Franklin Lee Lightfoot Sr. ^{2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9}

   Cause of his death was Asthmatic Bronchitis.⁹

   Another name for Franklin was Franklyn Lee Lightfoot Sr..²

  General Notes:

His first name was spelled either Franklin or Franklyn but according to a 1924 high school yearbook from Eau Claire, he apparently used "Franklin".

His birth certificate was issued without any given name and it is doubtful if the parents ever filed an amended certificate once they decided on a name. During his adult life he generally used the name of "Frank" or sometimes "Franklyn". Almost all of his Naval records from 1926-1929 show the name spelled as "Franklyn". There are copies of hand-written letters from his parents showing the name spelled as "Franklyn".
----------------------------------------

Franklin was his parents' first son born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin in 1907 during a time in which the lumbering and saw mill operations were the only sustainable industry in town. There have been many family stories about his wild youthful years but little faith can be put into most of them because of the nature in which Frank often embellished many stories. One family story says that he left school sometime in the 9th or 10th grade but this is proved false because of the 1924 Eau Claire High School yearbook showing him still enrolled in high school at the age of 16 or 17 probably his Junior year or 11th grade.

Another story that apparently has some basis in fact is that he apparently enlisted in the army when he was only 14 or 15 years old. There is a photograph of him taken in an Army uniform presumably from Fort Snelling, Minnesota where he first enlisted and completed his Army basic training. This would have been taken in 1922 or 1923.

While stationed at Fort Snelling, he and another friend supposedly left their guard duty posts and went AWOL, and hopped a freight train heading west. They both were caught by the Railroad Police in Salt Lake City and supposedly sent to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The Fort Leavenworth part of the story was a stretch of the truth because Army records show that he was confined to Fort Douglas, Utah and not Fort Leavenworth. Fort Douglas was a very small Army garrison stationed about 3 miles east of Salt Lake City.

When the Army found out that he was only 15 years old and under their minimum required age, they discharged him and sent him back home. There are some stories that Frank told the Army officers that they couldn't hold him because he was only 15 years old and under the minimum age. This was true and Frank was given an Honorable Discharge from the US Army "by reason of minority" on 15 Oct 1923. The discharge papers were signed by the Prison Officer, Major L. B. Bennett. Upon his return home from the army, he was back in high school where he appears in a 1924 class picture.

There is little else known about his early years after high school but he apparently ran away from or left home at an early age where he spent most of the time in the Chicago area. It is known that he spent a lot of time returning to Eau Claire and Cornell, Wisconsin to visit his favorite grandfather, William Lightfoot, until he died in 1930. For a number of years prior to around 1925, William Lightfoot lived separately from his wife, Loretta Lightfoot, also in Eau Claire, due to William's excessive abuse of alcohol. Frank's uncle Harry Lightfoot was living in Chicago and it is thought that Franklyn may have also spent a lot of time there but not wanting his parents to know of his whereabouts.

Surprisingly his parents allowed him to enlist in the Navy where he served for a period of just over 2 years from November of 1926 to January of 1929 when he was dishonorably discharged, supposedly for being intoxicated and physically assaulting a superior officer. This puts his age between 19 and 22 at the time of that event which suggest that not long after falsely enlisting in the army, he enlisted in the Navy but this time he apparently was over the legitimate age of 18. The Navy records are not detailed enough to indicate the reason for his discharge other than the notation "Bad Conduct Discharge". But there are multiple records of Frank's being declared a "straggler" after missing the boat when it would leave dock.

His youngest sister, Jean, remembers him returning home in Eau Claire in 1929 when she was only 4 years old and it was the first time she had ever seen her brother when he knocked on their front door. Apparently the parents also had not heard from him for a number of years so they were overwhelmed to see him return home at that time.

After his time in the Navy, Frank's dad, Lee Lightfoot, attempted to put Frank to work in the saw mills in Eau Claire but apparently Frank did not like that life style and after a bitter argument, he soon left home bound once again for the streets of Chicago.

Not much else is known of his activities in the years between 1929 and 1939. There are some unsubstantiated family rumors that during those years, he may have been involved in a number of petty crimes in and around Chicago including one rumor that he was arrested by the FBI and charged with running a "white slavery" racket. Other rumors include counterfeiting operations, and passing off zircons as diamonds to unsuspecting jewelers. All charges of which were eventually quelled due to the influence of some federal judges to which his parents had made some substantial financial gifts and the FBI prosecutions were eventually dismissed.

