Howard Green

Grave of Howard Green

Now that it's back upright again, I thought it might be a good time to take a look at the gravestone of Howard Green and establish his place in the Green family. As it turns out, Howard was the grandson of the John and Mary Green who were the first immigrant couple I found in the cemetery. Howard's father was John and Mary's son John Green, and his mother was Fannie L. Brundage, daughter of Merritt and Alvira Brundage. This is their family tree, with the people who are buried in the cemetery in green:

1. John Green (1814-1896) m. Mary (1816-1901)
1. Alice Green (1847-)
2. Elizabeth Green (1852-)
3. Flora Green (1855-1860)
4. John Green (1856-before 1920) m. Fannie L. Brundage (1861-after 1940)
1. Howard Green (1883-1884)
2. Mabel Green  (1887-after 1940)
3. Lillian Green (1890-after 1940)
5. Anna Green (1857-)
6. Selena Green (1861-)

Sadly, Howard Green died at the age of one year. His two sisters, Mabel and Lillian, didn't marry, but lived in their family home as adults and worked as teachers. They and their mother Fannie were all living in 1940.

11: Stanley W. Sarles

Grave of Stanley W. Sarles

This week I've decided to make an attempt to climb a branch of the very extensive Sarles family tree. This is the grave of Stanley W. Sarles, who died in 1876 at the age of 22. I've already encountered his sister, Eudora Sarles, in my post on the Platts; she married William Platt around 1889, and moved to Aspen, Colorado. While living in Connecticut she was a member of the First Congregational Church of Kent, along with her future sister-in-law, Frances Waldron.

Kent Congregational Church today (source)

Member list of Congregational Church from History of Kent, CT

Eudora and Stanley's parents were Hamilton Sarles and Esther Williams. Hamilton, who died in 1869 at the age of 43, is buried in the cemetery, along with their one-year-old daughter Annette. Esther, who went on to marry Joseph Burroughs and live in Connecticut and then with her daughter in Aspen, CO, is not.

Hamilton's parents, William and Maria, are buried in the cemetery. Maria died in 1842 at the age of 48. Eight years later, her 75-year-old widower was living with their four children: Hamilton, a milkman; Schuyler, a shoemaker; and Elizabeth and Erastus.

1850 US Federal Census

By 1860, Hamilton had married Esther and had two children, Stanley and Catherine.

Meanwhile, Hamilton's brother Schuyler enlisted in the Civil War. His muster roll abstract from 1862 states that he is 5'6", with dark eyes, black hair, and a fair complexion, and that he worked as a shoe cutter.

Their youngest brother, Erastus, was living in a nearby hotel in the 1860 census and was listed as a "gentleman." At least, I assume it was a hotel, since the head of household is a hotel keeper; perhaps it was a boarding house? And what exactly is meant by "gentleman" - "unemployed?" In any case it's nice to see Erastus keeping company with a Kniffin, perhaps related to my great-great-great grandmother Adelia Kniffin, and with two Reynolds, which is a very common name in the cemetery.

1860 US Federal Census

Sadly, all three of the Sarles brothers died young, by our standards. In fact, they all died in the 1860s; Erastus died in 1862 at age 29; Schuyler in 1867 at age 37; and Hamilton in 1869 at age 43. As you will see, this will be a common theme for this family.

Hamilton Sarles seems to be the only brother who had children. In a biography of his son Fred written in 1921, he's named as Alexander Hamilton Sarles. The biography also states that Hamilton was a Republican and a Prebysterian, and that he was a teacher before becoming a successful farmer.

Hamilton's son Stanley, of the featured gravestone, seems to have inherited his father's interest in teaching. He "acquired a liberal education" and had been hired as principal in a large school in New York City when he died.

Two of Stanley's brothers also died young. Joseph Sarles, who owned a meat market in Connecticut, died at age 36, leaving behind a wife, Nellie Clark Sarles, and two children (one named for brother Stanley). William Sarles was also in the meat business and died at age 38. Youngest brother Hamilton Victor Sarles was still living at the time the biography was written. He became a butcher, married Frances Waldron, and lived in Hartford, CT.

