Using the ABC method described in Using Artificial Intelligence In the Ancestor Biography Creation (ABC) Process, here is another ancestor biography using the Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4 AI tool.
The Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4 biography is:
Biography of Lyle Lawrence Carringer (1891-1976)
A San Diego Pioneer's Story
Early Life and Family Origins
Lyle Lawrence Carringer was born on November 2, 1891, in San Diego, California, during an era when the city was still a small frontier town of fewer than 17,000 residents. He was the second child of Henry Austin Carringer and Abbey Ardelle "Della" (Smith) Carringer, but his older brother Devier David died in infancy, making him particularly precious to his parents.
When Lyle entered the world, his family lived at 16th and Market Streets in downtown San Diego. His father Henry had been born in Pennsylvania, while his mother Della hailed from Wisconsin, and they married in Wano, Kansas in 1887, and took the train to San Diego soon after. This represents the westward migration that characterized many California families of the late 1800s. Lyle knew his paternal grandparents, D.J. Carringer and Rebecca (Spangler) Carringer, who came to San Diego in the late 1890’s, while his maternal grandmother, Abbie (Vaux) Smith, who came in 1891 soon after Lyle’s birth, completed the close-knit family circle.
In 1898, when Lyle was seven years old, the family built a house at 2105 30th Street, at the northeast corner of what is now 30th and Hawthorn Streets. This would become the childhood home where Lyle would grow to manhood, surrounded by the love of not only his parents but also his grandparents and uncle Edgar Carringer, who all appear in a charming family photograph taken around 1900.
Education and Early Career
Lyle's educational journey reflected the expanding opportunities available in San Diego's growing community. He began his schooling at Logan School, where he attended kindergarten through second grade, before transferring to Sherman Elementary School for grades three through eight. His dedication to learning continued at San Diego High School, where he studied from September 1909 to June 1914—a five-year tenure that demonstrated both his commitment to education and perhaps the flexibility of academic programs in that era.
Recognizing the importance of practical skills in the business world, Lyle also attended Kelsey-Jenney Commercial College's night school program, preparing himself for a career in commerce and accounting.
Even as a youth, Lyle demonstrated remarkable work ethic and ambition. In 1905, at just fourteen years old, he began working as a cash boy at Marston's Department Store, located at 6th and C Street in downtown San Diego. This wasn't merely a part-time job—it was the beginning of what would become a lifelong career with one of San Diego's most prominent retail establishments.
Over the years, Lyle's reliability and skill earned him promotions through various positions: cashier, mail order clerk, post office clerk, floorwalker, accountant and auditor. By 1917, he had established himself as a valued employee, demonstrating the kind of steady character that would define his entire life. His daily commute from the family home on 30th Street to downtown San Diego was made via the trolley system, riding down 30th Street to Broadway—a journey he would continue for decades until the trolley tracks were removed in the late 1940s. In later years, he rode the bus to and from work.
Military Service: A Marine in World War I
On May 7, 1917, as America entered World War I, twenty-five-year-old Lyle enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserves as a Private Class 4, committing to four years of service. His enlistment record provides a vivid picture of the young man: 5'7¾" tall, weighing 121 pounds, with hazel eyes, brown hair, and a fair complexion. His chest measurement expanded from 30 inches to 34½ inches, indicating the physical conditioning expected of Marines.
Despite having never handled a rifle before, Lyle proved himself at North Island on August 1, 1917, when he qualified as a marksman—an achievement he modestly attributed to luck. His service record shows he trained in both San Diego and Washington state before being posted to the Barracks Detachment at the Marine Barracks in Balboa Park in San Diego, not far from his home.
While Lyle did not see combat action in World War I, his service was honorable and valuable. He worked as a clerk in the Post Exchange at the base from August 6, 1917, until the war's end, using his commercial skills to serve his country. On March 29, 1919, he was transferred to inactive status, and on May 6, 1921, he received his honorable discharge, having fulfilled his commitment to both his country and the Marine Corps.
