FOLLOW UP ~ Answering my questions from the blog post about Charles Brown & Cemathe Avery's wedding

 

I published a post, yesterday about another great find in Cora’s scrapbook.  But, that lead to some questions.  Did I get answers to those questions? 

Here are the questions I asked myself:

·   Which Presbyterian Church did John Woodbridge officiate as Pastor?  Was there only one Presbyterian Church in Saratoga Springs at the time?

·   Who are William & Charlotte Ayers?  There are no Ayers in my database/tree.  Were they friends or relatives?

·   Would it be possible to locate the actual church record for this marriage?

·    What other types of records would tell me more about the Pastor?

Here’s what happened………….

The first thing I did was search for a John Woodbridge (the Pastor) on Ancestry in census records from 1850 forward, in Saratoga Springs, NY.  I was rewarded in finding him listed in the 1870 census as a “Dd” living in Saratoga Springs with his wife and children.  I suspected that Dd meant Doctor of Divinity.  In looking on Google I confirmed that suspicion.  Now I know I have probably found Pastor John Woodbridge.

Further searching reveals Pastor Woodbridge in the Presbyterian Ministerial Directory for 1898 as follows.  And this matches up with the census records.

Let’s move on to William & Charlotte Ayers.

I have located them in the 1850 Federal census living in Saratoga Springs, New York and also the 1855 New York state census.  This does not tell me how they are associated with the bride and groom, but it does confirm them in the place and time of the marriage.

Can I use city directories to give me more information?  I entered Charles Brown in the Ancestry U.S. City Directories 1822-1995.  I found him in the 1882 directory on page 66.  His home address is one I’m familiar with 59 Church and I know that Charles was a Cigar Maker (although cigar is misspelled in the directory).

1882 Saratoga directory showing Charles Brown

Knowing that directories also contain lists of businesses, churches, associations etc., I am now going to try and find the Presbyterian Churches listed

In the Table of Contents for this directory from 1882, the churches are listed on page 45.  In reviewing that page I find two Presbyterian churches listed:

Ø First Presbyterian church, Broadway, north of Town Hall.  Rev. Peter Stryker, D.D. pastor and

Ø Second Presbyterian church, Spring street near Regent. Rev. William R. Terrett, pastor.

Neither of these shows a pastor named John Woodbridge, but this is 31 years after the marriage record and he likely had moved on or perhaps died. 

Can I locate a directory closer to the time of the marriage? I need to adjust my search on Ancestry and see if I can bring up other directories for Saratoga Springs.

The best I could do was a directory for Saratoga Springs from 1868.  That’s 17 years after the marriage, but let’s see what I can find in it.

I want you to know that I’m doing a little happy dance here.  On page 31 of the 1868 Saratoga Springs Directory is the list of churches.  And there is the “Presbyterian Church, Broadway, north of Lake avenue.  Rev John Woodbridge, D.D., residence South Broadway, a short distance below Circular street.”

Table of Contents from page 31 of the 1868 Saratoga Springs directory showing John Woodbridge as the Pastor/Reverend of the Presbysterian Church 

I made a couple of phone calls trying to locate the actual marriage record.  Afterall, the letter signed by Pastor Woodbridge states “that record of the same has been made in the Register of the Presbyterian Church.”

I made phone calls to the County Clerk for the County of Saratoga (518) 885-2213, the City of Saratoga Springs (518) 587-3550 and the Presbyterian Church (518) 584-6091 that is located in Saratoga Springs.  I spoke to some very nice ladies. We talked about the weather and had a few laughs about the difficulty in finding old records. 

Unfortunately, none of them could provide any marriage records from 1851.  I made sure to record in my Research Notes in Legacy, what organization I called, who I spoke with and the phone number.  I date all my research notes and going back to them provides me with a record of the things I’ve done in my research for a particular person or event.

When I record a marriage in my Legacy database I always include as much information as I can by using the Events/Facts entry.

