Minnie was born to Henry E. & Jane "Jennie" (Kashow) Ruffley, in San Francisco. In 1883, she was "adopted" by a woman of unknown name, and Minnie came to be raised by Mrs. Lola Lea Earl, and was known as Gypsy Earl, of the Earl Sisters, a successful circus act known for being lady jockeys, contortionists, trapeze artists, dancers and doing vaudeville shows.
From the time she was 3, until she left the stage at 15, she was a performer, doing dances and vaudeville acts with her sisters. The Earl Sisters returned from being part of Frank A. Gardner's South American Circus on the Yumuri, in April 1896, after which Gypsy was living at the "Earl Villa" in Dunellen, Middlesex Co., NJ.
She was married to John J. Goff, Jr., in Middlesex Co., NJ, on 20 Jun 1900. This marriage apparently didn't last long, and she was married to Henry F. Himbert, a successful butcher and a native of New Orleans, about 1901. They had two children, Nelson Raymond Himbert, who died as an infant, and Hazel Elizabeth Himbert. Henry died in 1912. Minnie then married Edgar Paul Daurin on 17 May 1918. About two weeks later, Edgar was sent to France to fight in World War I. He returned a year later.
For 40 years, she and her family had operated a popular meat and delicatessen business known as the Daurin-Himbert stall in the French Market, which her family had operated for some 60 years.
When she was 19, in a quarrel with Lola Earl, her foster-mother told her she was not her daughter, and was a foundling. However, she was not told her identity. In 1911, she received information from a stranger in Europe telling her the name of her mother, and in 1913 was able to locate her family in San Francisco. Sadly, it was 8 years after her mother, whom she'd been searching for, had passed. Though she returned to her birth name, Minnie, after discovering her identity, she remained close to Hazel, and was especially fond of Zella, two of her Earl "sisters."
Minnie was a member of the Louisiana Circle of Druids.
She was survived by her husband, Edgar; daughter, Hazel Sinopoli, of Gulfport, Miss.,; four grandchildren; and sister, Mrs. E. T. [Emile T.] Combe (aka Hazel Earl aka Gail Showen).
In the 1900 census for Dunellen, Middlesex Co., NJ, she is indicated as being born April 1881 in CA.
From the time she was 3, until she left the stage at 15, she was a performer, doing dances and vaudeville acts with her sisters. The Earl Sisters returned from being part of Frank A. Gardner's South American Circus on the Yumuri, in April 1896, after which Gypsy was living at the "Earl Villa" in Dunellen, Middlesex Co., NJ.
She was married to John J. Goff, Jr., in Middlesex Co., NJ, on 20 Jun 1900. This marriage apparently didn't last long, and she was married to Henry F. Himbert, a successful butcher and a native of New Orleans, about 1901. They had two children, Nelson Raymond Himbert, who died as an infant, and Hazel Elizabeth Himbert. Henry died in 1912. Minnie then married Edgar Paul Daurin on 17 May 1918. About two weeks later, Edgar was sent to France to fight in World War I. He returned a year later.
For 40 years, she and her family had operated a popular meat and delicatessen business known as the Daurin-Himbert stall in the French Market, which her family had operated for some 60 years.
When she was 19, in a quarrel with Lola Earl, her foster-mother told her she was not her daughter, and was a foundling. However, she was not told her identity. In 1911, she received information from a stranger in Europe telling her the name of her mother, and in 1913 was able to locate her family in San Francisco. Sadly, it was 8 years after her mother, whom she'd been searching for, had passed. Though she returned to her birth name, Minnie, after discovering her identity, she remained close to Hazel, and was especially fond of Zella, two of her Earl "sisters."
Minnie was a member of the Louisiana Circle of Druids.
She was survived by her husband, Edgar; daughter, Hazel Sinopoli, of Gulfport, Miss.,; four grandchildren; and sister, Mrs. E. T. [Emile T.] Combe (aka Hazel Earl aka Gail Showen).
In the 1900 census for Dunellen, Middlesex Co., NJ, she is indicated as being born April 1881 in CA.
