Marie Frances Ruppert Lees, Washington, D.C. 1907

"Marie Frances Ruppert Lees

1907- age 6"

Marie Frances Ruppert was born in Washington, D.C in about 1901. Her parents, Theodore and Amalia, were both German immigrants who had arrived in the United States in the 1880s. Marie was the youngest of their six children. She had four sisters- Mary Lena, Rosalie Christina, Margaret Anna, and Cecilia Bernata- and one brother, Frederick Carl. Their father was a grocer and a member of the Sons of Jonadab, a fraternal society that promoted temperance. 

In 1910, when Marie was 9-years-old, her only brother Frederick died. He was 18.  It was not the only loss she would experience as a young girl. In 1917, her father Theodore died suddenly of a stroke at the age of 56. The year before, 15-year-old Marie had attended the wedding of her oldest sister to Mr. Henry Wellington Floyd of Maryland. Mary Lena- who had been working as a stenographer for her father's grocery- was dressed in a gown of "white satin and chantilly lace" with a veil "wreathed with orange blossoms." Her sister Margaret was her maid of honor. Lena and Henry welcomed their first and only child, Anita, in May 1917, just days after Theodore's death. Then, when Anita was only 18-months-old, Lena passed away. At 17, Marie had lost yet another close family member. Soon, Henry Floyd moved in with the Rupperts so that they could help take care of his infant daughter. According to Anita's obituary, "she was raised by her maternal grandmother, Amalia Spahn Ruppert, and a bevy of loving aunts." I can imagine that after so much loss, Marie was delighted to have a little girl in the house to help care for and play with. 

As young women, the Ruppert sisters all took jobs to help support the family. Living in Washington, D.C, it wasn't hard to find positions in government offices. In 1920, 23-year-old Margaret was a stenographer for the Navy. (During World War I she had enlisted as a Navy "Yeomanette". After the war, she continued to work for the Navy until retiring in the 1960s.) Cecilia worked as a clerk for the War Department. Marie was also a clerk, but for the United States Shipping Board. Their sister Rosalie had by this time married John Whyte and started a family of her own. By 1930, Marie's life had again changed drastically. Her brother-in-law Henry remarried and moved with Anita to Maryland. Then, in 1929, her mother died at the age of 67. Marie, now 28, moved in with her sister Rosalie at 1261 Irving St. in DC. Most of the houses from this time appear to still be standing along Irving St. and while they're nice homes, they don't seem very big- certainly not big enough for the 10 people living at number 1261 in 1930. Along with Rosalie and her husband John were their 3 children, Rosalie's sisters Margaret, Marie, and Cecilia, Cecilia's husband Martin, and a lodger named Edith Johnson. 

Marie finally left the crowded house when she married Wilton W. Lees. Wilton was from Scranton, Pennsylvania and a veteran of World War I. He also worked as a clerk, just as Marie had when she was younger. His World War II draft card describes him as having blonde hair, blue eyes, and a ruddy complexion. Marie and Wilton never had any children. Marie lived to be 73-years-old. In 1974, the year after the death of her sister Margaret, she passed away at her home in Arlington, Virginia.

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