The Dakan Family

The Dakan family, related to the Wayts by marriage, were long-time denizens of Marshall County, West Virginia.

Henry Grover and Elsie Wayt Dakan, and their three sons, Harold (oldest), Robert G. (standing), and infant Henry Lawrence taken at the end of 1917. (Photo courtesy of Diana Dakan Coslick.)

Grand-daughter Diana Dakan Coslick notes: "The picture [above] was taken in 1917 and shows Elsie Wayt (my grandmother) holding baby Henry Lawrence Dakan (my father). Upper left is son Robert age 3, husband Henry G. Dakan age 30, and son Harold age 7. Henry died in the flu epidemic in March 1919 and their son Howard was born in October of that same year.

"Elsie raised the four boys on the farm at Fork Ridge and was well liked and respected in the community. After the children left home she did some practical nursing and then sold the farm and took a position as head of the Children's Shelter in Moundsville where she worked for many years till her retirement about 1970. She moved to Pittsburgh to be near her youngest son's family and then traveled the country by tour bus. She suffered strokes and lived in a nursing home several years and passed away in 1973. When I was left to raise four children alone and life seemed tough I always looked to my grandmother for strength: "she did it and I can, too."