Here is what this marriage looks like in my Legacy record.

This is the marriage event for this couple. 
Note the Event entries.

In the end, I did locate more information and answered some of my questions.

Ø I still don’t know how the witnesses, William & Charlotte Ayers were connected with the bride and groom.

Ø There were 2 Presbyterian Churches in Saratoga Springs at one time, but I still don’t know which one the couple was married at.

Ø I was not able to find the original church record of the marriage.

This was a good research session and I enjoyed the process. I hope that I’ve shared some ideas that would be helpful to you in your own research.

If you are related to or connected to anyone in this or any of my other blog posts, please get in touch.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2023   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

 

CORA'S SCRAPBOOK ~ The marriage of her parents - Charles H.K. Brown & Cemanthe Avery - 1851 in New York

This is the story of my journey through Cora’s scrapbook.  Cora Emma Brown Hall is my husband's paternal great grandmother.  She created a scrapbook during her life and it was passed down through the generations.  It contains an amazing amount of family and general history.

Here’s that link to the posts I've written so far

 My posts about Cora's Scrapbook

Today's item from Cora’s scrapbook is a letter certifying the marriage of her parents Charles H.K. Brown and Cemanthe Avery.

My husband’s paternal 2^nd great grandparents were married in Saratoga Springs, New York on 12 Jun 1851.

Charles H. K. Brown was 25 years old and Cemanthe Avery was 20 years old.   Her parents were Frederick AVERY (abt 1810-bet 1850 & 1868) & Emeline CASE (abt 1809 to 1889)

I don’t have any information as to who Charles H. K. Brown’s parents were.  I’d certainly like to know, but so far my research has come up empty.  If you happen to uncover any information about his family/parents, please get in touch with me.

Until seeing this letter/record in Cora’s scrapbook, I had not located any other marriage records for Charles & Cemanthe. So, of course, I was excited.

This letter gives me a date and a place.  I also have a clue as to the church this couple may have been affiliated with, the Pastor’s name and names of witnesses.  That’s quite a bundle of good genealogical information.

Transcription of letter:

This certifies that Charles H. K. Brown and Cemanthe Avery were united in marriage at Saratoga Springs on the 12^th day of June A.D. 1851; and that record of the same has been made in the Register of the Presbyterian Church.

Signed

John Woodbridge, Afficiating & Pastor

Given at Saratoga Springs, Sept. 2, 1851

Names of witnesses – William & Charlotte Ayers

What questions does this prompt me to ask?

·   Which Presbyterian Church did John Woodbridge officiate as Pastor?  Was there only one Presbyterian Church in Saratoga Springs at the time?

·   Who are William & Charlotte Ayers?  There are no Ayers in my database/tree.  Were they friends or relatives?

·   Would it be possible to locate the actual church record for this marriage?

·   What other types of records would tell me more about the Pastor?

Of course I will try to find answers for those questions.

Please check back tomorrow for my post about what further information I was able to locate and how many of my questions I got answers for.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2023   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

HAPPY DANCE WEDNESDAY ~ Church records for Thomas C. Hall, his wife Cora & their son Charles

 

What treasures can I share today?

 
How about church records recently received from a church in New York?
 
I called Bethesda Episcopal Church in Saratoga Springs, New York, last month.  I was interested to see if they still held any records from 1877-1900. 
 
I was specifically looking for records for my husband’s great grandfather and his wife, Thomas C. Hall, Cora E. Brown Hall and their son Charles S. Hall.

 
While we can find some records online, we all know, many are still not available.  Some are indexed, but even viewing an index or transcription is not the same as looking at the actual record.  There could be any number of errors on an index or transcription.
 
I did my happy dance this morning when I received an email from the church with 4 records attached!!!
 
Images of actual church record pages from church registers of Baptism, Marriage, Confirmation and Burial.
 
Here they are: Please click on any image to enlarge it.

