Person Page - 172

     Amasa Hubbard Olds was born on 12 Oct 1819.^1,2 He was the son of Amasa Minley Olds and Lephe Winchester.¹ Amasa Hubbard Olds died on 21 Sep 1838 at age 18.¹

     Amasa Minley Olds was born on 16 Feb 1793 at Marlboro, Vermont.^2,3 He was the son of Joseph Olds and Sally Whitney.¹ Amasa Minley Olds married Lephe Winchester on 22 Nov 1814 at Marlborough, Vermont.^4,5 Amasa Minley Olds died on 20 Sep 1838 at age 45.¹
     On 31 May 1814, at Marlborough, he took the Freeman's Oath , as required by the 1777 Constitution of Vermont.⁶
     "8-14-1839 - Joseph OLDS adms. of Amasa M. OLDS, dec'd vs. Heirs. Petition to convey real estate. Filed 8-13-1839. Land, Amasa Olds In his lifetime In 1837 or 1838 contracted to sell lots 19,22,25,26, etc. In Circleville to William R. Rhinehart, Philip Zegar and others. Amasa M. Olds left two minor children, Sarah and Joseph Olds, both of Fayette Co., Ohio. Joseph Olds administrator of estate Is brother of Amasa M. Olds, dec'd. (152)."⁷

     Amelia Olds was born c 1834.¹ She was the daughter of Luke Orrison Olds and Nancy P. Miller.¹

     Amelia Ann Olds was born on 1 May 1849 at Cabotville, Hampden County, Massachusetts.¹ She was the daughter of William S. Olds and Mary A. Reed.¹

     Amos Olds was born on 18 Jan 1753 at Westfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts.¹ He was the son of Samuel Old and Abigail Handchit.¹ Amos Olds was baptized on 20 May 1753 at Church of Christ, Westfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts.² He married Phebe (?) b 1783; she is listed as the mother of each of their seven children in the birth records of Great Barrington, Massachusetts.³ Amos Olds married Eleanor Williams alias Sacket on 10 Feb 1803 at Great Barrington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts.⁴ Amos Olds died in Jul 1833 at Great Barrington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, at age 80.^5,6
     He was living in Great Barrington, Mass. in 1790. All the children with his first wife were born at Great Barrington.³
"Olds, Amos. Private, Capt Peter Ingersoll's co., Col. John Brown's (Berkshire Co.) regt; enlisted July 1, 1777; discharged July 30, 1777; service 30 days; also, Capt. Roswell Downing's co., Lieut. Col. Miles Powel's (Berkshire Co.) regt; enlisted July 19, 1779; discharged Aug. 23, 1779; service 1 mo., 9 days, at New Haven, Conn., including 4 1/2 days (90 miles) travel home."
     The pension file for Peter Hammond contains a letter from Mrs. R. O. Nicolai, Marblehead, Massachusetts, dated 12 March 1938, inquiring about a pension record for Amos Olds, quoting service records from Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolution. No pension for him was found. This letter states that Amos died in 1828 in Southwick, Massachusetts.⁷

     Amos Olds was born on 16 Jun 1800 at Palmer, Massachusetts.¹ He was the son of Enoch Olds and Eunice Hatch.¹

     Amos Olds was born on 20 Oct 1823.^2,3 He was the son of Aaron Olds and Melinda Taylor.¹ Amos Olds married S. Minerva Rice on 25 Oct 1846.² Amos Olds died on 10 Mar 1903 at Palmer, Massachusetts, at age 79⁴ and was buried at Oak Knoll Cemetery, Palmer, Hampden County, Massachusetts.⁵
     In 1889, he was living in Three Rivers, Massachusetts.²

     Amos Olds was born c 1805 at Great Barrington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts.¹ He was the son of Amos Olds and Eleanor Williams alias Sacket.¹ Amos Olds married Mary A. Van Derhall on 24 Nov 1863 at Great Barrington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts.² Amos Olds died on 18 Apr 1883 at Great Barrington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts.³

