Arthur Clair Landis
b. 23 Feb 1875 d. 5 May 1942
Compiled by Helen Landis Baker and Vera Asper
With additions and changes for internet by Sydnor Landis Dickenson
Biography
Clair was given an adventurous nature and early in life left his Newville, PA home to see the world. He journeyed over Doubling Gap and into Perry County. Here he fell so in love with the scenery and mountains that this was to become the homeland to which he always returned throughout his many years of travel.
Clair traveled from town to town throughout the county, settling down long enough to earn some spending money by fixing all the clocks in the community. When he got to Millerstown, he set up shop in the front window of Rickabaugh's Grocery on the square. It was there he met Bertha Rippman, the fetching lass he was later to marry.
About this time, 1898, the Spanish American War started. Citizens of Cuba were being oppressed under Spanish rule and the Americans were jumping to their aid. Only volunteers were being sent to fight. Thinking this would be a way to do something worthwhile and exciting while getting the opportunity to travel to a foreign land, Clair enlisted. He was disappointed when he was kept in a camp in Florida and discharged when the war was over. Still, he was a Spanish American War veteran! His commanding officer, knowing of Clair's keen desire to go abroad told him to keep his uniform on and march onto the ship, that he would take him along to Cuba.
When Clair got to Havana, he started a souvenir shop and sold trinkets and other items to the soldiers. He even had enough business to take on a partner. In fact, he was so prosperous that six months later he came back to America to show his family how rich he'd become. Unfortunately, when he returned, both his partner and his business had disappeared!
One the boat to Cuba, however, he had met an American, a representative of 
Swift and Company which was supplying the army of occupation with beef. He had offered Clair a job, which Clair now accepted.
There were two Americans in charge of Swift's business, but within two weeks one contracted typhoid fever and the other's wife became very sick. Both went home and Clair was left as manager. He stayed with that company until he retired in 1933.
Cuba, nicknamed "the Pearl of the Antilles," where Clair spent many of his years with Swift and Company, provided Clair's family with an ample livelihood. In 1900 Clair returned to Millerstown long enough to court and win Bertha Rippman, whom he married on May 2nd. He had a furnished apartment waiting for her in Havana, so they left immediately for Cuba but when they got there they found that yellow fever had broken out in town and that the owner of the apartment house had locked the place up and disappeared.
A kindly postmaster put cots in the back of the post office and let them sleep there for the first week. Bertha was awakened every morning by bags of mail being thrown right beside her bed.
Fortunately, within a few days, Clair found a beautiful villa outside of
At this "Villa of the Three Roses" the grounds were about the size of a city block and planted thick with white, pink and yellow roses.
Although the villa itself was large and beautiful, it was a lonely place for a new bride. The family had two Chinese servants (the poorer Cubans were considered too backwards to work efficiently in a home); but as they spoke no English, Bertha could not talk to them at all. Clair had to tell them what to cook, what food to buy, and what to do.
Clair, too, would at times be gone most of the night. He would drive his horse to the docks to oversee the unloading of meat, which would be rushed directly out to the army camp. As it was, people sometimes said that spoiled meat was being sold, but the fact was that there was no refrigeration, days were very warm, and the meat had to be moved very fast to prevent any spoilage.
The year after the Landises were married, the fever became worse. Some American friends in Cuba moved in with them to get away from the disease, which considering the loneliness at the villa was a blessing.
Incidentally, there is no specific remedy for yellow fever. The disease is controlled by vaccination and mosquito control, both preventive measures. It was in the late 1800's that doctors began to suspect the fever was carried by mosquitoes. This being proved, people slept for many, many years with mosquito netting over their beds. Later under the direction of Dr. William Gorgas, Havana was freed of yellow fever as he systematically destroyed the breeding places of mosquitoes.
Everyone at the Villa of the Three Roses escaped the disease.
At this time the first Landis child was on the way so Bertha and Mrs. Ketchum, her houseguest, got out material and spent their time making baby clothes. Dr. Kean, and army doctor, also had an army nurse stay with Bertha at the villa. When baby Helen was born the family came back to the states for a visit and "to catch their breath."
It turns out that the
villa Clair and Bertha occupied in Marianao was very near the site
where in 1900 Dr. Walter Reed and a team of investigators had demonstrated
that the mosquito was the vector for yellow fever. The army doctor, Dr. Kean, was Jefferson Randolph Kean, who worked very closely with Reed to ensure the success of the experiments.
When the American army left Havana, Swift & Co. along with Clair, also left. One of Swift's colleagues asked him to manage a gold mine in Brazil. Clair refused, however, stating that he now had two children (Virginia had made her appearance at this time) and that he wouldn't be able to take his family. So he was sent to Wilmington, NC that fall of 1903 while Bertha stayed temporarily in Millerstown.
