Sunday's Obituary - Martha Sloper Waite

Mrs. Martha S. Waite. 82, Dies

It is so exciting when you find proof that a hypothesis is true.  I believed Harriet Waite Felton was on of Gardiner and Phoebe’s children. I found Phoebe living in Syracuse with a Charles and Harriet Felton on the 1860 census.

I have search for years for any kind of proof, and last night knowing Charles died in the Civil War I checked fold3.com to see if there was a pension record for her. There I found 13 pages giving me her marriage date and place. She was married on 12 Jan 1854 in Pembroke, Genesee, New York. It says she was Harriet Wait from Cicero, New York. More proof that she is most likely the daughter for Phoebe and Gardiner. It also leaves me with more questions. What was she doing in Pembroke, Genesee, New York? There are Waites in Darien, very close to Pembroke with similar first names. Does this mean that the Darien and Cicero Waite families are related?

Then as I was entering the new information into my tree a leaf popped up, a link to Find-a-grave for Harriet. I examined the memorial for Harriet where she is listed as Harriet Waite Felton. It lists her as a daughter of Henry and Phoebe. I checked for Charles, he has a memorial in this cemetery. So I contacted the creator of the memorial and found out that the information came of the cemetery records. So could Gardiner be Gardiner Henry Waite or Henry Gardiner Waite? He does have a grandson named Henry.

I welcome the questions, for I give me new ideas!

Wordless Wednesday - Emma Jane VanHoosen Waite

Emma Jane VanHoosen Waite second wife of Russel Wait/Waite son of Gardiner and Phoebe

Tombstone Tuesday - Russel Waite

Russel Waite and Emma Jane VanHoosen

Russel is the son of Gardiner and Phoebe Waite. Him and his second wife are buried in Riverside Cemetery, Altmar, Oswego County, New York

Matrilineal Monday- Phoebe Shepard

For five years I have searched for information on Gardiner Wait/Waite and Phoebe/Phebe Unknown. All I knew about her is that she was born in Albany County, New York, she married Gardiner Wait and she was living until after 1860.

Female lines can be the hardest lines to figure out. So far I have not been able to find a death certificate for any of her children, or the children I believe belong to this couple. I actually only have one document that links these two as a couple. The 1855 New York State census, were they are bot living with Russel Wait (our direct line). before that she is just a slash mark.

In hopes to find more on this couple I created a list of boys and girls with the time frame they would have been born from the 1820, 1830, and 1840 Federal Censuses. I then started filling in possible children from 1850 and 1860 census for the Cicero area. Then I would research this person excluding them if I could prove a different set of people. I believed Phoebe was a Loomis for a while. I had a list of children that were living with other families in 1850. I have never found Gardiner in 1850 and Phoebe appears twice, once with Jeremiah and once with Harvey.

One day I would frustrated with a project I was working on, sometimes it helping to doing something else for a bit to clear my head. I went to Google Books and entered “Gardiner Wait” “Phoebe” “Cicero”, BINGO!

Phoebe Shepard m. Gardiner Wait, three hits. Mayflower Descendant, Doty and Shepard genealogies. I couldn’t read the whole entry, but I was lucky it was a Monday and the Rochester library is open late on Monday. I went there directly after work, they had all three books. I copied the pages and returned home to study them. I was able to prove them most the relationship I had put together were correct. Maria Wait who was living with Loomis family not because Phoebe was a Loomis, but because Mrs. Loomis was Phoebe’s sister. I have still not discovered when Phoebe or Gardiner died or are buried, but I now know more about this female line then I do about the male line.

I have ideas about who was named after whom, and I have more clues to follow. So try including the woman’s name and the locate in your searches, you may be surprised.

Sunday's Obituary - Etta Waite

Etta or Henrietta Caird Waite was the wife of Ora Edmund Waite. Ora was the great grandson of Gardiner and Phoebe. Son of Henry Marvin Waite and Martha Elizabeth Sloper, grandson of Russel Waite and Emma Jane VanHoosen.

Jeremiah Wait/Waite

Jeremiah Wait/Waite, middle initial maybe W. Jeremiah was a cooper like Gardner and Harvey. At 22 years old he enlisted in the Army and from his enlistment papers I learned that he was born in Cicero, New York around 1825. He was 5’ 7” tall, gray eyes, brown hair with a ruddy complexion. He enlisted on July 9, 1847 in Troy, New York by Captain Roland for a period of 5 years. He received and ordinary discharge on August 5, 1848 at Ft. Columbus, New York as a private. I believe he may have fought in the Mexican War, 1846-1848

He enlisted on August 22, 1864 in Auburn for a 1 year period during the Civil War. He mustered out on July 13, 1865 in Syracuse, New York. On this enlistment form he is still a cooper, born in Cicero, New York, 5’ 7”, brown hair, but he now has blue eyes and a light complexion. It also says he was 42 when he enlisted which would make him born in 1822. During the Civil War he was in the 3rd LA Batty B Light Artillery Battery New York.

Jeremiah married Bestey who may have been married twice before. On the 1850 census they are living in Williamstown, New York. It appears Bestey was married to a Babe and a Huff, because there are 2 children living with them. Harriet Babe and Alfred Huff. Also living with them is Phebe and Russel Wait. Jeremiah’s mother and younger brother.

Can’t find them in 1860 census.

I find them in Seneca Falls on the 1870 census. A call to the Seneca Falls Historical Society, I learned that he own a house and Wall Street which is now under the

 Van Cleef Lake. This info is from the 1874 directory.

They lived in Seneca Falls by June of 1863 when Jeremiah as subjected to military duty. He is listed as a cooper and 39 years old. This would make his birth year 1824.