     Amos Olds was born on 22 Mar 1833.¹ He was the son of Otia Olds and Sarah M. Chamberlain.¹
     E. B. Olds says Amos married and had six children.²
     I am not sure what became of him.
One Amos Olds appears in the 1850 census of Courtland County, New York, at age 18.
He can be traced to the 1880 census of Courtland County where he is age 45 with wife Lois and the listing shows he was born in NY to parents b. Massachsetts.
One 18 year-old Amos Olds, born in New York, is listed with the family of Erasmus and Charlotte Smith in Aurora, Erie County, New York. I have found no connection to this Smith family.
An Amos D. Olds married Sophronia Hill on 30 Sep 1856 in Wayne County, Michigan and they appear in the 1860 census of Hillsdale County, Michigan, with apparent daughter, Alice, age 2. Amos, age 27, and Sophronia, age 24, were both born in New York. On 20 June 1867, he married Ann Ophelia Davis in Hillsdale County, Michigan, and they appear in the 1880 census of Gratiot County, Michigan, as:

     81/83 Olds, Amos D., 47, farmer, b. NY, father b. NY, mother b. VT
      , Ophelia, 39, wife, keeping house, b. NY, parents b. NY
      , Preston D., 18, son, farm laborer, b. Mich., parents b. NY
      , Eugene, 10, son, attending school, b. Mich., parents b. NY
      , Ollie, 4, dau., b. Mich., parents b. NY
      , Charles, 1, son, b. Mich., parents b. NY
[Since this Amos reported his mother as born in Vermont, as was Sarah Chamberlain, I consider this a good possibility.]
Further information can be added but I have found nothing to prove or disprove the connection.

     Amos D. Olds was born on 24 Mar 1859.¹ He was the son of Daniel Griswold Olds and Mary E. Black.¹ Amos D. Olds married an unknown person on 27 Jun 1893.² He died on 25 May 1935 at age 76.³

     Andrew Olds was the son of Grant Olds.¹ Andrew Olds died b 12 Jul 2017.¹

     Andrew Emory Olds married Bessie Hazel Hopkins.² Andrew Emory Olds was born on 9 Nov 1899.¹ He was the son of Adelbert Hezekiah Olds and Matilda A. Hartley.¹ Andrew Emory Olds died on 5 Mar 1979 at age 79³ and was buried at Cushion Union Cemetery, Cushing, Union County, Minnesota.⁴
     Andrew Emory Olds and Bessie Hazel Olds appeared on the census of 17 Apr 1930 at Oaks Township, Roseau County, Minnesota, as follows:
     7/9 Olds, Andrew E., head, owner, 30, 1st marr. age 18, b. N. D., father b. Mich., mother b. Kansas, general farmer
      , Bessie H., wife, 32, 1st marr. age 20, b. Wisc., father b. Wisc., mother b. Holland
      , Bessie M., dau., 9, b. North Dakota, father b. N. D. , mother b. Wisc.
      , Margaret P., dau., 6, b. North Dakta, father b. N. D., mother b. Wisc.
      , Marcus R., son, 6, b. North Dakota, father b. N. D., mother b. Wisc.⁵
Andrew Emory Olds and Bessie Hazel Olds appeared on the census of 19 Apr 1940 at Roseau County, Minnesota, as follows:
     12 Olds, Andrew E., head, 8th grade education, b. North Dakota, laborer, couinty roadside improvement
(cont. on next page)
      , Bessie H., wife, 42, 8th grade education, b. Wisc.
      , Magaret [sic] P., dau. 16, 7 yrs education, b. N. D.
      , Marcus R., son, 16, 3 yrs education, b. N. D.
      , Evelyn A., dau., 9, 2 yrs education, b. Minnesota
      , Ruth A., dau, 6, 0 yrs education, b. Minnesota
      , Joan L., dau., 4, 0 yrs education, b. Minnesota
      , Donna R., 2, 0 yrs education, b. Minnesota
Except for Joan and Donna, the family had lived in the same place as of 1 Apr 1935.⁶

