Cora Victoria HILTON

GEDCOM Note

1 UID 5BE99CF5C916D745B82CF30DEA542D4564AB

!Personal family history; Death certificate; personal papers in hands of compiler.

Cora Victoria Hilton, married 1) Marshall D. Nisbet, D.D.S. her cousin, Marshall and Cora grew up together in Lincoln Township, Iowa. Cora attended the University of the North West in Souix City, Iowa, as did her sister Alice Hilton. They along with Marshall Nisbet lived in a boarding house at 1415 6th Street, Souix City, Iowa. Sometime after the death of Marshall Nisbet in 1904, she married 2) a Mr. Brown, also a Dr. of Dentistry. They separated shortly after that, and Cora moved with her daughter Marjorie Jane Nisbet to Los Angeles.( about 1915-16) Marjorie was about 14-15 years at that time.I have a Census record dated 1914 Iowa Census showing Marjorie Jane Nisbet was 13 years old and in the 9th Grade, attending a Public School. In 1927, Cora married a Mr.Mosher, and lived in Beverly Hills, California, on Wetherly Drive. After he died, ( about 1934) when she moved back to her home in Los Angeles on 35th Street - where she lived until she fell and broke her hip in 1954, at which time her daughter Marjorie took her to live with her in Sonora California, where after suffering several strokes Cora Victoria died, in 1955. Her body was entombed in the Mausoleum at Inglewood Cemetery, Inglewood, California.

Cora loved Los Angeles, and never wanted to leave Southern California. She watched the City grow from a very small and rural town to a huge metropolis, but she always felt this was her home.

Until the time she broke her hip, she was active, living alone, quite independent. She was a very good "lawn bowler", and went at least once a week to Exposition Park to bowl in weekly tournaments with her bowling buddies. She did not drive a car, but learned to drive a" Golf Cart" and had a special driving license from the State Of California which allowed her to drive her "golf Cart" in the street, and often went from her house on 35th Street and Figueroa to Vermont Avenue - about 3 miles distance, where she liked to shop for groceries and fresh fish. Once a Police officer stopped her, and asked for her license, and then asked her how she was able to signal when she wanted to make a turn ( since this was one of the first golf carts, it was a battery operated golf cart, and had to be steered with a steering lever, not a wheel, and using one hand, brakeing with the other - so that both hands were occupied, as was one foot that controlled the power) She answered him " I just stick out my foot, and the drivers are so surprised they stop and let me do what I want". Grandma had quite a sense of humor. She could of course operate the cart on the sidewalk if need be, but she was very careful to stay to the side streets, avoid the busy main streets, and wait for signals and cross in the cross walks when she needed to do so. She became quite bold, and would travel several miles away from home with her "little go-cart" as she called it. When she go home, she would drive it into her back yard, and hook it up to a battery charger to be ready for the next day's journey.

Grandma was quite a talented lady, she wrote lyrics for songs, composed music, and was an accomplished painter in both oils and pastels. She sewed her own clothes, and did her own gardening. She had converted a part of her home into 2 boarding rooms, which she rented out to college students ( she was only 2 blocks from the University of Southern California - USC), and she had very early on built 2 bungalows at the very back of her property, and kept these rented out to couples on a permanent basis. ( Bungalows would now in this day be called duplexes).

Eventually Grandma sold her property to the University of California, with the stipulation that she would occupy the property and collect the rents from it until she died. About 1948, the University started expanding, and eventually built right up to Grandma's house - putting in a large Dormatory right next door - which Grandma really didn't care for because it made her feel crowded and shut in - it was 3 stories high. After Grandma died, the University took over all of 35th street, and the whole area became part of the campus of the University - and cannot even be identified now. Also, Figueroa Boulevard which was one of the most magnificant boulevards, lined with old Victorian Homes, was converted in 1941-2 into a line of used car lots, all the georgous homes were just destroyed, the land covered with asphalt, and filled with used cars - this remember was World War 2 time, and used cars were all you could buy, then after the war, no one needed that many car lots, and the street was mostly deserted and scarred with asphalt and weed lots. Eventually, a freeway was built - The Figueroa Freeway - and it was elevated, and took out much of what was originally Figueroa Boulevard. All these changes came about near the end of Grandma's life - I know she would be very sad with the modernization of her beloved area of Los Angeles, if she had had to continue living there.

In the early years, both the Hilton's and the Nisbet's moved from Dane County Wisconsin to Mitchell County, Iowa, either in or near Osage Iowa, where Lydia, Joseph Carlton Hilton, Alice and Cora were born. The older children were born in Dane County Wisconsin.

It wasn't too long before the Nisbet's moved to South Dakota taking out a land grant there intending to farm the land which was considered quite good, but the following year there was a severe drought and since they were farmers, they were unable to continue there and returned to Osage, Iowa. After about 5 years, they again returned to South Dakota - while the Hiltons stayed on in Osage, Iowa but they too eventually moved to South Dakota, in the meantime both Cora and her sister Alice had left home and were living in Souix City, Iowa.

Typical of the times, Osage, Iowa was a very rural town, with dirt streets, board sidewalks, a church or two, a local store and a school. Transportation was by horse and buggy. Most of the buildings in town were of wood, but some were built using brick and mortar, especially such buildings as the Bank, the Drug store - which also sold wall-paper, and perhaps the Masonic Lodge and the I.O.O.F. Hall. Most of the buildings on the Main Street were 2-story buildings, and were built after the fashion of the day with very high ceilings, the top of the ceiling was most always covered with beautifully ornate tin squares which measured some 18 inches square and were decorated with roses or other flowers and circles, etc in a raised pattern. These were painted with a light colored paint, and then the walls were either wall-papered half way down, and the rest of the wall was finished with "wainscoat" which was a decorative type of wood.

There was always a park, usually a fountain, and a band-stand where everyone would gather on special evenings and holidays to listen to the local organized band entertain for the evening. A photograph of the Main Street in Osage in 1865 shows telephone poles, so the town had electricity by this time - replacing the old gas lights and lanterns and candles of a much earlier era. Whether or not the farms and rural areas had electricity, I much doubt, at least not until much later. My grandmother used to talk about the gas lights and lanterns at the old farm. Cora Victoria Hilton Nisbet Mosher taken in her home in Los Angeles, Ca about 1940 Cora Victoria Hilton engagement picture abt 1890 Cora and her finance Marshall D. Nisbet about 1890 Cora Victoria Hilton -in her fancy hat popular in late 1800's Death Certificate Nov. 19. 1955