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Research in Other Countries => United States of America => Topic started by: kenneth cooke on Saturday 31 October 15 04:36 GMT (UK)
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I am looking for information about Rena De Vere Terrington, born in England in 1898, the daughter of Captain William Shapland Swiney and Violet Hamilton née Jerningham. In 1927 she married an English lord, Baron Terrington, whose family name was Woodhouse. It was his second marriage and her third.
They separated about 1930 and he died in 1940. Rena worked as a journalist and seems to have settled in the USA. She is noted twice in U.S. Immigration records, first in September 1935, in New York, most likely for residency, then an application for citizenship in June 1944, based on her being ‘a news correspondent with American armed forces overseas’.
She seems to have kept her title of Lady Terrington all her life, but I have found no record of her death in any country. She may have remarried.
She was also the author of several books. A list of female authors states that she died in 1973, but that is when Terrington’s first wife, Vera died, in England on 19 May. As Vera was also an author, it seems likely that somebody has confused the two. I have found no evidence that Rena ever returned to England.
Can anyone shed any light on Lady Rena's fate ?
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Nevada State Journal - (Reno Nevada) - 24 September 1938 - this might indicate Rene remarried to stony Billingham.
Sandra
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US Border Crossing Canada to the USA - Rena D Billingham - born 1898 England and aged 48 years. Liverpool England to Quebec Canada arriving 17 November 1946 on the Cavina. Female news correspondent. Last permanent address London England. War Corespondent. Married.
Sandra
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Rena Billingham born 3 September 1898 listed on US Index to Alien Case Files at the National Archives Kansas City 1944 - 2003
No further information given -
Sandra
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Roxbury Road Greenburgh, Westchester, New York 1940
Lyle Evans Maha 59 Head. Lawyer. Own Business.
Anthony Billinghams 38 Lodger. Writer. Residence in 1935 Shanghai China.
Rena Billinghams 40 Wife. Born Eng. Naturalized. Writer. Working on own account. Residence in 1935 New York.
Sandra
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Rena Billingham born 1899 and aged 42 years - appears on a UK return passenger list - New York to Liverpool arriving 5 March 1941 - on the Georgic - proposed address Int'l News 72 Fleet Street London. Journalist. Country of last permanent residence and future permanent residence :- England.
Sandra
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There is a death for a Rena Billingham born 1899 and aged 6 years who died Baldwin Georgia. County of residence - DeKalb. Passed away 21 August 1965 - this would need further investigation.
Sandra
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There are a few references to Rena Billingham on http://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html
Sandra
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Looks like the death record in reply 6 is correct - here is the death record for Anthony James Billingham - born 1902 and died 2 June 1963 - DeKalb, Georgia.
Sandra
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Fantastic Sandra !!!
I knew that once we had the right name, we could find out a heap more.
Now I can search for the death of Rena Billingham.
I'll post my findings plus a bit more information about Rena's background and my involvement in due course,
Thanks again,
Ken
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US Veterans Gravesites shows Anthony James Billingham born 2 February 1902 and passed away 2 June 1963 - Marietta National Cemetery - Marietta, Georgia
Captain US Army World War II
FIND A GRAVE
Burial Marietta National Cemetery Marietta Cobb County Georgia.
Plot: SECTION Q SITE 73-B
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=109919608&ref=acom
Sandra
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Fantastic Sandra !!!
I knew that once we had the right name, we could find out a heap more.
Now I can search for the death of Rena Billingham.
I'll post my findings plus a bit more information about Rena's background and my involvement in due course,
Thanks again,
Ken
Think that is the death of Rita I have already given
Sandra
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Anthony (born Nashvile Tennessee) and Rena Billingham appear on a US Border Crossing together - Canada to the USA - Liverpool to Quebec - 17 November 1946 - SS Cavina - Going to 70 Fairfield Ave, Jersey City. New York.
Sandra
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Thanks for all that Sandra.
I saw the photo of Anthony Billingham's grave. Strange that Rena is not mentioned.
I tried a search for her grave but nothing came up.
She died at Baldwin, Georgia so you'd think she would be buried with her husband.
Perhaps only veterans are buried at Marietta.
You can read more about Rena at the site 'thepeerage', as her 3rd. husband was an English lord. Anyone interested can look up that site.
Ken
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Sandra, I still can't believe how fast that went, I got a flood of information within minutes of my initial enquiry. And I had put it off for a couple of years.
But I can't find Rena's grave. Why wasn't she buried with her husband ? Maybe she was, but nobody was left to add her name to the gravestone ?? Or maybe she's buried somewhere else. Perhaps that cemetery is only for veterans.
