Frederick Alonzo Ware and Evelyn Cervantes

The Story of How Two Stars Collided

This story begins with a lady named Gail Evans and an inquiry about her relative who was the sibling of Eva’s Cervantes father, Thomas. Gail supplied me with as much knowledge of the Cervantes/Ware connection as she could. A talented researcher, Marti Martin, of the Woodford County Kentucky Historical Society was able to gather together the details of Frederick Ware’s family leading to one of his descendants, Kate Ware, and her work regarding his lineage.

Frederick’s and Eva’s story begins literally world apart.

“WARE, Frederick Alonzo,

Lawyer, Legislator.

The Ware family home in Thirty-sixth street, New York, was occupied by ancestors of Frederick A. Ware when that part of New York was divided into farms. The family is an ancient one, and the foundation of their fortune was laid in Colonial days. Mr. Ware entered politics in 1895, during the “good government” movement, was elected alderman on an anti-Tammany ticket, and was always esteemed a reform leader. He was well. known in his city through his practice in the criminal courts, his prominence in political and Bohemian club life bringing him frequently into the public eye. He served with credit in both New York, as an alderman and in Albany as representative from a New York City ‘district. He was an able criminal lawyer, finely educated and always commanded a good practice.

Frederick A. Ware, son of Richard F. and Amelia F. (Klauberg) Ware, was born in New York, in 1864, died in Freeport, Long Island, May 29, 1921. He began his education in the public schools, and completed the courses of public school No. 26 with the graduating class of 1881. In later years he was president of the Alumni Association of that school, and always felt for it a real interest and regard. He then entered the College of the City of New York, and prepared for the profession of law at Columbia Law School, whence he was graduated LL.B., class of 1887. During his college days and for a few years prior to that, Mr. Ware won high reputation in athletics. His entrance into athletics was in 1878, and he continued until the World’s Fair games in Chicago in 1893, in which he took part. Within that period he won more than one hundred trophies in walking, running, swimming, rowing and even in cycling, being second in the one mile race at the game of the College of the University of New York, the race being ridden on ‘an ordinary’ or high wheel. It was at walking that he did his best work in athletics. In 1885, he won the inter-collegiate championship from Bemis and Wright, of Harvard, Meredith, of Yale, and Biddle, of the University of Pennsylvania, all of whom, at various times, were inter-collegiate champions. For many years he was one of the most active members of the Manhattan Athletic Club, serving as a member of the board of governors, and for several years was lieutenant of the club. In 1885-86, he was president of the National Cross Country Association, and secretary of the Inter-collegiate Association. In 1886-87, he was an enthusiastic supporter of the ‘Cherry Diamond,’ (Manhattan Athletic Club) in the fight between the National Amateur Association of America, and the Amateur Athletic Union, organizing the Crescent Athletic Club which supported the Manhattan Athletic Club. On the occasion of the visit of the Salford Harriers to this country, he had charge of the team in Chicago and Detroit.”

Source: Genealogy Bank

“After graduation, Mr. Ware began practice and became well known as a learned and able lawyer, his specialty being criminal law.”

Source: Genealogy Bank

Source: Genealogy Bank

“He was counsel for the Hep Sing Tong during the War of the Tongs in Chinatown, New York City, in 1907, and was connected with many notable cases. He was elected a member of the New York Board of Aldermen from the eleventh district, serving from 1895 to 1897. He was chairman of the committee on Revision of City Ordinances, and became very popular in his district. Mr. Ware will always be remembered for his splendid service rendered while alderman in behalf of the erection of the public library building at the corner of Fifth avenue between Forty-first and Forty-second streets, New York. He represented the Twenty-fifth Assembly District of New York City, elected in 1895, and made a creditable record as a legislator. He was a member of the Seventh Regiment, New York National Guard, and in 1898 established the first recruiting office in his private office in New York, Lafayette Post, No. 140, Grand Army of the Republic, using it as their headquarters in recruiting volunteers for the War with Spain. He recruited personally a company which he hoped to command, but his men were assigned to other regiments, and he enlisted in the 102nd Regiment. In 1900, Mr. Ware was appointed deputy attorney-general and served as such for a time. He was an ardent Republican, and supporter of Theodore Roosevelt, and among his papers are many autograph letters including one from Colonel Roosevelt. (According to Kate Ware, Frederick and ‘Teddy’ were good friends and there were many correspondences, which unfortunately have been lost.) He was a member of Lafayette Camp No. 10, Sons of Veterans, and several professional organizations. Most of his life was passed at the old Ware home, No. 138 West Thirty-sixth street, New York, but later in life he maintained a country residence at Freeport, Long Island, where he died. He was a member of several clubs: The Republican, Madison Square Republican, Freeport and Edenia, and was a one time president of the Blaine Club. In religious preference he was an Episcopalian. He was a member of the New York Society, Sons of the Revolution, (he was eligible for this from his maternal grandmothers’ side.) For six years after the Spanish-American War, he was a member of the Second Company of the Seventh Regiment, New York National Guard.”

