Martha Josselyn

Martha Josselyn was born on 30 August 1909 at 144 East 22nd Street, New York, New York.^1,2 She was the daughter of Edgar Alonzo Josselyn and Ella May Hannah.

Martha Josselyn appeared on the census of 5 May 1910 at 144 East 22nd Street, New York, New York, in the household of her father, where her name was shown as Martha H. Josselyn.³ When told of this middle initial in 2003, she said it was never used and was not on her birth certificate.⁴ When she was a little under four years old, the family went to Cozy Corner cottage at Ocean Grove, New Jersey for the summer; her father came down on weekends.⁵

In 1913 the family moved to a rented house on Denison Street, White Plains, Westchester County, New York.^5,6 In June 1914 Martha contracted typhoid fever; she was very ill and in a comma. Elizabeth Bell paid fifty dollars for the services of Dr. Hope (a famous doctor) and a nurse.^5,7 Her parents blamed bad plumbing in the Denison Street home for Martha's illness, since typhoid fever was not generally around, and for this reason the family moved to a rented house on Fisher Avenue, White Plains, for six months.^8,5 A house around the corner on Bank Street then became available, and the family lived there until 1924 or 1925.^5,9,8 The Bank Street residence was across the street from the Fisher Avenue School, no longer in existence, which was shown in a 1907 atlas as "Public School No. 2" on the northwest corner of the intersection of Bank Street with Fisher Avenue.^10,11 A photograph taken in March 1918 shows Martha in the 4th grade of this school; her teacher was Miss Livingston, who lodged with the Josselyn family.

In White Plains, Martha attended the Unitarian Sunday School where her father was a teacher.¹² Later she went to the Sunday School of Ridgeview Congregational Church, because that was where her friends were going.¹² It was at Ridgeview Church that she became acquainted with Frank Kenneth DeVoe, a boy who had been in her kindergarten class.¹³

Martha Josselyn appeared on the census of 17 January 1920 at 2 Bank Street, White Plains, Westchester County, New York, in the household of her father; her 4th grade teacher, Bessie C. Livingston, was shown as a lodger.¹⁴

A newspaper clipping in Martha's possession in 2007 describes the graduation ceremony of her 8th-grade class, presumably in 1922.¹⁵ Her class had 132 members, and she ranked sixth-highest in Regents' honors among the girls. Two of her close friends, Caroline Tietjen and Ruth Jackson, ranked even higher. Caroline's sister, Sarah Barnes Tietjen, also graduated in this class.¹⁵ Caroline Tietgen married Robert Storer; they were later divorced.¹⁶

In 1922 or earlier, the family built a summer home on Hoanjovo Lane (then called Hoanjo Lane) in Pleasantville, New York.⁵ The work was done by their friend Nick Filardi (who was a builder) and by themselves on weekends, using material from an old school including huge windows.⁸

Edgar Josselyn designed a house at 19 Highland Avenue, White Plains, New York. The family moved into it after the Pleasantville house was built; this was probably during Martha's junior year of high school in 1924 or 1925.⁸ The house was rented out in summer while the family stayed at the Pleasantville house and Edgar commuted to his office in New York City. In the depression there was no work, so the Highland Avenue house was sold and the family made the Pleasantville house a permanent year-round residence; this was just before Martha's marriage in October 1931.^5,17,9

Martha Josselyn graduated from high school in 1926.¹⁸ She was the youngest in her high school class.⁸ During high school days she and her friends had talked about going to college, but to Martha's great disappointment, her parents felt that such education was unnecessary for a girl.^12,8 Instead, she went to the Savage School for Physical Education at 308 West 59th Street, New York, New York, where she distinguished herself in sports and academics.¹² She graduated from the Savage School after three years, in 1929, at the top of her class.⁸ Following her graduation, she became a recreational director for a group of institutionalized children at Grasslands Hospital north of White Plains.¹²

Martha Josselyn appeared on the census of 7 April 1930 at 19 Highland Avenue, White Plains, Westchester County, New York, in the household of her father.¹⁹ She was a teacher for an institution according to the April 1930 census.¹⁹

Martha Josselyn married Frank Kenneth DeVoe, son of Frank Quinlan DeVoe and Eva Matilda Troup, on 10 October 1931 at Ridgeview Congregational Church, White Plains, Westchester County, New York.²⁰ They were married by Rev. William Dana Street and Rev. James A. Fairley.^21,22

