Person Page - 528

     Reuben Loomis was born in 1786 at VT.¹ He was the son of Jonah Loomis and Mehitable Cram.¹ Reuben Loomis married Rhoda Jones.² Reuben Loomis died on 13 May 1823 at Milton, Chittenden Co., VT.²

     Rhoda Jones married Reuben Loomis, son of Jonah Loomis and Mehitable Cram.¹

     Lewis Albert Loomis was born on 21 September 1821 at Milton, Chittenden Co., VT.¹ He was the son of Reuben Loomis and Rhoda Jones.¹ Lewis Albert Loomis married Mary Fuller Hartshorn on 2 April 1843.² Lewis Albert Loomis died on 24 September 1898 at Manchester, Delaware Co., IA, at age 77.²

Lewis and Mary were enumerated in the 1850 Georgia, Franklin Co., VT, federal census. He was a merchant, age 28, she was 25. Children in the household were Helen M. 6, Julia 3, and Mary 1.


Lewis and Mary were enumerated in the 1860 Delaware, Delaware Co., IA, federal census. He was 38, she was 34. Children in the household were Helen 16, Julia 13, Mary 10, and Allen 8.


Lewis and Mary were enumerated in the 1870 Manchester, Delaware Co., IA, federal census. He was a produce dealer, age 49, she was 45. Children in the household were Mary 21. Allen R. 18, and Lewis A. 9.


L. A. and Mary F. were enumerated in the 1880 Manchester, Delaware Co., IA, federal census. He was 59, she was 55. The only child in the household was Lewis A. 19.

     Allen Reuben Loomis was born on 28 June 1823 at Milton, Chittenden Co., VT.¹ He was the son of Reuben Loomis and Rhoda Jones.¹

Allen R. and Phedora were enumerated in the 1850 Colchester, Chittenden Co., VT, federal census. He was a peddler and farmer, age 27, she was 29. Children in the household were Etta 3, and Lorinda A. 9 months.


Allen and P. H. were enumerated in the 1860 Delaware, Delaware Co., IA, federal census. He was a farmer, age 37, she was 38. Childlren in the household were Etna 12, Lorinda 10, Alma 8, Jane 6, and Loriin 1.


Allen and P.H. were enumerated in the 1870 Manchester, Delaware Co., IA, federal census. He was a Banker, age 46, she was 48. Children in the household were Lora 20, Alma 18, Jennie, 16, and Lorin 10.


A. R. and "Parmele" were enumerated in the 1880 Manchester, Delaware Co., IA, federal census. He was 57, she was 59. There were no children in the household.

     Daughter Loomis was born at Milton, Chittenden Co., VT.¹ She was the daughter of Reuben Loomis and Rhoda Jones.¹ Daughter Loomis died; in infancy.

     Mary Fuller Hartshorn was born on 16 October 1825 at Danville, Caleldonia Co., VT.¹ She married Lewis Albert Loomis, son of Reuben Loomis and Rhoda Jones, on 2 April 1843.¹ Mary Fuller Hartshorn died on 30 May 1884 at age 58.¹

     Allen Reuben Loomis was born on 30 November 1851 at Georgia, Franklin Co., VT.¹ He was the son of Lewis Albert Loomis and Mary Fuller Hartshorn.¹ Allen Reuben Loomis married Eva C. Davidson on 12 October 1874 at Winthrop, IA.²

Allen and Eva were enumerated in the 1880 Fort Dodge, Webster Co., IA, federal census, 4th Ward. He was a butter buyer, age 28, she was 24. Children in the household were Bertha 4, and Fred 2.


Allen R. and Eva were enumerated in the 1900 Fort Dodge, Webster Co., IA, federal census, Ward 2. He was 48, she was 43. Children in the household were Fred 22 (shown born January 1888), and Elsie, 15 (shown born March 1885).


Allen R. and Eva C. were enumerated in the 1910 Fort Dodge, Webster Co., IA, federal census. He was a poultry and egg merchant, age 58, she was 54. The only child in the household was Elsie, 24.

