Sunday, October 5, 2014

1881+ Autograph Album of Ione P. Stephenson of Des Moines, Iowa, Before and After her Marriage to Carl B. Pinney


Autograph album dating from 1880 that belonged to Ione P. Stephenson of Des Moines, Iowa, with autographs collected while she was a student at Immaculate Conception Academy at Davenport, Iowa, and later used to list people's names while she was married to Carl B. Pinney and living in Minnesota and either living at or visiting Fargo, North Dakota, before and after its Statehood.

She stamped her married name on the inside front cover.


The album measures approximately 7" x 4-1/4" and contains the sentiments of 39 of Ione's relatives, friends and schoolmates.  An alphabetical surname list and an alphabetical list of the signers, together with any personal information they offered, appear at the end of this post.

The album also contains nearly 30 pages that list names that I haven't transcribed.  The page below, dated May 1886, lists people from the Fargo, North Dakota area.  Ione and Carl had been married only a month earlier, on April 22, 1886 at Des Moines.  Ione became a doctor; perhaps these were her patients.  Carl was a banker; perhaps these were his customers.  If he was the C. B. Pinney who was a photographer in Chicago in the early 1900s, perhaps he had started a sideline earlier in Minnesota and North Dakota.  Or perhaps the relationships were religious or social.


Below, a page dated Jun 1889 that indicates that Ione or Carl, or both, had returned to Fargo, presumably having earlier returned to Minnesota.


A page from 1892.


From online research, hopefully correct:  [corrections and additions welcome!]

Ione P. Stephenson was born 10 April 1865 in Des Moines, Iowa, the daughter of Harrison and Abbie Bly (Irwin) Stephenson.  As noted above, she attended Immaculate Conception Academy at Davenport, Iowa, in the early 1880s.  Her grave records refer to her as Dr. Ione P. (Stephenson) Pinney.

Among the self-described relatives who signed pages in the album was Aunt Vic of Leavenworth, Kansas, who inscribed a page on December 25, 1880.  She was the first to sign in the album and may have been the person who gifted the album to Ione.  She was presumably Mary Elsie Victoria (Dicks) Eddy, whose husband Robert Henry Eddy, "Uncle Henry", and son John Augustus Eddy also signed pages.




On April 22, 1886 at Des Moines, Iowa, Ione married Carl B. Pinney.  I think he was the Carl Byron Pinney who was born April 2, 1865, the son of Samuel and Mary Anna (Plummer) Pinney.

By 1888, or before, things were not going well for the Pinney family, as Carl, a banker with the defunct Farmers and Merchants Bank, was being accused of accepting deposits while knowing that his bank was insolvent.  In a newspaper article in the St. Paul Daily Globe, issue of June 30, 1888, he was described as "the young napoleon of finance."

Later, I wonder if he was the C. B. Pinney who had a photography studio at 323 Dearborn Street in Chicago, as I know the Pinney family moved to Chicago at some point after 1900.  Also at some point after 1900, unless there were two Carl B. Pinneys, Carl and Ione divorced, and Carl married Hazel D. Walker.  Ione described herself as widowed on Census enumerations, but she could have been divorced instead.

Ione and Carl had at least two children, Ione Pinney, born in North Dakota, on March 24, 1887; and Carl Harrison Pinney, born April 17, 1889 at St. Paul, Minnesota.  Daughter Ione became a physician and moved to Illinois and then to California; her mother lived with her.  Son "Harry" was an electrician who also moved to the West Coast.  Ione P. (Stephenson) Pinney died at Santa Clara, California, in 1961.

If you have corrections and/or additions to the information above, if you have a theory behind the many pages of lists, or if you have information on any of the signers listed below, please leave a comment or contact me directly.

Surname list  (those who left autographs in the early 1880s only)

?ELP
? [5]Eddy [2]LowryPhalen
BEmeryMPinney
BuchananFMarshPritz
CFitzHenryMcCormack [2]Pyne
CarrollHMcElhattonS
CaseHaightMurto [3]Schall
ConklinHerrickNStephenson
DKNolanStubbs
DalyKeneallyW
DicksKissickWaldron
Dohany [3]KnepperWebb

Signers in the album        [Note: Given names within a specific surname may not be in alphabetical order.]