It is believed that during the period of 1929 to 1939, Frank was first married to a woman believed to be named Connie Sonsalla, a family name that was quite extensive known around the Trempealeau, Wisconsin area. Her actual surname may have be Consalla or Sonsalla and it is not known for sure if she was from the Trempealeau, Wisconsin and Winona, Minnesota areas, the Eau Claire, Wisconsin area, or from the Chicago, Illinois area. It is not known just how long this first marriage lasted but they eventually divorced and Frank then married another woman that we know only as "Ada". Frank often jokingly referred to her as "Ada Potato". Their divorce became final in 1939 just soon after he met Margaret Drugan in Winona, Minnesota in late 1939. Margaret Drugan left the Winona area and had gone to Chicago to be with Frank. The story goes that when Ada received the news of her final decree of divorce, she literally "danced in the street". It is believed that no children resulted from the marriage with either Ada or Connie Sonsalla.

During the years from 1940s to the 1970s, he spent lengthy times traveling the roadways as part of his home insulation and stained glass window repair business and he made frequent stops back in Eau Claire, Wisconsin to meet his parents and visit his grandmother, Loretta Lightfoot, who was living in a Veteran's care facility in King, Wisconsin until she died in 1946. Another favorite stopping off point for him was Baldy's Bar in Eau Claire where he met many of his younger friends. After his parents retired and moved to Davenport, Iowa, Frank continued to make repeated visits to them at that location, something that was surprising given his earlier years of strained relationships with his parents.

He was divorced from Margaret Drugan in 1962 after he met Ann Scarf in Wheeling, West Virginia and began a tumultuous affair with her. At the time of the divorce from Margaret, Frank and Ann were living in Ormond Beach, Florida while Margaret and the children had just relocated from Baltimore, Maryland to Chicago, Illinois and then with her sister Ruth Gilpin in Springfield, Illinois. Frank and Ann continued to run his stained-glass window repair business out of Evansville, Indiana until they eventually divorced. Frank then was remarried to another Ann, known only as "Little Ann" and they also were divorced.

During Frank's later years from the 1980s-1990s, he was pretty much retired and spent much time traveling to Florida for several months followed by a "resting and recuperation period" at the home of his son, Lee Lightfoot, in Rocklin, California. He died in 1991 in nearby Roseville, California and was cremated with his ashes being spread over the Pacific Ocean as per his wishes.
----------------------------------------

MILITARY RECORDS:
11 May 26...Enlisted: USN, NRS, Minneapolis, Minnesota
11 May 26...Transferred: NTS, Great Lakes, Illinois
11 Sep 26...Change of Rating: F3
16 Oct 27...Change of Rating: EM3
28 Nov 28...Change of Rating: S1
12 Jan 29...Discharged - Bad Conduct, USS Lexington

Records show you served on board the following vessels:
USS Shirk......23 Aug 1927 - 11 Oct 1927
USS Altair.....12 Oct 1927 - 28 Oct 1927
USS Sirius.....29 Oct 1927 - 21 Nov 1927
USS Lexington..10 Nov 1928 - 09 Dec 1928
USS Lexington..15 Dec 1928 - 12 Jan 1929
----------------------------------------

Acquaintance who started the "stained glass repair business": Henry "Hank" A. Czapiewski: 1901-1988 (Buried: Saint Mary's Cemetery, Winona, Minnesota)
----------------------------------------

Frank was married 5 times and divorced 5 times.
----------------------------------------

Frank had other aliases that he used at various times, usually to avoid bill collectors. He confused most of them by switching his name from Frank, Franklin, Franklyn, and Lee. He also used the name Frank LaMont.
--------------------------------------

Frank had a habit of buying automobiles but never paying for them. This was before the day of computers and a nationwide credit system so most automobile dealers tended to carry their own credit accounts or would sell the transaction to a local finance company that would charge a very high rate of interest. None of that bothered Frank because he would walk into a dealership waving five hundred dollars or so in cash. Any dealer was glad to sell him a new car with that large of a cash down payment and they would finance the rest through the local loan company, sometimes conveniently owned by their brother or cousin. Unfortunately that would be the last of any money that they would ever see from Frank as he was handed the keys and the finance papers and drove off. His business of doing stained glass repairs all over the country would mean that the bank or loan company could never find the car. He would literally drive the wheels off of the car and eventually leave it on the side of the road for the repossesors to eventually find it. He would then walk back into another dealership and start the same process all over again.
-----------------------------------------

