By Don Taylor
I recently had the opportunity to digitize hundreds of photos and documents from the Shirley Darling Howell Collection. The images were taken from the “Aunt Betty #2″ album, “Aunt Betty’s Black Album,” the “Kemon Album #1,” and two large oval convex photos, one in a frame and one unframed.
Elizabeth Grace (Darling) Gwyer Kemon, #012a
Elizabeth Grace “Betty” Darling was born in Pittsburgh on 22 March 1906 and spent her early childhood there before traveling with her mother to England in 1915, where they lived briefly in Sandford. She returned to Pennsylvania by late 1916 and grew up largely in the households of extended family. As a young woman, she married William Otis Gwyer in 1927, though the marriage produced no children. By the 1940s she had settled in Washington, D.C., developing a distinguished career in advertising. She married again in 1947, to Frank Howell Kemon, and became known professionally as an advertising executive and as a founder and first president of the Women’s Advertising Club of Washington. She retired in the early 1970s and later lived on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. Betty died in Bridgton, Maine, on 10 June 1987 and was buried at Glenwood Cemetery in the District of Columbia.
I use a hybrid Ahnentafel numbering system. I identify Elizabeth as person 012a. Her father is Rufus Harry Darling (#12) and she is the oldest child of Rufus (a) and the older sister of Robert Harry Darling (#6)
Clarence Eduard Huber, #14b
Clarence Eduard Huber was born 24 December 1909 in Elberta, Alabama, to Swiss-American parents and was baptized there the following spring. His family moved to Saginaw County, Michigan, by 1920, where he attended school and completed the eighth grade. As a young man he worked on the family farm, later becoming employed as a core racker at the Chevrolet Grey Iron Foundry. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in December 1942, serving through the end of the Second World War and reaching the rank of private first class before his 1945 discharge. After the war, Clarence returned to Saginaw, working in lumber handling and continuing to farm. He lived most of his life on South Center Road in James Township. Never married, he spent his final years in Saginaw and died 25 June 1994 at the VA Medical Center. He was cremated and ultimately interred at Great Lakes National Cemetery.
Elizabeth (McAllister) Lane, #26b
Elizabeth “Lizzie” McAllister was born 21 March 1881 in Workington, Cumberland, England, the daughter of Peter McAllister and Margaret Mary Lamb. She immigrated as a young child, arriving in Philadelphia in 1886 aboard the British King with her mother and siblings. Raised in Pittsburgh, Lizzie was living on Patterson Street by 1900 and married Harold Lane in 1909 at Christ Lutheran Church in Kittanning. The couple had three children—James, Frank, and Katherine—and made their home primarily in Pittsburgh, though they spent a period in Cleveland by 1930. Family recollections describe Lizzie as intelligent, ambitious, and somewhat eccentric: she taught English at a women’s college, played the stock market, and maintained a bright, independent spirit. By the early 1940s she was living with her son Frank on Charles Street, where she died at home on 2 January 1944 from heart disease. She was buried in Southside Cemetery after services at John H. Slater & Sons Chapel.
Harold Lane – Husband of Elizabeth McAllister.
Harold Lane was born in England on 19 November 1880 and immigrated to the United States in 1901. By 1910 he was living in Pittsburgh, where he worked in the iron and steel industry—family tradition recalls that he and two brothers came specifically to work with the Bessemer furnace. In 1909 he married Elizabeth “Lizzie” McAllister in Kittanning, and together they raised three children: James, Frank, and Katherine. The family lived in Pittsburgh and later in Cleveland before returning to Pennsylvania. Harold died in Pittsburgh on 22 September 1939.
Frank C Lane, #26bb
Frank C. Lane was born 21 October 1913 in Pittsburgh to Harold Lane and Elizabeth “Lizzie” McAllister. He spent his early years in Pittsburgh and later lived in Cleveland by 1930. Exceptionally gifted academically, he completed medical training young—family recollections note that he graduated at 22 and was, for a time, Pittsburgh’s youngest practicing physician. By 1943 he was living on Charles Street in Pittsburgh and working as a physician, remembered specifically as a psychiatrist. Frank married twice: first to Jane Hamilton in 1938, with whom he had an infant who did not survive; the marriage ended in 1942. In 1943 he married Cyrilla Agnes Gensler, and they had two daughters. He later settled in Westmoreland County, where he died on 21 March 1984, likely in Ligonier or nearby Latrobe.
Katherine Elizabeth Lane, #026bc
Katherine E. Lane was born 13 December 1915 in Pittsburgh, the daughter of Harold Lane and Elizabeth “Lizzie” McAllister. She spent her early childhood in Pittsburgh’s 19th Ward before moving with her family to Cleveland by 1930. As a young adult she relocated to Washington, D.C., where she spent the rest of her life. Katherine married twice: first in 1939 to Thurman Robert “Bud” Starr in California, and later in 1943 to Frank Cecil Huseman in the District of Columbia. Neither marriage produced children. Her long residence in Washington suggests a settled life in the capital, likely connected with her brother Frank’s professional ties and her extended McAllister-Lane family network. Katherine died in Washington on 19 July 1980 at the age of 64 and was buried there in Glenwood Cemetery, Section K, Lot 370, Site 6.
Conclusion.
Taken together, these photographs and life summaries illuminate several intertwined branches of the Darling, McAllister, Lane, and Huber families—individuals whose lives stretched from England and Switzerland to Pennsylvania, Michigan, Alabama, Washington, D.C., and beyond. Each person followed a distinct path, yet the collection reveals how closely their stories ultimately converged within the Shirley Darling Howell materials. From Elizabeth Grace Darling’s professional achievements in Washington, to Clarence Huber’s steadfast life in Michigan, to the McAllister-Lane family’s immigrant beginnings and later accomplishments, these profiles help place long-kept photographs back into their proper family context. As with all items in this ongoing project, identifying the individuals pictured not only preserves their memory but also strengthens the broader narrative of the families they represent.
Besides being here, the photos have been uploaded to the Darling-Huber Tree on Ancestry.
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