Posts Tagged margaret teller

We just wanted to share one of the murals from the Hyde Park, New York Post Office. This and other illustrations like it are available for viewing on our Illustrations page.

• Description: Before 1741. Jacobus Stoutenburgh, his sons, and slaves clear the land. His log cabin, built in 1723, was the first house in Hyde Park Village. The Kings Highway, then a grassy "waggon" road, passed in front. Jacobus and his wife Margaret Teller had eight children who varied in age in 1741 from 23 year old Tobias to 5 year old Luke.
• Artist: Olin Dows, of Rhinebeck, NY, was a neighbor and family friend of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
• Location: Hyde Park, NY

Here’s a surprising bit of family history I happened to stumble across while researching Margaret Teller. It concerns another relative named Rebecca Watson who married Dr. Abraham Stoutenburg in 1784 and then later took their son and left the man. I was incredibly surprised by the openly judgmental attitude of the author of this piece. It’s one thing to know intellectually that women used to be viewed and treated differently than now, but quite another to have it expressed so blatantly in a published magazine. The statement that her leaving him was a “rash act” is a ludicrous assumption to make when the author admits that “all who knew the circumstances have long since passed away.”

A ROMANCE OF DUTCHESS COUNTY, NEW YORK

THE “OLD NORTHWEST” GENEALOGICAL QUARTERLY
April–July–October, 1910

ON October 17th, 1784, Rebecca Watson and Dr. Abraham Stoutenburg were married in a little Baptist Church at Bangal, Dutchess County, N.Y. It is believed that the bride came from Maine or Vermont, but the exact locality is not known.

The groom was the son of Col. Tobias Stoutenburg, of Hyde Park and New York City, and of Catharine Van Vleck, daughter of Abram Van Vleck. He was the grandson of Judge Jacobus Stoutenburg, of New York City, Philipsburg Manor and Stoutenburg (Hyde Park), his wife being Margaret Teller, of Teller’s Point, the daughter of William Teller and her grandmother was Sarah Radoff, the official interpreter of the Algonquin Indians.

The father of Judge Jacobus was Pieter Van Stoutenburg, gentleman of New Amsterdam, born in Holland in 1618. Pieter was the rich treasurer of the colony and was one of the prominent burgesses of New Amsterdam.

Thus we see that the bride entered a prominent family and was no doubt envied by the fair maidens of Hyde Park, where she went to reside with her distinguished husband. A son was born to this couple and was named Abram for his distinguished father.

Some months later when the physician was away from home attending to his practice, Rebecca Watson Stoutenburg disappeared from her home taking with her the infant son, and rumor said that she was jealous of one of the doctor’s fair patients. Search was made for the missing ones without avail, and a few years later the physician married again, supposing his first wife dead.

Years passed and Rebecca Watson also married again, as her husband, Abram Stoutenburg died in 1794. Her second husband was a Chitister and of his parentage nothing is known. Within a few years he died and when we hear of Rebecca Watson again she is known as the "Widow Chitister" and lived with her son, Abram Stoutenburg and his wife, Mary Mitchell, near Schuyler’s Lake, N.Y.

Many children came to call her grandmother and to them she told of their prominent ancestors and that their father should be a wealthy man instead of a poor carpenter, never seeming to blame herself for the trouble that had come to the family.

In 1834, Abram Stoutenburg died and was buried at Havana, N. Y., and Rebecca disappeared again. Her grandchildren were small and they only knew it was supposed she returned to her girlhood home. She took with her the family Bible which contained very valuable records both in Dutch and English. Where she died and was buried not one of her descendants knows.

Search has been made for the lost Bible without avail.

A large reward would be given for its recovery could it be found. Some old papers published at the time Rebecca Watson’s leaving Hyde Park may contain a key to unlock the mystery surrounding this romance, but if so it is hidden away where no one will see it and all who knew the circumstances have long since passed away. Yet the consequences of the rash act of one woman has clouded the lives of more than fifty of her descendants.

We bring you a slice of the 2010 Edition of our Annual Newsletter by its editor, Lanaii Kline. Enjoy!

OHIO HISTORICAL MARKER -- THE SHANNON STOCK COMPANY. The Shannon Stock Company, also known as Shannon's Famous Players, was a traveling theater company based in Wapakeneta from 1913 until the Great Depression. Founded by Harry Shannon, the group included his wife Adelaide, their children, Harry Jr. and Hazel, and a company of twenty people or more. The company performed in theaters in southern states during the winter and in a tent in Ohio, Indiana, and other Midwest states during the summer. When not performing, the Shannon's prepared for the next tour while at home here in Wapakoneta. (Continued on other side) WAPAKONETA 175TH ANNIVERSARY COMMITTEE -- THE OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY 6-6-2008

Interesting Tidbits

Printed August 15, 2010
STFA Annual Newsletter
by Lanaii Kline

Shannon Historical Marker

I came across an obituary for Harry Shannon, Jr. in the Lima News from February 25, 1970. He was born in Helena, Montana in 1891. At the time of his death, he was a race track photo finish operator at state and county fairs in Ohio. His parents, Harry Shannon and Adelaide Stoutenburg, operated the Shannon Stock Company and the Shannon Players. He was assigned to the Infantry Band Service in WWI. Clearly raised in show business, Harry Jr. directed the Harry Shannon and His Pennsylvanians Orchestra during the 1930s.

