Flashback: Arnold's early years

Some documents and photos from Arnold's childhood:

Leonard, Arnold and their cousin Leslie Wolfe, Jr., Albuquerque, New Mexico, June 1923

reverse of the photo above — Hazel wrote here with the names and
observes the resemblance to Arnie's son Eddie in the mid 1950s

Arnold, Dolly and Leonard, New Mexico, circa 1925

Dolly, Leonard and Arnold, New Mexico, circa 1926

Arnold, Glendale, 1932 (enlargement from photo below)

class photo, Eugene Field School, Glendale, California, 1932
Arnold is standing, fourth from left

Arnold, 1933 (enlargement from photo below)

class photo, Eugene Field School, Glendale, California, 1933
Arnold is standing, sixth from left

Arnie, circa 1930

The certificate of promotion from 1930 for the Wilshire Presbyterian School shows that the family was living in Los Angeles already in that year. The second certificate of promotion is from 1931 for the Glendale Presbyterian School. 

Arnold attended Glendale's Eugene Field School in 1931, where he had a perfect attendance record and good penmanship. He also entered a kite in the 1932 Annual Kite Tournament. And he got the Premium No. 1 Notebook Certificate in 1933.

June 16, 1933, perfect attendance certificate, Board of Education of the Glendale
City School District, Eugene Field School, for Arnold Nevis

January 26, 1934, certificate of attendance, Eugene Field School, for Arnold Nevis

By 1935 Arnold attends the Eleanor Joy Toll Junior High School, where he is noted for highest merit.

In 1937 Arnold is in high school at Herbert Hoover High School. The 1937 Scroll Year Book features the Boulder Dam. 

1937 Herbert Hoover High School Scroll, cover 

1937 Herbert Hoover High School Scroll, inside front cover 

1937 Herbert Hoover High School Scroll, inside back cover

1937 Herbert Hoover High School Scroll, signature page 1

1937 Herbert Hoover High School Scroll, signature page 2

1937 Herbert Hoover High School Scroll, title page

1937 Herbert Hoover High School Scroll, forward

1937 Herbert Hoover High School Scroll, page 7 Boulder Dam

1937 Herbert Hoover High School Scroll, page 8 Boulder Dam

1937 Herbert Hoover High School Scroll, page 9 Boulder Dam

1937 Herbert Hoover High School Scroll, page 10 Metropolitan Aqueduct

1937 Herbert Hoover High School Scroll, page 11 Metropolitan Aqueduct

1937 Herbert Hoover High School Scroll, page 12 school entrance

In the Winter of '40 class, Arnold is in the top photo, third row, third from right.

1937 Herbert Hoover High School Scroll, page 73

Arnold is manager of the Cee track team, second photo, second row, far left.

1937 Herbert Hoover High School Scroll, page 125

A couple of undated photos of Arnold from the 1930s.

The 1939 Scroll:

Arnold's brother Leonard was in the HHHS Boys' Service Club, as was their friend and neighbor Ed Flavell:

Leonard is in the class of Winter '39:

Arnold is in Mrs. R. B. Shearin's class (middle photo) in the back seated near Mrs. Shearin:

Leonard is in the bottom photo, Mr Erwin Howlitt's Study Hall, back row, eighth from the right:

Arnold was in the Forum Club:

Arnold went to the prom with Ms. Balthis, third row, second from left:

Arnold was vice president of the Chemistry Club. Ed Flavell was president.

Arnold is a graduate of Herbert H. Hoover High School in 1940. He was secretary of the Forensics Club, editor of the Purple Press, member of the Boys' League Board, in the Scholarship Club (I guess), and on the Scroll staff.

And Arnold was the transportation manager of the Chemistry Club. His classmates Kennie Flavell, Ed Flavell and Don Stadt pop up through this blog under Arnold's Story.

Dolly is a Winter 1940 graduate. She was the Uniform Representative, member of the Bible Club, and on the Girls' Drill Team. G.A.A.?

In the Bible Club (bottom of the three group photos), Dolly is in the third row, fourth female in from left:

Now attending the California Institute of Technology, Arnold has middling grades

Although he does show improvement over time, it is hard to believe he would eventually get into Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate school with these Caltech grades. He did, however, score extremely well on the standardized tests administered by the U.S. Army during World War II, which led him to technical coursework at Yale Harvard Universities.

Arnold in the 1940s

Arnie in the late 1940s

next post  Arnold and Newlin 1950

previous post  Flashback: How the Hastings descendants came to California

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Flashback: How the Hastings descendants came to California

Oil brought the Hastings family West.

family tree of Mary Hazel Wolfe Nevis

Mary Hazel Wolfe's mother was Jennie Hastings. Like her husband James Tarr Wolfe, Jennie and her family were from Pennsylvania, perhaps Oakdale (near Pittsburgh). 

