My Old Ohio Home - Anderson

Robert Carroll (Dudley Anderson), Actor, of Chicago, Illinois

2018-10-09T00:00:00-04:00

In the last article, William D Anderson, of Richmond, Virginia, we learned that William Dudley Anderson had a stage name of Bobby Carroll and died in Chicago in 1932. Can we fill in anything else in his life between his marriage to Mary Rodgers in 1887 and his own death?

The Records

Actually, the records themselves so far are pretty sparse for Dudley Anderson.

His 1930 Census said that he was a veteran of the Spanish-American War, which took place in 1898,¹ but I couldn't find a record of his service–not all the information is on line. And he is not the W.D. Anderson who married Lillie Birchfield in Bell County, Texas, in 1901.² That couple is in Justice Precinct 5 in McLennan County, Texas, in 1910.

We know that by 1904, Dudley had married Sarah "Lillie" Jacobs, and settled down in Chicago, since their daughter Evelyn was born there in August of that year.³ A 1906 newspaper article also said he was "of Chicago." Their daughter Evelyn died in 1936, and Dudley's wife was called Sarah Jacobs on Evelyn's death record.³

Medicine Show
Poster

In 1920, Robert, Sarah, and Eva Carroll, age 14, were living in a hotel at 231 East Garfield Blvd. in Chicago, Illinois. Robert's occupation was "theatre, medicine show, working on his own account."

The man listed above Robert on the census was James J McNulty, a showman with the circus. He shows up on a few pages at Circus History.org. I don't know if Bobby Carroll worked with him, but I don't think it is just a coincidence that they were living in the same hotel. The hotel housekeeper's son was a treasurer for a theater as well.⁴

In 1924, Robert and Sarah's daughter, Eva, married Arthur J Meader. In 1930, she and Arthur were living in the Columbus Park Hotel at 311 North Central Ave, Chicago. Eva's mother was with them and this time she is listed as Lillie Carroll, not Sarah. Arthur was a lineman for a telegraph company.⁵

In the same year, Robert Carroll was living on his own, at the Monarch Hotel at 517 North Clark, Chicago. He was an unemployed theater actor. All of the thirty-two hotel residents were men on their own and many were out of work. There was one other actor in the building, a 70 year old single man named Frank Healy, also out of work.⁶

I would like to think that living apart from his family was a "career move" on Dudley's part–that maybe he was closer to the theater district–but I don't think so. I imagine he was more likely "down and out."

His Stage Career, 1887 to 1900

I don't know when Dudley Anderson began performing as Bobby Carroll, but the first mention I found of him was at the Odeon Theatre in Baltimore in October 1887, on the same bill as his wife, Mary Rodgers, who used the stage name Minnie Kelly.

October 24, 1887, Baltimore Sun, page 1

They were at the Centre Square Hall and Restaurant in Allentown, Pennsylvania, for the week beginning January 21, 1889. After that they seemed to shift their career west. August 1890 finds them in Butte, Montana, and in December 1891 they are in Deadwood, South Dakota. In Deadwood, Mary Rodgers and Dudley Anderson apparently parted and went their separate ways–they do not appear together again. The April 12, 1895, edition of the Elwood, Indiana, Daily Press calls Bobby Carroll's wife "Caroline Gardner" not "Minnie Kelly."

(Note: For Mary's career, see Mary (Rodgers) Kelly Anderson, of Cleveland, Ohio.)

April 1895 in Elwood, Indiana, seems to have been one of the turning points in Dudley's career. He was running a show of his own at the Elwood Opera House

Elwood, Indiana, Free Press, April 5, 1895

but ran into financial and marital problems. The April 11, 1895, Elwood Free Press carried news of local court proceedings. A judge had awarded James Howard $27 in back wages owed to him by Bobby Carroll. The article asked "Will he get it?"

The Friday, April 12, 1895, issue of the same paper carried a long article about Bobby Carroll's trials and tribulations. "Caroline Gardner" had left him the previous Monday and Bobby began to drink heavily and neglect his business. On Thursday afternoon, Bobby was on the 2:26 train westbound, leaving behind debts to the newspapers and merchants of Elwood, as well as to his actors and employees. His actors were talking about putting the word out in the trade so that he would never work again.

