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The Earl Antoine
Levi Family
Earl Antoine Levi - Born
December 8, 1887 in Buckley Michigan, died July 25, 1954 Dallas, Texas. Prior
to 1912, Earl lived in Chicago and was married to a woman who died giving
birth to a daughter. Earl then left the daughter in the care of a couple and
moved to Texas where he eventually married Myrtle Jane Adams (1912
or 1913) and had a large family. The name of his first wife and daughter are
not known. However, it is thought that the couple who took custody of the
girl were her grandparents.
Earl's granddaughter Carol writes
that her mother told her
"that when my grandparent's
(Earl and Myrtle) were married, that Myrtle would not marry Earl at first
because she had her father to take care of and wouldn't leave the family home.
Earl agreed to take care of him and her both, which was the reason for him
coming to Texas. My sister said she had been told that Earl and Clyde (his
older brother) ... had disagreed over land inheritance after Antoin's death
and had a sort of falling out."
Carol goes on to write that she,
"never met Earl or my
grandmother Myrtle as they died before I was born, but my sister did know
them. That is why it is so hard for me to remember the names and dates of
things because I am the youngest born in my family and just have to listen
to the stories. I do know that they lived in Alba, Raines County, in East
Texas and my dad grew up in a house in the woods there. Later they moved to
Dallas, Texas.
They were not wealthy, and Earl/Myrtle had 7 children that lived, 4 that
didn't. They moved around some also previous to coming to Dallas."
Laura, another of Earl Antoine
Levi's granddaughters, wrote the following story about Earl and his part of
the family line.
"Regarding Earl Antoine
Levi - he was our grandfather and a brother to Lawrence Clyde.
He was born Dec 8, 1883 in Michigan and died July 25, 1954 in Dallas from
a heart attack. The story on Earl goes that after high school, he was sent
to Chicago to attend college and study to become a minister in the Church
of Christ. Apparently, during his second year, he became restless and dropped
out of college. He got a job on a steamboat on one of the Great Lakes. In
1907 he came to Texas to visit his uncle, George Copley.
One day, he and George were walking the railroad tracks from Alba to Emory,
Texas and passed by the John Adams house where a young girl, about 12, was
sweeping the front porch. They stopped for a drink of water and talked to
her for a time. Later Earl told George he would marry the girl one day.
Then he went back to Chicago to work for the steamship company and married
someone there. His wife died giving birth to a baby girl. About a year later
he left the baby with an elderly couple and made them her guardian. It is
unknown if they were the grandparents. He then left for the gold mines in
Colorado and spent some time in that area.
In 1912 he returned to Texas found out the young girl (Myrtle Jane Adams)
he had seen before was not married and began to "court" her. She would not
have anything to do with him at first because she did not trust men. Her
father, John Adams was a Native American who was a heavy drinker and philanderer.
This is another story though. He eventually won her over and married her.
They moved around quite a bit, always coming back to Texas. In all, eleven
children were born to them and seven survived to adulthood. At this time
only four are still living.
Over the years, Earl worked at several different jobs, including Consumers
Lignite Mine run by Morton Salt Company in East Texas. He also opened a
little store in the area. Eventually, around 1940, the family moved to Dallas.
Earl had a grocery store in Dallas. I remember him working as a carpenter.
My father and I visited him many times when he would be working on a house.
I also remember that he had parts of several fingers missing from his hands.
He lost them while working as a lumberjack in Michigan. His wife, Myrtle
Jane died from esophagus and stomach cancer in 1952. I barely remember her
except that she would sit in the floor of their living room and we would
play together. She had Indian features and at one time her hair reached
below her waist. Several of their children had Indian features.
Their children:
- Delbert E. Levi, b.
May 20, 1914/MI, d. Sep 15, 1915/TX
- Jim Earl Levi, b. Feb
7, 1915, d. Feb 28, 1915 (On his headstone the name is Jim Edward but
in the Rains County, Texas Death Record it is Jim Earl).
- Gertrude Levi, b. August
22, 1917, d. 1998 (This is the Gertrude that wrote the story about her
parents living in Michigan for a while. She was the one who knew the most
about the family).
- John Levi, b. Aug 22,
1917, d. Jul 1918
- Robert Olen (still
living)
- Ellie Priscilla (still
living)
- Melissa Isabel (still
living)
- Willis Carl, b. Jun
25, 1926, d. Sep 29, 1995
- Virgil Antoine, b.
May 30, 1929, d. Feb 24, 1991. Virgil was the father of Laura and Carol
who contributed so much to this family record.
- Edith Gladys (still
living)
- Baby Levi, born and
died May 1933
Just a note, my father (Virgil
Antoine)
"had such white hair
when he was little that he was called "cotton top" and he had gray eyes.
As an adult his hair was brown but became gray in his thirties. I think
he must have taken after the Levi or Copley side. Most of his brothers and
sisters (except Gladys) had more of the Indian features with black hair,
dark eyes and skin."
Copyright©2004
by Doug Meharry. All rights reserved.
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