Their family was referred to as "Dayton's own Gypsies,"[1] using a term for those of Romani heritage which is now considered offensive in North America.[2] After the death of Levi's parents, the couple were sometimes referred to as "king" and "queen", both within the Romani community and to some gorgers (Angloromani: "non-Romani"). This term was sometimes applied at the time to heads of a Romani extended family group.[1]
Levi Stanley was the son of Owen Stanley (1794 – 21 February 1860) and Harriet Worden (1793 – 30 August 1857), who were heads of the family before him and his wife. Levi had a brother named Benjamin, who settled down in New England. Benjamin was disowned by his father, and was said to have had a curse out on him and the next generations that followed him.
Matilda Jowles was the daughter of Isaac Jowles, "head" of the Romani in Somerset, England. Isaac was married to Merrily Cooper.
Both Matilda and Levi were born in Reading, Berkshire, England, and to have arrived in the United States in 1856, "when Buchanan was king” (again, king intended as "head of the Romani") along with others of their people. A passenger list states that Levi and his Benjamin arrived in New York City with their families on 1 July 1854, with a ship named "Try" that sailed from Glasgow, Scotland. They soon settled near Troy, Ohio but shortly after they selected Dayton, Ohio as their headquarters for the summer months, and it became the center for the Romani of the country. Each year as they departed Dayton for warmer climes, their caravans would go in procession down Main Street.
When Levi became infirm at an old age, his son Levi Jr. "Sugar" Stanley (1835 – 5 March 1916) succeeded as head of the Romani.
In the federal censuses from 1860 to 1900, ages were indicated by various birth years, so the accuracy is in doubt. The dates given above are from Levi and Matilda's graves. In 1900, Levi claimed his birth to be in November 1808. In his obituary, however, his age was given as 96 (implying he was born in 1812).
Defined originally as "wanderers" in later years they gave their occupation as horse traders. In contrast with common perception, they were reverent church people, and Levi and his son were members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. After Matilda's death, Levi stated that "our children are all learning fast, and soon our people will not go a-roaming anymore." The children of Levi's extended family revealed the extent of their wandering by their birthplaces in the censuses: New York, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Ohio, Michigan and others.
Matilda was said to have had a wonderful faculty for telling fortunes and remarkable powers as a mesmerist, both qualities being explained by the fact that they were handed down to her because she was the eldest daughter in the Stanley family, and that they were secret abilities possessed by her alone. She was described in the press as a "plain, hardy-looking woman, with a touch of Meg Merrilies in her appearance, and a manner indicative of a strong and pronounced character." Meg Merrilies was a Romani "queen" in the Sir Walter Scott novel, Guy Mannering, made famous on the American stage by Charlotte Cushman.
Matilda died in Vicksburg, Mississippi in January 1878 after an illness that lasted two years, and her body was embalmed so that it could "retain the natural aspect of life." It was placed in the Woodland receiving vault in Dayton, and every day members of the late queen’s family came with fresh flowers to visit her. Eight months later the funeral was held, in order to give some time for the word to spread and to make it so that more of their people traveled to Dayton. She was interred in the Stanley family plot. Twenty-thousand people paid their last tribute to the dead ”queen", including a dozen chiefs, together with their tribes, coming from different sections of the United States, Canada and England.[3][4]
Her funeral did not consist of some extraordinary rite as the people expected. Reverend Dr. Daniel Berger, of the United Brethren Church of Dayton, officiated, while the quartet choir of the First United Brethren Church sang hymns. The transfer of the casket from the vault to the family mausoleum was overall a brief ceremony.
Her funeral attracted the major newspapers of the country and was made a front-page news. Four years later, two more children were interred, and the Dayton Democrat reported that the "attendance was quite large, tent-dwellers having come from all parts of the country – from New York to Mississippi – to be present at the funeral." The story was picked up by the New York Times as well.
However, by time that Levi Stanley died in Marshall, Texas thirty years later, the national press did not even mention his passing. In the article about the arrival of his remains in Dayton by train, it was noted that the aggregate wealth of his family consisted in hundreds of thousands of dollars, made equally from horse trading and fortune telling. By then, the family owned substantial tracts of real estate, mainly in the north Dayton area. Following family tradition, the burial was made the following spring, and was attended only by thirty family members from around the country.
More than fifty members of the extended Stanley family (including members of the Harrison, Jeffry, Young, Broadway and Jowles families) are interred in the family plot at Woodland Cemetery, Dayton, Ohio. This means that Woodland has three "kings" and two”queens" of the Romani buried there.
Levi and Matilda's vault is a box made of stone slabs, 2 feet deep and 10 by 4 feet in dimension. A 20-foot column surmounted by an angel in white marble stands over the grave.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_and_Matilda_Stanley
Owen and Harriet Stanley were nomads who moved from England to Dayton before the Civil War. Yet they stayed in the city and established a generational lineage, an enormous amount of capital and property, and a foothold in the establishment of mainstream institutions. Their success and persistence serves as both a lesson about immigration and an entry into questions about how and why racial and cultural identity matters.