Elwood Free Press, April 12, 1895,
page 10, part 1

Elwood Free Press, April 12, 1895,
page 10, part 2

Elwood Free Press, April 12, 1895,
page 10, part 3

Elwood Free Press, April 12, 1895,
page 10, part 4

I didn't find a trace of Bobby Carroll for the next few years except for a possible sighting in Los Angeles in 1899, but no mention is made of that man's occupation or why he was in Los Angeles.

His Stage Career, 1901 to 1928

The 20th century opened for Bobby Carroll in August 1902, in Elmira, New York, at least according to the available newspapers. He hit his high point a few months later when, according to a promotional piece in the New York Clipper, he was in his 12th week with Quinlan and Wall's Imperial Minstrels.

New York, NY, Clipper, November 1, 1902, page 2

It included an appearance at the Colonial Theater in Akron, Ohio, which prompted this bit of advance publicity:

Akron, Ohio, Beacon Journal, November 5, 1902

He was still with Quinlan and Wall in December 1902, when they appeared in Paducah, Kentucky.

The next few years have Bobby Carroll working solo, and usually in Illinois or surrounding states: May 1904 in South Bend, Indiana, and Freeport, Illinois; January 1905 in Waukegan, Illinois; May 1905 in Minneapolis, Minnesota; April 1906 in Waterloo, Iowa. The Waukegan article called him "of Chicago", which he would have been by then.

1906 brings a few mentions of "Mr and Mrs Bobby Carroll." The "Mrs" this time must have been Sarah Jacobs. They were together in Waterloo, Iowa, later in April 1906 and in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in June 1908.

After that, it was Bobby on his own in various locations around the Midwest, including this show in Rockford, Illinois:

Belvidere, Illinois, Daily Republican, June 23, 1909

He was still acting in 1927 and was in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in October of that year. The last possible mention I found of him was in the Brooklyn, New York, Times Union, April 8, 1928, page 141, on a bill with Ted Eddy and his "College Misfits." It seems likely this Bobby Carroll was Dudley Anderson, but I can't be positive since it was much farther east than I had found him down to then.

Conclusion

The Brooklyn show might have been Bobby Carroll's last stand. I can't say he went out on top, but he did have a 40+ year career. On the 1930 census he was living apart from his family, in a run-down hotel in Chicago. Most of the residents, including him, were unemployed. He died in 1932.

And that just about sums up what I know about this gentleman. It must have been a long way from being William Dudley Anderson, son of a court clerk in Richmond, Virginia, to Robert "Bobby" Carroll, unemployed actor in Chicago, Illinois. Especially when the road takes you through Oil City, Pennsylvania, Butte, Montana, and Deadwood, South Dakota.

For more information and for the genealogy sources for Dudley Anderson, find Anderson in the Ohio Families section of this website.

Footnotes

"United States Census, 1930," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XS59-9QN : accessed 24 Feb 2014), Robert Carroll, Chicago (Districts 1501-1750), Cook, Illinois, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 1544, sheet , family 258, NARA microfilm publication.
"Texas, Marriages, 1837-1973," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FX7D-9VH : accessed 27 Feb 2014), W. D. Anderson and Lillie Birchfield, 22 Sep 1901.
Illinois, Deaths and Stillbirths Index, 1916-1947, at ancestry.com.
"United States Census, 1920," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MJSR-1MP : accessed 24 Feb 2014), Robert Carroll in household of Benair G Wheeler, Chicago Ward 6, Cook (Chicago), Illinois, United States; citing sheet , family 1, NARA microfilm publication T625, FHL microfilm 1820310.
"United States Census, 1930," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XSP8-WPX : accessed 24 Feb 2014), Arthur J Meader, Chicago (Districts 2627-2876), Cook, Illinois, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 2742, sheet , family 215, NARA microfilm publication .
"United States Census, 1930," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XS59-9QN : accessed 24 Feb 2014), Robert Carroll, Chicago (Districts 1501-1750), Cook, Illinois, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 1544, sheet , family 258, NARA microfilm publication .
See previous article.

