Renee Messelin: Out of the Shadows After a Century

Sometimes people hide who they are. Sometimes they hide because society limits their choices. What follows is the story of a woman who hid so effectively that her heritage remained in shadows for over a century.

During World War I, women known as the “Hello Girls” became the unsung heroes of communication. Formally called the Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit, they were recruited to operate switchboards in France, connecting calls to ensure smooth and efficient communications for the U.S. Army. These bilingual operators often connected calls to and across the French telephone system, requiring fluency in both languages. They were crucial in overcoming language barriers and expediting military commands. Despite their significant contributions, their military status was not formally recognized until decades later. Even now, over a hundred years after their service, research continues and more is learned about these exceptional Veterans.

An experienced amateur genealogist, I recently joined the team working to document the lives, deaths, and final resting places of each woman who served in this unique capacity. This team was formed to advocate for a Congressional Gold Medal for the Hello Girls, an important recognition of their sacrifices. The team thought we knew who the women were. We knew their names. We knew that they were extraordinary people. They were women who answered the call of the United States, before they could vote. They were women of intelligence, courage, and tenacity. And, it turned out, women who were determined to serve, even if it meant hiding who they really were.

Fewer than 300 women served as Hello Girls, including approximately 223 who served in France. The task of finding the final resting place of each woman was challenging, albeit not insurmountable. Significant research had already been done by James Theres and Elizabeth Cobbs as well as members of the descendants community. Mr. Theres had produced the documentary, “The Hello Girls.” Dr. Cobbs had written a book, entitled “The Hello Girls: America’s First Women Soldiers.” Over 100 women’s final resting places had been documented by the time I joined the effort.

Armed with a list of the women’s names, the research for an individual begins with her entry on the ship’s manifest. As the women shipped to France, the Army Transport Service recorded an emergency contact for each one. These emergency contacts were most often a parent, and occasionally a family friend. Along with the names, the Army recorded emergency contacts’ addresses. If a woman had listed a parent as her emergency contacts, she could often be found in the Federal Census records, either living with them again in 1920, or in 1910. Confirmation that we had found the right person would be done by comparing her address at the time of the Census with the address listed in the manifest.

Some women’s names were sufficiently unique that their final resting places were also found quickly. Those who had lived to see the official recognition of their Veteran status might have been issued the traditional VA headstone.

Within a month, we had confirmed another 50 women’s final resting places.

Other women were harder to find track down. They returned to France or Belgium or Canada, not appearing in the US Federal Census.

Little did we know that at least one woman was deliberately hiding from her family.

Genealogists know that women are often harder to track than men, due to their name changes upon marriage or sometimes upon divorce. Because of these changes, we turn to newspapers as an excellent source with wedding announcements. Also, a parent’s obituary may name their daughters with their married names.

Renee Messelin was somewhat tricky, with an aunt as her emergency contact, and no evidence that she lived with that family either in 1910 or 1920. Fortunately for the research (if not for her), a newspaper article in California reported on her divorce from Mr. Maurice Messelin in 1916. This article helped to establish that “Messelin” was her married name rather than her birth name.

Divorce filing by Renee Messelin, 1916, San Francisco (San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, California, Tue, Nov 14, 1916, Page 8)

She shows up again, in 1920, when a local Fresno newspaper (below) reported that she joined the American Legion post in town. Now Mrs. Renee Van Gundy, the paper told the story of how she was born in France and became a citizen only through her marriage to a fellow US Army service member. The paper did mention she had served as “Miss Renee Messelin,” but that “Miss” was likely in error, considering the earlier article.  The 1920 Census shows that Renee and Edward Van Gundy lived in Colorado in 1920, before they moved to California later that year. The Census recorded Renee’s birthplace as France.

Fresno Morning Republican, Fresno, California • Sun, Nov 21, 1920, Page 11

After 1920, Renee Van Gundy went missing from the historical record. Edward Van Gundy is found in the next Federal census in Missouri with his wife, Ruth, a native of Ohio. Ruth is most likely his second wife. Where did Renee go?

A search for Renee Van Gundy uncovers a New York City marriage record, although her father’s name is listed as Henri Van Gundy. This may not be the right person, considering that the Hello Girl Renee was not born as a Van Gundy. And why would Renee be in New York?

I needed to take another tack. Another genealogy trick is that to go forward, you go backward; always working from the known to the unknown.

