Charles W. Hilton a.k.a. Charles Gregory

[Uncle Buddy]

EDIT: August 24, 2022--I finally found the real Charles D. Gregory of Brownfield, Texas. Charley Hilton is not him. I changed the title on this thread and will soon start a new thread called "Charles D. Gregory of Brownfield, Terry County, Texas" in the Brick Walls Broken Down ("Stumped No More") category. I'm leaving this thread intact below this point since most of it is about Charley Hilton and he's interesting for several reasons, especially since we have no idea why he maintained two names and two birthdates his whole life. If it was just an a.k.a. no big deal but he married the same woman twice (as both identities) and registered for the draft twice (as both identities), so I can't stop wondering why???

[Uncle Buddy]

It is proven that Charles Hilton had more than one name and nearly proven that he maintained two separate identities, but there's no evidence of foul play. The double-identity theory is a bold claim but the evidence is quite strong. All his known inventions were for shoemaking apparatus. To my way of thinking, his patents are not trivial, they look pretty sophisticated, but judging from his jagged signature, he was probably uneducated and from a poor family.

And this does appear to be the case. Charlie (birth date May 1889) first appears in Terre Noire, Clark County, Arkansas in 1900, living with his siblings Ben and John, but no parents. The oldest person in the house is his married brother John, age 18. So possibly they had just recently been orphaned or abandoned. His name at this time was Charles W. Hilton and his parents were probably William Greer Hilton and Josephine Barks of Greeneville, Greene County, Tennessee. At least that's where Charlie was born. Anyway it's the same part of Tennessee where William and Josephine are found, and all the online trees agree on this much, though no one seems to know much about the parents and I've found no pictures of anyone, which indicates that whoever does have pictures and knowledge is not interested in genealogy (yet). So by now I might know more than the authors of the online trees. I'm not bragging, but while most folks are rushing to make their family trees as large as possible, I'm trying to write a true story about one person in their tree, the most interesting one: the one who invented something.

We don't know where Charlie was in 1910. In 1917 he resurfaces as Charley W. Hilton, street car motorman, when he registers for the draft where he lives in Shreveport, Louisiana, 150 miles south of his 1900 location. He's single, born in Greeneville, Greene County, Tennessee. He gives the birth date April 29, 1889. He mentions a previous four years in the US Navy SC Second Class. (I need to look into this still.) He's 5 ft 9 in tall, brown eyes, dark hair, medium build. His signature is jagged as usual; someone else must have filled out the form and he signed it.

In 1918 a Charles Gregory appears in Muskogee, Oklahoma, rooming, maybe single. He's a conductor on the railroad. Muskogee is 200 miles NW of the 1900 Arkansas location and Tulsa is another 50 miles in the same direction. I mention all this because in September of 1918, our Charley registers for the draft again in Tulsa, where he's rooming with his new wife Ida and working as a brakeman on the railroad. But now he's now calling himself Charles Gregory and giving the birth date June 9, 1882. Same jagged signature. How do I know that this Charles Gregory is our Charley W. Hilton? Keep reading.

[Uncle Buddy]

This is where the double-identity theory begins to form out of the mists of obscurity. You'll see that the evidence snowballs quickly.

(Don't confuse our Charley(s) with Charles Wells Hilton who was married to Mabel. Different person. By the way, there is no trace of our Charles "Gregory" in Greene County, Tennessee.)

In June 1918, Charley gave his name as "Chas Gregory" when he married Ida T. Foerstl/Ferstl in Muskogee. She was born about 1898 and his age "36" is consistent with the birth date given by Charley when he re-registered for the draft three months later in Tulsa.

And this wasn't the only thing he did twice. He married Ida T. Ferstl twice also. Just as he registered for the draft once for each of his identities, he married the same Ida once for each of his names. I speculate that when Ida found out that his legal surname was Hilton, not Gregory, she might have insisted that he remarry her by his real name. For the facts, you might have to ask her. Good luck with that. Of course there could have been two Ida Ferstls about the same age in Muskogee around the same time but finding even one was not easy, because she never told the truth about where she was from. She was from German-speaking Austria by way of Saskatchewan, Canada. In those days you didn't want to draw attention to yourself if German was your first language. Finding her family in Canada was hard because the name Foerstl is transcribed in random ways by census takers who can't make heads nor tails of a German accent. In all the documents we have on her, she never mentioned Austria and she only mentioned Canada once.

In March 1919, the same Muskogee justice of the peace who'd married "Chas Gregory" and Ida Foerstl a year earlier now proceeded to marry Ida Ferstl to Charlie W. Hilton. Jagged signature again. For this marriage document, Ida gives the same approximate birth date and Charlie gives the age (30) that matches what is probably his real birth date of April 1889.

In 1920 Charles and Ida Gregory are still living in Muskogee and Charles is still a brakeman on the railroad. His age is consistent with the older "Gregory" birth date.