Source: Genealogy Bank

Note: No information has been found regarding a first marriage for Frederick. Possibly a newspaper error.

“Mr. Ware married, in 1897, in New York City, Evelyn Cervantes, a well known favorite of the studios and galleries, born in England, of the Spanish family Cervantes, which produced the author of “Don Quixote.” Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Frederick A. Ware: Frederick K. C, born in 1900; Florence, born in 1901 ; and Richard Carroll, born in 1906. Mrs. Ware survives her husband, and resides with her children in New York and Freeport.”

Source:  American Biography: A New Cyclopedia, Vol. 12, by American Historical Company, published by the American Historical Society, Inc. New York, 1922, pages 336-9, with additional information in parenthesis. Kate Ware has stated she has a book with some 200 pages of newspaper articles about Frederick.

What is known of the ancestors of Frederick Ware begins with his great-great-grandfather, Richard Ware, who was born about 1777. “He was a master builder in Philadelphia and a member of the Carpenters Hall, however he was expelled in 1880. Carpenters Hall was responsible for building some of the more famous buildings in and around Philadelphia. Sometime in 1820 at the request of Thomas Jefferson Richard went to Virginia to help construct the Pavilions ( II & III),” according to Kate.

Richard was married to Hannah Plankington, about 1804.  Kate said that “his wife’s family was some what of a mystery, with changes in spelling over the years. His mother-in-law, Jane Hart was reportedly a Quaker.” Son, John Plankington Ware, as given his name from his maternal grandfather John. His son, Richard Frederick Ware, served in the Civil War.

Frederick’s maternal lineage, the Klauberg’s, were German and the Chevaliers, Swiss. These families came together in New York and produced daughter Amelia Frances Klauberg, born in 1836. She married Richard Frederick Ware about 1860, according to Kate Ware, and Frederick A. Ware was born in 1864. He resided in that house with his parents and brother, Edward; 1880 Census records. By 1910 he had moved to W. 160^th Street. And in 1920 the Frederick A. Ware family was living in Freeport, Naussau County, New York.

The Children of Frederick and Eva were:

1. Frederick C. Ware: b. 21 Aug. 1898, d. Jan. 1984.
2. Florence Amelia Ware: b. 15 July 1900, Sheepshead Bay, New York, d. 27 Nov. 1936, Roosevelt, NY.
3. Richard Carroll Ware: b. 29 May 1906, New York, d. 9 Mar. 1966, West Palm Beach, Florida.
4. Evelyn Aida Ware: b. 1909, New York, d. 15 Jan. 2004, Florida
5. Peyton Charloner Ware: b. 11 June 1913, Freeport, Nassau, New York, d. 1 Apr. 1977, Lake Worth, Palm Beach, Florida.
6. James Hackett Ware: b. 15 Sep. 1915, Freeport, Nassau, New York, d. 11 Aug. 1976, Palm Beach, Florida.

 

When Frederick died in 1921, it was the beginning of the Depression. Eva passed on seven years later, leaving three adult children, Fred, Florence and Richard. Evelyn and Peyton were teenagers and James was the youngest at 11. Times were very hard for the family then. The older children set out work, some in careers they would have the rest of their lives. (Richard’s occupation was listed as entertainer in 1930 Census. He lived in the William Penn Hotel in Pittsburg, PA.) Evelyn found employment as a Ziegfield girl, following in the footsteps of her older sister Florence, who’s stage name was Babe Ware. James was sent to live with his aunt, Florence Cervantes Thoreau. Richard, Peyton and later, James also pursued careers in show-biz and took odd jobs for survival, according to Kate Ware.  Additional Census information was added by Marti Martin.

It also seems that there wasn’t enough money for headstones for Frederick and Eva’s graves, as they are buried in the Klauberg plot in Woodlawn Cemetery, and their names were not added to the existing marker.

Frederick C. Ware married Ruth Gertrude Gaden in June of 1933 in Freeport, New York. He became a real estate and insurance broker in Freeport.

Florence Amelia Ware married James Gilbert Graham in 1920 and divorced in 1924. She married twice again. Second, James S. Woods  about 1925 and third Harry A. Jaffee, about 1935. She had two daughters, Florence Mary Graham and Audrey Marguerite Woods.

Source: Genealogy Bank

Richard Carroll Ware also known as Dick Ware never married, and also was on stage, sometimes with his brother James Hackett Ware.

