Dorothy DeVonda, Queen of the Air

In 1911, the manager of the Nelson fruit fair announced a sensational act would appear at the event that year: famed balloonist Dorothy DeVonda.

According to the Daily News, “This attraction will undoubtedly be one of the features of the fair. The intrepid lady ascends to a great height, accompanied by a dog, and the lady and the dog descent [sic] by separate parachutes, both being in the air at the same time.” [1]

Nelson Daily News, Sept. 13, 1911

Three days before the fair, DeVonda’s performance was still being advertised. [2] Yet when the event began, she was nowhere to be seen. There was no explanation for her no-show. She simply wasn’t mentioned again. What a pity, for DeVonda was part of a fascinating cohort of stuntwomen who took to the skies in the early 20th century.

She was born Anna Dorothy Gates in Sparta, Michigan in 1881 to Adelbert (or Merle) Gates and Minnie Bleimeyer. She was the sixth of nine children, but we don’t know much about her childhood. [3]

Her sister Anna, who was less than nine months her junior, married Eugene Sprague in 1898, when he and Anna were each about 17. Sprague was described as a professional balloonist, so we can assume it was through him that Dorothy was first exposed to the world of aeronautics. 

By mid-1899, Sprague was touring with the Consolidated Balloon and Parachute Co. — and behaving like a cad. [4]

He met a girl who toured Michigan with him for several weeks. He claimed he wanted to marry her (despite the fact he was still married to Anna), but her parents objected. Next he set his sights on Mabel Schumacher of Racine, Wisc. One evening they were riding bicycles together when a streetcar ran over them. Both were killed. [5]

Authorities had a hard time tracing Sprague’s next-of-kin and figuring out what to do with his body. [6] They didn’t appear to know about Anna. To make matters worse, two days before Sprague’s death, Anna had given birth to their daughter. Anna said she didn’t know where Sprague was and that he had failed to provide for her. [7]

By Dorothy’s account, she began her ballooning career about a year after her brother-in-law’s death.

“I had only seen two ascensions [sic] when I began to believe that I would like the life,” she later told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “When I got a chance to close a contract I did so, and the first trip I made was at Oconomowoc, Wisc., July 4, 1900. None of the spectators knew that it was a new thing for me and I acquitted myself with all the nonchalance in the world.” [8]

After riding her balloon for a mile or two, she jumped and hit some telephone wires on the way down. When she emerged unscathed, “it gave me no end of confidence.” [9]

But she hadn’t adopted the name Dorothy DeVonda yet, so what did she call herself? I checked the Wisconsin Free Press: it attributed the ascension on that date to a “Miss Belmont, who … landed in the net of telephone wires in front of Pythian Hall, but escaped without injury.” [10]

This suggests she was touring with the Belmont Sisters, an act her late brother-in-law had once been associated with. I may be reading too much into this, but I get the impression Dorothy had a complicated relationship with the Belmonts, who were probably both her chief rivals and best friends.

The Belmonts — including Cleo, Mabel, and Lucielle — weren’t actually sisters. And none may have actually been named Belmont. Lucielle’s real surname was Dashiell, but I don’t know about the others. [11]

(Whenever a new Belmont sister was required, a classified ad like this one would appear in the Grand Rapids Press: “WANTED —  Lady to make balloon ascension immediately; experience not necessary, salary $25 and all necessary expenses. Write or telephone Belmont Sisters Balloon Co., Reed City, Mich.” [12])

Cleo had the title “Princess of Lady Balloonists,” a name reportedly bestowed upon her “for recklessness and daring.” [13] Indeed, in 1899 she made a 4,000-foot jump at Raleigh, N.C. when something went terribly wrong, “her body being dashed to pieces.” Cleo dusted herself off and returned to the skies. [14]

The first sign of Dorothy’s later nom de balloon is at a performance in Vermont in August 1903. [15] I don’t know how she acquired it. Perhaps she was inspired by the community of Deronda, Wisc., or by the touring Chester DeVonde Stock Co. Maybe she just plucked it out of hot air.

Curiously, when she first used the name, it was as part of an act called the “Devonda Sisters.” I don’t know who the other supposed sister was. Her first name was never given. In 1905, the Devonda sisters squared off against the Belmont sisters in balloon races. [16]

From 1906 onward, Dorothy went solo and became a staple at fairs around the United States. A detailed description of her act during a Fourth of July celebration is found in Oshkosh, Wisc.’s Daily Northwestern of July 5, 1905 (I’ve added a few paragraph breaks):

A large crowd congregated at the rear of the Century Roller rink on Main street to watch Miss Dorothy DeVonda make a thrilling balloon ascension. The huge bag of the balloon while being filled with gas from a fire built of barrel staves and kerosene was held down by a large crowd of men and boys, many of whom when they got through had blackened hands and faces.

