Family Tip via Find A Grave

Family tree help came in the form of a request through Find A Grave.  Someone asked me to link Alfred Eyre (1819-1874) as the husband of Henrietta Funtman (1815-1887) and the father of Alfred DeCiplet Eyre (1848-1912).

The Find A Grave memorial page for Alfred Eyre showed a Civil War gravestone with a date of death as September 11, 1874.  The problem was that this Alfred Eyre was buried in Maine.  The Alfred Eyre in my family tree lived in England, then New York and New Jersey.  I needed to investigate.

Alfred DeCiplet Eyre, the son of Henrietta Funtman and Alfred Eyre, first married Letty Duryea (1848-1889) in 1868 in New York City.  Letty died in Jersey City in 1889 after bearing at least thirteen children.  In 1890, Alfred remarried to Letty's sister, Mary Evenshirer (1842-1916).  My line descends from Mary's first marriage to Stephen C Duryea (1814-1887).

Henrietta died in 1887 in Jersey City.  She is buried in Hoboken Cemetery in North Bergen, Hudson County, New Jersey in the plot of Jacob Duryea (1850-1928).  Jacob was a brother of Letty and Mary, the daughters-in-law of Henrietta.  This plot was maybe meant for Eyres because Letty was originally buried there.  Letty was re-interred in Fairview Cemetery in Fairview, Bergen County, New Jersey.  Alfred and Mary were buried with Letty.

Henrietta Funtman Eyre, died 1887, is not listed as buried in this plot, even though she has a stone.

Henrietta was elusive in records.  I found her with her husband and children in New York City in 1850 federal census and 1855 state census.  Her next definitive appearance is in 1887 when she died in Jersey City.  I lost track of her husband, Alfred.

I found an obituary for Jeannette Eyre, daughter of Alfred Eyre and Henrietta Funtman.  She was born around 1846 and died in 1856.  This is a great death notice because the grandfather, J M DeCiplet, is named.

So why would Alfred Eyre be buried in Maine?

Alfred Eyre was buried at Togus National Cemetery in 1874, indicating military service.  Ancestry.com has a database of occupants of National Homes for Disabled Soldiers.  Mrs Henrietta Eyre of Newark, New Jersey was the next of kin of Alfred Eyre, admitted to the Eastern Branch Home in Togus, Maine for a sciatic nerve injury.  Included was the date of death, September 11, 1874, regiment, and the location of the burial plot.

A civil war muster role provided the same regiment as the gravestone and the Home register:  New York 5th [Independent] Battery.

Glove cleaner was one of the occupations of Alfred Eyre's son, Alfred DeCiplet Eyre.
Alfred enlisted September 11, 1862.  Exactly 12 years later he died at a Soldier's Home.

The National Home for Disabled Soldiers in Togus, Maine, was the first established residential medical center for veterans and served the northeastern part of the United States.  Alfred Eyre ended up there because there was no such service available in New York or New Jersey.  I wonder if any of his family was able to visit him after his admittance.

Thank you to the Find A Grave contributor who requested this linking of family members, thereby completing some missing information in my family tree.

Elusive Surname: Evenshirer

Mary Evenshirer was my 3x great grandmother.  She was born in New York City around 1842.  She died in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey in 1916.  Her surname and her father are a tail end in my family tree.

Mary's mother was Rene Brewer, a daughter of James Brewer and Mary Ann Lent from Westchester County, New York.  From the newspaper The New York Sun, we have the marriage announcement in 1842 in New York City of Miss Rene Brewer to John Evenshirer, "both of this city."

By 1848, John Evenshirer was dead or otherwise out of the picture when Rene had another daughter, Letty Jane, with George W Duryea.

The 1850 United States Federal Census as well as the 1855 New York State Census list Mary Evenshirer with the surname of Rene's husband, George W Duryea.

Ancestry.com

Note the servants in your households!!!
Mary Walpole married Jacob Duryea, a brother of George.

Mary married Stephen C Duryea, a brother of George W Duryea, so she retained the surname Duryea for future records.  The age difference must have been confusing to some.  In the 1880 census, Mary's mother, Rene, was residing with Mary and Stephen in Pound Ridge.  Stephen's age was 65, Mary was 38, and "mother" Rene was 64- no, make that 84 to try to make sense of this.

Mary's half-sister, Letty Jane Duryea, married Alfred Deciplet Eyre in 1868.  Letty died in 1889 from complications of a pregnancy.  (She was originally buried in Hoboken Cemetery in North Bergen, Hudson County, New Jersey, but was relocated to Fairview Cemetery.)  Mary had been widowed in 1887.  Mary and Alfred married in 1890, combining their children into an Eyre/Duryea household.  They were not just step-siblings; they were related by blood.

Ancestry.com

When Mary died in 1916, the informant, "Mr Eyre (son)," knew of her surname at birth and attempted to include it on the death certificate.

Your author at Fairview Cemetery (Fairview, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States)
Picture by Rob Berner