MARRIAGE OF THOMAS C. HALL & CORA EMMA BROWN

on 5 Feb 1877

BAPTISM OF CHARLES SCHUYLER HALL 

16 Jun 1878

CONFIRMATION OF CHARLES SCHUYLER HALL 

28 Apr 1892

BURIAL OF THOMAS CORNELIUS HALL 

13 Jan 1897

I already had a marriage date & and the marriage certificate for Thomas & Cora.  You can read all about that find here:
CORA’S SCRAPBOOK–Her wedding cake & marriage to Thomas C. Hall–1877, New York
 
But, this image of the church record for their marriage was new to me and gives one more piece of evidence to this fact.
 
What I didn’t have was the other 3 documents – the Baptism and Confirmation for Charles S. Hall and the Burial record for Thomas. Those will now be added to my Legacy database and sourced and added to my Ancestry tree as well.
 
What records have you recently received that made you do a happy dance? I’d love to hear about them.
 
Have you considered calling or emailing a church, funeral home or cemetery to obtain records or information?  This is not my first time doing so and I have found it to be very rewarding.
 
TIP: Keep a record of any calls or emails.  Whether you use your genealogy program for this (I use Legacy), or a spreadsheet, notepad or some other method.  It’s important to keep the date and make note of what you said, who you spoke with, who you emailed etc.
 
When or if I receive information as I did in this case, I not only send an email of thanks, I write a thank you note and many times include a gift card.

 
If you are related to or connected to anyone in this blog post, please get in touch.  Let’s exchange information.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl
Copyright ©  2010-2022   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

CORA’S SCRAPBOOK ~ Are you an Avery? This is a query on a page in her scrapbook

This is the story of my journey through Cora’s scrapbook.  I will give a link to all posts at the beginning of each new post.  Here’s that link My posts about Cora's Scrapbook

AVERY is a name I’m more than familiar with from researching my husband, Ron’s family.  In this case, it is Cora’s mother who is an Avery. I’ve been able to find out very little about this branch of Cora’s family.  But here is what I do know.

Cora’s mother was Cemanthe M. Avery (1831 to 26 Mar 1899). She married Charles Henry Brown or as he was also know C.H.K. Brown (1826 – 14 Apr 1903) on 12 Jun 1851 in Saratoga Springs, Saratoga Co., New York.  This couple had 2 known children, Cora Emma Brown, the creator of the scrapbook I write about, and Albert Walton Brown (1856-1937).

Cemanthe Averey’s parents were, Frederick Avery (need confirmation on birth & death dates) and Emeline CASE (about 1809-14 Dec 1889).  I know of 4 children born to this couple – An unknown child, Mary Avery (1826-after 1915) who married a MAYNARD, Cemanthe Avery and Calvin Montgomery Avery (about 1833-22 Dec 1891).

That’s as far as I have been able to trace the AVERY surname back.  I haven’t fared any better on Cora’s surname/maiden name BROWN either. Here’s the pedigree view for Cora from my Legacy program.  I have tried very hard over the past 15 years to track down these families and have obviously not been successful.  I’m hoping information from Cora’s scrapbook will help me with that.

Glued to one of the pages in the scrapbook was this notice.

There is no indication of where this inquiry was posted.  Did it appear in a newspaper or publication of some other kind?  Let’s go over what it says.

ARE YOU AN AVERY?  DID YOU MARRY AN AVERY/  WAS YOUR MOTHER AN AVERY?

If so, please send your name and address to Elroy M. Avery, 657 Woodland Hills Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio.  He is writing a history of the Avery family.  Please give the full names ofyour or your wife’s parents (not initials merely), of grand parents in the Avery line, etc., as far back as you can.  He will be glad to send you a printed blank for the complete record of yourself and family.  Then hand this card to

SOME OTHER AVERY

On each side of this inquiry are the following notations.

On the left side - If you see an Avery marriage or obituary notice, please send a marked copy of the paper containing it.

