About Dorothy (Dake) Anderson

My Ancestors

My Dad's grandparents:
His paternal grandfather: Isaac Benjamin Dake - born 1835 - died 1919
His paternal grandmother: Kezia Geer Dake - born 1839 - died 1907

Isaac Benjamin & Kezia (Geer) Dake


Isaac Benjamin Dake

Here is just a small history of our Great Grandpa Isaac. He was born in 1835 in Waterbury, Vermont. He died in 1919 at Rush City, Minnesota. His family moved from Vermont to Illinois in 1854. He married Kezia Geer in 1858. Kezia was born in 1839 in Springfield, Pennsylvania. Kezia died in 1907 in Columbia Falls, Montana. Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Dake moved to Pipestone, Minnesota, in 1887 from Illinois.

Gert Dake Pettit
Howard Lake, Minnesota


My Dad's parents:
His Father: Warren Ezra Gilbert Dake - born Feb. 28, 1873 - died May 6, 1932.
His Mother: Mary Elizabeth Cheney - born Oct. 8, 1875 - died Jan. 16, 1959.

Warren Ezra Dake and Mary Cheney Dake
On: their wedding day, November 9, 1898


My Mom gave me this picture. It was taken at a family reunion planned by Grandma and hosted at the Bill and Amy Dake farm. The picture is taken of Grandma and her siblings on that day in 1938. It shows, from left to right, back row: Greenberry, Isom, and William "Will" Cheney; front row: Grandma Mary (Cheney Dake) Greer, Aunt Sarah "Sarie" Cheney Kennedy and Aunt Caroline "Carrie" Cheney Tupper. (Some historical records and family members spell the name Cheney; others spell it Chaney.)


Grandma Mary (Cheney Dake) Greer, Aunt "Sarie" and Aunt "Carrie."


My Mother's Parents:
Her Father: Alonzo Shaeffer Mellon - born Jan. 7, 1873 - died Aug. 31, 1958.
Her Mother: Angeline Jane Doyle - born July 8, 1875 - Died Jan. 9, 1951.
Married: Nov. 24, 1896.
 
Great Uncle Curtis & Grandma Mellon, left; Grandpa A.S. Mellon & Great Grandson Tom Mellon, right.

Click here for articles about Grandpa Mellon in Bulletin 121.

Click here for memories of Grandma Mellon in Bulletin 136 and Bulletin 138.


My Father: William Benjamin Dake - born Jan. 22, 1900 - died Oct. 19, 1973.
My Mother: Amy May Mellon - born Mar. 28, 1898 - died June 26, 1993.
Married: Sept. 3, 1919.

 
Amy Mellon Dake, left; William B. Dake, right (circa 1918).


William Benjamin Dake and Amy May Mellon Dake
on their wedding day, September 3, 1919

My Parents
by Dorothy Mae (Dake) Anderson

My Dad, William Benjamin Dake, was born January 22, 1900. His parents were Warren and Mary (Cheney) Dake. Two years later his sister Elizabeth was born. Their family moved a bit when they were young. For a time they lived at Pipestone, Minnesota. Then they tried homesteading in Montana. I think Grandma wanted to move back -- at any rate they moved back to the little farm that was just to the west of Otto and Emma Wrobbel's, and next (on the northwest corner) to the Lonnie and Angie Mellon farm.

That is where he met the girl he married. My mom, Amy Mae Mellon, was the first child born to Alonzo S. Mellon (known as Lonnie) and Angeline (Angie) Mellon. She was born March 28, 1898. Everett Alonzo Mellon was born October 4, 1901.

Mom had her "normal training" (teacher training) in her senior year of high school, 1917-1918. Then Miss Amy Mellon taught "country school" for one year. She had 17 students in different grades. In those days, a married woman wasn't allowed to teach, so after she became Mrs. William Dake she was done teaching.


Miss Amy Mellon with her students at her country school, spring of 1919.


Bill and Amy were married at her home on September 3, 1919. Everett Mellon and Elizabeth Dake were their attendants. They then moved to a little house that had been bought and then moved onto the homestead of his folks. We had a cozy home there. But after the first three of us were all crowded in with the folks, it was decided that our Mellon grandparents would make the move to Waverly, Minnesota, where he had found a job managing a store. Our family would then farm their place and live in their farm home ... and so Mom was home again -- but I must say it didn't seem homey to me. (See Bulletin 52, July 20, 2003)

My mother lived on that farm from then until she and Dad retired.


Bill & Amy Dake 54th Wedding Anniversary (1973).