In 1928 they're still in Muskogee, Charles is still a brakeman, and Ida is renting out rooms in their house. The directory calls her "Irene" but this is either a mistake or a nickname that never grew on her since she's always "Ida" everywhere else.

In 1930 we find Charles and Ida Gregory still living in Muskogee, still renting out about three rooms in the same rented house. His age is consistent with the older "Gregory" birth date. Also in 1930 we find Charlie Hilton's brother Benjamin Franklin Hilton, an auto mechanic, living in Harrison County, Texas with his family including his son Charlie E. Hilton. We first met Bennie in 1900 when the siblings were living together in Arkansas.

In 1932 Charles and Ida Gregory have moved down the street and he's working as a brakeman again.

The double marriage, believe it or not, is not at all the only strong-to-overwhelming evidence that Charlie Gregory (b. June 9, 1882) and Charlie W. Hilton (b. April 29, 1889) are the same person. I mean, being both married to the same woman is pretty strong evidence, but if you need more, just keep reading.

[Uncle Buddy]

In 1933, Charlie Gregory and Ida T. Foerstl, his Austrian wife who is not keen to mention where she's from, move to Amarillo, Texas in 1933.

Like other railroad employees I've studied, Charlie seems fond of hotels. It seems that he immediately opened a shoe repair shop in Amarillo and that's what he did with the rest of his life. But there's more.

Charles and Ida Gregory are at the same location in 1934. In 1935, "Renew Shoe Shop and Shine Parlor" is still their business name but they've moved to a new address. In 1936, Charles and Ida moved to the Amarillo Hotel, 300-310 Polk Street, where they lived for a long time. One document gives their address as 416 Polk Street in 1939, and another document gives 490 Polk in 1935 and 1940. It's not clear whether their home or their business or both were part of the hotel property.

On October 15, 1937, the same newspaper carried an article about Charlie's first invention. Charlie had applied for the patent ten months earlier and waited two more years before it was granted. It was the first of six patents he received for shoemaking and shoe repair apparatus. The last patent was applied for in 1946 and granted in 1951.

The 1937 article stated that Charlie had been a shoemaker for twenty years. This may be true but from what I've seen he was a railroad brakeman, till 1933 when he opened his first shoe shop. Could be that he repaired shoes as a sideline and gradually taught himself the trade before he moved to Amarillo.

In January 1939, 9 months before his first patent application was approved, the same newspaper reported that Charles Gregory had registered a trademark for his boot and shoe stretcher: a huge "H" for the "H Sales & Manufacturing Company" which was organized to sell the "H boot and shoe stretcher". Why "H"? Because the shape of the shoe stretcher resembles an H (which it does)? Or because Charlie was thinking of going back to his original name, "Hilton"?

From the 1940 census we learn that Charlie had a 5th grade education and Ida made it through the 8th grade. There's no hint of their ever having had a child. The 1940 city director says they owned two businesses: the Renew Shoe Shop and "Smith & Gregory". Also in 1940, Charlie's brother Ben Hilton is still living in Harrison County, Texas. This places Ben ten miles or less from Shreveport, Louisiana where Charlie W. Hilton was living in 1917 before he married Ida in Muskogee.

Now here's the rest of that strong-to-overwhelming evidence I promised you, indicating that Charlie Gregory and Charlie Hilton are the same person (OK, so it's proof...)

In December 1941, Charlie sent in his second patent application for shoemaking apparatus. This time he had to include a special line at the top where his name was listed: "Charles Gregory, Amarillo, Tex., now by judicial change of name to Charles Gregory Hilton."

Keep reading, there's more.

[Uncle Buddy]

From here on out, it's "Hilton" all the way to the grave, with almost no more mention of "Gregory" except as a middle name. In 1942 the owners of the Renew Shoe Shop at the Amarillo Hotel are Charles G. and Ida Hilton. The home and business address is now 427 Polk, Amarillo Hotel. Possibly all these Polk Street addresses are different rooms at the hotel.

On the 1942 "old man" draft registration, Charles Gregory Hilton's handwriting has not improved. He gives as a reference the manager of the Amarillo Hotel, Charley Pryor. He gives as his birth data Greeneville, Tennessee and June 9, 1880. We now have Charley Gregory and Charley Hilton sharing birthdates back and forth to some extent, which to me constitutes the final proof that they are the same person.

In the same document, Charlie is described as 5 ft 10 in, brown eyes, 167 lbs. All consistent with the descriptions from the two WW1 draft registrations. The draft registration of George Wilton Coffee in 1942 lists his employer as "Charles Gregory" of 427 Polk, Amarillo. So we see the name change didn't happen all at once. For a while, at least, he was known both ways.

By 1943, "Chas G. & Ida Hilton" have moved the Renew Shoe Shop and/or their residence a few blocks away to 606 Taylor Street. In 1945 they're again at the Amarillo Hotel.

By 1948, Charlie and Ida had moved to Denver, Colorado where they owned the Hilton Leather Shop.

In 1957, Charlie's brother Ben Hilton died in Harrison County, Texas. The informant was Ben's son Charles E. Hilton. Charles E. listed his grandfather's name as W. G. Hilton.

