Gazlay Family History
 

Family HistoryFamily History - Martha Delaney


Key:1.“+” before a child’s name indicates the child has their own entry in the next generation.
 2.“born xxxx” indicates the child is under 18 years of age so the birth date is not shown.
This family history features Martha Delaney and her immediate family.



First Generation
1. Martha Delaney,1 born ____ (parents not determined). Martha married, 1932, Julius Richard ‘Dixie’ Davis2 (born 29 November 1904 in New York, New York, parents not determined;1 Dixie died 30 December 1969 in Los Angeles, California1). Their marriage ended in divorce on 10 December 1938 in Reno, Washoe County, Nevada.3 Dixie is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale), Glendale, Los Angeles County, California.1

A brief biography of Dixie Davis (born Julius Richard Davis) appears in WikiPedia.org (with corrections and additions as noted):4

Davis was born in New York City in 1905 [sic, actually 1904] and grew up in Tannersville, New York after his father, a tailor named Davidowitz, relocated the family to the Catskills. Davis attended Syracuse University Law School and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1927. He served a clerkship, and then started his own firm in New York City specializing in defending mobsters.

Many of Davis’ clients were African-Americans involved in the numbers game in Harlem. In 1932 he decided that he could take control and brought in Dutch Schultz [born Arthur Simon Flegenheimer] as enforcer only to lose control to Schultz.

With the murder of Schultz in 1935, Davis took over his numbers racket. On July 14, 1937 a grand jury indicted Davis for racketeering. In exchange for his cooperation, Davis was sentenced to one year in prison and was disbarred.

On December 31, 1969, Dixie Davis died of a heart attack in his home in Bel-Air, California during a break-in. Two masked gunmen had bound his wife [Hope Dare, born Rosie Luetzsinger] and grandson and had stolen jewels, furs and cash.

Davis was married twice. His first wife was Martha Delaney. While Davis was incarcerated for racketeering, he was permitted several times to leave prison and visit Hope Dare, whom he had met several years before, and lived with at least as early as 1935. Hope was the catalyst for persuading Dixie to turn states evidence on his mob associates. Davis’ wife Martha knew of his infidelity, and divorced him in 1938. Once out of prison, Davis married Hope and together they moved west, living in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and later Los Angeles, having two children together.5


  1. Find a Grave (website). Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale), Glendale, Los Angeles County, California, Julius Richard “Dixie” Davis, born: 29 November 1904 in New York; died: 30 December 1969 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California (from record, which includes newspaper clippings announcing his marriage to Hope Dare; making his home in New Mexico; and his brief death notice).
  2. Daily News, New York, New York, 5 March 1939, Hope Dare, Dixie Davis Will Wed, Then Separate, It Seems. The article provides detailed biographical information for both Hope and Dixie, and mentions some of Dixie’s mob associates and his first wife, and Hope’s parents and first husband.
  3. Divorce, The New York Times, New York, New York, 10 December 1938, Divorces ‘Dixie’ Davis; Former Martha Delaney in Reno Suit Charges Cruelty. The article indicates Mrs. Martha Delaney Davis obtained a divorce today from J. Richard Davis.
  4. wikipedia.org, Wikipedia contributors. “Dixie Davis.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 22 Oct. 2019. Web. 15 Oct. 2020.
  5. wikipedia.org, Wikipedia contributors. “Dixie Davis.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 22 Oct. 2019. Web. 15 Oct. 2020. Life Magazine (available at books.google.com), 15 August 1939, page 42, The Strange Case of Hope Dare.