52 Ancestors Week 15: Solitude

Question

From Amy Johnson Crow: The theme for Week 15 is "Solitude." Is there someone in your family tree who lived by themselves or would seek out time to be alone? Celebrate them this week by writing part of their story.

So....anyone with ice palaces at the North pole? 

Comments

One man’s solitude brings a family to America. https://allroadhaverhill.blogspot.com/2023/04/52-ancestors-week-15-solitude.html?m=0

Answer 1

Ann Fielder Gantt Wight, My 8x-great grandmother, chose to remain  “femme sole” for twenty years after the death of her second husband. I wrote about her here: https://annesgenealogyadventures.blogspot.com/2023/03/52-ancestors-2023-week-15-solitude-ann.html

Answer 2

The ultimate solitude is your grave.  From the Daily Telegraph, Saint John, New Brunswick, Dec 29, 1879:  The death of Capt. Alfred Peatman by drowning in Boston Harbor is announced. Capt. Peatman formerly belonged to the steamer "Soulanges."    

But perhaps it's not your turn for the ultimate solitude.

Dec. 30, 1879, Daily News, Saint John, New Brunswick: Capt. Peatman whose death was announced (Sun, Globe, Telegraph) has just returned to his home in Gibson (York County, New Brunswick) from Boston looking hale and hearty as usual.

They suggested the death of his first wife two weeks earlier contributed to the rumor, as if newspaper reporting was a parlor game.

The Captain did die some 36 years later. http://wikitree.com/wiki/Peatman-19.  

Update.  So yesterday I added his stories to the profile, the announced death and a boat crash, found his first wife in WikiTree as an orphan, adopted her and connected her to Captain Peatman.  

Answer 3

When I think about solitude, I think of my mother-in-law, Annette Nelson. She lived alone for 37 years. Several of my relatives were young widows, but they had other people living with them or several pets. She had a couple of men that were interested in marring her, but she quickly let them know she was not interested. She had been an only child, and she seemed to adapt to being alone. This is her with her two sons. My husband on the left lived 60 miles away, and we were at her home for holidays. My bother-in-law on the right lived in the same town; however, the majority of her life was spent in solitude.

Comments

Another gorgeous photo Alexis thank you for sharing

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Susan, thank you for the sweet comment. One man that wanted to date Annette, after her husband died, owned a “wonderful” Italian restaurant. His son owns it now, and I can’t help but think of what might have been every time we eat there.

Answer 4

"Soledad" is the Spanish translation of "solitude" and a Spanish female given name. So I chose to look for Soledad (I didn't know before tonight that it's also a town in California) to connect a branch. First I found 2 Soledad's from Mexico who were undated. I was able to date them. And then I found Clara Laverne (Miller) Ralph who died in Soledad, California. In her branch was William Naly Ralph, who I could connect with the father-in-law of his daughter. So again there are 13 profiles connected.

Answer 5

My great aunt „Tante Martha“ was the younger sister of my paternal grandmother. Born in 1924 as the youngest of five siblings, she remained unmarried to care for her ageing parents. When her father died in 1964, she moved into a small flat in the attic of her brother-in-law‘s farm. She had trained as a seamstress but didn‘t get an employment contract again (she had given up her previous employment when caring for her parents). So she continued to live in that attic for the next forty years (yes, 40!). Her niece from next door would look in on her from time to time but when she retired, Tante Martha moved to a senior citizen‘s home where she spent the remaining nine years of her life. She survived every family member in her generation and thus is the most solitary person in my family I know.

I only have one photo of her from the late 1940s, i.e. she would have been in her mid-twenties then. It shows her with her sister and her sister‘s two children; she‘s the one on the right:

Comments

Thank you for the story and photo, Oliver.  Did you mean she stayed in the attic 40 years as her sleeping place but left to do other things?  Or was she only in the attic for 40 years?

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:) I hadn’t seen that coming.

The attic flat was her residence but she did leave it to do other things like shopping ;-)

Answer 6

My biological father is known my most of everyone to be a hermit for the most part. He had the same job most of my life, and frequented a local mom and pop gas station that was close to that job. He's lived in the same place since I was very young, which was less than 10 mins from his job and that gas station. He's a man of few words, and when he does talk I describe it as a monotone. He just never seemed bothered with socializing, whether in person or any other means. Although he has switched jobs in the past few years, but to my knowledge he still his lives his solitary life. And is content that way.

Answer 7

Myself Anne Marie Fiordalisi b 1951 in Cleveland, Ohio. I don't mind being alone. Its a long story about my family background!!!. I love it really. I can go anywhere I wanted to go and live.  I lived in many places, aka Hawaii (6 yr), Australia (6), California (7), and hometown of Cleveland, my retired place.   I love going on adventures by myself. Its easy to get seats to plays, concerts etc. I go see my nieces and nephews anytime and then go back home. I am now living with my sister and her family for the rest of my adult life. So I am truly very happy being in solitude.