Miriam Clara (Paul) Oldham, 1896-1983

 

MIRIAM CLARA (PAUL) OLDHAM was born on 8 March 1896 in Pennsylvania to parents Samuel Bartram Davis Paul and Clara May (Kelly) Paul.[1]  She grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, living with numerous relatives for the first 15 years of her life.  In 1900, the family lived in a house at 1334 Fairmount Avenue in Philadelphia, with both her parents, her maternal grandparents, two brothers,  aunt and uncle, three cousins and five boarders – a total of 17 people.[2]  By 1910 they had moved to 1204 Reno Street in Philadelphia, with the number of people decreasing significantly to 7 – just her parents, three brothers and a lodger.[3]

Miriam and William were married on 19 February 1915, just shy of her 19^th birthday.[4]  She soon started having children – just seven months after the wedding she gave birth to her oldest son 6-William John Oldham, Jr.  The family lived at 1029 Tyler Avenue in Darby, Pennsylvania with her parents and their two boys before moving to their own home in Collingdale, Pennsylvania, by 1930.[5] 

Miriam and William’s granddaughter Laura (Oldham) Andrews remembers the couple this way:

“My Oldham grandparents were very different from each other - Grandmom was kind of cool and strict and Grandpop was a softie.  He did a lot of woodworking in his basement on Clifton Avenue and I loved going there to breathe in the smell of fresh cut wood.  Don't actually know what he made - probably just took the time to get away from Grandmom for a while.”

Miriam outlived her husband by 18 years, and later in life moved to Shinglehouse, Potter County, Pennsylvania to live with her namesake daughter in the mountains.

Miriam Clara (Paul) Oldham at her 85^th birthday, Ca. 1981

It was there that she passed on 13 November 1983 at 87 years old.  She is buried in Fernwood Cemetery, Yeadon, Pennsylvania, with her husband.[6] 

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    [1].  Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, Affidavit of Applicant for Marriage, file no 324222 (1915) for William J. Oldham and Miriam C. Paul; certified copy of marriage application and certificate no. 324222 for Paul-Oldham.  See also son William John Oldham Jr’s birth certificate that notes her middle name as Clara (this is the only document that doesn’t just have a “C” as her middle initial):  Pennsylvania, Bureau of Vital Statistics, birth certficate no. 150492 (1915), filed 6 October 1915, Wm John Oldham Jr. (copy of original held by Dawn Vanderwolf).  Her birth registration appears to have incorrect information on her parents – see City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Registration of Births, 1896, p. 191, Miriam Clara Paul; Family History Library microfilm 1289335; image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-L1RJ-BCL : viewed 22 April 2021), image 253.  My comments on this record:  There are a lot of handwriting differences on this particular record.  It appears that the last name was erased, and Paul inserted.  Miriam’s name is showing as last name/first name, while all other names are first name/last name.  Finally, the parents’ names are in the original handwriting that matches most of the rest of the page, but "Paul" is in a different handwriting.  The parents’ names cannot be correct.

    [2].  1900 U.S. census, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Philadelphia, ward 14, enumeration district (ED) 0248, sheet 2B, dwelling 31, family 36, Harry K. Paul; image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7602/images/4115188_00581 : viewed 23 November 2020), image 4.

    [3].  1910 U.S. census, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Philadelphia, ward 14, division 16, enumeration district (ED) 0205, sheet 6A, dwelling 108, family 125, Samuel B. Paul; image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7884/images/4450132_00186 : viewed 16 October 2020), image 11.

    [4].  Marriage application, Oldham-Paul.

    [5].  1930 U.S. census, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Collingdale, enumeration district (ED) 0051, sheet 3A, dwelling 46, family 50, William J. Oldham; image, Ancestry  (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6224/images/4639361_00696 : viewed 20 November 2020), image 5.

    [6].  Obituary, OLDHAM, Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 15 November 1983, p.39, col.7.; image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/172710608 : viewed 27 February 2021).