Source: Genealogy Bank

Evelyn Aida Ware married Clinton Ludlow Smith in 1925.

Source: Palm Beach Newspapers Inc, 2004.

Peyton Charloner Ware married Antoinette Davison Barquinero, in 1946. It was in the search of this man’s history that we eventually found Kate Ware. The name Charloner comes from John Armstrong Charloner, who’s legal case was one of Frederick A. Ware’s most famous.

“The shock which the average reader will sustain at finding that a newspaper editor and not “Who’s Looney Now?” is responsible for the above “real bargain furore” photograph—to borrow the language with which the writers for ladles fashion journals urge on their fair readers to the fray—incite them to fresh efforts at buying—the shock which the above “real bargain furore” photo will hand out to the average reader as aforesaid, will be mitigated by knowing that the cause of the whole trouble into which “Who’s Looney Now?” was precipitated like a projectile from a thirteen-inch gun, March 13th, 1897—and fetched up standing in the cells of “Bloomingdale”—without ever seeing a judge or hearing that there was any question concerning his sanity upon the cards—the cause of said whole trouble is positively and absolutely expressed in the following brief statement, made casually to one or two close friends, namely: that it occurred to him that he looked like Napoleon Bonaparte.

“Who’s Looney Now?” is positively and literally accused of being stark staring crazy because he happened to casually observe on one occasion, possibly two occasions, to intimate male friends that he thought he resembled Napoleon Bonaparte in appearance.

Here follows the cold, hard judicial proof of the above allegation, taken from the Commitment Papers signed by Judge Henry A. Gildersleeve, Justice of the New York Supreme Court, March 10th, 1897, and attached to the Proceedings, in the New York Supreme Court, before a sheriff’s jury against John Armstrong Chaloner, in May, 1899. On line 243 of said Commitment Papers are found the following words sworn to by Medical-Examiner-in-Lunacy, Moses A. Starr, M. D., Professor of Nervous Diseases in Columbia University Medical School— upon’ which words “Who’s Looney Now?” lost some $30,000, in one hundred dollars per week for a two room cell and an Irish keeper at “Bloomingdale” for nearly four years besides seventeen of the best and ripest years of his earthly career—“State what the patient (“Who’s Looney Notof”) said, , if anything, in presence of the examiners.”

While on line 245 are found these words, to-wit: “That he resembles Napoleon,” and when the reader remembers that said damning charge against “Who’s Looney Now’s?” reason is introduced by the following sinister words printed on line 242 of said Commitment Papers, to-wit: “Facts indicating insanity personally observed by me,” (said Moses A. Starr, if. D., Statutory-Medical-Examiner-In-Lunacy)— the gayety of nations is increased.

In the opening speech of Hon. Frederick A Ware, of counsel for “Who’s Looney Now?” at the trial of his cause ctlebre in February, 1912, Mr. Ware observed, to the jury, to the following effect: “Gentlemen of the jury, my client is accused by his accusers of being insane because he happens to think he happens to look like Napoleon. Now we shall show you a photograph of John Armstrong Chaloner which will make you gentlemen think the same way.” Said “bargain furore” photograph is the one referred to by Hon. Frederick A. Ware.

In presenting before the dazed gaze of the public said “Bargain furore,” we, therefore, are merely properly anticipating the rehearing of “Who’s Looney Now’s?” cause celibre.”

Source: Excerpt from “Robbery Under Law or The Battle of Three Millionaires, A Play In Three Acts and Three Scenes, Time 1887, Treating the Adventures of the Author of “Who’s Looney Now”, by John Armstrong Charloner

More Charloner information. Note the last paragraph of the article regarding Frederick’s visit to the University of Virginia.

Source: Genealogy Bank

Marti began researching Peyton Charloner Ware, because we had little information on him. This led to the discovery of his grandson, Payton C. Ware. He was contacted at his office in Washington and he put her in touch with his mother, who in her own words is the “unofficial” Ware Family Historian. She explained that Peyton Sr. followed in the Theatrical Footsteps of his siblings while he lived Freeport. The children were probably encouraged by both Frederick, who was also interested in amateur theatrics and their mother Eva.

James Hackett Ware married Martha Ann Meyers in 1 Jan. 1946.

EVELYN CERVANTES

In order to tell Eva’s story we must go back to what is known about her distant ancestor.

“In May this year (2015), Miguel Cervantes remains of his body were rediscovered In Madrid Spain. Miguel was as famous in Spain as Shakespeare was in England. At one time it was rumored that they were the same person, especially when they died on or near the same day. Miguel wrote ‘Don Quixote’ whilst in prison. Miguel was the purveyor for the Spanish Armada. Stories in England and Australia from the relatives in the United States are that the Cervantes were on the Armada, got ship-wrecked off the west coast of Ireland, in 1588 then later made there way to Dublin, on the east coast and eventually ended up in England. “ stated Gail.

