In my mother's old photo album dating from the first quarter 20th century
were several pictures of a Weston Carman. My mother lived in New York City but
one picture of Weston had Jersey City written on it. As a child I enjoyed
looking through the album. I was curious about a notation on one of the photos
which indicated that Weston died in 1924, and asked my mother about the
circumstances. She related a story that Weston and a girl friend were canoeing on the
Hudson River when it over turned in a storm. A passenger boat came along
side but the captain aborted a rescue attempt because too many of the persons on
the ship went to see the activity and the ship listed badly.
Recently while researching the New York Times, I queried the name Carman for
1924.
There were two articles concerning the drowning. The first article was in
the July 2, 1924, paper and gave his name as Gerald W. Carman, 25 years old,
address 679 Bergen Street, Jersey City. He and his friend, Jane Martin, were
drowned. Their bodies were not immediately found and the article stated that
family members of both victims were helping in the search. A followup article on
July 5th stated that the bodies were found off Nyack. His name was given as
Wesley Carman instead of Weston. No mention of the passenger ship was in
either article.
Three of the photos in the album show Weston in a US Navy seaman's uniform
and dated 1918. Another photo shows him in white tie and tails with a large
monkey-like dummy named Sam. Mother said Weston was an accomplished
ventriloquist.
Due to Weston's age and the fact that he was with a girl friend seems to
indicate he was not married and therefore probably left no descendants. Still,
there might be someone familiar with his connection to the family who would be
interested in copies of the articles and photos. If this is so, please contact
me and I would be happy to send them to you.