Editing Harriet Ley Deweese, an Interview

[This paper was written by Reed Gwillim Law III as a homework assignment.]

= Harriet Ley Deweese, An Interview =

It never occurred to me before today how rich and fascinating a life my great-grandmother led. I learned that she had been to speakeasies, owned a 1908 car, married the rich owner of a car dealership and lumber company, and had a mother who was a women's rights activist. Although she didn't want to talk very much, I gained some of my information from her daughter, Dawn Deweese Chimes. Dawn spoke on the phone with me during my interview. Other bits of knowledge were given to me by my mother and father.

"Ninny," as we call her, was born Harriet Cecilia Ley at her home in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Her date of birth was October third, 1901. She is my great-grandmother on my mother's side. Her father John Drummond Ley, was in charge of oil drilling and lumber industries. When I asked her of her mother's occupation she replied:

"Lolly [Laura Amanda Blow] was a schoolteacher, but she also did crafts, painted, and played the piano." It turned out that Laura Blow was also a worker for women's rights and a very modern woman even by today's standards. She was well educated and was brought up in a rich family. Harriet was also very well-to-do and had the luxuries of a maid and a car as early as 1908, when her father bought a Ford two-seater convertible. She was financially able to own cars all her life since then.

Titusville was her home when she grew up but she visited her house in Chautauqua, New York in the summers and went to St. Petersburg, Florida during the winters. Titusville was rich with oil and considered to be the Dallas of its day. John Drummond Ley helped operate the Drake oil well which was famous for being the first oil well in the U.S. This wealthiness allowed Harriet, her brother Vern, and her sister Laura to have a maid and a car as well as a lifestyle unknown to most Americans of this time.

Her family was one of the founding families of Chautauqua, New York and they lived there every summer. Each generation has visited her Chautauqua home including me, a sixth-generation Chautauquian. It is a lake town with a very rich cultural element.

As I talked to her she recalled her mother's father Hiram Blow. She said this of Hiram Blow, my great-great-great-grandfather: "He was in the cooperage [barrel-making] business. He was written up in Fortune Magazine."

When she was living in New York city and going to Juilliard she went to speakeasies. "We had little tricks of what to say to get in," she said.

"Do you remember having a secret password?" I said.

"No, but there was always a place to get whiskey from the bootleggers; and the farmers in Mississippi. They made moonshine."

Then I asked her of her life during the twenties and thirties, when she had settled in with her husband DeWitt DeWeese and her four children, Shirley, Joan, Dawn, and DeWitt Jr. She remarked that Abner Deweese, Dewitt's father, had owned a 1921 or '22 Pierce Arrow and a Stutz Bearcat during this time.

"The kids could drive around ten to twelve years old, and we went to Chautauqua [from Philadelphia, Mississippi] and it took three days," she said.

She had met DeWitt at Juilliard and had fallen in love with him during that time. She married at age 20. Her wealthy lifestyle would be fully supported by DeWitt, who also came from great riches. She had black servants, maids, and cooks.

"How did the Great Depression affect you?" I asked.

"Well, not very much, 'cause DeWitt figured ways to get around it," she replied. Dawn explained to me that Dewitt was in the lumber business and owned DeWeese Lumber Company. The land he purchased for this company became very valuable and was sold at great profit. He also owned a car dealership and purchased cars up north to sell in Mississippi. They remained wealthy even during the Depression because of Dewitt's good business sense.

Harriet's enriched education and up-bringing led her to become a famous Mississippi painter. She also founded the Chautauqua Art Association. She continues her painting as a hobby even today.

This interview has left me with the feeling that I am part of a great history of American people. The interesting life of my great-grandmother, Harriet Ley DeWeese, has shown me what a life I am a part of in this country and how fascinating it must have been to live through electricity, radio, and television, as well as two world wars.

-- Reed Law
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