     Andrew Jackson Olds was born c 1833 at Ohio.² He married Amanda Whipp on 30 Aug 1854 at Menard County, Illinois.³ Andrew Jackson Olds married Clara Zader on 20 Jan 1898 at Los Angeles County, California.^4,5 Andrew Jackson Olds died on 26 Jan 1909 at Los Angeles County, California,^6,7 and was buried at Pomona Cemetery and Mausoleum, Pomona, Los Angeles County, California.⁸
     Andrew Jackson Olds and Amanda Olds appeared on the census of Aug 1860 at Township 15, Range 5, Menard County, Illinois, as follows:
     1156/1108 Andrew Olds, 27, farmer, b. Ohio
      , Amanda " , 45, b. Ohio
      , Lydia Whipp, 17, b. Illinois
      , John W. Whipp, 15, b. Illinois
      , Starling J[?]. Whipp, 10, b. Illinois
      , Francis Olds, 1, male, b. Illinois
      , Leonard A. Whipp, 15, Day Laborer, b. Illinois.²
Andrew Jackson Olds and Amanda Olds appeared on the census of 11 Jun 1880 at Hughes Township, Nodaway County, Missouri, as follows:
      Olds, A. J., 47, b. Ohio, parents b. Ohio
     83/88 , Amanda, 63, wife, b. Ohio, father b. KY, mother b. VA
      , Chas D., male, 23. brother, single, laborer, b. Ill., parents b. Ohio.⁹
Andrew Jackson Olds and Clara Olds appeared on the census of 15 Jun 1900 at 1287 Main Street, Pomona City, Los Angeles County, California, as follows:
     251/251 Okl, Andrew J., head, b. Aug. 1833, 66, marr. 2 yrs, b. Ohio, father b. Vermont, mother b. Ohio, farmer
      , Clara, wife, b. Nov. 1829, 70, marr. 2 yrs, 3 children, 3 living, b. New York, parents b. New York.¹⁰

     Andrew Jackson Olds was born c 1832 at Ohio.^1,4 He was the son of John Bissell Olds and Hannah Brown.³ Andrew Jackson Olds married Annie Eliza Parker on 7 Dec 1856 at Van Buren County, Michigan.^3,5 Andrew Jackson Olds died in 1915.⁶ He was buried at Fairmount Cemetery, Richland County, North Dakota.⁷
     Andrew Jackson Olds and Annie Eliza Olds appeared on the census of 23 Aug 1870 at Hartford, Van Buren County, Michigan, as follows:
      /289 Olds, Andrew J., 38, farmer, b. N. Y.
      , Anna E., 32, keeping house, b. Mich.
      , Ethelbert, 12, works on farm, b. Mich.
      , Addie, 6, b. Mich.
      , Mary, 5, b. Mich.
      , Hezekiah, 2, b. Mich,
      Olds, Hezekiah, 58, invalid, b. New York.⁸
     "ANDREW JACKSON OLDS, B-Lockport, Niag. Co., N. Y. D-Nov. age 65, Hartford, Mich. Mar. Anna Eliza Parker, removed to Fairmont, North Dak. returned to Mich. His wife died Fairmont Dak. Nov. 22, age 65 yrs. Mar-Dec. 7, 1856. Wit. Hannah Parker, Louise Gregory Hannah D-Feb. 7, 1903."²
Andrew Jackson Olds and Annie Eliza Olds appeared on the census of 22 Jun 1900 at Devillo Township, Richland County, North Dakota, as follows:
     228/228 Olds, Andrew J., b. Feb. 1832, 68, marr. 44 yrs, b. N. Y., parents b. N. Y., gardner
      , Anna E., wife, b. Aug. 1839, 60, marr. 44 yrs., 6 children, 4 living, b. Mich., parents b. N. Y.⁹
Andrew Jackson Olds appeared on the census of 1 May 1910 at Fairmont Village, Richland County, North Dakota, as follows:
     140/140 Thompson, William H., 28, marr. once, 28 years, b. Mich., parents b. N. Y., commercial nursery salesman
      , Addie C., wife, marr. once, 28 yrs, 4 children, 3 living, b. Mich., parents b. N. Y.
      , Lulu A., dau., b. North Dakota, parents b. Mich.
      , Lillian, dau., 18, b. North Dakota, parents b. Mich.
      , Ida B., dau., 16, b. North Dakota, parents b. Mich.
      Olds, Andrew, father-in-law, 79, widowed, b. N. Y., parents b. N. Y., occupation: own income.¹⁰

     Angeline Olds was born in 1828 at New York.¹ She was the daughter of Philander Olds and Sally McMillan.¹ Angeline Olds died c 1850.²

     Angeline Olds was the daughter of Augustus Olds and Catherine Cowden.¹ Angeline Olds died in infancy.¹

     Angeline Olds was born c 1837 at Massachusetts.¹ She was the daughter of Sylvester Olds and Lucinda Loomis.²
     I have placed Angeline in this family on the basis of these census listings: Angeline, age 14, was listed in the 1850 census of Saratoga County, New York with Jennet³; age 18 in the 1855 census of West Springfield with Sarah J., Angeline and Meder[?]⁴; age 22 in the 1860 census of Williamsburg, Hampshire County, Mass., with Jeannette and Caroline⁵; and age 34 in the 1870 census of Williamsburg⁶.

