Birdie (Binnard) Bills, 1880-1960
Birdie5 Binnard (Bendet4, Mosiek3, Jacob2, Lewin1) was born 8 November 1880[1] in Colfax, Washington.[2] In some records her first name is spelled Byrdie. She was raised in Colfax and attended school through the eighth grade.[3] In 1900, at age 19, was living there with her family.[4]
Birdie’s father Bennett owned a hotel, saloon, and restaurant in Colfax. In April 1900 he sold the hotel and restaurant to Fred M. Coleman.[5] Four months later the local newspaper reported that “C.L. MacKenzie has disposed of the Hotel Binnard to Miss Birdie Binnard and Mrs. Diamond.”[6] Sarah Diamond was a 29-year-old widow who resided in Colfax and whose occupation was cook.[7] Her husband Jack had been the cook at the Binnard restaurant. He died in January 1900.[8] The women’s ownership did not last long; in December 1900 J.D. Hagan purchased the hotel.[9] In late 1900 Birdie and two of her sisters, Phoebe and Carrie, were hospitalized. The Colfax Gazette stated that Phoebe and Carrie suffered from typhoid fever and had to undergo operations at Colfax, while Birdie, whose ailment was not disclosed, spent several weeks in a hospital in Spokane.[10] In June 1900 the Binnard family opened a second saloon in Spokane, which was to be operated by son Dan. The family moved there.[11] Bennett’s wife Matilda became ill and died in Spokane in December 1904,[12] and Bennett himself became ill the following February. Birdie, who was residing in Spokane, returned to Colfax and rented a house, where she and her younger sister Minnie, who lived in Portland, Oregon, became housekeepers for their father.[13] By 1906 Bennett, Birdie, and Minnie had moved to Portland,[14] where another sister, Ray Levinson, resided.[15] It was probably there that Birdie met Clyde Marion Bills. Clyde was born in Portland on 27 August 1876,[16] the son of Marion and Helen (Menzies) Bills.[17] In 1894, at the age of 18, he was already working as assistant cashier and a bookkeeper.[18] When he registered for the draft in 1918 he was described as tall and stout with blue eyes and grayish hair.[19] Birdie and Clyde were married 3 June 1906 in Colfax at the home of her sister, Phoebe Johnston. The newspaper reported that the parlor was decorated with roses and smilax and that the ceremony took place “under a large floral bell,” with Judge S.J. Chadwick of the superior court officiating. “The bride wore an exquisite gown of white mull over silk, en train, and long veil. She was attended by her sister, Miss Minnie Binnard, who was gowned becomingly in pale gray crepe de chine. The bride was given away by her father, Ben Binnard.”[20] At the time of their marriage, Clyde was manager of the Empire Market in Portland. For the next four years he was employed as secretary for the Elks Lodge.[21] In November 1910 when Bennett again became ill Clyde and Birdie moved to Colfax to take over operation of the saloon,[22] with Bennett giving Clyde power of attorney.[23] After Bennett’s death in January 1911[24] they remained proprietors of the business. Clyde almost lost his liquor license in 1912, when the city council was informed that he was “handling Rainier beer in violation of the ordinance recently passed which makes it compulsory for all breweries doing a wholesale business in Colfax to take out a $500 license for the privilege.” The charges were dismissed when he wrote a check for the license.[25] By 1918 the couple had moved to New York City, where Clyde was employed as an accountant for Horwath and Horwath.[26] The 1920 census lists them living on West 151st Street in Manhattan,[27] but a city directory for the same year shows a Clyde M. Bills working as an office manager for Rainbow Paper Corporation and residing in Windsor, Connecticut, about 125 miles north of New York City.[28] In 1924 Birdie returned to Portland where she filed for divorce, charging Clyde with cruel and inhuman treatment.[29] She then returned to New York, where she lived with her sister and brother-in-law, Minnie and David Richter, in 1925[30] and 1930.[31] In 1935 she lived in Seattle,[32] in 1938 in Los Angeles,[33] and in Seattle again in 1940 with the family of her niece, Arminta Schwartz.[34] By 1942 she had returned to Los Angeles[35] where she died on 4 May 1960 at the age of 79.[36] Her resting place is in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Abbey of the Palms Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Peace.[37] Clyde had moved to Detroit, Michigan by 1935[38] and died there 8 January 1942.