Recently, I came across the will of one of my great-grandfathers who lived in La Mott. Written in 1931, there are references to his having stock in both La Mott Realty and Fairview Cemetery Companies. I wondered if there was a link between the two organizations. Turns out there is.
The Realty Company was located on School Lane at Cheltenham Avenue (then City Line Avenue). After a relative mentioned the company and a Mr. Ritchie, I hopped over to the Old York Road Historical Society archives to see what information they had on hand. The 1937 Atlas of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania has a reference to the Realty Company complete with address on School Lane. This confirmed the physical location of the company.
Fairview Cemetery is the final resting place of people from La Mott and outer-lying areas like Germantown. Right smack dab in the middle of the cemetery is a large simple monument in the shape of a head stone with the name Ritchie on it. For decades I wondered who or what was Ritchie.
It turns out that Mr. William A. Ritchie was a prominent citizen in La Mott and a founder of the Fairview Cemetery in Upper Dublin. He was also the owner and major share holder of the La Mott Building and Loan Association according to Elaine W. Rothschild's Old York Road Historical Society Bulletin. I read that Mr. Ritchie was also employed as a butler by George Elkins as in the Elkins Estate and Elkins Park. Ritchie was the person who loaned money to La Mott residents to buy homes and set up businesses. The Realty Company and the Building and Loan Association were both owned by Ritchie.
In a 1927 publication of building assessments in La Mott and other areas in Cheltenham Township, I noted that the Real Estate Holding Company building was assessed at $1,100, the La Mott Realty Company building was assessed at $2,000 and the Real Estate Holding Company building (listed a second time) was assessed in the amount of $29,000.
Mr. Ritchie went on to organize the Fairview Cemetery in Upper Dublin, PA in 1907 with others and served as first president. (The cemetery is about 20 or so minutes from La Mott.) James Burley, Ritchie's partner, and my great-great uncle, "aided prospective black homeowners or businessmen in the purchase of property" according to the website http://www.livingplaces.com/PA/Montgomery_County/Cheltenham_Township/LaMott.html.
Mr. Ritchie was an important person in La Mott largely because of his ability and foresight to help the other citizens. A tribute to him, if you will, was the monument that sits on the Ritchie Section at Fairview cemetery.
As for my great-grandfather, Walker Jones, having stock in the company must have been especially rewarding for him. The 1880 U.S. Census records him as being a farm laborer in Upper Dublin with a wife and small children. He came quite a long way from laborer to home and stock owner.