Old postcard of Hartford, CT (source)

The census of Joseph Sarles's family in 1900 reveals a surprising pattern. Nellie Clark Sarles was born in Iowa, although her parents were born in Connecticut. Both children were also born in Connecticut. As we'll see, several of the Sarleses have connections out West, including Eudora Sarles Platt, who moved to Aspen, and Fred Sarles, who was all over the place - Colorado, Utah, Montana. Was there a widespread movement of people from Connecticut to the West during this time, or was it just this family?

1900 US Federal Census

Incidentally, the 1910 census lists Stanley's mother's birthplace as Colorado, not Iowa. Stanley married Minerva A. Wainwright and worked as a watchmaker and jeweler in New Haven, CT. They had three girls, the youngest of whom was named for Minerva's mother Medora.

Movements like these aren't really surprising from our 21st-century perspective, but we tend to move around a lot more than our ancestors did. Compared to the other families from the graveyard I've investigated, this is a lot of movement. Some people might have moved to other states in the Northeast. It's certainly new to see multiple members of a family moving all the way to Colorado.

According to the biography, Fred Sarles was raised by his uncle Stanley Williams in Preston, CT, after his father died, and graduated from Upson Seminary for Boys in 1880.

As for Fred's career after that point, well, I'm not going to summarize it - you can read it here.

And this is about Fred's "interesting" children. His two boys were poets.

As noted in the Platt post, Fred Jr. and Eudora were raised by their aunt and uncle after their mother's death. What happened to Beatrice and Henry, the two younger children? According to their father's biography, they seem to have spent some time in Salt Lake City. The 1910 census shows a Henry and "Birdie" Sarles living with grandparents in Salt Lake City. However, the grandparents' surname is Green, not Smith (their mother's maiden name). Is it possible that Sarah Green was formerly Sarah Smith, and that she married twice?

1910 US Federal Census

William Green, a dentist, was born in Illinois and Sarah in Michigan, but their parents were born in New York. Sarah was the mother of two children, one of whom was dead - this would be Eva Smith. In Fred's biography, it notes that his wife was born in Missouri but grew up in New York State, indicating a connection between East and West.

Butte, MT; old postcard from Flickr

What's more, William Green was 49 in 1910 and his wife Sarah was 61. This means that Sarah was old enough to have a child (Eva Smith) born in 1868, but William was not. In fact, 49 seems a little too young to have an 11-year-old grandchild at all, even for a hundred years ago.

Old postcard of Mormon Temple at Salt Lake City from Antique Plum

So, even though I can't confirm it yet, my theory is that Beatrice and Henry went to live with their grandmother, Sarah Smith Green, and her husband in Salt Lake City after their mother died. Henry later moved to Butte, Montana.

Beatrice Sarles Johnson was widowed by 1930, and moved with her daughter Helen into the home of her brother Henry in Oregon. They had moved out by 1940, at which point Henry had married Portia But.

Fred Sarles Jr.'s marriage to Marguerite Morris seems to have ended quickly, presumably with her death; by 1930, he was married to Chloe Mae Bell and living in Cincinnati, Ohio. The couple had an infant daughter, and Fred was working as an insurance agent. In 1940, the family had moved to Greensboro, North Carolina and had a son, Fred. According to his World War I Draft Registration card, he had blue eyes and brown hair.

Henry Upson Sarles seems to have been named for the founder (Reverend Henry Upson) of the seminary his father attended in Connecticut. He fought in World War I and later worked for the Forest Service in Oregon, where he lived for 23 years. According to his Draft Registration card, he was of slim build, medium height, with gray eyes and brown hair. He died at age 49 of cancer.

The overwhelming trend in this family is that of death for men between the ages of 22 and 49. Just to recap:

Hamilton Sarles died age 43
Stanley Sarles died age 22
Joseph Sarles died age 36
William Sarles died age 38/40
Henry Upson Sarles died age 49
Schuyler Sarles died age 36
Erastus Sarles died age 28

All of these men share the same Y chromosome. They're all descendants of William Sarles, who ironically died at the ripe age of 84. My best guess, given that two men in this family (Henry Upson Sarles and Frederick William Sarles - although the latter died at the age of 70) are known to have died of cancer, is that the Sarles men had a genetic predisposition to cancer that killed them before their 50th birthdays. But that's just speculation.

