GRAINGER Charles
Born Charles William Grainger.
Date of birth : December 24 or 25, 1875, Santa Paula, California.
Date of death : December 10, 1953, Redondo Beach, California ().Della Mae Monroe's last husband.
Adresses
* 1915 : Santa Paula, Californie
* 1917 : 1410 Coral Canal Court, Venice ()
* 1940 : 2110 Nelson Avenue, Redondo Beach ().
StoryOn December 25, 1897 he married Frances "Fannie" Harriett Atwood (April 5, 1878, Michigan - December 4, 1913, Santa Paula, California). They had 2 sons Olivier Atwood Grainger (January 2, 1899, Santa Paula, California - March 14, 1959, Santa Barbara, California) and Elvin Benjamin Atwood Grainger (June 11, 1902, Santa Paula,
California-December 2, 1952, Kern County, California. Marriage on November 4, 1920 ,
In the 1890's he had worked as an oil well driller on a California oilfield (Associated Oil Company of Lost Kills, Kern County).
April 16, 1915 : he applied for a passport, for travelling to India for his job in oil -
1915 : he sailed for India and from there, reached the South-East of Asia where he was a foreman on the Burma oil company drilling.
After his return in south California, he was employed by the Shell company (),
but in a sporadic way.
January 1, 1917 : during a dancing party for New Year's Eve, Della met a tall and charming widower, Charles Grainger.
The following days, he visited her almost every evening at Westminster Avenue.
For Della, Grainger's life was so far more exotic than all she could have dreamt of with her first husband, Otis
Monroe.
He lived not far from Della's, 1410 Coral Canal Court, in an humble two-rooms bungalow, which overlooked on the many canals of Venice.
Several clues let believe that this idea was Charle's one. His job prospects were more than uncertain and he hoped new contracts abroad.
Furthermore, he had to provide for his sons, remained in North California.
He certainly hadn't been keen about the idea of being legally responsible for Della and her duaghter's support.
Both discreet with this new father and
upset to see her mother living a situation which irregularity didn't
provide her any emotional stability, Gladys wasn't
happy. She showed it to Grainger by being either silent or in a fool
mood. So Della started to find her daughter irritating, all the more so
as she was waiting for Charles Grainger's offer to live with him.
May 17, 1917 : Gladys married John Newton Baker.
Della Monroe declared that her daughter was 18 years old (actuallay she was aged 15) under the pretext of no evidences about her real birth date.
1918 : he found a job not in petroleum but as director of the Pickering Pleasure Pier of Santa Monica, where he had a regular salary.
1921 or March 1922 : Gladys left the marital home and rented a bungalow at 46 Rose Avenue, Venice, she shared with her mother.
Gladys signed a lease in Della Monroe's name, in which she agreed to sublet 2 rooms, to be payed as a manager and to pay 100$ a month to the absent owners, Adele Weinhoff and Susie Noel.
Theit short experience of roommates ended in July, after a threat of eviction.
Della, with Grainger's permission, left and lived in an empty bungalow he owned in Hawthorn.
Not living with Grace McKee anymore, separate with her husband and enmeshed in the divorce requirements, she came back to her mother to have a support.
Della reacted badly to her daughter's condition; with an indignation all the more justfied than she was still called Mrs Grainger, she ignored her daughter's wails and travelled in South-East Asia as she had already planned to, with her lover, Charles Grainger, who had been sent ther by the Shell company for his job.
February 24, 1926 : Della applied for a passport () to go (or join) Charles Grainger in Borneo, a trip scheduled for March 30, 1926.
On the request, the date of the wedding of Della and Charles Grainger was written as having took place on November 25, 1920.
His last wife was Pearl Jeffery Grainger (1879, Kansas-1958, Redondo Beach).
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