Credits

The image of the medicine show poster comes from Legends of America/Patent Medicine.

Mary (Rodgers) Kelly Anderson, of Cleveland, Ohio

2018-10-10T00:00:00-04:00

When I started researching Edward and Anna Rodgers' daughter Mary, she was mostly just s legend. It went: "She was married to a Patrick Kelly and a Dudley Anderson. She was on stage. We had a picture of her with Lillian Russell." Well I haven't found any pictures at all of her, but there is enough information to fill out the rest of the story.

First, her birth record is now online: Mary was born February 23, 1866, in Kilkeel Parish, County Down, Ireland, the daughter of Edward Rodgers and Ann Cunningham. Next, Mary was recorded as five years old when she arrived in New York from Liverpool with her mother Ann and her brother William on April 15, 1872. And she is fourteen, attending school, and living in her parents household in Newburgh, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in 1880.

After that the trail gets a little harder to follow. Let's start with her first husband,

Patrick Kelly

I couldn't find a record of the marriage of Pat Kelly and Mary Rodgers, but their son Patrick was born in Cleveland on December 4, 1885, at 1784 Harvard. Both parents were said to be living at that address. The 1885 through 1887 Cleveland City Directories say that was the home of Mary Rodgers' parents, but there is no record of Patrick and Mary at that address themselves.

Patrick's age on the birth record was 25. His son's 1900 Census in the Rodgers' household said that Patrick (Sr) was born in Tennessee. And the son's marriage license said that the son himself was born in Nashville, Tennessee. We know he was born in Cleveland, so when he said "Nashville" he might have been referring to his father's birthplace by mistake. Or his future wife was the one who applied for the license.

At any rate, I couldn't find a match for Pat Kelly, born about 1860, in Nashville. He is not the man who died in Nashville on September 15, 1885, age, 31. That man was single.

A comment at the Miko Family Tree at ancestry.com once said this about Mary Rodgers' first husband:

Mary's first husband was Pat Kelly who was a minor league baseball player. They had one child. Pat died tragically from being hit in the head by a thrown baseball.

I have no reason to doubt that information. If Patrick Kelly died in Cleveland, he could be the man who died in a hospital on March 31, 1887, of an accident. He was married, age 30y 3m, and said to have been born in Ireland. His parents were named Michael and Mary. The "accident" part fits the family story about his death, but the death record called him a laborer. That was a blanket term for a lot of occupations back then, but I don't know if it would include ball player. Then again, if he was a ball player he could have been on the road and died anywhere.

In the 1886 Cleveland City Directory there is a listing for a Patrick Kelly, catcher, living at 2274 Fayette St. Fayette became E 76th after 1906, so this was the Rodgers' neighborhood. In 1888 there is a Michael Kelly at that address, but his father's household in 1860 and 1880 did not include anyone named Patrick.

The Miko Family tree next adds:

Upon his death, Mary follows her acting passion which takes her to NYC where she meets Dudley Anderson. They marry, have a child, Edward (my grandfather) and leave him with Pat Kelly's mother and pursue their Vaudville passion/money.

Which brings us to Mary's second husband,

Dudley Anderson

I don't know where Mary Rodgers met William D Anderson of Richmond, Virginia, but there is a marriage record for Mary Kelly, age 21, and Dudley Anderson, 21, on the 28th of June, 1887, in Oil City, Venango County, Pennsylvania. The occupation of both: "Performer in show." Perhaps they were appearing at the Opera House in Franklin, PA, eight miles down the road.

They took a bit of "artistic license" with the information on the application. Mary's father was listed as P.H. Kelly and her mother was Mrs. E. Rodgers. "Date of death of former husband: none. Date of divorce of woman at any time: None."

1887 Marriage Record, Mary Rodgers and Dudley Anderson

Their only son, Edward Anderson, was born August 16, 1888, again at the Rodgers' home on Harvard. He and Mary's first son, Patrick Kelly were living with Mary's parents in 1900.

The Miko Family Tree concludes by saying that Mary and Dudley Anderson pursued their career

by moving to Butte, Montana where Dudly ends up having an affair with another performer and running off to Chicago to start a new life. He left Mary without funds where she eventually dies of Scarlet fever.