In contrast to the large number of deaths of young adult men, there seem not to have been a large number of child deaths in this family - just Annette (1864-1865) and possibly Catherine Sarles (born 1858). Of course, it's possible that there are infant/child deaths that I haven't come across.

Final multiple name count (first and middle names):
Hamiltons: 3
Stanleys: 3
Eudoras: 2
Fredericks: 3
Williams: 3
Esthers: 2

And here's the completed family tree. Green names are those of people buried in the cemetery.

1. William Sarles (1774-1858) m. Maria (1794-1842)
1. Hamilton Sarles (1826-1869) m. Esther M. Williams (1826-1915); she later married Joseph Burroughs (1814-)
1. Stanley W. Sarles (1854-1876)
2. Joseph O. Sarles (1856-1892) m. Nellie Clark (1857-)
1. Stanley W. Sarles (1880-) m. Minerva A. Wainwright (1878-)
1. Ruth A. Sarles (1909-)
2. Virginia Sarles (1910-)
3. Medora C. Sarles (1914-)
2. Mabel E. Sarles (1881-)
3. William A. Sarles (1858-1898) m. Laura A. Page (1863-1939)
4. Frederick Hamilton Sarles (1860-) m. Eva Smith (1868-1905) in 1888
1. Frederick William Sarles (1895-1965) m. first Marguerite Morris; second Chloe Mae Bell  
1. Helen Mae Sarles (1929-)
2. Frederick W. J. Sarles (1932-)
2. Eudora M. Sarles (1897-) m. Paul R. Caley
3. Beatrice Esther Sarles (1898-) m. James C. Johnson (died before 1930)
1. Helen Johnson (1921-)
4. Henry Upson Sarles (1900-1949) m. Portia But (1910-1980)
5. Catherine Sarles (1858-)
6. Eudora M. Sarles (1862-) m. William Platt (1855-)
7. Annette Sarles (1864-1865) 
8. Hamilton Victor Sarles (1866-) m. Frances Waldron (1865-) in 1898
2. Elizabeth Sarles (1829-)
3. Schuyler Sarles (1831-1867)
4. Erastus Sarles (1834-1862)

10: Gilbert and Mary Merritt Brundage

Grave of Mary Merritt Brundage

In 1850, Gilbert Brundage, a farmer, and his wife Mary were living with their three daughters - Susan, 28; Fanny, 25; and Sarah, 21; and 19-year-old son Merritt, as well as an eight-year-old Irish boy named Thomas Malory. The Brundages' real estate was valued at $10,000.

1850 US Federal Census

In the same year, Merritt's future wife Elvira Merritt (yes, Merritt) was living with her father, also named Gilbert, who was a painter with an estate worth only $1,000.

1850 US Federal Census

Four years after this census was taken, Gilbert died at the age of 67.

Grave of Gilbert Brundage

In 1860, his widow Mary was living with their son Merritt and his wife Elvira, 32-year-old Susan Green (Merritt's sister?), 28-year-old Sarah Brundage (Merritt's sister?), one-year-old Gilbert Brundage (Merritt and Elvira's son?), 19-year-old Whitney Brundage (whom I suspect might actually be Elvira's brother Whitney Merritt), and 13-year-old John Wood. As you can tell, the relationships between these people aren't made clear in the census.

1860 US Federal Census

In 1870 Mary and her daughter Sarah were living on their own. Mary died in 1875 at the age of 84.

1870 US Federal Census

Merritt's family appears in the 1870 census directly below Mary, suggesting they were neighbors.He and Elvira now have three children, two of whom were named after Merritt's family members.

1870 US Federal Census

Ten years later, the Brundages were living with their two youngest children, Merritt's brother-in-law Nathan Merritt (does this mean that Elvira was a Merritt, or is Nathan actually a cousin?), German boarder Charles Schmidt, and boarder Jonathan (?) Frawley. Nathan, Charles, and Jonathan worked in the optical factory. Which optical factory? My favorite optical factory.

