Bills Family of Newfane VT (3) Photos - and 17 similar items

(3) Three Antique Photographs. Enriqueta Inez Cherrie, the daughter of famous naturalist and explorer George Kruch Cherrie, married Lewis Cunningham Bills. These photos which feature Helen, Melvina and Lewis Bills, are of their family, possibly children and/or very close relatives. See the biography below for more information. These photos originally came in a Cherrie / Bills family collection of images (sold individually) which included: An antique photo of the family farm in Newfane, Vermont; A cabinet photo of George Kruck Cherrie's son Herbert Bruere Cherrie at the age of 3 months old; A cabinet photo of George's wife Stella May Bruere Cherrie and their daughter Enriqueta Inez Cherrie (married name Bills); plus additional images of the Bills family line. Condition: These are original photographs, not a copy or reproduction. They are in very good condition. Biography: Enriqueta Inez Cherrie and Lewis Cunningham Bills were married June 18, 1917, in Newfane, Windham County, Vermont. A grave marker in the Bills family plot at Woodlawn Cemetery in Newfane indicates that Inez and Lewis's first child, "Lewis Cherrie Bills" died an infant in 1918. In early 1919, Inez was very ill with scarlet fever and stayed at the home of her parents, George and Stella Cherrie. After her recovery, Inez and Lewis lived in Williamsville, a village not far from either of their childhood homes in the town of Newfane, Vermont. Each maintained a close relationship with their family of origin. Between 1924 and 1932, four more sons were born. Inez and Lewis must have been divorced sometime in the late 1930's. The 1940 US Census lists Inez as Head of a Cheshire County, New Hampshire, household which included her mother, Stella who was divorced in 1926, Inez's four young sons, and a lodger. Inez passed away on the 10th of June 1943, in Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, Brattleboro, Windham County, Vermont, USA. Inez's father, George K Cherrie is listed as the informant on the record of her death. George resided until his death in 1948 at the Vermont farm where Inez and her siblings had grown up. Inez's sons, after her passing, probably resided officially with their grandmother Stella and/or their uncle, Joel Cherrie, until they completed high school in New Hampshire. In addition, they also spent considerable time at the Bills farm on Newfane Hill with their father, Lewis, and grandmother, Nora. The eldest, Allen H Bills, reported having been "raised mostly" by his grandmother, Nora Bills, and his father's sisters living at the farm. Allen joined the US Navy very close to the time of Inez's death; his brother, Neil, soon followed suite; as did their brother, Edmund, at the age of 17 in 1947. In the 2006 obituary of Inez's youngest son, George J BIlls, it is reported that he always considered Newfane, Vermont, his home. He was however a graduate of Keene High School, indicating he must have remained a resident of New Hampshire, until about 1950. He served in the US Army Airborne during the Korean and Vietnam Wars.