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| Childs Children: Albert, Bobby, Richard, Catherine, James, Thomas, Ruth, Mom and Pop and Mary.
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We can trace our family history back to an ancestor named John Holland Childs, who was born circa 1839 in Florida. By 1870, John Childs was living in Ocala, Marion County, FL and working as a farmhand. The oldest ancestor who we have memories of, James Childs, Sr., is the son of John Holland Childs and Clarissa Brown, and was born July 3, 1885 in Belleview, FL. James' mother died when he and his twin sister were 3 months old. The children were then raised by their aunt Moriah Brown Boyd. As a child, James went by the nickname "Tank". James attained a 5th grade education, and at 8 yrs. old started working in a small general store owned by the Liddell family, in Santos, FL. Marion County is in north-central Florida near the Ocala National Forest, and the abundance of wildlife there probably influenced James to pursue hobbies of deer hunting and fishing after moving to Pennsylvania.
On June 29, 1911, James Childs Sr. married Mary Williams, daughter of Nelson Horace Williams and Anna Davis. Mary Williams was born November 7, 1896 in Weirsdale, FL, which is in the southern part of Marion County near its border with Lake County. That year the new couple also moved to Maitland, FL, which is in Orange County, north of Orlando. James became a greenhouse worker for the Domericks, a wealthy German-American family from New York City who owned silk and clothing factories and spent summers in Florida. James was fortunate to be paid $10.50 per week in wages at a time when the average hard laborer on the railroads only made $4.20 per week. James Childs Sr. was a respectable Christian man. James and Mary Childs had 3 children while in Florida: James Jr. in 1912, Thomas in 1914, and Ruth in 1916.
Jefferson "Cousin Jeff" Boyd, the first cousin of James Childs Sr. and son of Moriah Brown Boyd, had left Florida and found gainful factory work at the Elkland Leathergoods Co. in Elkland, PA, and in 1917 sent tickets for James and Mary Childs and their family to migrate north. The then plentiful birch trees in the forests of northern Pennsylvania provided extracts that supported an industry of tanning cowhide into leather. Thus during World War I, when North Atlantic Ocean shipping lanes were under threat of attack from the German navy, the family traveled from Jacksonville, FL to Buffalo, NY by ship. The final part of the journey, from Buffalo, NY to Elkland, PA, occurred by train in an April, 1917 snowstorm.
James and Mary Childs settled in Elkland, PA, where James was a laborer at the Elkland Tannery for 36 years, and Mary a housewife. The couple had 5 more children who survived beyond infancy: Albert in 1919, Catherine in 1920, Mary in 1922, Richard in 1926, and Robert in 1931. In the 1930's during the Great Depression, James Sr. forbade his children from standing in line to receive Government handouts, taking seriously his responsibility to provide for his family. The older Childs brothers named the street, on "The Hill" in Elkland where most of the Black families lived, Coolidge Avenue. In 1938, James Sr. went to New York City and watched Joe Louis, the Brown Bomber, beat German boxer Max Schmeling at Yankee Stadium and regain the professional heavyweight championship of the world in a legendary rematch. James Sr. and Mary attended the 1939 New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, Queens. James Sr. was an avid baseball fan. In 1963, James Sr. and Albert went to the 34th Major League Baseball All Star Game at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, OH, and saw Willie Mays, who has since been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, named MVP. Several times in the 1970's, James Sr. and Richard attended the annual Little League Baseball World Series in Williamsport, PA.
James, Sr. was also an avid marble player and won hundreds of marbles of varying sizes and colors over the years. He could tell the story behind the victory of each marble he collected over the years. For many years, his marbles were on display at the school in Elkland, PA where James also worked. Today, James' daughter Mary has his remaining marble collection.
From the 1930's through the 1960's, the children of James and Mary Childs left Elkland, PA to make lives for themselves. Three of the Childs brothers were in the U.S. Army during World War II: Thomas in Liberia, Algeria, and Corsica; Albert in Morocco and Italy (Purple Heart recipient); and Richard in Japan. Robert served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Several children went to Detroit, MI and some moved on from there to Cleveland, OH and Scotch Plains and Plainfield, NJ; while others settled in Washington, DC, and Elmira and Corning, NY.
Several members of the Childs family have obtained higher education, pursued professional careers, and become business entrepreneurs. Thomas Childs, Sr. earned a B.S. degree from Hampton Institute in 1940 and pursued graduate studies at Howard University. He taught English in the District of Columbia Public Schools. From 1970 to 1985, Robert Childs and Albert Childs were the proprietors of Pied Piper Liquors, located on central Avenue in Newark, NJ. Faith Childs earned a J.D. degree from American University in 1978. She then had a 10-year career in the legal profession, notably serving as Director of Labor Relations for Group W Broadcasting & Cable, Inc. In 1989, Faith started the Faith Childs Literary Agency in New York, NY and represents clients in the selling of their works to publishers, television and movie producers. Robert Thorn earned an M.A. degree from Duke University in 1990. He has provided psychotherapy to mental health clients, taught Psychology courses at Elmira College, and provided counseling to inmates in the New York State Department of Correctional Services. After a 23-year career as a Washington, DC police officer, Thomas Childs, Jr. earned an M.A. degree from the University of the District of Columbia in 1991. He has since been a 5th grade teacher, a Guidance Counselor, a Peer Mediation Counselor and an Assistant Principal in the District of Columbia Public Schools. Jakki Mathis-Hull earned a J.D. degree Cum Laude from the Catholic University of America, graduating 8th in her class. She is currently the Assistant General Counsel for an online, virtual education firm.
History of the Childs Family Reunions:
Year Location
1970 Asbury Park, NJ
1972 Washington, DC
1976 Elmira, NY
1982 Detroit, MI
1984 Elmira, NY
1986 Scotch Plains, NJ
1990 Baltimore, MD
1992 Elmira, NY
1994 Scotch Plains, NJ
2000 Baltimore, MD
2002 Deltona, FL
2004 Detroit, MI
Over the past 34 years, the Childs family has gathered 12 times, in July and August of various years, for a summer cookout and semiformal dinner.
{Authored by Robert Edward Thorn in 2004 with help from the family}.
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