbirth, during which the infant also died, David, a year or so afterward, married Mary’s youngest sister, Nancy and their children were Thomas, Elijah, and William H.
Maria continued that “about this time he sent to England for his younger brother, William, who joined him in Boonville,” though David returned home to take the remaining half of a bequest of his parents that funded his American migration and enticed William to go back to Franklin with him. She added “he and his brother then started west after a year or two of trading as far as west as Santa Fe, New Mexico” and this happened in the early 1830s. Actually, it was William, who after about two years, left for Taos, New Mexico.
The account went on that William met John Rowland in Santa Fé, though, again, it was in Taos, and the two “continued west by way of the old Santa Fe Trail, trapping as they came, and they arrived in California, about 1841.” The two were leaders of a large group, perhaps around 65 persons, who left New Mexico on the Old Spanish Trail (the Santa Fe Trail was between that pueblo and Missouri), but trapping was not part of this trip. It was noted that Rowland and Workman obtained a land grant to Rancho La Puente and engaged in raising cattle. Maria mentioned that,
At Santa Fe [Taos], William had met an Indian girl who later became his wife. Her name was Nicolasa of the Pueblo Indian tribe. Their children were: Margarita, afterwards Mrs. Temple, and Joseph Workman.
As for David, he conducted trade into northeastern México and “sometimes he was absent from home for years at a time, as there was no means of communication,” and Maria told her son, “your father did not know his father until he was seven years old,” or in 1846. She added that, when David came back to Boonville, he reopened a saddlery business which was his first enterprise in Missouri, “teaching the boys the trade,” while she also commented that the famed guide and trapper, Christopher “Kit” Carson, was an apprentice with David, this being in the early to mid 1820s before he ran away and ended up in Taos where William recently settled.
Nothing was said about David’s trips to Gold Rush California, his opening of a store in Sacramento, lost during an 1852 fire that reduced most of that city to ashes, or his visit to William at La Puente as he pondered his future. Maria observed that “in the spring of 1854, William induced David to bring his boys to California,” though this was the previous year and she also recited that David “had taken Joseph, William’s son, back to Missouri [from California] with him.”
As we’ve seen in this post, however, William sent Joseph to Baltimore to live with Agnes Vickers, William’s older sister, and he was there from at least 1845, when a runaway notice was filed by her concerning Joseph, until around 1852. Joseph then headed for Missouri and was with the Workmans there when the decision was made to migrate to California.
An account of that trip has been provided on this blog, but Maria noted that, in an encounter with indigenous people, “all their food was taken from them” and Nancy Hook Workman “saved the party by throwing a boiled ham under the bed in one of the wagons,” which sustained them for 250 miles of travel, while if David did not know Spanish to communicate with the Indians, the party’s members “would have been massacred.”
Observing the difficulties and tribulations of the trip, Maria recited that the Workmans arrived at Sacramento in fall 1854 and then took the ship, Sea Bird, from San Francisco to San Pedro, where “they were met by William who brought them to Puente Rancho in his carriage.” David’s death, also recounted here previously, took place as “William . . . sent a band of cattle to the mines in Northern California,” and his brother, along with Elijah, were conducting the expedition. Maria’s future husband recounted a version of his father’s death that was part of a post here and her version does vary somewhat.
William H., for example, did not mention that his brother accompanied their father and recorded that David mounted a mule to search for a lost animal but failed to return. A party then found his body at the bottom of a 200-foot cliff, with the mule remaining above. Maria, however, told their son:
David left Elijah with the cattle one evening and rode to a mining camp some distance away to make a sale. The road was long the mountain side. While fixing the cinch of his saddle, the mule . . . turned his head and threw him over the edge. He fell a long way and was found by some miners passing along, just breathing. He died shortly afterwards. The mule had followed him down the trail and was found standing over the body.
The two accounts agree that Masons took responsibility of the remains of their fraternal brother (David having joined a lodge in England before coming to the United States), though William H. recalled the they, not miners, found the body. In any case, Maria added, “he was buried on his brother’s ranch at Puente where, to this date, his remains repose in the private burying ground.” There, her account concluded.
Another reminiscence in “Loose Leaves” is from Maria’s daughter, Gertrude Workman Furman (1885-1972), whose typed recollection was prepared at her home in Princeton, New Jersey, in October 1966. A prior post here covered much of her life, including her acting career, but there are some notable remarks about her early years, with her manuscript mentioning early memories of her great-great-aunt Charlotte Dardier and her pockets of candy and helping raise the Workman children, as well as being told of the birth of her younger brother, Thomas, who was the last of the seven kids.
