Bessie Fellows

Bessie C. Fellows was born to Levi J. Fellows and H. Elnora Pratt on November 15, 1892 in Olive Township, Ottawa County, Michigan.

Bessie spent the first 19 years of her life in Olive Township. Throughout her childhood, Bessie attended school at the Ottawa District No. 1 schoolhouse. The 1901 census of school children for Olive shows that Bessie was a child in the district and that she was 8 years old. Bessie also appears in the 1904 census of school age children (age 11) and 1910 census (age 17). Below is the class picture for 1907. Bessie is the second person from the right in the front row.[1]

Throughout that time, Bessie attended school with Vida Stone. Vida recounted the following story concerning Florence Hills and Bessie’s lost book (the story would be from approximately 1904—when Bessie was 11):

Every morning in school the teacher would read a chapter from some story, at the beginning of the day. One day Bessie Fellows brought a book that she thought very interesting for the teacher to read, which the teacher began to read – a chapter a day. One morning the teacher discovered the book was missing. She felt very bad to lose it as it was loaned and she felt responsible for its return. She begged for the return of the book. Every day she made a new inquiry. After about two weeks, Florence came rushing in the school, excited. She said, “I bet I know where that book is! I had a dream last night and something told me the book you lost was here!” She got down and searched back of the foot pedals of the old pump organ and there she pulled out the book. Well, Florence’s dream was the talk of the neighborhood—never forgotten. Many years afterward, at least 30 years, I came out from Chicago where I lived and always visited our neighbors Earl Pixley and family, who still lived in the old home next to ours. We loved to talk about old times. He went to school at the same time I did. During our reminiscing this day we were talking about Florence Hills long gone from here, and I said, “Do you remember that dream Florence had when she found that book Bessie Fellows loaned the teacher.” He looked at me very sternly; then he said, “Yes, I remember. And do you know, Vida, she really must have had a dream because I put that book there and I never told a soul till this day!”[2]

The picture above depicts the celebration of Memorial Day 1905. Bessie Fellows is the third person from the left (the blond girl facing to the left). The veteran in the center could be Bessie's grandfather, Joel Fellows.[3]

According to the 1910 census for Ottawa County, Bessie was 19 years old and living with her parents in Olive Township.

On June 22, 1911, it was reported that Mrs. F.A. Chapel (Lillie Fellows Chapel) attended the graduation ceremony for Hope College in Holland, Michigan. According to the newspaper article, Lillie attended to see her niece, Bess Fellows, graduate.[4]

After graduating from Hope, Bessie attended the University of Michigan from 1911 to 1913 and earned a bachelor’s degree from the College of Literature, Science and Arts. In a survey returned to the University of Michigan in 1924, Bessie listed her name as Betty and indicated that she was married to H.R. Butler. She listed her profession as advertising manager and indicated that she lived and worked in Havana, Cuba. Betty also indicated that her memories of the University of Michigan were of the flora and fauna of the Huron River, the rooming houses, dances, Granger’s, music and singing.

In 1918, Bessie applied for a passport. On the passport, Bessie indicated that she wanted to travel to Havana, Cuba on business. Bessie worked as a stenographer for the United States Rubber Company in New York City. She listed her work address as the 17th Floor of 1790 Broadway. The assistant secretary of the American Car and Foundry Export Company wrote a letter urging the government to expedite the passport application:

I beg to advise you that our agent in Cuba, Mr. Oscar B. Cintas has employed Miss Bessie Fellows as stenographer and office help in his Havana office, and Mr. Cintas is very desirous that Miss Fellows should come to Cuba as quickly as convenient.

We respectfully ask that you expedite the delivery of such documents as are required so that Miss Fellows may leave for Cuba at as early a date as possible, say during next week.

Mr. Cintas, besides representing our Company in the sale of sugar cane cars and railroad cars of all kinds, also represents in Cuba a locomotive company and a manufacturer of sugar machinery, so we feel that he should have the help of this Government in procuring necessary office help, as sugar is one of the much needed food articles, and of course the entire world is practically relying on Cuba for this supply.

On the application, Bessie indicated that this would be her first trip out of the United States and that she intended to embark from the port at Key West. A co-worker[5] and her mother, Nora, signed identifying affidavits. The application described Bessie as 5 foot 5 ½ inches with Blonde hair and light grey eyes.

The following is a copy of the second page of Bessie’s application with her passport photo:

Note that the page on the right shows the affidavit made by Bessie’s mother, Nora.

In 1920, Bessie, who now went by the name Betty, applied for a new passport. She indicated that she had lived in Havana, Cuba from 1918 to 1920 and that she desired to return to Cuba for health reasons. She listed her current residence as 174 West 89th Street in New York City.

On August 31, 1922, the Holland Sentinel reported the following story concerning Betty:

A copy of the July number of the Times of Cuba, a highly colored … illustrated monthly magazine printed in Havana contains several poetic selections written by Miss Betty Fellows, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Levi J. Fellows of Olive, Michigan.