Swift was undergoing a great deal of loss at this time, so Clair would slip down to the plant at all hours of the night hoping to find the cause. He did! The former manager was coming around with a horse and wagon and hauling off meats, mostly hams. Clair had him arrested and got the company back on a paying basis.
The beautiful tropical island, inhabited mostly by very poor but apparently happy, easy going people, became a tourist center where senators and the rich came for vacations. Havana, a Spanish city, had the luxury and gaiety of French New Orleans.
"A special reward of those years in Havana," one of the Landis children commented, "was that it gave the family a love and respect for the working class Spaniard, usually very poor and with no chance of education or advancement. The girls came looking for work as nursemaids or housemaids, and the boys were looking for any kind of honest work they could find. They all were devout Catholics, polite and considerate.
There were many entertainments, too, in Havana. Beautiful country clubs, yacht clubs, famous race tracks and in the winter there was opera, ballet, and French and Spanish operettas. These musical concerts featured world famous artists such as Caruso, Pavlova, and the best-loved of all, Esperanza Iris, the Mistinguette of South America. There were also others that natives and rich tourists knew, as the longest bar in the world, bullfighting, cockfighting, and native dancing.
Swift & Co. wanted Clair to return to Cuba to open up a permanent plant. Bertha preferred not to go since she couldn't stand the Cuban summers, so the company said they would pay the family's way back to the states each summer.
By then there were three children, Arthur having been born in N.C.
In 1909, the fourth baby Charles arrived. Bertha worried over him for he was so sickly, and the doctor quickly ordered them to the states for a change of climate. Bertha too now seemed so delicate that her brothers all pitched in a built a cottage on the Buffalo Mountain outside of Newport, PA for her. She and the children were so happy there that they bought a farm on the Perry Valley Road where they planned to spend each summer.
The Landis family lived in Cuba until 1918, except for the winter of 1916 when they stayed in Newport for the fifth child Mary Marguerite to be born. She was born in the old Marshall mansion which they were renting.
Swift & Co. planned to send Clair to Central Europe to re-open offices as soon as World War I was over. "I don't think Mother wanted to go" Helen recalled, "but she went." He left for Europe in January 1919, soon after the armistice was signed.
When school was over, Bertha and the five children, with Eva Mumper from Landisburg as a companion, sailed from the New York harbor on the LaFrance. This French liner had been used during the war for transporting troops and "they had a hard time getting rid of the bugs". The liner carried fifteen passengers of high priority, including a prince, a rich South American couple and some businessmen.
Clair met the family in Paris. The city had not been harmed by the war, but fuel was so short that lights were turned off at 8 o'clock. They had planned to go on to Hamburg, Germany, but the war was barely over and the food shortage was so great that the United States was feeding the Germans and Austrians from soup kitchens. Therefore, Clair thought it better to house his family in Switzerland, although a great deal of his winters would be spent in Vienna.
In Lausanne, Switzerland, the family lived in the one hotel that had heat. Coal had to be imported from England, which made it very expensive. The girls traveled daily to a boarding school to learn French, and the boys attended LaVilla, a well-known school for foreigners.
At the girls' school, School of Mademoiselle Feltz, the bathroom and hot water were heated once a week, and a chart telling when each resident student was to take a bath was posted. Girls were even excused from the classroom for their bath time. When the Landis girls reported that they took a bath every day in America, the principal tartly replied, "Americans must be very dirty!"
The girls also wanted to take a geometry course so that they could eventually go back to their school in New Jersey and graduate with their class. Again the principal was annoyed, saying, "This is a school for young ladies, not for engineers!" Bertha had a tutor come to the hotel.
In the hotel in Switzerland lived many displaced Russian nobles who had been traveling when the Bolsheviks took over. They were a genteel people, very educated and patient, who spoke wonderful French and German. They lived on just a few dollars a week for they could only stay at the hotels until they used up their value of jewelry. Later, most went to Germany where the government had decided to give relief to Russians who had fled the country.
In 1922 they were in Oberammergan when the Passion Play was performed two years late on account of World War I. As it was the custom at the time in Europe, wherever the young people went, Clair or Bertha accompanied them. Prague, Vienna, Budapest were familiar to Clair as he had spent time there when he first came to Europe, and he was remembered by friends, business associates and maitre d's who remembered his special favorite dishes. There were operas, dancing, Vienna waltzes and Gypsy music. Clair had been to Russia in the early twenties and had been so shocked at the conditions, especially at the sight of people without shoes, with feet bound up in cloths, even in winter that he never wanted to go back.
In 1922 the French had taken Alsace-Lorraine back from the Germans and still had control of the coalmines in the Ruhr and the Krupp steel and munitions plants in Essen. Clair decided to go to Essen to meet with the French officers in command of the Army of Occupation to try to get permission to send meat, especially hams and bacon to Swift's dealers in the Ruhr. He decided to take Helen and Virginia along as they spoke French. They went by car and took one of the German sales managers along. The Rhineland was as beautiful as ever, but the towns were mournful. People not only looked stricken, they dropped their heads and refused to speak when asked a question or directions. After many false leads, Clair finally reached the French Headquarters and got some satisfaction. At least the Americans were allowed to leave! They were relieved to reach Koblenz, which was occupied by the American army.