On November 8, 2008, the State of Ohio dedicated an historic marker at 308 West Auglaize Street, Wapakoneta. This was the site of the Shannon Stock Company and is the 6th historic site dedicated in Auglaize County. (To view a larger image and the text on the backside of the marker, visit the marker site.)

US VP Schulyer Colfax

Schuyler Colfax Statue (Colfax, California)

In May I took a train trip from San Francisco to Reno. We stopped in Colfax, CA and right at the station is a large statue of Schuyler Colfax.

In the 2007 Newsletter, I included an article about Schuyler Colfax, Vice President under Ulysses S. Grant and a descendant of Margaret Teller’s aunt, Jannetje Teller.

According to the Colfax Historical Society, Colfax was originally named Camp 20 and was a camp that housed the men who helped build the railroad over the Sierra Nevada. On a visit from then Speaker of the House Colfax, the camp was very taken by his oratory ability. At the completion of the railroad from Truckee at Camp 20, the emerging town was named in his honor.

Donald Fay, War Hero

On May 7, 1951, the San Mateo Times printed on page 2 an article, "Boy Wounded In Korean War." That boy was PFC Donald Fay who was in Korea only 20 days before being wounded.

Don was near Hwachon, Korea when he was struck by shrapnel from a rocket explosion. Although Don was wounded in the wrist, the back of the neck, and the small of his back, he managed to walk for help. He was hospitalized in Taegu, Japan.

The article indicated that Don and his wife Cay were engaged to be married. I don’t know if he returned to the field after discharge from the hospital, but I do know he returned to California to marry Cay.

More on Joseph Burr Tiffany

In the 2007 newsletter, I wrote an article about Joseph Burr Tiffany, son of Amanda Cuyler Stoutenburgh in connection with Wilderstein. I came across an interesting blog entry entitled "A Tale of Two Tiffanys." The article was posted in three parts, December 9, 10 and 13, 2009. Parts two and three focused on Joseph Tiffany. The third blog entry at the end states that the article is to be continued. However, December 13, 2009 is the last entry posted on this blog.

In Memory of JACOBUS STOUTENBURGH Born 1696 Died 1772 who in 1742 became the first white resident of record on the Flatts, south of Crum Elbow Creek, where subsequently the village of Hyde Park was built and who owned many acres of land in Dutchess County under the Patent of the Great Nine Partners. He married May 25th, 1717 MARGARET TELLER of Teller's Point, Westchester Co. Born 1696 Died 1789

As another year’s annual newsletter is on its way to our members, look to your mailboxes for your issue.

Thanks once again to my lifelong friend Lynnea Jones for chauffeuring me to the FDR Library and Museum last October 2008. Among other items, the library houses files pertaining to Maud Stoutenburgh Eliot, a founding member of our Association, and a priceless collection of Hudson River Valley maps and antique documents bearing red wax seals, handwritten in India ink.

I also photographed many items from the collection at the William Stoutenburgh house.

The Dutch Reformed Church in Hyde Park still houses the memorial plaque, dedicated to Jacobus by FDR, preserved on the wall behind plexiglass. The Post Office mural collection funded by FDR shows in vibrant detail the artist’s concept of Jacobus’ people clearing the land.

At town hall a magnificent mosaic heads the conference room and the clerks there were very helpful gathering information from their records.

This year our contacts have increased at our growing website inviting praise and criticism. The internet is infinite in its potential to inform and misinform. We are wise to be cautious and continue to research and verify sources as we collect items of historical interest.

Please provide alternate means to reach you by mail and telephone as well as e-mail when you contact us. When contacting us through the website, please check your e-mail junk (also known as spam and bulk) folders for replies which you may be missing.

Thank you for the honor of the title of Family Historian.

Ila Malloy

Young Lady With A Rose (Attributed to Peter Van Der Lyn)

There are claims that Peter Van Der Lyn (possibly Pieter Vanderlyn) is the same artist/painter who created the portraits of Jacobus Stoutenburgh and Margaret Teller, duplicates of which hang in the William Stoutenburgh House in Hyde Park, New York. The original pair are in the The Museum of the City of New York. We seek any and all information regarding this alleged connection.