As the balloon slowly filled with gas and began to rise to the tops of the supporting poles, the “assistants” had a rather difficult time holding it down, the strong wind blowing it around in a manner that threatened every minute to tear the balloon from its fastenings. Finally at about 2:15 the word was given to the crowd holding on to the balloon to “let her go” and with a rush the huge affair went straight up in the air, the daring aeronout [sic] waving a handkerchief as she swiftly rose to a dizzy height. The balloon made a very pretty ascension.

The woman on the trapeze appeared absolutely fearless and rather seemed to enjoy the experience of being elevated to the clouds. The balloon rose to a height of several hundred feet and at a signal from the man who conducted the affair, Miss DeVonda pulled a rope that disconnected the parachute from the balloon and the swift descent to earth was commenced. The parachute dropped many feet before filling and opening and from that distance to the earth Miss DeVonda floated slowly down.

She landed near a farm house … She was brought back to the starting place in an automobile where she was applauded by the crowd that had witnessed the exciting aerial voyage. The balloon turned turtle when Miss DeVonda left it and the gas quickly leaked out. The huge bag fell near the place where the aeronaut alighted.

Dorothy also performed something called the high wire slide, or slide for life, where she went up in the balloon and then slid down a wire about 100 feet from the ground, supporting herself with her teeth. (“The feat was interesting and exciting,” a newspaper reported. [17])

In other instances, Dorothy’s act was the same one that she was supposed to bring to Nelson: ascending in a hot air balloon followed by a double parachute jump with her dog. In addition to an aeronaut, she was described as an aerialist, a balloonist (more specifically “the only reliable lady balloonist” [18]), and eventually did Cleo Belmont one better by billing herself as “Queen of the Air.” [19] (The term skydiver had not yet been coined.)

In her interview with the Journal Sentinel, Dorothy explained a major occupational hazard: the week prior she had made two ascents in Kenosha, and each time she splashed down in Lake Michigan. She couldn’t swim, but because she anticipated a watery landing, she wore a life preserver. It took 20 minutes to fish her out of the lake and another hour to rescue her drowned parachute. [20] Later in 1905 she was pulled from Crystal Lake in New York state. Her rescuers received life-saving medals. [21]

Another close call occurred in 1907 in Franklinville, NY, when her balloon somehow caught fire at an altitude of 3,000 feet. She released her parachute just in time. [22]

Billboard, July 27, 1907, advertised both the Belmont Sisters and Dorothy DeVonda.

Somewhere around that time, Dorothy married another balloonist, Clarence C. Baldwin (who in a few instances was referred to as C.C. DeVonda, but I don’t know if that was a mistake or if he shared her stage name). [23] He had been in the ballooning business for years, despite the fact it “brought its share of misfortune” to him and his family. He had reportedly witnessed the death of his father, also a balloonist, who landed in front of a train. [24]

Baldwin was reported in 1910 to be racing Cleo Belmont in Peoria for a $500 purse. His balloon landed first, but Cleo still beat him to the finish line to claim the prize. [25] Baldwin was later described as the Belmont sisters’ manager. [26]

About the time her forthcoming show in Nelson was announced, Dorothy and her husband moved to Monroe, Wisc. They were reportedly planning to buy an airplane. Dorothy was going to take flying lessons and then make the plane part of her act. But I haven’t seen any evidence it came to pass. [27]

Zanesville, Ohio Times-Recorder, June 1, 1909

On the days she was supposed to be in Nelson, Dorothy instead performed at a fair in Benton Harbor, Mich. [28] Was she double-booked? She was also expected to appear in Cranbrook in September 1912, but I don’t know if that happened either. [29]

Cancellations did seem to be a common occurrence with professional balloonists. In 1913, the local Dominion Day organizing committee at Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. “received a telegraph saying that a previous booking prevented [Dorothy] coming to the Sault.” [30] She was rebooked for a couple of months later, but cancelled again, citing unfavourable wind conditions. [31]

Sault Star, Sept. 7, 1912

On Sept. 19, 1914, while performing at Dunnville, Ont., her balloon had barely risen 50 feet when the trapeze and parachute detached and Dorothy fell to the ground. She broke an ankle and wrenched her back. The cause of the accident was unknown. Dorothy said it was her third accident to result in serious injury. [32]