The story of the Stanley family is one of prejudice and assimilation. Newspaper stories about the family invariably include the fact that they were “Gypsies,” not simply a family in the news. The writing is full of contradictions; on the one hand, journalists portray Romani families using prejudicial stereotypes, including that they’re thieves and kidnappers, while also reassuring readers that the members of the Stanley family are law-abiding citizens, as if that were unusual for them. The fact that the Stanleys traveled south in the winter (predating the “snowbird” culture by decades), maintained strong cultural practices within their community and retained traditional trades as fortunetellers and horse traders also indicated that they were, to some degree, seen as outsiders. Nonetheless, the general impression from newspaper stories at the time was that while the Stanley family was Romanichal, they were known as Dayton’s own “Gypsies.”
The Romani people have origins in northern India and were displaced in the 11th century by a series of Muslim invasions, after which they moved to Eastern Europe and southern Europe. Their language is rooted in ancient Sanskrit and continues to resemble other languages with Sanskrit origins, such as Hindi. Likewise, their music is similar to Indian folk music. The name for this group changes according to location: many from Great Britain call themselves Romanichal, while in German-speaking parts of Europe, they identify as Sinti; in France, they identify as Manush, and in central and Eastern Europe, Roma is a common designation. Romani is used to refer to the population as a whole.
The term “Gypsy,” however, is an exonym, a term imposed on an ethnic group by outsiders; the word origin is based on the term Egyptian, as Romani were mistakenly believed to be from that country as they moved westward from India. Given its pejorative connotations and its history as a racial slur, the term is used carefully in this story.
In his encyclopedia article on Romani Americans, the researcher Evan Heimlich notes that during the original Romani migration to Europe, “Their language and appearance set them apart from the resident populations; they repeatedly suffered harassment or worse at the hands of the local majority, and they were often denied the right to own land.” The Romani population has historically been treated poorly across Europe — deported, enslaved and part of Hitler’s genocide.
Although they have fared slightly better in the United States, Heimlich observed that Americans have tended to stereotype the Romani population, either in a romanticized narrative as exotic foreigners or in a criminalized one as thieves. Local headlines such as “Dusky Wanderers” (1883) and, more than 100 years later, “Police issue warnings on gypsies” (1989) point to the stereotypes that have followed the Romani for over a century in the United States. Dayton elites held debutante parties that imitated Romani dress, and other women’s groups, like the Monday Night Club, held “Gypsy”-themed events.
The extended Stanley family emigrated from England in 1854, led by the son Levi Stanley and 26 members of the Stanley, Harrison, and Cooper families. His father and mother, Owen and Harriet Stanley, arrived in 1856 with additional family members of the Stanley and Jeffrey families. A family biography in the 1882 History of Montgomery County, Ohio, Containing a History of the County, noted that “The Stanleys were quite numerous in England, and there boasted as being a better class of the traveling tribes, which we believe to be true, as will appear in the progress of this sketch.”
The heads of these extended families are often given the title of king or queen, although it is primarily in name only. Owen Stanley was the first “king” of this immigrant group and died in 1860, his wife Harriet having passed away three years earlier in 1857. Son Levi Stanley Sr. and wife Matilda became the next “king and queen”; Matilda passed away in 1878, and Levi died in 1908. Newspaper accounts of Matilda’s 1878 funeral estimated the attendance at 20,000 and were picked up in outlets across the country, including The New York Times. Their son Levi “Sugar” Stanley Jr. became the next head of the family. By the time of Sugar’s death in 1916, many members of the extended family had settled elsewhere.
Although the extended Stanley family maintained a nomadic lifestyle, they also accrued sufficient wealth to purchase tracts of land in northern Montgomery County, notably Harrison, Wayne, Mad River, and Butler townships. An 1875 county atlas shows parcels of land owned by the Jeffrey and Stanley families in what is now Northridge. According to Levi Stanley Sr.’s great-great-grandson, Harry Bryer, men of the Stanley family also joined fraternal organizations like the Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, another example of how this particular Romanichal family participated in the dominant culture.
U.S. Census records also attest, however, to some of the traditional aspects of the Romanichal lifestyle. For example, in 1870, Thomas Jeffrey, who was part of the extended family group that came to the United States in the 1860s, reported his occupation as horse dealer, while at the same time, he owned $20,000 in real estate (the equivalent of nearly $400,000 today). He and his wife were born in England, while his children were born in England, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania. He lived in Dayton’s Ward 11, which included part of north Dayton along Valley Street, the same area where Levi and Richard Stanley were recorded in the 1910 Census. Levi “Sugar” Stanley Jr., age 78, lived on Troy St and was a horse trader; son Richard Stanley, age 52, was also a horse trader and lived on Valley Street.
Many of the newspaper articles that discuss the extended Stanley family in the Dayton area are dramatized for increased readership. Repeated stories of kidnappings or tax evasion draw upon played-out tropes and stereotypes. Sometimes the stories are about mundane aspects of life, but because they involve those who are deemed outsiders, they become newsworthy. As part of a doctoral dissertation from the University of Georgia, Melanie Covert writes, “Journalists who are able to capitalize on negative societal views of Romani do so for the sake of readership and popularity. Because it works, it continues, intensifying mainstream society’s negative associations with Romani lives.” The prevalence of articles in the Dayton newspapers and retellings of old stories confirm that.
