Los Angeles
County
Biographies
MRS. JOHN JAMES CHAMPIEUX
With
sincere patriotism and love for her country, Mrs. John James Champieux has
combined her avocation – the genealogical account of the history of descent of her
own illustrious ancestors with the study of the history of the United States
from the time of Jamestown, the first Capital of the Colony, to the present
time. Her earnest desire has been to
foster patriotism, revive interest in our historical background, preserve our
natural resources and to cherish, maintain and extend the institutions of
American freedom, which is “Our American Heritage”.
Born
in Lake View, Iowa, Mrs. John James Champieux (Effie Pearl Karr) spent her
early childhood in Virginia.
Her
father, David Walter Karr, an attorney, can trace his family back to Sir Walter
Karr in Scotland. On his mother’s side
he can check back as far as Jan Joosten Van Meter,
who landed in New York in 1662.
Mrs.
Champieux’s mother, Mrs. Maude Etta (Walker) Karr is a descendant of Samuel
Walker, and has traced her father’s “the Walker line” back to 1740. On her mother’s side Mrs. Karr’s family
history, recorded in the Colonies to the year 1630, has been checked to her
ancestor Governor James Winthrop, first Governor of Massachusetts.
Mrs.
Champieux is a direct descendant of John Bowne, a Quaker, who came to Long
Island in 1651. He was deported to
Holland when he refused to renounce his religion, and was the first man to
suffer religious persecution under Governor John Stuyvesant’s religious
intolerance. After being exiled, the
government finally returned John Bowne to the American Colony. A postage stamp was printed in his honor (1957),
and his home is a national shrine in Flushing, Long Island, “The Bowne House, a
National Shrine to Religious Freedom”.
After
elementary schooling in Richmond, Virginia, Mrs. Champieux went to high school
in Wichita, Kansas, and graduated from the Wichita School of Business. She was secretary to the president of the
Union National Stockyard Bank in Wichita, Kansas, until 1924, when she married
John James Champieux, an engineer, on March 4, 1924, of Springfield, Missouri,
and took on the duties as a housewife.
Mr. Champieux was a member of the Alhambra Masonic Lodge. Deceased February 9, 1950.
From
1928 on, Mrs. John James Champieux of 1012 South First Street in Alhambra began
sharing her knowledge of the distinguished past of the United Sates with others
and started to lecture on “Our American Heritage”. Her program consists of slides picturing
famous men, buildings of tradition and background to our history as well as
scenes from our National Parks.
After
moving with her husband to Alhambra in 1940, Mrs. Champieux became a member of
the Granada Chapter No. 442, Order of the Eastern Star, first vice-president of
Alhambra’s Women’s Club and member of Chapter KR of P.E.O. Sisterhood. She is a working participant in Red Cross and
United Fund campaigns; registered for volunteer work with the Alhambra office
of the United States Government Selective Service System.
It
is interesting to note that the Alhambra Chapter of the Daughters of the
American Colonists, of which Mrs. Champieux is a member and past president,
named it Governor John Winthrop Chapter after her ancestor.
Mrs.
Champieux belongs to Daughters of the American Revolution, of which she has
been Past National Officer, is a life member and currently Honorary State
Regent. She has held the following
offices in the California State Society, Daughters of the American
Revolution: Registrar, Organizing
Secretary, First Vice Regent, State Regent, 1958 - 1960. She was on the State Reception Committee from
1948 - 1950 and on the Conference Resolution Committee in 1949. She held the office of Chairman of State
Conference in 1950, Star Registrar from 1950 - 1952, State Chairman D.A.R.
Neighborhood Center Administration Committee from 1952 - 1954, and was State
Organizing Secretary in 1954 - 1956. She
is Past Regent of Alhambra-San Gabriel Chapter of the Daughters of the American
Revolution. From 1956 - 1958 Mrs.
Champieux held the office of State President of Colonial Dames of the XVII
Century.
Her
hobby being genealogy, she holds membership in the National Genealogical
Society.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 712-713, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES