Orel Ransom & Marguerite Finlay

Orel James Ransom was born on January 10, 1897 and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, the only child of James and Katherine Ransom. He was well educated and attended Western Reserve University where he excelled academically as well as athletically. His tall physique lent itself to athletics and he played varsity football and basketball for the school. He was also a cartoonist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper. After two years at Western Reserve, he transferred to Syracuse University and went into their Fine Arts department. His first year at Syracuse coincided with the U.S. call for soldiers to fight in World War I so he celebrated his twenty-first birthday by joining the Naval Reserves in their radio section.

Shortly after enlisting, he reported to training camp at Great Lakes, Illinois, just north of Chicago for the Officers Material School of the Naval Auxiliary Reserve. Faced with a shortage of officers, the intent of the program was to take intelligent young men and give them enough education and experience in seafaring to enable them to act as understudies at sea while they finished their officers training. The students spent two months at the Pier School learning all the basics of seamanship. It was a rigorous course including map reading, using a sextant, navigating, navigating by the stars, figuring latitude and longitude by the sun and stars, and identifying planets and stars. After their two months at the school, the students spent two months on various ships in the Great Lakes as members of the crew. After the two months at sea, they submitted detailed logs of duties performed and subjects studied during the voyage. Another month was spent working at the Pier. For the final two months, the students were shipped off to Pelham, New York. At the termination of the course, students who qualified were given a commission as an Ensign, 3rd class, in the United State Naval Reserve Forces and immediately assigned to service as a Junior Deck Officer.

After finishing his military service, it does not appear that Orel went back to college. Instead, he took a job as a manager for the local telephone company in Olean. It was there that he met Marguerite Finlay, who was a telephone operator.

Marguerite grew up in Olean, New York, the fifth of six children born to Robert and Margaret Finlay. Marguerite was only thirteen when her father died and she was raised by her mother. She went to school but also excelled musically with a soprano voice like her mother. When she finished school she took a job at the Bell Telephone Company in Olean. After five years with Bell, she left to go to Rochester to attend the Eastman School of Music and to take a course at the Rochester Business Institute. Upon graduating several months later, Marguerite moved to New York City to work for the Doubleday Page Company.

Apparently, the pair stayed in touch despite the distance between Buffalo and New York City and they were married on July 23, 1925 in New York City. Either something was unofficial about the first marriage or it was a quick marriage with a Justice of the Peace because the couple was married again on August 20th.

After their wedding, the couple spent a few years in Buffalo and expanded their family. Together they raised four children: Madelon, Phyllis, Theresa and John (Jack). At some point, and for an unknown reason, the family added an “e” to the end of their name changing it from Ransom to Ransome.

Like his father, Orel went into engineering. He worked on parkway bridges and moved his family to Newark, New Jersey. While in New Jersey, his work involved the Dockbuilders Union Local 1456 and he used his ties to get his son-in-law Bernard into the union.

Orel was a large man and stood at 6’3″ but, despite his large physique, Orel was a kind and gentle person who loved to cook. Marguerite lost her ability to sing as she got older due to severe asthma but she retained her joyful spirit. She adored her grandchildren and enjoyed entertaining them. While Marguerite and Orel still lived in New Jersey, she would take her grandchildren shopping, swimming and to the amusement park.

In 1960, Orel and Marguerite left their high-rise apartment in Newark and moved to Falls Church, Virginia. Orel passed away in 1969 at the age of seventy-two and Marguerite passed away in 1975 at the age of seventy-seven.