Digging into our family history

LETTER FOR SAINT AND WALLIS COUSINS June 4, 2010

Prepared by Martha Saint-Berberian

Many thanks to second cousin Stephen Wallis (of Lexington, Massachusetts), for letting Susy and me go through old family archives (Saint, Wallis, Proctor), taking many pictures of documents and pictures in the space of two hours, in June 2009. Many thanks also to J. Kenneth Leap (of Runnemede, New Jersey) for providing extensive material on the life of Lawrence B. Saint focusing on his stained glass work. Josiah K. Proctor and Sarah Jane Proctor (1848-1920)

(www.jKennethLeap.com)

PROCTOR FAMILY.

In Massachusetts I found a copy of the last will of our great-grandfather Josiah Kendall Proctor. The will was written up in 1911, he died in 1920 (his wife a few weeks later) and the funds were disbursed in 1951, dividing up the sum into twenty equal amounts to: his two daughters, Jane (Jenny) Wallis (our great-aunt), Katharine Saint (our grandmother), the 8 Saint grandchildren, and the 10 Wallis grandchildren. Josiah Proctor was the founder of the Philadelphia Textile Machine Company, which made its first $100,000 in the year 1895 and its first million dollars in 1917. The Philadelphia Textile Machine Company changed to Proctor and Schwartz in 1920. Josiah had a genius for invention and development, and was famous for his deburring machine. He had a remarkably logical, imaginative mind coupled with the tenacity to work things out, given time. He was an expert in automatic drying of fibers. The family was active in the Presbyterian Church, and also the “Y”.

Josiah’s wife, Sarah Jane Wright, was from Groton, Massachusetts. Her father was Alva Wright. I found a copy of Alva Wright’s will, dated July 1891, giving one thousand dollars to each of his three daughters, and the same amount to each of the grandchildren (including Jane and Katharine).

I found five generations of ladies beginning with Jane/Jenny Proctor. Her mother was Fanny Gilson Woods-Wright, Fanny’s mother was Catherine Gilson Woods, and Catherine’s mother was Elizabeth Sartell Gilson. They are our family.

Jane married Allan Wallis, while Katharine married Lawrence Saint. 1884-1969

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Jane (Jenny) Wright Proctor-Wallis Katharine Wright Proctor-Saint
1875-1956 

 

SAINT FAMILY

Lawrence and Katharine Saint raised their family in the large house in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, beginning in 1920. The picture on the right I took in 1968 when my husband Sam, son Stevie, and myself visited Grandma Katharine. When Lawrence began his research experiments with stained glass, he changed their barn into the studio which was used for glass making for the National Cathedral.

The picture on the left is the barn-studio from those days in the 1930s. Note the huge window constructed to display the stained glass windows and evaluate the colors with realism.

The picture upper right is inside the barn-studio, on the second floor, where Lawrence (on left) is with two observers, and some seven workers.

The glass factory (see picture), was the third building on their property, in the back. With the furnaces going, it was VERY hot in there, since glass making requires very high temperatures. The determination and creativity of Lawrence Saint are in evidence, shown by the gorgeous colors in all his windows in the Cathedral in Washington, D.C. all colors that he created painstakingly with his team of workers.

A favorite picture of mine (on the right) is when my Dad, Phil, was in his twenties, shown here with his Dad, his brother Dave (who is showing the sculpture he made of his Dad) and their youngest brother, Ben. I truly thank God for our family, and all He has done for us.

BERBERIANS VISIT GRANDMA SAINT IN 1968

It was in 1968 when, with my husband Sam, and baby Steve, we visited Grandma Katharine, who lived in an apartment on the first floor of the studio-barn, since the house in front was rented out.

 

She invited us to go upstairs and choose some items that we wanted to have. It was dusty up there in the old studio, but all around were articles left from the stained glass work, and other art work of Grandpa Lawrence, who died June 22, 1961. We found two portraits Grandpa had painted, one of my father, Phil Saint, and one of Grandma Katharine herself, in her younger years. She let us have those two, plus some glass pieces, our family treasures.

Did you enjoy the historical stuff? Tell me what you think. I hope I got all the information straight.

Martha Saint- Berberian

Guatemala