Missing from these stories are the voices of the Romanichal people themselves. Archivists and librarians refer to this as a silence or gap in the historical record. In an August 1943 Journal Herald article from Dayton, an exasperated comment from a family member illustrates this point:
Despite Mrs. Stanley’s words, the family continues to be referred to as gypsies in subsequent stories to the present day. Beyond recognizing that the perspective of the Romani people is often missing from their own public history, it is also important to investigate why that is the case. Historical records are evidence of individuals and systems placing priority on the archiving of records of the dominant culture. For marginalized groups such as the Romani, that means less attention to preserving and recording material from their communities, leading to a one-sided narrative.
One may wonder whether the Stanley family attempted to counter their negative portrayals in the media. In a May 13, 1952, article, also in the Journal Herald, the journalist repeatedly ignores pleas to respect the family’s privacy:
In fact, the only time the gypsies were ready to talk was when they spotted a photographer attempting to sneak a picture of the camp from a car. Then arms started waving, even among the youngsters, and a male spokesman gently threatened, "If you print a picture without our permission, the king will sue. He knows his rights. It’s an invasion of our privacy. How would you like us to walk into your home and take pictures?"
Evidence of a Romani presence in Dayton remains. Several Romanichal families are interred at Woodland Cemetery — the Stanley, Jeffrey, Joles and Harrison families, among others — and Matilda Stanley’s final resting place is marked with an impressive statue. Stanley Avenue is purported to be named after the Stanley family, as it cuts through where the family lived. Their land parcels documented in the 1875 county atlas are now part of the Northridge municipality, just north of Dayton; within Northridge is a street named “Gipsy Drive,” and on that street remains one of the family homesteads.
This family was clearly documented in the Census, and their surnames can be searched at Woodland Cemetery. They were likewise documented in the local newspapers, though the coverage perpetuated stereotypes.
Through these multiple sources and a thorough examination of what these sources don’t say, a more complete picture of the family begins to appear. The story of the Stanley family prompts us to think about other marginalized groups that have been assigned exonyms and challenges us to consider where we continue to use those terms today.
— Heidi Gauder is a professor in the University Libraries and coordinator of research and instruction. Kayla Harris is an assistant professor and a librarian/archivist in the Marian Library. Caroline Waldron, associate professor of history, also contributed to this story.
SOURCES:
A note on sources: Many sources were located through the University Libraries’ resources and services or else found freely online. The authors made use of Gale Reference Online, HeritageQuest, New York Times Historical, interlibrary loan and institutional repositories.
Secondary Sources
Bryer, Harry. “The Ohio Stanleys: An American Romnicel Family.” Papers from the Sixth and Seventh Annual Meetings. Gypsy Lore Society, North American Chapter. New York. 1986.
Challa, Janaki. “Why Being 'Gypped' Hurts The Roma More Than It Hurts You.” NPR Code Switch. Dec. 30, 2013. https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/12/30/242429836/why-being-gypped-hurts-the-roma-more-than-it-hurts-you
Covert, Melanie, "Notorious but Invisible: How Romani Media Portrayals Invalidate Romani Identity and Existence in Mainstream Society.” Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2016. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/sociology_diss/89
Heimlich, Evan. "Romani Americans." In Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, 3rd ed., edited by Thomas Riggs, 1-13. Detroit, MI: Gale, 2014. Gale eBooks (accessed June 27, 2020). https://link-gale-com.libproxy.udayton.edu/apps/doc/CX3273300150/GVRL?u=dayt72472&sid=GVRL&xid=a772de19. (Note: authentication required for access.)
Stephens, Katherine Bernice. "American Gypsies: Immigration, Migration, Settlement." Master’s Thesis, California State University San Bernardino, 2003. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2354
The History of Montgomery County, Ohio, Containing a History of the County. United States: W. H. Beers & Co., 1882.
Newspaper sources
"Begin action to close gypsy estate," Dayton Herald. July 23, 1909, p. 15.
“Burial of a Gypsy Queen,” New York Times. Sept. 16, 1878, p. 1
Cummings, James. “Police issue warnings on gypsies.” Dayton Daily News. May 14, 1989, p. 15
“Dusky Wanderers.” Dayton Herald. June 7, 1883, p. 3.
“Gypsy costumes render Miss Marianna Talbott’s debut ball a striking affair.” Dayton Daily News. Dec. 24, 1916, p. 28.
“Mysterious Gypsies Living up to Name at Englewood Camp.” Journal Herald. May 13, 1952, p. 12.
“Stanley Clan (not Gypsies) Still Bury Dead in Dayton.” Dayton Herald. Aug. 1, 1943, p. 9.
"The Gypsies are comin'." Dayton Herald. April 14, 1888, p. 4.
"Two members of the Stanley gypsy tribe placed under arrest." Dayton Daily News. April 26, 1902, p. 13. [arrested for drunkenness and fast driving]
This article appeared in the Dayton Daily News on January 4, 1997
STANLEY TRIBE OF GYPSIES SETTLED IN MIAMI VALLEY
King bought farmland, cemetery plots here
By Roz Young
lma J. Reichbauer wrote: `I think there is a fascinating story of gypsies in this area that is untold.
`I can remember many years ago reading about the big gypsy funeral at Woodland. Horse and buggies were lined up from the courthouse to Woodland Cemetery. The gypsies came from far and near. That has always fascinated me, as does the idea that their burial ground would be here in Dayton.'