As to her upbringing, Gertrude recollected,
We had a healthy childhood, the home and grounds on Boyle Heights were ideal. We Climbed fruit trees and ate the fruit, we played Croquet and Tennis and were close friends of the Holmes family who lived across the street. Christmas was always wonderful, there was always a large tree that touched the ceiling. The tree was trimmed beautifully and was surrounded by gifts. Thanks to Mary Julia we had an entertainment each year. The Holmes family joined us and also Mr. Ruggles and his two sons, Charlie and Wesley. The former became a very well-known actor. Those of us who could play the piano or the violin, did so and there was always a play, written and directed by Mary Julia.
Gertrude discussed her education, including the Sisters of Charity’s Orphan Asylum not far south of the Workman residence, which was difficult, though she admitted receiving a good education. At 16, she went to the Girls Collegiate School, where she had a much better experience and, after graduation four years later, she went to the Cumnock School of Expression, where, after matriculating in two years and performing, including with future film actor Pauline Bush Dwan (whose husband was well-known director, Allan Dwan), she earned the credits to attend Stanford University from 1909, where she most enjoyed acting.
Gertrude also mentioned putting on a theatrical performance at the Workman estate’s barn for the Brownson House, a settlement house for immigrants of which Mary Julia was the long-time president. Her three years at Stanford were also remarked upon with respect to her acting, including one play in which she starred as “the youthful wife of Don Julian, the proud old Spaniard,” which is interesting given that her great-uncle, William Workman, was commonly known in greater Los Angeles as Don Julian.
As she began to pursue her stage career, Gertrude noted that, after a major producer came on to her, her brother Boyle got her an introduction to Oliver Morosco, an impresario of note in Los Angeles. While touring in a Morosco production, she met Walter Furman and it was love at first sight. She continued acting professionally and recalled a dinner with actor Richard Bennett, whose daughters, Joan and Barbara, became film stars, while some of her fellow thespians, James Rennie, and especially, William Powell, also had movie careers of note.
Following her marriage to Furman and the birth of their only child, David, who went to a distinguished legal career including as New Jersey’s Attorney General and as a Superior Court judge, her stage work proceeded, including a performance in which President Woodrow Wilson was in the audience and signed a program for her.
She mentioned that, in 1921, her family moved to Los Angeles and that Walter assisted Thomas Workman in the development of a Boyle Heights subdivision, near Soto Street and Whittier Boulevard, called Center Terrace (Walter had a correction added to the memoir that added that “I was in somewhat precarious financial circumstances” and that, when he asked, Thomas “cut me in on the Center Terrace operation” for which most of the work had been done, including sales of the half the lots.)
The Furmans returned to New Jersey in summer 1922 and made a visit to Los Angeles five years later, during which Workman family performed in a play about pioneers which Walter wrote, and Gertrude transitioned from acting to being a reader and then department head for the Century Play Company in New York City. She sold a number of plays, including one called “Skidding” that was the origin of the famous Andy Hardy series of films, starring Mickey Rooney, while another, “The Last Gentleman,” was also adapted into a movie with George Arliss in the lead role. After discussing some of her later years, Gertrude wrote,
I have been a very lucky woman. I had wonderful parents, a dear, sweet Mother and a delightful Father who had a heart of gold in spite of all his bluster. I loved my brothers and sisters and want to pay a special tribute to two of them, Mary Julia and Tom. The former because she was a wonderful woman, wise, unselfish and thoughtful of everyone. Besides she had many activities, in the League of Nations Association and other good projects. The whole family is indebted to Tom for his excellent handling of the family affairs [meaning, the estate left by William H. Workman, including much Boyle Heights property beyond the home place].
Thomas and his wife Margaret Kilgariff were also thanked for their care of Mary Julia in her last years, while Gertrude also stated the good fortune she had in her other sisters-in-law, Boyle’s wife Frances Widney, and William H., Jr.’s spouse, Elizabeth Gowan Haskins. In addition to expressing her appreciation for her husband, Gertrude observed that “from what I have seen of the next two generations, they will hold up the standards of the Workman Family.”
Seven months later, Thomas compiled his memoirs, so please check in with us as we return next with coverage of his recollections.