[39] Birdie and Clyde had no children. _________________________ [1] "California, Death Index, 1940-1997," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VPW5-XGN : accessed 03 Mar 2014), Byrdie Binnard, 1960. The entry in the death index gives her birth date. [2] Ancestry.com. Washington, Marriage Records, 1865-2004 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012, Clyde Marion Bills and Birdie Binnard, 1906. The record gives her birthplace as Colfax. [3] 1940 U.S. census, Seattle City, King County, Washington, enumeration district 40-145, sheet 12B, household 304, entry for Byrdie Binard [sic], aunt, in household of Harry Schwartz; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 July 2012); NARA microfilm T627, roll 4378. [4] 1900 U.S. census, Precinct No. 36, Colfax City, Whitman County, Washington, enumeration district 95, sheet 12B, dwelling 250, family 251, entry for Birdie, daughter, household of Ben B. Binnard; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 July 2012); Family History Library microfilm 1241753. [5] “Bills of Sale,” Colfax Gazette, 20 April 1900, p. 6. [6] “Local Brevities,” Colfax Gazette, 17 August 1900, p. 5 [7] 1900 U.S. census, Precinct No. 36, Colfax City, Whitman County, Washington, enumeration district 95, sheet 14B, dwelling 301, family 302, entry for Sarah Diamond, lodger, household of Louis Nordyke; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 July 2012); Family History Library microfilm 1241753. [8] “Refused to Die in Bed,” Colfax Gazette, 19 January 1900, p. 3. [9] “Colfax Brevities,” Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), 2 December 1900, p. [4]. [10] “Typhoid Fever,” Colfax Gazette, 4 January 1901, p. 2. [11] “Saloon at Spokane,” Colfax Gazette, 22 June 1900, p. [1]. [12] “Victim of Mysterious Disease,” Sunday Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), 4 December 1904, p. 6. [13] “Will Make Home in Colfax,” Colfax Gazette, 17 Feb 1905, p. 2. [14] Portland City Directory, 1906 (Portland, Oregon: R.L. Polk & Co., 1906), 214. [15] Ibid, 672. [16] “United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K6JW-44F : accessed 24 Feb 2014), Clyde Marion Bills, 1917-1918; citing New York City no 146, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication M1509, (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); Family History microfilm 1786804. [17] Ancestry.com. Washington, Marriage Records, Clyde Marion Bills and Birdie Binnard, 1906. [18] Portland City Directory, 1894 (Portland, Oregon: R.L. Polk & Co., 1894), 143, 197. [19] “United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” Clyde Marion Bills. [20] “Bills-Binnard,” Colfax Gazette, 8 June 1906, p. [2]. [21] Portland City Directory, 1906 (Portland, Oregon: R.L. Polk & Co., 1906), 213; 1907, 285; 1909, 296; 1910, 188. [22] “Personal Mention,” Colfax Gazette, 2 December 1910, p. 5. [23] “Records of Whitman County,” Pullman Herald, 16 December 1910, p. 2. [24] “Death of Ben Binnard,” Colfax Gazette, 27 January 1911, p. [1]. [25] “Colfax Man Saves License,” Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington), 15 May 1912, p. 10. [26] “United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” Clyde Marion Bills. [27] 1920 U.S. Census, New York City, New York County, New York, enumeration district 1474, dwelling 736, family 831, entry for Clyde M. Bills; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 July 2012); NARA microfilm T625, roll 1225. [28] Enfield, Thompsonville, Suffield, Windsor Locks, Windsor, East Windsor, Warehouse Point, Stafford, Stafford Springs, Somers, Ellington, Willington, Westford (Connecticut) Directory, 1920 (Springfield, Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Company, 1920), 256. [29] “Four Ask for Divorces,” Sunday Oregonian, 20 January 1924, p. 14. [30] New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1925; Election District: 12; Assembly District: 21; City: New York; County: New York; Page: 8, entry for David Richter. [31] 1930 U.S. census, New York City, New York County, New York, 9th A.D., block C, enumeration district 31-434, sheet 2B, entry for Birdie Binnard, sister-in-law, household of David Richter; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 July 2012); Family History Library microfilm 2341291. [32] 1940 U.S. census, Seattle City, King County, Washington, enumeration district 40-145, sheet 12B, household 304, entry for Byrdie Binard [sic], aunt, in household of Harry Schwartz. On the census she reported living in the same place in 1935. [33] Los Angeles Directory Co’s Los Angeles City Directory, 1938 (Los Angeles, California: Los Angeles Directory Co., 1938), 255. [34] 1940 U.S. census, Seattle City, King County, Washington, enumeration district 40-145, sheet 12B, household 304, entry for Byrdie Binard [sic], aunt, in household of Harry Schwartz. [35] Los Angeles Directory Co’s Los Angeles City Directory, 1942 (Los Angeles, California: Los Angeles Directory Co., 1942), 281. [36] “California, Death Index, 1940-1997,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VPW5-XGN : accessed 03 Mar 2014), Byrdie Binnard, 1960. [37] Find A Grave, Inc., Find A Grave, database entry (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 18 November 2013), entry for Byrdie Binnard, Memorial 6549187, created by James Seidelman, Records of Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Los Angeles, California. [38] 1940 U.S. census, Detroit City, Wayne County, Michigan, enumeration district 84-180, sheet 6A, household 166, entry for Clyde Bills; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 July 2012); NARA microfilm T627, roll 1845. On the census he reported living in the same place in 1935. [39] “Michigan, Death Certificates, 1921-1952,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KFWC-ND3 : accessed 03 Mar 2014), Clyde M. Bills, 1942. |