Martha DeVoe and Frank Kenneth DeVoe lived from 1931 to 1960 on Hoanjovo Lane, Pleasantville, Westchester County, New York. The DeVoe home was designed by Martha's father, financed through the bank of Kenneth's cousin Harry Mayne, and built mostly by Kenneth's father with a helper.^17,18 The name of the private lane, "Hoanjovo," came from the names of the original residents: Holden, Angell, Josselyn, DeVoe. (Before the DeVoe house was built, it was called "Hoanjo Lane.") The original house on the lane was that of Judge Stephen Holden (a close friend of Martha's father) and his wife Clarissa; the house was called "Robins Roost." Mrs. Angell was Clarissa Holden's sister; her maiden name was Mary Angel(!) and the Angell house was called "Swing 'em Inn." The Josselyns called their house "Arbor Lodge," and the DeVoe house was "Hickory Hollow."^17,18,23

Martha Josselyn appears in a family photo taken 5 July 1936 at Harry and Mary Mayne's beach house in Morningside, Milford, Connecticut.

Martha Josselyn appeared on the census of 1940 at Pleasantville, Westchester County, New York, in the household of her husband.²⁴

Martha Josselyn studied flower design and textile design at the New York Phoenix School of Design in New York City for about one and one-half years, starting about 1957.²⁵ After working in various studios, in September 1959 she began an enjoyable and challenging career in textile design at F. Schumacher & Company, where she advanced to the head of the Design Department (a department of only two persons.)^12,13,8,26 While working at Schumachers, she attended the New York School of Interior Design from which she graduated in May 1960.^25,12,13,27

The Hoanjovo Lane home was sold on 15 June 1960, when Kenneth and Martha moved to a new home designed for them by Royal Barry Wills on Indian Chief Trail, Mauweehoo Hill, Sherman, Connecticut.²⁸ Until they retired, Kenneth and Martha spent their weekends in Sherman and stayed during the week in Tudor City at Apartment 1710, 320 East 42nd Street, New York, New York.^25,29

Between 1962 and 1995, Kenneth and Martha made sixteen trips to most of the countries of Europe and also Russia and Morocco.²⁶ 26 March 1970 was their last day of work, and 28 March 1970 was their last day in the New York City apartment.^30,31

On 20 March 1973, Kenneth and Martha sold their Sherman home and moved to the condominium community of Heritage Village, Southbury, Connecticut.³² In December 1973 they moved to a different unit which had more privacy.^26,33

In 1978 they moved again, this time to a house they had built at 6 Trout Pond Lane, Chatham, Massachusetts.³⁴ They received the occupancy permit for the Chatham house on 15 July 1978.³⁴

Martha was active in the First Parish Brewster Church (Unitarian-Universalist), serving on the Building Committee for a new addition.¹² In 1986, Kenneth and Martha with five others formed the Chatham Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship. Martha ran most of the Fellowship social events and was the treasurer for a number of years.¹³ Later, as vice-president of the Fellowship, she played an active role in the purchase of the building of the former Christian Science Church of Chatham for the new Unitarian Universalist Meeting House.¹³

On 12 December 1997, with Kenneth ill, Martha sold the Chatham home.^35,36 The house was sold for $300,000 to Maurice W. Melchiono and Michael H. Ward of 916 Beacon Street, Boston, with the closing taking place 13 March 1998.³⁷ On 24 January 1998 Martha moved to Apartment 203, The Melrose, Harwichport, Massachusetts, which she had bought the month before for $210,750.^35,38,39 On the occasion of her birthday in 1999, the church musician Ann MacDonald Diers wrote "A Ninetieth Birthday Song for Martha."

On 6 June 2001, now a widow, Martha moved to a rented apartment at Meadowood Retirement Community, Bloomington, Indiana.⁴⁰ A touching farewell had appeared in the January newsletter of the Chatham Unitarian Universalist Church.

To celebrate her ninety-fifth birthday, her family organized a family reunion and banquet on 20-22 August, 2004 at Fourwinds Resort, Bloomington, Indiana. In all, there were 36 relatives present. They all appear in photos taken on the evening of the banquet on 21 August 2004.

Martha Josselyn moved into assisted living at Country Meadows Retirement Community, Frederick, Maryland, on 24 August 2006.

Martha Josselyn died on 24 July 2007 at 5:50 AM at the Glade Valley Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Walkersville, Maryland, at age 97.⁴¹ Her death was the result of a fall she had in her apartment on 20 June, in which she injured her neck. Her death certificate showed the cause of death was pneumonia, with coronary artery disease a contributing condition.⁴¹ She was buried on 16 August 2007 in Forest Hills Cemetery, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.⁴²

Martha left a message, written about ten and a half years before her death, asking her children to celebrate the wonderful life she had had.