Sarah E. Tuttle (1831 - 1914)

Born 7 Apr 1831 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Descendants

Died 10 Oct 1914 at age 83 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Jana Shea [send private message]

Biography

Sarah E. Tuttle was born 7 Apr. 1831^[1] in Pennsylvania, according to her death certificate and this date roughly matches her age given in census records.

She appears to be the same Sarah Tuttle, age 18, who was enumerated in the 1850 Federal census of Philadelphia (likely as a domestic servant) in the Joseph and Ann (née Hoffman) Armbruster household.^[2][3]

By either the end of 1850 or early 1851, she married Philip Hess Bender with whom she had seven children:

1. Charles Henry
2. Philip Hess, Jr.
3. Sarah E.
4. Susan M.
5. Theresa Marcila
6. Francis Edward "Frank"
7. Elias Hardy

A gap of a decade exists between her second youngest son, Frank and her youngest daughter, Theresa. No other children were born to Sarah, but there may have been miscarriages during this time period.

In later years, Philip and Sarah separated for reasons unknown.^[4]

In 1910 Federal census, Sarah was enumerated in her son, Elias' household, in Absecon, New Jersey.^[5] Though enumerated as a young widower with two sons, he was actually separated from his wife and Sarah may have been residing with him to help out with the children.

Sarah died in Philadelphia on 10 October 1914^[1], following a fall from a porch that fractured her leg.

She is buried in the Bender family plot at Oakland Cemetery in Philadelphia.

Research Notes

HELP NEEDED! The names of Sarah E. (Tuttle) Bender's parents remain unknown. If you are a descendant, please consider taking a DNA test and uploading the raw data to GEDmatch and/or MyHeritage. DNA testing could help identify her origins.

Research goals: identify Sarah E. Tuttle's parents

Sarah died in 1914, nearly a decade after Pennsylvania began requiring civil registration and parents' names (if known) were recorded on death certificates.

Her maiden name has been established as Tuttle/Tuthill from being listed as such on her children’s death certificates.

Yet on her own death certificate, Sarah’s parents are listed as "Chas." and "Sara Tutle" - names erroneously provided by an undertaker, who acted as the informant. But Charles was actually the name of her husband's father and Sarah Tuttle was her own maiden name. No Charles Tuttle (or spelling variant) of the right age to be her father appears to have ever existed in Philadelphia.

Exhaustive searches in Philadelphia church marriage registers of all Protestant denominations at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania have not yielded any record of Sarah's marriage to Philip H. Bender.

One reason this could be is that they may have married in the defunct First Presbyterian Church of Northern Liberties, whose records have been lost. Philip H. Bender's parents were early members of the congregation.

Sarah Tuttle was likely connected to the very few Tuttle families residing in Philadelphia in the first half of the 1800s – who primarily lived in the Northern Liberties and lower Kensington neighborhoods (Fishtown) and were in the ship building trade. These Tuttles appear to all be related.

Unfortunately, few records exist for those Tuttle households. They are found primarily in city directories, early census records and early Philadelphia physician death returns, but nothing has been found that directly connects Sarah to any of these families.

Sarah is listed as being born in Pennsylvania in every federal census from 1850 to 1910 (though she is missing from 1900 census). Her parents were listed as being also from Pennsylvania, however in 1910 her father was listed as being from England and her mother from Pennsylvania.

Clues

The strongest clue to her origins is that a 63 year-old Eliza Perkins was enumerated with Philip and Sarah Bender's family in the 1860 census. But it is unclear whether she was a relative, boarder or a domestic, though based on Philip and Sarah's economic status it would be far more likely that Elizabeth Perkins was a relative or boarder. Interestingly, 10 years earlier an Elizabeth Tuttle, born around the same time, was enumerated with 24-year old John Perkins. Other records indicate that she is indeed the same woman.

Sarah does not appear to be of any relation to Joseph Armbruster or his wife, Ann Hoffman - the couple whose household Sarah was enumerated with in 1850. She was likely their domestic servant.

Her first four children were baptized as Protestants in 1863, many years after their births. Could the reason for this be that they belonged to another faith?

Baptismal records have not yet been located for their last two children.

A strong connection existed between the Bender and Fox families, though a familial relationship (if any) is yet unknown:

On the same day as the group baptism of the Bender children at Port Richmond Methodist Episcopalian Church, Daniel and Mary (Collier) Harrison's son, Daniel James was also baptized. Sarah Bender and Mary Harrison were the witnesses to the baptisms of each other's children.

Following the early death of Daniel Harrison, Mary remarried to widower Bernard Fox. Bernard and his first wife (Rebecca) were also members of the Port Richmond M.E. Church. Mary (Collier) Harrison Fox appears to be the same Mary Fox for whom Mary Fox Bender, granddaughter of Philip and Sarah, was named.

Andrew J. Fox (possible brother or cousin of Bernard) and his wife Ann Eliza (Schrick) were quite close to Philip and named a son Philip Bender Fox in his honor.

Were the Foxes and the Benders just great friends/neighbors or were they kin? More research is needed.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} "Certificate of Death for Sarah Bender", 10 October 1914, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, File number 24004, Pennsylvania Division of Vital Records, New Castle, Pennsylvania, USA, certified copy in possession of Jana Shea
2. ↑ "1850 United States Federal Census (Population Schedule)", Ward 7, Kensington, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, Dwelling 433, Family 571, Joseph Armbruster household, digital image, FamilySearch (Online: Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 2010), [Original source: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), p. 515A ]
3. ↑ "1850 United States Federal Census (Population Schedule)", Ward 3, Spring Garden, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, Dwelling 843, Family 945, Joseph Armbruster household, digital image, FamilySearch (Online: Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 2010), [Original source: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), NARA microfilm publication M432, (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), p.63A ]
4. ↑ "1880 United States Federal Census (Population Schedule)", ED 465, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, Dwelling 167, Families 189-190, Philip Bender household (Township Line Road), digital image, FamilySearch (Online: Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 2020), [Original source: National Archives and Records Administration, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), p.65B-66A]
5. ↑ "1910 United States Federal Census (Population Schedule)", Absecon City, Atlantic County, New Jersey, USA, Dwelling 66, Family 68, Elias Bender household, digital image, FamilySearch (Online: Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 2010), [Original source: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), NARA microfilm publication T624, (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), p. 3A ]

See also:

• Shea, Jana, "The Bender Family of Philadelphia", GEDCOM database uploaded 30 Dec 2011, RootsWeb (Online: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2000)

• Shea, Jana , “The Three Sarahs, part 2", blog post, Axehandles, 14 January 2016