RVG is the source of the notion that William Wyant Died in New York about 1953. As he was alive and a member of the family at that time, we trust that this has some basis.
DDT 05-feb-06:
Until 2004, we did not know who Sallie Wyant Gray’s great-grandparents were. Sallie knew that her grandfather (who came from the Finger Lakes region of New York), William Wyant, divorced her grandmother and was rumored to have returned to New York, where he apparently died in about 1953.
The 1880 Census identifies a young man, presumably Sallie’s grandfather, who at age 13, was a laborer who lived in Scipio, Cayuga County, New York (in the Finger Lakes region) with his father, William Wyant, age 54, a farmer; his mother, Jane Wyant, age 48, whose occupation was listed as “keeping house”; his sister Sarah Gardner (listed as married), age 22, a servant; his sister Ella, age 16, a servant; his youngest sister, Jennie, age 15, a servant; his brother, Joseph, age 9; and the youngest sibling, a brother, Arthur, age 6. Sarah had a two-year-old daughter, May Gardner, who also lived with the family.
The census report noted that the elder William Wyant did not read, but indicates that Jane and Sarah did. All five of the younger, school-age children, including William, were noted to have attended school during the preceding year.
The census also included a report of special health conditions; none of the family was listed as “blind, deaf and dumb, idiotic, insane, maimed, crippled, bedridden or otherwise disabled.” The census report also indicated that their “color” was “white” (the only other options for color “black, mulatto, Chinese or Indian”).
William and Jane were both born in England and immigrated to the United States by 1858, when Sarah was born in New York. The rest of the children were also born in New York, Ella in 1864, Jennie in 1865, William in 1867, Joseph in 1871 and Arthur in 1874. May Gardner was born in 1878.
Before Sallie died, we were able to tell her that we’d found her great-grandfather.
Note that birth years are estimated based on the reported ages as of June 10, 1880.
5. Julia Katharina Elizabetha Laauser
Source: RVG
Source: RVG
Gail Thorpe remembers that family tradition holds that the Ewerts came to America speaking only German
Source: RVG