I thought today I might take a few minutes to write about the life of Lawrence (Alloway) Howery. I often get messages from other genealogists who are confused by him and his story. With some luck, I’ll be able to say enough about him I can send this link to people who ask, and not have to type it all out again and again.
Lawrence Oscar Alloway was born January 8, 1921 in Madison, Nebraska. He was son of Ira Milton Alloway and Charlotte (Preuss) Alloway. He had four older siblings: Ralph (1913), Blanche (1914), Elisie (1915), and Harry (1916).
His mother, Charlotte, died a few months later, on April 13, 1921, of complications from childbirth. Lawrence and his siblings were sent to live with other local families. I haven’t been able to trace them all. I’ve found Ralph was raised by his father’s brother Ernest Alloway. Blanche and Harry were adopted by “a family in Humphrey, Nebraska.” I don’t have any information about Elsie.
Lawrence was adopted by his father’s sister, Bertha (Alloway) Howery and her husband Rev. Elmer Philip Howery. And that begins the subsequent confusion about Lawrence’s identity. It’s the reason the baby Lawrence Alloway eventually became Lawrence Howery.
Bertha and her husband had other children, who became Lawrence’s siblings: Margaret (1906), Dudley (1910), Kenneth (1916), Wilma (1918), and later Warren (1923). There had also been a baby Mary, born in 1912 and died in 1914. But I think it was really the death of their baby Charlotte that led to them adopting Lawrence. Charlotte was born April 17, 1921, just a few days after Lawrence’s mother died, and Charlotte herself only lived a short time. She died July 12, 1921.
There might have been less confusion, but Bertha’s husband Elmer died a year later, on November 22, 1922 in Fremont, Nebraska. Coupled with the birth of baby Warren the following January, Bertha must have had a difficult time. She married Evi Long in March 1924, and had another baby Carrol in December.
We don’t know when Bertha gave up Lawrence, but by 1930 he was living with Bertha’s sister-in-law, Eldora (Howery) Wright and her husband Sam Wright in Chico, California. Lawrence Wright appears on the 1930 census there, with no indication he was not their natural son (and no indication he had been Lawrence Howery before that). We know from family tradition Eldora and Sam Wright moved from Nebraska to Chico in the 1920s. My guess is baby Lawrence was already in their household and moved with them.
From there, Lawrence history is easy to trace if you know his different names. Growing up in California, Lawrence used the surname Wright, as we might expect from that time and place. According to articles in the local paper, he graduated from Central Grammar School June 1, 1935 under the name Lawrence Alloway Wright. He graduated from Chico High School in May 1939 using the same name.
However, he seems to have settled on the name Lawrence Howery when he enlisted in the army in 1939. Probably that was the name he could best support using legal records available to him. under the name Lawrence Howery. His enlistment papers say he was a resident of Butte County (that is, probably Chico) and (supposedly) had a year of college. He appears on the 1940 census at Honolulu, Hawaii also as Lawrence Howery, Private 1st Class. (He was still there in 1941, when he survived the attack on Pearl Harbor.) An article about him appeared in the local newspaper, Chico Record, published in 1943 calls him Lawrence Wright Howery, however on his wedding announcement in the same newspaper, he was listed as Lawrence (Howery) Wright. He was discharged in 1945, at the end of the war. Just before his discharge, he registered for the draft, also giving his name as Lawrence Howery.
I found some articles in the Chico newspaper. Lawrence Alloway Wright graduated from (Grammar school) Central, Jun 1, 1935. He went to school with my aunt, Lida Geraldine Wright. He graduated from Chico High School May, 1939 using the name Lawrence Alloway Wright. In 1943 on the marriage announcement, he used Lawrence (Howery) Wright. In 1946 article, about his schooling to become an Airline mech, for Western Airlines, I think he used Lawrence Howery.
At some point, probably in conjunction with applying for Social Security, he got a delayed birth certificate, with his name as Lawrence Oscar Howery, son of Elmer Howery.