     Angie Aurelia Olds was born on 19 Jan 1854.¹ She was the daughter of Truman Tuttle Olds and Aurecta Stafford.¹ Angie Aurelia Olds died on 22 May 1883 at age 29.¹

     Ann E. Olds was born on 17 Sep 1816 at Saratoga, New York.¹ She was the daughter of William Olds and Nancy J. Greeley.² Ann E. Olds married Josephus Williams on 9 Sep 1850.³ Ann E. Olds died on 8 Apr 1884 at age 67.^4,5

     Ann M. Olds was born in 1828 at Jackson, New York.¹ She was the daughter of Liberty Olds and Ann A. Goodrich.¹ Ann M. Olds married William C. Harris on 30 Nov 1848 at Williamstown, Berkshire County, Massachusetts.^1,2
     Ann M. Harris and William C. Harris appeared on the census of 20 Aug 1850 at Brattleboro, Windham County, Vermont, as follows:
     William C. Harris, 31, farmer, b. Vt.
     Ann N. , 22, b. Mass.
     Joseph S. Olds, 15, b. N. Y.³

     Ann Marie Olds was born on 13 Oct 1918 at Star Township, Michigan.² She was the daughter of Wesley Hawley Olds and Ida M. Eastcott.¹
     "Ann Marie Olds Bride of Gerald McWatters, Will Reside in Petosky
"From East Star Correspondence:
"A very pretty ceremony was solemnized at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Olds at 9 o'clock Thursday evening, September 8, 1938, when their daughter, Ann Marie, was united in marriage to Gerald McWatters, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ira McWatters of Petosky.
"The ceremony was performed by Rev. Freeman of Petovsky. The wedding march, "Love's Dreamland", was played by Mrs. Albert Engel.
"The bride wore a formal of dark blue velvet and carried an arm bouquet of pink roses.
"The couple were attended by the groom's sister and husband, Mrs. and Mrs. Kenneth Cox of Petoskey. Mrs. Cox wore a formal light blue satin.
"The house was prettily decorated with a profusion of fall flowers, the background of the decorations being carried out with pink gladioli and hydrangea and a carpet of ferns.
"A buffet supper of ice cream and cake was served following the ceremony, the large bride's cake topped by a miniature bride and groom, being made by the bride's sister, Louise Olds.
"The wedding guests included the groom's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ira McWatters, Mrs. and Mrs. H. O. Carlzen, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Cox, Cecil Hunt and girl friend, and Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Casper of Petoskey; Mr. and Mrs. Fred McWatters, Mr. and Mrs. Hayward Noteware and Mrs. T. F. Gogerty of Bellaire; Mr. and Mrs. Lyle Rusnell and Mrs. Sylva Blain of Alba, Anna Mae Phillips and Clare Warner of Gaylord, Mrs. O. Lang of Toledo, Ferris Olds, Mr. and Mrs. H. B. Primrose, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Engel, Mrs. Warde Primrose and daughter Donna of Star.
"The happy couple will reside in Petoskey, where the groom is employed. The best wishes of their many friends go with them to their new home."¹

     Anna Olds was the daughter of Samuel Olds and Annie Daniels.¹ Anna Olds married Aaron Wright.³ Anna Olds died on 15 Feb 1863.² She was buried at East or "Ould" Cemetery, Ludlow, Hampden County, Massachusetts.⁴

     Anna Olds was born on 7 Jun 1825.¹ She was the daughter of Nathan Olds and Hannah Wright.¹ Anna Olds married Marcus Daniels on 25 Nov 1846 at Ludlow, Massachusetts.¹

     Anna Agnes Olds was born on 2 Sep 1869 at Belmont, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts.¹ She was the daughter of Joseph Sidney Olds and Mary A. Keith/Okeefe.¹ Anna Agnes Olds died on 4 Oct 1874 at Belmont, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, at age 5.²

     Anna B. Olds was born c 1925 at Minnesota.¹ She was the daughter of Clyde Henry Olds and Florence E. Taylor.¹