On the right side – Also send the names and post-office addresses of other Averys and Avery descendants.

My first inclination when reading this is to find out who Elroy M. Avery of 657 Woodland Hills Ave., in Cleveland, Ohio is?  And second, is to try and locate a book about the history of the Avery family.  Those will be my next steps. 

I have no idea what other possible family gems are contained in this scrapbook left to us by Ron’s great grandmother, but you can be assured I will be sharing them all here.

That being said.  If anyone reading this is an Avery or married to an Avery, I’d love to hear from you.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

CORA’S SCRAPBOOK ~ Episode 2 – Thomas C. Hall & Cora E. Brown marriage announcement, 1877

This is the story of my journey through Cora’s scrapbook.  I will give a link to all posts at the beginning of each new post.  Here’s that link My posts about Cora's Scrapbook

The very first piece of family history I find in this scrapbook is the wedding announcement of Cora to Thomas C. Hall.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I knew they had married 5 Feb 1877, based on information in his Civil War Pension file.  But, what other evidence did I have.  None! 

Thomas was 32 at the time of the marriage and Cora was 22.  Their only child, Charles Schuyler Hall was born 13 months after the marriage, on 5 Mar 1878, in Saratoga Springs, New York. I have no record of any other children born to this couple.

Here are the newspaper clippings from the scrapbook.  It doesn’t say what newspaper they are from, so I’m going to try and find that information.  It also looks like a portion of the article is missing.

(Please click on any image to enlarge it) 

TRANSCRIPTION:

HYMENEAL – Mr. Thos. C. Hall, a former resident of Saratoga, now a citizen of Poughkeepsie, came back to Saratoga yesterday and carried away with him one of those most attractive features of our village – a charming young lady, Miss Cora E. Brown.  Mr. Hall always had good sense and fine taste when he dwelt here, and we are glad that they cling to him.  Our best wishes to Mr. and Mrs. Thos. C. Hall

A nice package of wedding cake comes to our table accompanied by a notice of the marriage, on the 5th inst., at the residence of the bride’s father on Church street; by the Rev. Mr. Carey, of Miss Cora E. Brown, of Saratoga, to Thomas C. Hall, of Poughkeepsie.  The wedded pair, on return from their wedding tour, will make their home in Poughkeepsie.  The marriage service was attended by a large number of relatives and friends who manifested their regards for the wedded couple by a liberal bestowment of presents. Among these was a piano by father and……

Another of Saratoga’s fair daughters has left to make a house elsewhere.  Miss Cora E. Brown, daughter of Charles Brown the tobacconist, changed her name preparatory to making her home in Poughkeepsie, on Monday.  The best wishes of many friends attend her………..

Even with the missing portions of this article, we can learn something about our couple. 

• Their wedding was well attended
• There was a wedding cake
• The marriage location was Cora’s father’s residence on Church St.
• Cora was the daughter of Charles Brown, a tobacconist
• The officiant was Rev. Mr. Carey (this can help us figure out which religion the couple may have been and lead to church records)
• The couple was going on some kind of “tour” or trip after the wedding
• They were going to make their home in Poughkeepsie

That’s quite a lot of genealogical leads to follow. Admittedly in my case, some of the items are facts I already know about.

Update: I cannot help but research as I write.  I have located a portion of the articles transcribed above, plus another small wedding announcement. The first place I go for any east coast newspapers is to Fulton History Postcards website where Tom Trynski has been scanning newspapers for years.  He’s a one man show and a blessing to us all.

Here is a cropped portion of the page from The Daily Saratogian from 6 Feb 1877. 

Cora & Thomas had moved from Poughkeepsie to Halfmoon, New York by the time of the 1880 census.  He was working as a baggage handler for the railroad.  I can’t wait to share more about this couple’s life.

