Levi and Maggie Case

Levi Harrison Case, born September 26, 1872, Ingersoll, Oxford County, Ontario Canada.
    Died November 16, 1943, Los Angeles, California.
    Married Margaret Etta Spencer, August 29, 1899 in Wise County, Texas
    Parents: Wilmot Harrison Case and Maria Falkins/Falkingham

About 1898, Levi Harrison Case left his home in Ingersoll, Oxford County, Canada to follow his older brothers Henry Oscar and Rudolphus "Dolph" to Texas. Grandfather Case died when I was 4, and I have only a faint recollection of that tall, kind gentleman. I have not been able to find much detail on his life, but his descendants may find this recollection by William George Kraft, Jr ("Billy", oldest son of Levi's daughter Ida Mae") of interest:

While visiting in Texas, he met Margaret Etta Spencer, younger sister of Dolph's wife Lavatia Spencer. They were married in Decatur, Texas on August 29, 1899 when he was 27 and she was barely 16. Levi was an early Decatur merchant...opening a butcher shop he operated with brother Dolph. The 1900 census for Decatur listed Levi and Maggie with daughter Luella and, in the same household (I think above the Butcher Shop) were Dolph and "Octavia" with their Texas born children: Elmer, Maybel, Rodolphus, Jr., and Octavia.

Maggie Spencer at about 14 and Dolph's Mabel Mae at the age of 14 months

Louella and Deward Case, Decatur, TX about 1903

Louella, Deward and Ida Mae Case, about 1915 (??)

Margaret Hazel Case, about 3 yrs.

Levi Freeman Case, about 3 yrs.

Both Levi and Dolph were described in that 1900 census as butchers—Below, left is Levi in his Butcher Shop in Decatur, Texas. Nearby at that time was Octavia and Maggie's older brother George Alexander Whitfield Spencer, a "Merchant of Hot Tamales". George's Hot Tamales would later be the sustaining business of our Case family in Los Angeles during the "Great Depression". Apparently, when the cattle business started to dwindle in the next decade, and Decatur business slowed, Dolph moved to Corpus Christie, by the 1910 census, which listed him as carpenter, with an additional daughter Grace, born 1901 and a son Ferman born 1907. Living with Dolph's family in 1910, was Octavia and Maggie's sister Hattie Robinson and her family.

Levi and Maggie Case with (oldest to youngest) Louella, Deward and Ida Mae. From the apparent ages, this would be about---1906?

The California census for 1910 shows a recently transplanted Texan, Levi, in a hotel or rooming-house at 444 Seventh Street, Los Angeles, under the name of Harrison L. Case, a carpenter. Listed with them at the rooming house was Levi’s older brother Franklin, with his Corpus Christi, TX born wife Minnie and a 3-month old daughter, born in Redlands CA on the way from Texas to visit Levi and Maggie. Franklin and Minnie later left California and moved to Campbell River, BC, Canada where they raised their family.

The Levi and Maggie family in the 1910 census included their additional children Deward , Ida Mae and Hazel, and on April 30, 1914, in Long Beach, California, Levi H. (then a gardener) and Maggie had my father, Levi Freeman Case [His original birth-certificate listed him as George Case--corrected to the name he grew up with when he joined the Navy in 1942]

I'm not sure why Levi had left carpentry and was a gardener when my dad was born. He developed Parkinson's somewhere along the way and that may be why he left the rigors of carpentry. His mother's obituary (1919) listed him as living in Phoenix, Arizona, and I have not found any reason for them to have moved there. I know of no relatives that were in that area. Perhaps they were seeking a cure for his Parkinson's. That infirmity did not stop his love of dancing--my mother recalled dancing the Polka with him in the '30s, and she said he was "an exhuberant dancer".

In the 1920 California census, Levi H. Case and Maggie were living at 3450 E. Third Street, Los Angeles, Calif. Still at home with them was Louella, who had married and then divorced a Mr. Knox with whom she had a daughter Thelma. Dolph and his family had moved from Texas to Kings County CA, in the Central San Joaquin Valley. They were mostly in the town of Corcoran, except for Elmer, who was a mechanic for a trucking company in nearby Hanford. The Case brothers/Spencer sisters families obviously stayed close throughout this time. Luella Case's daughter Thelma was born in Kings county, as was Ida Mae's son Ralph. When the building boom died at the outset of the 1929 depression, left without other means of support, most of the California Case family gathered their wagons in the Los Angeles area, and were supported by selling “Case’s Texas Tamales” out of the back of their cars in downtown Los Angeles. Those tamales were apparently based on the recipe developed by Maggie Case's older brother, George A.W. Spencer.

“I am guessing that Dad made tamales when you were young. He made them a couple of times a year as I was growing up. Each time we made them - and it was a huge production because he would make 150 dozen at a time - we would hear the stories of how making tamales was what got his family through the depression. Each night, they would make these tamales, Texas tamales they called them, and early each morning they would sell them on the street by the railroad tracks (Alameda Street, I think, in L A). They chose that spot because there were a lot of trains at this particular crossing, so cars had to stop many times during the day to let the trains pass. As the cars stopped, Dad's family would sell their tamales. As a result of the Case family's diligence, many customers started coming on a regular basis. These tamales were small, and came wrapped six in a bundle. The bundle sold for 25 cents. As the cost to make the tamales increased, the family raised the price to 30 cents. Customers were outraged - many refused to pay they extra nickel! The Case family was pretty smart though, they dropped the price back to 25 cents, but put only 5 tamales in a bundle - either way, 5 cents each. The customers were happy, and the family made the additional money they needed. All of my life, we put five tamales in a bundle.”

Lynette Sue (Case) Kachelmeyer

Deward Case, holding daughter Flo, Levi Harrison Case and Levi Freeman, about 1918.

