Gertrude M. Barrows Bennett (1883-1948)-Part Three

Family Homes & Daughter Constance

From 1870 to 1934, the enumerators of censuses and the compilers of city directories found Gertrude M. Barrows Bennett, and before her, her family, in different places and recorded a few facts about them: 

• In 1870, her parents, Charles A. Barrows (1841-1898) and Caroline "Carrie" Pierson (Hatch) Barrows (1841-1918), were in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Barrows was employed as a life insurance agent.

• In 1875, her parents and her older brother Clark or Clarke Barrows (1873-1899) were living in Hersey, Minnesota.

• In 1880, the same three members of the Barrows family were in Minneapolis, where Barrows worked as a traveling agent in the business of sashes and doors.

• In 1885, the family was complete with the addition of Reginald "Reggie" Barrows (1880-1896) and Gertrude M. Barrows (1883-1948). Reginald was recorded as Reynold. The Barrows were then living in Villard, Minnesota. They lived in the same place in 1890 according to the veterans schedules of that year.

• The 1890 census is of course lost, and by the end of that decade there were only two Barrows left, Gertrude and her mother.

• In 1900, Gertrude and her mother were living at 1022 Hawthorn Avenue in Minneapolis, where Caroline Barrows was a solicitor for a publishing house and Gertrude was a student.

• In 1903, Gertrude and her mother were at 3821 Thomas Avenue SW in Minneapolis. Gertrude was working as a stenographer.

• In 1908, Gertrude M. Barrows married Charles M. Stuart Bennett (1874-1910) in New Jersey.

• On April 15, 1910, Gertrude was a lodger at 1700 Vine Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She did not have an occupation.

• On May 12, 1910, while living at the same address, Gertrude gave birth to her only child, a daughter named in her birth certificate as Josephine Christy Bennett but later named Constance Bennett (1910-2001).

• In 1920, Gertrude and her daughter, called Constance, were boarding at 4203 Grand Avenue in Philadelphia. She was an author, in "general practice." She was a published author from 1917 to 1923, also with a story published in 1904. Perhaps her mother had inroads in the publishing business at about that time.

• In 1930, Gertrude was at 193 Bigelow Street in Mill Valley, California. She worked as a secretary at a truck company (or at least that's what I think it says in the census).

• In 1933, Gertrude, by then married to Carl F. Gaster (1892-1952), was at 3870 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, California.

• In 1934, Gertrude was living at 1027 Ellis Street in San Francisco and working as a stenographer.

• On April 17, 1942, Gertrude was living at that same address when her husband filled out his draft card.

• In 1944, Gertrude was at 2166 Sutter Street in San Francisco.

• Gertrude Mabel or Myrtle Barrows Bennett Gaster died on February 2, 1948, in San Francisco at age sixty-four.

* * *

Gertrude Barrows Bennett was married twice and had one daughter. The husbands were Charles Montgomery Stuart Bennett (1874-1910) and Carl Franklin Gaster (1892-1952). Gertrude's daughter was Josephine Christy Bennett. I'll write about her first, then come back to the husbands.

Josephine Christy Bennett, later called Constance, was born on May 12, 1910, at 1700 Vine Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her father was Charles M. Stuart Bennett, an Englishman and a writer for magazines. He died less than eight months after her birth. I wonder now if the name change could have had something to do with Bennett or his death.

Constance Bennett presumably grew up in a household that included her mother and her grandmother. Her grandmother, Caroline "Carrie" Pierson (Hatch) Barrows (1841-1918), died on August 10, 1918, in Philadelphia. Constance was then just eight years old. In 1920, Constance Bennett was enumerated in the census with her mother as boarders in the household of Albert and Annie Orloff in Philadelphia. (Annie is mentioned in Lloyd Arthur Eshbach's introduction to The Heads of Cerberus by Francis Stevens, published in 1952 by Polaris Press.) By 1930, Constance was with her first husband in Collingdale, Pennsylvania, while Gertrude was living on the opposite end of the country in Mill Valley, California. As far as anyone knows, they never again lived together. The story is that the daughter lost contact with her mother. That might explain the lack of an extant photograph of Gertrude Barrows Bennett. On the other hand, her only daughter had children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, many of whom are still living. Could there yet be a photograph of her somewhere?

Constance Bennett was married twice, first to Walter Llewellyn Wilson, Jr. (1909-1940), then to Edgar Henry Osborne (1906-1977). Like her father, her first husband died by drowning, in his case while bathing in Loyalsock Creek near Williamsport, Pennsylvania. And like her father, her second husband was born in England.

Constance B. Osborne died on April 12, 2001, at Lehigh Valley Hospice in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She was ninety years old and was survived by children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. In other words, Gertrude M. Barrows Bennett, a writer of obscurity, has descendants who are still with us.

By the way, Constance Bennett Osborne was a member of Self-Realization Fellowship in California, World Unity-England, and A.R.E., Virginia Beach, Virginia. Founded in 1920 by Paramahansa Yogananda (ca. 1893-1952), Self-Realization Fellowship is still in existence. Also still in existence is A.R.E., or the Association for Research and Enlightenment, founded in 1928 by Edgar Cayce (1877-1945). I'm afraid I don't know what World Unity-England is, but I think we can assume that it was, like the others, an organization from on the fringes.

To be continued . . .

A postcard showing a view of Nicolett Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota, from the early 1900s, perhaps at around the same time that Gertrude M. Barrows was living in that city with her mother.

Text copyright 2023 Terence E. Hanley