📄 Frank Jerome Tone letters to Western relatives, 1936
In 1936 Frank Jerome Tone (1868-1945) wrote to some more distant relatives in Western-ish states seeking information about family history, likely as part of research for the Tone Family Book. These are grouped in the archives with a handrwitten note to Sumner Larue Tone (1864-1942) which reads
Dear Brother,
Here are copoes of some of the family letters I spoke of which may interest you. You need not return.
Sincerely, Frank
3/26/37
The letters follow. The senders, and the relatives they mention, are so far mostly unknown to me outside of these letters. Many of them mention information sent to Frank Jerome for his research for the Tone Family Book, so their details may be included there.
The letters in this group are all typewritten transcripts of the originals.
From Byron E. Toan
Two letters from this sender are included.
In the first included letter, Byron E. Toan mentions that his grandfather was a son of John Tone (1719-1791) and was named in John's will. Byron spends some time musing on the nature of family relationships, and mentions possible distant relatives in Ionia, Michigan.
772 East Bagley Road
Berea, Ohio, Oct. 6, 1936.Mr. Frank J. Tone,
Niagara Falls, N.Y.Dear Mr. Tone:
I have been greatly pleased with your last two letters the last with enclosures. In my work trying to do something with the genealogy of our common family, I was greatly handicapped by not having access to the records, also by living in a remote part of the country where I could only contact members of the family by correspondence rather than by personal conversation which would have cleared up many points.
Your one letter has done much to satisfy my mind as to reasons for divergence in the spelling of our name. I had not known that any records showed both spellings in a single document. My only case of the double spelling was given me by Mrs.Mills, where, in the graveyard at Tennet, N.J., William is buried as a Tone and his wife, Naomi Sutphin, right beside him, is a Toan.
There still remains the case of the Irish divergence the same as ours here. I am very glad to have you write that your date of publication is postponed. This will give me opportunity to investigate more fully the record of those Irish Toans. I have one case, William T---, of County West Meath, who sheds little light on the question. In a letter witten in 1909 he tells me they always have spelled the name Toan, that he has brothers in Brooklyn and that his father had brothers in America, location unknown. A letter in 1918, same man, same writing, even the same paper, says that the name has ALWAYS been spelled Tone, , that he has no reiatives in America, tho his father had a brother come over, locality unknown. In only two items are the two letters consistent -- both times they are all catholics and in both cases they are "very poore, please send us some money".
But I DO have the record of a family I had heard of since I was a small boy living in Northern Michigan. We always called them the "Ionia Toans" because they lived around Ionia, Mich, Their ancestor was a Robert Toan, born in Belfast, 1799, came to America in 1813, married in Oneida County, , N.Y. and moved to Ionia Co., Mich, in 1837. Outside that one name, Robert - which, by the way is the name of my only son, bestowed long years before I knew anything of this family - the male names run quite true to our common family - John, William and Thomas. They are an ENTIREIY different type of people than our County West Meath man seems to be. So far as I have traced them they run to professional lines - a doctor, a lawyer, a member of the Michigan Senate, while two of the granddaughters of Robert were high type teachers. One, Susie who married a Galarneault - by the way is there any SIGNIFICANCE in these French names constantly recurring in our history, DuBois, Franchot, etc.? - had been teaching in Helena, Montana, when I went into the State Superintendent's office there so that her friends instantly inquired about the possible relationship. This incident led to my discovery of this line. I shall be glad to follow it up and get, if possible, a tie in to our line.
Which reminds me that I am not familiar with the scope of the inquiry you expect to make of our history. Is it going to be strictly genealogical, that is historical, or is it going to be wider and verge off somewhat in to the biological and other lines that mav be of interest? In my own family, the Mendelian formula has worked out quite accurately. I and my eldest sister are the Toans of the family. Another boy and girl are the Spencers of the family while the other four who reached maturity are mixes quite as Mendel's principle would have it. But in the larger sense what is meant when one says That person is a Toan" not referring to the name at all? Just how widely significant is this incident that occurred in a little Montana town? I was walking down the street with a friend when I became peculiarly aware of something very familiar in a lady walking in front of us. I remarked to my friend, "If I did not know my sister" -the other Toan in our family - "was on her death-bed in Ohio, I would say that there she is walking ahead of us". That afternoon at roll call in our Teachers' Institute, I thought I heard the name "Toan" called. I contacted the lady who answered and for the first time met one of the DuBois Toans, Clara Louise, the lady walking down the street.