Going back to the 1918 Army Transport manifest, Renee’s emergency contact was listed as her aunt, Mamie G. Rich, in Chicago. If Renee’s mother or siblings can be found, their obituaries could reveal where Renee had gone.

A quick check of the Federal Census from 1920 shows that Mamie G. Rich lived with her husband, Fred Rich. They were enumerated as Black, and Mamie had been born in Texas. The census recorded each person’s parents’ places of birth, and Mamie’s record said that her parents were both born in France.

Given Mrs. Rich’s race, I deemed it unlikely that this woman was Renee’s relative, even if her parents were French.

In the early 20^th century, the US Army was a racially segregated Army.  When General Pershing called for women telephone operators, he did not specify that the women must be white. The subsequent advertisement for applicants did not specify that the women must be white. The application did not have “race” as a question. Yet, everyone knew. No African American women were accepted, if any did apply. Certainly, the segregated Army didn’t knowingly accept any woman of African descent.

Fortunately for the search, another member of the research team, Jill Frahm, had records from Merle Anderson, a Hello Girl and tireless advocate. Mrs. Anderson had been a driving force behind the Hello Girls recognition as Veterans. As part of that work, she maintained a list of her comrades. In that list, Renee reappeared as the wife of Robert Arthur. The woman who married in New York was the right Renee after all. According to the address list, Mrs. Renee Arthur lived in Chicago.

Renee kept that name and that husband, who was at least her third, for the rest of her life. They lived in Chicago until at least 1950, as they were easily traced through the census records. The census records continued to tell the story that she had been born in France, except for the 1950 census (which recorded California).  A Florida newspaper article revealed that the couple purchased a home in Florida, while on vacation there.

When Mrs. Renee Arthur died in 1977, her obituary was published in Florida. While the article told of her service in the Army and of her radio and film career, no mention was made of her place of burial. Since we were looking for their final resting places, we needed to keep looking.

St. Petersburg Times, Aug 9, 1977

Once again, the research must go back to go forward. Renee might be buried in Chicago where she had lived with Mr. Robert Arthur. Chicago was also where her emergency contact, Mrs. Mamie Rich, had lived. Perhaps Mrs. Rich had been white and married to a Black man. The census might have been in error in enumerating her as Black. Mrs. Rich’s sibling might have been Renee’s parent, born back in France. I was now on the trail of Mrs. Rich and her history.

The 1900 Census recorded Mrs. Rich with her first husband, Mack W. Caldwell. This census, her parents’ birthplaces were recorded as Scotland and Texas rather than France. Their three children are with them, and supposedly Renee’s cousins. Sadly, the 1890 census records were destroyed in a fire in 1921. Without that record, the 20-year chasm back to 1880 is often hard to cross. Their eldest child had been born in 1885, so they were unlikely to have been together in 1880.

Unsure of where to find Mrs. Caldwell in 1880 and not having her maiden name, I shifted to looking for her first husband. Fortunately, a search for Mack W. Caldwell produced his marriage record to Mamie Parks in Texas in 1883.

The Mack Caldwell search also yielded a marriage record for a woman named Ellarane Messelin. Mack was listed as her father when she married Edward Van Gundy in California in October of 1919. Given that Ellarane has never been a common name, it had to be more than coincidence that the Caldwell’s daughter in the 1900 census was also named Ellarane. The entire family was enumerated as “Mulatto.” (While the term was supposed to have a clear definition, most often it was the enumerator’s opinion regarding how light-skinned the people were)

At this point, I began to seriously consider the possibility of Renee Messelin was African American. However unlikely, given the segregated nature of the Army at the time, the evidence was pointing in that direction. Knowing the significance of such a discovery though, the evidence needed to be as complete as possible.

Her marriage certificate to Van Gundy named Mack Caldwell and Mamie Parr as her parents. Even still, she claimed to be white. (Of course, she would have needed to be white to marry a white man in California, as interracial marriage had been illegal in that state since 1850. The marriage certificate would not have been issued had she answered “Black” to the question of “color or race.”) Was Ellarane Caldwell continuing a carefully crafted narrative?

Looking for more information about Ellarane Caldwell yielded much. She had been born on September 12, 1890. Renee’s military record listed September 12^th as her birthday, as did her death record. The various records showed a consistent birth date of September 12^th. Although the years varied, such variance is not uncommon in a time before birth certificates and when women were often encouraged to appear young.