     Anna Barbara Olds was born on 26 Oct 1910 at Mt. Gilead, Ohio.^2,3 She was the daughter of Benjamin Olds and Anna Barton Irwin.¹ Anna Barbara Olds married Edgar L. Jolley on 31 Dec 1931.⁴ Anna Barbara Olds died on 11 Feb 2004 at Morrow County Hospital ECF, Morrow County, Ohio, at age 93⁴ and was buried on 14 Feb 2004 at Riverside Cemetery, Mt. Gilead, Morrow County, Ohio.⁴
     Her obituary states: Barbara Olds Jolley
October 26, 1910 ~ February 11, 2004
From: Mount Gilead, Ohio
Visitation: Friday, February 13, 2004 from 6:00- 8:00 P.M.
at Snyder Funeral Home, Craven Chapel, Mount Gilead, OH
Funeral: Saturday, February 14, 2004 at 2:30 P.M.
at Snyder Funeral Home, Craven Chapel, Mount Gilead, OH
Burial: Rivercliff Cemetery, Mount Gilead, Ohio
"Barbara O. Jolley, 93, of Willow Lane, Mount Gilead, Ohio died Wednesday, February 11, 2004 in the Morrow County Hospital ECF.
"She was a lifelong Mount Gilead resident, where she was born on Oct. 26, 1910, the daughter of the late Benjamin and Anna Irwin Olds. She graduated from Mount Gilead High School in 1928 prior to attending Miami University. She worked as an elementary teacher for the Mount Gilead School System until retiring.
"She was a member of Trinity United Methodist Church, the United Methodist Women, Silver Twig, and the Retired Teachers Association. She was a charter member of Sorosis II, the Morrow County Historical Society, and the Morrow County Genealogical Society.
"She is survived by a son Fred (Patricia) Jolley of Denver, CO; a daughter Nancy A. Maslar of Mt. Gilead, OH; five grandchildren James (Sioban), Joseph & Melissa Maslar, Matthew (Jodi) and Andrew (Daphne) Jolley; and three great grandchildren Kaitlyn, Brendon and Lauren Jolley.
"Her husband Edgar L. Jolley, whom she married Dec. 31, 1931, preceded her in death on Feb. 23, 1983. A brother James Olds and a sister Iras Whitney also preceded her in death.
"Friends may call at the Craven Funeral Home in Mount Gilead on Friday from 6-8 p.m. Rev. Bruce Hartley will conduct funeral services held there Saturday at 2:30 p.m.. Burial will be in Rivercliff Cemetery. Memorials can be made to her church, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation or the Juvenile Diabetes Association. Condolences may be expressed to the family at www.snyderfuneralhomes.com."⁴

     Anna E. Olds was born c 1857 at California.² She was the daughter of Daniel Olds and Sarah L. (?).¹

     Anna Elizabeth "Beth" Olds was born on 7 Aug 1921 at Wyanet, Bureau County, Illinois.^1,2 She was the daughter of John Cullen Olds and Dorothy Guthrie. Anna Elizabeth "Beth" Olds married George Jacob Biderman on 3 May 1947.³ Anna Elizabeth "Beth" Olds died on 24 Oct 2001 at age 80.¹ She appears in the Social Security Death Index as having died 24 Oct 2001 with the last place of residence listed as New York, New York County, New York. Anna Elizabeth "Beth"'s SSN was issued in Illinois. Also, her birth date is given as 7 Aug 1921.¹
     ToDo: Find 1971 letter from Anna Elizabeth "Beth" Biderman and enter address into TMG.

