9: Gilbert, Mahalia, and Emeline Tompkins

Grave of Gilbert H. Tompkins

The cemetery is the final resting place of Gilbert H. Tompkins, his wives Emeline and Mahalia, and four Tompkins children ranging in age from two to 16 years.

Gilbert was born around 1801. Mahalia Brown, born around 1804, was his first wife and the mother of the children.

1830

In the stupid 1830 Federal Census (yes, I said it) Gilbert H. Tompkins is listed as the head of a household of nine people: three men between the ages of 20 and 29; one woman between the ages of 20 and 29; one man and one woman between the ages of 40 and 49; two girls younger than 5; one boy between the ages of 15 and 19; and one person who was listed as "deaf/dumb" and younger than 14.

This is why the 1830 Census is stupid - I have to do the guessing as to who these people were. One of the 20-29-year-old men was Gilbert, and presumably the woman in her 20s was his wife Mahalia. The little girls, one of whom was deaf or dumb (or both), were probably their daughters. The man and woman in their 40s could be Gilbert's or Mahalia's parents. The teenage boy could be a brother.

Was either of the two little girls buried in the graveyard? Well, let's first ask which of Gilbert and Mahalia's children were alive in 1830. Their daughter Adelia was one year old in 1830. She is probably one of the little girls. And their daughter Elizabeth Ann would have been six years old. Gilbert and Mahalia's son Franklin wouldn't be born until 1838 and their daughter Mary Jane until 1833.

Since one year old seems a little young for a deaf/dumb diagnosis, especially back in the day, I have to assume that Elizabeth Ann was the "deaf/dumb" person under 14 listed in the 1830 Census.

The Tompkinses' neighbors at this time have surnames that are just on the verge of making me roll my eyes - I've seen them so many times - namely, Miller, Purdy, and Kirby. These names are rampant throughout this area all through the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries - and then they disappear.

1840 US Federal Census

In the 1840 Census, which is also stupid, Gilbert's household numbered only four - himself, his wife, and two sons, one age 5-9, and the other age 10-14. At this point I'm not sure who they are. The couple's son Franklin B. would have been two years old at this time, if he were still living; he died in June 1840. I can't tell from this stupid census what month it was taken.

In the years since the last census, the Tompkinses' two daughters had died - Adelia on April 4, 1834,  at the age of 5, and Elizabeth Ann on March 16, 1840, at the age of 16 - and another daughter, Mary Jane, had been born in 1833 and died in 1836.

Grave of Mary Jane Tompkins

Everything is illuminated with the inauguration of the First Official Non-Stupid Federal Census in 1850. Here, finally, is Gilbert H. Tompkins, hatter, with his wife Mahalia, their 19-year-old son Washington G. Tompkins, carpenter, their 8-year-old daughter Mary E. Tompkins, their 6-year-old son Gilbert Jr., and Mahalia's father George Brown, age 69.

1850 US Federal Census

How do I know that George Brown was Mahalia's father? I just do.

You want me to prove it? Well, I can't. I can't because if Mahalia was living with George Brown at a time before she was married to Gilbert, her name wouldn't have been recorded, because she's a woman. So you'll just have to trust me when I say that no one takes in a 69-year-old man unless he is his/her father/father-in-law. Especially in 1850 when you have hats to make.

Speaking of hats, Gilbert's hat-making business is further described in the Non-Population Schedules. He worked by himself, making 400 custom wool and fur hats a year at a value of $650. Was that in proceeds or profits? Who knows, they were still working that capitalism thing out at this point.

Sadly, Mahalia didn't survive to see the next census. She died on August 9, 1856, at the age of 52. I lose Gilbert in the next census, but he reappears in 1870, married to Emeline Cornelia Mead. He is 69 and working as a farm laborer; she is 59. The value of their real estate is $2000.

1870 US Federal Census

Emeline would have been about 45 when Mahalia died. I had assumed that her marriage to Gilbert must have been the second for her as well, but I was mistaken. It was her first - and not her last. Here she is in History and Genealogy of the Mead Family of Fairfield County, Connecticut. Her parents were Edmund Mead and Rebecca Knapp.

page 290

In 1880, Gilbert was still working as a farm laborer at the age of 79. He died on August 16, 1885, at the age of 84.

Afterward Emeline married Harvey Briggs, and died on July 25, 1892. Her gravestone only mentions Gilbert as her husband.

Grave of Emeline Cornelia Mead Tompkins Briggs

What of the surviving Tompkins children? I think this is Gilbert H. Tompkins Jr. in 1880, although the age doesn't exactly match up with the six-year-old Gilbert of 1850 - he should be 36, not 30. Close enough? Mostly I want this to be him because he worked at the optical factory. That optical factory is now famous, as far as I'm concerned. You wouldn't know, because I haven't posted any relevant genealogies yet, but a lot of the people buried in the cemetery (or their relatives) worked at that optical factory. I know exactly where it was, too. One day I'm going to scope out the ruins.

1880 US Federal Census

Anyway - here is Gilbert Jr. with his wife Sarah and children Harry, Edith, and Emeline. Was Emeline named for Gilbert's stepmother? Was 24-year-old Sarah really the mother of 9-year-old Harry?

I can't say. But here's the marriage announcement for Gilbert's daughter Edith in 1893. She would have been just 18.

Edith Tompkins's marriage announcement 1893

Seven years later, the couple was living in Ossining with their two daughters, Helen and Madeline. According to the census, Philip's father was born in Germany and his mother was born in Pennsylvania, and he was a plumber.

1900 US Federal Census

Ten years later, the Flecks were still in Ossining, living at 7 Everett Avenue with their daughters Helen, Madeline, and Phyllis, and their 24-year-old servant Mary, who was from Virginia. I can't quite make out Mary's last name.

