Rachel Elizabeth (Dodge) Newitt (1887-1977)

Marriage Record for Rachel Elizabeth Dodge & James Newitt - 20 August 1906

Marriage Announcement - Colorado Republican

SSN Application for Rachel Elizabeth (Dodge) Newitt from 1972. This is the only document I have found that gives the spelling of her father's middle name; Nathaniel Toothaker Dodge

Death Record for Rachel Elizabeth (Dodge) Newitt. She died 30 May 1977 in Tacoma, Washington.

Obituary for Rachel E. (Dodge) Newitt

Mortuary Record for Rachel E. (Dodge) Newitt.

Funeral Record for Rachel E. (Dodge) Newitt

Gravestone for Rachel E. (Dodge) Newitt. She is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Tacoma, Washington (findagrave.com)

Rachel Elizabeth Newitt is one of my great-grandfather's sisters that I have found. Rachel was born in 1887 in Buena Vista and grew up there. The first picture is of the family home in Buena Vista around 1900 (Again, I wish I had more pictures; most of them have either been lost or destroyed over the years and were never passed on because nobody had children to pass them on to). Rachel was a domestic in the early 1900's before she married James Newitt in 1906.
Here is the wedding announcement from the Colorado Republican dated Aug. 23, 1906: 'At the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. N.T. Dodge, west of Buena Vista, Miss Rachel Elizabeth Dodge was united in marriage at noon, Monday, August 20, 1906, to James Newitt; the ceremony was performed by Judge Newitt. Only the immediate relatives were present to witness the ceremony. The couple will make Buena Vista their home for the present. The contracting parties are both well and favorable known in Buena Vista, and they have a large circle of friends who wish them a safe journey in their little craft, matrimony, as it sails out o’er the bounding billows of wedded bliss.'
James Newitt was 18 years older than Rachel and was from England. I was very surprised to find that James Newitt had been married previously to a lady named Maggie Meeter and had two children from that marriage: Keith and Bernice. Maggie died in 1904. Keith was born in 1899 and was a World War I veteran who lived most of his life in California before moving to Oregon, where he died in 1974. He married twice but had no children. Bernice was born in 1902 and was an Army Nurse during the 1920's & 1930's. She died in 1982 in California and never married. James & Rachel had three children together: James Francis, Edna Rae and Frances Mae Newitt. James Francis Newitt was born April 29, 1907 and died May 4, 1907 in Buena Vista. Edna was born in 1908 and died in 1999 in Tacoma, Washington. The second picture is of Edna; she was also a nurse in Tacoma for years and years. She married twice but never had any children. Frances was a surprise to me because there is nothing on her in my family records. She was born in 1910 and was only around in the 1920 Census. She passed away in 1926 in Grand Junction, Colorado. James & Rachel lived with her father, Nathaniel T. Dodge, in Buena Vista until 1921, when they moved to Grand Junction. They lived there until 1931, when they moved to Tacoma, Washington. James passed away there in 1952; Rachel passed away in 1977. I was surprised to learn she had lived so long.
Here is her obituary: 'Rachel Newitt, 90, a longtime resident of Tacoma, died Monday. Mrs. Newitt, of 217 S. 76th St., was born in Buena Vista, Colo., and had lived here since 1931. She was a member of St. Ann's Catholic Church. Survivors are a daughter, Edna Patterson of Tacoma, and a step[daughter] Bernice Newitt, of Glendale, Calif. Gaffney Funeral Home is in charge.'