Los Angeles County
Biographies
MAY SHUMWAY ENDERLY
Musical, social and club circles of Los Angeles are proud to number among their leaders Mrs. Ma Shumway Enderly, one whose musical talents, particularly as a harpist, is of national and international repute.
Mrs. Enderly was born in Galesburg, Illinois. She is descended from authentic American colonial stock, the progenitor of her family having been Peter Shumway (originally spelled Chamoise), who came across the Atlantic from Alsace-Lorraine and settle in Lynn, Massachusetts, about 1635. He was the father of seven sons, and their descendants participated in the Revolutionary war, the War of 1812 and all wars in which this country has been engaged. Mrs. Enderly’s father, Stephen Burroughs Shumway, was of the hardy pioneer type. He was a California ‘49er and crossed the plains in a covered wagon, bringing along a herd of cattle. His long journey was not without adventure, for he was captured by hostile Indians while en route, but was fortunate in making his escape before being put to death. His quest was gold, and he was successful, for he accumulated enough of the precious metal to return to Galesburg with substantial resources. He graduate from Knox College in his home city, became a lawyer and a judge, and altogether one of the most prominent citizens of that community. One of his sons, George, and a brother of Mrs. Enderly, was mayor of Galesburg at one time.
In music and dramatic arts, Mrs. Enderly has achieved outstanding success, and her brilliant talent is widely known. She studied dramatic art at the famous Daniel Frohman School in New York City. Her musical talent has been emphasized by her mastery of the harp, both the large and the small instruments, and for a long period she appeared in Lyceum and Chautauqua circuits. Her presentation which became so popular was called “Harpalogues,” which was of her own creation, and there was “Peasant Brides,” a performance in which she demonstrated the music, the dress and the scenes of many countries. Her instrument in this novel act was the small harp, and she was invited to present it at the last meeting of the National Grand Opera Reading Club, which was held at the old Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York just before that noted hostelry was demolished, but was unable to do so.
Mrs. Enderly belongs to the Daughters of the American Revolution, also the Daughters of the Nile, the Matinee Musical Club, the Euterne Opera Reading Club, the Fine Arts Club, and is the founder and president of the International Women’s Club, Inc.
The marriage of May Shumway to F. W. Enderly occurred in 1899. Her husband was formerly of Des Moines, Iowa, and later became a prominent wholesale lumberman of Los Angeles. To their union there was born a son, Richard Curtis Enderly, who graduated from the University of California. When the United States entered the World war, he enlisted in the navy, and soon thereafter was made an ensign and was one of the few selected to attend the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. He became head of a division, and later of five divisions, and was assigned to the U.S.S. Nevada with the rank of first lieutenant. He served in the navy two years, and was upon the admiral’s flagship which conveyed President Wilson to France for the peace parley. He married Pearl Eaton, a noted stage and screen star of New York, and resided in Los Angeles.
Transcribed
By: Michele Y. Larsen on November 8, 2012.
Source: California
of the South Vol. V,
by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 419-420,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles,
Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 Michele
Y. Larsen.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES
BIOGRAPHIES