The Riches of the Socialite Sisters, Charlotte and Grace Howard

Johann Gottfried Hauer (John Godfrey Howard) Family Line

 

Charlotte Howard (1872-1958)
Grace Howard (1876-1952)

The Riches of the Socialite Sisters

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by Carolyn Ann Howard

This blog was updated 29 Apr 2022.

We know that Charlotte and Grace's dad, William Edwin Howard, married well. We also know that he was wise with his money, buying a charming home, which his children inherited and used to their good fortune. His daughters, Charlotte and Grace, were socialites, who threw many parties and who also sang and played the piano.

William Edwin came with his Howard family from Middlebury, New York, firstly to Shoals, Indiana, around 1854, when he was 9 years old. He was listed as a laborer in the 1860 federal census. Soon after, he enlisted as a Union soldier in The Civil War. He met his wife, Annie Bragg, while stationed in Kentucky. He did well to marry her, even though it might have been a "shotgun" wedding. They were married the same year their eldest was born April 1869. This was not an unusual occurrence. In fact, it happened quite often.

By the 1870 federal census, William Edwin and Annie, along with their eldest son Fred, lived in Sherwood, Michigan, where daughters Charlotte and Grace were born in 1872 and 1876. By the 1880 census, the family was in Jackson, Michigan.

Grace never married and lived in her parents' home even as an adult. She worked as a stenographer and billing clerk. Funnily enough, on the 1910 census, she was listed as a musician! In 1920, she worked as a stenographer in a grocery house, but she is also listed as living with her sister in the 1920 Chicago census as a bill clerk in a wholesale grocery. It was not unusual for Charlotte and Grace to be together. Even though the adult Grace lived in Jackson, Michigan in her childhood home, and Charlotte lived in Chicago, Illinois, they visited each other quite often. In the 1930 census, Grace was listed firstly as a bill clerk, which was then marked out and replaced with "None." Although she never married, Grace was listed as a widow on the 1940 census. And it showed a daughter living with her! Click on photos to enlarge

The Howard home in Jackson, Michigan, present day. Hard to see because of trees.
Courtesy Google Maps, proper attribution given

Charlotte obtained her degree from Ypsilanti Normal College, now Eastern Michigan University, and became a schoolteacher. She waited until she was 35 before marrying the widower, inventor, and real estate mogul, Myron Detrick. Even after marrying, she kept her occupation as a teacher in the public schools.

Myron Detrick
Courtesy Ancestry.com
Fair Use

Charlotte and Myron continued to make their home in Chicago, Illinois, until after Charlotte and Grace's brother, Fred, died in 1939, in Manteno, Illinois. After that occurrence, Charlotte and Myron relocated to Jackson, Michigan, moving in with Grace. I haven't been able to find Charlotte and Myron in the 1940 census, and the reason might be that they were in the middle of their move. They lived with Grace in their childhood home until about 1949, when Detrick and Charlotte purchased a home of their own at 3052 Overhill Road in Jackson.

Charlotte was also an active member of the "Order of the Eastern Star" and the "Daughters of the American Revolution." Neither of them had any children that I have been able to find.

3052 Overhill Road - present day
Courtesy of Google Maps

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