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Wilford/Wilfred Thomson Loney and Myra Emily Kurtz

Welcome!  If this is your first visit to our blog, please read our Intro post here.  To date we have written posts about all known members of the first, second, and third generations of descendants of William Loney of Co Longford, Ireland, their spouses, and their spouses’ families.

If you are looking for information on someone in particular, you can use the “Search” feature in the upper right-hand corner of this page. 

We hope that the information you find here will be helpful to you in your genealogical research, lead you to an “aha” moment, or help you find a missing ancestor or branch of your family tree.  And, we have loved hearing from everyone who has contacted us. 

While we make every effort to ensure that what we post is accurate (based on source documents or “reliable” family information), we would be silly to think that we haven’t made any mistakes.  If you run across one, please, please, please let us know so we can correct it.

If you are planning a trip to Ireland, visit our section on What to do in Ireland.  It provides a brief overview of where you might go and what you might do if you are interested in genealogical research on the Loney Family.

What to do in Ireland

Finally, we remain forever optimistic that someone out there will contact us because they have old Loney family photos to share.  We would be especially thrilled to have one of William, Charles, John or Robert Loney or their sister, Ann Loney Cunningham. We are waiting to hear from you!

We apologize for the inconsistency in fonts we’ve used in this post. WordPress wasn’t cooperating tonight and we were too tired to fight it. 🙂

A while back, when we were searching in old newspapers for Loney ancestors, we came across a number of articles from Saginaw, Saginaw Co, MI about Wilford/Wilfred Thomson Loney and his wife, Myra Emily Kurtz. Those articles led to this post.

It’s a long post. We considered splitting it into multiple posts, but for continuity settled on one. Some of the photos and documents we’ll be sharing are compliments of Lisa Wiley (to whom we are very grateful).

NOTE: We have seen the first name spelled both Wilford and Wilfred, and previously thought of Wilfred as most likely the “correct” one. (Note: some family members remember him being called Thomson.) However, as the spelling on his gravestone is Wilford, and most of the articles we found use that spelling, we will be using that version in this post.  It’s also worth mentioning that he seems also to have often gone by W.T. 

Wilford was the son of David Loney and his second wife, Margaret “Maggie” Thomson. You can read about them here.

Wilfred was born 7 Jan, 1886 in Pendleton, Umatilla Co, OR. Oral family history agrees with this or puts the location nearer to the Washington border (perhaps near Milton Freewater, Umatilla Co.) Other records exist showing his birthplace as Walla Walla, Walla Walla Co, WA, USA, where David and Margaret moved to from Pendleton.

David Loney died 14 June, 1898, Walla Walla. In 1903, Maggie, in ill health, left Walla Walla and took her three living sons back to Canada where she died 22 Sept, 1903. The boys were split up. Wilford’s brothers, Byron and Milton were raised by relatives in Canada and Wilford was raised by relatives on his mother’s side in Grand Rapids, Kent Co, MI. We believe this was probably either the family of Wilford’s uncle John J Thomson or the family or another uncle, D. L. Thomson. Both were jewelers in Grand Rapids.

By 1908, Wilford had moved to Saginaw, MI. We know from this “Bygone Days” column in the 1 July, 1949 issue of the Saginaw News that he came there from Grand Rapids, MI.

“1909 – Wilford T Loney of Grand Rapids bought the E J Hall Jewelry Store and announced he would operate an optical parlor in conjunction with it.”

The jewelry store Wilford purchased in Saginaw was at 414 (South Side) Genesee near Jefferson, a location that no longer seems to exist. The name was changed to W T Loney Jewelry and he operated it for many years.

We imagine Wilford got his start in the jewelry business through one or both of his two jeweler uncles in Grand Rapids. Some family memories indicate that there was also a Thomson jewelry store in Saginaw. The photo below, courtesy of Lisa Wiley, has this notation on the back “Sat, noon. 1274. Uncle Thompson family store, Saginaw, Michigan.”

However, searching old Saginaw newspapers, we have found no articles about or advertisements for a Thomson jewelry store located there (and the store Wilford purchased was owned by a E J Hall).

In addition, the obituary below for Wilford’s uncle, John J Thomson, talks of how he came to Grand Rapids when he was 19, learned the jeweler’s trade, later went into business with his older brother, D.L. Thomson, and then eventually went into business for himself. He started in the Eagle Hotel on Market Ave and then moved his business to 327 Monroe Street where he worked for 26 years until the time of his death in 1924. It makes no mention of a store in Saginaw.

The Grand Rapids Press – Friday, Mar 14, 1924

So, we think the store in the photo might actually have been in Grand Rapids. We would love to hear from anyone who has information on a Thomson jewelry store that was in Saginaw.

Note: Sadly, on 18 Sept, 1913, John J Thomson’s store on Monroe Street was the scene of a terrible (and now infamous) robbery and triple murder. Wilford came from Saginaw for the funeral of John N Thomson (the cousin of John J) who tragically was one of those killed in the robbery.

Now, back to Wilford. On 7 Jun, 1911, he married Myra Emily Kurtz in Saginaw. That day’s edition of the Saginaw Daily News included a report of their wedding, as well as a brief description of an event that had been held the evening before at the Elks Club in honor of Wilford and Myra and another couple.

 

Myra was born 31 Jul, 1889. She was the daughter of William H Kurtz and Bertha M Berlin. We will share more about Myra and her family in our next post.

By 1 Jan, 1913 (the date David William Loney, their first child was born) Wilfred and Myra had moved from their home on Annesley St to 121 Emily St.

THE SAGINAW DAILY NEWS – Thursday, Jan 02, 1913

Wilford and his son, David William (Bill) c 1915 – photo courtesy Lisa Wiley

And another, also courtesy of Lisa, of Wilford and Bill in 1932.