Miss Fellows was a graduate from the Hope College preparatory department in 1911 and altho married to a Mr. Butler, she still writes under her maiden name.

She has been living in Cuba for the past four years and writes continually for the island magazine. The magazine is written half in Spanish and half in the American language and is simply filled with American advertising.

Among the contributions in the July number is “Confessions of a Blond Stenographer” and also a small poem under the heading “Very Likely” in which she is carried away no doubt by the Cuban climate. One of the productions follows—

(Written for the Times of Cuba)

I love you best of all in summer-time,

I don’t know why—perhaps because your eyes,

Are magine pools that seem to catch and hold,

The wondrous blueness of our Cuban skies,

Perhaps it is your hair—glinting gold,

Matches the sunshine of summer’s day—

It may be—well, my wife is north you know,

Somehow I love you best when she’s away.

—Betty Fellows

In 1923, Betty applied for a third passport. On the passport application she indicated that she had lived in Havana, Cuba from August 1918 to May 1920 and from November 1920 to the present date (1923). She stated that her father, Levi Fellows, lived in Zeeland, Michigan and that he was a retired merchant. She also stated that she was a publicity director for the International General Electric Company of Schenectady, New York. The following are Betty’s passport photos from her 1920 (left) and 1923 (right) passport applications.

Betty’s travels in the Caribbean are well documented in passenger lists under the name Betty Fellows. Bessie traveled from Havana to New Orleans aboard the Parismina in September 1922. On this trip, she indicated that she was born in Zeeland on November 15, 1893 (one year after her actual birthday).

Betty traveled from Havana to New York on the Pastores in April 1925. On this trip she stated that she was born in Zeeland on November 15, 1896. She also indicated that she was a single woman. So apparently she was no longer married to Howard Butler by 1925

Betty married David Spencer Wegg, Jr. (b February 8, 1887 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin), formerly of Chicago, on May 13, 1927 in New York City. David Spencer Wegg, Jr. was the son of a Chicago lawyer, David Spencer WEgg, Sr. David's marriage to Betty was his second. He was previously married to Dorothy Vedder in Chicago on May 19, 1914. He had two children by his previous marriage, Dorothy (born 1915) and Helen (born 1918).

There are ship records that show Betty Wegg travelled from Cuba to New York and the 1930 census for New York shows Betty and David living in New York City along with David's children.

Betty wrote an article, Is There a Place for Modernism in Insurance Advertising?, in 1930. She was listed there as the Director of Publicity for Royal Eagle Indemnity.

In August 1934, Betty traveled from Havana to New York on the Peten. On this voyage she indicated that she was born in Zeeland on November 15, 1898. She indicated that her home address was 50 West 72nd Street, New York City.

Betty sailed on the Coamo from San Juan to New York in January 1937. On this passenger list, Betty used her actual birthday (44 years old).[6] She also indicated that she was single. So she apparently divorced David Spencer Wegg by 1937. David apparently married his third wife, Mildred Randall, on July 6, 1940. Betty listed her address as 687 Lexington Avenue, New York City.

Sometime after January 1937, but before her father’s death in 1941, Betty married Frank Ranulf (Ronnie) Ruttledge Glanville. In Levi’s obituary, Betty’s husband is listed as Ronnell, but Bessie appears to have called him Ronnie and he used the name Ranulf. According to his birth register, Frank Ranulf Ruttledge Glanville was born in 1908 in Kensington, which was part of greater London.

The register for the S.S. Georgic lists a passenger named Ranulf Ruttledge Glanville for the voyage from Liverpool (departed on January 30, 1940) to New York (arrived February 11, 1940). On the register, Ronnie indicated that he was a “gentleman-farmer” and was born in London. He stated that he was going to New York to visit his fiancé B.C. Fellows[7] of 530 Riverside Dr. N.Y. He also indicated that he was 5 foot 11 inches, had a fair complexion, brown hair and hazel eyes. Ronnie also indicated that he previously visited the U.S. in 1937. Ronnie and Betty may have first met during that visit.

In April 1942, Betty wrote a letter to Alexander Woollcott.[8] In the letter, Betty thanked Woollcott for sending tickets to The Man Who Came To Dinner to Ronnie when he came for a long weekend. Betty also indicated that she would like to give Mr. Woollcott “snaps” of Ronnie, but she indicated that a short “pen-and-ink” snap would “give you a better idea of what he really is than a de-personalized uniform, with the cap visor aiding and abetting the camera in the job of hiding Ronnie away from you.” So she sent a few paragraphs copied from various letters in order to give Woollcott a formal introduction to “Guardsman Ranulf Glanville, 2722401.” Betty apologized that she could not find the best bits—which she described—and noted that there are too many letters: “Right now Ronnie and I have to build this marriage of ours on paper, so letters overflow my bureau drawers and have to be stored downstairs in my trunk.”

