The Twins' Sister

By Louise Trumbull

LouiLouise, the granddaughter of a railroad baron, was born in 1920 and a few years later became the elder sister of twin girls. They grew up on Philadelphias Main Line, where their mother Adele, a beautiful widow, built a large mansion. Adele soon sought her place in society and sent Louise to numerous schools she researched to mingle with the students of the well known and wealthy. The journal follows Louise through her debut, World War II, numerous romantic encounters, and four marriages past the death of her mother and the tragic events that surrounded it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 20, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465381262

Louise Trumbull

Louise, the granddaughter of a railroad baron, was born in 1920 and a few years later became the elder sister of twin girls. They grew up on Philadelphia’s Main Line, where their mother Adele, a beautiful widow, built a large mansion. Adele soon sought her place in society and sent Louise to numerous schools she researched to mingle with the students of the well known and wealthy. The journal follows Louise through her debut, World War II, numerous romantic encounters, and four marriages past the death of her mother and the tragic events that surrounded it. The Twins’ Sister Louise Trumbull

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The

Twins’ Sister

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Louise Trumbull

Copyright © 2011 by Louise Trumbull.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011918602

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4653-8125-5

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4653-8124-8

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4653-8126-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

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Contents

Author’s Biography

Introduction

Louise

The Letter

The Move Up

A Visit to the Main Line

Bay Point

Epilogue

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my family and friends who interpreted my sloppy longhand, converting it into typed pages, and to one grandson who researched historical facts, and to those who gave me the courage to push it to publication, and to those who read it and realize how closely love and hate are entwined.

Louise

Author’s Biography

Louise, the granddaughter of a railroad baron, was born in 1920 and a few years later became the elder sister of twin girls. They grew up on Philadelphia’s Main Line, where their mother Adele, a beautiful widow, built a large mansion.

Adele soon sought her place in society and sent Louise to numerous schools she researched to mingle with the students of the well known and wealthy.

The journal follows Louise through her debut, World War II, numerous romantic encounters, and four marriages past the death of her mother and the tragic events that surrounded it.

Introduction

Adele Margurite was born in Columbus, Ohio, on August 21, 1889, one of three children, with two elder brothers—Raymond Barrett and Everett Berkley. Their father, Eugene Oliver Mosier had emigrated from Quebec, Canada, at a young age to Vermont and eventually to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he married a Quaker lady named Emma Louise Barrett in 1887. They moved to Columbus, Ohio, where Eugene’s employment as general agent of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States sent him, and, in 1902, the society transferred him back to Philadelphia as their top agent. The Mosiers then purchased a home in Overbrook, a residential area on the outskirts of the big city.

The boys attended Central High, then Raymond the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and Everett the Pierce Business College while Adele was sent for a year to Miss Sayer’s Finishing School for young ladies, which unfortunately finished in the eighth grade. (Few girls then ever went on to universities.) Eugene accepted an invitation to join the Overbrook Golf Club, which was only a few blocks from their home, and the entire family enjoyed many activities there.

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Frank Trumbull departing the White

House after a meeting with President Wilson.

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Raymond Mosier at camp in Adirondacks.

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Lt. Everett Mosier with friends before he shipped overseas.

The boys became avid tennis players and won numerous championship matches, and Adele with her dark hair, soft olive skin, and inviting brown eyes became the belle of many dances and costume parties at the club.

Raymond, the eldest, had blond hair, blue eyes, and a handsome body, but lately, he always seemed tired and out of breath, and his face appeared gaunt. The doctor discovered he had early stages of tuberculosis, and eventually, he was sent to a camp in the Adirondacks, where he lived in a small cabin, one of a group that was scattered among the pines on the side of a hill. It was believed the clear mountain air would aid the patients and hopefully cure them. It was lonely for Raymond, and he was always happy when his family could come and visit, especially when they would bring his girlfriend. Sadly, his disease grew worse, and he died in the fall of 1912.

World War broke out in Europe in 1914, while Everett was the news manager of the Philadelphia Building and Publishing Company. Also, he was still competing and winning various tennis tournaments. In 1915, he joined the National Guard of Pennsylvania, and in fall of 1917, he was sent to officers’ training school. After graduating as a lieutenant in the spring of 1918, he was shipped to Europe via Liverpool and ultimately to France, where his command would make an observation trip to the frontline trenches into no man’s land. In mid-September, his division was recalled to assemble just north of Verdun for a drive contemplated by General Pershing into the Argonne Forest.

Adele, now twenty-seven, had grown into a beautiful young woman and had numerous beaus. She was ever so popular and loved to tease the young men with her beckoning eyes and girlish giggle. A number of them had proposed, but she had never met one she really desired to be with forever. Besides, her mother had warned her to be ever so careful and a bit fearful regarding any advances from a man, so she put all her energy into numerous volunteer organizations to help the troops by rolling bandages for the Red Cross, working at the Emergency Aid, and volunteering at the Overbrook Golf Club for their various social activities. Adele was excellent in organizing and planning them. One night, in the spring of 1918, she was going to a dance at the Haverford Hotel on the Main Line with one of her beaus, and there she met a handsome man in his late thirties with dark auburn hair and twinkling hazel eyes. They had been placed at the same table, and at dinner, the man asked if he could have the next dance, and so Adele met Roscoe. They each seemed attracted to the other, and during the dance, Roscoe asked if he could see her again, and during the next few months, they had many dates. His full name was Roscoe Hale Trumbull. He was the president of the Trumbull Waste Manufacturing Company in Manyunk, which he had founded in 1916 and was living in an apartment at the Haverford Hotel on the Main Line.

