Finishing a side of my family - the Lambertson family

After my blog the other night I was trying to decide what direction I was going to go next.  I've been highlighting the ancestry of my dad's maternal grandparents, Nicholas and Doris (Colson) Denhof.  I realized that there is one more family that I really haven't mentioned.  A few blogs ago I wrote about Doris' biological father Charles Perkins and noted that I'd written extensively about his father Clarence but really haven't mentioned Clarence's wife Sarah Etta Lambertson.  I did write a bit about her while I was discussing Clarence's Civil War service and pension but I should write a bit more.

Sarah was born 4 Jul 1854 at Groton, Tompkins County NY (according to Sarah's recollection in the pension papers - I haven't been able to prove it otherwise).  Her parents were Daniel Lambertson (1827-1900) and Delia Louw (1828-1900).

Daniel and Delia were enumerated in the 1850 census of Dryden, Tompkins Co NY, assumed to be shortly after their marriage (no children).  Delia is listed as Adelia, which could be her real name but no other records list this spelling.

In 1860 Daniel and Delia are still in the town of Dryden, leading me to believe that Sarah was born there and not Groton as she states.  There are 3 children with a 4 year gap between Sarah and her younger sister Lucy so possibly there was an infant or 2 lost.  Daniel and Delia had an unnamed daughter 1 Feb-21 Feb 1874 at Ashland, Newaygo Co MI so they did lose at least one baby.

The state of New York did us genealogists a favor in 1855 and 1865 and did a full census.  I can't find Daniel and Delia in 1855 but in 1865 they are still in Dryden, now with 4 children.  They are on the bottom of the image on the left.  The George Harned family on the top of the right page has Sarah Lambertson Harned, David's sister and their brother John and his family is below her, with John's son Wm below them.

By the 1870 census Daniel and Delia have moved to Ashland Township, Newaygo Co MI.  They have an additional 2 children and Delia's mother Caroline Louw (one of my brick walls) is living with them.  Delia's brother Isaac and his family are living next door.

According to Delia's death certificate Caroline was born Caroline Johnson.  She married Jonathan Louw (1796-1840) and had 4 children.  She remarried to Albert Corwin and had a daughter Caroline.  She vanishes after 1870.

The last census that Daniel and Delia appear in is 1880, still in Ashland.  Sarah has married Clarence Perkins and started her family by now.

As stated in my blog about Clarence, they married 1 Dec 1872 at Ashland.  Sarah was Clarence's 3rd wife and Sarah is technically a stepmother to 3 children, at least 1 if not 2 that are young enough to be living at home but they are nowhere to be found in the census records, beyond his daughter Celia who is living with the family in the 1884 census.

They have 3 children together in this census, including my 2nd great-grandfather Charles Perkins.  Their daughter Eva married Archie Scott and I'm curious if Amy Scott that is boarding with them was a relation to him.

Daniel and Delia both died in 1900, Apr 10th and Feb 15th respectively at Ashland and are laid to rest at Shippy Cemetery in Ashland.

Another interesting family story that I was able to disprove involved Daniel's death.  When I took my grandma to meet with Eva Perkins Scott's granddaughter Charlene Zufelt Henry, she told me that her understanding was that after Delia passed away, Daniel was so despondent that he hung himself in the barn and that the postal worker found him dead.  A sad story indeed and it would be more interesting to write about than the actual cause of death.

Again - verify those family stories.......some are true and some are so beyond false and lead you to believe things that I'm sure the deceased would prefer to not be remembered for.

In 1900 Sarah and Clarence were still living in Ashland, now the parents of 6 children living with them (daugher Eva is married and living with them, daughter Delia and son Charles have married and left the home).  Sarah lists that she's been the mother of 9 children, 8 still living.  I have found no record of the 9th child that they apparently lost.

By 1910 Sarah has moved back to NY, settling in her "hometown" of Groton.  She's got her sons Willis and Ralph living with her.

In 1920 she's still living in Groton and still living with her 2 sons.  Willis is widowed, having lost his 1st wife Effie Sobers (1866-1918).  Ralph is married to his 1st wife Alice Owen (1899-1928).  Alice is the mother of Jay Perkins, the grandson of Sarah that I reached out to that set my Perkins search on fire.  Another genealogy lesson:  read the records!  While writing this blog I noticed that Willis is widowed in this census which led me to find Effie, a wife I didn't know about!

In 1925 Sarah is living with son Ralph and family in Groton.

In 1930 Sarah is still living with son Ralph.  I can only assume they are still in Groton as the census-taker didn't bother to fill the top of the form out.


According to the pension papers/letters referenced in my previous blog about Sarah she remained in NY until the beginning of 1938 when she moves to Ravenna, Muskegon Co MI to live with her daughter Nellie Perkins Hosmer.  I'm not sure why she moved but maybe Ralph was sick of her after 18 years of living with her?  Daughters are generally known as the caregivers so perhaps in her old age Nellie was better suited to care for her.  Either way, Sarah passed away in Ravenna 15 Dec 1938 of pneumonia and was laid to rest at Ravenna Cemetery.  I'd like to say she was buried near her husband but Nellie chose to have her buried near her.  There is no other family of Sarah buried here.


Some pictures of Sarah and her family - these are all courtesy of Charlene Henry Zufelt or Danny Perkins and his mother Blanche.  Forgive the table lines......I'm sick of fighting Blogger and it's inability to simply put photos side by side so I'm experimenting.

Sarah with son Willis	Sarah with daughter Delia, granddaughter Sadie and great      grandson Alfred Sjoblom 1921
Sarah at Lake Michigan	Sarah with her cow
Sarah older studio photo	Sarah with sister Nettie Hall and son Willis with his wife Anna
Sarah with her daughter Nellie Hosmer.  Judging by how frail Sarah appears in this photo compared to others I'm going to venture a guess that this was taken in the spring of 1938, after Sarah's return to Michigan.	Daughter Delia with husband Benjamin Knapp
Daugher Eva with husband Archie Scott	Son Guy with wife Mabel
Sons Guy and Willis	Daugher Nellie Hosmer 1971
Sarah with daugher Nellie - middle may be Sarah's sister Nettie Hall or possibly her sister Mary Lancaster (this woman appears much heavier than the photos of Nellie that I've seen and I have never seen a photo of Mary).	Son Ralph Perkins
Daugher Viola Ragan	Sister Nettie Lambertson Hall
Sister Lucy with husband Ted Beckwith	Back row - Harvey Hosmer with wife Nellie, Willis Perkins.  Front row - Ted and Lucy Beckwith, Sarah and brother Monte Lambertson.  Interestingly when the photo to the left was given to me it was identified as Daniel and Delia Lambertson, which thrilled me until I realized that they were the same folks from this photo and Daniel and Delia were dead by the time this photo was taken.  Thankfully this group photo had labels on the back.
Son Willis with wife Anna 9 May 1920	Son Willis with his sister Nellie Hosmer behind him and his wife Anna on the driver's side. Willis not only lost his first wife after only a few years of marriage but his wife Anna died in a house fire 25 Jan 1962.  Willis must have given up on life because he passed away 2 Feb 1962.
Son Ralph with 1st wife Alice	Son Guy on the right at gunpoint