What IS a Toan? Many a time I have studied your son, Franchot, on the screen trying to discover whether he was of our line. I had made no study of the Toans so did not know the connection, if any. Are there Tone characteristics running through the family to an extent to justify the cataloging of that trait as a TONE characteristic? What I saw in that girl were general body build and a very definite carriage in walking that I had always believed had come to us through our Spencer heritage from our one Mohawk Indian ancestor. My impression is VERY strong that these Ionia Tons are tied in very close to our line. Just as it is very strong that those West Meath, Irish Toans are "along ways from Tipperary" so far as relationship to our tribe in Isreal is concerned. My correspondence with the Ionia Toans was almost entirely through Mame A. Toan of Oklahoma City. I have never seen the woman nor a picture of her yet I would willingly take a small bet that she looks, talks and acts like my sister, Ida, and like the DuBois Toan girl mentioned above.
Just now I am not so interested in the question of "What IS a Toan! as I am in determining just what limits you are placing upon the genealogy you will publish. I am, as you probably sense, a rank amateur in this business and do not know just what a properly constructed genealogy aims at. You say in your note - "I have the lines of Andrew Tone and Mary George (Tone) about completed". To do a fairly decent job in this, how far should the female lines be traced? And in ANY line should the search of facts go beyond the basal facts of birth, death and marriage? Are residences of any importance as showing the social trend of the family? Should deficiencies as well as accomplishments be listed? I have known of no Toan who has been deficient mentally, morally - at least not anything to write home about - nor socially. None, so far as I know, have done a major crime. Many have major accomplishments to their credit. I think that the Wolfe Tone family probably kicked over the traces more than any other Tone family and yet I am sure we are all very proud of our kinship to them. from the way I am writing this paragraph, I guess it is guite apparent that I still am carrying in the back of my head the question of what a Tone really is. Should the question ever be studied, I would make the guess that he will be found intellectual, adventurous, socially stable - in general a substantial middle class citizen.
Is Mr. Glazier collecting pictures of the several families as he goes along? Is this desirable to the ends you have in mind? You will pardon, I know, all this questioning when I say I shall try to accept your suggestion that I follow up the John Toan, Jr. line and work out such facts as you think most necessary to carry out the general line of the family history you have in mind. I shall be limited for time but shall not hesitate to call on the girls of our several families for they are always the ones who carry in mind all the essential facts of the family's history. I know that all my people feel as I do; that you are to be highly commended for undertaking this very difficult piece of work and we are very happy to show our appreciation by cooperating to the fullest extent possible.
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate these wills of John and Phoebe Toan you have just sent. They are of vital interest to me in at least three ways. First the spelling of the name as I have stated in the first paragraphs of this letter; second, it makes my contention to Mr. Glazier look silly that since my father in whose handwriting I have my first copy of the Harvey genealogy as applies to our family, mentioned ONLY Jane VanSchoick as a wife of his grandfather, this same John Tone who is making this will, concluded that she was the only wife. But this will shows Phoebe Rightmire was also a wife and undoubtedly the second wife, tho it does not appear whether or not she is the mother of any of the children. This certainly gives me a good point to begin my work upon. Then, third, these wills strike me rather deep sentimentally for they show the origin of the ownership of the farm on which my father was born. I can hardly realize that this will, probably nearly one hundred and thirty years ago, bequeaths land to one so close to me as my grandfather who was twenty years old at the time. This makes me feel that another Toan characteristic is longevity. Another fact that impresses this upon me very strongly is that my grandfather served in the War of 1812, while over a hundred years afterward I, his grandson, served in the World War! In the face of a family history like that, a century shrinks into a pretty small potato, doesn't it?