If, while you are reading this post, you find you are connected to any family mentioned, I’d love to hear from you.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2020   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

CORA’S SCRAPBOOK ~ The BEGINNING of a new series– My husband’s great grandmother, Cora Emma Brown Hall (1854-1933)

BACKGROUND ~ I have been researching mine and my husband’s family for over 17 years now.  My husband’s paternal side was one of the first lines that brought me those jumping for joy moments in my genealogy research.  I know his lines, names, dates and places very well.

When I began blogging in 2010 I had no idea I would still be at it 10 years later.  I also had no idea how many new cousins and connections I would make because of my posts.

In Feb 2018, I was contacted by a lady named Kathy who said she was my husband, Ron’s cousin.  She was someone who was previously unknown to us.  She lives within an hour of us.  When her father passed away in 2019 she told me of a scrapbook that came into her possession.  Our goal was to try and get together so I could have a look at it.  She said she didn’t know who it had belonged to, but that it contained newspaper articles and perhaps other family memorabilia.  As happens, time went by and we were no closer to arranging a meeting.  Then add Covid to that and here we are.  Kathy contacted me a few weeks ago and said she’d like to mail the scrapbook to me as she felt I could make use of it better than she could.  Well, of course I was blown away and said “sure.” 

This box arrived a couple of days later.

I opened the box and found a very carefully wrapped, very old, falling apart scrapbook. 

WHAT WOULD I FIND INSIDE?  

WHO HAD CREATED THIS SCRAPBOOK?

I couldn’t wait to find out.

Of course I opened the box and ever so carefully removed the scrapbook.  I even peeked inside, just a little bit.

The cover

A view of the spine - you can see how torn apart it is

I had to proceed with due caution so as not to destroy any contents.  I already have the white gloves to handle the pages.  But, what I didn’t have was the archival tissue paper I knew I would want to put between each page.

I immediately went onto Amazon and ordered Acid Free Archival Tissue Paper.

While I waited for the tissue paper to arrive, I began thinking of what size box to order, to store this scrapbook.  I knew I had ordered some archival boxes several years ago.  I looked inside my office closet and lo and behold there was a box that might be just right.  The one and only box of this size.  The box is 13” x 13” x 3”.  IT WAS A PERFECT FIT!  Just a bit bigger than the scrapbook which allows for placing protective tissue paper around it.  And not allowing for any movement.  I was thrilled.

The box that was a perfect fit

I only had to wait 2 days for delivery of the tissue paper.  Now my work begins.

My next step is open this treasure page by page and take photos of each page. I use my Canon Sure Shot camera, which has served me well in many libraries and courthouses. 

TIP:  Why not use my iPhone 11, which has a great camera, to digitize these pages?  Believe me, I do love the cameras provided on smart phones these days.  But, I prefer the stability of a regular camera as well as the ease of transfer.  I just remove the SD card and transfer it right to my computer.  Once that’s done, I back the folder up to Dropbox and also store it on an external hard drive.  And….I have Carbonite cloud backup for my whole computer.  This is what works well for me.  I always keep that original order of the images.  When I begin to edit the images I will work from a copy and can arrange those copies in any order I choose.

I cannot wait to share all the wonderful genealogical treasures that I’ve found in this scrapbook.  Thank you Cora Brown Hall for creating it.  And thank you cousin Kathy for so kindly allowing me the privilege to be the caretaker of such a treasure.

Stay tuned for the next episode.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2020   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

CIVIL WAR PENSION FILE ~ Cora E. Hall widow of Thomas C. Hall ~ What gems does it contain?

This pension file was the fourth one I’ve received in the past 6 months.  It contains fewer pieces of family information than any of the other three.  And, being only 30 pages, is certainly the smallest of all four.  However, there are still genealogical gems to be found within the file.

Cora E. Brown Hall was the widow of Thomas Cornelius Hall.  They are my husband’s great grandparents.  Prior to receiving this pension file I did not have an exact date for their marriage.

However, on the very first page of this pension file I find not only the exact marriage date, but two other dates of interest.