     Lewis Albert Loomis was born on 21 May 1861 at Manchester, Delaware Co., IA.¹ He was the son of Lewis Albert Loomis and Mary Fuller Hartshorn.¹

     Eva C. Davidson married Allen Reuben Loomis, son of Lewis Albert Loomis and Mary Fuller Hartshorn, on 12 October 1874 at Winthrop, IA.¹

     Bertha Mary Loomis was born on 19 July 1875 at Fort Dodge, Webster Co., Iowa.¹ She was the daughter of Allen Reuben Loomis and Eva C. Davidson.¹

     Fred Leon Loomis was born on 30 December 1877 at Fort Dodge, Webster Co., Iowa.¹ He was the son of Allen Reuben Loomis and Eva C. Davidson.¹ Fred Leon Loomis married Grace Vincent on 17 September 1902.² Fred Leon Loomis married Jane Elizabeth Hallowell, daughter of Peter Joseph Hallowell and Matilda Garland Scott, on 24 August 1953.

Fred and Grace were enumerated in the 1910 Fort Dodge, Webster Co., IA, federal census. He was a poultry and egg buyer and seller, age 32; she was 30. There were two children in the household, Edith 6, and Allen R. 11 months.


Fred and Grace were enumerated in the 1920 Fort Dodge, Webster Co., IA, federal census, ED 241. He was a general merchant, age 42, she was 40. Children in the household were Elizabeth 16, and Allen 10. Enumerated next door were father A. R., and Eva.

     Elsie Loomis was born in March 1885 at Fort Dodge, Webster Co., Iowa.^1,2 She was the daughter of Allen Reuben Loomis and Eva C. Davidson.¹

     Grace Vincent was born on 15 July 1879 at Fort Dodge, Webster Co., IA.¹ She married Fred Leon Loomis, son of Allen Reuben Loomis and Eva C. Davidson, on 17 September 1902.¹ Grace Vincent died circa 1952.

     Elizabeth Loomis was born circa 1903 at IA.¹ She was the daughter of Fred Leon Loomis and Grace Vincent.¹

     Allen R. Loomis was born on 26 May 1909 at IA.^1,2 He was the son of Fred Leon Loomis and Grace Vincent.¹ Allen R. Loomis married Susan Willis. Allen R. Loomis married Liliane Marie Madeleine Carré in 1962. Allen R. Loomis died on 18 November 1996 at Fort Dodge, Webster Co., Iowa, at age 87.²

Allen was president of the Fort Dodge Creamery Co., and owner of Rosedale Farms.

Allen married Lili Damita, a famous movie actress (1901-1994) who had first married Errol Flynn.

As a young French actress, Lili Damita could not have imagined she would end up a Hollywood star and later the wife of an Iowa businessman.

Liliane Marie-Madeleine Carre was born in Bordeaux, France, and by age 16 was a music hall sensation, succeeding the legendary Mistinguette as star of the Casino de Paris revue. She appeared in French films starting in 1921, and acted in British, German and Austrian pictures between 1926 and 1928. American movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn lured her to Hollywood to star with Ronald Colman in "The Rescue" in 1929. She was one of many foreign-born actresses of the period to be touted as "the new Garbo."

Also in 1929 she appeared in "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" and the box-office smash "The Cockeyed World," a sequel to "What Price Glory?" Her heavy accent did not reproduce well in talking pictures.

Damita retired from the screen after her 1935 marriage to soon-to-be-superstar Errol Flynn. It was the first marriage for both. They were divorced in 1942, and their son, one-time actor Sean Flynn, disappeared in Cambodia in April 1970 while covering aspects of the Vietnam War as a photojournalist for Time and Life magazines. He was declared legally dead in 1984.

Damita's second marriage was to Iowa businessman Allen Loomis, president of the Fort Dodge Creamery Co. and its famous Rosedale Farms. She lived in Fort Dodge from 1962 to 1983, until she and Loomis divorced.

In her later years, Loomis suffered from Alzheimer's disease and died in West Palm Beach, Fla. There were no survivors. She is buried at Oakland Cemetery at Fort Dodge.

