THE ARMIDE REST Spoon

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Talk about getting a bang for your buck! This is the sister of Armide Vogel Smith: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alva_Belmont

The subject here is another "junk" place spoon by Rogers & Hamilton with TRIPLE stamped over the normal A-1 (the T lies over the A). This is the Shell Pattern, but the patent date is showing 1893 rather than the 1880's. Upon her death (1908) Armide Vogel Smith left two houses in East Ocean New Jersey (later absorbed into Sea Bright) to the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) as an escape for "working girls". One of these was The Armide Rest (aka just Armide Rest). Her will indicates she left her silver to someone else. Presumably, the YWCA may have ordered silverplated wares for these cottage guests. But now we don't know which group of silverware this came from, the before or the after? I think the Triple stamp would suggest the International Silver era (post-1898), but Miss Smith could still have purchased it. If it was hers, why block letters?

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The will of Armide Vogel Smith (printed 1907??) : https://books.google.com/books?id=pckzA ... rk&f=false

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A 1924 legal case showing Armide Rest was already known as The Armide Rest at the time of her will: https://casetext.com/case/in-re-young-w ... stian-asso

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The only photo (RPPC) of Armide Rest and grounds (sold records..may have to scroll down to $168 entries to get the image and tap to enlarge): https://www.valuablepostcards.com/2018/ ... -2018.html

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A new location near Trenton where "Armide Rest" name may have been transferred to: https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/ef96 ... de864f5892

This was remodelled circa 1920, but the court case was settled circa 1924. Perhaps the name replaced the other (aka) name mentioned in the document. Seems to concern only the barn turned into a dormitory. Nothing to indicate the need for separate silverware here.

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Correction..not Trenton. The Saddle River runs in northern New Jersery through both Saddle River and Allendale. This may be why the YWCA NY Central referred to an Allendale property for their camp. It was apparently located in Saddle River closeby. The official name of the entire camp is given in the document. [Interestingly, regardless of the wishes of the Smith endowment to preserve both names of the known Armide and the unknown Ellen (according to the court case), the YWCA seems to have very effectively eliminated any reference to this Ellen. Something embarrasing?]

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Recent government document listing (page 78) Wadell Barn used as dormitory for that Shadyside Camp (1919-41). Armide Rest name has been overlooked: https://www.saddleriver.org/vertical/si ... 14_10_(002).pdf

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The earlist reference to Armide Rest on page 52 from 1900...Mrs. Hoe, mother and child sent to Sea Cliff, Girls sent to Armide Rest. Book here: https://archive.org/details/annualrepor ... a/page/n59

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After having chased one Ellen P. Kellogg through several court cases related to embezzelment (the lawyer did it) of funds from Armide's estate, on the suspicion she was the name behind the cottage, I found this source adding more dimension to the property and its' history and finally putting Ellen Kellogg in the picture: https://books.google.com/books?id=9qr9i ... th&f=false

And with so many incomplete or problematic genealogies over time, I was able to use common names and locations to assemble this....General Robert Desha married Nellie Shelby (Sumner County Tenn.) having daughter Phoebe Ann Desha who married Dr. Murray Forbes Smith (then of Mobile Alabama) and having daughter Anna Armide Smith (in Mobile). Better yet, found in a 1967 book by Edythe Johns Rucker Whitely about the lineage of Lyndon Baines Johnson, this might yet link to "..Shelby, married Murray Smith of Virginia, and had Armide Smith who married Baron Fontenilliat. They divorced." That last section is not confirmed as most sources refer to her as "Miss" or "never married".

Camp v. Reeves (1922) is the court case that revealed how lawyer Herbert Reeves ripped everyone off.

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Free view news article (left column) confirms Armide is the only sister who has not married. Mme. de Fontenilliat is the former Mimi Smith, her sister: https://newspaperarchive.com/new-york-t ... -1903-p-8/

So where did the Vogel come from if her real name was Anna Armide? That's what happens when you're dealing with the effects of the Civil War on Southern heritage.

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Using information in the will and backtracking through nephew Renee, entry 189 for Bledsoe family lineage published 1909 has Armide Smith listed with "No Information" (even after her demise): https://books.google.com/books?id=W2NT4 ... th&f=false

Very little can be found of her life in specific information other than the suggestion that she was a leader in social aid causes which may have been a profound influence upon her more famous sibling's endeavours in these areas. Even though the silverware was left to Ellen Kellogg in the will, there was the stipulation that all of the furnishings of The Armide Rest property would go to the YWCA (Central of New York) such that this spoon could have fallen into their hands by the bequeath. No other related objects (silver, china, etc.) have been uncovered so far.