Just a couple more questions and I am thru. Do you want me to attempt a follow up of these "Ionia" Toans to establish a possible tie up or is it your intention to use the direct line history from Jean Tone, back in France down thru the French and Irish periods, then take it up in detail with our first American ancestor? Occasionally I run across a person who knows some Tone here or there. Will it be well to report all such addresses in to Mr. Glazier in the hopes it may discover some unknown branch of the family? In the little work I have been able to do these "pick ups" have been very valuable. Both you and Mr. Glazier may be assured that it is my purpose to be helpful in every way I can. This is my only means of showing the very great appreciation I have for this splendid work vou are taking upon your-self. And I can assure you that my whole family joins me in that appreciation.
Again thanking you for all this information you have sent me, I am, very sincerely yours, (Sgd.) Byron E. Toan.
The second (sent earlier but ordered later in this collection) discusses the Toan/Tone spelling and connections to Wolfe Tone.
Berea, Ohio. Aug. 13, 1936.
Mr. Frank Jerome Tone
Niagara Falls, New York.Dear Mr. Tone:
I want to thank you for the French record of our common ancestry. It is very valuable in that it pushes the record back so far into the past. To me its great value is that it settles definitely the question of how, when and where the ancestry of the Irish patriot, Theobald Wolfe Tone, ties into ours. When I was working on our family history, I gave a lot of time to this question but was able to get nothing stronger than circumstancial evidence to support the relationship. In this connection, let me say if you should ever make a collection of Tone records, I shall be very glad to contribute my copy of "The Autobiography of Wolfe Tone", a volume of some 700 pages which I secured in Ireland after considerable difficulty in finding It. Should you ever consider the establishment of such a collection, you will be welcome too to all my correspondence in trying to trace some of the lines of Toans in this country and Ireland. I was about to begin work on the TONE line, when I went to France in the Army and had to lay aside my investigations.
Another question I tried to get information about was the reason for the change in the spelling of the name. It is still a question to me tho I think I have evidence enough to show quite conclusively that the change was neither national nor religious for I find both spellings in Ireland and here also among Catholics and non-Catholics. Wolfe Tone's activities in France with Napoleon against England may have had something to do with it for the change seemed to be taking place just at the time he was most active. But I doubt it. I hope your investigations will throw some light upon this question. YOURS is the natural spelling, so it must have been our line that did the seceding.
I have sent my data to Mr. Glazier and offered him any assistance I may be able to give. I want to commend you for undertaking this work and assure you that I will do what I can to help it along.
Sincerely yours,
(Sgd.) Byron E. Toan
117 E. Bagley Road
Berea, Ohio.
H. Tone & Son
This is mainly a thank you note for information Frank Jerome had previously sent. It mentions a brother named Lawrence. "H" appears to be short for Harry, based on a mention in a letter from Isie Tone.
H. Tone & Son
122 W. Main Street
Denison, Texas November 6th 1936Frank J. Tone
131 Buffalo Avenue,
Niagara Falls, New York.Dear Frank:
Your favor of September 23rd., enclosing an abstract of hisory of the Tone family, was duly received, for which please accept my hearty thanks.
I trust vou will pardon me for being so late in acknowledging your letter, but I have been on the go ever since I received it.
We returned Tuesday from the Centennial, where we spent a week, to very good advantage. Dallas is putting on a wonderful centennial this year, and I am sorry that it will close on November 29th.
Not a single member of the Tone family has been down here to see it, but they are so widely scattered that I am not surprised.
You must have put in much labor to dig out all the information contained in this family tree, but I judge that your work lacks much of completion to bring it from the leaving off point of the copy you sent, down to the present generation.
I have not written my brother Lawrence since receipt of your letter, but I will write him in the near future and remind him that he should send the history of his own immediate family.
Again thanking you for your courtesy, I am, with kind regards and best wishes,
Very sincerely
(Sgd.) H. Tone, Jr.
Rose Hodges Gay
Two letters from this sender are included. I'm presenting them in the order they're collected in, though this doesn't match the date order.
Rose Hodges Gay writes from Oregon, which suggests a connection to Margaret Maria Tone (1837-1926).
First letter:
ROZALIS RANCH
GOLD HILL
OREGON.Oct. 12, 1936
My dear Cousin:
I am heartily ashamed of this long delay in forwarding you our "simple annals" -- due to having had to send back several times for additional dates or information, and to my own absorption in farm duties in August and September, when I am really over-burdened.