Frank was never enumerated in the 1930 or 1940 census. He supposedly was living with or married to Margaret Drugan in 1940 in Chicago but only her name appears in the census and she was listed as "single". And since she was unemployed at the time according to the census and 4 months pregnant with Frank Jr., I wonder how she supported herself and paid the rent where she was living. I suspect that Frank was indeed living there with her but just avoided the census as a matter of personal preference.
-------------------------------------------

Frank was married to Anne Scharf on 30 Mar 1962 in Putnam County, Florida. Unfortunately, he was not divorced from Margaret Drugan until April 1962 in Flagler County, Florida.
---------------------------------------------

  Birth Notes:

Birth Record Details:
Unnamed Male Lightfoot
09 September 1907
Eau Claire County, Wisconsin
Reel: 0064; Record: 001031

NOTE - Franklin was not initially given a name by his parents. His birth certificate has only a blank line drawn through the space where his name would appear.
----------------------------------

Name: Lightfoot
Gender: Male
Birth Date: 09 Sep 1907
Birthplace: Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Race: White
Father's Name: Lee L. Lightfoot
Father's Birthplace: Springdale, Iowa
Mother's Name: Mary McLaughlin
Mother's Birthplace: Emory, Iowa

Citing this Record
"Wisconsin Births and Christenings, 1826-1926," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XRJ8-LGH : 11 February 2018), Lee L. Lightfoot in entry for Lightfoot, 09 Sep 1907; citing Eau Claire, Wisconsin, reference V4 P406 N1031; FHL microfilm 1,302,869.
-------------------------------------------

  Death Notes:

Name: Frank Lee Lightfoot
Event Type: Death
Event Date: 12 Feb 1991
Event Place: Placer, California, United States
Birth Date: 09 Sep 1906
Birthplace: Wisconsin
Gender: Male
Mother's Name: McLaughlin

Citing this Record
"California Death Index, 1940-1997," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VGPL-SRD : 26 November 2014), Frank Lee Lightfoot, 12 Feb 1991; Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento.
--------------------------------

  Noted events in his life were:

• He has conflicting burial information of 15 February 1991 and Pacific Ocean. ¹⁴

• Birth Image: 9 September 1907, in Eau Claire, WI.

• He has conflicting burial information of 15 February 1991 and Roseville, CA. ¹⁴

• He appeared on the 1910 US Census in Eau Claire, WI on 19 April 1910. ⁴

1910 US Census
Sheet 10A, District 55, Family 221
Eau Claire, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Franklin Lightfoot..Son..3..WI

(Living with parents.)
.

• He appeared on the 1920 US Census in Eau Claire, WI on 10 January 1920. ⁵

1920 US Census
Sheet 3A, District 127, Family 48
Eau Claire, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Frank L. Lightfoot..Son..13..WI

(Living with parents.)

NOTE - If his birth date was 9 Sep 1907, then his age should have been 12 instead of 13.
.

• Photo: Franklin Lee Lightfoot, 1923, Fort Snelling, MN. ² Appears to be taken at an Army Infirmary building. Note the bandage on the left middle finger. He was in the Army from 1 Jun 1923 to 15 Oct 1923 but this exact location not known; possibly Fort Snelling, Minnesota.

• Military: US Army, 1 June 1923 to 15 October 1923. ² There is a long story to be told about Frank's adventures in the army. He apparently lied about his age when he enlisted at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. He was actually 14 at the time of enlistment and later turned 15 while being held in the brig in Utah.

The family story goes that he was on guard duty one night when he and another soldier decided they had enough of army life and they both went AWOL. He hopped a freight train and headed west until he was eventually nabbed by the railroad police in Salt Lake City where he was turned over to army authorities.

Frank was held in the brig at Fort Douglas, Utah when he told the superior officers that they had no right to hold him because he was a minor and that his enlistment contract was invalid. The army contacted his parents back in Eau Claire, Wisconsin who supplied a birth certificate to the Department of the Army. He was given a Honorable Discharge "by reason of minority" at Fort Douglas, Utah and the document was signed by the "Prison Officer".

