Though not my great grandmother by blood, Sara Alice Brey born in Roxborough, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was the first wife of my step great grandpa William H Storkey IV. She was the daughter of Benjamin R. Brey and Kate/Catherine Bauder Brey of Roxborough. Sarah was the second eldest daughter, and her siblings were elder sister Annie (2 years older), Laura (2 years younger), Gertie (6 years younger), Ida (8 years younger) and William H (9 years younger). Her father Benjamin was a farmer, and later is listed on the census as a streetcar driver; further, after his wife has moved on (more on this below), he lives with families headed by streetcar drivers. The reason this resonates is that Benjamin's daughter memorialized here, Sarah, wed a man who also was a streetcar driver - my great grandpa. In doing so she unwittingly seems to have become a corner on a future love triangle, the other two occupied by her husband William and a younger lady named Rose, my great grandmother.
Sarah, who seems to have used both her first and middle names, but more often her middle name, was my almost-great-grandma, and a seemingly forgotten "starter wife". My uncle remembers his mom telling him not to ask his dad about his father, William Storkey IV. The hush-hush thing my uncle understood was that his grandpa William IV may have had another wife, a different lady than his father's mother Rose, who was the grandma my uncle knew. Indeed, I found that to be true. There was some hint William had daughters with this "other wife" but I can find no evidence of any children born to the marriage, his first, and perhaps his only official one.
I am not sure when my great grandparents William and Rose (his second wife, my great grandma) married (if they did wed officially) but before Rose was in William's life, there was Sarah.
First wife Sarah and William Storkey IV married in 1889 in Philadelphia, and lived at least some of the first 11 years of their marriage with his parents, probably until they both died in 1902. The couple may be viewed on the 1900 census in Roxborough, which reports them as married 11 years, no children. On this census, Sarah's husband's father (William Storkey III) is reported as an "invalid" (he later died of paralysis) so it is probable she had a hand in caring for him. I do not know what kind of shape her mother in law was in, but she too was an older lady, who ended up passing of a heart attack, so I think it is likely Sarah ended up caring for both her in-laws until they died in 1902 in rapid succession, less than a month apart.
Initially Sarah and William were not to be found on the 1910 census until the parameters were expanded and they turned up together in Cape May County, Wildwood/Angelsea New Jersey as William and Alice Starkey (no address given). William works as a bartender at a hotel. It's definitely them despite the uncharacteristic location - their ages match perfectly, they are both born in Pennsylvania, they report being married 18 years (sic- should be 21) and they report no children.
William did move on (at least by the 1920 census) to his next partner, Rose Kimpel. At this time, I cannot tell you for certain if they ever married officially. I have found no supporting records. Even if they did go through some kind of ceremony somewhere I haven't looked, the truth is that William IV was not legally free to marry, as his divorce, begun in 1930 according to county records, did not get finalized until October of 1934. April 24, 1934, the Conshohocken Reporter announced the divorce suit was filed in Norristown, the Montgomery County seat. It said they'd been married March 10, 1889 and noted Sarah asked for the divorce on the grounds of desertion, which she claimed began on July 1, 1913. This gives us proof positive of one thing: William Storkey did not leave Alice for any reason other than their own interpersonal difficulties. He did not leave her and then go wed or cohabit with someone else. His future wife Rose was back in Philadelphia, raising her son who was not Storkey's child. The couple would not appear together until the 1920 census.
You see, Rose, the young "other woman" seems to have wanted to be married. By 1916 when her son, my grandpa, was still 5, Rose and a Joseph J. Holmes applied for a marriage license. Did she consider marriage to Holmes to provoke jealousy or to provide her son with a father? I believe I have found Mr. Holmes and he was, in fact, already married, living in Norristown with his wife Louisa. Whatever the case, all this confirms my grandpa was born out of wedlock. Perhaps it accounts in part for the warm welcome I got when I found him 20 years after I'd been given up for adoption. His new-found granddaughter was a fellow love child.
This time period around 1910 must have been devastating for Sarah. Her mother had gone to prison for providing abortion services, and is visible on the 1910 census in a cell at the Philadelphia County Prison. Not even a year later Sarah's father would die. Before her husband William left her officially, she must have known her marriage was slipping away. The major anchors in one's life, parents and spouse, had all shifted away from Sarah in one way or another.
Divorce has always been a serious matter, but even moreso back in the early 1900's. The 1920 and 1930 censuses show Sarah still with her married Storkey surname, reporting herself as married, and living as a maid (1920) and boarder (1930) with other unrelated families just up the pike from Roxborough, in Norristown. Despite what she reported about marriage, no husband is present in the households so her being married did not refer to another husband - her only husband was William Storkey, and they would not divorce until a few years before each of them would die. One might wonder why they bothered to do so at so late a date, and the only reason I can think of might be to protect and control their own assets whenever they would pass away. Interestingly, Sarah, who had few assets, initiated it.