However, peaceful days have come again, and I have read with much pleasure the abstract you recently sent me and realize what a lot of research work has been done.
The record I am sending is still incomplete as to dates and places but I thought I'd send it on, and when my brother send them, will forward to you if they are important places of birth of the children of his family.
I have no records covering my mother's first marriage, and the dates of birth of the Mosier children, nor do I think I could get them, but I can get the place of my mother's marriage to my father, I think. This delay has made it possible to include the birth of the latest little Hodges child, two weeks ago.
Please let me know if there is anything more I can do, and accept my thanks for the abstract which I prize most deeply. I am sure my brother and his family would greatly like to have a copy - - H.W. Hodges, 1041 - 18th St., Santa Monica, Calif.
What sort of a final publication will there be - and will copies be available for purchase?
Very sincerely,
(Sgd.) Cousin Rose
In the above, H.W. Hodges is Herman Hodges, netioned in the letter below from Electa McConkie.
Second letter:
ROZALIS RANCH
GOLD HILL, OREGON.June 29, 1936
Dear Cousin Frank:
Your letter is most interesting to me, and I shall reply with the information you wish as soon as I can hear from my brother, who has the family, and is in possession of our mother's Bible containing our records. It was a large task to undertake and I'm sure all the family will appreciate the results when they appear in tangible form.
My mother was most devoted to "my brother Thomas" as she always called him. He was her ideal of integrity and all the virtues, and I have always felt that her pride in the high and sterling qualities of the Tones and the Hubbards was a heritage worth handing down to us. Even when I see your son Franchot in pictures, it is the "nobility of character" of the Tones my mother talked about that marks our kinship, rather than his acting -- although I greatly admire his genius as an actor.
I had a pleasant little experience last winter and I want you to tell your wife, Gertrude. It was the Women's International Peace Society, I think, who sent me a petition to our government to have filled. Among the names of signers printed on the back, I was thrilled to see hers and her son's, and to know that some of our family stand openly for Peace in this war-ridden world.
I am very sincerely,
Your Cousin,
(Sgd.) Rose Hodges Gay.
Electa McConkie
A brief letter dated 1936
Mr. Frank tone
Niagara Falls, N.Y.My dear Cousin:
In answer to your letter, I shall be glad indeed to send the dates you wish. Next week we plan to start on a trip to Michigan and while there I can fill in any items I've forgotten.
I believe Cousin Carrie and I both have sort of lost Cousin Rose Hodges Gay and thru her, her brother Herman Hodges. The last I knew, Herman Hodges' address was Atascadero, Cal., I believe.
It pleased me so much that you remember my mother.
Sincerely
(Mrs.L.G.) Electa McConkie
Fort Bayard, N. M.
Isie (no last name given)
137 South Larchmont Blvd.
Los Angeles December 19th 1936Dear Frank:
This is a very tardy acknowledgement of your September letter and copy of our branch of the "Tone Tree."
When it came I was planning a visit to San Diego, Our cousins Clara and Lillian Salisbury, daughters of Robert Salisbury whose mother was a Tone, have lived there many years and I thought I might get some first hand information for you. But the visit was postponed from week to week, until finally I went and the enclosed sheet is the result, not much that is definite, but there are clues if vou care to follow them up. Clara the wife of Frank C. Spalding a retired Banker and Lillian the Widow of a noted Army Surgeon Col. Robert Emmett Austin who died during the World War.
The girls have been away from Kansas City many years and lost track of many of the relatives, Lillian made out the enclosed list of addresses that she remembered and asked me to return the sheet you sent. Unfortunately I have just turned over a bottle of ink and this sheet came in for an inky bath, which I greatly regret.
I was deeply interested in the history of our fore-bears, or rather the genealogy, would it not be fun to know the lives of them all, especially those centuries ago in France! There is a river in England called the Tone River, one of those lovely meandering stroams that abound In that country, that I visited and stopped a few days in the interesting village of Taunton-on-the-Tone a corruption they told me of Tone-Town on the Tone.
When I was in Ireland in 1928 my name was an Open Sesame every where in the Free State, and the warm hearted Irish couldn't do enough for me even tho only a distant connection of the much loved and revered Wolf Tone.
