Descendants of Charles Phelps 1803-1879
| The Charles Phelps line of my family has not been an easy one to research.Maybe that's why he holds a special place of fascination among my myriad forebears.The search that eventually led to him started out simply enough.I wanted to take my g.g.grandmother's line back a little further.My own family had no knowledge of the family history beyond my gggrandparents,Albert & Ella Lowell. I thought I had struck paydirt when I found my g.g.grandmother referenced in the published Lowell Genealogy.Author D.R. Lowell, writing in 1899, identified her as Ella Phillips.For several years I searched the census for every Phillips family I could find in the appropriate years with no luck. There was no Ella Phillips that even came close in age. Then, on a research trip back home, I found a copy of her published marriage notice to her husband, Albert Lowell.She wasn't Ella PHILLIPS at all..she was Ella PHELPS. I was off & running. This time in search of a family by the name of PHELPS. Five years later, a move back home, countless trips to the Rensselaer County Library, the Rensselaer County Historical Society, searching city directories & traipsing through cemeteries has borne fruit.I found one reference to an "Ellen Phelps" in the 1870 census living in a household in Troy, New York with a man that I presumed to be her father..one Charles Phelps who informed the census taker that he was from Connecticut. Hmmm, probably not the right family, I thought. Ella had always stated that her father was born in New York. I painstakingly continued to work the census for Phelps information & was now stuck..again. I decided to check the local cemeteries for Phelps burials. I canvassed a portion of Oakwood Cemetery in Troy, N.Y. Oakwood Cemetery is about the size of Rhode Island. I jotted down the only Phelps that I found..one Adaline Phelps Luther.One more name on one more yellow legal pad of notes.I filed it away.When the Rensselaer County Historical Society took possession of the county's Surrogate Court records they were made available to search.I marched myself over to the historical society & plugged in the name "Phelps". Nothing of interest.I plugged in the name "Lowell".Bingo!Ella Lowell.That would be MY Ella Phelps Lowell.It seems that when Ella's husband Albert died, a guardian was appointed for the 5 children.And the guardian was Adaline Phelps Luther.I probably sat staring at the screen for quite awhile, an idiotic look on my face. Now I had a connection. Adaline was quite a bit older than Ella & wasn't in the 1870 census with that Charles Phelps family..the fella from CT. I went back to 1850 & there I found Adaline & her siblings..with that fella Charles Phelps of CT. I preliminarily assigned Ella as the youngest child of this family, but I didn't feel good about it.She was just a bit too young to fit.So, I scanned the 1855 N.Y.State census, page by page, to find this family when Ella would have been about 3. Then I found her. She was the daughter of Charles Phelps' SON, Charles & his wife Elizabeth.Okay, that made more sense.It seems that Charles wife, Elizabeth, died of smallpox in 1856.He ended up in Philadelphia, remarried & proceeded to produce more children.Did those children know that they had a half-sister in N.Y? I had to track that family to find out. And, yes, the Philadelphia Phelps side knew about the N.Y. side, but my family in N.Y. never knew that Ella had half brothers and sisters in far off Philadelphia.And remember that Rhode Island sized cemetery? I decided to take another drive through there,looking for Phelps, hoping I might find Charles, Sr. It was a needle in a haystack, but it was a nice day for a drive.I turned up an overgrown drive in the cemetery, gazing left & right & there they were.Charles & Anna Phelps.A double stone.Lichen & acid rain have taken their toll, but I found him.Was it luck or was I guided by the fella from CT? | Descendants of Charles Phelps 1803-1879 Updated October 26, 2002 |
| Carla J Johnson P.O. Box 746 Salem,NY 12865 United States 518-854-9838 [email protected] | |
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