The Honorable Discharge references dates from June 30, 1921 to October 1, 1923 but I think that the year of 1921 should be 1923. That would make Frank almost 16 when he joined the Army instead of almost 14 which doesn't sound believable. In fact, the one picture of him in an Army uniform looks as if he is around 16 years old instead of 14 years old.
.

• He was educated at Eau Claire High School in 1924 in Eau Claire, WI. ² This group picture of the Junior Class of Eau Claire High School shows Frank standing in the back row. He must have finished his adventures with the US Army in the summer and fall of 1923 and returned to High School in 1924. It is not known if he ever finished high school and I believed that he dropped out either later this year (1924) or during his senior year (1925).
.

• Military: US Navy, 11 May 1926 to 12 January 1929. ² Enlisted at the Navy Recruiting Station in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Trained at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Great Lakes, Illinois. Was stationed at the US Navy Training Station at San Diego. Served aboard the USS Lexington and was given a dishonorable discharge in San Pedro, California.

His navy history is about as colorful as his army history. After completing his basic seaman training, Frank was sent to electrician's school where he earned good grades and seemed content with his newfound naval career. Unfortunately, he was assigned to the newly outfitted USS Lexington, the navy's first attempt at an aircraft carrier, which had an old-time, by-the-book Captain commanding. Frank was once written up for "being out of uniform" while mopping up a deck.

After several minor disciplinary actions against him, Frank secured an agreement with another seaman to be transferred to a different ship but his Captain rejected the transfer. That was probably the last straw as Frank was concerned. For the next several times in port, Frank returned to the ship late (and probably either hung-over or still drunk). Once he was several days late and the ship sailed without him which resulted in him being declared a "straggler" with a reward being put on his neck. Ultimately, he received a summary court martial, was reduced in rank and given a dishonorable discharge. He was given a set of civilian clothes and bus fare back home in Wisconsin from San Diego.

I often wonder if Frank's request for a transfer were approved if he would have completed a satisfactory tour of duty with the navy. I believe that deep in his heart he had a great deal of patriotic pride because years later when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, he wrote a letter to the Department of the Naval requesting permission to re-enlist at the age of 34. Surprisingly the navy granted his request and even gave him some of his rank back. This was at a time when Frank was married to Margaret and Frank Jr. was only 1 or 2 years old. Frank changed his mind and never followed through with his re-enlistment.
----------------------------------
.

• Military: Straggler Declaration, 12 December 1928, San Pedro, CA. ² Frank had gone AWOL and the ship's commander issued this Straggler's Declaration" to locate him and return him to the ship. This was the downfall of Frank's Navy career and his was eventually court-martialed and given a bad-conduct discharge.

• Occupations - Prev.: Owner, Home Insulation Sales and Installation, 1930 to 1940. ²

• Military: Re-instatement in US Navy, 10 March 1942, Chicago, IL. ² Frank wrote a letter to the US Navy about 3 months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan and requested that he re-enlist. After FBI clearances, his request was granted but Frank never followed through and remained a civilian.

What is interesting is that at the time of this letter, Frank had a wife and a son aged 1-1/2 years yet Frank was sitting in a hotel room in Chicago. So where was his wife, Margaret, and their son? She was probably back in Winona, MN at her mother's house where she frequently when they were split-up for a short time. Apparently they got back together and Frank never went back in the Navy.
.

• He resided at 501-½ West Fifth Street February 1944 to March 1944 in Winona, MN.
²

• 1950 US Census: 17 April 1950, in Los Angeles, CA. ⁶ 1950 US Census
Sheet 16, District 66-2293, Family 231
Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States
8719 Belford Avenue
Franklin Lightfoot..Head..43..Wisconsin..Art Glass Artist

(Living with wife and 3 sons.)
.

• He resided in Jacksonville, FL from 1960 to 1961.
² Following the last go-round with Margaret Lightfoot, Frank abandoned the family and took his then girl-friend, Ann Scharf, and moved to the Jacksonville, Florida area where he eventually moved down his elderly, retired parents.
.