Yet she was billed to perform again less than three weeks later at a fair in Simcoe, Ont. An ad had to reassure visitors: “Miss DeVonda, it is true, did suffer slight injuries in an accident to her parachute at Dunnville recently. But she has entirely recovered and sends word of her ability to carry out her engagement at Simcoe.” [33]

Also that year, Dorothy divorced C.C. Baldwin and married Edward (Duke) Waud of the Waud Brothers livery stables of Kalamazoo. [34] (Baldwin had by then already married Lucielle Belmont of the Belmont sisters.) [35]

Although Dorothy indicated she was done with ballooning, she changed her mind, and toured Kentucky in 1915 alongside a Miss Baldwin, whose relationship, if any, to Dorothy’s now ex-husband is unknown. [36]

It was advertised that Dorothy would return to the scene of her injury in Dunnville in September 1915 and try to make good on her performance, but I don’t know if it happened. [37] Either way, it appears she retired for good at the end of that season, at age 34.

Dorothy and Duke had a son, Edward Jr., born in 1917, but I don’t know much about their lives from there on. [38] On the 1920 census, Duke is shown as a shipping clerk in a writing tablet factory in Kalamazoo. [39] Later he ran a wholesale and retail gas and oil station. Duke died in 1934, age 54, following an illness of several months. [40]

In 1938, Dorothy married for a third time, at Elkhart, Ind. Her new husband was Austin Harlan. On the marriage registration, Dorothy listed her occupation as “entertainer.” [41]

The marriage only lasted a few years, because Dorothy developed a brain tumor. She died in hospital in Kalamazoo on Dec. 27, 1943, age 62. Her death registration should have listed her occupation as balloonist or aeronaut or daredevil. Instead, it said “housewife.” [42]

Her obituary similarly failed to mention her high-flying hijinks. At that time her son Edward was serving in the U.S. military as a bomber pilot in New Guinea. She was also survived by a stepdaughter, three brothers, and a sister. [43]

Dorothy was buried in Kalamazoo. Her grave marker says “Dorothy Waud Harlan 1881-1943.” [44] Her husband Austin died in 1946 and her son Edward died in 1969. A grandson, Jeffrey Waud, died in 2012. [45]

•

I was delighted to recently acquire a Dorothy DeVonda promotional postcard, which bears her actual signature. This card was produced by the Vaughan Publishing Co. of Monroe, whose president Leland C. White was also her last manager.

It’s an odd card: Dorothy’s head floats over a crowd watching her in flight. The reverse lists some of the company’s publications, which have nothing to do with her.

A genealogy site reproduces the text of an amazing letter Leland White sent to Dorothy on June 3, 1937, which reminisces about their days together, laments the decline of balloon ascents, and even mentions the postcard.

My Dear Dorothy,

My, but it seemed good to receive a letter from you and both Emeline and I appreciated it very much. I don't know when we last heard from you except that when Mr. Waud passed away, you mailed us a newspaper giving an account of his passing. I then wrote you.

Suppose you are surprised to see this stationery. I only have about a dozen sheets left but have a lot of the post cards. You may be surprised to know Miss Ella Keyhoe is still living and in the same house where you used to room.

Nettie Murphy has not been with me since October 1, 1924 and is now running a ladies Ready to Wear Shop here in Monroe.

Dorothy, I am again Secretary of the Green County Fair and have thought of you so much of late, for our Board would like very much to contract for Balloon Ascensions for our coming fair Aug. 17, 1921 [sic]. I have been in correspondence with the Thompson Balloon Association at Aurora, Ill., but they want $400 for four ascensions and parachute drops. I wrote them and told them that I wished we could have gotten such prices when we were in the business. I guess, however, the prices is going to stop us but I do wish we could put in on as an added attraction for we have a whole generation now of young folks who have never seen a balloon ascension.

You know, Dorothy, Emeline and I often say that it doesn't seem possible that Mr. Waud is gone — a man in the prime of his life and as strong as he was and so jolly and in such apparent good health. But when you tell me that your son Edward is 20 years old, or will be on June 10 — it just doesn't seem possible. However, time flys [sic] and I am now 61 years of age.

Dorothy, do you remember back in November 1911, when we were on a balloon trip in Jurez [sic], Mexico, and we asked a lady clerk in a store where was the best place to get a meal. She replied well you're American and don't care for expense so come on out and I will point out the place to you where they serve the meals in courses and charge two bits. Do you remember it was a dirt floor in the place and a wonderful meal but if you remember, my meal was spoiled because in about the second course, among other things they served such a little red sort of a bean. It was so attractive to my eye that I hurried and bit mine and started to chew on it and it turned out to be some sort of Mexican Pepper and it burnt my mouth so that it was several days before a chew of tobacco tasted good.