In connection with this, do tell me just what branch of the family does that charming young actor Franchot Tone spring from? I've never met him personally, these Motion Picture Stars are rather inaccessible, but so many people ask me if we are related, as the name is so unusual.
I have heard he is from New York state, so undoubtedly you know something of his family and I hope you have seen him on the screen. He is a very great favorite in the West.
The holidays are at hand, will you accept with my thanks for the "Tone Tree" the wish that the coming year will bring many blessings for you and your family?
Heartily yours
Isie
Ransom M. Tone
Three letters from Ransom Tone in Oregon and his wife (no name given). At Ancestry I've found a Ransom Howland Tone (1833-1904), but he doesn't seem to have had any children.
The first letter includes a reminiscence of Ransom's Aunt Mary. This might be Margaret Maria Tone (1837-1926), who also lived in Oregon.
JUNCTION CITY, ORE.
Oct. 2, 1936Mr. Frank Tone,
131 Buffalo Ave.,
Niagara Falls, N.Y.Dear Cousin:
We are grateful to you for your letter and the records and photographs. I can imagine the effort and trouble required to get so much data. Yes, Aunt Mary J. compiled a record, but I do not think she had any of the European record. I wish you could have known her, or that I could describe her for you just as she was. But, of course, I can't. I think you might be interested in knowing a little about her.
She was the most alive person I have ever known. I doubt if any of the Marys who preceded her had anything on her. She lived with us for quite a long time and her presence in our home had its effect. Her father was her great hero, though, judging from his portrait, he was anything but kind. Some folks almost feared Aunt Mary and her "snapping eyes", but all of the children loved her. It was noticeable how everywhere she went, order and quiet and a mild formality soon prevailed. Only those refined enough to appreciate her would seem to care to remain in her presence. Her eyes were dark and deep and searching, but they could smile, too.
Aunt Mary either inspired you or squashed you. You had your choice. Anyway she yanked me out of the grocery store and packed me off to college with less than fifty dollars to my name. Some things common with others didn't exist for her such as excuses or alibis or recounting of details. What did count were straightforwardness, the uninflated truth, and the final results. She could not abide creeds nor the "sanctified medicine-men" , as she designated all preachers. I can see her now - erect, slender, graceful, charmingly composed. I can recall her low, soft voice. Aunt Mary never shouted in her life. It was good - her having that wonderful voice. She needed it. It compensated for the too hardness of her thin lips and the set of her jaw, and for those dominating eyes, which, though they were somehow kindly, still must have had icicles at the back of them. She has remained in our memories while others have passed on and out of our thoughts. charming and resourceful person of unlimited courage and defiant perseverance. Maybe folks in our town felt justified in thinking her a little too aristocratic but, however that might be, there was no question about her being an inborn lady of refinement and poise and culture.
I have some ancient leather-bound books in early script and spelling, also a heavy razor and a large silver watch which were given to me by Aunt Mary and my great uncle Ransom. According to the label tied to the watch, they belonged to "John Tone, London". The watch is wound by a flat key and driven by a link chain spring. It was made by Chas. Mairet, Chaux de Fonds en Swisse. The number is ºN 61844. I wish I knew if it is really so old.
We have not yet heard from the folks in Canada. Address my cousin Ray Tone c/o Mrs. Walter Ray, Medora, N. Dak. I am enclosing a letter received from Mrs. Lucius Tone, Ellsworth, Minn. Her husband does not belong to the James M. Tone branch. You will, of course, let us know if we can help any further with the record.
Sincerely yours,
(Sgd.) Ransom M. Tone
In the following, Ransom's wife (no first name given, but it seems that she was Florence Tone based on another letter includes some information on the James M. Tone branch of the family. The Mary Jane mentioned should be the Aunt Mary J mentioned above by Ransom.
JUNCTION CITY, OREGON.
July 6, 1936Mr. Frank J. Tone,
131 Buffalo Ave.,
Niagara Falls, N.Y.Dear Mr. Tone:
At my husband's request I am enclosing a copy of notes taken from Myron E. Tone's old family Bible, when I visited him in Rapid City, S.D. last month. I hope they will help you some to complete the James M. Tone branch. "Dad" Tone, as we affectionately call my father-in-law, is nearly eighty years old, but he remembers quite a lot of the family history. He said that James M. Tone, his grandfather, cleared three farms when he lived in New York State. He burned the beech and maple logs to make perlash which was shipped to England and was one of the few farm products at that time which brought cash. He later moved to Wisconsin and is buried at Wautoma.
