Elizabeth (Liza) Florence Dunbar
March 26th, 1874 – May 30th, 1876
Sister of Paul, Elizabeth was born at her maternal grandmother’s house on Howard Street in Dayton, Ohio, to Matilda and Joshua Dunbar. Elizabeth contracted various illnesses during her short life, and Felton O. Best suggested in a 1992 doctoral dissertation that Elizabeth’s illnesses and need for medicines exacerbated the family’s limited finances and led to confrontations between Joshua and Matilda that damaged their unstable marriage. With Matilda responsible for earning most of the family’s income and with Joshua rarely assuming paternal duties, Matilda assigned Paul (at the time between 2 and 4 years old) responsibilities for rocking and otherwise quieting Elizabeth. She died of marasmus (malnutrition) and is buried in Dayton’s Woodland Cemetery.
