An Ancestor to Remember, Part III

The Great War was over, and the American doughboys who had served so valiantly in Europe came home again to their families.  For Guy Evan Blake, it was a return to North Dakota and a decision to make--what would he make of the rest of his life?

As the 1920's began, readers of the Daily Northwestern in Oshkosh followed the political maneuverings surrounding the newly formed League of Nations.  While French Premier, Georges Clemenceau, was sending invitations to an initial council meeting of the League, American politicians were hotly debating the question of United States participation.  With a presidential election on the horizon, the debate over the League played a large role, as did the issue of the prohibition of alcoholic drink.  A "Red Scare" also made headlines as Americans worried over the importation of Bolshevism from the newly formed Soviet Union.  "Reds" from Milwaukee and Racine were rounded up, and Oshkosh citizens must have worried about radicals in their own midst.

When the census taker came around to the town of Wing in Burleigh County, North Dakota, in January of 1920, he found Guy Evan Blake, then 25 years old, living in a rooming house belonging to one Albert Little.  Little, a 35-year-old Canadian, managed his own farm while his wife, Iva, kept the rooming house.  Other roomers included Alec Miller, a British-born citizen who had come to the United States in 1907 and worked as a day laborer, and young Naomi Henderscheid, only 20 years old and living with her two-year-old daughter, Ellen. 

Guy Evan got work when and where he could during the warm North Dakota summer of 1920.  His experiences during the Great War remained with him, the things that he had seen while serving in the ambulance corps, the work of the doctors and nurses who had tended so faithfully to the fallen soldiers.  Inspired by their dedication, Guy Evan considered returning to school in the fall of 1920, this time with the idea of training to become a doctor.

But during that summer, he had to earn the money to turn his medical dreams into reality.  Getting work on a crew building Burleigh County roads, Guy Evan found himself performing difficult and dangerous labor, often involving dynamiting obstacles to the proposed roadway.

Back in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, John Arza Blake, Guy Evan's father, had moved into the home that had belonged to his parents, originally built in the 1880's by John Arza's grandfather.  This house at 277 Vine Street would eventually pass to John Arza's daughter, Emily.  (The photograph to the left came from Emily's daughter, Mary, who added the notations.)


As the sun set on the evening of June 9, 1920, there was a knock at the door of the little house on Vine Street.  A telegram passed into the hands of John Arza Blake notified him that his son, Guy Evan, had been seriously injured in North Dakota.  John Arza made plans immediately to travel to his son's bedside, stopping in Shawano, Wisconsin, to pick up son James Harvey Blake along the way.  The two made their way to Bismarck.  The train ride to North Dakota must have evoked terrible memories for John Arza as he recalled the long ride to Seaside, Oregon, just seven years before at the time of the death of his youngest son, Lester.  Now it was an accident happening to his second-youngest son, Guy Evan, that called him from home at a moment's notice.


Bismarck Railroad Station
1910-1930

Upon arrival in Bismarck, John Arza and James Harvey found Guy Evan's condition to be grave; he had lost both hands, one arm, and the sight in both eyes in a dynamite explosion while working on a Burleigh County roadway.  While there was a chance that Guy Evan would survive his injuries, the prospects for his future, blind and crippled, were not good.

Recovery was slow and arduous, but Guy Evan almost certainly benefited by the advances made in medical science after the treatment of men wounded in the Great War.  He was also fortunate that North Dakota had an effective workers' compensation program, a legacy of Progressive Era politics that remains with us today.  According to an estimate given in the Bismarck Tribune on July 24, 1920, Guy Evan would be eligible for benefits of $18 per week for the rest of his life.  This may not seem like much now, but it would have allowed Guy Evan to rent a room and live a modest life at the time.

Workers' compensation benefits were not the only services available to Guy Evan as a result of his injuries. The Civil Rehabilitation Act (CRA) of 1920 was enacted effective June 2, 1920, just one week prior to Guy Evan's accident.  Originally entitled the Smith-Fess Act, the CRA called upon each state to institute a program to address the rehabilitation needs of its injured citizens.  The states and the federal government would share the costs on a 50-50 split.   

Each state was required to submit a plan for the establishment of its rehabilitation program to the newly formed Federal Board for Vocational Education which would oversee the program on the federal level.  North Dakota began their program on September 1, 1920, although their plan was not officially accepted until March 11, 1921 (even back in the 1920's, the Federal government was slow to act).  By the end of June, 1923, North Dakota had spent just over $16,000--a portion of it on Guy Evan Blake.