Roscoe was born on November 11, 1882, in Sedelia, Missouri, the only child of Frank Trumbull and Anna Cora Hale, who died in 1889. He had grown up mostly in Denver, Colorado, with his father, and later attended the Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and Cornell University. His father was a prominent railroad magnate, receiver and president of numerous lines and consultant to both presidents, Roosevelt and Wilson. After the United States entered the war, he was sent by President Wilson to England to take charge of transportation for the United States and its Allies and was stationed outside London in the countess of Norbury’s three-hundred-acre estate named Greenwood Gate along with Colonel House, who was President Wilson’s advisor.

The friendship of Adele and Roscoe bloomed into a serious romance, and one evening as they strolled through Fairmont Park, he proposed to her. Adele wanted to accept, so they went to her home on Drexel Avenue in Overbrook where he could ask for her hand from her father and mother who were elated with the news as they were both very fond of Roscoe.

In the fall of 1918, World War I was winding to a close, and Adele was thinking how wonderful it would be to have Everett home, and plans were formed for a wedding in early 1919. The family was now busy with the approaching Christmas Holiday and the planned February wedding. It was a happy time for them.

Later that month, the Mosiers received a letter from Everett stating that his division was going over the top the next morning on September 26. This sounded encouraging to the family and added to their happiness. It was always so good to hear from him.

World War I officially ended on November 11, 1918, with the signing of the armistice with Germany, but the Mosiers had no further word from Everett. On the night of December 1, as the three Mosiers and Roscoe were dining in their home, the doorbell rang, and Carrie, their housekeeper went to answer it and returned with a telegram for Mr. Mosier. Deeply regret to inform you that Lt. Everett B. Mosier infantry is officially reported as missing in action since September 28—Signed Harris, the adjutant general.

Happiness ended abruptly into a flood of tears, alternating between sadness, disbelief, and finally acceptance on a hopeful note that Everett would soon be found. After all, the war had ended although there was still mass confusion in the location of all the soldiers. Major searches were underway in the midst of all the destruction of land and buildings to locate and reassemble the men and disperse them to their proper units so they could all eventually be shipped home.

Father Mosier took control, and with the aid of Roscoe instructed an investigation by letters and telegrams with the army and government in Washington and abroad. The wedding plans were temporarily put on hold.

As the search went on, the family finally decided no word was good news, and the wedding plans once more went forward with the hope that Everett could be able to be there. Adele and Roscoe were so much in love and anxious to get married. A date was set for Saturday, February 22, 1919. Plans were also confirmed with the minister of the Overbrook Presbyterian Church and a reception following for 150 guests at the Overbrook Golf Club. Invitations were ordered, the bridesmaids and ushers chosen, and Adele’s gown was ordered from a top New York dressmaker. Parties were given to honor the new bride-to-be and groom.

In the meantime, Father Frank was extremely busy in England directing the return of all the allied troops across the channel and across the Atlantic to their various home sites from where they had been recruited. On February 17, 1919, Mr. Mosier received another official telegram: Deeply regret to inform you that it is officially reported that Lt. Everett B. Mosier previously reported missing in action since September 28 now reported killed in action about September 28, 1918. Signed Harris the Adjutant General.

Father and Mother Mosier and Adele were all immediately devastated. Now it was for real. There was no more hope. The planned wedding was only five days away. Should they cancel? The plans went back and forth controlled by their emotions. The war department had not actually found the body; only the confirmation from his troop commander.

Finally, it was decided after much discussion that since so many plans had already been put into action, it would be better to go along with the date of the February 22 after all; there was nothing more the Mosiers could do until Everett’s body was found. In the meantime, Father Frank had taken a short leave of absence and crossed the Atlantic and was staying with his son in the Haverford Hotel. Frank entertained his son Roscoe and his ushers at dinner the night before the wedding at the Haverford Hotel, and the Mosiers gave Adele and her bridesmaids a dinner at their home on Drexel Avenue. Later that evening after Adele had gone up to her bedroom, her mother, Emma Louise, had a motherly talk with her. She explained how much she loved her and that now that Adele was now entering a whole new life, she would no longer be sheltered by her parents. Then she timidly approached the subject of sex to Adele, This is something a woman must do… at first to consummate the marriage then occasionally because it is your duty to have a child. It may not be so comfortable, but it is your duty. The wedding took place the next evening followed by the reception and dinner at the Overbrook Golf Club. Adele looked radiant in her white satin gown, the groom handsome and happy. The occasion was a bittersweet event—the happiness of the marriage offset by the fact the bride’s brother had been killed in action on September 28. Father Frank had arranged for a special car on the train for the bride and groom, and early the next day, they boarded the train that carried them to St. Augustine, Florida, for their honeymoon at Flagler’s Hotel Ponce de Leon.

Ten days later in early March, Adele and Roscoe were sitting on two rocking chairs on the hotel’s great veranda facing the ocean. They had just returned from a walk on the beach; Roscoe in his striped sleeveless tee and dashing tight trunks in the daring new styles of the twenties and Adele in her ruffled bloomers that ended just below the knees, exposing her legs that were clothed in lavender silk stockings and dainty little beach sandals. A soft breeze was blowing, rustling the palms, and Adele was thinking how wonderful it was to be married to Roscoe. They were really enjoying their honeymoon and the balmy air of Florida. She closed her eyes and thought of how good life was turning out to be. They had even done it twice, not counting