The next year, in March of 1914, Wilford’s jewelry store suffered considerable damage in a fire.

THE SAGINAW DAILY NEWS – Monday, Mar 23, 1914

The following year, Wilford and Myra’s second child, Margaret Myra Loney, was born 1 Dec, 1915.

Then, on 4 July, 1917, the couple’s third child, Jean Marie Loney, was born.

Wilford’s 12 Sept, 1918 World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Card tells us that he was of medium height and a stout build, with blue eyes and brown hair. 

Three months later, on 13 Dec, 1918 (a Friday the 13th). Wilford was the victim of a “bold daylight robbery.”

After what had happened during the robbery at his uncle’s store, this surely must have been a traumatic experience for him.

THE SAGINAW NEWS COURIER – Saturday, Dec 14, 1918

THE SAGINAW NEWS COURIER – Tuesday, Dec 17, 1918

The ad below, from the 18 Dec, 1921, gives an idea of the beautiful things Wilford offered in his store and thieves might have been tempted to steal.  

THE SAGINAW NEWS COURIER – Sunday, Dec 18, 1921

And, also from 1921 (Nov), this article speaks to Wilford’s support of Saginaw football.

THE SAGINAW NEWS COURIER – Sunday, Nov 27, 1921

Amsden’s band refers to Arthur Amsden’s 33rd Regimental Band.  “The End of a Perfect Day”, the song Wilford requested be played at the close of the game, was written by Carrie Jacobs- Bond in 1909 and became phenomenally popular. Twenty-five million copies of the sheet music sold during her lifetime. They lyrics are below.

A PERFECT DAY (1909)
Words and Music by Carrie Jacobs-Bond (1862-1946)

When you come to the end of a perfect day,
And you sit alone with your thought,
While the chimes ring out with a carol gay,
For the joy that the day has brought,
Do you think what the end of a perfect day
Can mean to tired heart,
When the sun goes down with a flaming ray,
And the dear hearts have to part?
Well, this is the end of a perfect day,
Near the end of a journey, too,
But it leaves a thought that is big and strong,
With a wish that is kind and true.
For mem’ry has painted this perfect day
With colors that never fade,
And we find at the end of a perfect day,
The soul of a friend we’ve made.

We love this photo (courtesy Lisa Wiley) of the Loneys in the family car, c 1920s.

On New Year’s Day, 1923, an alcohol explosion caused another fire in Wilford’s jewelry store. We weren’t able to find any additional information on the event, so perhaps and hopefully the damage was minimal.

THE SAGINAW NEWS COURIER – Monday, Jan 01, 1923

THE SAGINAW NEWS COURIER – Tuesday, Dec 28, 1926

It was fun to discover that, along with gold and silver and fine China, the windows in Wilford’s store also sometimes displayed things of a more whimsical nature and that showed his involvement in and support of the community.

On 30 Apr, 1929, this ad ran in the Saginaw News. It promotes Wilford’s work not only as a jeweler and optician, but as a “registered optometrist.”

THE SAGINAW DAILY NEWS – Tuesday, Apr 30, 1929

By 1934, the family had moved a couple of doors down, to 115 Emily St., as reported in the snippet below. Although the reason for their trip to Detroit was not mentioned, it was likely for the funeral for Wilfred’s brother, Dr. Byron Stanley Loney, who had died earlier that month, on 16 Mar, 1934.

THE SAGINAW DAILY NEWS – Monday, Mar 26, 1934

Wilford was very involved with Elf Khurafeh Shrine and its subsidiary organizations. In Jan of 1933, he was elected as potentate.

THE SAGINAW DAILY NEWS – Thursday, Jan 12, 1933

Wilford’s duties as potentate included such things as leading the grand march at the March, 1933 Potentate’s Ball. The article that included the photo below also included this description of Myra’s gown, “Myra wore a gown of black crepe bordered at the neckline with rhinestones.”

Also in 1933, we read about the Loney’s summer cottage at Pratt(s) Lake, a 180-acre lake in scenic about ten miles from Gladwin, Gladwin Co, MI. According to his obituary, Wilford loved the outdoors and spent a lot of time hunting and fishing while at his cottage. 

And, in May, 1934 Wilford wrote to The Saginaw Daily News praising their decision to change their type.

Praise for Bigger Print Type Flows into News Office

THE SAGINAW DAILY NEWS – Wednesday, May 09, 1934

Just a few months later, in January of 1935, Wilford closed his jewelry business (and we assume the optical portion as well) and changed his line of work to general insurance.

THE SAGINAW SUNDAY NEWS – Sunday, Jan 06, 1935

At least for a time, his office was in the Eddy Building (509 Eddy Building).

Wilford Thomson Loney died 13 Mar, 1944, at the age of 58. His obituary is below. 

THE SAGINAW NEWS – Tuesday, Mar 14, 1944

Wilford is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Saginaw.

It appears that after Wilford died, Myra may have spent some time in Chicago (possibly with one of her children), returning in May, 1946.

THE SAGINAW NEWS – Monday, May 06, 1946

Myra Emily Kurtz Loney died 10 Aug, 1961 in Marion, Grant Co, IN, at the age of 72. She is buried with Wilfred in Saginaw. 

We want to mention that Lisa Wiley has shared several other documents related to Wilford on FamilySearch. Some relate to his activities as a Shriner and there are also letters from Bill to the family and a letter from Wilford to Bill.  Anyone interested in these can find them here.

Note: Access to FamilySearch is free, but you do have to create an account.

In our next post, we’ll be writing about Wilford’s wife, Myra Emily Kurtz, and her family.

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