     "You may not know that I spent the war years on the Manhattan Project and after the war worked with the Atomic Scientists in Chicago & the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists (latter chaired by A. Einstein). Physics is not a foreign field for me."³
     Her obituary states: "BIDERMAN -- Beth Olds, 80. Tranquilly on October 24, 2001. To the end more concerned about others than herself; first her loved ones, but not far behind the causes of world peace and progressive humanism with which she was professionally and personally involved through all of her adult life. 1942-45: administrative secretary on the Manhattan Project at University of Chicago and Oak Ridge, Tenn., then manager, American liaison office in Montreal with the British and French scientists. 1945 - 1947: executive secretary of the National Sharecroppers Fund to fight for farm worker rights, board member several years thereafter. 1967-1970: executive director of Park Association of New York, consultant to Parks Council 1972. Activist in Greenwich Village and summer residence on Fire Island, co-founding Saltaire Citizens Advisory Association. Music buff, conservationist, gourmet cook extraordinaire. Her enjoyment of wry humor & dry martinis persisted to the very end, as did her bravery and determination. Beloved and devoted wife for fify-four years of George, mother to Tina (Vartanian) and John, grandmother to Alexandre Vartanian and Lauren Scharf. Memorial to be announced."⁴
     "Please forgive this all-purpose letter but I am, as you can imagine, a bit overloaded with to-do's. For those of you who may not have seen it, I am enclosing a copy of the short notice of Beth's death, which ran in the New York Times.
"Beth was cremated and, because I wasn't physically able to make the trip, our dear friends Jean and Jerry Leitner caught the next-to-last ferry of the season to Fire Island and scattered her ashes in front of our old house in Saltaire. Beth loved the ocean, and was in the water from spring until sometimes as late as October. She conveyed this love to her children who became proficient surf swimmers, while I confined my appreciation of the sea to depleting its bluefish and striped bass population -- to which Beth applied another of her many talents, but more on that later.
"She was a fine swimmer, just one of the many attributes of this remarkable woman that space costraints prevented from including in the Times notice. Among the others, some of which you may not have known:
"She was a fine, mostly self-taught amateur pianist, had perfect pitch, and could sight-read prodigiously. She could interpret the classics with sensitivity but, despite an impeccable sense of time, she never could swing (which, of course, didn't keep her from disdaining those jazz musicians who couldn't either).
"Her innate sense of dignity and fairness, though meant that she totally disdained very few people; she took them for what they were as whole persons. The few she did disdain darned welll knew it: forthright, the lady certainly was. The exceptions were those close to people she liked. In those cases, she kept her famous poker face on and her tongue atypically still.
"There was usually no doubt about where Beth stood on matters personal, ethical, or political. Fakery just wasn't in her, except in the interests of a good laugh. (She was a consummate put-on artist, abetted no doubt by her theatrical background in college.)
"This acceptance of people for what they were also meant that she was not in awe of the great and famous whom she knew, Albert Einstein being the one exception I can think of. And she was close to scores of other prominent people, among them such scientists as Leo Szilard, Harold Urey, Edward Teller, Lyle Borst, W. W. Watson, J. Robert Opppenheimer, John Simpson, Louis Slotin, Eugene Rabinowich, Philip Morrison, Harrison Brown, Hy Goldsmith, and Lee Kowarski.
"To mention only a few who are no longer with us (for fear of omitting some who are), among other notable friends were jazz greats, the closest being Barney Bigard, Milt Hinton, Helen Humes and Zutty Singleton, and including the likes of Louis Armstrong, Buster Bailey, Sid Catlett, Cozy Cole, Eddie Condon, Wild Bill Davison, Vic Dickenson, Dorothy Donegan, Panama Francis, Sonny Greer, Al Hall, Earl Hines, Art Hodes, Major Holley, John Kirby, "Hot Lips" Page, Tony Parenti, Willie 'The Lion' Smith, Maxine Sullivan, Jack Teagarden and Tommy Young; the journalists Charles Collingwood and Theodore H. White; cartographer, artist and conservationist Richard Edes Harrison; photographer and author David Eisendrath; the actors Anna May Wong and Sebastion Cabot; conductor Eugene Goosens; documentary film maker Pare Lorenz; social activists and educators Norman Thomas, Dr. Frank Graham, H. L. Mitchell, Hazel and Sidney Hertzberg. The respect, admiration and affection she had for these people were reciprocated.
"Few if any women spent less on themselves for clothing, cosmetics or jewelry and few had the kind of elegance and bearing that didn't need it. Great was her frugality toward herself and her generosity in giving her money, time, energy, empathy and love to others was greater, not only in the causes for which she worked but also in caring for and nurturing family and friends.