According to the Bismarck Tribune, Guy Evan Blake was the first resident of North Dakota to receive assistance under the CRA.  The difficulty arose when it came to deciding for which vocation Guy Evan should be trained.  While his dreams of being a doctor were now over, Guy Evan did have one other viable skill with which he could make his living--he had an outstanding singing voice.  With his natural aptitude at the ready, Guy Evan found himself studying voice and dramatic art at the MacPhail School of Music and Dramatic Art in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

William S. MacPhail was an original member of the Minneapolis Symphony when he hit upon the idea of a school to teach music.  Originally called the MacPhail School of Violin, the school became so popular that its curriculum soon expanded to include instruction in different instruments, music history, the dramatic arts, and music theory. 

A-one-a, a-two-a
Lawrence Welk followed
Guy Evan Blake to the
MacPhail school

Guy Evan apparently made a success of his training, and served as an exemplar for his fellow students at MacPhail.  His success also reflected well on the CRA.  In October of 1921, he appeared to great acclaim before an audience of rehabilitation agents at the Dunwoody Institute of Minneapolis. 

School founder William S. MacPhail singled out Guy Evan for special praise.  "Mr. Blake is a student of remarkable ability," MacPhail said in a Bismarck Tribune article in January of 1922, "and we feel confident of his success. He has worked diligently and has made decided progress for one who never had studied art or music before. In dramatic art he is considered one of the best in his class."

During his time as a MacPhail student, Guy Evan made a special trip to South Dakota, where, on June 15, 1921, he married Miss Elsie Irene Bacon.  Elsie, born in South Dakota to Mr. and Mrs. Frank W. Bacon, was a native of Minnesota.  While we have no record of the courtship and subsequent marriage of Guy Evan and Elsie, we can imagine that the 27-year-old Miss Bacon was a warm-hearted and generous woman, for whom love far outweighed the physical challenges suffered by her 26-year-old husband.  She would remain faithfully at his side for the rest of his life.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Guy Evan made his living as a performer, traveling around the northern Midwest and even making his home for a time in New York City, where he studied with Franz Proschowsky, an opera teacher who wrote the popular self-study book The Way to Sing: A Guide to Vocalism with Thirty Practice Exercises.  Among the pieces performed to popular acclaim by Guy Evan was Porter Emerson Brown's three-act drama, "The Bad Man."  In this one-man dramatic recital, Guy Evan brought humor to his characterization of the Mexican bandit Francisco Villa (also called Pancho Lopez), portraying Villa's views on life in the United States in a manner that was, according to the Bismarck Tribune, "so original in the play that they border on the ridiculous."  It is unlikely that either Walter Huston or Wallace Beery, who later performed in movies adapted from "The Bad Man," could have brought the sense of pathos and humor to the character that Guy Evan Blake did.

Although he never again lived in Oshkosh, Guy Evan Blake remained close with his family.  Local newspapers in Oshkosh and Appleton, Wisconsin, report many visits by Guy Evan and his wife Elsie to sisters Allie Gumz and Eva Ann Bessex.  When visiting in Oshkosh, it was not unusual for Guy Evan to return to the family church, the Algoma Methodist, to sing with the choir and heighten the spiritual power of the service with his talent. 

On September 11, 1938, at the age of only 43, Guy Evan Blake's injuries caught up to him and he passed away in Minneapolis, the town he had called home since he entered the MacPhail School in 1920.  Elsie remained in Minneapolis for the rest of her life, records indicating that she never remarried and passed away in 1972.

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Guy Evan Blake was a remarkable man.  We cannot know what might have happened if he had not been injured in the dynamite explosion in Burleigh.  Given the passion and drive that he brought to his career as an entertainer, it is easy to imagine that he would have made a dedicated and innovative doctor.  One thing we know for sure is that Guy Evan Blake had amazing courage and fortitude, as well as a resiliency that allowed him to overcome what appeared to be insurmountable obstacles.  He took what life offered and made the best of it.  Through it all, I believe his faith must have been a great aide to him, as was the loving support of his wife, his father, and his siblings. 

I feel very fortunate that Guy Evan Blake is counted among my ancestors.