There was a little more to it than that, as we shall see.

Mary Rodgers' Career

Mary Rodgers and Dudley Anderson were performing together by at least 1887. This clip from the Baltimore, Maryland, Sun of October 24, 1887, advertises their appearance at a matinee performance at the Odeon Theatre that afternoon. Mary's stage name was Minnie Kelly and Dudley's was Bobby Carroll.

October 24, 1887, Baltimore Sun, page 1

"How do we know those are they?" you might ask.

As the article about William D Anderson of Richmond, Virginia, mentioned above, explains, the transcription at familysearch.org of Dudley Anderson's death record (Chicago, March 19, 1932) says "alias Bobbie Carroll." It gives his birthplace as Richmond, Virginia, and his parents' names match closely enough to those on his marriage record with Mary Rodgers. So Dudley Anderson equals Bobby/Bobbie Carroll.

A 1893 newspaper clipping, included below, refers to a lady as "Mrs Bobbie Carroll, alias Minnie Kelly." Mary was married to Dudley at the time, so Mary Rodgers equals Minnie Kelly.

And now, back to our story. I found another appearance in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in January 1889, but after that I think they did move west, as the family said. In August 1890, they are in Butte, Montana, billed as Bobby Carroll and Miss Minnie Kelly, comedy sketch artists:

August 9, 1890, Butte, Montana, Daily Post, page 1

Then comes this news report from Deadwood, South Dakota, in April 1893:

Mrs Bobby Carroll, alias Minnie Kelly, one of the Gem stars, during a fit of melancholia yesterday morning drank a large quantity of carbolic acid with suicidal intent. When she realized what she had done she changed her mind and called lustily for help. A doctor was soon on hand, who after hard work got her out of danger.

April 22, 1893, Deadwood, South Dakota Black Hills Daily Times, page 7

What prompted Mary to drink carbolic acid was not mentioned in the story. But whatever it was, I think that was the end of the line for the Rodgers-Anderson marriage and for the Bobby Carroll-Minnie Kelly partnership. They were not mentioned together again. In January and April 1895, the Elwood, Indiana, Daily Press refers to Bobby Carroll's wife as "Caroline Gardner" not Minnie Kelly.

Mary stayed in Deadwood for a while. A June 1893 review from that city refers to Minnie Kelly executing her character part in fine style. And the October 17, 1895, Deadwood Weekly Pioneer-Times reported the arrest of a Bill Chadwick on complaint of Minnie Kelly who claimed that he had struck her. He was fined $5 and costs.

Her next stop might have been Missoula, Montana. The March 22, 1896, edition of the Missoula, Montana, Missoulian stated:

An exceptionally fine program will be given at the Cremorne this week. Two new stars Misses Minnie Kelly and Mamie Castle, who have been creating a furore throughout the east with their grand duetts and character songs will make their initial appearance before a western audience.

And this ad comes from the April 1 Missoulian:

April 1, 1896, Missoula, Montana, Missoulian, page 1

They were still there on May 2.

I don't know what Mary Rodgers, aka Minnie Kelly, was doing between May 1896 and her death in November 1897. She may have been performing somewhere–not all old newspapers are available online. But the next mention of her was this sad announcement on page 5 of the Anaconda, Montana, Standard, November 12, 1897:

Minnie Kelly, aged 27, died yesterday at St. James hospital. The funeral will occur Sunday at 2 o'clock p.m. from Sherman's undertaking rooms.

November 12, 1897, Anaconda, Montana, Standard, page 5

followed a few days later by:

Butte Has More Than Its Share of Sad Processions
The last sad rites were performed yesterday over the remains of four residents of Butte who had passed away during the previous week. ... Minnie Kelly, formerly a variety actress at the Casino, from Sherman's undertaking rooms. ...

November 15, 1897, Anaconda, Montana, Standard, page 7

Her death certificate (November 11, 1897, Butte, Montana), recorded under the name Minnie Kelly, said she died of pneumonia and was buried in the Catholic cemetery. This probably refers to St Patrick's Cemetery, Butte, since I think that was the active Catholic cemetery in the city at the time. I might be wrong.