Another business trip, which the older girls were taken on, was more to their liking. Mr. Charles Swift, a wonderful person and a patron of the arts and artists, wrote Clair asking him to find out if Frau Cosima Wagner, widow of Richard Wagner and daughter of Listz, had everything she needed in this post war period. He had read that she and her son Siegfried and his family were living in great austerity. Clair planned to go to Beirut. When he mentioned it at home, Helen and Virginia of course said they must go along. By this time, Richard Wagner was not only an idol to them, but also the greatest and most interesting of any German composer. His works were by now well known to the Landises as cities in Germany produced opera every night of the year and mostly Wagner. Tickets were so expensive by then that only Wagnerian operas or musical dramas could draw a full house.
Beirut was a fairytale town out of the middle ages. Everywhere stood exquisite little palaces, while the streets were paved with small round cobblestones. The Wagner Villa - "Villa Wahnfried" was of Italian Baroque with large grounds and thick chestnut trees. Louis II, "mad" King of Bavaria, gave it to Wagner after Wagner's many years of hardship and poverty. The king had built over a hundred castles and palaces and was as well a lavish patron of the arts. After a heartwarming visit with these illustrious people, Siegfried Wagner showed Clair and daughters around this palatial house. In a drawing room he moved toward two photographs, which stood on the piano - Richard Wagner and Franz Listz - and said casually, "my father and my grandfather." One of the girls said later she almost swooned.
Clair lived in Hamburg, working for Swift until 1933 when Hitler made matters so difficult and dangerous for foreigners and for business that it was time for an exodus. Clair retired from Swift & Co. and returned to the United States to settle in Newport PA, just along the Juniata River from Millerstown. There he lived until his death in 1942. Bertha lived another 28 years.
"One of the things I remember about my father," daughter Helen remembered, "was that no matter what he was reading or doing, when one of us children came into the room, he would immediately stop and be ready to talk of give us his full attention." Grandmother Landis, too, had this same respect for children, so each child felt that he or she had a special place in their affections.
Clair and Bertha's first child Helen Landis married Elmer Baker of Perry County in 1937. They had two sons, Elmer, Jr. and four grandchildren.
Virginia Marian Landis married Peter St.Clair Christie in 1926 in Hamburg. Peter was an English businessman who was a representative of tea importers. After two years in London, they moved to Maplewood, NJ. They have two sons, Peter and Michael and eight grandchildren.
Arthur, after graduating from Lehigh College, went to Lynchburg VA with the S. S. Kresge Company, where he met Elizabeth Caldwell Sydnor. They married in Lynchburg and had four children, Arthur III, Sydnor, Richard, and Suzanne. There are ten grandchildren.
Charles, after graduating from Penn State U., married in 1937 a Nancy Eby of Paradise PA where they lived their entire lives. Charles has worked for Armstrong Quaker Tile and Cork and later for PP&L. They had three children, Dr. Charles, Jr., David, and Mary Alice. There are 7 grandchildren.
Mary Marguerite, until she was 16, attended a girls' school in Hamburg where
her schooling was in German. In 1933, she attended Smith College and was
graduated with a BA in 1937. She worked for Armstrong Cork and Tile and
then returned home to Newport to look after her mother. Until her death
in 2004, Mary was a civic-minded citizen of Newport, and was instrumental
in starting or aiding many programs to improve the town, notably the Newport
Public Library, the Episcopal Church and the Head Start program. She left
the family home, the family furnishings and a great sum of money for the
furtherance of the arts to the local Arts Council at her death.
Havana, which had been owned by a wealthy Spaniard who had fled with his family to Spain. Since the city was overrun with the epidemic, they though it better to be outside the city anyway. The villa was in Marianao, halfway between Havana and the army camp where Clair delivered Swift's meat.
By 1906 the United States and Cuba had formed a friendly alliance. The United States would guarantee Cuba's independence, and in exchange Cuba would welcome American business and allow the American government to keep a naval base at Guantanamo.
Incidentally, this farm had belonged to the Besoms. When Bertha had finished high school, she'd gone to Irving College and West Chester, then got a teaching position in a country school on the Perry Valley Owl Hollow Road. She had boarded with the Besoms. In later life she liked to tell about making $23 a month, paying $.10 a meal and thinking that getting married was going to be a wonderful break!
The next summer the Landis family moved to Hamburg. Clair and Bertha were surprised at the ancient culture and beautiful buildings they found everywhere in Europe and wanted the children to learn and enjoy all they could. There were constant leisurely trips to mountains and lakes, as well as castles, churches and art galleries.
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