Jim Sandegren, curator of the Woodland Cemetery Arboretum, had a letter from Sherry Stanley of Englewood, who has been researching her husband's relationship to the gypsies of Dayton, saying that she would like to know more about the Stanleys.
The Dayton gypsy story is indeed a fascinating chapter in Dayton history.
It began in England with the Stanley tribe of gypsies, a large family and the most prominent and influential of the gypsy tribes in that country.
In 1856, Owen Stanley, commonly recognized as the king of the gypsy tribes, and his wife Harriet Worden, his son Levi and his wife Matilda Joles, and many of their tribe came to the United States because the tight little island of England had become so densely populated that living there was becoming impossible for the free-spirited and free roving gypsies.
Shortly after arriving in this country, the Stanleys arrived in the Miami Valley. Owen called together his followers and told them that he had chosen Dayton as his permanent home. He would invest money in farmland so that his children, their wives and husbands and their children would have houses to live in during the cold winter months. Owen Stanley also purchased a large lot in Woodland Cemetery where all the tribesmen and women could be buried when the time came.
He bought a small farm northeast of Dayton, and there he lived with his wife Harriet. They pastured their horses there during the winter, and although they had somewhat peculiar lifestyles in the opinion of their neighbors, they never gave offense.
Others of the tribe bought land in Dayton, Harrison, Wayne, Mad River and Butler townships. They wintered here and rented out their farms when they took to the road as soon as the weather began to get warm. The men were horse traders and did some metal work. The women told fortunes.
The Rev. Daniel Berger, a United Brethren minister and editor for the U.B. Publishing Co., first learned of the gypsies in Dayton when Owen Stanley knocked on his door one day and asked him to conduct a funeral for a four-year-old boy who had died in Mississippi. His family had brought the body to Dayton for burial on the Stanley plot.
Berger was hesitant at first, supposing that perhaps the gypsies had rites he would not be familiar with. Stanley assured him that the family wished a service the same as for any other person, and Berger agreed to perform the rites.
`The burial was not attended by any unusual character,' Berger later said, `but I was impressed by the evident and deep sorrow for the loss of their child and the generous sympathy of the large group of relatives and friends .
`The service rendered on this occasion was the beginning of a long and friendly relationship with these people. ... I have been with them at the burial of their dead and occasionally visiting their sick during the period of a full quarter of a century, sharing in a good degree their confidences and, in some instances, their real affection. I have served them on more than 20 different funeral occasions, assisting them in burying their dead from the young infant to the more than centenarian, and from ordinary folk in the presence of a dozen or two immediate friends to royalty in the presence of thronging thousands.'
He performed the rites for Harriet Stanley in 1857. On her monument is the epitaph:
Harriet Stanley was her name,
England was her nation;
In any wood her dwelling place,
In God was her salvation.
Owen Stanley died in 1860. Owen's son Levi became king and his wife Matilda became queen. Levi inherited his father's title, although there was no law, written or otherwise, that established his rank.
`There is nothing more than a good man and a good woman,' he explained to a reporter. `Our people trust me and love me as they did my father and mother before me; that is all. They do pretty much as I tell them and we all work together, and that is all there is to it.'
This article appeared in the Dayton Daily News on January 18, 1997
45,000 CAME TO DAYTON FOR GYPSY BURIAL
To help prepare his paper on the Dayton gypsies for the Dayton Historical Society, Dr. Daniel Berger looked up the subject in his Encyclopaedia Britannica. `They have rulers,' he read, `whose decisions and mandates are respected and adopted. The rulers acquire their authority either by inheritance from their fathers or by the choice of the clan. The government is sometimes administered by women, as that of Deborah among the judges of ancient Israel. ... With British gypsies one is bewildered by the host of kings and queen, from King John Bucelle, laid side by side with Athelstan in Malonsburg Abbey in 1657, down to the Gypsy Queen of the United States, Matilda Stanley, royally buried at Dayton, Ohio, in 1878.
`This reference to the burial of Queen Matilda,' Dr. Berger wrote in his paper, `recalls an event in Dayton history of singularly unique and interesting character. It can but rarely occur that royalty finds sepulture in republican American soil, or that an American clergyman is called to officiate at the funeral of a queen.'
Although he wasn't mentioned by name, Dr. Berger was the American clergyman who was called to officiate at the burial of Queen Matilda mentioned in the Britannica article.
In 1877-78, the gypsies spent the winter in the vicinity of Vicksburg, Miss. While they were there, Queen Matilda, who had been in declining health for some time, died of cancer in February. Her husband, Levi Stanley, sent to Philadelphia for the finest casket available and, on its arrival, her body was placed in it and shipped by express to Woodland Cemetery to be kept in a vault for later burial.
Sept. 15 was the date Levi chose for the funeral. `So great was the interest aroused in anticipation of this event,' said Dr. Berger in his paper, `that only the burial of some of the highest officials of the state could attract a greater multitude to witness the funeral obsequies. The daily newspapers of the city for some weeks beforehand had fully advertised the approaching burial, and public interest was stirred even to distant cities. A number of the great metropolitan newspapers, east and west, sent special correspondents to make reports for their columns, while others telegraphed open orders for lengthy dispatches. The Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, New York, Boston and Philadelphia newspapers teemed with elaborate reports, while the great New York Herald, in addition to its long dispatches, further emphasized the event by a leading article in its editorial columns. Our local Dayton newspapers printed long columns of accounts both before and after the funeral.