• He resided at East Grand Boulevard from 1962 to 1964 in Detroit, MI.
² This was a large apartment building complex. I can't recall for sure exactly what it looked like because I stayed with Dad and Ann only for a few months in 1963 or 1964. I believe it probably was another upstairs apartment in what I think was a 4 or 5 story building.
.

• He resided at 400 Belview Avenue on 30 March 1962 in Daytona Beach, FL.

• Occupation - Last: Owner, Stained Glass Window Repair Company, 1965 to 1980, Evansville, IN. ²

• He resided in Decatur, GA in June 1965.
² Frank rented the upstairs apartment over this large mansion-like house which was converted to a monthly meeting place for the Decatur Woman's Club.
.

• He resided in Detroit, MI July 1965 to 1966.
²

• He resided in Evansville, IN in 1967.
² Frank and Ann moved here in Evansville and established an actual office for his stained glass repair business in downtown Evansville.
.

• His occupation in 1970 was a Stained Glass Repair in Evansville, IN. ²

• He resided at 111 South Atlantic Avenue in December 1975 in Ormond Beach, FL.
²

• Death Image: 12 February 1991, in Roseville, CA.

• His obituary was published in the Roseville Press-Tribune on 15 February 1991 in Roseville, CA.

Franklin Lee Lightfoot, September 6, 1906 (sic)- February 12, 1991

Franklin Lee Lightfoot died Tuesday at Roseville Hospital. He was 84. A native of Wisconsin, he had lived in Rocklin for five years. He was self-employed as a stained glass maker for 55 years. Mr. Lightfoot belonged to the Ormond Beach Masonic Lodge 326 and to the Temple Shrine Bahi, both in Jacksonville, Florida. He is survived by his sons, Franklin L. Lightfoot, Jr. of Onalaska, Wisconsin, Lee Lightfoot of Rocklin, and Brian L. Lightfoot of Ceres, a sister, Jean Stedman of Pekin, Illinois and nine grandchildren. At his request, there will be no services.

(Source: Roseville Press-Tribune, Roseville, CA, 15 Feb 1991)

NOTE: The birth date given was incorrect; it should have been 9 Sep 1907.
-----------------------------------------
.

Franklin married Ada before 1939.² The marriage ended in divorce. (Ada was born about 1910 and died on an unknown date.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Divorced: Unknown.

Franklin next married Connie Sonsalla before 1939.² The marriage ended in divorce. (Connie Sonsalla was born about 1910 and died on an unknown date.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Divorced: Unknown.

Franklin next married Margaret Elizabeth Drugan, daughter of David Glenn Drugan Sr. and Lena Louise Hanson, on 8 December 1941 in Saint Louis, MO.² The marriage ended in divorce in 1962. (Margaret Elizabeth Drugan was born on 12 June 1916 in Winona, MN,^{6 15 16 17 18 19 20 21} died on 26 September 1975 in Quincy, IL ^{20 22} and was buried on 29 September 1975 in Greenmount Cemetery, Quincy, IL ^{2 21}.). The cause of her death was Complications resulting from amyloidosis.⁹

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• They resided at 4700 North Racine Avenue in August 1940 in Chicago, IL.
² This location is currently called the Darlington Hotel (2009).

• Franklin and Margaret obtained a marriage license on 8 December 1941 in Saint Louis, MO.

• They resided at 1569 North Hoyne Avenue in December 1942 in Chicago, IL.
² A photo shows Frankie at approximate age of two in front of the "Howard Furnished Apartments" with the location of "Hoyne Ave" written on the back.
.

• They resided in Sheldon, IA April 1944 to July 1944.
² There is a newspaper article published in the Sheldon, Iowa Sun dated April 5, 1944 in which it describes a children's birthday party for a child named Phyllis Edwards. The article includes a photograph of a group of children which includes a young Frank Lightfoot, Jr. We must have already lived there for at least a few weeks prior to this.
.

• They resided in Fort Dodge, IA in September 1944.
² I'm not sure why we lived here or for long but this is where Lee was born.
.

• They resided in Portland, OR September 1948 to February 1949.
² This is the only time that we lived in the NW part of the US as most of our other residences were in the mid-west or eastern part. I've yet to learn of any particular reason for moving the family here as there were no relatives in the area. I think Frank Sr may have been in the area during his years in the navy and liked the area so much that we ended up moving there for a few years until he decided we may as well move to where he was stationed with the navy in California.