Again, do you remember some where up in Canada, I believe either at Simcoe or Dunville, a helper we had by the name of Ned Flaherty? An old man who had a son on the police force in Chicago and a character he was.

Dorothy, we all appreciate your writing very much and Miss Murphy and Emeline join in extending all good wishes and hope you will drop us a letter from time to time. Can't you arrange to run over to Monroe and see us, we would be glad to see you at any time.

Sincerely, Leland C. White [46]

While she’s long forgotten, Dorothy’s name can nevertheless be found all over the internet. There are hundreds of references to her on newspapers.com and other digitized newspaper sites. Plus she pops up in this-day-in-history features and there was a short piece about her postcard on collectorsweekly.com (which wrongly reported that her husband was killed performing a stunt). [47]

She’s also mentioned in at least one book, Cultivating Community: Women and Agricultural Fairs in Ontario, which recounts Dorothy’s 1914 appearance at the fair in Simcoe. [48]

Better remembered is Dorothy’s probable frenemy Lucielle Belmont (1887-1961). She earned her pilot’s license in 1918 and was a member of the Early Birds of Aviation, an organization of pioneering pilots. [49] Her widely-published obituary called her (incorrectly) “America’s first woman balloonist.” [50]

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has a scrapbook that belonged to Lucielle. [51] You can download it here!

•

While it’s a shame Nelson audiences didn’t get a chance to see Dorothy DeVonda in action, evidently other balloonists did come to town. In a 1969 memoir, Dr. C.E. Bradshaw recalled that: “On more than one occasion the balloon ascent held the spotlight … When the balloon was filled and ready … the aerial artist was carried aloft at the proper moment, sitting on only a bar. Today a balloon is unheard of, but the memory remains.” [52]

Bradshaw gave no names or dates, but I did find one such example, at the Nelson fruit fair of September 1905. Oddly, the balloonist wasn’t named in the Daily News. He was a replacement for the originally scheduled act, a Prof. Mathison.

The ascent was reportedly “very graceful, the big globe rising nearly 1,000 feet. Finding that he was then drifting over the city the aeronaut dropped with his parachute.”

As he got close to the ground, a gust of wind threw him against the telegraph wires at the corner of Vernon and Josephine streets. His chute got tangled, and he ended up hanging about 20 feet off the ground. A rope was tossed to him from the roof of a streetcar, and he landed triumphantly on the car. [53]

ENDNOTES

[1] “Lady balloonist billed for fair,” The Daily News (Nelson), 14 Jun 1911

[2] “Big fair opens next Tuesday,” The Daily News (Nelson), 23 Jun 1911

[3] Descendants of Joshua Gates, viewed at http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~nsgates/genealogy/Descendants%20of%20Joshua%20Gates%20Rev%20War%20Patriot.html

[4] “Balloonist hurt,” The Racine Daily Journal, 10 Jul 1899

[5] “Two young lives crushed out,” The Racine Daily Journal, 21 Aug 1899

[6] “Searching for his relatives,” The Racine Daily Journal, 22 Aug 1899

[7] The Portland Observer, 30 Aug 1899, quoted at http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~nsgates/genealogy/Descendants%20of%20Joshua%20Gates%20Rev%20War%20Patriot.html

[8] “Balloon girls talk,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Sept. 15, 1905

[9] Ibid.

[10] “We celebrated,” Wisconsin Free Press (Oconomowoc), 7 Jul 1900

[11] https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/101816708/person/122338954072/

[12] The Evening Press (Grand Rapids, Mich.), 28 Jun 1912

[13] “Eau Claire’s street fair and carnival,” The Sunday Leader-Telegram (Eau Claire, Wisc.), 9 Sept 1900

[14] “Local jottings,” Portage (Wisc.) Daily Register, 24 Nov 1899

[15] “Waterbury,” The (Montpelier) Vermont Watchman, 13 Aug 1903

[16] “Half rates to state fair,” The Beloit (Wic.) Daily Free Press, 23 Aug 1905

[17] “Celebration was worthy,” The Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisc.), 5 Jul 1905

[18] The News-Palladium (Benton Harbor, Mich.), 27 Aug 1909

[19] Earliest known use of this nickname is in The Argyle (Wisc.) Atlas, 14 Aug 1908.