Do you have any suggestions for finding her grave ? I started to search some of the cemeteries but there must be thousands of them in Georgia.
Ken
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US Veterans Gravesites shows Anthony James Billingham born 2 February 1902 and passed away 2 June 1963 - Marietta National Cemetery - Marietta, Georgia
Captain US Army World War II
FIND A GRAVE
Burial Marietta National Cemetery Marietta Cobb County Georgia.
Plot: SECTION Q SITE 73-B
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=109919608&ref=acom
Sandra
There is a death for a Rena Billingham born 1899 and aged 66 years who died Baldwin Georgia. County of residence - DeKalb. Passed away 21 August 1965 - this would need further investigation.
Sandra
Rena passed away after Anthony so a possibility she could be buried with him. She would have been an eligible family member. Worth contacting them to check whether she is buried with Anthony. Sorry I didn't see an e-mail address listed
http://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/marietta.asp
Sandra
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You said Rena was aged 6 years. I guess you mean 66 years.
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There is a death for a Rena Billingham born 1899 and aged 66 years who died Baldwin Georgia. County of residence - DeKalb. Passed away 21 August 1965 - this would need further investigation.
Sandra
Idiosyncrasy on the keyboard when I do double letters or numbers. ::)
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Thanks Sandra,
I will try to contact the military cemetery to see if Rena is buried there too.
Do you remember the source of the notice about Rena's death ?
Ken
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So far I have had no luck in contacting the cemetery, or finding her burial anywhere else. But
I have found the following in my notes about Rena:
There are two references to her in U.S. Immigration records, first in September 1935, in New York,
most likely for residency, then an application for citizenship in June 1944, based on her being ‘a news correspondent with American armed forces overseas’.
In both cases she is Rena Terrington, even though she remarried in 1938. Perhaps they were still keeping it a secret.
Anyway, the details which Sandra has kindly provided are consistent with the known facts and there is no doubt in my mind that Rena Terrington became Rena Billingham.
But I would still like to find her burial........
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Could try the public library DeKalb Georgia to see if there was an obituary or death notice which might say where she is buried.
http://dekalblibrary.org/
http://dekalblibrary.org/research/email-a-librarian/research-question
Sandra
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Thanks once again Sandra.
I have now contacted the DeKalb County Public Library in Decatur, Georgia.
They confirm Rena's death on 21 August 1965, in Baldwin County, although she was a resident
of DeKalb County. Perhaps she was in hospital there.
They are searching to see if there was any obituary in local papers.
Ken
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Rena’s father, Captain William Swiney, married Violet Hamilton, née Jerningham, the illegitimate daughter of a lord, and their only child, Rena, would also marry a lord.
In 1901 the Swineys were living in Paddington, London. They had only one child, Rena DeVere Swiney, born in 1898. She called herself Shapland-Swiney, and after the divorce from her second husband she was noted as Rena DeVere Humphrey Shapland-Swiney.
Rena was a debutante presented at court to King George V, and became a ‘London socialite favourite’. In 1917, she married Harry A. Howell in London. She was 18, and he was 22 years old.
Rena and Howell divorced about 1920, then she married William Frederick Mario Graham Humphrey, an older man and an army officer, in 1921.
She left Humphrey in 1923 and began an affair with a lord, Baron Terrington, living with him for some years. Both their partners sued for divorce, and, on 28th July 1927, in Boulogne Sur Mer, France, Rena, aged 29, married her lord, Harold James Selbourne Woodhouse, 2nd Baron Terrington (1877-1940).
But Lord Terrington had unfinished business at home. He managed to avoid extradition until 1928, when he finally had to face charges of ‘fraudulent conversion’ in England. He spent three years in prison.
He died on 19.11.1940 in England. While he was in prison, Rena worked in the U.S.A., writing articles for Liberty Magazine, among others.
In 1930, one of a group of journalists, she waited at Long Island airport, New York, hoping to interview the famous pilot, Charles Lindbergh, who was flying in with his wife, seven months pregnant and quite sick. The Lindberghs very much resented the harassment and refused to be interviewed. Rena commented later, ‘He wasn’t just curt, he was damned rude’.
Rena published a number of books, including a book of reminiscenses in 1931 with the enigmatic title: “All That for Nothing”.
“The author states she tried to recapture the spirit of her youth and that the stories are true, except for the names.”
A list of female authors states that she died in 1973, but that is when Terrington’s first wife, Vera died, in England on 19 May. As Vera was also an author, it seems likely that somebody has confused the two.
We have now found Rena’s fourth marriage. In 1938 in the USA, she married Tony Billingham, an American news correspondent, and eventually settled with him in Georgia. He died in June 1963. She died in 1965, aged 66 years. They are both buried in Georgia.