Montrans in the News – Annual Concert at Ocean City

Montran Monday
By Don Taylor

This week for Montran Monday[i], I found an article from the Philadelphia Inquirer dated 22 July 1917. 

Article transcription:

ANNUAL CONCERT AT OCEAN CITY

Musical Feast to Be Given at Yacht Club July 27 With Noted Quartette

Plan for Dance Thursday Next for Benefit of Hahnemann Base Hospital Fund

 OCEAN CITY, N. J., July 21—The…

[Eight paragraphs then]

“Mrs. M. W. Montran and daughter, Miss Ruth, of West Philadelphia, were guests this week of W. Ward Beam, and wife at their apartments here.”

Source:

Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA, July 22, 1917, Page six. Found via Genealogy Bank.

Analysis

This is clearly Maude Winter Montran (1875-1931) and her daughter Ruth Grace Montran.

Maude lived in Philadelphia in 1910 and in San Francisco in 1920. As such it makes sense that Maude and Ruth would visit friends or family before the move. Alternately, Maude’s other daughter, Thelma, was married in 1916 or 1917. Ocean City was a great place for marriages and Maude and Ruth could have been in New Jersey for Thelma’s wedding and then stayed with the Beams.

Future Actions

• Research Thelma’s wedding date & location.
• Research Mr. & Mrs. W. Ward Beam. Are they related?

ENDNOTES

[i] Montran Monday – My grandmother’s father was John Montran. She used the surname, as a young child and again when she began in show business. The name is uncommon and most of the Montrans I see in the newspapers are my grandmother during her early vaudeville career. However, with the constant flow of newly digitized material, I often learn of new articles which contain the Montran name. I pay attention to the finding and try to determine a possible relationship of any Montrans to Donna’s father, John Montran.