This house was a large two story house with white painted clap-board siding, typical of that era. We have some photographs showing us playing on a large wooden porch but I am not sure if this would have been our house or perhaps a neighbor. The photos also show a yard with a white painted wood picket fence.
.

• They resided at 4833 McNab Avenue March 1949 to 1950 in Long Beach, CA.
² This area is now within the city of Lakewood but apparently around 1950 was called Long Beach as evidenced by a letter from the Navy to Margaret Lightfoot giving a summary of Frank Lightfoot's naval record. I think we later moved a mile or so north into the Bellflower Garden Apartments in the city of Bellflower. It was a neighborhood that was predominately two story apartment buildings. The 1950 Census records indicate 8717 Belford Avenue in Los Angles so maybe through the years we mixed up the name of Belford Avenue with the city of Bellflower.
.

• 1950 US Census: 17 April 1950, in Los Angeles, CA. ⁶ 1950 US Census
Sheet 16, District 66-2293, Family 231
Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States
8719 Belford Avenue
Franklin Lightfoot..Head..43..Wisconsin..Art Glass Artist
Margaret Lightfoot..Wife..33..Minnesota
Franklin Lightfoot Jr..Son..9..Illinois
Lee Lightfoot..Son..5..Iowa
Brian Lightfoot..Son..2..Minnesota.

• They resided at 8719 Belford Avenue on 17 April 1950 in Los Angeles, CA.
The 1950 Census record indicates Franklin, Margaret, Franklin Jr, Lee, and Brian living at this address.

• They resided in Moline, IL December 1952 to July 1953.
² I have no recollection of what this house looked like but Lee says it was right across the street from the Moline Police Department.

I remember practically nothing about living in Moline and have gotten little additional information from Lee and Frankie. I believe this is where we first got Roxie, the cocker spainiel puppy. Of course, when we left Moline bound for our next destination, Dad stopped somewhere along the highway, opened the car door and got rid of the dog. I wonder how many different dogs we owned as kids growning up? I think Roxie was the last dog we ever had.
.

• They resided at 1907 Kathleen Street November 1953 to June 1954 in Tampa, FL.
² The was another rental house that, if I remember correctly, came furnished, something was not all too uncommon back then. And good reason it was furnished: we had little more than several suitcases of clothes to move it. The house was not too far from the Hillsborough River and us three boys found plenty of places for play including some back water area where we would throw a bottle into the water with a string tied to it. Inside the bottle were several pieces of bread and within minutes we would pull the bottle out full of "guppies". There was also some sort of man-hole which we would climb down into and use fish nets to catch tropical fish that were discharged from a nearby aquarium or fish factory. It wasn't too important to us that the vast majority of these tropical fish were diseased and would die within days.

Mom also noted on one of the photographs that apparently we couldn't pay the rent on the house after a few months and had to move into a small apartment, a place of which I have virtually no memory.
.

• They resided at 2907 Woodrow Street July 1954 to December 1954 in Tampa, FL.
² I have no information about this place other than Mom described it as a small apartment. It was about 10 blocks away from the previous location on Kathleen Street and across the Hillsborough River.

The Google Streets photo attached shows just single family homes so unless the apartment buildings were torn down, this is the way it probably looked back then.
.

• They resided at 2737 Saint Paul Street January 1955 to June 1955 in Baltimore, MD.
² All I can remember about Saint Paul Street is that it was one of the typical row houses in Baltimore with the marble steps out front.

This was a rental apartment that I believe was on the 3rd floor in a somewhat run-down area of Baltimore...working poor would be appropriate. As Mom wrote on one of the photos, "We were really in bad shape at this time!" I can remember horse drawn carts coming up the alley with the Negro driver yelling out "Rags, Rags". This is also the place where thieves came up the wooden back stairs to steal Frankie's Raleigh bicycle that was chained down tight.
.

• They resided in Grand Isle, VT July 1955 to October 1956.
² Why we ever moved to this remote location in 1955 is still baffling to this day. There is some suspicion that Frank owed a bunch of money to some people back in Baltimore and that he needed to "get out of town". Whatever the reason, we ending up moving right back to Baltimore about 2 years later.
.

• They resided at 3020 Reisterstown Road in 1956 in Baltimore, MD.
² This was an older two story house on the corner of Wichita Avenue. There are several photos showing Mom and Brian near the front porch of the house.