Marriage and Family Life
Love found Lyle during his military service when he met Emily Kemp Auble, probably while working at Marston’s. At marriage, she was a young woman eighteen years old to his twenty-six. Their wedding took place on June 19, 1918, at the Central Christian Church in San Diego, officiated by Reverend W.E. Crabtree. The ceremony was intimate, with only immediate families present, but the local newspaper gave it proper attention.
The San Diego Union announced their marriage with evident approval: "Mrs. Georgia K. Auble has announced the marriage of her daughter, Emily Kemp Auble, to Lyle Carringer, who is stationed with the marines at Balboa Park." The article noted that both were San Diego high school graduates and that Lyle was "the only son of Mr. and Mrs. H.A. Carringer, 2105 Thirtieth street, who are almost pioneers of this city."
The wedding was described as "very quiet and came as a complete surprise to the many friends of the couple." Emily wore a blue silk suit with a large white hat and had no attendants—a simple elegance that suited the wartime period. The newlyweds initially made their home at the Marine View apartments at First and Hawthorne streets.
Emily brought her own family connections to the marriage. Born in Illinois, she was the daughter of Georgia K. Auble, who had been born in Canada and immigrated to the United States in 1889, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1898 after her marriage to Charles Auble in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The family resided in Chicago until 1911 when thety came to San Diego. Charles died in 1916. Georgia would become a beloved and permanent member of the Carringer household, living with Lyle and Emily for decades and contributing to the warm family atmosphere.
The Arrival of Betty and Building a Home
On July 30, 1919, just over a year after their marriage, Lyle and Emily welcomed their only child, Betty Virginia Carringer, born in San Diego. By this time, the young family had moved to a rented house at 2054 Harrison Street, where they appeared in the 1920 U.S. census as a complete household that included Emily's mother, Georgia K. Auble.
The census provides a snapshot of their early married life: Lyle, at twenty-eight, was working as an auditor in a dry goods store, while twenty-year-old Emily managed their home and cared for five-month-old Betty. Georgia Auble, then fifty and widowed, had become an integral part of their family structure.
In 1920, demonstrating both ambition and family loyalty, Lyle and Emily built a new house at 2130 Fern Street in San Diego on the same block as the Henry Austin Carringer home. Lyle bought several lots from his parents, borrowed money from his parents to construct this family home, with Betty later remembering that the mortgage payment was $21.10 per month—a significant sum for a young family in the 1920s, but manageable with Lyle's steady employment at Marston's.
The Depression Era and Garden Paradise
The 1930s brought the Great Depression to America, but the Carringer family weathered these difficult times with characteristic resilience. The 1930 census shows them still at 2130 Fern Street, with their home now valued at $10,000 and featuring the modern convenience of a radio. Lyle, now thirty-eight, continued his work as an office worker in a dry goods store, while Emily, having married at eighteen, devoted herself to homemaking. Betty, approaching her eleventh birthday, was thriving as a California-born child of the new century.
It was during this period that Lyle and Emily created something truly special—a garden that would become legendary in their San Diego neighborhood. The 1935 feature article in the San Diego Union, titled "Carringer Gardens, Model of Beauty, Have Also Wealth of Entertainment," provides a wonderful window into their creativity and hospitality.
The Carringers transformed their property into what the newspaper called "distinctly in the livable small garden or outdoor living room class." Their garden featured four fish pools filled with active fish that sometimes playfully moved out onto the grass. The pools were strategically placed to invite guests outdoors, starting with a small pool near the rear door and leading to a larger, sunny pool planted with lilies and overhung with shrubs.
The garden included flower beds, cacti and succulents, and several fruit trees, all accessible from the pools. The centerpiece was a lath house furnished with chairs and tables—an outdoor entertainment area that included two more small pools. One was designed as a rill in the heart of a pretty rockery, while the other was a shadowy oval presided over by a rice plant with curving stalks topped with leaves "like giant hands." Above this pool, a tree appeared to rest on the water, supported by an invisible stand that had formerly been a piano stool—a touch of "clever household ingenuity."
The entertainment features included a grill built on a rock structure at the end of the lath house, which could be decorated with potted plants when not in use. Perhaps most remarkably, a heated glass house annex contained aquariums filled with tropical fish—paradise fish, moons, guppies, and other exotic swimmers living in "grassy water jungles." Each aquarium had individual radiators and thermometers for perfect comfort, allowing the tropical fish to thrive alongside the goldfish in the outdoor pools.