Jennie Evelyn Hastings

Jennie's siblings include John, Cyrus, Laura, Alfaretta "Allie", Jesse, Emma, Elwood, William, Quincy, Frank, and Wayne. Since Quincy's middle name is Dickson, he might the "Dick" in the photo below:

Jennie Hastings, Allie Hastings, Frank Hastings, Wayne Hastings, and Dick Hastings

possibly Frank Hastings

back of photo of Frank Hastings

The Hastings family was already in Venango County by 1850 at the time of the oil boom there. Although the family set themselves up as farmers, they were enterprising and got into other businesses such as barge work, transporting goods such as oil barrels down stream to Pittsburgh or Cincinnati. Frank Tuller Hastings (Mary Hazel's uncle) got into the oil business, which took him from Venango County to New Mexico, California, Montana, and Alberta. When Frank was still in Albuquerque, in the second decade of the 1900s, his sister Jennie and her husband James Tarr Wolfe had moved there, too. After Jennie died in New Mexico in 1924, her husband relocated to Los Angeles with their daughter Hazel's family. Hazel's brother Leslie moved to nearby San Bernardino, California, and their brother Ellwood to Las Vegas.

Merrill Hastings on "Pride", Hastings Farm, Pennsylvania

(Merrill Hastings is Wayne's son, Hazel's cousin. The photo would be from the first decade of the 1900s, as Merrill was born in 1899.)

believed to be Mary Davidson Wolf, perhaps 1870s

Leslie H. Wolfe, 1917, U.S. Navy, World War I

J. Ellwood Wolfe circa 1920

The Nevis family lore says that William Guy Wolf and Mary Davidson's son James Tarr Wolfe (1864–1936) was a farmer but had also invested in a company drilling for oil; his wife Jenny Hastings Wolfe (1867–1924) and mother-in-law Mary Jane McQuaid Hastings (1832–1915) complained after a while that the company was not striking any oil and they nagged him into selling his shares. Three weeks after the share sale, that company struck oil. Arnold maintained that James Wolfe never recovered from the "theft" of his good fortune and never forgave his mother-in-law. After Jennie died, he panned for gold in California certain his luck would return.

(On the other hand, the Canal Best web site says that James Tarr Wolfe's great grandfather John Brookmire Hastings (1797–1872) "owned land near Franklin [Pennsylvania] which became a valuable oil field — after he sold it" so I wonder if the generations got mixed up a bit and Jenny Hastings Wolfe and her mother Mary Jane McQuaid Hastings got a bad rap unfairly here in the family legend.)

Another myth from the Hastings side of the family involves ancestors of Jenny Hastings. There is indeed a line of noble Hastings in British history: Francis Hastings (1560–1595), son of the Earl of Hastings (George Hastings, 1540–1604), who was himself son of Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon (1514–1561), the son of George Hastings, 1st Earl of Huntingdon (1488–1544), son of Edward Hastings, 2nd Baron Hastings (26 November 1466–1506), son of William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings (circa 1431–1483), and so forth. So the peerage is beyond dispute, and frequently their wives' lineages are even more distinguished, but unfortunately there is little evidence of this ancestry for the Hastings family of Pennsylvania, though I suppose it is not out of the question either, through perhaps some younger brother who did not inherit the title, estate or wealth, or was exiled in disgrace to the colonies.

a family tree for Mary Hazel Wolfe Nevis, sketched circa 1970

Instead, Hazel's great grandfather John Brookmire Hastings was born out of wedlock to Mary Sutley and John Hastings. A Wikitree entry for Mary Sutley shows a deed book entry describing a case of John Hastings having knocked up Mary, who sues him for child support after her marriage to another man, John Brookmire:

Venango County, PA Deed Book A, pp. 59

Whereas MARY BROOKMIER, daughter of Christian SETLEE(sic), formerly of Franklin County and state of Pennsylvania, now of the county of Venango and state aforesaid, about 9 years ago at the town of Chambersburg did enter an indictment against a certain John HASTY(sic) for unlawfully begotten her, the said Mary, with child...and the said John Hasty found guilty and judgement being entered in favor of said Mary (for certain sum or sums of money supposed to be 50c per week for a space of __years and $14. for expenses at birth of said child)....and whereas the said Mary having since entered into the marriage state with a certain John BROOKMIER and in order to bring about a final close of said business and to receive the remainder sum of money due in consequence of the decree aforesaid, the said John Brookmier becomes party to these presents..... Appoint George Setlee(sic) of Venango County, as their true and lawful attorney to demand the money from John Hasty.....

John Brookmire Hastings, the same one that sold his land before oil was discovered on it, was raised in the Brookmire family, but retained his biological father's surname. I could find nothing further of his father, the scoundrel John Hastings — no family history, no later activity.

The family religion (Presbyterian) comes down through the Anglo-Irish branch of the family: the McQuaids, the Duffields, and the McClintocks, but it appears that all of Hazel's ancestors were Protestants of some sort. The German side of her family emigrated from the area near the Rhine — they were Protestants fleeing the many wars devastating that region, particularly the Thirty Years War. And through her grandmother Hannah Smith, the lineage goes back to the early Plymouth Colony leader Thomas Prence and church deacon Henry Cobb. 

next post  Flashback: Arnold's early years

previous post  Flashback: Plumer, Venango County, Pennsylvania

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Flashback: Plumer, Venango County, Pennsylvania

Some time in the early 1970s or perhaps 1969, Hazel took a trip east with her brother Leslie to visit the old family homestead in Plumer, Pennsylvania. These are some snapshots Hazel sent her son Arnold, with descriptions written on the back of the photos. 

Natural Bridge, Virginia, circa 1971

next post  Flashback: How the Hastings descendants came to California

previous post  Flashback: How the Wolfe family came to California

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943