Nellie May Scott Jaquillard

My great-grandmother Leta's older sister Nellie May Scott was born on July 17, 1887 in Clay Township, Ottawa County, Ohio. She was six (nearly seven) years older than Leta.

On October 12, 1905, Nellie married Franklin Jaquillard in Toledo (Lucas County), Ohio. She was 19 years old, and he was 24. Franklin was born on June 30, 1881 in Tiffin, Ohio. He was the son of Christian and Mary/Barbara (Walsh) Jaquillard.

According to the 1910 census, Nellie and Frank lived in Toledo, Ohio and had two children—Arnold (age 4) and Violet (age 1). Frank worked in the shipyards as a ship fitter.

Over the years, they would have seven children: Arnold F. (August 14, 1906-November 27, 1983); Violet (January 26, 1909-March 13, 1996); Lyle R. (October 5, 1910-January 18, 1991); Marvin A. (July 22, 1920-March 9, 2011); Delmer M. (November 11, 1922-August 31, 2008); Eldred (August 13, 1924-February 11, 1945).

The 1920 census has Nellie’s family living in Oregon, Ohio, with three children: Arnold (age 13), Viola [Violet] (age 11) and Lyle (age 9). As Marvin was born in July of the same year, Nellie must have been pregnant when the census was taken.

In 1930, they were still living in Oregon, Ohio with four children at home: Lyle (age 20), Marvin (age 10), Delmer (age 8) and Eldred (age 6). By 1940, Lyle had married Helen Miller and moved out, but Marvin (age 19), Delmer (age 17) and Eldred (age 15) lived at home.

Nellie and Franklin had two sons who served in the army during World War II: Marvin and Eldred. Marvin served in the C.B.I. (China-Burma-India) Theatre, where he earned three combat medals. Nellie and Franklin’s youngest son Eldred enlisted in the Army on April 3, 1943. He served as a Tec 4 in the 65^th Signal Corps. He died while serving, on February 11, 1945, and it looks as though his body was never recovered. On April 17, 1948, Franklin filed an application for a military marker, which was approved on May 14. 

Arnold also served in the military. According to the 1930 census, he was stationed at Fort Davis in the Panama Canal Zone. In1940, he was stationed in Honolulu, Hawaii, and in November 1945, he was a staff sergeant, still In Hawaii.

When I was a child, Lyle Jaquillard, his wife Helen and their children lived in a house behind my family’s house. We lived on Randall Drive, and they lived on Eastmoreland. I remember my mother telling us that we were cousins, but if I she told me how, it never sank in very far. What I most remember is that we shared what was called a “party line” on our telephones. This means that while we had separate phone numbers, we were both on the same line. Only one family could use it at a time. It seemed to my sister and me back then that Helen was on the phone all the time. I don’t recall whether or not we ever listened to her conversations. We probably did, but only a little. After all, she was a woman of our grandmother’s generation, and anything she said would have been boring to us. I do remember that we found it annoying when we wanted to use the phone, and she was on it. Also, with a party line, anyone calling us would get a busy signal if anyone in the Lyle Jaquillard house was on the telephone.

Nellie died on June 14, 1954. Franklin outlived her by seven years, dying on August 24, 1961.