This garden paradise reflected Lyle's practical nature combined with Emily's aesthetic sense, creating a space that was both beautiful and functional for entertaining friends and family.
Property Investments and Family Stability
In the late 1920s, Lyle built two small cottages on 30th Street for rental income. By the late 1930s, Lyle was making strategic property investments that would benefit his family for generations. In 1938, he sold the cottages at 2123 and 2127 30th Street to his wife Emily as her separate property, later converting it to joint tenancy in 1950. These properties, along with the family's growing real estate portfolio, demonstrated Lyle's business acumen and long-term planning.
The 1940 census reveals a family at the height of their prosperity. Lyle, now forty-eight with four years of high school education, was working as an office clerk in a retail department store, having worked fifty-two weeks in 1939 and earned $1,475—a solid middle-class income for the time. Emily, forty-one, had also worked in 1939 as a clerical worker and saleslady in the same retail environment, contributing $269 to the family income.
Their daughter Betty, now twenty, was pursuing higher education with four years of college, working as a student art clerk and earning $100 in 1939. The household was completed by Georgia Auble, now seventy-one, who continued to manage housework while being a naturalized U.S. citizen.
When World War II came to America, fifty-year-old Lyle registered for the draft in 1942. His registration card shows he was still employed at Marston & Co. at 6th & C Street, still living at 2130 Fern Street with Emily, and still committed to serving his country if called upon.
Betty graduated from San Diego State College and became a junior high school Art and English teacher. She met Frederick W. Seaver and married him on July 12, 1942 in San Diego. Initially Fred and Betty lived in Chula Vista, but when Fred enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1944, Betty and her first child Randy moved in with Lyle and Emily on Fern Street. After the war ended, Fred came home and they lived in one of the Fern Street apartments.
Lyle’s mother, Della died in January 1944, and his father Austin died in 1946. Lyle inherited all of the Carringer land which now included five rental units on the block. In about 1948, Lyle and Emily moved into Austin Carringer’s home at 2115 30th Street and Betty and her growing family moved into 2119 30th Street upstairs from 2115 30th Street.
Post-War Prosperity and Point Loma
The post-war era brought continued prosperity to the Carringer family. The 1950 census shows them living at 2115 30th Street, with fifty-eight-year-old Lyle working forty-five hours per week as an office man in an invoice office at a department store. His income had grown substantially to $3,615 as an employee, plus an additional $3,510 from dividends, interest, and rents—clear evidence of successful investments and financial planning.
In a major life change, Lyle and Emily sold their beloved Fern Street property in 1950. They sold the main property to John M. and Leona E. Smith for $8,850. Another parcel on the south end of the block was sold to Glenn Glasford for $9,000, who built apartment houses on the land. The remaining properties—apartments and cottages that would eventually pass to their daughter Betty—provided ongoing rental income for the family.
On August 24, 1950, Lyle and Emily purchased a triangular lot on Point Loma at the intersection of Armada Terrace and Harbor View Place for $3,750. There they built what would become their dream home—a unique and beautiful two-bedroom wood house at 825 Harbor View Place, overlooking San Diego Bay with spectacular views of the city, North Island, and the mountains to the east.
This Point Loma home became the setting for some of the family's most cherished memories. Lyle and Emily terraced the land below the house and planted fruit trees and colorful shrubs, creating another garden paradise. Their grandchildren would later recall fond memories of Christmas Eves spent in the spare bedroom, singing Christmas carols and falling asleep before Santa Claus arrived.
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Passions and Interests
Beyond his work and family life, Lyle cultivated interests that connected him to the wider world. Starting in the 1920s and continuing until the end of his life, he was an avid stamp collector who corresponded with fellow collectors around the globe. This hobby brought unexpected friendships—over the years, friends from as far away as Pitcairn Island and Australia came to visit the Carringers in San Diego. Family, friends, and coworkers regularly sent postcards from their travels worldwide, adding to Lyle's collections and keeping the family connected to distant places.