In November 1942, Betty sent another letter to Woollcott. In this letter she thanks Woollcott for his beautiful letter and also thanks him by sending some “gay scraps” of the “wonderful six months”[9] that she shared with Ronnie:

The first concerns a duck. It cost a disproportionate amount of our weekly food budget so of course its roasting was vitally important. I left all instructions before departing for the office, but something went dreadfully wrong. When I came home I found a note pinned to the outer door of the apartment. It was Ronnie’s idea of a tactful way to break the news of the tragedy: “Darling” it read, “God never meant me to be a cook.”

The second scrap is about food too and a certain Memorial Day which we faced with exactly 16 cents. We had food in the icebox, so there wasn’t any danger of our going hungry, but a grave problem had to be met. A thorough search of the apartment failed to reveal even ONE cigarette, and on top of that my cat, Muffin was clamoring for his roast beef. Obviously we couldn’t buy both. We discussed the matter from all angles. Ronnie tried to trade some odious pipe mixture he had bought in one of his more optimistic moments, for a pack of Luckies, but the United Cigar Store clerk was hardhearted. I tried to persuade Muffin that roast beef was really a highly over-rated affair, containing very few vitamins and none of the important minerals, but he just elevated that snooty black nose of his a couple of degrees and wailed.

Of course Muffin won—you’ve probably guessed that—but I’ll bet you didn’t guess that he wouldn’t eat it after we lugged it home from the delicatessen in a rosy glow of self sacrifice, and that Ronnie and I—after a scandalized moment—howled with laughter. In spite of World Wars 1 and 2—yes, even if 3 and 4 eventually come to pass—Memorial Day will never mean anything to the Glanville’s but 16 cents and a pack of Luckies plus some tainted roast beef.

She signed both letters “Betty Fellows Glanville.”

Apparently Betty and Ronnie continued to live apart for some time. The ship register for the S.S. Batory lists Frank Ranulf Ruttledge Glanville sailing from Southhampton on November 28, 1947 and arriving in New York on December 6, 1947. On the register, Ronnie indicated that he was visiting his wife, Betty C. Glanville. He noted that he was still an English citizen and he listed his mother’s address in England as his contact.

Betty does not appear to have had any children.

In 1939, Betty was profiled in the Independent Woman magazine.[11] The profiler indicated that Betty held a position with the export department of Standard Brands (what would eventually become Nabisco). Her position involved travel to Panama, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Cuba and Puerto Rico: “She supervises the foreign advertising budget, conceives ideas upon which consumer and dealer promotion material is based, and passes on all space copy appearing in foreign countries.” She also traveled often to conduct market surveys and sales promotion campaigns, which included radio broadcasts, for Standard Brands.

The author stated that Betty got her start by posting an ad: “Fresh out of college, she inserted an advertisement in an export advertising journal. Although her assets were only a knowledge of typing and a smattering of Spanish, it resulted in a job in Habana, Cuba.” Betty stated that, while in Cuba, she took a correspondence course in advertising and later accepted an offer by General Electric to organize its advertising department in Habana. She was so successful in establishing this department, that GE asked her to do the same in Brazil. She declined the offer:

“I knew that advertising would become a highly technical field. If I wanted to make a career of it, I knew I needed American training. What I wanted was an export advertising job in the United States, offering opportunities to travel abroad.”

After returning to New York, Betty eventually got the job with Standard Brands.

Vida Stones indicated that Betty sent out a monthly newsletter until her death in the Canary Islands.[10] However, Betty’s social security records indicate that she died in April 1981 and that her last known address was 745 (U.S. Consulate) Madrid, Spain. But, because the Canary Islands are Spanish possessions, Betty may have died on the Canary Islands and her death may merely have been reported to the social security administration by the consulate.

[1] Hepler, Wanda Sines. The History and Tales of Ottawa Station, ch 2, p 11.

[2] Id. at ch 1, p 13.

[3] This picture is from Hepler, Wanda Sines. The History and Tales of Ottawa Station, ch 1, pp 17.

[4] Horton, Ruth, People, Places and Happenings in Robinson Township and Bass River, Ottawa County, Michigan (Robinson Township, 2006).

[5] The co-worker indicated that she had known Bessie for two years. Hence, it is likely that Bessie had been living in New York City since around 1915-1916.

[6] Apparently age no longer mattered so much.

[7] The register actually lists E.C. Fellows.

[8] Betty’s letters to Alexander Woollcott are located in the Houghton library at Harvard University. See Glanville, Betty Fellows. Letters to Alexander Woollcott: April 10, 1942 and November 24, 1942, Am 1449 (626).

[9] The wonderful six months are likely a reference to Ronnie’s trip from February 1940 to July 1940.

[10] Hepler, Wanda Sines. The History and Tales of Ottawa Station, ch 3, pp 22.

[11] See Independent Woman, Vol 18, #7 (July 1939), page 204.