`The time set for the burial was the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 15, 1878. The day was a most beautiful one and many thousands from surrounding places, brought in by special trains, found their way to the cemetery. The beautiful grounds everywhere swarmed with a great mass of humanity, the number of people being variously estimated from 15,000 to 25,000. So great was the throng in the avenues and approaches to the grave, that at the service a strong body of police was required to open the way for the passage of the funeral cortege.'
A report in the newspaper said that the funeral procession formed at the Mad and Miami rivers and so great was its length that more than 1,000 carriages had to be stopped at the cemetery gates and refused admission. The newspaper estimated that 45,000 crowded into the cemetery.
`About the grave the mass became so dense that the work of sepulture was seriously impeded,' wrote Berger. `The grave was a double one, a daughter of Queen Matilda who had died some years before, being re-interred by her side. A narrow plank was laid across the wide receptacle, and on this slender pulpit, your essayist found a secure standing place while delivering the funeral sermon.'
A light rain began during the service, and one of the family members put up an umbrella over the head of Dr. Berger as he stood on the plank across the open grave.
Samuel E. Kumler, who worked at the David L. Rike Co. and lived at 216 S. Jefferson St., provided the music at the services for Matilda Stanley, queen of the gypsies. A double quartet, consisting of Kumler and his wife; Annie Miller, a teacher; Clara Schenck, whose husband owned a tailoring and men's clothing shop; Martha Engle, 5 Tecumseh St.; Eugene Shinn, a clerk; A.B. Schauck, a teacher, and H. M. Appenzeller, a printer who lived at 19 Tecumseh, sang three hymns. They were Only Thee, The Sweet By and By and Come, Ye Disconsolate.
Pall-bearers were the Messrs. Andrew Hasenstab; Michael Hark, a baker; George Dollar; Henry Amend, a painter; Louis Haas, a grocer; and Michael Shaeffer, a clerk.
Next week: The queen rests.
This article appeared in the Dayton Daily News on January 25, 1997
NO EXPENSE SPARED IN GYPSY FUNERALS
Queen's death left band heartbroken
At the funeral, Dr. Daniel Berger, recalled that at other gypsy funerals Queen Matilda was one of the most attentive listeners. 'She also had the Bible read to her daily and was frequently found in the act of prayer. She gave other evidence of a devout faith and I have good reason for believing that she died in full hope of eternal life,' Dr. Berger said.
'The final parting at the grave was a scene of the most pathetic character,' he continued. 'King Levi Stanley and his people were thoroughly heartbroken and lingered long by the still open grave after the great crowd had begun to melt away. The two younger daughters, Missouri and Matilda, like the children of nature that they were, cast off all restraints of conventionalism and, leaping down into the grave, remained for some time upon the great marble slab which hid their dear ones from them, pouring forth a prolonged torrent of affectionate and tender expression. With much difficulty they were at last persuaded to come up out of the grave.
'An expensive granite monument, surmounted by a statue of the queen, marks the place where her body rests. The monument was cut out of a great granite boulder which Levi found at the entrance to the George W. Smith farm at Lockville, Wayne Twp. The owner gave Levi a gift of the boulder.'
Dr. Berger, speaking to the historical society, recalled some of the other gypsy funerals he had conducted. On Palm Sunday in 1877 he held a triple funeral. After a brief illness, Mrs. Amelia Jeffrey died at her farm home just north of Dayton. Her husband, Thomas, who was in perfect health, was so grief-stricken that he simply went to bed and died within two days. The family ordered two expensive caskets and the baby, whose birth was the cause of the mother's death, was laid beside her in the casket.
On Aug. 1, 1879, Mrs. Mary Stanley Smith died at the age of 110 or perhaps even older. She had been born in England and lived there under the reigns of four different sovereigns: The first was George III and the last was Queen Victoria.
'No one who saw this venerable woman in her later years,' wrote Berger, 'could be disposed to doubt the fact of her extraordinary age, so deeply marked was she in all her lineaments by the hand of the great sculptor Time.
'Funerals among the Stanley gypsies are usually made a kind of state occasion. No expense is spared to give them suitable dignity and make them a proper expression of regard for their dead. The familiar funeral coaches, the undertaker's hearse, a long procession, a rich casket, the greatest profusion of flowers, all form a part of the event.
'The women appear dressed in their best, frequently in silks, satins and velvets, the garment often severely wrinkled from packing away in boxes and trunks. Jewelry in greatest abundance is worn, fingers and hands being adorned with massive gold. The gypsy woman who possesses money does not hesitate to purchase costly things, especially things of ornament, when she has set her heart on them.'
Many visitors to Woodland Cemetery seek out the graves of the gypsies with their carvings and expressions of sentiment.
Over the graves of the first king and queen to be buried there are two slabs, called ledgers in burial parlance, and visitors often pause to read the verses on them. The carving on Owen Stanley's ledger reads:
Our father has gone to a mansion of rest
From a region of sorrow and pain
To the glorious land of the blest
Where he never will suffer again.
