Charles E Wardrobe (1843 - 1925)

Born 15 Mar 1843 in Hook, East Riding of Yorkshire Unitary Authority, East Riding of Yorkshire, England

Husband of Marilla (Woodworth) Wardrobe — married 26 Nov 1873 in Lawrence, Essex, Massachusetts, United States

Died 23 Apr 1925 at age 82 in Lawrence, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA

Biography

Charles was born in 1843. He passed away in 1925.

The Civil War was in its third terrible year in 1863. Steamships bearing hundreds of new immigrants from Europe arrived in New York almost daily. Among them was a young Englishman named Charles Wardrobe, he was twenty years old and a prime candidate for the draft.

He had been born in the small village of Hook in 1843. Wardrobe ancestors of Charles lived in many small towns of the area, their descendants remain there today.

William Wardrobe, father of Charles was a shoemaker, as had been his grandfather, and likely his great-grandfather. William and his wife, the former Elizabeth Hobson produced seven children between 1840 and 1856.

Charles was the second of their three sons. He appeared to have had his family's blessing on his desire to go to America. One of the family heirlooms he possessed was a Bible once owned by his paternal grandparents. He wrote in his own hand, in a second family Bible, a chronicle of his life. In so many words, it states: that he was born in Hook Yorkshire England and came to America in July 1865-landing in New York during the Draft Riot, went through to Canada, returned to the U.S. in May 1866 coming to Lawrence, Mass and started working for the Pacific Print Works. He held the position of Second Hand in the Finishing Department. He was called back to work in 1914 – as young men had left for Army duty in World War I, and he retired for the second time in 1918 and was given a gold-headed cane for 50 years of service.

Elvira Cass was born in 1842 in Brown's Hill, Stanstead County, Quebec . Her grandparents Levi and Betsy (Mosher) Cass, had migrated there in 1800 with family members from Epsom , New Hampshire. Elvira's parents were: Lorenzo Dow Cass (1811, Canada – 1899, NY) and Abigail Butterfield (1816, Canada – 1900, NY). Five of their six children were girls, and remained in the vicinity of Clinton, Essex, and Franklin Counties , New York. This is also where Elvira would meet and marry Charles Wardrobe. Charles was naturalized in October 1872, just months prior to Elvira's death, thus according to the law, she died an "American" citizen....

Although her immediate forebears had lived in Canada, more distance ancestors had been early-seventeenth century immigrants to New England; and Revolutionary War Soldiers and patriots were numbered among them. Elvira died of puerperal fever, just two weeks after the birth of her third son in December 1872. She left behind an undated poem in which she penned an elegy of her own death. Perhaps she wrote it amid grief at the loss of her sister Lucerne just three months before her own passing. Perhaps she wrote it during her brief final illness following the birth of son George. Two days before Christmas 1872, she left Charles grieving and alone to rear three small sons all under four years of age--including a newborn. Charles had no other family in the country to help him tend his infants, it is not surprising that he remarried in less than a year.

Source: written and published by Descendant, Sandra MacLean Clunies, CG

Sources

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/88664730/charles-e-wardrobe: accessed 20 May 2023), memorial page for Charles E. Wardrobe (15 Mar 1843–23 Apr 1925), Find a Grave Memorial ID 88664730, citing Bellevue Cemetery, Lawrence, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA; Maintained by Janet Marie (contributor 48008518).