John Alfred, his only son by his first wife, was the family black sheep and was disinherited. When James M. died he obtained a deathbed promise from his other children that John Alfred or John Alfred's children should never have even a small share in the family estate. However, when Mary Jane became tubercular and none of the other relatives wanted her, it was one of John Alfred's children - Myron Ernest (Dad Tone) - who took her into his home and cared for her until her death. Dad Tone is a fine old man, straight, erect and very alert mentally despite his age.
Most of John Alfred's children and of Myron Ernest's children too seem to be contractors, builders and carpenters, except my husband. At present he is regaining on a Western Oregon farm the health lost from too many years of overwork in business. Is it not a Tone trait never to know when to stop working?
Lawrence Lone of Des Moines, Iowa, or Tone Bros. Inc of Des Moines, might be able to give further information on the James A. Tone branch.
Sincerely yours,
(Sgd.) Mrs. R.M. Tone.JUNCTION CITY, ORE.
June 20, 1936
Mr. Frank Tone,
131 Buffalo Avenue,
Niagara Falls, N.Y.Dear Cousin:
Thank you for the family chart. I will supply you with all the information I can, but it will take me a little time to get it accurately. I have sent your letter and chart to my father who should be able to tell us all about "Squire" James M. Tone, as Aunt Mary J. always referred to him. I think Lawrence Tone, c/o Tone Bros., Wholesalers, Des Moines, Iowa, could give you a great deal of data. He was working on a family tree about twenty years ago. Lawrence is from Texas.His grandfather must have been a brother of James M. Tone, my great grandfather. Anyway, Lawrence said he was a cousin of William Tone of Minneapolis, also a cousin of the Tone Bros. at Des Moines, and also of my father.
The only David Tone I know is my brother's son, about twenty-five years old and an art student in Chicago. My Uncle, James A. Tone, has a son, Ray D. Tone* but I do not think he is in Chicago. He is with the standard Oil Company and has been with them for twenty or twenty-five years. I do not know of an Elmer Tone of Chicago. When I hear from father I will write you again.
Yours sincerely,
(Sgd.) R.M. Tone* Ray Tone
Bellingham, Wash
c/o Standard Oil Co.
Florence Tone
Not to be confused with Florence May Tone (1871-1943), who lived at the same time.
JUNCTION CITY, OREGON.
Sept. 4, 1936Mr. Frank J. Tone,
131 Buffalo Ave.,
Niagara Falls, N.Y.My dear Mr. Tone:
We appreciate very much your sending us the abstract by Gustave Anjou. It has stirred our imaginations and we can almost visualize some of those early Tones. What tragic ends came to all of Peter Tone's children. They all surely chose the wrong side of the sage brush. Our own Mary was thrilled by the adventures of the Revolutionary War Mary and wished something exciting and romantic would happen to her.
We copied the abstract of the European line and sent it to Mr. Tone's Uncles in Alberta, hoping they would become interested enough to furnish the record of their branch but we have not heard from them yet.
Have a little more data on the Myron Ernest Tone family - (my husband's youngest brother)
Myron Ernest married Amy Flatt at Rapid City, S. D. March 4, 1923
Children:
Arlis Vivian - born Rapid City January 22, 1924
Myron Lewis - born Rapid City September 13, 1925
Roy Vinton - born Rapid City September 8, 1928
Niel Esla - born Rapid City March 7, 1933Blanch Tone, daughter of Roy Tone of Sioux City, Iowa, was married August 9, 1936 to Clyde Abeel at Rapid City, S. D.
We would like to have a copy of our American line back to Andrew Tone. Mr. Glazier sent us a copy, which tony forwarded to me at Rapid City so that his father and I could go over it together, but I have never received it.
Thank you for your good wishes for my husband's health. He expects to go to Portland this winter and have his leg amputated. He has been in bed for six weeks, but is so patient and courageous and thoughtful of the rest of us.
Sincerely yours,
(Sgd.) Florence Tone