A woman in Chicago named Ellarane Caldwell had married Maurice Messelin in 1913. While the record found didn’t show her parents’ names or her birthdate, Maurice Messelin was Renee’s husband in 1916 when the newspaper reported on their divorce.

Ellarane’s second marriage record, to Maurice Messelin, 10 July 1913, Chicago (left); article in San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, California, Tue, Nov 14, 1916, Page 8, about divorce filing by Renee Messelin, 1916, San Francisco (right)

The last piece of the puzzle was the dog that didn’t bark. While Maurice Messelin’s immigration record was found quickly, Renee’s was not. Mr. Messelin had arrived alone in 1911 and was single at the time. Renee never returned to France to visit family either. In fact, the only trans-Atlantic passage found for Renee Messelin was with the US Army.

Maurice Messelin is listed on the manifest of the SS La Tourine, departing Le Havre, France on April 8, 1911.

I was now convinced. Renee Messelin, accomplished US Army Signal Corps Chief Operator, had been born Ellarane Caldwell, the child of a prominent African American couple.

How did Renee (born Ellarane) manage to convince so many people, including interviewers, recruiters, her Army comrades (including French natives), at least two of her husbands, as well as seasoned researchers, that she was born in Marseilles?

First, Renee was an exceedingly intelligent woman and a quick study. She learned French well enough to pass as a native speaker. As an aside, she also spoke fluent Spanish. Renee was an outstanding telephone operator, although she had not worked in the profession nearly as long as some of her comrades. As late as 1916, she had been working as an interpreter and secretary. Renee was so proficient an operator that she was one of only four supervisors in the first group of women to go to France. She was later promoted to Chief Operator in November of 1918.

Telegraphed report on Renee Messelin’s initial interview for the Signal Corps.

Second, much of what she told the Army had been true. During Renee’s initial interview for the Signal Corps, she stated that she was a citizen of France. She was a French citizen. Even though Renee had been born in Chicago, by the time she applied to join the Army, she was not an American. In 1907, the Expatriation Act decreed that an American woman who married a foreigner lost her citizenship. Renee’s marriage to Maurice in 1913 made her a citizen of France. (Note that two years after gaining the vote, American women successfully lobbied to have this law changed. The Married Women’s Independent Nationality Act allowed American women to keep their citizenship, under certain circumstances.)

Third, the American definition of being Black meaning any African American heritage combined with the naturally occurring variety of skin tone meant that African Americans could and did “pass” as white.

Renee likely had to sacrifice her ties to her family to serve. The Arthur home in Chicago was less than 10 miles from her childhood home. It’s not known if she ever visited her mother or brother. Her father, Mack Caldwell, had been an early union organizer who wrote extensively on racial issues. Her mother, Mamie Rich, sponsored the Phyllis Wheatley home, which supported women and girls moving north in the Great Migration. They, and their daughter, would have been well-known in the African American community.

Following her time in the Army, Renee worked in the movies in California and later in radio in Chicago. Footage and recordings survive, under her stage name of Renee Rodier.

Photos of Renee Rodier during her show business career. Top left: pictured in the “AFRA antics” published by the American Federation of Radio Artists, Chicago Local, April, 1950. Bottom left: pictured in the July 9-15, 1933 issue of Radio Guide magazine. Center: advertisement published in the January 1933 Evansville, IN newspaper. This picture, or cropped versions of this picture, with this text ran in newspapers across the United States, often under the title “Exotic” Right: photo of Renee in costume published in the January, 1933 issue of the Toronto newspaper.

Ellarane/Renee Caldwell Messelin VanGundy Arthur was a clever woman, who lived an remarkable life including service to her country. She sacrificed much to serve the Army and her nation. She hid from view so cleverly that it took over 100 years to discover the full truth of her sacrifices.

Mrs. Renee Arthur is now the first documented African American woman to have served in the US Army. Who knows how many others cleverly disguised their background because they were determined to serve a nation that was not ready to embrace their service?

Her place of burial remains a mystery. We continue to comb through records, and when we find it, we will ensure that she is properly recognized as the Veteran that she is with a military headstone from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Diane Boettcher

Diane Boettcher is a retired US Navy Captain, who has pursued her own family tree for the last three decades. She learned to clean headstones, focusing on forgotten Veterans’ headstones in private cemeteries. Diane became involved with the restoration of Ellsworth Cemetery after relocating to Maryland during 2020. She works for Microsoft as a Chief of Staff.

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