Allen was the donor in 1935 of the famous "Floyd of Rosedale," the pig now memorialized in bronze, that goes to the winner of the annual football rivalry between Iowa and Minnesota. Floyd was named for the governor of Minnesota at the time, Floyd Olson.

     James Webb married Maria Cook, daughter of Isaac Cook IV and Margaretta Scott.

     Maria Cook was the daughter of Isaac Cook IV and Margaretta Scott. Maria Cook married James Webb.

     Abigail Adams was born on 3 January 1759.² She married John Bush.² Abigail Adams married Reuben Holcombe II, son of Reuben Holcombe and Susanna Hayes, on 4 June 1823.¹ Abigail Adams died on 21 August 1830 at age 71.²

     Thomas King Jr. was born on 3 December 1684 at Northampton, Hampshire Co., MA.¹ He was the son of Thomas King and Abigail Strong.¹ Thomas King Jr. died; young.

     Abigail King was born on 31 January 1687 at Hatfield, Hampshire Co., MA.¹ She was the daughter of Thomas King and Abigail Strong.¹ Abigail King married Gershom Sexton on 20 January 1708/9 at Hartford, Hartford Co., CT.

     Gershom Sexton married Abigail King, daughter of Thomas King and Abigail Strong, on 20 January 1708/9 at Hartford, Hartford Co., CT.

     Isaac Cook Jr. was born on 22 July 1710. He married Jerusha Sexton, daughter of Gershom Sexton and Abigail King, on 13 October 1733.

     Martha Cook was born in 1740. She married Isaac Cook III, son of Isaac Cook Jr. and Jerusha Sexton, in 1760.

     Isaac Cook IV was born on 16 July 1768 at Wallingford, New Haven Co., CT. He was the son of Isaac Cook III and Martha Cook. Isaac Cook IV married Margaretta Scott on 25 December 1792 at Chillicothe, Ross Co., OH. Isaac Cook IV died on 22 January 1844 at Chillicothe, Ross Co., OH, at age 75.

     Margaretta Scott was born on 15 January 1772 at Shippensburg, Cumberland Co., PA. She married Isaac Cook IV, son of Isaac Cook III and Martha Cook, on 25 December 1792 at Chillicothe, Ross Co., OH.

     Sarah Emmons married Rev. Joseph Morgan, son of Joseph Morgan and Dorothy Parke.

     Henry Van Kirk was born in 1700 at Hopewell, Hunterdon Co., NJ. He married Dorothy Morgan, daughter of Rev. Joseph Morgan and Sarah Emmons, circa 1723.

     Henry Van Kirk Jr. was born on 17 December 1740 at Monmouth Co., NJ. He was the son of Henry Van Kirk and Dorothy Morgan.

     William Van Kirk was born on 1 February 1763. He was the son of Henry Van Kirk Jr. William Van Kirk married Deborah Watters in 1785.

     Deborah Watters married William Van Kirk, son of Henry Van Kirk Jr., in 1785.

     Isaac Haines Dickerson was born circa 1802 at probably NJ.¹ He died in 1867 at Blooming Grove, Morrow Co., OH.¹

     Phoebe Elizabeth Dickerson was born on 21 December 1848 at near Blooming Grove, OH.¹ She was the daughter of Isaac Haines Dickerson and Charity Malvina Van Kirk.¹ Phoebe Elizabeth Dickerson married Dr. George Tryon Harding, son of Charles Alexander Harding and Mary Ann Crawford, on 7 May 1864 at Galion, OH.¹ Phoebe Elizabeth Dickerson died on 20 May 1910 at Marion, Marion Co., OH, at age 61. She was buried at Marion Cemetery, Marion, Marion Co., OH.²

     Dr. George Tryon Harding was born on 12 June 1844 at Blooming Grove, Morrow Co., OH.¹ He was the son of Charles Alexander Harding and Mary Ann Crawford.^2,3 Dr. George Tryon Harding married Phoebe Elizabeth Dickerson, daughter of Isaac Haines Dickerson and Charity Malvina Van Kirk, on 7 May 1864 at Galion, OH.¹ Dr. George Tryon Harding died on 19 November 1928 at Santa Ana, Orange Co., CA, at age 84.¹ He was buried at Marion Cemetery, Marion, Marion Co., OH.⁴

