#52Ancestors Week 2: Favorite Photo The Romance of Frank Scrivener and Lib Dent

It's so hard to choose a favorite photo from among all the family photos I have accumulated over the years, but I think I would have to go with this charming picture of my grandparents, Frank Scrivener and Elizabeth (Lib) Dent. Of course, I only knew them when they were much older, so I have always loved this fascinating glimpse of their youth.

The picture is not dated, but I think it was taken shortly before their marriage in 1924.  The clothes certainly seem to fit that time period.  My grandmother definitely has the flapper look going.  (And isn't she gorgeous?) Frank seems to be going for the Great Gatsby look.  Look at that natty bow tie!  I am not sure where the picture was taken, but perhaps it was in St. Mary's County at Lib's family home.  It does seem to be a rural rather than an urban location judging by the porch and flowers in the background.

Frank was the only child of Frank Scrivener and Louise Gwynn (see #52Ancestors Week 1), born in Baltimore in August 1900.  He attended Loyola College High School, where he played baseball, and enlisted in the Navy in WWI.  He was stationed at Great Lakes Naval Air Station, where he acquired quite a reputation as a quarterback on the football team.  Family legend has it that he even played a game against the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame while he was at Great Lakes.  After his discharge, he got a job with the Maryland State Roads Commission, where he worked for the rest of this life.

Lib was the daughter of John Marshall Dent and Mary Peterson Turner, born in Oakley, St. Mary's County MD in 1902, the third of their four children. She was born Ida Elizabeth Dent (named after her grandmother)  but she never liked the name Ida and never used it.  Lib attended St. Mary's Female Seminary in St. Mary's County and taught school in Prince George's County MD after her graduation.  Here she met Frank, who travelled around the state inspecting roads as part of his job.  Apparently Frank would often hang around the school where Lib was teaching, whistling outside her classroom window, and would sometimes delight her students by telling them that class was dismissed.  (No word on how the principal felt about this!)

Lib and Frank were married at St. Mary's Church in Upper Marlboro, Prince George's County MD on June 20, 1924, coincidentally just a few months after my maternal grandparents, Paul Summers and Evalina Sasscer, were married at the same church in April 1924. Twenty-three years later, my parents were married at the same church.

Lib and Frank had six children: Frank, Bill, Jack, Reds, Keene, and Bob, and raised them in Baltimore and St. Mary's County through the Great Depression.  Frank was fortunate to have a state job that enabled him to support his family.

The picture above suggests a loving and romantic relationship between Lib and Frank and from everything I know about them, that remained true throughout their lives.  I inherited one of the many loving notes that Lib wrote to her husband over the course of their long marriage.

Frank died in 1980 and Lib in 1987.  They are buried in New Cathedral Cemetery in Baltimore, next to Frank's parents.