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| This is the only picture I have of Dewey, taken with the rest of his family sometime around 1920. He's on the right side of the picture. |
He was listed as a member of Samuel Green Akers and Mary Henrietta "Etta" Terry's household in the census on June 13, 1900 at a farm in Smith River District, Patrick County, VA along with Fannie Edna Akers and Mary Evelina Akers. Dewey was their son, 2 years old and born in May 1898 in Virginia.
He was listed as a member of Samuel Green Akers and Mary Henrietta "Etta" Terry's household in the census on April 22, 1910 at a farm in Smith River Township, Patrick County, VA along with Dovie M. Akers, Fannie Edna Akers, and Velva May Akers. Dewey was 11 years old, born in Virginia, and was a laborer on the home farm. He was able to read and write, and had attended school since 1 September 1909.
John was listed as a member of Samuel Green Akers and Mary Henrietta "Etta" Terry's household in the census on February 6, 1920 at a farm in Stuart Town, Dan River Township, Patrick County, VA along with Dovie M. Akers and Velva May Akers. Dewey, who was listed as Isac [sic] D in this census, was 21 years old and had attended school since 1 September 1919. He had no occupation listed in the census.
He was a teacher at Jefferson High School in Roanoke (city), Virginia in 1929.
Dewey traveled from Newfoundland on the ship S. S. Roselind on April 26, 1932 and arrived in New York, NY on May 3, 1932. There was one other passenger: Lorraine M. Murphy of New York.
He died on August 16, 1932 at the age of 34 in Roanoke County, VA. Dewey and his wife, Mary, died in an accident when their car went over the bank on a public highway. He suffered a crushed right chest, with a fractured skull and cerebral hemorrhage. The informant on his death certificate was Mrs. J. S. Atkinson, who was his mother-in-law.
The accident was reported in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on August 17, 1932:
"Machine Goes Over Cliff, Man And Wife Die
Three-Year-Old Son Suffers Fractured Skull; Recovery Is Improbable
Baby Little Hurt
Roanoke Family in Accident on Bent Mountain
ROANOKE, VA., Aug 16 (AP)
A man and his wife were killed and their two children were injured, one so seriously he is not expected to live, when their car went over a cliff on the Bent Mountain Road about 10:30 or 11 o'clock this morning and smashed to pieces in Back Creek.
The dead are: Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Akers of Virginia Heights, Roanoke; John Stuart Akers, 3-year-old son, has a fractured skull and is not expected to live. His sister, Janet, 10 months old, is bruised, but will recover, physicians said.
The family has been here for several weeks on a vacation. Mr. Akers, who was an instructor in business administration at Jefferson High School for a number of years, has been working in New York for several months.
They had left home about 10 o'clock this morning in a coupe. The wreck was discovered at 11:45 and State officers, the county coroner and other officials were summoned.
Mr. Akers was killed instantly, Dr. G. A. L. Kolmer, county coroner said. Mrs. Akers and the two children were brought to Jefferson Hospital here, suffering from a fractured skull and other head injuries. Mrs. Akers died about 1:45.
Stuart Akers, the 3-year-old child, received a fractured skull while Janet, 10 months old baby, was bruised.
The woman and oldest child were unconscious when found.
The accident occurred about three-quarters of a mile up the mountain from the intersection of the Starkey and Bent Mountain roads. The automobile landed in the creek near a place called Green Hole.
Officers could not tell whether the accident was due to a break in the steering apparatus of the car or whether the driver, apparently Mr. Akers, let the car get too near the edge of the road, where it went over before he could stop."
Here's another article from the Roanoke Times newspaper (I believe) on 17 August 1932 that tells more about the wreck and their son's death:
"TRIPLE FUNERAL FOR VICTIMS OF BACK CREEK WRECK
Third Member of Akers Family, Boy, Dies Early Today
The third victim of the wreck which occurred yesterday afternoon on the Bent Mountain road about three miles from Roanoke, in which Mr. and Mrs. John D. Akers were killed, died this morning at 3:40 o'clock in Jefferson Hospital. He was John Stewart Akers [2] and 1-2 year old son of the young couple.
Janet Akers, age ten months, the sole survivor of the wreck, will recover, physicians said at the hospital today. Shielded in her mother's arms, she suffered only a few bruises as the car plunged down the 70-foot cliff, hurling its occupants on the many large boulders.