?
  • "Taken from S. M. F., fernery, June 1, Immaculate Conception Academy, Iowa. The page shows the remnants of springs of fern.
  • Lucy, signed at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on December 17, 1882
  • M. E. W.
  • Bertha
B
  • Estelle Buchanan of Newton, Iowa, signed at Immaculate Conception Academy on June 18, 1882
C
  • Nora Carroll, signed at Immaculate Conception Academy on June 4, 1883
  • Estella Case of Cincinnati, Ohio, signed on August 6, 1883
  • Naomi Conklin of Salt Lake City, Utah, signed on June 18, 1882
D
  • Mary A. Daly of Dixon, Illinois, signed on June 21, 1883 at Immaculate Conception Academy
  • Jessie E. Dicks of Des Moines, Iowa
  • Adell Dohany of Council Bluffs, Iowa, signed at Immaculate Conception Academy on September 19, 1882
  • Dell Dohany of Council Bluffs, Iowa, signed at Immaculate Conception Academy on June 9, 1881
  • Miss Julia Laura Dohany of Council Bluffs, Iowa, signed at October 26, 1882 at Immaculate Conception Academy at Davenport, Iowa. Ione's classmate.
E
  • Aunt Vic of Leavenworth, Kansas, signed on December 25, 1880.  Presumably Mary Elsie Victoria (Dicks) Eddy, wife of signer Robert Henry Eddy and mother of signer John Augustus Eddy.
  • Uncle Henry; R. H. Eddy. Robert Henry Eddy, husband of signer Mary Elsie (Dicks) Eddy and father of signer John Augustus Eddy.
  • John A. Eddy; cousin. John Augustus Eddy, son of signers R. H. Eddy, "Uncle Henry", Robert Henry Eddy, and Mary Elsie Victoria (Dicks) Eddy.
  • Annie M. Emery, signed at Davenport, Iowa, Immaculate Conception Academy, on June 15, 1882
F
  • Minnie Fitz Henry of Keokuk, Iowa, signed at Immaculate Conception Academy. She drew a tiny sketch of a building that might have been the academy.
H
  • Etta Haight, signed at Jefferson, Iowa, on July 23, 1881
  • Flora Herrick of Grand Junction, Iowa
K
  • Mary Keneally, signed at Immaculate Conception Academy on November 1, 1881. "Novitiate"
  • Mary L. Kissick of Keokuk, Iowa, signed at Immaculate Conception Academy on September 24, 1882; "One of the select four" Dormitory mate.
  • Harriet Knepper of Council Bluffs, Iowa, signed at Immaculate Conception Academy on June 9, 1881
L
  • Sallie Lowry of Muscatine, Iowa, signed on October 26, 1887
M
  • Onnolee Marsh of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, signed on February 11, 1881
  • Tres McCormack of Washington, Iowa, signed at Immaculate Conception Academy at Davenport, Iowa, on April 20, 1882. Presumably Theresa McCormack or Teresa McCormack
  • Julia McCormack of Washington, Iowa, signed at Davenport, Iowa, on December 8 , 1881. She may have been a fellow student at Immaculate Conception Academy.
  • Lizzie McElhatton, signed at Immaculate Conception Academy on June 21, 1883
  • Maggie Murto of Keithburg, Illinois, signed at Immaculate Conception Academy on March 20, 1882. The Murto surname is also seen as Murtough.
  • Marguerite Murto of Keithsburg, Illinois, signed at Immaculate Conception Academy on June 24, 1883. The Murto surname is also seen as Murtough.
  • Mamie Murto, signed on June 24, 1883; not sure of surname. I wonder if she was the Mary Murto who moved with her family to Colorado and married Harry W. Humphries. Murto surname is also seen as Murtough.
N
  • Mamie J. Nolan of New York, signed at Immaculate Conception Academy on June 5, 1883
P
  • Julia Phalen, signed at Chicago, Illinois, on June 18, 1882
  • Stamped on inside front cover: Mrs C. B. Pinney.  She was Ione (Stephenson) Pinney, owner of this album.  She collected autographs from before her marriage and used the album to keep track of groups of people after her marriage.
  • Minnie Pritz of Keithsburg, Illinois, signed at Immaculate Conception Academy, Davenport, Iowa, on June 9, 1881
  • Frankie Pyne of Chicago, Illinois, signed on June 22, 1881 at Immaculate Conception Academy at Davenport, Iowa
S
  • Alice E. Schall of Hillsdale, Illinois, signed at Immaculate Conception Academy on March 8, 1883
  • Stamped on inside front cover: Mrs C. B. Pinney.  She was Ione (Stephenson) Pinney, owner of this album.  She collected autographs from before her marriage and used the album to keep track of groups of people after her marriage.
  • Nellie Stubbs of Chicago, Illinois, signed at Immaculate Conception Academy at Davenport, Iowa
W
  • W. C. Waldron of Des Moines, Iowa
  • Robbie Webb
Des Moines, Iowa and Davenport, Iowa


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