Conclusion

So, finally, some closure for Mary Rodgers' short, sad life. She left a brief show business legacy, but more importantly she has descendants through her son by Dudley Anderson, and more grand-nieces and nephews than I can count. Now if we could only find that photograph with Lillian Russell.

For Mary Rodgers' family and the genealogy sources, find Rodgers in the Ohio Families section of this website.

Sources

Irish Civil Registrations
Ellis Island Records
1880 and 1900 US Census of Cleveland
Ohio County Birth Records
The Miko Family Tree, at ancestry.com
Ohio Deaths and Burials, familysearch.org
Cleveland Public Library News and Necrology File
Pennsylvania County Marriages, familysearch.org

William D Anderson of Richmond, Virginia

2018-10-09T00:00:00-04:00

Some people pass through your family's history like a shadow in a dream that turns toward you and waves, then walks across the stage and out the stage door. Such was Dudley Anderson for the longest time, a trace of a person and nothing more.

My grandmother's sister Mary Rodgers traveled with a theatrical company. She married Dudley Anderson in 1887 after her first husband died. Just finding their marriage record–in Oil City, Pennsylvania, of all places–was a surprise. See the article, Mary (Rodgers) Kelly Anderson, of Cleveland, Ohio.

So imagine how I felt the other day when I decided to throw his name into a search engine for the umpteenth time and out came a death record for "Dudley Anderson, or Bobby Carroll", an actor in the theatre, who died in Chicago on March 19, 1932, at the age of 64.¹

His parents' names were listed as Henry Anderson and Mollie Clark, which did resemble the cryptic "H.T. Anderson, M.J. Morrow" that his marriage record called them. And he was born in Virginia, which was one of the three possibilities I had for his birthplace.

Edited April 11, 2026. Thanks to a researcher who was working on the Morrow family, I learned that Dudley Anderson's mother had remarried about 1886 to Mr David Morrow of Baltimore. So Dudley was providing his mother's current name on his marriage record to Mary Rodgers.

So to sum it up:

William Dudley Anderson was born April 23, 1867, in Richmond, Virginia, the son of Henry T Anderson and Mary "Mollie" J. Clarke.¹ Henry and Mollie had married on December 4, 1862, in Richmond, and in 1870 were living there with their children: William, age 4, Myrtle (2), and Anna (1 month).^3,4 Mary is widowed in 1880 and is heading a household that includes a William D. Anderson, age 14.⁵

Some interesting links at findagrave.com say that Dudley Anderson's father's ancestral lines go way back in Virginia. They include one or two Revolutionary soldiers and a man named Major Willam Mayo who helped map out the Blue Ridge Mountains.⁶

Ancestry.com says that his mother's side went at least into the 1700s in Virginia–When you start finding people with a first name of "Obedience" you know you are running into the early colonists and descendants.

William Dudley Anderson, aka "Bobby Carroll", second husband of Mary Rodgers, is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Proviso, Illinois. If I'm ever out that way again I might go by and see where Dudley left this world's stage.

Conclusion

For more information and for the genealogy sources for Dudley Anderson, find Anderson in the Ohio Families section of this website.

Continued in Robert Carroll (Dudley Anderson), Actor, of Chicago, Illinois.

Footnotes

Illinois, Deaths and Stillbirths Index, 1916-1947, ancestry.com
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=FSIllinoisDeath&h=2607633&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=1501

2. Texas, Marriages, 1837-1973, familysearch.org
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FX7D-9VH

3. Virginia, Marriages, 1785-1940, familysearch.org
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XRJV-K32

4. 1870; Census Place: Richmond Monroe Ward, Henrico, Virginia; Roll: M593_1654; Page: 243A; Image: 489; Family History Library Film: 553153., ancestry.com
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1870usfedcen&h=37068133&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=7667

5. 1880; Census Place: Richmond, Henrico, Virginia; Roll: 1371; Family History Film: 1255371; Page: 399B; Enumeration District: 076.

6. Start with Dudley's father at findagrave.com, Henry T. Anderson, and work backward: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=anderson&GSfn=henry&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=48&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GSsr=41&GRid=106022191&df=all&