The father, J. D. Akers, was found face down in Back Creek at the foot of the cliff. He had been killed before striking the water, Dr. G. A. Kolmer, county coroner, said.
The child, whose skull was also fractured, died early this morning.
A triple funeral service will be held tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 o'clock at the Raleigh Court Presbyterian church. The three bodies will be interred at Evergreen cemetery.
The family, staying at 803 Windsor Avenue, Virginia Heights, while here on a vacation from New York, had been riding on the new road. Reaching the point where construction is still in progress, they turned and started back to Roanoke. Filling station attendants said they saw the car going toward Roanoke a few minutes before the wreck was found. It was traveling between 25 and 30 miles an hour, they thought.
The car rounding the long, banked curve, plunged over the bank, on the right side of the road, stopping against a stump, part in and part out of the creek. No guard rails are on the road at this curve.
The wreckage was discovered about [1] o'clock by R. C. Gates, of the Starkey community, who notified Deputy Sheriff H. H. Spencer. W. E. Hunley, driver of a truck for the Carter Lumber Company, of Blue Ridge, and John [W]ebster, of Peters Creek, carried the dead and injured back up the cliff to the road, where they were placed in ambulances.
Officers checking over the wreckage found marks of a blow on the right front wheel and a ben radius rod. The car was a Ford cabriolet with rumble seat, and was not badly damaged. The top had been torn off, a trunk in the rear bent, and a wheel damaged. The windshield was slightly cracked, but not broken, and the car was able to return to Roanoke under its own power when wrecking crews succeeded in hauling it from the creek and back, a roundabout way, to the highway. Mr. Akers is survived by his parents, of Amelia; a sister of Fredericksburg, another sister of Roanoke, and his daughter.
His wife was, before marriage, Miss Mary Atkinson, and is survived by her mother, Mrs. Janet Atkinson, two brothers, William and Stuart, a sister Mrs. Hughes T. Angell, and daughter, Janet."
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| Part of Bent Mountain Road just SW of Roanoke with Back Creek paralleling the highway. Did the Akers family crash somewhere along this stretch? |
John was buried on August 18, 1932 at Evergreen Burial Park in Roanoke, Roanoke County, VA. Here's an account of the planned funeral services from the Roanoke Times newspaper on 18 August 1932.
"Mr. and Mrs. Akers and Son
Funeral services for Mr. and Mrs. John Dewey Akers and their son, John Stewart Akers, will be conducted in the Raleigh Court Presbyterian church at 2:30 o'clock this afternoon by the Rev. Z. V. Roberson. The Knights of Pythias will hold a service at the grave for Mr. Akers. Interment will be in Evergreen.
John Dewey Akers, 34 , is survived by his ten-months old daughter, Janet Terry; his father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. S. G. Akers, Amelia, Va.; and four sisters, Mrs J. B. West, Amelia, Mrs. W. M. Clifton, Roanoke, Mrs. R. L. Reynolds, Fredericksburg and Mrs. L. W. Charles, Amelia.
Mrs. Mary Akers, 26, is survived by her little daughter, her mother, Mrs. James S. Atkinson; two brothers, William and Stewart Atkinson, and one sister, Mrs. Hughes T. Angell, all of Roanoke.
Little John Stewart Akers, two and a half years of age, leaves his infant sister, Janet Terry.
The bodies were taken yesterday to the home of William Atkinson at 555 Arlington Road, Raleigh Court.
Active pallbearers for Mr. Akers will be: S. A. Peck, P. M. Jackson, C. M. Vaughan, Dewey H. Marshall, A. D. Hurt and Clarence M. Mills. Honorary pallbearers will be: W. E. Parsons, Robert H. Angell, D. R. Hunt, C. S. McRae, L. R. Tucker, M. P. Buchanan, C. M. Seymour, M. F. Weaver, G. M. Broyles, Thomas E. Pasley, G. M. Hyle, and F. B. Wilson.
Pallbearers for Mrs. Akers will be: A. Frye Ayers, Roy Sanford, S. O. Goff, K. O. Barnett, Alfred Atkinson and K. S. Atkinson.
Flower bearers will be: Mrs. S. W. Peck, Mrs. P. M. Jackson, Miss Evaline Martin, Miss Elsie Dyer, Miss Clara Black, Mrs. H. L. Gardner, Miss Helen Atkinson, Mrs. J. W. Cook, Mrs. Sam Webb, Mrs. Reba Dent, Mrs. S. F. Caldwell, Mrs. W. B. Koontz, Miss Julia McNeil, Miss Rebecca Rogers, Miss Leona Rogers, Mrs. Herbert West, Miss Selma Hayes, Mrs. Harold Pearn, Mrs. C. R. Hughes, Mrs. G. M. Hyle, Mrs. E. L. Davis and Mrs. Eugene Shaw.