Lyle was also an accomplished photographer, and family albums preserved his images of family groups, San Diego scenes, and countless pictures of his daughter Betty as she grew up. His photographs provide a visual record of San Diego's development and the family's life throughout the decades.
His interests extended to practical matters as well. Lyle was described as "a hardy and enterprising man who liked to garden, do handyman work on the properties, and go for automobile rides in the countryside." These activities kept him active and engaged, whether he was tending to his gardens, maintaining his rental properties, or exploring the scenic areas around San Diego by car.
Career Achievement and Retirement
Lyle's career at Marston's Department Store was remarkable for both its longevity and steady advancement. From his start as a fourteen-year-old cash boy in 1905, he worked his way up through various positions, eventually becoming an accountant and auditor. His fifty-six-year career with the same company—from 1905 to 1960—was a testament to both his dedication and the loyalty that characterized employer-employee relationships in earlier eras.
When Lyle retired in 1960 at age sixty-eight, he had witnessed and participated in San Diego's transformation from a frontier town to a major American city. His retirement was well-deserved after nearly half a century of faithful service to one of the city's most important businesses. His association with Marston's continued even after retirement—he was a member of the Marston Oldtimers, maintaining friendships with former colleagues.
Character and Legacy
Those who knew Lyle described him as "a disciplined, kind and gentle man, yet firm, who loved his family very much." This characterization captures the essence of a man who balanced strength with kindness, providing steady leadership for his family while maintaining warm relationships with all who knew him.
His membership in organizations like the Marston Oldtimers and the East End gang showed his commitment to community and friendship. These connections enriched his retirement years and provided continuity with his working life.
When Lyle inherited all of the family property after his father Henry's death in 1946, he became the keeper of family traditions and memories. The properties he maintained and the investments he made provided security not just for Emily and himself, but for their daughter Betty and future generations.
Final Years and Passing
Lyle's final years were spent in the beautiful Point Loma home he and Emily had created, surrounded by the views of San Diego Bay that had captivated them for a quarter-century. His health began to decline in his eighties, and he eventually required care in a San Diego convalescent hospital.
On November 5, 1976, just three days after his eighty-fifth birthday, Lyle Lawrence Carringer passed away from pulmonary edema and cardiac failure due to colon cancer. Emily, his devoted wife of fifty-eight years, survived him by less than a year, dying at home following a stroke.
Lyle's obituary in both the San Diego Union and San Diego Evening Tribune honored him as a lifelong county resident and native San Diegan. The services were held at Cypress View Mortuary, with inurnment in the mortuary mausoleum. His survivors included Emily, daughter Betty Seaver, three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren—a family legacy that continues to honor his memory.
A Life Well Lived
Lyle Lawrence Carringer's life spanned eighty-five years of remarkable change in San Diego and America. Born when San Diego was still a small frontier town, he lived to see it become a major metropolitan area. He witnessed two world wars, the Great Depression, and the post-war boom, adapting to each era while maintaining the steady character that defined him.
His legacy lives on not only in his descendants but in the properties he developed, the gardens he created, and the example he set of dedication to family, work, and community. From the boy who started as a cash boy at Marston's to the man who built a financial foundation for his family's future, Lyle Carringer embodied the American dream of hard work, integrity, and family devotion.
His story is one of quiet achievement—not of headlines or fame, but of the steady, reliable character that built families and communities. In an age of rapid change, Lyle Carringer represented the enduring values that create lasting legacies: love of family, dedication to work, service to country, and the wisdom to build not just for today, but for generations to come.
) A poem and song lyrics to commemorate and celebrate the life of Mary Ann (Underhill) Vaux can be found in "Lyle's San Diego Dreams" - A Genealogy Poem and Song Created by Artificial Intelligence. The song created from the song lyrics can be played in that blog post, and on Suno.com, and below:
Links to my blog posts about using Artificial Intelligence are on my Randy's AI and Genealogy page. Links to AI information and articles about Artificial Intelligence in Genealogy by other genealogists are on my AI and Genealogy Compendium page.
Copyright (c) 2025, Randall J. Seaver
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