We lived in the upstairs apartment on the right side (near the side street). Below us lived some relatives of Curly Stein of the 3 Stooges fame.
.

• They resided at 3002 Reisterstown Road, Apt A3N March 1957 to October 1958 in Baltimore, MD.
² This was a large brick, apartment building. We lived in Apartment A3N which meant the "A" wing, 3rd floor. And as I recall, there was no elevator back then.

Following one drunken brawl, we were given a "Notice to Quit" which I remember seeing on our apartment door. It was our eviction notice and the beginning of when our parents began to split up.
.

• They resided in Davenport, IA in 1959.
² Following the parental split that occured in Baltimore, our parents tried one last time to get together. This time we moved to Davenport, Iowa where Frank's parents still lived. It was the 2nd floor of a large house. I think Mom had no choice but to try and reconcile because she had no assets and no job experience.

I can remember we had a screen room or porch area and had purchased this red hammock which we all found somewhat amusing to try to sleep on.

It was also on this screen room where I remember mixing up a bunch of "Hy-Lite", the battery additive that Dad was selling to make extra money. Hy-Lite was nothing more than epson salt crystals with blue food coloring. We used to go to the grocery store and buy half a dozen packages of food coloring. We'd use the blue and throw out the rest.

I can also remember riding my bicycle out to Grandma and Grandpa's house just to stop by and visit them. I don't remember ever being greeted with warm hugs but it was more like "we're busy, what did you want". I was either too young or too naive at the time to realize that I was getting a cold shoulder.

I still remember Frank coming home frequently dead drunk at which time he would pass out on the red hammock. Mom had very little money and we were all living on a "starvation diet" while Dad drank untold sums away. I had to low-crawl out to where he peeled off his clothes prior to passing out on the red hammock and attempt to retrieve some money from his billfold.
.

• Franklin Lee Lightfoot Sr. And Margaret Elizabeth Drugan was divorced on 5 April 1962 in , Flagler County, FL. ²³ I can remember Mom getting a telegram sent to us in 1962 which stated "Divorce final this date....". Dad had sent it to her while he was staying in Florida, probably Daytona Beach. Throughout the years I thought the Frankie had kept that telegram but in 2007 and 2008, he stated that he does not have it. The actual final decree papers of divorce as filed by Frank stated they were married on December 10, 1940 in Saint Louis, Missouri but Margaret scratched off the date and location on her copy and wrote September 10, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois. The Cook County officials have told me they have no record of the marriage so the exact date and location remains somewhat clouded. (Brian L. Lightfoot)

name: Margaret Lightfoot
event: Divorce
event date: Apr 1962
event place: Flagler, Florida
gender: Female
spouse: Frank Lee Lightfoot
certificate number: 6176
volume: 983

Citing this Record
"Florida, Divorce Index, 1927-2001," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VKCS-C5D : accessed 20 Oct 2012), Frank Lee Lightfoot and Margaret Lightfoot, 1962.
---------------------------------------
.

  Marriage Notes:

Recent records were discovered in 2022 that indicate a marriage between Frank L. Lightfoot and Margaret Drugan on 8 Dec 1941 in Saint Louis, Missouri. This was just over one year after the birth of their first son, Franklin Jr. in Chicago, Illinois. They were first living together in Chicago so it is not known why they traveled to Saint Louis to get married.

Around 1958 or 1959, they separated and Margaret moved to Springfield, Illinois along with her two of her sons, Lee and Brian. Franklin, Jr. was attending Winona State College in Winona, Minnesota.

Prior to the discovery, the initial research explored these concepts and records. As a youngster, I can remember Mom mentioning several times that theirs was a "common law" marriage. Whether or not common law marriages were legal at the time is somewhat moot at this point especially considering the discovery of the marriage record in Saint Louis. In nearly all states, common law marriages are no longer valid. After several months of searching for records in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, I am unable to come up with any documents showing that they were ever legally married. I believe that Frank and Margaret starting living together in Chicago while he was still technically married to his previous wife. After a few weeks or months, when this divorce happened, is when we hear about Margaret saying that the previous wife literally danced in the street. I suspect that Frank just put off the concept of getting married again or was too busy doing whatever he was doing, or just didn't want to get tied up in any more official ceremonies. I also think there is a chance that he may have had some police warrants out for him at the time and therefore he wasn't about to apply for any official license where his name could come up on a police blotter.