     President Warren Gamaliel Harding was born on 2 November 1865 at Blooming Grove, Morrow Co., OH.¹ He was the son of Dr. George Tryon Harding and Phoebe Elizabeth Dickerson.¹ President Warren Gamaliel Harding married Florence Mabel Kling on 8 July 1891 at Marion, Marion Co., OH.¹ President Warren Gamaliel Harding died on 2 August 1923 at San Francisco, San Francisco Co., CA, at age 57.¹

Harding was the 29th President of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death from a heart attack in 1923. A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate (1899–1903) and later as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio (1903–1905) and as a U.S. Senator (1915–1921).
His conservative stance on issues such as taxes, affable manner, and campaign manager Harry Daugherty's 'make no enemies' strategy enabled Harding to become the compromise choice at the 1920 Republican National Convention. During his presidential campaign, in the aftermath of World War I; he promised a return to "normalcy"; an "America first" campaign that encouraged industrialization and a strong economy independent of foreign influence. In the 1920 election, he and his running-mate, Calvin Coolidge, defeated Democrat and fellow Ohioan James M. Cox, in what was then the largest presidential popular vote landslide in American history since the popular vote tally began to be recorded in 1824: 60.36% to 34.19%.
President Harding headed a cabinet of notable men such as Charles Evans Hughes, Andrew Mellon, and future president Herbert Hoover. However, he was careless with other associates and rewarded his close friends with powerful positions. Scandals and corruption would eventually be found in the Harding Administration; Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall was jailed for involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal; Director of Veterans Bureau, Charles R. Forbes was involved in bribery and price skimming from bootleggers and drug dealers. In foreign affairs, Harding rejected the League of Nations; signed a separate peace treaty with Germany and Austria formally ending World War I. He also led the way to world Naval disarmament at the 1921–22 Washington Naval Conference. Domestically Harding signed the first child welfare program in the United States and dealt with striking workers in the mining and railroad industries.

Warren and Florence had no children.

From the New York Times 12 August 2015:
WASHINGTON — She was denounced as a “degenerate” and a “pervert,” accused of lying for money and shamed for waging a “diabolical” campaign of falsehoods against the president’s family that tore away at his legacy.
Long before Lucy Mercer, Kay Summersby or Monica Lewinsky, there was Nan Britton, who scandalized a nation with stories of carnal adventures in a White House coat closet and endured a ferocious backlash for publicly claiming that she bore the love child of President Warren G. Harding.
Now nearly a century later, according to genealogists, new genetic tests confirm for the first time that Ms. Britton’s daughter, Elizabeth Ann Blaesing, was indeed Harding’s biological child. The tests have solved one of the enduring mysteries of presidential history and offer new insights into the secret life of America’s 29th president. At the least, they demonstrate how the march of technology is increasingly rewriting the nation’s history books.

The revelation has also roiled two families that have circled each other warily for 90 years, struggling with issues of rumor, truth and fidelity. Even now, members of the president’s family remain divided over the matter, with some still skeptical after a lifetime of denial and unhappy about cousins who chose to pursue the question. Some descendants of Ms. Britton remain resentful that it has taken this long for evidence to come out and for her credibility to be validated.
“It’s sort of Shakespearean and operatic,” said Dr. Peter Harding, a grandnephew of the president and one of those who instigated the DNA testing that confirmed the relationship to Ms. Britton’s offspring. “This story hangs over the whole presidential history because it was an unsolved mystery.”
The Nan Britton affair was the sensation of its age, a product of the jazz-playing, gin-soaked Roaring Twenties and a pivotal moment in the evolution of the modern White House. It was not the first time a president was accused of an extracurricular love life, but never before had a self-proclaimed presidential mistress gone public with a popular tell-all book. The ensuing furor played out in newspapers, courtrooms and living rooms across the country.

While some historians dismissed Ms. Britton’s account, it remained part of popular lore. Pundits raised it as an analog after revelations of President Bill Clinton’s affair with Ms. Lewinsky. HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” made it a subplot a few years ago. The Library of Congress effectively recalled it last year when it released Harding’s love letters with another mistress, Carrie Phillips.

