Harold J. Dies (1914-2012) was Trustee of the Dreiser Trust.
Roger W. Smith to Harold Dies 3-24-2007
Tag Archives: Harold J. Dies
photos of Theodore Dreiser and relatives
Posted here (see below) are photos and portraits of Theodore Dreiser as well as numerous photos of Dreiser’s relatives and acquaintances.
There is some overlap with photos which I have already posted on this site. See
https://dreiseronlinecom.wordpress.com/?s=photographs
Notable among the persons included in these photos, besides Dreiser, are the following:
Esther A. (Schnepp) Dickerson, Theodore Dreiser’s aunt
Dreiser’s siblings Paul, Rome, Emma, Theresa, and Claire
Dreiser’s first wife Sara White Dreiser
Dreiser’s second wife Helen (Patges Richardson) Dreiser and several of her ancestors and relatives
Dreiser’s sister-in-law Mai Skelly Dreiser
Dreiser’s favorite niece Gertrude A. Hopkins
Dreiser’s niece Dr. Vera Dreiser
Harold James Dies, who was related to Helen (Patges Richardson) Dreiser and, more distantly, to Theodore Dreiser, and who served for many years as Trustee of the Dreiser Trust
Thanks are due to the following persons and institutions for permission to post photos:
Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Pennsylvania
Vigo County Historical Society Museum, Terre Haute, IN
the late Harold J. Dies
Gloria N. Vevante (a Dreiser family descendant)
Joann Crouch (a Dreiser family descendant)
Thomas P. Riggio
Please note: if you left click on a photo of interest, a descriptive caption for that photo will appear. If you right click on the photo, you will have the option of downloading (saving) it.
— Roger W. Smith
May 2017
excerpts from the autobiography of Harold James Dies
Posted here below as a downloadable PDF document are excerpts from the autobiography of Harold James Dies (1914-2012). Mr. Dies was related, on his mother’s side, to Theodore Dreiser’s second wife, Helen (Patges) (Richardson) Dreiser. He was Trustee of the Dreiser Trust.
The full title of the autobiography is “The Kingdom of God and the World’s Final Generation: The Life Story of Harold James Dies” (2010).
Included in the autobiography is anecdotal material related to Theodore Dreiser and his second wife Helen, as well as some information about Dreiser’s niece Gertrude Amelia Hopkins (1894-1963) that is not available elsewhere. Topics of interest discussed in the autobiography, and included in the excerpts posted below, include:
Mr. Dies’s relationship with Dreiser’s second wife Helen, whom he knew from his early years, and biographical information about her
his meeting Dreiser and some anecdotal material about Dreiser
mention of his cousin congressman Martin Dies, chairman of the House un-American Activities Committee
his relationship with Gertrude Amelia Hopkins, Dreiser’s favorite niece and the daughter of Dreiser’s sister Emma (“Sister Carrie”)
negotiations over the production of Tobias Picker’s opera “An American Tragedy”
I wish to thank Joann Crouch, Mr. Dies’s niece, who told me about this unique book and made it available to me for photocopying.
— Roger W. Smith
February 2017
the-life-story-of-harold-james-dies-excerpts
Esther Dickerson obituary
“Mrs. E. A. Dickerson Dies,” Sunday Oregonian (Portland, OR), August 27, 1916
Esther A. (Schnepp, or Schanab) Dickerson (1840-1916) was Theodore Dreiser’s aunt. She was the younger sister of Dreiser’s mother, Sarah (Schnepp, or Schanab) Dreiser. Samuel T. Dickerson was Esther’s second husband.
Esther Dickerson was also the maternal grandmother of Theodore Dreiser’s second wife, Helen (Patges) Dreiser. Esther’s daughter by her first marriage, Ida V. Parks, married George Patges. Their daughter Helen E. Patges married, secondly, Theodore Dreiser as his second wife.
The obituary notes that Mrs. Dickerson died at the residence of her daughter (by her second husband) Mrs. Carl M. Dies. The daughter, Myrtle Josie (Dickerson) Dies, was the mother of Harold James Dies (1914-2012), a relative of Theodore Dreiser’s second wife Helen (Patges) Dreiser. Harold Dies became Trustee of the Dreiser Trust.
— Roger W. Smith
Sunday Oregonian (Portland, OR), August 27, 1916
Gertrude A. Hopkins death certificate
Gertrude Amelia Hopkins (1894-1973) was Theodore Dreiser’s niece. Below is an image of her death certificate.
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Note: The late Harold J. Dies gave me a copy of Gertrude Hopkins’s death certificate. I would not have been able to obtain one otherwise, since only relatives can obtain such a record from the state of New York. It is an invaluable document. Gertrude was Theodore Dreiser’s favorite niece and knew Dreiser and his second wife Helen well. See my article
“Lorenzo A. Hopkins, Emma Wilhelmina Dreiser, and Family”
posted on this site at
https://dreiseronlinecom.wordpress.com/2016/10/08/roger-w-smith-lorenzo-a-hopkins-emma-wilhelmina-dreiser-and-family/
— Roger W. Smith
Harold J. Dies letter to Roger W. Smith, February 24, 2007
Harold J. Dies (1914-2012) was Trustee of the Dreiser Trust. Mr. Dies was a first cousin once removed of Theodore Dreiser, and a half first cousin of Dreiser’s second wife, Helen Dreiser.