(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IS FOR EASIER VIEWING)



The red arrow indicates the “Clt’s (claimant’s) marriage to soldier” as February 5, 1877.  The two green arrows give us the date of Thomas’ death and the date of birth for Cora.  Those are two dates I already had, but another piece of evidence to document them is always welcome.

Now that I have the exact date of Thomas & Cora’s marriage, I’m hoping to find the official document for that marriage.

What else was of note in this pension file?

Page 2

A statement that the pensioner, Cora E. Hall, is dropped from the roll because of death on Sept. 9, 1933.

Page 6

A letter, in Cora’s own hand, to the Bureau of Pension, dated Sept. 5th 1929.

Page 8

Another letter from Cora to the Commissioner of Pensions dated Aug. 3rd.  This letter, in her own hand, gives the dates of her birth and the date of her marriage and also states that the pension is her only income.

Page 11

A notarized statement from Cora that neither she nor her husband were divorced and that she has $1500 from a life insurance policy on Thomas.

Page 17

A deposition by Emma S. Burt who states she has known Cora for all of her life.  She also states that she was present at her marriage to Thomas and gives the date of marriage, name of the Pastor who performed the ceremony and the church where the marriage took place.  These are wonderful pieces of information to have for further research.

Page 23 & 24

A transcript from the Registrar of Saratoga Springs, New York, Bureau of Vital Statistics regarding the death of Thomas C. Hall.  This gives a wealth of information about Thomas.  I already had a transcript of his death, obtained several years ago, but had I not, this would have been a gold mine.  It contains his parent’s names and places of birth.

Page 26

A deposition from Pastor Joseph Carey, who married Thomas & Cora.  More evidence for their date & place of marriage.

Page 28

Application for Transfer stating that Cora moved to San Diego, California at the end of the year 1911.  This statement gives her address in San Diego and is signed by her son, Charles, daughter-in-law Daisy and by Cora herself.

Page 30

A letter to the Bureau of Pension, dated Sept. 12th, 1933, from Cora’s son, Charles Hall.  This letter is to inform them that Cora died on Sept. 9th, 1933.  The letter gives Charles’ address and is signed by him.

Here are a few samples of the pages referenced above.

This is Page 6 – the letter from Cora to the Pension Bureau

Page 24 – Thomas’ death record – I’ve cropped & rotated the bottom portion with his parent’s names so you can see them

Page 30 – the letter from Cora’s son, Charles stating she has died

This document and it’s 30 pages, while not huge, does contain important information about Cora, her deceased husband, Thomas and her life.

Cora and Thomas only had one child that we know of and that is Charles Schuyler Hall (my husband’s grandfather), born 5 Mar 1878 in Saratoga Springs, New York; married Daisy Fern Bright on 15 Oct 1903 in Tarentum, Allegheny, Pennsylvania and died on 25 Mar 1953 in San Diego, California. 

I do have one photo of Cora E. Brown Hall, obtained from my husband’s cousin.

I’ve just ordered two more pension files.  One for my side of the family and the other from my husband’s side.  I find that these files are well worth the cost and can't wait to explore them.

I recently wrote a post about Cora’s father, Charles Henry K. Brown, who was a Cigar Maker in New York.  You can read that post here 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week #5 – Charles Henry Brown.

What gems have you found in pension files?

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

MILITARY MONDAY – Civil War Pension File – Private John Gillen – Killed in Action

WHAT I LEARNED FROM ONE SINGLE PAGE OF A CIVIL WAR PENSION FILE – 1864

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2017   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks ~ Week #5–Charles Henry Brown–Cigar Maker ~ about 1826 to 1903

Charles Henry Brown also known as Charles H. K. Brown is my husband’s 

2nd great grandfather

  

What I DON'T know about Charles Brown…

• Who his parents were
• If he had any siblings
• Exactly when he was born
• Where he died and from what

I have gathered quite a bit of information about Charles H. Brown over the years of my research.

