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Tony Abshier
b.11 Oct 1906 Oakland City, Gibson Co., Indiana
d.27 Apr 1985 Santa Ana, Orange Co., California
Family tree▼ Facts and Events
According to Jerry Treston Abshier, Tony's son, Tony's biological father was Mr. Clem. Tony considered Clyde Abshier his true father, however. He may have never been formally adopted by Clyde, but Tony decided to take Clyde Abshier's surname as his own. The only official reference to his adoption that I have located is the 1930 census from St. Louis, MO., where 'Anthony' is listed as the "adopted son" of Clyde Abshier. In the 1920 census in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, Tony is listed as 'Tony Risley', even though Clyde and Audrey are listed as husband and wife (and were married in 1916). The story was that Mr. Clem was a lineman for the power company, and he died of electrocution while on the job. Tony's birth certificate listed no father, and his mother was listed as Audrey Risley. She was 17 years old at the time he was born, she was 23 when she married a Charles Smith, and she was 27 when she married Clyde Abshier. In the 1930 census she lists her 'age at first marriage' as 15, so perhaps she did marry a Mr. Clem first. Tony's birth record obtained from the Health Department at Princeton, Indiana had a listing of a birth on 11 October 1906, with no first name, last name "Risley". The mother was listed as "Risley". According to the clerk in Princeton, it stated it was the mother's first child, white and a male, and he was born in Oakland City, Indiana. No father was listed in the actual record. According to the Sallie DeWitt 1981 Genealogy, Tony was a young man who could get around and knew 'the ropes'. "He could get what he wanted, and usually did" (referring to Nellie Elizabeth DeWitt). After Tony and Nellie married and had young Jerry Treston in St. Louis, they came to California where Tony worked in the San Pedro shipyards during WWII. His mother Audrey, and Clyde Abshier followed shortly thereafter and the two Abshier families purchased homes in Hawthorne, CA. According to my Dad (J.T. Abshier), the house at 3556 133rd was the first house that Tony and Nell purchased. They bought it in 1945 and it was located in a tract of homes called "Crenshaw Villas". It was purchased under the 50/50 plan. You needed $50 down and $50 a month to own one of these homes. My Dad reported that Tony's Mom and Dad (Clyde and Audrey Abshier) purchased a home nearby, at 3613 133rd Street. The house at 3556 133rd was where Tony and Nell lived when my Dad, Jerry T. Abshier, was born. When we were looking through some of J.T. Abshier's momentos on Jan 23, 2005, that were passed on to him by his mother Nell E. (DeWitt) Abshier, we found a reference to this address in some of the information. This address was noted on the envelope of a birth announcement for baby Diana Beachum, from Diana's mother (Ruth DeWitt), who lived in Albany, California. We also have an old photo of Tony Abshier sitting on his Harley motorcyle with Nell and Ruth on the back, in the driveway of this house. We visited the house at 3556 133rd on 30 Jan. 2005 and took some photos of it. At some point in about 1946, Tony and Nell Abshier, along with Clyde and Audrey Abshier, decided to go to the Raymondville and San Perlita Texas area, where Nell's father, Pa Lee Dewitt, was a farmer. They were going to use their carpentry skills to make their way in that part of the country. They each sold their 50/50 house, bought travel trailers, and hauled themselves and their families to Texas. After they built a barn and some other buildings for Pa LeeDeWitt, the work died down a bit. They went to Corpus Christi to try and find more work. It was said that Audrey did not like the bugs or the humidity, and when work got hard to find they decided to come back to California about a year later. Tony and Nell Abshier, along with Tony's parents Audrey and Clyde Abshier, returned from Texas in the early 1950's. They towed their mobile homes (similar to today's travel trailers) back to California and set them up on a lot they purchased at 4239 135th Street, in Hawthorne. There they built their first California house together. My Dad (Jerry T. Abshier) remembers the garage being built first, and he, as a teenager, was put out in the garage with a bed, and a bathroom that was somehow hooked into the sewer system. The adults built the house on evenings and weekends, while Tony and Clyde installed cabinets for a "day job". They subsequently sold the house and split the profits. Clyde went on to build a 4-plex on 139th street, and a house at 4259 135th Street, while Tony and Nell built a house at 4364 133rd Street, near Hawthorne Blvd. Jerry T. Abshier and I drove by the 135th Street house, and the three 133rd Street houses on 30 January 2005, and they all looked to be in fairly good shape. We attempted to find the 4-plex on 139th, but it appears to have been replaced by newer units. Tony and Nell finally settled into the house they built at 133rd Street, near Hawthorne Blvd. in Hawthorne. This is the home that their two boys were raised in, and that their grandchildren fondly remember, now that they are grown. Shortly after moving into this house, Tony's mother Audrey died. Clyde stayed on in California for a while but eventually moved to Stuttgart, Arkansas and married Esther, who had been a family friend for some time. As a small boy, I (Jerry D. Abshier) remember a large backyard with a detached garage. This large yard was replaced with an apartment building in the 1970's. This is the house at 4364 133rd Street that I most associate with my Grandpa and Grandma Tony and Nell Abshier. We Abshier kids never called them grandpa and grandma, they were simply "Tony and Nell" to us. I remember my Grandpa Tony as a kind and happy man, who was always looking for ways to make his grandkids smile. He did magic tricks and hid coins from us, and was always willing to take us to 'Kiddie-land', on Hawthorne Blvd. Tony spent his last years with Nell at the house they purchased on Esplanade Street, in Orange, after selling the Hawthorne house and apartments. He loved to go outside in his wheelchair and watch the children play at the school across the street. Tony died at Santa Ana Community Hospital, near 17th @@ Bristol. He battled the debilitating effects of a stroke, which left him paralyzed on one side and unable to speak, for 20 years. He chose to be cremated by the Neptune Society. Tony was a furniture maker and upholsterer in Missouri and Texas; honing skills that he brought to California with him and which later got him jobs in furniture factories (such as Coventry Upholsterers, in Inglewood), and allowed him to work out of his garage. He was also a shipbuilder during WWII, a carpenter, contractor, worked in Ralph's Creamery, and was an independant businessman (Shell Service Station). He was a member of the Rotary and for a time he was a member of a bowling league with wife Nell. References
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