Whilst in this tomb our father lies,
His spirit rests above,
In realms of bliss it never dies
But knows a Savior's love.
Sleep on, father. the work is done,
The mortal pang is past,
Jesus has come and borne thee home,
Beyond the stormy blast.
Owen Stanley was his name,
England was his nation.
Any wood was his dwelling place
And Christ his salvation.
Over Owen Stanley's wife's grave is carved:
Alas! I have left you
My spirit has fled,
My body now slumbers along with the dead,
My Savior has called me, to him I have gone.
Then farewell my husband and children all
From you a mother's Christ doth call
Mourn not for me, dear wanderers, tis vain,
To call me to your sight again.
Farewell, dear wife, a short farewell,
We at your loss do mourn.
Oh, may we meet in heaven to dwell
With our wandering children, now forlorn.
Our Mother
Harriet Stanley was her name
England was her nation,
Any wood her dwelling place.
In God was her salvation.
She was a tender mother here,
And in her life the Lord did fear;
We trust our loss will be her gain,
And that with Christ she's gone to reign.
There have been no gypsy funerals in Woodland for half a century. The citizens with Romany blood in their inheritance have long ago integrated into society.
As for the many whose colorful lives ended in Woodland, they sleep in peace.
This article appeared in the Dayton Daily News, May 10, 1931
When Dayton was the Home of the Gypsies
By Howard Burba
Back in your boyhood days, days when you picked out the meat of your walnuts with a horseshoe nail roving bands of gypsies probably provided you with a bit of satisfying romance. No matter where that boyhood may have been spent, so long as it was spent in the United States, at some time or another in your life you paused to watch the passing along the dusty highway of the gaudy colored wagons of these strangely happy nomads.
Today, as you dust off those boyhood pictures so long hanging forgotten in memory’s gallery, you may get an added thrill through learning that the leader of all these gypsy clans of your boyhood days made his home in Dayton, and from Dayton directed their wanderings. For up to within recent years this city was the recognized headquarters of the Stanley, Jeffries, and Cooper tribes of gypsies, tribes from which all others were offshoots and closely related auxiliaries.
Today one need only pause at a grass-grown plot in woodland cemetery here to recall the entire history of the gypsy in the United States. Standing above the broad single grave in which repose the bodies of King Owen Stanley and his Queen, his successor, King Levi Stanley and his Queen, Matilda, and the still more recent “Sugar” Stanley, one realizes there lies buried the royalty of a kingdom that once was a picturesque and colorful part of American life.
For centuries this strange race of people were the object of comment and wonder in the civilized world. It still is generally admitted that they were of East Indian origin. A Persian writer as early as 420 A. D. gives us our first known account of them, stating that 10,000 of them were called into Persia about that time to act as musicians to the poor.
They made their first appearance in Europe in the twelfth century, for by that time they were accustomed to travel from one country to another in great hordes. It was said that they had been conquered by the Saracens and forced to renounce Christianity. Another writer contended that in consequence of their defeat Pope Martin V had imposed on them as a penance for disloyalty to the peace of that part of the world that they should become wanderers for a certain number of years. Another early belief was that they were condemned by God to wander over the world because of the inhospitality shown Joseph and Mary. For it is known that for long years they were considered direct descendants of the Egyptians.
While always restless and wandering, they eventually acquired, to a certain degree, a nationality. Thus there were English, German and Spanish gypsies whose habits grew to resemble in a measure those of the people of other nations.
Among the leaders of the English tribes of gypsies were the Stanleys. They constituted a large family, and were easily the most prominent and influential members of their race in England. The progress of civilization cut off many of their resorts in that country and curtailed their liberties, so they sought a less thickly settled territory where they could maintain the privileges they had once enjoyed. America appealed to them as an ideal place for their wanderings.
The first gypsies came to the United States in 1856, headed by Owen Stanley, then recognized “King” of the various tribes. His wife, Harriet, was naturally accepted as their “Queen,” and from the moment of their landing the counsel of these two determined the daily life of the nomads.
Harriet Stanley survived but a little more than a year after reaching this country. Owen Stanley, having seen his tribe established here, succumbed four years later, in 1860, while traveling through Indiana.
Shortly after reaching this country the Stanley gypsies came into the Miami valley. Accustomed as they were to outdoor beauty, acquainted with all that goes to make a favored land, it is not difficult to understand the appeal that this section held for them. King Stanley called his followers about him. Here, he told them, in this beautiful valley, he would establish his permanent abode. Here he would invest his money in lands—something no gypsy in all the world had done up to that time. Here, he insisted, his sons and daughters, and their husbands and wives and children, should have a permanent abode to which they could turn in the winter months, when the elements made wandering difficult. And here, he told them, all should be laid to rest in one great grave when the final summons came to each.
Owen Stanley purchased a small tract of land five miles northeast of Dayton. On it he took up his residence with his queen. The farm provided the Stanley family with forage for their stock during the winter, and a safe and comfortable haven in which they could, during the long cold months, plan their wanderings through the spring and summer. As neighbors they were known as quiet, industrious people, somewhat peculiar in their habits, but never interfering or giving offense.