The easiest way to present what information I have on him is by sharing an Event Report.  This is a report created in Legacy 8, using the Event/Fact section for each individual.  I use this area extensively on all my ancestors.

(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT FOR EASIER VIEWING)

The report above tells me each event/fact I have entered and depending on the information I have entered, all the details associated with that event, including the person’s age at the time of the event.

It’s not that I lack information about Charles H. Brown, I just don’t have additional information I would like to have, such as his parent’s names.

I haven’t been able to locate Charles in the 1850 census.  With the name Charles Brown or Charles Henry Brown being so common, this adds to the difficulty. 

• Was he always a Cigar Maker?
• On 3 Aug 1854, the date of birth I have for his first child with Cemanthe, he would have been 28 years old.  When did he and Cemanthe marry?  Was he married prior to marrying her?

 Charles & Cemanthe (Avery) Brown had two children that I know of.
1. Cora E. Brown, born 3 Aug 1854 in Syracuse, Onondaga, New York married Thomas Cornelius Hall and had one son, Charles Schuyler Hall.  Cora moved to San Diego, California after her husband’s death and died there on 9 Sep 1933.
2. Albert Walton Brown, born 24 Oct 1856 in Saratoga Springs, Saratoga, New York.  I don’t believe he ever married.  He too moved to San Diego, where he died on 5 Sep 1937.

Charles is listed in many city directories throughout his life.  He can be found in Syracuse, Troy and Saratoga Springs, New York directories.

Charles enlisted in the army during the Civil War.  His enlistment date was Aug 1862, as a Private in the 9th infantry for a term of 3 years.

I’ve located his enlistment record.


According to the Muster Roll (see image below), Charles deserted and was absent without leave 25 Jan 1863.  This record lists his unit as Company F, 134th Infantry.  What I liked about this muster roll was the personal information it provided.  Prior to finding this record I had no idea where in Pennsylvania Charles was born.  This record, if correct, states he was born in Philadelphia.  I also get a good idea of his physical characteristics.



Did Charles ever return to service?  I have located no other military records for him, including no pension file.  His military unit is engraved on his headstone, so it makes me wonder.

It’s hard to believe that at sometime during Charles’ and Cemanthe’s life, there wasn’t a photo taken of them.  I have yet to find one.

Cemanthe died of Cerebral Apoplexy at age 70, on 26 Mar 1899 in Saratoga Springs, New York and is buried at Greenridge Cemetery. You can visit her memorial here #22149978.
 
According to online cemetery records, Charles died on 14 Apr 1903 and is buried with his wife, Cemanthe, at Greenfield Cemetery.  There is a picture of their headstone, but his portion is impossible to clearly read.  You can see his memorial here #22149991.

Here is the online record I found regarding their burial.  I had lost track of the URL for this cemetery index.  Thanks to reader, Cathy, for finding it and sending it to me.  To view the searchable, alphabetical index please click here.
 


The record above gives me the only reference to Charles Brown’s date of death.  I have not located a death record, yet.  And, I cannot locate Charles in the 1900 census.
 
During the preparation of this post I was able to locate one more piece of evidence referring to Charles as a Cigar Maker.  It’s a news article published in The Saratogian in 1963.
 


Here are a couple of screenshots, courtesy of Google Earth, of the area where Charles worked and lived in Saratoga Springs, New York., as they look today.

Church St - Charles & Cemanthe lived on this street in the 1880's

424 Broadway - location of Brown & Avery Cigars

Lawrence St - Where Charles & Cemanthe lived in the 1890's

If you think you may be related to anyone mentioned in this post, or have additional information or corrections, please contact me.  I’d love to hear from you.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST
MYSTERY MONDAY ~ Unidentified Family Photos - AVERY, BROWN, BRIGHT, GOODBODY & HALL (Can you help us identify any of these people?)

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2017   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION