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Orpha Alice OUTHOUSE

Female 1868 - 1963


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    All    |    PDF

  • Born  18 Apr 1868  Huey, Clinton, IL Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2] 
    Gender  Female 
    Census  1870  Clinton Co, IL Find all individuals with events at this location  [3] 
    • age 2
    Census  1880  Clinton Co, IL Find all individuals with events at this location  [4] 
    • age 12
    Census  1900 
    Reference Number  533,22 
    _UID  841C9BE888254F0598C06E5E8A1F086C65CB 
    Died  23 Apr 1963  La Vue, Spotsylvania, VA Find all individuals with events at this location  [5] 
    Person ID  I2223  OuthouseLine2014
    Last Modified  15 Jan 2012 

    Father  Oliver OUTHOUSE,   b. Abt 1827, Illinois Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1882, Clinton Co, IL Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Mother  Mary GERDES,   b. Dec 1834, Germany Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1903 
    Married  1861  Clinton Co, IL Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID  F905  Group Sheet

    Family  Thomas Everett ALSOP,   b. 30 Jan 1860, Slate Mills, Spotsylvania, VA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 22 Sep 1910, Carlyle, Clinton, IL Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Married  21 May 1891  Huey, Clinton, IL Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 6, 7] 
    • Family lived in severe but impressive brick mansion house, LaVue, on R F & P railroad in Spotsylvania Va. 1875ish a stepmother appears and young son split for Indiana. Stepmother's only son, named for a Confedrate hero dies. Stepmother dies. Meanwhile young son Thomas becomes M.D. in Indiana. marries Orpha Outhouse. (name americanized from german Athaus. God knows who talked them into that move) Dr. Thomas Alsop dies about time stepmother dies. Orpha and two daughters return to Va mansion in 1915. Eldest daughter, Olive (Ca 1890-1968) marries automotive pioneer Herman Swanson (Franklin Aircooled Car) 1887-1972 live in house with Orpha who died about 1960 at great age. Younger daughter Blanche 1899-1987 married C. Fred. Hansen, president of W T Grant and lived in NYC. I have key to family mausaleum on LaVue.

      AND

      Thomas Everett attended and lived at the Fredericksburg Military Academy as a way of escaping his stepmother. Following graduation, he went to Yazoo City to visit his Uncle Thomas, then moved to Indiana to be with his brother George at the age of 20. After two years, he returned to Virginia to attend the Virginia Medical School at Richmond, graduating in 1887 as a dentist. He returned to Freelandville where his brother George lived, then moved to Huey, 4 miles east of Carlyle, IL, After his marriage to Orpha Outhouse, he bought the practice of Dr. A.G. McGaffegan in Carlyle and moved into Carlyle. Thomas became ill in 1910, and realizing his death was imminent, he sold his practice and provided a firm financial basis for his family. Only a year later, the stepmother Sarah Broaddus died, finally putting La Vue back into the hands of William Samuel's descendants. As neither George or Thomas's wife Orpha wanted to move to Virginia at that time, Sue Read Alsop, the widow of George's uncle James Addison Alsop, was retained to oversee the estate as its resident manager. Sue Read had lived on the La Vue property, possibly at Hunter's Lodge, since 1879 or 1880, and she now moved into the main house of La Vue. Sue Read Alsop died in 1915, and George and Orpha were faced with a crisis. George did not want to give up his position as President of the American National Bank in Vincennes, and Orpha's youngest daughter Blanche was only 16. A family friend, Ella Parker, was induced to assume the position of caretaker of La Vue. In 1919, the oldest daughter Olive married, and with Blanche being 20 years old, Orpha was ready to move to La Vue. She and Blanche moved that year, and in 1923, Olive and her husband Herman Swanson joined them. The estate was in a sad state of disrepair, and George provided the funds for its renovation. In order to ease the problem of joint ownership, George gave Orpha his half interest in return for a nominal sum. Herman Swanson took over the duties of caretaker, but lacking any farming expertise and desiring to live a life of leisure, he ceased all farming activities and only once sold timber off the land. The period of 1923 to 1933 was marked by George Rush Alsop materially assisting Orpha in the financial management of the estate. When George died, a large number of IOUs were found in his safe deposit box, and George's wife burned them without attempting to collect on the debts. Blanche developed a great dislike of Herman Swanson and moved to New York City to get away from him. According to Blanche, Herman had romantic designs on her, and she henceforth never allowed herself to be alone with him. Fortunately for Blanche, she married well and became rather wealthy. She also helped maintain La Vue by sending money to her mother whenever asked. None of the rest of the family actively supported La Vue with funds, George's family and grandchildren frequently visited La Vue as their "ancestral home." Herman used the Alsop money to support a "country gentleman" life style, and pursued his hobby of buying Oriental rugs. Olive was interested in antiques, and the inherited items from William Samuel, Captain Jack, and even great-great-grandfather George were supplemented with items of high value. Among the Alsop family other than Orpha and Olive, Herman was frequently referred to as "the rat" for selling off Alsop land and living off of Alsop money without contributing anything of value himself. He sold off acreage while telling the family he was acquiring more, and by Orpha's death, the 1, 670 acre estate of 1919 had been reduced to only 677 acres. Although Herman Swanson claimed to have been born into wealth and made a forture himself as an automotive pioneer the truth was much different. He came from a working class family and his father rose from carpenter to foreman in a small furniture manufacturing company in Jamestown, New York. He worked a few years as an engineer at the Franklin Automobile Company, then was employed by the Fox Motor Car Company the short while it was in existence. By the end of 1923 he had had his fill of working for a living and retired to live at La Vue in style. (See separate biography of Herman Swanson.) In 1963 Orpha died and left the La Vue estate to Olive. Blanche was wealthy and unconcerned about money, only occasionally visited La Vue, and usually attempted to time her visits when Herman would be absent. Nonetheless, Orpha willed half of all the personal property and furnishings to Blanche, a bequest that Herman and his attorney kept from Blanche by not allowing her to see the will. Ultimately, Blanche would not recover many of her personal items and furnishings from her own room at La Vue. In 1968 Olive died without a will being located, and Herman inherited the estate. Although Herman's attorney had been involved in writing Orpha's will, Herman and he maintained that Olive had no will. The attorney also maintained that he had no knowledge of Orpha's will, even though his signature was on both codicils. Herman's lawyer wrote Herman's will while Olive's estate was still in probate, and gave himself La Vue on a life estate similar to what William Samuel had done for Sarah Broaddus. Subsequently the attorney was named to the bench, and probating Herman's will in his own court, he gave up the life estate for a payment of $50,000. He assigned laywers from his own firm to handle the estate, and a huge number of valuable items rapidly found their way into Virginia households of friends and political allies of the attorney's firm as well as the attorneys themselves. La Vue was stripped to the bone, and the Alsops specifically disinherited. Thomas and George would have very unhappy over the events that occurred after they died.


      – Leavell Family Web site http://www.geocities.com/supchara/Genealogy/LeavellFam2.html http://littlecalamity.tripod.com/Leavell.html (updated site)
    Children 
     1. Olive Marie ALSOP,   b. 23 Mar 1892, Huey, Clinton, IL Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 2 Aug 1968, La Vue, Spotsylvania, VA Find all individuals with events at this location
     2. Cora Genevieve ALSOP,   b. 25 Mar 1895, Carlyle, Clinton, IL Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 29 May 1896, Carlyle, Clinton, IL Find all individuals with events at this location
     3. Blanch Susan ALSOP,   b. 18 Oct 1899, Carlyle, Clinton, IL Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 15 Sep 1986, New York City, NY Find all individuals with events at this location
    Last Modified  29 Aug 2004 
    Family ID  F906  Group Sheet

  • Notes 
    • Dr. Thomas Alsop dies about time stepmother dies. Orpha and two daughters return to Va mansion in 1915. Eldest daughter, Olive (Ca 1890-1968) marries automotive pioneer Herman Swanson (Franklin Aircooled Car) 1887-1972 live in house with Orpha who died about 1960 at great age. Younger daughter Blanche 1899-1987 married C. Fred. Hansen, president of W T Grant and lived in NYC. I have key to family mausaleum on LaVue. (Jane Leavell)

  • Sources 
    1. [S23] DAR, Vol 91, pg 55 (year only) (Reliability: 3).

    2. [S103] Outhouse Family Genealogy, Terry DeFrees, (1990).

    3. [S201] Federal Census, 1870 Clinton Co, IL, Twp 2, Range 2, Fam #62 (Reliability: 3).

    4. [S201] Federal Census, 1880 Clinton Co, IL, Dist 85, Fam #1 (Reliability: 3).

    5. [S15] Internet, Leavell Family Web site (http://littlecalamity.tripod.com/G enealogy/LeavellFam4.html) (Reliability: 3).

    6. [S23] DAR, Vol 91, pg 55 (Reliability: 3).

    7. [S110] Illinois Statewide Mrg Index, Vol.1, pg. 158, Lic# 93 (Reliability: 3).


  

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