Minnie was born to Henry E. & Jane "Jennie" (Kashow) Ruffley, in San Francisco. In 1883, she was "adopted" by a woman of unknown name, and Minnie came to be raised by Mrs. Lola Lea Earl, and was known as Gypsy Earl, of the Earl Sisters, a successful circus act known for being lady jockeys, contortionists, trapeze artists, dancers and doing vaudeville shows.
From the time she was 3, until she left the stage at 15, she was a performer, doing dances and vaudeville acts with her sisters. The Earl Sisters returned from being part of Frank A. Gardner's South American Circus on the Yumuri, in April 1896, after which Gypsy was living at the "Earl Villa" in Dunellen, Middlesex Co., NJ.
She was married to John J. Goff, Jr., in Middlesex Co., NJ, on 20 Jun 1900. This marriage apparently didn't last long, and she was married to Henry F. Himbert, a successful butcher and a native of New Orleans, about 1901. They had two children, Nelson Raymond Himbert, who died as an infant, and Hazel Elizabeth Himbert. Henry died in 1912. Minnie then married Edgar Paul Daurin on 17 May 1918. About two weeks later, Edgar was sent to France to fight in World War I. He returned a year later.
For 40 years, she and her family had operated a popular meat and delicatessen business known as the Daurin-Himbert stall in the French Market, which her family had operated for some 60 years.
When she was 19, in a quarrel with Lola Earl, her foster-mother told her she was not her daughter, and was a foundling. However, she was not told her identity. In 1911, she received information from a stranger in Europe telling her the name of her mother, and in 1913 was able to locate her family in San Francisco. Sadly, it was 8 years after her mother, whom she'd been searching for, had passed. Though she returned to her birth name, Minnie, after discovering her identity, she remained close to Hazel, and was especially fond of Zella, two of her Earl "sisters."
Minnie was a member of the Louisiana Circle of Druids.
She was survived by her husband, Edgar; daughter, Hazel Sinopoli, of Gulfport, Miss.,; four grandchildren; and sister, Mrs. E. T. [Emile T.] Combe (aka Hazel Earl aka Gail Showen).
In the 1900 census for Dunellen, Middlesex Co., NJ, she is indicated as being born April 1881 in CA.
From the time she was 3, until she left the stage at 15, she was a performer, doing dances and vaudeville acts with her sisters. The Earl Sisters returned from being part of Frank A. Gardner's South American Circus on the Yumuri, in April 1896, after which Gypsy was living at the "Earl Villa" in Dunellen, Middlesex Co., NJ.
She was married to John J. Goff, Jr., in Middlesex Co., NJ, on 20 Jun 1900. This marriage apparently didn't last long, and she was married to Henry F. Himbert, a successful butcher and a native of New Orleans, about 1901. They had two children, Nelson Raymond Himbert, who died as an infant, and Hazel Elizabeth Himbert. Henry died in 1912. Minnie then married Edgar Paul Daurin on 17 May 1918. About two weeks later, Edgar was sent to France to fight in World War I. He returned a year later.
For 40 years, she and her family had operated a popular meat and delicatessen business known as the Daurin-Himbert stall in the French Market, which her family had operated for some 60 years.
When she was 19, in a quarrel with Lola Earl, her foster-mother told her she was not her daughter, and was a foundling. However, she was not told her identity. In 1911, she received information from a stranger in Europe telling her the name of her mother, and in 1913 was able to locate her family in San Francisco. Sadly, it was 8 years after her mother, whom she'd been searching for, had passed. Though she returned to her birth name, Minnie, after discovering her identity, she remained close to Hazel, and was especially fond of Zella, two of her Earl "sisters."
Minnie was a member of the Louisiana Circle of Druids.
She was survived by her husband, Edgar; daughter, Hazel Sinopoli, of Gulfport, Miss.,; four grandchildren; and sister, Mrs. E. T. [Emile T.] Combe (aka Hazel Earl aka Gail Showen).
In the 1900 census for Dunellen, Middlesex Co., NJ, she is indicated as being born April 1881 in CA.
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