Lawrence Christopher Black
Born 1 May 1940, Los Angeles, CA
Born 1 May 1940, Los Angeles, CA
Born 1 May 1940, Los Angeles, CA
A poppy primer, read the whole Poppy Papers here.
Born 1 May 1940, Los Angeles, CA
Born 1 May 1940, Los Angeles, CA
He was funny and always interesting!
The Genealogy Bug Bites
Born 1 May 1940, Los Angeles, CA
The Genealogy Bug Bites
My dad became interested in family history the year I was born. I think having children makes you wonder more about your own journey and who paved our path.
Poppy's dad: Lawrence Charles Black (born Jerome Chisam)
11 Feb 1913 - 28 Oct 1989
11 Feb 1913 - 28 Oct 1989
11 Feb 1913 - 28 Oct 1989
My paternal grandfather who I called Grandfather Black. They were very formal.
11 Feb 1913 - 28 Oct 1989
11 Feb 1913 - 28 Oct 1989
He was very kind, extremely soft spoken and I enjoyed spending time with him although we didn't see him as often as my maternal side.
11 Feb 1913 - 28 Oct 1989
Larry was born in Springfield, Illinois in 1913.
The family moved to Los Angeles (after several other stints in Georgia, etc) where he lived the rest of his life.
His recollections of life in the 1930s (teen years)
Late 1930s
Early 1940's my dad's early years
Jennifer Black (my dad's sister who died young)
1950's
1950's
Larry passed away in 1989 when I was 20. I had seen him only a few months before which I am very grateful for. He and Grandmother Black (Isabelle) came to visit me at college and we had lunch together. That is the picture of us above.
Larry's parents were Harry Waterbury Chisam and Elfrida Peterson.
Poppy's mom: Jane Margaret Chamberlain
7 Sep 1916 - 26 Jun 1990
7 Sep 1916 - 26 Jun 1990
7 Sep 1916 - 26 Jun 1990
My paternal grandmother was a mystery to me having only met her once when I was an infant. She was estranged from my dad his entire adult life. The gist is that when Jane and Larry divorced after Jennie's death in 1946 she seemed to have a nervous breakdown of sorts and was in and out of mental institutions which is what one did with "hysterical" women in those days. She may have had some bi-polar or manic tendencies but was never diagnosed. When Larry remarried Isabelle (who was very cold emotionally and extremely hard on my dad as a teen) he resented his mother not being there to help him. At some point in his 20s they had some kind of falling out and after the one visit to see her in 1970 he never saw her or spoke to her again. I found her death certificate sometime during my genealogy research and told him she had passed.
7 Sep 1916 - 26 Jun 1990
7 Sep 1916 - 26 Jun 1990
Newspaper clippings from her performances.
1950's
There have been some interesting conversations with her through my work with mediums. If you feel like leaving the earthly realm...
Jane's parents were Lawrence Safford Chamberlain and Mabel Powers.