Genealogical Gems

Young Alexander Meyer was a disturbed and angry young man with some major issues. He had failed sixth and seventh grade, and instead of having to repeat eighth grade again, he finally gave up on school. At age 16 he quit Downingtown Junior High. Meyer is not a relative, nor are his victims (that I am aware). I stumbled upon young Alex while reading Tortured Minds: Pennsylvania's Most Bizarre - But Forgotten - Murders by Tammy Mal. On 11 February 1937 Alexander Thweatt Meyer killed young Helen Moyer as she walked home from school in Coatesville along Modena Road. She was not his first. The jury was out only three minutes after hearing Dr. Michael Margolis' testimony on the death of Helen Moyer. The jury determined Meyer had murdered Moyer and should be held for first degree murder. The jury also condemned the parole system which had released Meyer back into the public, after having served just 14 months in Huntingdon Reformatory, for the murder of two other girls - Anna Blasc...

Annie Groff Rice was the wife of T. Edgar Rice, the policeman shot by Zachariah Walker. This weekend I attended the 100th Anniversary Celebration of the lynching of Walker, put on by the Coatesville Historical Society. In most accounts, understandably so, everyone focuses on Rice or Walker, but everyone neglects the widow Rice and her five children. Annie R. Groff was born in April 1865. She married T. Edgar Rice in 1888 or 1889. He had been born in October 1865. Their first son, Thomas E. was born in December of 1889. The young couple had two more sons: James Vincent (born August 1892) and George Harvey (December 1895). They also had two daughters: Rachel C. (born November 1872) and Elsie M. (born February 1899). In 1900 Edgar was a farmer, according to the 1900 Census, and the family lived in Newlin. They also had a servant Alfred Hess - an 18 year old farm hand - who lived with them. The 1900 Census showed Annie had five births and all five children were alive. The 19...