Adelaide Josephine (Bond) Ingersoll (1860 - 1947)

Born 12 Dec 1860 in Montevideo, Uruguay

Ancestors

Wife of Stephen Warren Ingersoll — married 8 Nov 1882 in St. Luke's Church, Germantown, Pennsylvania

Died 14 Dec 1947 at age 87 in Spring House, Pennsylvania, USA

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Biography

She went by her middle name of Josephine all her life.

Adelaide "Josephine" (Bond) Ingersoll was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, the eldest child of two US citizens. Her grandfather Dr. James Bond was a physician born in Maryland who spent the majority of his long life in the English-speaking colonies of Montevideo and Buenos Aires. Her father followed this grandfather both in the practice of medicine and in residing primarily in South America. But her mother was from a prominent Philadelphia family and of partial Spanish descent as well. So the home Josephine grew up in spoke Spanish as a first language.

After a breakdown in the marriage her mother returned to Philadelphia around 1878 with her three adolescent children and her elderly father-in-law. The siblings spoke little English at this time, and family history says that Josephine's younger sister retained a Spanish accent all her life. So it is likely that Josephine did as well. Dr. James Bond's considerable wealth was left to Josephine and her two siblings upon his death in 1882.

Josephine married Stephen Warren Ingersoll of Philadelphia when she was just under 22 years old. Sadly, her husband died of typhoid fever just two years later, and when their only child was less than a year old.

Josephine never remarried, and tragically her son died young of the Spanish influenza of 1918, leaving three children, the youngest of whom was less than two years old. But Josephine lived to see not only her four grandchildren, but the births of great-grandchildren as well. She traveled widely in Europe before her death at age 87.

She is recorded in the 1900 US Federal Census for Montgomery County, Pennsylvania as a 39-year-old widow and head of household. That record shows her birthplace as South America, her father's birthplace as South America, and her mother's birthplace as Mexico. It is recorded that she obtained US citizenship in 1879. Her household at that time included two female servants.

Josephine's cause of death was listed as pulmonary embolism following a fracture of the femur after an interval of ten days. Chronic myocarditis was listed as a complicating factor in her death. The informant for her death certificate was her daughter-in-law, Emily Ingersoll who listed Josephine's parents' places of birth incorrectly.

She was buried 17 December 1947 in the St. Thomas Episcopal Church Cemetery in Whitemarsh, Pennsylvania.

Sources

• Personal family history in possession of Hunter-4624.
• 1900 US Federal Census for Montgomery County, Pennsylvania