The parents of Fannie, Worth W Jones and Nancy Jane Smith, are named in her death certificate. In 1870 she and her mother had been living with Chauncy and Dorothy Smith in Mead Twp, Crawford, Pennsylvania (see notes for Chauncey Smith), and her father was in California (see notes on Worth Jones). According to a 1951 newspaper article on Fannie, when she was a baby in PA, her father went to California. Her mother's parents refused to allow the mother and baby to accompany him, so he gave up on California and went home. But he talked so much about the wonders of California that at the age of 2 she said "I want to go there." [1951 article on Frances Puckett] Her grandparents were living in Mead Twp. in 1860 with children including her mother. In 1880 Fanny Jones 11 b. PA was living in the home of her grandparents Chancy and Dorothy Smith in Mead Twp, Crawford, PA. (Her father is listed as born in CA and her mother in PA.) Her father was living alone in Butler County in 1880. All this suggests that her mother died prior to 1880; article in Los Gatos Faily Times 11-30-1953 says Fannieís mother died when Fannie was 9 (1879), and the cemetery record says December 1879. Her father died in an oil field accident in 1884 in the Town of Scio, Allegany, New York, the same year that Fannie was married.
Jay & Fannie Abbey had a farm in the Town of Scio, Allegany, New York. The story Frances Puckett Going to Ohio [Los Gatos Daily Times 11-30-1953] says "She married Mr Abbey in 1884 in New York, and they made a honeymoon trip to Ohio, where they visited her sister, who had grown up with an aunt and uncle there. Frances Abbey's first daughter died at birth, but her second daughter lived [Maud] and was the mother of Betty Stimmel." The farm had livestock, including a cow whose broken leg Fannie fixed with a cast of flour and water [1951 article]. Jay and Fannie had eight children, four of whom were living in 1951 [according to a newspaper article; letter from Fannie, commenting on article, says two were living in 1951]. Jay died in March 1900. By the time of the census in 1900 Frances D Abbey b. 4/1870 in PA (parents b. MO & PA), widow, was a housekeeper in the Earley home in the Town of Scio, Allegany, NY; her children had been dispersed -- Dorothy, Maud, and Forrest were living with Leslie Patterson in McKean County, PA, and Pearl was living in the home of George Smith in Scio.
Frances (Fannie) had two husbands subsequent to Jay. The first was G.W. Earl, whom she married on May 27, 1905 in Portland, Oregon. The marriage must not have lasted long, because in 1910 Frances D Abbey 40 b. PA (parents b. MO & PA), widow, was a guest and private family nurse in the home of Harry W Stone, YMCA Secretary in Portland, Oregon; she had 8 children, with 4 living. During the time in Oregon, according to Frances Puckett Going to Ohio [Los Gatos Daily Times 11-30-1953], ìfor a period of three years she was with the YWCA in Gerhart, Oregon. At this time she bought a ranch, with the intention of opening a resort for young people. But after she and Fennimore Cooper Puckett were married in 1915, and had lived for a year on the ranch, they decided that the intellectual climate would be richer in Los Gatos and moved here.... she leased the old and beautiful Sprague home on the corner of Johnson and San Jose Avenues and ran a boarding house." At the time of that marriage to F C Puckett. she listed her name as Frances Dorothy Abbey. From the San Jose Mercury News (publ. as San Jose Mercury Herald, 5-01-1915, v. LXXXVII, issue 121, p. 5): "In a bower of roses, at the home of the bride's uncle, Leon E Jones, 301 Johnson Avenue, Miss Frances D Abbey of Los Gatos and F C Puckett of Berkeley were united in marriage at 2 o'clock Wednesday, April 28, by the Rev Robert Whitaker. The bride, who has many friends in this city, was charming in a gown of pearl gray crepe de chine. Covers were laid for 25 guests at the delicious luncheon which followed the ceremony. Mr nd Mrs Puckett will pass some time in San Francisco and Portland, Or., before going to their ranch at Estacada, Or." The article Frances Puckett Going to Ohio [Los Gatos Daily Times 11-30-1953] says she first arrived in Los Gatos on Sept 10, 1910, to visit her uncle Leon E Jones. A later article says she ran a rest home in Los Gatos beginning in 1910. The various newspaper articles quoted above give an inconsistent picture of when the Pucketts started an Abbey Inn in Los Gatos. Probably the truth is that after marriage in 1915, the Pucketts did start the Abbey Inn at 34 San Jose Avenue, corner of Johnson and San Jose on El Monte Hill, in Los Gatos. That house was built by the Alexander family. A March 18, 1918 newspaper article says it was to open as a ìfirst-class family homeî in two weeks. Some time after the Pucketts sold it, it became the Sprague home. In 1920 Fenimore Puckett 56 b. IL, proprietor of a family hotel, was living in Los Gatos with wife Frances D 49 b. PA. Between 1920 and 1924 they set up a rest home in Hollywood at 1905 or 1906 Highland Avenue. In 1922 the Abbey Inn was at 1906 Highland Avenue in Hollywood. Town records of Los Gatos indicate that the ìFrancis D Puckett house,î a Queen Anne at 55 Palm in Los Gatos, was restored in 1924 as the ìAbbey Inn.î Between 1925 and 1928 they bought a property that would become the fourth Abbey Inn, primarily a rest home, at 1 Bayview Ave., Los Gatos. It was ìat first a boarding house and social center for travelers and later a boarding house mostly for female teachers in the areaî (1978 newspaper article on its imminent razing). Letterhead of a 1931 letter to Nettie Abbey also lists it on W. Main Street, because it was at the end of Main. The three previous businesses had also been called Abbey Inn. Fannie added two cottages to the main building on the property. In 1930 Fenimore C Puckett 67 b. IL, proprietor of a family hotel, was living in Los Gatos, Santa Clara, CA with wife Frances D 59 b. PA (parents b. MO and PA).
From the Los Gatos Library and History Museum online: "The Abby Inn is listed in the 1921 Los Gatos Directory at 34 San Jose Avenue (later San Jose-Los Gatos Rd., then Los Gatos Blvd.). The proprietors were Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Puckett. In the 1924 and 1925 Los Gatos Directories the Abbey Inn is listed at 55 Santa Clara Road. The Abbey Inn had moved by 1930 to 1 Bayview Ave., across town at the end of West Main Street. The building is shown on the 1928 Sanborn maps at 1 Bayview Ave. It was torn down in the 1980s to make way for apartments and town houses."
Fannie evidently maintained good relations with all her living children. Family photos, courtesy of Richard and Margaret Meacham Wiebusch, show reunions with her children and their families in Ohio and a Jones reunion in Randolph, Ohio in 1927. In 1953 [Los Gatos Daily Times 11-30-1953] Fannie moved to Ohio to be with her daughter Pearl Cox, and the Inn was to be run by her granddaughter Betty Stimmel and husband Howard. That arrangement evidently did not last long, because she sold the inn in 1955 and resided at Odd Fellows Home on Fruitvale Avenue in Saratoga until she died. She had eight children, four of whom were living in 1951[according to a newspaper article; letter from Fannie, commenting on article, says two]. She died in California, and her ashes were inurned at the Odd Fellows Crematory in Santa Cruz. Her ashes were buried, by her request, on top of Jay in Smethport [story from Betsey Abbey Eggler, who witnessed the burial]. A record for Santa Cruz Memorial Park: Frances Dorothy Puckett, b. 28 Apr 1870 PA, d. 9 Mar 1963 Los Gatos, ashes to Smithport [sic] PA.
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