Although the misspelling must have irked them, John (1878-1964) and Charlotte (1877-1939) Ledwell lived on Leadwell Street in 1924, when it was named for them by Charles Weeks on his “Runnymede No. 2″ chicken colony along Winnetka Avenue. The Ledwells’ vocation was stated as “poultry” in city directories, so they were obviously involved in Runnymede, but they soon left. Both were Canadians – John from Newfoundland, Charlotte from Nova Scotia – who married in Lynn, MA in 1903. (John, who made shoes before getting into chickens, reported himself as deaf on his draft cards.) It was a stormy union, with Charlotte first attempting to divorce John in 1912 before reconciling. The couple came to Los Angeles in the early 1920s but by 1928 they were in Fontana. Two years later, Charlotte divorced John for real and soon married Joe Gooduk, who was listed as the couple’s boarder in the 1930 census. John remarried as well but it didn’t last. Charlotte died in L.A.; John spent his final years back in Lynn.
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