"That meant little things like getting up early every Sunday morning one summer, even though she was agnostic, to play the once-silent pipe organ for mass at Our Lady of the Sea in Saltaire just because she was asked. (And she'd only played an antique harmonium before then!) Or much bigger things like the many days she spent schlepping to New Jersey to care for my ailing parents, and the times she comforted the sick, troubled or grieving friends.
"Beth also loved words and the language, spoken clearly and written well. She did the daily NY Times crossword puzzle in about 10 minutes; Sundays took a little longer. Her Sharecroppers Fund annual reports to the board on the state of farm workers (she wrote a New Republic article on the topic in 1949) were models of lucidity and were used as reference material by a number of scholars and some of the media. I must confess, though, that she sometimes bugged me when she exasperatedly and loudly corrected the grammar, pronunciation, or malapropisms of what pass for newscasters and commentators these days.
"I mentioned her 'gourmet cooking' in the obit. She started out as a farm-country girl. Her father was an avid hunter, fisherman, and mushroom collector (succulent spring morel being Beth's favorite). He doted on his baby girl and sometimes took her along on his forays for food, so early on she learned to clean as well as cook fish and game. From first watching and then helping her mother in the kitchen, she learned a wide variety of dishes. Her mother cooked mostly Midwestern-American (with a leavening for European from her Swiss mother), and was locally noted for her cooking. As a widow (Beth's father died when she was 15, a loss which wounded her deeply; her sister, Ardeth, had married and moved away), her mother moved from Wyanet to Urbana and opened a boys' boarding house to support Beth through the last year of high school and four years at the University of Illinois. There, dinner invitation to Dororthy Olds' place were among the most coveted. So many of her boarders asked to invite guests that Dorothy had to charge, which meant more culinary experience (and more work) for Beth.
"That was the foundation on which she built an eclectic and remarkably varied cuisine. Her probing curiosity about food, as about most things in life, led her to prod and wheedle tricks and recipes from friends, relatives and the chefs at some of the restaurants we frequented. Extracting recipes from my mother was a hopeless task ("as much as it takes" was the common measure of an ingredient), so Beth stood with Celia in her Paterson kitchen and carefully observed, and went on to produce some of the best Eastern European Jewish food in New York, including matzoh balls so light they floated, hearty cabbage soup and borscht. When we spent several summers at Gay Head on Martha's Vineyard, she got a recipe for posole, a Mexican stew, from Jose Giles, a Mexican silversmith who had married a Gay Head Indian. Her adaptation of that recipe is in "Craig Claiborne's Favorites from The New York Times" and "Molly O'Neill's New York Cookbook." She and Dororthe Bigard threw a Creole gumbo party for a few musicians and their spouses back in the '70s that some of those present still talk about today. From Eduard at Le Marmiton she adapted tripes a la mode, and from Carlos Hines at the Jamaican, codfish and ackee. And so it went. She always scanned recipes in the Times and magazines and clipped those she thought she'd like to try, so one never knew what new dish in Beth's version might appear at dinner. I tell you, we ate well chez Biderman!
"We had a marvelous 54 1/2 years together. Eve Lowery told us after Beth died what Charles, Eve's late husband, said to her once after coctails at our apartment: "You know, I just don't understand those goddam Bidermans. They're so close. It's not a marriage at all. They're like brother and sister. That's not a marriage. That's ... [voice rising in indignation] incest!" Not entirely complimentary, we were indeed very close. She was my partner in every sense of the word. In business she pitched in when I was in a pinch for help (lunch in a respectable eatery was her only remuneration). She entertained clients at home and at Fire Island, not all of whom were what you might call her types, and sometimes joined me when I took them out on the town. She was an invaluable advisor and teammate in the fight against Robert Moses' Road and in work in the Fire Island National Seashore Advisory Commission and with the Fire Island Association.
"All of that and much more, even while raising two fine kids. For Tine she instilled a passion for making music and fine food, and served as a role model for standing up to whomever you need to in order to get something accomplished. John she pointed to the natural world around Fire Island and to birders (first and foremost Rikki Johnson), leading to a lifelong love affair with the outdoors. Two kids couldn't ask for a better mom. We all miss her terribly. I know you do too.
"Yours in memory of a great lady,
"George"
To this typed memorial letter, George added the following handwritten note to me:
"Thought you'd like to have this. Our son's full name is John Olds Biderman, so she tried to carry on the family name.
"Hope this finds you and your family hale and hearty and that you have happy holidays & a great 2002.
g."⁵

     Anna J. Olds was born c 1866.¹ She was the daughter of Horace D. Olds and Hannah Johnson.¹

     Anna L. Olds was the daughter of Henry Olds and Lizzie Whipple.¹