Raymond and Grace Bond eloped 20 March 1912, taking the train to Oakland, Maryland, just over the West Virginia boarder. This was "the place" to get married quickly in those days offering 24 hr. service. They had their only child, Mary Grace, in 1913. Grace died in 1916 of appendicitis. They lived in Smithburg, West Virginia. It was a long train ride to the nearest hospital in Parkersburg. Her appendix ruptured and she didn't make it there in time.
Raymond went to World War I in 1917. He broke his hip when a pontoon bridge fell on him in France and was discharged in 1919. He was in and out of the hospital with this injury the rest of his life. There is a picture of him standing with a cane soon after the war. Mary Grace lived with her grandparents, the Joseph Bond family, and spent little time with her father. She does remember spending the summer with him when she was 9 years old. He was a train dispatcher for the B&O Railroad in 1929 when he met his second wife, Alice Neeson. Later he was a reporter and typesetter for the Morgantown Post. Raymond and Alice had two daughters. Raymond was killed in an auto accident in 1931 when Alice was carrying their second child. Alice never remarried. (The period around 1931 had an unusually high increase in auto accidents and deaths. It is thought that the speed of the cars had increased and the quality of the roads had not improved to handle these cars.)
Raymond's death certificate gives the cause of death: Fractured skull, crushed chest, fractured pelvis, Manor of injury: Automobile hitting pole on highway. Interestingly, his father and mother as reported by his wife, Alice, are his grandparents Columbus Wrick and Margaret Ridgway. Did she ever know that he was an illegitimate child?
In 1980 I (Lawrence, III) met Alice in Morgantown when she was 77 years old. My mother Mary Grace had never met her, and did not want to meet her. There was always some barrier between the families. The obvious reason would be that the Bonds were afraid that their granddaughter, who had lived with them for 13 years, would move back to live with her father after he remarried. The Bond family knew the Wrick family well. Joseph or some of his brothers helped build Lum Wrick's house in Tollgate. They tore down the house of Joseph's father, Benjamin Bond, on Middle Island Creek in Smithburg and used the material in the Tollgate house. Benjamin's house was on the hillside between the Archibald Cemetery and the creek.
Raymond went to World War I in 1917. He broke his hip when a pontoon bridge fell on him in France and was discharged in 1919. He was in and out of the hospital with this injury the rest of his life. There is a picture of him standing with a cane soon after the war. Mary Grace lived with her grandparents, the Joseph Bond family, and spent little time with her father. She does remember spending the summer with him when she was 9 years old. He was a train dispatcher for the B&O Railroad in 1929 when he met his second wife, Alice Neeson. Later he was a reporter and typesetter for the Morgantown Post. Raymond and Alice had two daughters. Raymond was killed in an auto accident in 1931 when Alice was carrying their second child. Alice never remarried. (The period around 1931 had an unusually high increase in auto accidents and deaths. It is thought that the speed of the cars had increased and the quality of the roads had not improved to handle these cars.)
Raymond's death certificate gives the cause of death: Fractured skull, crushed chest, fractured pelvis, Manor of injury: Automobile hitting pole on highway. Interestingly, his father and mother as reported by his wife, Alice, are his grandparents Columbus Wrick and Margaret Ridgway. Did she ever know that he was an illegitimate child?
In 1980 I (Lawrence, III) met Alice in Morgantown when she was 77 years old. My mother Mary Grace had never met her, and did not want to meet her. There was always some barrier between the families. The obvious reason would be that the Bonds were afraid that their granddaughter, who had lived with them for 13 years, would move back to live with her father after he remarried. The Bond family knew the Wrick family well. Joseph or some of his brothers helped build Lum Wrick's house in Tollgate. They tore down the house of Joseph's father, Benjamin Bond, on Middle Island Creek in Smithburg and used the material in the Tollgate house. Benjamin's house was on the hillside between the Archibald Cemetery and the creek.