Ms. Britton, who was 31 years younger than Harding, had a harder time proving her relationship when she revealed it after his death because she had destroyed her own letters with him at his request and because his family insisted he was sterile.
As a boy growing up, Peter Harding said he believed the family line. “My father said this couldn’t have happened because President Harding had mumps as a kid and was infertile and the family really vilified Nan Britton,” said Dr. Harding, now 72 and a physician in Big Sur, Calif.
After finding Ms. Britton’s book, “The President’s Daughter,” among his father’s belongings, though, he concluded that the man described in it resembled the writer of the letters to Ms. Phillips, an expressive romantic who doted on women.
Dr. Harding and his cousin, Abigail Harding, decided to pursue the matter and made contact with James Blaesing, a grandson of Ms. Britton and son of the daughter she claimed to have conceived with the president. Testing by AncestryDNA, a division of Ancestry.com, the genealogical website, found that Mr. Blaesing was a second cousin to Peter and Abigail Harding, meaning that Elizabeth Ann Blaesing had to be President Harding’s daughter.

“We’re looking at the genetic scene to see if Warren Harding and Nan Britton had a baby together and all these signs are pointing to yes,” said Stephen Baloglu, an executive at Ancestry. “The technology that we’re using is at a level of specificity that there’s no need to do more DNA testing. This is the definitive answer.”

The testing also found that President Harding had no ancestors from sub-Saharan Africa, answering another question that has intrigued historians. When Harding ran for president in 1920, segregationist opponents claimed he had “black blood.”
Abigail Harding, 72, a retired high school biology teacher in Worthington, Ohio, said the Nan Britton question is resolved. “I have no doubts left,” she said. “When he’s related to me, he’s related to Peter, he’s related to a third cousin — there’s too many nails in the coffin, so to speak. I’m completely convinced.”
Still, other relatives withheld judgment. “I’m not questioning the accuracy of anybody’s tests or anything,” said Dr. Richard Harding, 69, another grandnephew and a child psychiatrist in Columbia, S.C. “But it’s still in my mind still to be proven.” If the tests are valid, he added, he welcomed the new family members. “I hope they’ll find their new place in history is meaningful and productive for them.”
James Robenalt, who wrote a book on Harding’s affair with Carrie Phillips that was skeptical of Ms. Britton’s claims, said he accepts the new evidence. “I’m very pleased that that’s the result just because that family deserves to be recognized,” he said.
Warren Gamaliel Harding was a newspaper publisher in Marion, Ohio, who won a Senate seat in 1914 and captured the presidency in 1920 promising to restore “normalcy” after World War I. He is often ranked low among American presidents because of the Teapot Dome corruption scandal that ensnared top advisers. But advocates argue he is underrated, noting that he advocated equal rights for African-Americans, created the Bureau of the Budget and led international disarmament efforts.

Nan Britton grew up in Marion, where her father knew Harding and Harding’s sister was her schoolteacher. She was consumed with Harding, who was married but had no children and was seen by women of the time as attractive. Ms. Britton hung pictures of Harding on her bedroom wall and sought his help finding a job. Harding agreed to meet her in New York. In July 1917, at age 20, she “became Mr. Harding’s bride,” as she put it, during a New York hotel room assignation.

For six and a half years they maintained their affair, meeting wherever possible, including in Harding’s Senate office, where Ms. Britton wrote that they conceived Elizabeth Ann, born in October 1919. Harding never met his daughter but provided financial support. He and Ms. Britton continued their relationship after he became president, repairing to “a small closet in the anteroom” in the West Wing where, she wrote, they “made love.”