1880 US Federal Census

According to the 1910 census, one of Merritt and Alvira's three children had died, presumably Fanny. At that point Merritt was working as a driver of a butcher wagon.

Meanwhile, Merritt's sister Sarah T. Brundage, age 50, was living on her own. She doesn't seem to have married. She died in 1898 at the age of 69 and was buried in the cemetery. This was her obituary:

On Sunday morning, Nov. 20th, 1898, at 5:30 o'clock, occurred the death of Sarah T. Brundage, at her home in this village, at the age of 68 years. About three months ago she was stricken with paralysis, and although at one time she somewhat regained the use of the paralyzed members, she never so far recovered as to be able to be about, and on Sunday previous to her death, she sank into a comatose state, from which she never rallied.

Her funeral occurred on Wednesday at 2 p. m. at the Methodist Church, Rev. A. T. Civill officiating, and the interment was in the family plot in the old Methodist burying ground.

Miss Brundage was born in the town of New Castle, and she was one of the village's old and highly respected residents. She is survived by one brother, Mr. Merritt Brundage, of this place, and two sisters, Mrs. Wm. Horton, who made her home with her, and Mrs. Erastus Johnson, of Rockland county.

Merritt Brundage appears in White Plains city directories up to 1919, when he would have been 88. I can't find Elvira in records after 1910.

Merritt and Elvira's son Gilbert, who was presumably named for both of their fathers, married Ida A. in 1881, and had a son who was named for his brother Frank. Gilbert was a veterinary surgeon, presumably of the James Herriott type, traversing the countryside and whatnot.

1910 US Federal Census

 In 1910 Ida was living with her only child Frank, a farmer. She is listed as married, not widowed, but where was Gilbert?

Whatever happened to Gilbert (and I'm presuming that he just died), Ida was still living in 1925, in the house of her son and his wife Louise E. Presumably she died before 1930, because at that point Frank and Louise were living alone. Frank was a road laborer. In 1940, he was working as a gardener on a private estate.

There's only two Frank Brundages in the Social Security Death Index; one died in Ohio, and the other in New York. The one who died in New York died in October 1962; I'm making a tentative guess that this was our Frank Brundage. There's only one Louise Brundage in the SSDI, and she died in Florida in 1980.

If we can, for a moment, travel back in time to Merritt's older sister Fanny - she married Erastus Johnson, and was living in Kingston, Ulster County, in 1860; in Ramapo, Rockland County, in 1870, with Erastus's 80-year-old father Daniel; and were still in Ramapo in 1900, when this census was taken. They had five children, three of whom were still living with them at this time, at ages 42, 38, and 35. Their daughter Fannie died in 1874.

1900 US Federal Census

Erastus Johnson died on October 28, 1908, at the age of 88, and Fannie in 1912. Erastus's portrait is featured in History of Rockland County, New York: With Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men, by Reverend David Cole, published in 1884.

The Johnsons' grave is featured on FindAGrave.com, along with their genealogy. Erastus was the son of Daniel and Hannah Coe Johnson, and had a wife before Fannie, named Elizabeth Raymond, who died in 1848. Erastus, Elizabeth, Fannie, and their children are buried in Summit Park Cemetery in Rockland County.

Strangely, three of Erastus and Fannie's four children seem to have never married. In fact, the three of them were still living together in 1930. Frederick died in 1933 and Annie in 1936. In 1940, 78-year-old Ida was living with her 84-year-old sister Elizabeth Eckerson and her 66-year-old nephew Harry - or rather, they were living with her, as Ida was listed as the head of household. She is also listed as widowed, which either means that I'm wrong and Ida was married, but resumed her maiden name at some point, or the census is mistaken.

1940 US Federal Census

Susan M. Brundage, Gilbert and Mary's oldest child, married William Horton.