Raymond and Grace Bond eloped 20 March 1912, taking the train to Oakland, Maryland, just over the West Virginia boarder. This was "the place" to get married quickly in those days offering 24 hr. service. They had their only child, Mary Grace, in 1913. Grace died in 1916 of appendicitis. They lived in Smithburg, West Virginia. It was a long train ride to the nearest hospital in Parkersburg. Her appendix ruptured and she didn't make it there in time.
Raymond went to World War I in 1917. He broke his hip when a pontoon bridge fell on him in France and was discharged in 1919. He was in and out of the hospital with this injury the rest of his life. There is a picture of him standing with a cane soon after the war. Mary Grace lived with her grandparents, the Joseph Bond family, and spent little time with her father. She does remember spending the summer with him when she was 9 years old. He was a train dispatcher for the B&O Railroad in 1929 when he met his second wife, Alice Neeson. Later he was a reporter and typesetter for the Morgantown Post. Raymond and Alice had two daughters. Raymond was killed in an auto accident in 1931 when Alice was carrying their second child. Alice never remarried. (The period around 1931 had an unusually high increase in auto accidents and deaths. It is thought that the speed of the cars had increased and the quality of the roads had not improved to handle these cars.)
Raymond's death certificate gives the cause of death: Fractured skull, crushed chest, fractured pelvis, Manor of injury: Automobile hitting pole on highway. Interestingly, his father and mother as reported by his wife, Alice, are his grandparents Columbus Wrick and Margaret Ridgway. Did she ever know that he was an illegitimate child?
In 1980 I (Lawrence, III) met Alice in Morgantown when she was 77 years old. My mother Mary Grace had never met her, and did not want to meet her. There was always some barrier between the families. The obvious reason would be that the Bonds were afraid that their granddaughter, who had lived with them for 13 years, would move back to live with her father after he remarried. The Bond family knew the Wrick family well. Joseph or some of his brothers helped build Lum Wrick's house in Tollgate. They tore down the house of Joseph's father, Benjamin Bond, on Middle Island Creek in Smithburg and used the material in the Tollgate house. Benjamin's house was on the hillside between the Archibald Cemetery and the creek.
Raymond went to World War I in 1917. He broke his hip when a pontoon bridge fell on him in France and was discharged in 1919. He was in and out of the hospital with this injury the rest of his life. There is a picture of him standing with a cane soon after the war. Mary Grace lived with her grandparents, the Joseph Bond family, and spent little time with her father. She does remember spending the summer with him when she was 9 years old. He was a train dispatcher for the B&O Railroad in 1929 when he met his second wife, Alice Neeson. Later he was a reporter and typesetter for the Morgantown Post. Raymond and Alice had two daughters. Raymond was killed in an auto accident in 1931 when Alice was carrying their second child. Alice never remarried. (The period around 1931 had an unusually high increase in auto accidents and deaths. It is thought that the speed of the cars had increased and the quality of the roads had not improved to handle these cars.)
Raymond's death certificate gives the cause of death: Fractured skull, crushed chest, fractured pelvis, Manor of injury: Automobile hitting pole on highway. Interestingly, his father and mother as reported by his wife, Alice, are his grandparents Columbus Wrick and Margaret Ridgway. Did she ever know that he was an illegitimate child?
In 1980 I (Lawrence, III) met Alice in Morgantown when she was 77 years old. My mother Mary Grace had never met her, and did not want to meet her. There was always some barrier between the families. The obvious reason would be that the Bonds were afraid that their granddaughter, who had lived with them for 13 years, would move back to live with her father after he remarried. The Bond family knew the Wrick family well. Joseph or some of his brothers helped build Lum Wrick's house in Tollgate. They tore down the house of Joseph's father, Benjamin Bond, on Middle Island Creek in Smithburg and used the material in the Tollgate house. Benjamin's house was on the hillside between the Archibald Cemetery and the creek.
Bio by: Larry Alley
Gravesite Details
2nd wife is Alice G. (Neeson) Wrick; Inscription on back of stone.
Family Members
Children
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