[20] “Balloon girls talk,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Sept. 15, 1905

[21] “Oneida news,” Daily Sentinel, 2 May 1906

[22] “Frightful tragedy narrowly averted,” Buffalo Illustrated Times, 1 Sept 1907

[23] The Herald and Review (Decatur, Ill.), 17 Jul 1907 noted a marriage license issued to a Clarence C. Baldwin, 27, and an Anna L. Gates, 20, of Decatur, but it’s possible this was a different couple. The first confirmed sign of the couple is found in “Dorothy De Vonda to reside in Monroe,” Stoughton Courier, 31 Jul 1911. I could find no marriage registration for them.

[24] “Balloon girl cancels,” Evening Times-Republican (Marshalltown, Ia.), 6 Sept 1920

[25] “Lady balloonist in spectacular contest,” La Junta (Col.) Tribune, 27 Aug 1910

[26] “A thrilling attraction for county fair,” The Logan (Utah) Republican, 1 Aug 1914

[27] “Dorothy DeVonda to reside in Monroe,” Stoughton (Wic.) Courier, 31 Jul 1911

[28] “Fair gates to swing wide early in morning,” The News-Palladium (Benton Harbor, Mich.), 26 Sept 1911

[29] Kootenay News Advertiser, 3 Oct 2019

[30] “Good attendance at celebration at fair grounds,” The Sault Daily Star, 2 Jul 1913

[31] “Agriculture makes a great showing at fall fair this year,” The Sault Daily Star, 27 Sept 1913

[32] “Monroe balloonist has 50-foot fall,” Stoughton (Wisc.) Courier, 23 Sept 1914

[33] British Canadian (Simcoe, Ont.), 7 Oct 1914, reproduced in Food, Flowers and Fancywork: Fashioning, Negotiating, and Expanding the Roles of Women in Ontario Agricultural Societies and Fairs, 1846-1980, available at https://atrium.lib.uoguelph.ca/bitstream/10214/9948/3/Nurse-Gupta_Jodey_201608_PhD.pdf

[34] https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9093/records/5502226 and “Famous balloonist weds,” Stoughton Weekly Courier-Hub, 5 Mar 1915. C.C. Baldwin and Lucielle were married at Jackson, Mich. on 23 Dec 1914. On her marriage license to Austin Harlan, viewed at https://tinyurl.com/3kj25ns2, Dorothy indicated that she was divorced in 1915. But both she and C.C. Baldwin remarried in 1914.

[35] https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/101816708/person/122338954072/facts

[36] See for example, The Danville (Ky.) Messenger, 27 Jul 1915

[37] “Dunnville fair,” The Grand River Sachem (Caledonia, Ont.), 15 Sept 1915

[38] https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9231/records/11073

[39] http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~nsgates/genealogy/Descendants%20of%20Joshua%20Gates%20Rev%20War%20Patriot.html

[40] “Edward Waud, 54, dies at his farm,” Kalamazoo Gazette, 16 Mar 1934

[41] https://tinyurl.com/3kj25ns2

[42] https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60872/records/2333945

[43] “Mrs. Dorothy Harlan dies at age of 62,” Kalamazoo Gazette, 28 Dec 1943 and “Kalamazoo man member of noted air unit,” Kalamazoo Gazette, 19 Jan 1944

[44] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25816005/dorothy-harlan

[45] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60417736/austin_matthew-harlan, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25882140/edward_marmeduke-waud, and https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/140132437/jeffrey_lane-waud

[46] http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~nsgates/genealogy/Descendants%20of%20Joshua%20Gates%20Rev%20War%20Patriot.html

[47] https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/122098-dorothy-devonda--woman-balloonist

[48] Cultivating Community: Women and Agricultural Fairs in Ontario, Jodey Nurse, 2022, p. 220 and 222. Based on the thesis Food, Flowers and Fancywork: Fashioning, Negotiating, and Expanding the Roles of Women in Ontario Agricultural Societies and Fairs, 1846-1980

[49] https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-archive/lucielle-belmont-balloonist-and-parachutist-scrapbook/sova-nasm-xxxx-0249 and https://www.earlyaviators.com/erutshaw.htm

[50] “Former woman balloonist dies,” Tulsa World, 3 Sept 1961

[51] https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-archive/lucielle-belmont-balloonist-and-parachutist-scrapbook/sova-nasm-xxxx-0249

[52] Nelson Historical-Pictorial, 1982, p. 49

[53] “Third day at the fair,” The Daily News (Nelson), 23 Sept 1905