1910 US Federal Census

According to this realtor's listing, their house was built that same year. This is what it looks like today.

7 Everett Avenue, Ossining

In 1915, the family employed a 16-year-old cook named Elizabeth Erlem, and lived at 82 South Highland Avenue in Ossining. Was Erlem Mary's last name too? It looks like it could be.

1915 New York State Census

In 1925, youngest daughter Phyllis was the only child left in the house on South Highland Avenue. Age 21, she worked as an accountant.

1925 New York State Census

But she was gone in 1930, when Philip and Edith were living with their maid servant Anna Colman, who was 19 and born in Ireland. The Flecks owned their house, which was worth $35,000. Philip worked as a contractor in plumbing and heating.

1930 US Federal Census

Philip died sometime within the next decade, leaving Edith a widow by 1940. At that point she rented a home at 58 Ellis Place in Ossining, where she lived with her widowed 41-year-old daughter, Madeline Little. Madeline, an interior decorator, was currently unemployed.

1940 US Federal Census

Ten years earlier, Madeline had lived in Morristown, New Jersey, with her husband Stuart Little, a newspaper editor. Yes, Stuart Little. They had been married for eight years.

1930 US Federal Census

Curiously enough, though Madeline is listed as "widowed" in the 1940 census, Stuart Little enlisted in the war on August 15, 1942. In fact, he didn't die until 1968, according to U.S. Veteran Gravesites Records. He was ultimately a Colonel. Were he and Madeline divorced?

It would seem so, because Stuart was buried at the West Point US Military Academy Cemetery with Bessie Herman Little, who died in 2002 in Oregon. She was a magazine editor who is credited with creating the character Patsy Walker for the second issue of "Miss America" magazine. I've never heard of Patsy Walker, but you can read all about it in this interview with Allen Bellman, whom I've also never heard of.

Madeline Fleck Little died in 1994 in Washington, D.C., at the age of 95.

And what about Madeline's aunt Emeline, youngest child of Gilbert Jr. and Sarah Tompkins? She married William Heagle in 1896. In 1900, the couple was living with William's parents in Ossining, and William was working as a post office clerk.

1900 US Federal Census

In 1910, they had an eight-year-old son, William Jr., and were living with William's father at 58 Ellis Place. Yes, the same building where Emeline's sister Edith Fleck and niece Madeline Little lived in 1930. All four were still there in 1920, when William Sr. was working as a real estate broker, and William Jr. was working as a night watchman at a wire mill. I wish it was the optical factory.

1910 US Federal Census

And yes, Emeline and William were still living at 58 Ellis Place in 1930 - but they owned the house, while Emeline's sister Edith rented.

The 1940 census found Emeline, a widow, as a guest at the Seaside Inn in Daytona Beach, Florida. Yet she was also listed in the census in Ossining, living with her son William, her daughter-in-law Helen, and their son Peter. William Jr. was the owner of a real estate business, presumably inherited from William Sr. They lived at 44 South Highland Avenue.

Well. I feel like I should make an attempt to sort out all these various Tompkinses, Meads, Browns, Flecks, and Heagles, and fill in some of the missing bits. So here goes ...

1. Gilbert H. Tompkins (1801-1885) m. Mahalia Brown (1804-1856) before 1824; m. Emeline Cornelia Mead (1811-1892) in 1858; Emeline married Harvey Briggs after 1885
1. Elizabeth Ann Tompkins (1824-1840)
2. Adelia Tompkins (1829-1834)
3. Washington G. Tompkins (b. 1831)
4. Mary Jane Tompkins (1833-1836)
5. Franklin B. Tompkins (1838-1840)
6. Mary E. Tompkins (b. 1842)
7. Gilbert H. Tompkins (b. 1844) m. Sarah (b. 1856)
1. Harry O. Tompkins (b. 1871) m. Elenora Brundage (b. 1871) in 1896
1. Russell Jesse Tompkins (b. 1897) m. Anna (b. 1897)
1. Russell G. Tompkins (b. 1920)
2. Clarence Gilbert Tompkins (b. 1898) m. Emma (b. 1911) in 1929
1. Elenore (b. 1930)
3. Eva M. Tompkins (1900-before 1910)
2. Edith M. Tompkins (b. 1873) m. Philip H. Fleck (b. 1871) in 1893
1. Helen J. Fleck (b. 1896)
2. Madeline Fleck (1898-1994) m. Stuart Little (1898-1968); divorced before 1940; he married Bessie Herman (1911-2002)
3. Phyllis A. Fleck (b. 1901)
3. Emeline Tompkins (b. 1875) m. William Heagle (b. 1873) in 1896
1. William Heagle (b. 1902) m. Helen (b. 1902)
1. Peter Heagle (b. 1931)

Let's see if I can sum up some of the things I discovered since making this list -

1. Gilbert Jr.'s son Henry married Elenora Brundage. A Brundage! There are plenty of those in the cemetery. Henry was a shipping clerk in 1900. They had two sons, and a daughter who died young. The family was living in Manhattan in 1910 - 3153 Broadway. Bronx in 1915. Greenburgh, NY, in 1940, when Henry was working as an elevator operator.

2. Russell Tompkins had a World War I Draft Registration Card! My favorite! He worked for a railroad company. He had brown hair and blue eyes. In 1940, still a railroad inspector making $2000+ a year in Mount Pleasant. Wife Anna, son Russell G.

3. Clarence G. Tompkins married Emma when he was 31 and she was 18. In 1930, living at 132 St. Mark's Place, Brooklyn; he worked as a restaurant manager. Daughter Elenore. In 1940, living in Queens, 1424 30th Ave. Income $1920/year. World War I Draft Registration Card - working as a railroad steward; tall, medium build, brown eyes, brown hair.