32: Isabella Bird Luckey

Isabella Bird Luckey died on September 1, 1847, at the age of six. She was the daughter of John Luckey, a Methodist preacher of Scottish descent, and Diana Rutherford. John Luckey's biography is featured in the book Old Sands Street Methodist Episcopal Church, of Brooklyn, NY, by Edwin Warriner (1885).*

Luckey's father, Joseph or "Squire" Luckey, immigrated from Ireland to the United States with his two brothers. Joseph's wife and John's mother was Lanah Wagner, a Dutch woman. John Luckey was born in 1800. His wife wrote of him:

"He left home when a mere boy, lived with his brother Samuel, went to school, and became a teacher. The love of the brothers for each other was like the love of David and Jonathan to the end of their lives."

For twenty years, Luckey ministered to destitute people and criminals in New York City. In 1855, he became the chaplain of Sing Sing Prison. Then, in the decade before his death, he and his wife lived on a farm near Rolla, Missouri.

Luckey married Diana Rutherford, the daughter of fellow Sands Street preacher Christopher Rutherford, in 1829; she was born in England around 1808. They had six children, only one of whom outlived her father. Mary and John Luckey were buried in the Sands Street Cemetery in Brooklyn, and Samuel and Emma Luckey were buried in Ossining. Isabella is the only Luckey buried in the Episcopal cemetery (presumably in the Methodist section). The burial place of Jane, born around 1836, is unknown.

Luckey died in 1875 in Missouri and was buried in Dale Cemetery in Ossining. After his death, Diana moved back to New York and lived in Haverstraw with their only surviving daughter, Helen Eliza.

This is Luckey's pastoral record:

And this is how the author described him, with the help of Luckey's widow:

And this is how the author described Diana Luckey:

The census below is from 1850, when the Luckeys were living in Mount Pleasant, New York. Four of their children were living at this point, and at least one had died.

1850 US Federal Census

The 1880 census shows the widowed Diana living with her unmarried daughter Helen, "adopted daughter" Sarah Rutherford (who probably was a relation of some kind as well), and a servant, Ellen Dolan.

1880 US Federal Census

By 1900, Diana had presumably died, as Helen Luckey lived with her cousins, the Felters, in Haverstraw. The Felters had a son named Rutherford, so I'm assuming that they were Helen's cousins on her mother's side.

In 1910, Helen had moved in with another cousin, Martin S. Paine, who was a banker in Manhattan. Ten years later, Helen was back with the Felters, now living in New Jersey. She seems to have died before 1930.

In 1888, the Sands Street Methodist Church was sold to developers and the people buried in the cemetery were reburied in Evergreens Cemetery.
 

*The book about the Old Sands Street Church also includes this picture of "pioneer Methodist preacher in Brooklyn" Captain Thomas Webb and his bangin' eyepatch and sword:

Maybe I will do his genealogy next. He looks like a badass.

1.  Joseph Luckey (1766-1833) m. Lanah Wagner (1763-1816) in 1787
1. Reverend John Luckey (1800-1875) m. Diana Rutherford (1808-before 1900) in 1829
1. Helen Eliza Luckey (1833-after 1920)
2. Jane Luckey (1836-before 1885)
3. Samuel J. Luckey (1838-before 1885)
4. Isabella Bird Luckey (1841-1847)
5. Emma A. Luckey (1848-before 1885)
6. John Luckey (?-before 1885)