After establishing their headquarters here they became much interested in what for many years has been known as the Smith farm, a few miles out of the city, and when it was disposed of at public sale at the courthouse in the early sixties Mrs. Stanley Jeffries, a daughter-in-law of King Owen Stanley, purchased it above all other bidders. Early history records that she appeared at the courthouse on the day of the sale richly attired in silks and jewelry, with a bright red cape above her shoulders. She was highly regarded by the tribe, being wealthy and having a great deal of influence. She died about 1877, and was soon followed to the grave by her husband, both being buried in the same grave at Woodland.
Owen Stanley’s crown, passing from his widow to his eldest son, Levi Stanley, was quickly found to be upon a worthy head. Levi Stanley not only directed the affairs of the gypsies from the old home place here, but he encouraged his followers to invest in Miami valley and Dayton realty as they became possessed of worldly goods through their one and only activity—horse trading. Much of that property, and some of it among the most valuable in the county, is still in the hands of direct descendants of the original Owen Stanley, and by the Jeffries and Cooper heirs, all related by marriage to the Stanley family.
The Stanleys were men of fine personal appearance, and some of the women of the tribe were beautiful. They had a noticeable taste for loud colors. These, however, were more subdued among the older members of the family. “Sugar” Stanley, another of the older generation of sons, also had several sons and daughters, all born in America, and they were loyal followers of the customs of their forefathers. All the gypsy children were bright and intelligent, all could read and write, and most of them, while of school age, attended local educational institutions. Educational advantages were also seized upon by other members of the tribe who wintered elsewhere, but who kept in constant touch with gypsy headquarters here.
The most interesting chapter in Miami co. history contributed by the Stanley gypsies was written back in 1878. It records the burial at Woodland cemetery of Queen Matilda Stanley, a funeral attended by members of every gypsy tribe then wandering about America, and marked by the largest assemblage of “the curious” ever gathered at a funeral in Dayton. Twenty-five thousand people saw the casket containing the body of “Queen Matilda” borne to the grave.
“Queen Matilda” died at Vicksburg, Miss., in February, 1878. The body was sent to Dayton and placed in a vault at Woodland cemetery. It was an unbroken custom of the gypsies never to bury their dead immediately following death, but to preserve the body for a period of several months, if necessary, so that it might be laid away when skies were bright and the chill of winter was not upon the land. So the body of the gypsy queen was kept in the vault until Sept. 11, 1878. On that day the immediate family, along with several hundred gypsies from other sections of the country, assembled along the banks of Mad river in the neighborhood of the present Keowee st. bridge. Here the funeral cortege formed, carriages having been provided by McGowan and Lake, a pioneer Dayton livery firm. In the files of a newspaper of that date we read:
“The funeral services were very simple. The casket had but to be removed from the vault to the grave. While the procession did not form until 1:30 p. m., before noon people began to go toward the cemetery from all parts of the city. The street cars on Wayne and Brown sts. could not commence to accommodate all of those who sought to ride. It seemed that the entire city had turned out, and that everyone in the rural districts who had a vehicle was in town. Probably 1000 vehicles, of every description, were grouped about the entrance to the cemetery and far out along every street and alley approaching it. People covered the hill and strolled about the grounds until the cemetery was black with them.
“About the vault the mass of men, women and children was wedged so tightly together that it was almost impossible to force a passage through which to carry the casket. Capt. Clark had a large detachment of police on hand, but all efforts to control the crowd were in vain.
“The pallbearers were Andrew Hasenstab, Michael Hark, George Dollar, Henry Amend, Louis Haas and Michael Schaeffer. After an almost superhuman effort they succeeded in placing the casket in the hearse.
“The choir from the United Brethren church, led by S. E. Kumler, sang at the grave. The choir was composed of Miss Annie Mitler, Mrs. S. E. Kumler, Mrs. A. O. Schenck, Miss Martha Engle and Messrs. Eugene Shinn, A. O. Schenck, and H. M. Appenzellar.
“At the grave were Levi Stanley, the king of the gypsies, now an old man and the sons of the deceased, Levi, jr., Paul and Adam, large, swarthy, fine-looking men. With them were their wives and children, some of them just large enough to walk. Among notable gypsies present were Vally Harrison and family and the Joles family, from Illinois; John Bryce and family, from Vermont; the Jeffries and Cooper families, from Virginia, and the Gray families, from Michigan. All are closely related to the Stanleys. The men wore high hats with wide crepe bands about them. The women were all dressed entirely in black.
“The body was laid away in the large stone pit that had been constructed at the direction of the head of the Stanley family. It measures 10 feet long, eight feet wide, and is 10 feet in depth. The father, sons and some of the women mourners climbed down into the pit after the casket had been placed in it to take their last farewell of their dead. They threw themselves upon the coffin, kissing the hard wood, and it was with difficulty that they were persuaded to ascend from the vault so the service could be concluded.”
Along about this time Levi Stanley set about the erection of a suitable marker at the plot. He found an immense boulder at the entrance to the farm of George W. Smith, at Locksville, Wayne tp., and informed of his purpose, Mr. Smith made him a present of it. It was removed to the city, dressed and polished and now reposes above the pit containing the bodies of the gypsy dead.
Visitors to Woodland, if they will look up the Stanley plot, will find a monument bearing these two inscriptions, the brief record of the original king and queen of all gypsy tribes in America:
HARRIET,
Consort of
Owen Stanley,
Died August 30, 1857,
Aged 63 years and 2 mos.