In 1960, Charlie's wife Ida died in a hospital in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. She was buried there, about 300 miles west of Pilot Butte, Saskatchewan where she'd lived in 1916 with her Austrian immigrant family just before she met Charley W. Hilton God knows where.

On May 15, 1976, Charley Hilton the shoe repair man was admitted to a hospital in Harrison County, Texas where he died three weeks later. His nephew Charles E. Hilton reported Charley's father's name as "Woodrow Hilton" and his mother's name as "Josephine Blakley". Charley's birth data was given as Greene County, Tennessee and Feb. 29, 1888. We now have gone full circle with the April 29, 1889 birthdate and the June 9, 1882 birthdate being obviously used by the same person. The burial location on the death certificate is given as Medicine Hat, Alberta, where we find "Charley Hilton, 1888-1976" buried next to the only woman he ever married twice, Ida T. Foerstl.

Next I'll give more info on Ida.

Attachments:

[Uncle Buddy]

Ida T. Foerstl is what I call her but you'll find the surname written every possible way except the right way, whatever the right way is. In fact the original German could have been something like Voestl since the German "oe"--which could also have been just "o" with two dots over it--sounds to American ears like "er", and the initial "V" sounds the same as our "F". Anyway, the point is that she was hard to find in Canada because her parents names, fore and aft, were spelled every which way and the wonderful free Canada census site searches only by exactly how the name was transcribed. You pretty much have to use wildcards (*) to find anything. As an alternative, you can also search Canada census at familysearch.org.

I haven't found Ida's family yet in the 1911 census, but in 1916 they lived in Pilot Butte, Saskatchewan and in 1921 they're in Frankslake, Saskatchewan.

Fortunately we have Ida's social security card application data in which she named her parents, Karl J. Ferstl and Caroline M. Schlotter. She gives her birthdate as 29 Dec 1897 and her birthplace as Greeneville, Tennessee. The latter is typical for her, but not the only birthplace she ever made up. Since her first language was German, she no doubt met up with enough bigotry during the first half of the 20th century to last her several lifetimes. Texas in the 1940s would have been the perfect place to lose a German accent asap.

Karl J. Ferstl came to Canada in about 1904 and his family followed in about 1907. All but the youngest of Karl and Karolina's children were born in Austria. Annie/Hannah was born in Saskatchewan. All were fluent in English but not French. They were Catholic. Karl was working odd jobs in 1916 but in 1921 he was farming. Karl and Karolina Ferstl are buried in the Arrat Roman Catholic Cemetery, Zehner, Regina Census Division, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Charley and Ida Hilton are buried at Hillside Cemetery, Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, Section RC, Block 169D, Lot 10.

[Uncle Buddy]

I was a bit surprised, when I finally got around to looking for Charlie's older sister Mary, to find that she was married to a Robert Lee Gregory. They lived in Bailey County, Texas in 1930. There's little doubt that Charlie would have stopped at their farm on his way to Amarillo when he and Ida opened their shoe shop around 1933. In fact, I think we can see where young Charlie Hilton's new last name came from.

In the 1900 census, we first meet 11-year-old Charlie living with his 18-year-old married brother John A. Hilton and John's wife Georgia E. Nidey. This marriage didn't last, and/or John died soon after that. The natural place for Charlie to spend the rest of his childhood would be with his married sister, Mollie Caroline Gregory.

I expect to find Charley Hilton in the Navy for four years prior to 1917--another natural move for an orphan--and maybe again in 1919 as Charles Gregory. On the other hand, the 1930 census states that he was not a veteran. We'll see.

[Uncle Buddy]

The manager of Charley Hilton's findagrave memorial has been kind enough to add Charley's obituary to the memorial. From this we learn that he obtained all or part of his education in Jacksonville, Texas which is close to Longview, Texas and Shreveport, Louisiana where we also find him and other members of his family at various times. Theoretically, then, if he lived as a foster child with his sister Mollie Gregory while he was a child (thus getting her surname), we might find Mollie and family in Jacksonville prior to 1900. In 1900 Charley has apparently just left school and moved in with his brother John in Arkansas.

Here's his obituary:
www.findagrave.com/memorial/94609424/charley-w_-hilton

[Uncle Buddy]

Charlie's sister Mollie Hilton who married Robert Lee Gregory is getting found in recent research. She had lots of children. Her middle name was Caroline. Her son Odell Virgil Gregory's birth certificate is at familysearch.org and gives her place of birth and her husband's. These Gregorys had a certain part of the world they liked to live in, parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas, and are generally not found in the same place twice. Then they moved to California.

I'm convinced that Charlie got his a.k.a. "Gregory" from living with his sister and I'll bet this is where Charlie and Ida lived when they first moved to Texas after living in Muskogee, Oklahoma for a long time, where Charlie worked for the railroad and Ida ran a boarding house.

Charlie's obituary (see findagrave.com) states that he worked for the Katy Railroad.