Category Archives: Marian & her Family

Marian & her Family

Is the Word Executrix Archaic?

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Executrix notice

Before Aunt Marian could join the WACs, she needed to tie up all the loose ends in Pennsylvania. After her father’s death she was no longer his caregiver—but she still had another responsibility. She was the executrix of his estate.

According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, an executrix is “a woman who is an executor.” Is executrix an archaic word?

We no longer have firemen or stewardesses–are there still executrices? (Did I spell that right? It looks odd, but I think this is the plural of executrix).

I’m pleasantly surprised that Aunt Marian was the executrix.  She had 8 living brothers and sisters when her father died.

Aunt Marian was the middle child, and I think that she had the least formal education of any of her siblings. I believe that all of the others were high school graduates–and that many of them also attended post-secondary schools. In spite of her low educational attainment,  Aunt Marian must have had a solid skill set that her father recognized when he identified her as his executrix.

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I’m a little foggy on why Aunt Marian’s father’s final address was listed as Antes Fort (Lycoming County), Pennsylvania since his farm was farther east in the county in the Montgomery area. However, one of Aunt Marian’s sisters (Martha)  lived at Antes Fort and maybe that was the official residence of Aunt Marian and her father when he died. . . . sign. . .there are so many mysteries that need to be researched.

Martha (She would have been 15 or 20 years older than the girl in the photo when Aunt Marian lived with her)
Martha (She would have been 15 or 20 years older than the girl in the photo when Aunt Marian lived with her)
Marian & her Family

Around the Corner

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Marian poemHow does someone decide what is important enough to save over the years? I’m still trying to figure out what Aunt Marian was like. I found this typewritten poem on the back of an index card in the trunk with Aunt Marian’s items that I found in my parent’s attic.

I googled  Around the Corner and found that the poem was written by Charles Hanson Towne (1877-1949).  He was an author and editor, and edited various magazines across the years including  Smart Set, Delineator,  McClure’s, Designer, and Harper’s Bazaar.

Why did this poem resonate with Aunt Marian? Did she know soldiers who had been killed in World War II? Did she put the poem on the index card before or after she joined the Women’s’ Army Corps (WACs)?
Marian & her Family, Pennsylvania

Aunt Marian’s Family and Home

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The family of Caroline and Frank Solomon- Front (l to r): Naomi, Ruth, Caroline, Frank, Marion. Back (l to r): Paul, Florence, Martha, Margaret, Dorothy, John
The family of Caroline and Frank Solomon- Front (l to r): Naomi, Ruth, Caroline, Frank, Marion. Back (l to r): Paul, Florence, Martha, Margaret, Dorothy, John

Aunt Marian was born in 1899 and was the sixth child of Frank and Carolyn Solomon. In all there were 11 children. Another way of putting it is that Marian was the middle child in a family of 11 children.

Marian had six sisters (the oldest, Lillian died of the flu in 1918) and three brothers (though one, Leroy, had died before she was born).

The family lived on a farm in central Pennsylvania. The farm was located in the southern part of Lycoming County near Montgomery.

Recent photo of the farm house where the Solomon family lived
Recent photo of the farm house where the Solomon family lived
Marian & her Family

A Short Biography of Marian Solomon

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Marian Solomon
Marian Solomon

Welcome to my new blog! It’s always difficult to know where to begin when embarking on a new adventure, so I guess that today I’ll tell you how I became interested in Aunt Marian and her story.

When I was cleaning out my parent’s attic, I found a trunk full of her items, including a handwritten cookbook and lots of Women’s Army Corps (WAC) memorabilia. There were items from Fort Oglethorpe, occupied Japan, San Francisco, and other places. My mother apparently stored the items for Aunt Marian many years ago.

When I first found Aunt Marian’s items in the attic, I had little interest in them because I barely knew her. I complained to my son that it was a lot of work going through her things. He said, “If seems like your grandmother’s sister would have been really old in World War II. How old was she when she joined the WACs?”

His comment led me to dig out a small spiral-bound,  mimeographed family history. This is what her sister Martha wrote:

Marian Mildred Solomon

Marian Mildred Solomon, fourth daughter of Frank W. and Caroline (Carrie) Miller Solomon, was born February 17, 1899. She attended the Mountain Grove Country School–an elementary School. She did not attend high school, but took a number of short courses while in the service.

Marian helped her father on the farm until his death, July 14, 1943. Then she joined the Women’s Army Corps. She received a few medals for her service and was a Sergeant First Class when she received a medical discharge after almost twenty years of service.

Marian was a member of First Methodist Church, Montgomery, Pennsylvania. Her hobbies were many–traveling,photography, ceramics, embroidery, tailoring, sewing, baking, and preparing meals. Her greatest satisfaction in life was keeping in touch with her family and helping them and others. She contributed to many charities. Marian never married. She passed away April 5, 1966.

Perhaps Aunt Marian’s life can be summed up in these three paragraphs–but I have a nagging feeling that there’s much more that needs to be remembered and told.

How did a woman who was a farm laborer and caregiver with an 8th grade education, reinvent herself in her forties?

I hope that you will join me in the upcoming weeks and months as I research Aunt Marian’s story. I’m not sure where the journey will take us–but my gut feeling is that it will be a fun adventure with lots of twists and turns along the way.