52 ANCESTORS, 52 THEMES, No. 16, LIVE LONG: Harriet "Hattie" Philena ORMSBEE

This year's challenge by Amy Crow is another weekly blog, but based on Themes. Last week, it was How Do You Spell That?  This week, the theme is LIVE LONG.   
Please note that photos are copyright to me, and may not be copied.  Contact me if you are a relative and wish me to send you a copy.

In the above photo, taken the summer of 1924, from the left:  great-grandmother, Clara Augusta "Gussie" GRAVES Terwilliger (67 yrs), Harriet "Hattie" Philena ORMSBEE Graves (97 yrs), my mother Mary (2 yrs), and my grandmother, Marguerite TERWILLIGER Kuhn (44 yrs).  All but my mother were long-lived: Clara lived to be 98, Harriet to 102, my mother to 70 (cancer/dementia), and Marguerite to 93 yrs (cancer).  Harriet's three girls all lived over 90 years.

I have a few long-lived ancestors, but the closest one is my maternal great-great-grandmother, Harriet "Hattie" Philena ORMSBEE. 102 years. Her middle name is sometimes seen as Philomena; sometimes she is named as "HP" as a nickname.

Hattie was the second child of Jacob ORMSBEE & Sabra TOWERS, born 28 May 1827, in Manlius, Onondaga, New York.  On 26 Sep 1850, she married a wealthy businessman, Charles Giles GRAVES, in Syracuse, Onondaga, NY. 

She and Charles lived in the village of Jordan, in the area of Syracuse for much of her life, moving to Englewood New Jersey after her husband died in 1902.  Her daughter Clara and husband James Grover "Grove" TERWILLIGER lived in Englewood, and the extended family lived together. I have a typewritten transcribed memoir from my grandmother, describing the beautiful home in Englewood NJ where she grew up. 

Hattie & Charles had 3 girls, born in Jordan, Onondaga, NY, just outside Syracuse:

1. Lillian Adele, b 25 Nov 1853, d 5 Jan 1949 aged 95; m 11 Jul 1877 to Gabriel W. Wisner; children - Charles Kenneth, Florence "Ethel" Sheridan, John Lawrence, Rae Burton.
2. Clara Augusta "Gussie" [ancestor], b 5 Nov 1857, d 30 Oct 1955 aged 6 days short of 98; m 2 Oct 1879 to James Grover "Grove" TERWILLIGER; children - Marguerite Josephine [ancestor], [m. Charles Edward KUHN]; George Walter m. Hazel Belle Hubbard; Harold "Hal" Graves m. Carola Bischoff.
3. Florence Estelle, b 3 Feb 1860, d. 6 Apr 1954 aged 94;  m. 6 Sep 1893 to Ernest F. Tyler; children - Lillian G. [m. Tony Petrucelli]

Hattie lived with her daughter Clara after Charles GRAVES died in 1902; and continued until her own death 20 Aug 1929 in Englewood NJ.  She seems to have had quite a social life, enjoying musical activities, as did her daughters.  My grandmother played the piano, the organ, sang, and enjoyed live theatre (acting as well as in the audience), and it seems the family all enjoyed these activities.  

I do wish I had more photos to share of the ORMSBEE, GRAVES and TERWILLIGER families. Unfortunately at least one or two of their several large family albums had been in the care of an aunt, Dorthea Kuhn, who became demented and needed hospitalization in New York City. Somehow in the chaos of closing down her apartment and Dot going into care, Dot's large albums were... lost... and only a tiny WW2 album was saved.  Perhaps "someone" in the family still has a few photos. Wouldn't it be lovely if a cousin saw this post and contacted me?  I would be thrilled! 

If any of these people are your ancestors as well, please contact me via calewis at telus dot net, or in the Comments below.  I would love to learn more about my ancestors. 

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