Margaret and Levi Case, about 1925..

About 1935....

And about 1943

Levi Harrison Case died November 16, 1943 of Parkinson's, and Margaret Etta Spencer/Case died July 18, 1958. They are both buried in Inglewood cemetery at Inglewood, CA.

Ingersoll Tribune (Oxford County, Ontario, Canada) December 2, 1943:
RECEIVED WORD OF BROTHER'S DEATH
Word was received here last week of the death at Los Angeles, California, on November 16th, of Mr. Levi Case, brother of Mrs. Charles Wilson, 159 Cherry St. He was 71 years of age. Mr. Case was born in Ingersoll and until leaving here about 40 years ago had lived in and around the town. From here he moved to Texas and later to California. The funeral was held on November 19th with interment at the Inglewood Cemetery, Los Angeles.

Louella Case, born May 29,1900 in Decatur, Wise County, Texas. She first married a Mr. Knox, and they had a daughter, Thelma in Kings County, CA. She did not stay with Mr. Knox, and married 2 or 3 times after, lastly, to Fred Thorpe, who was a Country & Western musician. Aunt Louella was one of my favorite people, who some remember as a rather liberal and somewhat wild in her younger days, but by the time I knew her she had become a kind and gracious lady. Lou E. Thorpe died November 6, 1973 in Glendale, CA.

Thelma married David Bryant, and their first child was Dixie Lee Bryant. Thelma later married George Kraft's brother John, and they had a daughter, Isabelle Dixie Kraft.

Louella with Thelma. Thelma and Dave Bryant with Dixie. Louella and Thelma with Thelma's kids. Louella and Fred Thorpe.

Deward Herschel Case--born December 6, 1901 in Decatur, Texas.--Died September 19, 1979 in Los Angeles County. He married Florence Estella Stephenson and they had a daughter Florence, November 30, 1927 in Stanislaus County, CA. He and his wife had a rather stormy marriage. One of the first "off" times was when their daughter was born. Florence acknowledged that Deward was the father, but refused to give their daughter his name, so she was registered as Juanita Herschell Stephenson. Much later, after Deward and Florence were divorced, a corrected birth certificate was filed recording her name as Florence Herschel Case. The daughter, Flo, who was my cousin, was a generation before me, and she took care of my brothers and I during WWII, while my dad was overseas. I lost track of her several years ago, and if anyone knows her whereabouts, I'd like to renew and old relationship with my cousin. Deward later married Ida Mae _________. He died September 19, 1979 in Los Angeles County.

Ida Mae Case, born October 24, 1906, Texas, died July 14, 1965, San Diego, CA. She married George W. Kraft about 1925 in CA. He was born in New Mexico January 18, 1903. Uncle George was in the Navy's SeaBees during WWII and served several years in the California National Guard. He died February 29, 1968 in San Diego. I always considered Ida Mae and George to be the center of the Case family at their home on Buena Vista in Lemon Grove, CA. I did not see them for 15 years and when I went for a visit in 1962--I was as welcome as if I never left, and they whomped up a batch of Case Tamales for us. They were a wonderful pair of people, and I know much of the family were their house guests over the years whenever they needed a home. All of the pictures in this section have been shared by Ida Mae's grand-daughter Deidre Kraft, daughter of George William Kraft, Jr.

"Billy" Kraft served in the Navy in WWII, and after discharge, followed his father into the plastering business. He put himself through school with the help of the Veteran's Administration, and was admitted to the California Bar on January 9, 1962. He practiced in San Diego, and became a teacher of law, including to his daughter Deidre.

ii Dianne Lorraine Kraft. Dianne married a Mr. Sellars, and after divorce, she changed their children's names to her own.

Children of Dianne Lorraine Kraft are: Justin Paul Kraft, Adam Gregory Kraft and Cameron Wesley Kraft.

iii Duane Lee Kraft. Duane married Chantal Bionchi and they had children: Jason Kraft and Jonathan Kraft.

v Deidre Mary Ellen Kraft. Deidre married James Joseph Kitt, and they have a daughter Meryl Christine Kraft-Kitt.

Rear: Leighton Case, Eugene Case, Ron Kraft, front, Ralph Kraft and Thelma Knox, National Guard trio, Ralph, Billie and Ronny Kraft

Doug Myers, Gordon Case and (I think) Collette Allen. Grandma Maggie Case holding

Margaret Hazel Case., the last of Levi and Margaret Case's children to born in Texas. She was born in Decatur, Texas May 13, 1909 and she died September 18, 1989 in San Diego after several year's heart problems. She married Walter Myers, and their children were: Donald Case Meyers, and Douglas Melvin Meyers. Aunt Hazel and Walter later divorced, and she then supported herself until she died, as a hairdresser and beautician instructor.

Donald Myers was valedictorian when he graduated from high school. He is married, with children, but I do not know their names.

Douglas Melvin Myers was born December 26, 1938 in Los Angeles. He married ________ and they had children: Douglas Melvin, Jr., Kelly, and Debbie Myers. Doug died unexpectedly from cancer on July 23, 1997 in San Diego.

Below is the only picture I have with Donny and Dougie's father Walter. Taken, probably in Lemon Grove, CA

Left to right: Hazel and Walter...Louella Case... Thelma with her daughter Dixie...Maggie Case...Maggie's sister Myrtle Spencer and then Ida Mae...

Margaret Hazel Case "Flapper" Aunt Hazel Hazel Myers Leighton Case Douglas Myers, about 1952

Levi Freeman Case. On April 30, 1914, in Long Beach, California, Levi H. and Maggie had my father, Levi Freeman Case the first of what is now a 4th generation California born Case family..His story will be in a separate section...