She continued. “During my research, I discovered Miguel often sailed with his brother, Rodrigo. So my thoughts are that MAYBE we are related to Rodrigo as Miguel provided food, etc. for the Armada and died in Madrid. I offered the authorities both maternal and paternal DNA for testing. They are currently working on a ‘grandmother’ for DNA. Miguel’s remains are being reburied in Madrid in April 2016 and I plan to attend.”

The descendant, Matthew Servante, was from Dublin, Ireland, born 1801. He married Mabel Connelly and they had four children, Thomas, (Eva’s father, born 13 Jan. 1838), William, Mabel and Theresa. The family moved to England. The Servantes were printers In London and worked for the “Daily Mirror.”

Source: Gail Evans

Thomas arrived in New York, on the ship Palestine, 6 Aug 1855, under the name of Thomas Fell. He was about 34 and listed his nationality as English. Gail stated, “Nothing is known about him between 1855 to 1858. Then in 1858 he was in Buffalo as a printer. Sometime in 1858 he went to Montreal, Canada .”    He met and married Annie Carrol in Montreal 1 June 1860.

Source: Gail Evans

Then to Boston and back to New York. He became an American citizen 12 Oct. 1887. On the application he stated his birthplace was Germany. The ‘Times’, stated he was born in America. “There is a dodgery subject about Thomas as he kept changing his name and is known to have had five names or at least some spelling changes, i.e. (Servantes, Cervanti, Fell, Cervante, Chervantes),” said Gail. 

On the 1870 Census Thomas Fell was living in Boston, Massachusetts. No specific occupation given. Those also living at home were Annie, (wife), 38, Thomas, 7, Hattie 2 and Mabel almost 6 months.

The 1880 Census lists Thomas Servante, 43, living in New York and the owner of a Variety Store, Annie, 28 (obviously a misprint), Thomas 17, Hattie, 12, Eva 5, and Walter, 3. These children were born in Massachusetts. Mable must have died. There was also a 4 month old female child who was born in New York.

“Many of the children died. Only 6 survived to adulthood,” said Gail.

Thomas abandoned his family between 1891 and 1895.

Source: Genealogy Bank

Source: Gail Evans

Once again fortune did not smile upon Thomas. His final endeavor had failed.

During his lifetime, Thomas had been a printer, owner of a variety store, and skating rink and later a hotel and a furniture store in Harlem, New York. It was reported he once owned a hotel in San Francisco, California.

By 1920 Thomas had become widowed and was living with his daughter Harriet Long and her three children. She was also listed as widowed.

1930 Hattie (Harriet) was living with her married daughter, Evelyn (nee Long) Kiesinger. Hattie was very close with her mother and is buried along side her, Gail told us..

Only some sketchy bits and census records tell us of the Florence May Cervantes. She married Alfred Rudolph Thoreau 23 June 1901. She had been a model like her sister Eva .

Arthur Cervantes served with the 12^th Regiment and was at the front in 1898 during the Spanish–American War.

Walter Washington Cervantes married Harriet Blair Moeller 18 Mar. 1902.

At this time nothing is known of the oldest son, Thomas

And then there is Eva, who’s story we have not told completely. Eva was an artist’s model and Frederick met her while he was host to a small diner group at a restaurant, 12^th Street near Sixth Avenue., in the Bohemian part of New York City. Two years before his mother died he met and fell in love with Eva Cervantes. They married after a very short courtship. Frederick’s mother knew nothing of the marriage, but when Eva’s mother found out she was not happy about her new son-in-law. Frederick stated in a news article in The World, 9 July 1898, ” mother could not forgive my conduct in acting without her advice.” (He did tell her long before she died that he had married Eva and she forgave him.) It had been decided that Frederick would make the formal announcement during early July of 1898. Eva had been living with her mother at 114^th Street.  Mrs. Amelia Ware, went to the home of her new daughter-in-law in Harlem, to give her blessing to the union. She was stricken with a bought of Bright’s disease the following day and never recovered.

Another Article in a New York newspaper, dated 31 Oct. 1896 stated:

Artist’s Model to Marry

“Eva Cervantes to marry New York Dry Goods Man… favorite model of the artists of New York for 5 years.” Perhaps this ruse was to cover up her secret marriage.

Frederick and Eva lived happily and well until his death. Financial hardship befell the family and Eva struggled, along with her children, until her death seven years later, in the middle of the Great Depression.

Both Frederick and Eva had been “stars” in their own worlds, and when they collided they produced descendants who want to keep their story alive for future generations.