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Focusing specifically on Manhattan yields result for 1899 putting her as President of an orphanage: https://books.google.com/books?id=UVc_A ... an&f=false

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Listed address of Armide Vogel Smith c. 1898....11 East Eighty Second Street Manhattan NY: https://books.google.com/books?id=62kIA ... ge&f=false

Surviving famous multi-storey, numerous rooms townhouse within one block of Fifth Avenue previously sold for over $25 million. Constructed 1895.

The original Church of the Holy Trinity of New York (Episcopal) was located next to Vanderbilt's grand 42nd Street railroad station, but was closed with the opening of a new location in 1899. The related orphanage was for girls only.

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According to Princeton Alumni information, at the time of his death Ellen's son, John Prentice Kellogg, occupied the same residence noted above at 11 East 82nd Street: https://books.google.com/books?id=8mxIA ... 19&f=false

Ellen, born 1844, died three years earlier at age 71. Her husband Charles, born 1825, died in 1892 in Hartford CT according to Find-a-grave...however I have not yet been able to confirm this line of ancestry independently. At the time that the original Armide Rest was closed (after 1919) and there was interest in selling the property, both estates of Charles and Ellen would soon be faulted and assessed 1/3 each for the losses in Armide's estate. It had yet to be revealed who was actually responsible. This might all relate to why Ellen's name seemed to have been dropped from any transfer to the new camp.

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Finally!! Entry 5953 gives accounting of this Kellogg lineage (Ellen lost a young daughter named Armide): https://books.google.com/books?id=sTsEA ... 00&f=false

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To sum this all up, the death of young Armide Kellogg may have been the lone spark that caused two friends (Ellen & Armide) to take a strong interest in girl orphans/half orphans and working girls/women which had an influence on Armide's own sister resulting in the successful campaign in the United States for universal suffrage for women. And of course, this gave rise to most of the existening social programs for aid in health and welfare. And we now know this only because of this silverplated spoon! Next time someone asks you what's so important about that junk spoon, just point them in this direction.

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Some Post-Mortem-There is a record of a sizable donation made in 1858 by a Mrs. Armide Vogel putting the name in Ante-Bellum New Orleans: https://books.google.com/books?id=tWv6E ... ns&f=false

Armide Smith's father was a cotton trader in the South. Could there be a tie to New Orleans related to naming this child? As it turns out, there may be! And it might explain how someone doing geneaolgy ended up calling her Anne Armide Smith. Another church in New Orleans has a record of her birth showing the mother's name as Anne (Murray Smith as father). Perhaps a transcription mistake by the researcher? And now that that is cleared up, was the name Armide Vogel an homage to this married woman of New Orleans? These old South families seem to love re-using names.

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Here is the New Orleans Christ Church record, and it is Episcopal just as the church she was working with (the orphange) in New York (that one demolished to build another version in a "needy" zone): http://genealogytrails.com/lou/orleans/ ... irths.html

The name Armide is simply not very common. There must be more than coincidence that these two women, Ellen & Armide, have a link to the name. And Mrs. Armide Vogel is as yet totally un-explored.

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Here it is...the lawsuit of Mrs. Armide Vogel (now Fitz) on behalf of daughter Alice (technically half-orphaned by death of father) with a reference to France (where the Smith family was holding up at one point): https://books.google.com/books?id=y3RFA ... ns&f=false

This could only get better if Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson popped up, but they were long dead.

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The name change to Fitz is interesting as Charles Fitz turns up in 1870 legal cases acting as agent for the "widow A. Vogel". Way back to 1853, one Charles Fitz relates to one Alice Vogel in a filing listed as "Donation" in New Orleans (maybe land related?): http://www.orleanscivilclerk.com/amazur ... l_46_2.pdf

Further back, a Charles Fitz is appointed register of the United States Land Office in New Orleans in 1850...held to "late register" in 1852-3...awarded funds(?) in 1853...with Charles Fitz turining up in the last document (above). This is all before Mr. Vogel has gone missing in 1858 (to be declared deceased around 1865). So much for all these unfortunate Ashleys and notorious Rhetts. The sought after Vogel/Smith relationship seems to disappear in a cloud of Confederate cannon smoke or a parade of Parisian parasols.

Someone once said the South would rise again. No one expected it would come by way of the route of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. Yankee ingenuity may have built the nation, but Southern women figured out how to distribute the profits.