There still is a chance that they did officially get married but I have not yet asked the appropriate source for that record. The state of Illinois seems to be the worst for tracking marriage records in that there is no central statewide database. The counties in and around Chicago seemed to be able to keep their own records without any statewide notification. So unless I ask each and every county in Illinois, I may never know for sure. To the best of all of the relatives knowledge, they all assume that they were married in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. In typical Cook County tradition, after a payment of fees for obtaining a copy of a marriage record between Drugan and Lightfoot, I was given a response six weeks later that no such record exists and a thank you for the payment of the fees which was non-refundable.

In somewhat of a support of the notion that they were never officially married is the 1940 US Census conducted in April in Cook County which shows Margaret Drugan living in an apartment at 941 Agatite Street. She was 23 years old and working as a waitress. Her marital status was marked as single. She would have been about 4 months pregnant at the time with Franklin Jr.

A copy of the divorce decree between Margaret and Frank was filed by Frank in 1962 in Volusia County, Florida which shows that he provided a marriage date of 10 December 1940 in Saint Louis, Missouri. On the copy provided to Margaret, she scratched off that date and wrote in 10 September 1939 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois but Cook County claims that they have no record of such a marriage.

Brian L. Lightfoot
----------------------------------------

Robert Westphal Jr. adds a story that his mom went (from Winona) and lived with Frank and Margaret on Hoyne Avenue in Chicago sometime in late 1942. Mom said they lived in an upstairs apartment (above a billiards hall) and she slept on the Davenport (not to be confused with the city in Iowa), and worked at Montgomery Wards, downtown Chicago, in the accounting office. She said that Frank would disappear for days on end, and Margaret would throw all of his clothes out onto the fire escape (madder than hell!) Shortly thereafter, she got a civil service job (ration board) at the Hercules Powder Works (Ammo Plant) in Baraboo, Wisconsin, met Robert Westphal, Sr., and the rest is history.
---------------------------------------
²

Franklin next married Anne Robinson Scharf, daughter of Scharf and Henrietta, on 2 April 1962 in , Putnam County, FL.^{2 3} The marriage ended in divorce. (Anne Robinson Scharf was born on 27 January 1938 in Wheeling, WV and died on 23 February 2018 in Daytona Beach, FL.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Marriage Image: 2 April 1962, in , Putnam County, FL. ³

• They resided in Atlanta, GA in 1965.

• Divorced: 7 July 1981, Volusia County, FL. Name: Frank Lightfoot
event: Divorce
event date: 07 Jul 1981
event place: Volusia, Florida
gender: Male
spouse: Anne
certificate number: 043911
volume: 2791

Citing this Record
"Florida, Divorce Index, 1927-2001," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VK46-NPC : accessed 20 Oct 2012), Frank Lightfoot and Anne, 1981.
------------------------------------------------
.

  Marriage Notes:

Name: Frank Lee Lightfoot
Event Type: Marriage
Event Date: 02 Apr 1962
Event Place: , Putnam, Florida, United States
Gender: Male
Age: 52y
Marital Status: Divorced
Race: white
Birth Date: 09 Sep 1911
Birthplace: Eau Claire, WI
Spouse's Name: Anne Robinson Scharf
Spouse's Gender: Female
Spouse's Age: 24y
Spouse's Marital Status: Single
Spouse's Race: white
Spouse's Birth Date: 27 Jan 1938
Spouse's Birthplace: Wheeling, W. V.

Citing this Record
"Florida, County Marriages, 1830-1957," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FW9X-638 : 17 October 2017), Frank Lee Lightfoot and Anne Robinson Scharf, 02 Apr 1962; citing Marriage, , Putnam, Florida, United States, Florida State Archives and various county clerks of courts; FHL microfilm 966,032.
--------------------------------------

name: Frank Lightfoot
event: Divorce
event date: 07 Jul 1981
event place: Volusia, Florida
gender: Male
spouse: Anne
certificate number: 043911
volume: 2791

Citing this Record
"Florida, Divorce Index, 1927-2001," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VK46-NPC : accessed 20 Oct 2012), Frank Lightfoot and Anne, 1981.
------------------------------------------------