Sepia Saturday 553. Fifth in a series on my maternal German ancestors, the Stoutners, of Gloversville, Fulton Co., N.Y. — continued from March 2020.
When New York City went into an initial coronavirus lockdown in March 2020, I had just begun writing about my maternal Stoutner ancestors who lived in Gloversville, Fulton County, N.Y.
Alas, the Stoutner family saga was abruptly cut short by a scramble to find masks, stock up on groceries, hunker down to flatten the contagion curve and learn how to live safely during the global pandemic.
The unfolding Covid crisis then drew me to the life of my father’s Uncle Albert Barney Charboneau, who died in the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 — a story I had long wanted to tell, with many parallels to our own 100-year pandemic experience.
Returning to the Stoutner story
Now, with the New Year, I am returning to the saga of my mother’s German Stoutner ancestors — starting with a brief recap of earlier posts in this series.
- A Stoutner by any other surname variant introduced my mother and my maternal grandparents — and began the story of my German-American grandmother’s Stoutner ancestors.
- The Stounters’ brick house at 4 Wells Street, Gloversville, NY showed then-and-now photos of the Stoutner family home, built circa 1882 by my great-great grandfather Andrew Stoutner Sr., who was a brick manufacturer.
- 1890: Andrew Stoutner Sr. poses for a photo featured a handsome studio photo of my maternal great-great grandfather.
- 1855-1865: The first two wives of Andrew Stoutner Sr. discusses the sad passing of his first two spouses, each of whom died young.
1865: Enter Christina Albeitz
Which brings us to 1865, when Andrew Stoutner Sr. was a twice-widowed father of two — with a live-in housekeeper to help with his young children, as shown below.
| Andrew Stoutner Sr. Family – 1865 New York State Census – Source: FamilySearch |
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| Census | Name | Age | Occupation | Born |
| 1865 NYS Census | Andrew Stoutner (as Stouten) | 34 | Brickmaker, widowed, married twice | Germany |
| William Stoutner (as Stouten) | 4 | Child | Fulton County | |
| Mary Stoutner (as Stouten) | 1 | Child | Fulton County | |
| Margaret Baker | 35 | Housekeeper, widow, married once, mother of 4 | Fulton County | |
Fortunately for Andrew and his children, a young woman arrived from Germany circa 1865 who would change all of their lives — my great-great grandmother Christina Albeitz.
When and how she and Andrew met is a mystery — but Christina agreed to marry the handsome widower, who was 12 years her senior, and became a loving stepmother to his children. Her story begins with the next post.
Up next: Introducing Christina (Albeitz) Stoutner. Please stop back! Meanwhile, please visit the blogs of this week’s other Sepia Saturday participants here.
© 2021 Molly Charboneau. All rights reserved.
Wow! Imagine being only 34 and having been widowed twice! Do you have any idea how he lost his first two wives? Such a blessing that your ancestor come along, regardless, though. The best stories are the real stories! Truly real. Fascinating!
I know! Our ancestors faced many healthcare challenges that are not always written about. I believe the deaths of his first two wives may have been related to pregnancy/childbirth — although I have no direct evidence. More research to do on that.
You are like a Netflix producer promoting new episodes in long running series. Each one with different stories and interesting characters. And of course each season has to have a recap! If this is like your other great series we might get a behind the scenes bonus too!
Thanks, Mike. I guess it’s natural to be influenced by videographer techniques — and there is good reason to use them when anchoring ancestors in a place and time. The recaps are also a public service, to help visiting cousins see all the posts about a family member in one place
Thanks for the links to the earlier posts. That house – the door on there now YIKES. I enjoy Then and Now photos. My mother’s childhood home came on the market and Zillow allowed me to see the inside for the first time. I was happy to see it looked pretty good.
Not sure if you if you saw it, but the former front door is now inside the house used as an entryway coat rack. I like Zillow for interior views of ancestral homes that we might otherwise be unable to see.
Another chapter begins!
You’ve inspired me and in December I started genealogy research. I won’t be as thorough as you are, but I’ll get there in time. In a few weeks watch my blog for a post on my ne’ere-do-well great grandfather.
How do you create the charts in WordPress?
Do glad to hear this, Susan. Can’t wait to read about your great-grandfather! You may be surprised by what you find when you start researching. I use a plugin called “Advanced Editor Tools” to create the tables, which adds tables and other functions to your editing toolbar.
I’ll be waiting to read Christina & Andrew’s story. It’s fun to watch the names of people who lived before us come alive in writings about them. 🙂
It sure is!
It’s fun writing about them, too.
I caught up on all of the previous posts – which I apparently missed because, as I recall, I was sick for a couple of weeks before we all started trying to deal with the unsettling news of the corona virus. I enjoyed seeing the ancestral home and learning about the family relationships thus far. And I relate to your inspiration from Mister Mike – his detailed posts have often led me to dig deeper.
I hope you will stop read my final post about Jesse Bryan that I posted last week.
Thanks, Kathy. Looking forward to more blogs from you, Mr. Mike and the other Sepians in 2021.