by Bill Soles

This article was originally published in the November 1999 edition of Soul Search, the journal of The Sole Society.

Geraldine was born on July 7th 1911 at Woburn, Massachusetts, USA, she died on July 6th 1998 at Clearwater. Florida.

I first made contact with Geraldine in February 1963, through a letter to the editor of the Woburn Times regarding the descendants of Edward O Soles who emigrated to the USA with his brother William H Soles in 1842.

Geraldine was a high school teacher at this time. She told me that she was the only one who had the history of this SOLES family in the USA. This stroke of luck must have saved me months or perhaps years (if searching for my American roots.

Although Geraldine had the complete family history of her great grandfather from the time he landed in New York in 1842, she knew almost nothing about his early life and had no knowledge of his brother William H Soles.

With a great deal of help from Sole Society member Betty Gay (Soles) of Cincinnati I have been able to record the family history of William H Sole, as far as a marriage of his descendant George Kenneth Soles at St Phillip Neri Church, Chicago, in 1960.

Geraldine's great grandfather and my great grandfather were brothers. She retired to Florida in 1975 where she became a substitute teacher and she was well known for her work with the disadvantaged. She was a member of' St Brendan Catholic Church, Clearwater. Her great grandfather married into the family of the Elder William Brewster, a Mayflower descendant, so perhaps Geraldine could have claimed to be a Mayflower descendant.

I and my family visited Geraldine many times in the past few years and we became very good friends. She will be greatly missed by all of us.

Return to The Sole Society Home Page