I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while. I often get messages from other genealogists who are confused by the case of Lawrence (Alloway) Howery. And to be fair, the confusion is understandable—his life story involves adoption, name changes, and multiple family households. With some luck, this post can serve as a one-stop explanation. The next time someone asks, I’ll just send them here.
Early Life and Family Tragedy
Lawrence Oscar Alloway was born on January 8, 1921, in Madison, Nebraska, the youngest child of Ira Milton Alloway and Charlotte (Preuss) Alloway. He had four older siblings: Ralph (b. 1913), Blanche (1914), Elsie (1915), and Harry (1916).
Tragedy struck early. Lawrence’s mother, Charlotte, died on April 13, 1921, just three months after his birth, reportedly due to complications from childbirth. With their mother gone and their father unable to care for them all, the five children were placed with different families.
Here’s what I’ve been able to trace:
- Ralph was raised by his paternal uncle, Ernest Alloway.
- Blanche and Harry were adopted by an unidentified family in Humphrey, Nebraska.
- Elsie remains a mystery. I haven’t yet discovered what happened to her.
The Howery Adoption
Lawrence was adopted by his paternal aunt Bertha (Alloway) Howery and her husband, Rev. Elmer Philip Howery. That’s where his name change begins—from Lawrence Alloway to Lawrence Howery.
The Howerys had several children of their own: Margaret (1906), Dudley (1910), Kenneth (1916), Wilma (1918), and later Warren (1923). They had also lost a child, Mary (1912–1914). But the adoption of Lawrence likely followed the heartbreaking death of their baby Charlotte, born April 17, 1921—just days after Lawrence’s own mother died. Charlotte only lived a few months and died July 12, 1921. It’s not hard to imagine the emotional motivation for Bertha to take in her orphaned nephew soon after.
Unfortunately, stability was short-lived. Rev. Elmer Howery died the following year, on November 22, 1922, in Fremont, Nebraska. Bertha gave birth to another child, Warren, in January 1923, and remarried in March 1924 to Evi Long, with whom she had one more child, Carrol, in December of that year.
Somewhere during that tumultuous period, Bertha appears to have given up custody of Lawrence.
Life in California: The Wright Years
By 1930, Lawrence was living in Chico, California with Eldora (Howery) Wright and her husband Sam Wright—Eldora being Bertha’s sister-in-law. In the 1930 U.S. Census, Lawrence appears in their household under the name Lawrence Wright, with no indication that he was adopted or not their biological child.
We know from family stories that the Wrights had moved from Nebraska to California in the 1920s. It’s likely that Lawrence came with them as a small child and was raised as their son.
This explains why, throughout his school years in California, he was known as Lawrence Alloway Wright:
- He graduated from Central Grammar School in Chico on June 1, 1935 under that name.
- He graduated from Chico High School in May 1939, again as Lawrence Alloway Wright.
Military Service and a Return to “Howery”
In 1939, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army, Lawrence settled on the name Lawrence Howery—likely the name most easily supported by whatever legal documentation he had. He was living in Butte County, California (likely still Chico) at the time and listed on his enlistment papers as having completed a year of college.
He appears in the 1940 Census as Private First Class Lawrence Howery, stationed in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was still there during the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and survived.
In the following years, his name usage varied:
- A 1943 article in the Chico Record refers to him as Lawrence Wright Howery.
- His marriage announcement in the same year lists him as Lawrence (Howery) Wright.
- A 1946 article about his training as an airline mechanic for Western Airlines again refers to him as Lawrence Howery.
By the end of the war in 1945, when he was discharged, he formally used the name Lawrence Howery, including on his draft registration.
At some point—possibly during the postwar years when applying for Social Security—he obtained a delayed birth certificate under the name Lawrence Oscar Howery, listing Elmer Howery as his father.
Clearing Up the Confusion
The confusion surrounding Lawrence comes down to this:
- He was born Lawrence Oscar Alloway, son of Ira and Charlotte.
- He was adopted by Bertha and Elmer Howery, becoming Lawrence Howery.
- He was later raised by Eldora and Sam Wright, and used the name Lawrence Alloway Wright for much of his youth.
- In adulthood, especially after military service, he returned to using the name Lawrence Howery—ultimately supported by a delayed birth certificate.
Each name he used reflected a different household, relationship, and chapter in his life.
His Profile and a Call for Collaboration
I’ve compiled what I’ve found into a FamilySearch profile to make Lawrence’s story easier to access and share:
🔗 Lawrence Oscar Howery on FamilySearch
If you have any records, newspaper clippings, family stories, or other pieces of this puzzle, I’d love for you to contribute them directly on FamilySearch. With people like Lawrence—who moved through several homes, names, and roles—collaborative research is the only way to fill in the gaps and do justice to the full complexity of a life lived.
Revised Aug. 6, 2025.