1. Gilbert Brundage (1787-1854) m. Mary Merritt (1791-1875) before 1822
1. Susan M. Brundage (1822-?) m. William Horton
2. Fanny L. Brundage (1825-1912) m. Erastus Johnson (1820-1908) in 1854
1. Elizabeth Johnson (b. 1848) m. John Eckerson (b. 1843)
1. Harry J. Eckerson (b. 1874)
2. Annie Downing Johnson (1858-1936)
3. Ida Lincoln Johnson (1862-1940)
4. Frederick Merritt Johnson (1864-1933)
5. Fannie Brundage Johnson (1864-1874)
3. Sarah T. Brundage (1829-1898)
4. Merritt Brundage (1831-after 1919) m. Elvira Merritt (1838-1924) in 1860
1. Gilbert Brundage (b. 1859) m. Ida (b. 1861)
1. Frank G. Brundage (1882-1962?) m. Louise E. (1892-1980?) in 1913
2. Fannie Brundage (1861-after 1940) m. John Green (1856-before 1920)
3. Frank Brundage (b. 1862)

8: John and Mary Green

Grave of John and Mary Green

John and Mary Green are unique among the people of the cemetery I have studied so far. While Jemima Stanton was the first immigrant I encountered, John and Mary are the first immigrant couple. John was born in England around 1814, and Mary was born in Scotland in December 1816.

When did they come to America? Well, it must have been before 1860, because that was the year that their daughter Flora died at the age of 5. She's buried in the cemetery as well, although I didn't photograph her grave.

According to the 1860 census, John and Mary's daughter Alice was born in England, while their daughter Elizabeth was born in New York. This places their date of immigration between 1847 and 1852. At this time John was working as a laborer, and Flora had recently died.

1860 US Federal Census

According to the 1870 census, John was a U.S. citizen. What about Mary? Well, no one cared. There are almost no naturalization records for women in the nineteenth century. A woman became a citizen either through her father or her husband. The status of women in the nineteenth century comes across very clearly through the records. The fact that it's so much easier to research a male ancestor than a female one says a lot by itself.

Anyway, John was working as a gardener, and he and Mary now had five children living with them: Alice, Elizabeth, John, Anna, and Selena.

1870 US Federal Census

Ten years later John, 68, was working as a laborer and Mary, 64, as a nurse. Selena, 19, was the one child still living with them.

1880 US Federal Census

John died on December 12, 1896. Four years later, Mary was living with her son, his wife of 19 years Fannie, and their daughters Mabel and Lillian in Brooklyn. According to the census Fannie was the mother of three children, two of whom were living; Mary was the mother of nine children, six of whom were living. John and Fannie had another child, Howard, who died on May 26, 1884, at the age of one year, nine months, and 15 days; he is buried in the cemetery.

1900 US Federal Census

Mary died on August 12, 1901, at the age of 84.

In 1910, John and Fannie Green had moved to Westchester and were living with their two daughters and two boarders, George and Amy Jane Knapp. John was working as a surveyor.

1910 US Federal Census

John had died by 1920, when Mabel, age 33, was listed as the head of a household that included her 30-year-old sister Lillian, her 58-year-old mother Fannie, and one boarder. Merritt Brundage (a name that combines two very common surnames in the cemetery) is listed as "father," but he's not Mabel's father. Was he her grandfather? At 86 and 79, he and his wife Alvina were old enough to be Fannie's parents.

1920 US Federal Census

Mabel and her sister were teachers at a private school. They probably knew my great-grandmother, who was born just three years after Lillian and was a teacher at the same time and lived in the same neighborhood. Martha Warren, the boarder, was a widow of 47 and a dressmaker.

The 1870 census confirms that Merritt and Alvira Brundage are Fannie's parents. Here they all are, with Fannie's brothers Gilbert and Frank and their farm laborer Daniel Marshall.

1870 US Federal Census

None of these Brundages appear in my transcription from 1914, but it's possible they were buried after that year.

In 1930, Fannie and her daughters were still living together, along with Elizabeth Richards, their 88-year-old lodger. Mabel and Lillian were still working as teachers.

1930 US Federal Census

Lastly, in the 1940 census, Fannie, Mabel, and Lillian were living in the same place, and the sisters were still working as teachers.