The William B. and Amy Dake Family
told by their daughter Dorothy

My Dad and Mother were married on September 3, 1919. Their attendants were my Dad's only sister, Elizabeth Dake, and Mom's only brother, Everett Mellon. The event was beautiful. My Grandma (Angie Doyle Mellon) was a lover of pretty things. She had a great time planning and orchestrating the wedding of her only daughter!

On June 14, 1920, their first child arrived. They named my brother William Everett. I do not think any of his family called him that as that name didn't seem to fit... He became Billy (sometimes spelled Billie; after he was grown he preferred to be called Bill).

My older sister Blanche was born on May 6, 1922. She was always called Blanche -- a very dignified person from the beginning. She knew how to talk but preferred not to until one day when she was four -- at that time she started speaking with the language of a grownup. So my Mom told me, after I came along to "talk the ears off a brass monkey," as I've also been told.

My arrival date was April 9, 1926. I (Dorothy) was the one who cried every time my Anty tried to take a picture of me. I still have an aversion to cameras!

LeRoy was born on July 5, 1928. We have been good buddies all of our lives; only for times like the one when I wanted Gilbert to be on my side in a game of snowballs against brother "Bubsy." He got so furious at the unfairness of it that he got super power and chased us home and into the house to escape his onslaught!!

Two years later, on December 24, 1930, Mildred Elaine was born. I do remember her; she was born a very comely child but she developed a viral disease and the horrible cough filled her newborn lungs and she died on January 4, 1931.

The last member of our family arrived on the day Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected (and Gert did not know another president until she was a teenager). She was born on November 2, 1932.

I have now introduced the William and Amy Dake Family. It is up to each of my siblings to tell their individual family stories (or get one of their children to!).

See also:

A Mother's Day Tribute to Amy M. Dake and Remembering Wm. B. Dake on Father's Day.

 
"Anty" Elizabeth Dake McCalla left; Uncle Everett Mellon (right).

Click here for a story about my "Anty"



Me, camera shy, at the house where I was born & my cousin Gilbert McCalla.

Picture of my childhood home. Me crying at sight of camera as always! My picture (taken by Anty) during the summer of 1928. My cousin Gilbert McCalla (9 months older than I) is in the background. The little house was where I was born. (It stood on the property 1/2 mile west to Ervin Wrobbel's house). It is now on the Eddy Nursery just south of the Pillsbury place where we lived when Marlene, Patty, and Doug were babies.

 
My older brother and sister, me and my cousin Gilbert, left; Gilbert, right.

The left picture was probably taken on the same day as my crying one -- both taken near our little home on Grandpa and Grandma Dake's farm. In back it shows Blanche and Billy, all dressed up, with Me (Dorothy) and cousin Gilbert in front. My first cousin Gilbert (Gib) McCalla served in the Marine Corps. The Marines called for great stamina and strength. He was discharged early as he hurt his hand while on maneuvers and weakened it. He returned to civilian life the year I was a senior, I would think in 1943. This was a prized portrait that he sent me (not anyone else in the family). I was thrilled and still think him one of the handsomest young men of my acquaintance.


Ed Greer & Mary Cheney Dake Greer
(probably on their wedding day)


A gathering at my grandma's house during her second marriage.

I also found an old photo of Uncle Ed's home where Grandma Greer and he lived for the first few years of her second marriage. It has Les Green on it. (Leslie has done extensive work on our family history.) It is labeled 1938 so that would be the same year my valentine story was written about.

The occasion for this picture. It was a Sunday afternoon and we visited Grandma (Mary) and Ed Greer. There was a special reason. Les Green (our second cousin) and his mom, a widow named Clara Green were there; she was my dad's first cousin. (There is an interesting story of why she was a widow.) She and Les were visiting at Grandma's. Clara was Grandpa Warren Dake's niece. It was taken the same year as the Valentine's story ... but was during the summer vacation of 1938. The house in the background was Grandpa and Grandma Greer's and the car was ours.

back row left to right: Mom (Amy Dake), Ed Greer, Dad (William B. Dake), my brother Billy, and second cousin Les Green (who was looking up Dake family information)

middle row: Grandma Mary Greer, Dad's first cousin Clara Green, Nelson Curtis (a bachelor who often stayed the winter with us), and my sister Blanche (high school age and really smartly dressed!).

front row: My youngest sister Gert, Myself (Dorothy Dake), LeRoy Dake (Bubsy), and Gilbert (Gib) McCalla (who stayed with Grandma at that time).


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