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Sunday 22 October 2017

The Zilliax Story

Today's blog post is not the story of a Boulton relative but of a young teenager who left his hometown in the 1920's and obviously kept a piece of Reston in his heart. He and his wife willed $3000 to the Reston Public School District upon their deaths and what follows is as much as I know of the Zilliax story.  Any further information is most welcome to me at ssimms@escape.ca  

John Theodore "Ted" Clayton Zilliax was born in Reston, Manitoba on April 1st, 1907 to parents Charles and Edith. Charles had been born in Listowel, Ontario in 1863.  In 1889 he made his way to Chicago where he married Edith Bowman eight years later.  The couple had three daughters and tragically lost at least two more children in infancy.  According to the census, Charles made a living as a sewing machine dealer in Chicago in 1900.  At some point after this, the family made the move northwest to the Canadian prairie town of Reston, where Charles became a pump man for the C.P.R.  I assume it was his job to keep the water tank along the railway track filled and ready for use by the steam engines of the day.  

Five short days before Christmas 1909, Charles Zilliax died of heart failure at age 47.  His widow Edith would have been heartbroken, but needed to carry on for her children. Seven years later in the 1916 Canadian census, she can be found making a living as a washerwoman, living with daughters Ester (19) and Helen (12) along with 9 year old Ted.  Seventeen year Eva (their third daughter) was likely working as hired help for another family.  Ted would have attended Reston Public School in these years and one can only assume it must have been a positive experience for him. Perhaps a special connection was formed with a teacher or his classmates or he enjoyed his studies.   He is likely somewhere in the group pictured below.  

The Zilliax Family lived in “New England”, the part of Reston south of the railway tracks, on Lauderdale Street.  Check Google maps - it’s there!  The community was given this name as the first inhabitants by name of Haines and Hollowell were recent emigrants from England. The Zilliax property was later bought by Rollie and Harriet Ludlum where they operated a dairy to supply milk to the town from 1927-1960.  I believe this home is the red one still standing about a mile south of Reston in the picture below.

 

Online records indicate that in January of 1922, Ted left Canada with his family.  The yearbook photo below found online is from the Englewood Evening High School in Chicago, Illinois where he was a student in June of 1931. 


The 1930 US census has 23 year old Ted as a meter tester for the Electric Power Company in Chicago and living with mother and 2 sisters.  By the 1940 US census Ted is a service man for Gas & Light Company, living with his sister Ester, who was a clerk in a drugstore along with their mother.  In 1951, Edith Zilliax was returned to Reston to be buried in the local cemetery alongside her husband, 41 years after his death. 

On August 9, 1958 Ted married Mary Beatrice Blasi.  She was born in Chicago in 1916 youngest of 6 children of a mason.  That is the last available information of Ted and Mary's story until the end.  Just 6 days after turning 97 years old, Ted died on April 7, 2004 in Las Cruces, New Mexico. His wife Mary died in the same city on January 27, 2006.  The Zilliax Family Trust had been established and their wishes were carried out.  

The Reston School students of today are the recipients of their generosity with the money they left being used to improve the outdoor play and learning space. We hope Ted and Mary Zilliax approve. 

Follow Up - Clippings found in the December 1910 issues of the Reston Recorder that tell the tale of Charles Zilliax’s untimely death a few days before Christmas.  




1 comment:

  1. Adam Zilliax immigrated in the late 1830's from Germany to Woolwich township in Ontario.

    He is the progenitor of all Zilliax's in Canada. Over the years some stayed in Ontario but many moved to the USA and others moved to western Canada.

    For more information on the Zilliax family see https://www.myheritage.com/site-71814771/zilliax.

    Thanks so much for this detailed article. This information will be added to the family website.

    Wayne Vickress - Oct 2017

    ReplyDelete