Ray C. Dillavou
Photo taken: 1941-1945
Photo found: Appalachian Antiques - Berkeley Springs, WV.
Status: looking for family
My first thought: how difficult could it be to find someone with the surname 'Dillavou'? I turned to FamilySearch to answer the question. FamilySearch returned three results: there was a Ray A Dillavou from Michigan, but this Ray was born in 1892 and served in WWI - too old to be our Ray. There was a Ray from Iowa, born in 1900, but his middle name was Everett - no 'C' initial.
Then I came across an interesting result: a death record for a man by the name of Ray Dillavou, born in 1906, who died in Spearfish, SD.
Our last blog post was on another subject from this haul of WWII photos I had procured: Roy Aspen. Roy also grew up in South Dakota, and died in Spearfish. This couldn't be just a coincidence - all these photos were connected, somehow: seemingly donated to a museum or some sort of organization who labeled all the photos with the men's names and WWII service information. Could the connecting factor between all the photos be Spearfish?
In addition, according to his FindAGrave profile, this Ray was born Charles Raymond - which would explain the 'C' initial written on Ray's photo. He is also buried with a WWII veteran headstone.
It appears this is our Ray.
Ray was born in 1906 in Nebraska to James and Elizabeth Dillavou. The family seemingly moved around a lot, because by 1920 they were living in Wyoming and by 1930 in South Dakota.
In July 1934, Ray married Clara Minard. At the time, Ray was working at the Homestake Mining Company.
In 1945 Ray became a deputy in the Lawerence County Sheriff's Office and was leading a high-profile murder case in 1946:
You can read the full article from the Deadwood Pioneer-Times on Newspapers.com!
In 1947, he was appointed a special agent in the South Dakota state department of investigation, and the accompanying newspaper article also gives us some details about his WWII service:
The draft for WWII began in September 1940, and by 1946, Ray was already back in South Dakota; that places the time his photograph was taken likely between 1941-1945. Here's more information about Ray's time in the Navy:
Ray died in 1990 and is buried in the Black Hills National Cemetery.
Photo found: Appalachian Antiques - Berkeley Springs, WV.
Status: looking for family
My first thought: how difficult could it be to find someone with the surname 'Dillavou'? I turned to FamilySearch to answer the question. FamilySearch returned three results: there was a Ray A Dillavou from Michigan, but this Ray was born in 1892 and served in WWI - too old to be our Ray. There was a Ray from Iowa, born in 1900, but his middle name was Everett - no 'C' initial.
Then I came across an interesting result: a death record for a man by the name of Ray Dillavou, born in 1906, who died in Spearfish, SD.
Our last blog post was on another subject from this haul of WWII photos I had procured: Roy Aspen. Roy also grew up in South Dakota, and died in Spearfish. This couldn't be just a coincidence - all these photos were connected, somehow: seemingly donated to a museum or some sort of organization who labeled all the photos with the men's names and WWII service information. Could the connecting factor between all the photos be Spearfish?
In addition, according to his FindAGrave profile, this Ray was born Charles Raymond - which would explain the 'C' initial written on Ray's photo. He is also buried with a WWII veteran headstone.
It appears this is our Ray.
Ray was born in 1906 in Nebraska to James and Elizabeth Dillavou. The family seemingly moved around a lot, because by 1920 they were living in Wyoming and by 1930 in South Dakota.
In July 1934, Ray married Clara Minard. At the time, Ray was working at the Homestake Mining Company.
 |
| 3 July 1934 - Lead Daily Call |
You can read the full article from the Deadwood Pioneer-Times on Newspapers.com!
In 1947, he was appointed a special agent in the South Dakota state department of investigation, and the accompanying newspaper article also gives us some details about his WWII service:
 |
| Lead Daily Call, 22 September 1947 |
 |
| The Black Hills Weekly, 3 August 1945 |
Comments
Post a Comment