OWEN STANLEY
Died February 21, 1860,
Aged 66 years.
A Native of Reading, Berkshire, Eng.
The last gypsy burial of note in the Stanley plot was that of Levi Stanley, the last “King of the Gypsies” to attain prominence throughout the country. That was on Tuesday, April 13, 1909. This veteran king of the nomad tribe had died in December of the previous year in Missouri, the body, according to gypsy custom, being kept in a vault at Woodland until the springtime.
Again the services at the grave were in keeping with those which marked the funeral of the queen many years before. There was nothing weird or fantastic in the burial rites, a fact that had disappointed the thousands who assembled at the burial of Matilda Stanley in 1878. Rev. D. D. Berger, who had officiated at the funerals of more than 30 members of the tribe, presided on this occasion, while a choir of singers was again led by S. E. Kumler of the U. B. church.
There were about 40 members of the tribe in attendance at the burial of their king in 1909. They came from all points in the west and south, where they had been located during the winter, and from where they had started migrating several weeks before the funeral.
“Sugar” Stanley, who had been ruler of the tribe since the death of his father, had in reality been directing the affairs of the nomads for several years, his father having become quite feeble. He had reached the remarkable age of 96 years, and though they recognized his inability to counsel them as in his earlier days, the gypsies would not, so deep was their affection for him, deprive him of his title of “King.”
Today the gypsy, like so many of the colorful characters that brought romance into our boyhood, is but a memory. His successor is at best but a rough and uncouth beggar, his successor’s wife but a slovenly descendant of lower types than gave to the world its Stanleys and Jeffries and Coopers. Gone is the little caravan of gaily-colored wagons that served as their transports; gone is the tinkling of their guitars about campfires built beneath the stars, the canopy of heaven their only shelter in a world that found in them a fine example of happiness and love; of devotion to nature and to nature's God.
King of the Gypsies
"Body of Gypsy King Placed in Vault." Dayton Daily News, 7 December 1908.
Levi Stanley, Head of Famous Tribe, Dies in Texas at Age of Ninety-Six Years---Burial Ceremonies Will Take Place in April.
The body of Levi Stanley, the chief of the gypsy tribe that bears that name, was shipped to Dayton from Marshall, Texas, Sunday night and was placed in a vault at Woodland cemetery Monday morning. It will remain there until next April, when all the most prominent leaders of the various gypsy tribes throughout the country will participate in the rites attending the burial.. Death took place last Thursday, the noted gypsy being 96 years of age, his illness extending over more than a year.
The remains of the dead king were attended to this city by a son, Michael Stanley, and a grandson, Clifford Stanley. The announcement of the death of the prominent nomad has not yet been widely announced, even by some of the members of the tribe of which he. was the head, not yet being apprised of the fact. It is probable that no formal announcement will be made at any time, the members of the family depending solely upon the publicity given the fact through the press to convey the information.
Although the Stanley family located here shortly after the arrival of the dead chief's parents from England, when "Buchanan was king,"as they put it, Levi Stanley, whose body was shipped here this morning, had not been here for a period of thirty years,not even attending the funeral of other members of the family. The last time that he has been here so far as known, was when his wife, Mrs. Matilda Stanley, who was widely known as the gypsy queen, was buried. This was in the year 1878. Mrs. Stanley's death occurred in February of that year and the practice, that has prevailed ever since, was then in vogue, the burial ceremony being postponed until September, being held at a convenient time when the weather was warm. he long postponement of a burial at that time was a decided innovation and attracted widespread attention. It was discussed extensively in the metropolitan press of the country. As a result, when the last rites were held,they were witnessed by a large number of people than had ever attended a burial in Woodland cemetery. It was estimated at the time that fully 25,000 people were in attendance. Dr. Daniel Berger of the United Brethren church, officiated, as he has done on the occasion of each succeeding death, the number of funerals which he has conducted now being approximately thirty-five.
From the modest beginning here half a century ago, the Stanley family grew in opulence and increased in numbers until now it embraces four generations, and its aggregate wealth amounts up into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. There are now living about fifty members, while the larger number of them bear the name of Stanley, other names have been added through the marriage of the daughters of the famous chieftain and subsequently the daughters' daughters. Prosperity has come to the tribe through their chosen professions of horse trading and fortune telling, the revenues from each almost evenly balancing. The most valuable part of the real estate owned by members of the tribe is located near Dayton, on large tracts, being situated on the- Salem pike, about three miles north of Dayton, and another on the Troy pike, some few miles east of the former. Other property is held in North Dayton.The Stanleys have provided for burial purposes a beautiful plat of ground located near the central and most picturesque part of the Woodland cemetery, a magnificent monument surmounting the site occupied by the graves of the gypsy queen, Levi Stanley's wife, and his twelve-year-old daughter.
At a heavy expense Mr. Stanley a number of years ago constructed a large subterranean vault, and this is covered with one immense slab, which was let down by means of a derrick. When the burial of the tribal chief takes place this will have to be removed and redeposited, the same means being employed that was necessitated when it was originally placed in position.This burial will not take place until next April the exact date to be decided at some time in the future. It will be attended by all the ceremonies that ever attend a gypsy funeral, although there has never been any effort to make the burial an occasion of display.