Sunday, July 27, 2014

TERWILLIGER FAMILY - early 1900s Photo, Roselle NJ

This is the only photo which has my maternal grandmother, her two brothers, her mother, and her Terwilliger grandparents all in one photo. There are two additional women in this photo who may not be related.  By elimination, I can assume that my grandmother's father "Grove" is the one taking this photo. Wish I knew more. And I look at the three photos on the back wall with sad eyes, wondering where on earth they ended up! 

My mother wrote on the back of this photo, identifying most of the individuals, in relation to her, and she dated it "Dining Room, Roselle NJ, 1903-1909".  Note that James Grover "Grove" TERWILLIGER and his wife moved to Roselle in the early 1900s.



  • Starting on the left (front), is my 2nd greatgrandfather, James M. TERWILLIGER. He would be 75-80 years old, although he seems rather fragile/older than that, somehow. 
  • Next to him behind the table, is his wife, my 2nd greatgrandmother, Harriet F. BUELL Terwilliger, about 70-75 years old. 
  • Next, the young woman with dark hair is Vera Stinson, a boarder with the family (as seen on the 1910 Census of Roselle NJ). 
  • The older woman behind Vera is not identified on the photo, and I cannot guess her identity or relation to us. 
  • Next, sitting at the table, looking down, is my greatgrandmother,  Clara Augusta "Gussie" GRAVES Terwilliger, also known as "Madee" (pronounced Maw-dee).  She would be in her mid-early 50s here. 
  • On the very right, seated at the table is my mother's mother, my grandmother, Marguerite "Daisy" "Peggy" Josephine TERWILLIGER, also known as "Pete" (from nickname of  Pepita), whom we called "GrandPete". Here she is about 27 or so. 
  • Standing behind is the elder of her two younger brothers, George Walter Terwilliger, aged about 24ish years.
  • And finally, the taller and younger of the two young men, standing directly behind his mother is Harold "Hal" Graves Terwilliger, aged about 18 yrs old.
By 1910, a few years more or less after this photo was taken: 
- George married Hazel Belle Hubbard in 1909; he died in 1970, aged 88 yrs
- Harold married in 1935 to Carola Bischoff; he died in 1976, aged 88 yrs
- Marguerite married Charles Edward KUHN in 1910; she died in 1973 aged 93 yrs.  
- James M. TERWILLIGER died in the fall of 1909, aged 85 yrs..  
- Harriet, his wife, died about a year later, aged 82.  
- Grove died in 1929, aged 73.  
- Clara, his wife, died in 1955, aged 98 yrs. 
- Clara's mother, also named Harriet, died in 1929 at the age of 102 yrs. 

If you have any questions about the people in this photo, I'd be happy to answer them.  And if you have any information or corrections, please let me know - I'm always happy to correct my errors!  Contact me via calewis at telus dot net, or in the Comments below.  

2 comments:

John said...

Celia: What a treasure photgraph you have there! Three generations depicted together at the turn of the last century -- and identified to boot. It is a shame that so many cannot envision ancestors beyong grandparents. Those of us who have photoa in earlier generations are lucky indeed!

Celia Lewis said...

I have so very few old photos, that I treasure every one! Thanks so much for stopping by, John.

Welcome!

Family, friends, and others - I hope you enjoy these pages about our ancestors and their lives. Genealogy has become somewhat of an obsession, more than a hobby, and definitely a wonderful mystery to dig into and discover. Enjoy my writing, and contact me at celia.winky at gmail dot com if you have anything to add to the stories. ... Celia Lewis