Pallbearers for John Stewart Akers will be: William Pearson, James Robertson, Terry Akers and Arthur Angell."
John Dewey Akers and Mary Atkinson were married about
1926.
They lived at 35 Day Avenue SW in Roanoke (city), Virginia in 1929. Dewey was a teacher at Jefferson High School.
They appeared in the census on April 4, 1930 at 803 Windsor Avenue in Roanoke, VA. John and Mary were living with Mary's mother, Janet, who was widowed at the time, in a house that Janet owned worth $8700. They had a radio set. John and Mary had been married about 4 years, and he was a public school teacher. He was also a World War I veteran. Mary's maternal grandfather was from Scotland, and her maternal grandmother was from Nova Scotia.
Mary Atkinson, daughter of Janet (Atkinson), was born on June 1, 1906 in Henry County, WV.
She died from a fractured skull suffered in an automobile accident on August 16, 1932 at the age of 26 in Roanoke, Roanoke County, VA. She was unconscious when brought to the hospital, but died early in the afternoon.
She was also buried with John Dewey Akers on August 18, 1932 at Evergreen Burial Park in Roanoke, Roanoke County, VA.
They lived at 35 Day Avenue SW in Roanoke (city), Virginia in 1929. Dewey was a teacher at Jefferson High School.
They appeared in the census on April 4, 1930 at 803 Windsor Avenue in Roanoke, VA. John and Mary were living with Mary's mother, Janet, who was widowed at the time, in a house that Janet owned worth $8700. They had a radio set. John and Mary had been married about 4 years, and he was a public school teacher. He was also a World War I veteran. Mary's maternal grandfather was from Scotland, and her maternal grandmother was from Nova Scotia.
Mary Atkinson, daughter of Janet (Atkinson), was born on June 1, 1906 in Henry County, WV.
She died from a fractured skull suffered in an automobile accident on August 16, 1932 at the age of 26 in Roanoke, Roanoke County, VA. She was unconscious when brought to the hospital, but died early in the afternoon.
She was also buried with John Dewey Akers on August 18, 1932 at Evergreen Burial Park in Roanoke, Roanoke County, VA.
John Dewey Akers and Mary Atkinson had the following
children:
John Stewart Akers was born on January
30, 1930 in Roanoke, VA.
He was listed as a member of John Dewey Akers and Mary Atkinson's household in the census on April 4, 1930 at 803 Windsor Avenue in Roanoke, VA along with Janet Atkinson and James S. Atkinson. John was 2 months old at the time of the census.
He lived in 803 Windsor Ave until August 17, 1932.
John died on August 17, 1932 at the age of 2 at Jefferson Hospital in Roanoke, Roanoke, VA, ,. Cause of Death: Cerebral trauma as result of fracture of skull. Death due to accident on August 16, 1932 in Roanoke County, VA. Automobile went over an embankment. Time of death was 3:40 AM. The accident also killed his mother and father. His sister, Janet, was slightly injured.
He was also buried with John Dewey Akers on August 18, 1932 at Evergreen Burial Park in Roanoke, Roanoke County, VA.
He was listed as a member of John Dewey Akers and Mary Atkinson's household in the census on April 4, 1930 at 803 Windsor Avenue in Roanoke, VA along with Janet Atkinson and James S. Atkinson. John was 2 months old at the time of the census.
He lived in 803 Windsor Ave until August 17, 1932.
John died on August 17, 1932 at the age of 2 at Jefferson Hospital in Roanoke, Roanoke, VA, ,. Cause of Death: Cerebral trauma as result of fracture of skull. Death due to accident on August 16, 1932 in Roanoke County, VA. Automobile went over an embankment. Time of death was 3:40 AM. The accident also killed his mother and father. His sister, Janet, was slightly injured.
He was also buried with John Dewey Akers on August 18, 1932 at Evergreen Burial Park in Roanoke, Roanoke County, VA.
Janet
Terry Akers, born October 7, 1931, Roanoke, VA; married Robert Anderson
Craighead, November 28, 1952, Roanoke, VA; died July 15, 2007.
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