Ms. Britton was devastated when he died in office in 1923 at the age of 57 and more so when she discovered there was no provision to support their daughter. In need of money and shut out by Harding’s family, she wrote “The President’s Daughter” in 1927, inciting a fierce backlash from his supporters.
James Blaesing, her grandson, said Ms. Britton’s relationship with Harding was a love story and her family always believed her. “She loved him until the day she died,” he said. “When she talked about him, she would get the biggest smile on her face. She just loved this guy. He was everything.”
Mr. Blaesing said the family lived with scorn for decades. They were followed, their house was broken into and items were stolen to try to prove the relationship was a lie. “I went through this growing up in school,” said Mr. Blaesing, 65, now a construction contractor in Portland, Ore. “They belittled him and her.”
The tests, he said, finally vindicate his grandmother. “I wanted to prove who she was and prove everyone wrong,” he said.

     Florence Mabel Kling was born on 15 August 1860 at Marion, Marion Co., OH.¹ She married President Warren Gamaliel Harding, son of Dr. George Tryon Harding and Phoebe Elizabeth Dickerson, on 8 July 1891 at Marion, Marion Co., OH.¹ Florence Mabel Kling died on 21 November 1924 at Marion, Marion Co., OH, at age 64.¹

     Charles Henry Leicester Stanhope Viscount Petersham was born on 20 July 1945. He married Virginia Alleyne Freeman-Jackson, daughter of Capt. Harry Freeman-Jackson and Dorothy Alleyne d'Aubigny d'Engelbronner, on 14 September 1966.

     Virginia Alleyne Freeman-Jackson was the daughter of Capt. Harry Freeman-Jackson and Dorothy Alleyne d'Aubigny d'Engelbronner. Virginia Alleyne Freeman-Jackson married Charles Henry Leicester Stanhope Viscount Petersham on 14 September 1966.

     Capt. Harry Freeman-Jackson was born circa 1910. He married Dorothy Alleyne d'Aubigny d'Engelbronner, daughter of Louis Antoine d'Aubigny d'Engelbronner and Anna Chickering Sumner.

     Dorothy Alleyne d'Aubigny d'Engelbronner was the daughter of Louis Antoine d'Aubigny d'Engelbronner and Anna Chickering Sumner. Dorothy Alleyne d'Aubigny d'Engelbronner married Capt. Harry Freeman-Jackson. Dorothy Alleyne d'Aubigny d'Engelbronner died circa October 1992.

     Louis Antoine d'Aubigny d'Engelbronner married Anna Chickering Sumner, daughter of Edward Alleyne Sumner and Florence Amelia Bingham.

     Anna Chickering Sumner was born in 1871. She was the daughter of Edward Alleyne Sumner and Florence Amelia Bingham. Anna Chickering Sumner married Louis Antoine d'Aubigny d'Engelbronner. Anna Chickering Sumner died in 1950.

     Edward Alleyne Sumner was born circa 1839. He was the son of William Russell Sumner and Anna Alleyne Chickering. Edward Alleyne Sumner married Florence Amelia Bingham, daughter of Henry Harrison Bingham and Amelia Wells.

Edward was enumerated in the 1880 Jackson, Jackson Co., MI, federal census. He was the Secy. of a Mfg Company, age 40. Also enumerated in the household were sister Florence 28, daughter Anna C. 8, and son Edward A. 5.

     Florence Amelia Bingham was the daughter of Henry Harrison Bingham and Amelia Wells. Florence Amelia Bingham married Edward Alleyne Sumner, son of William Russell Sumner and Anna Alleyne Chickering.

     William Russell Sumner was born circa 1800 at MA. He married Anna Alleyne Chickering, daughter of Jabez Chickering Jr. and Dorothy Deborah Forster Alleyne.

William R. and Anna were enumerated in the 1850 Dedham, Norfolk Co., MA, federal census. He was 40, she was 38. Childlren in the household were Edward A. 10, Anna R. 8, and Martha B. 5.

     Anna Alleyne Chickering was born circa 1811 at MA. She was the daughter of Jabez Chickering Jr. and Dorothy Deborah Forster Alleyne. Anna Alleyne Chickering married William Russell Sumner.

     Henry Harrison Bingham married Amelia Wells, daughter of Dr. Cyrus Wells and Asenath Fitch Chipman.

     Amelia Wells was the daughter of Dr. Cyrus Wells and Asenath Fitch Chipman. Amelia Wells married Henry Harrison Bingham.