Besides these two censuses, it's hard to know what Sarah's life was like once William left her. In 1922 and 1924, an Alice Storkey appears in the Wildwood City Directory as living at 125 E. Walnut Avenue in Anglesea. Too perfect. While directories don't tell us who owned the home, it's a fabulous location, just off the beach at the end of the street, built in 1910 by property records. That area today would more likely be called "North Wildwood". In the 1930, 1932, 1934, 1936, and 1938 Norristown city directories, she appears as "Mrs. S Alice Storkey" at 1246 Markley as a housekeeper. No husband is ever present, but the 1938 directory calls her parenthetically "(wid. William H. Storkey)" - technically true as he had died, but they had by then divorced, and not lived as husband and wife for many years.
Sarah died in Norristown's Sacred Heart Hospital at the age of 69 years, 2 months and 21 days. Her cause of death was chronic myocarditis (an inflammation of the sac around the heart). Dying the 8th of December, she was buried on the 12th, the funeral taking place from 1246 Markley Street in Norristown. According to the funeral home, she was buried next to "Baby 1882" - that is, a baby who died in 1882, I believe her sister Ida May Brey. The funeral home, which confirmed the cemetery but had no lot location information, has names on record that include her sisters Gertrude and Laura, her brother William, and a Mary A. Rothman from Chicago who is another of her sisters, Annie. There is an Anna Rothman in Chicago on the 1930 census who was born in Pennsylvania, and age 61, right for Sarah's sister. This widowed Anna is living with her daughter and son in law Anna (25) and Charles (33) Andersen who have no children, at least not yet. She died in Chicago on April 4, 1946, and her death certificate gives her mother's name as "Bauder" and her father's name (semi-erroneously) as "William Brey" and her date of birth as 16 Feb 1868. The death data says she rests at Concordia Cemetery in Forest Park, Cook County, Illinois, and voila, she is on site at this memorial.
Sarah's will, written April 19, 1934, the week of the divorce action's publication, passes on her worldly goods to her two sisters, Gertrude Fillman of Norristown and Laura L. Jenkins of Philadelphia. It seems these two sisters might have benefited from her thoughtfulness because like her, their own lives had not been simple.
Sister Gertrude married Fred Fillman and was in Chicago for the 1910 census with their daughter Gladys. By 1920's census, the three are back in PA in Montgomery County. By 1930, both Gertrude and her daughter Gladys genteely report as widowed while it seems they have both been truly divorced or seperated from their living spouses; they live together in Norristown, Montgomery County with Gladys' child, William Staley, age 4. By 1940, Gertrude is on her own, boarding with the Clara and A. John Rose family in Norristown, where she is age 62, still shown as married, and listed as "U" - unable to work.
Sister Laura Brey married Wm. M. Jenkins and had a son Edward H, and the family is together in Washington DC for the 1910 census. Laura and her son Edward appear together on the 1920 census in PA where she reports being married, but no spouse is present; husband William is rooming down in D.C. By 1930, she is listed as a widow and she and son Edward, now age 33, are living with another family as roomers. By 1940, Laura is living with her son Edward and his wife Jean N. (nee S. Jean Norcom) in Philadelphia. Thus, these two widowed sisters got the small estate that Sarah left.
When she died, Sarah owned no property. Her estate was her savings account which, when all was said and done, minus estate expenses, amounted to $633. Her final arrangements, handled by D. Rae Boyd's funeral home amounted to $374.50.
Death notices were run in the Norristown Times Herald, which will hopefully be found. In the meantime, we might surmise that she had no children, as none are reported by her or appear with her on any census, and none are mentioned in her will.
Cemetery records show that "Alice Storkey" (the name under which she was interred) also owns Lot # 0514, though no one is buried there presently according to their records.
I have no relationship with this lady, we share no blood or history, and she had passed on long before I was born. Still, it bothers me that Sarah was never spoken of in the family she married into, perhaps much like I was not spoken of once I was given up for adoption. Sarah had nursed two in-laws, had no children, and was left behind by her husband, my step great grandpa. She died with few goods or people to mourn her. She deserves to be remembered, as do we all, but a little more for being abandoned and for traveling the autumn of her life alone.
Sarah, who seems to have used both her first and middle names, but more often her middle name, was my almost-great-grandma, and a seemingly forgotten "starter wife". My uncle remembers his mom telling him not to ask his dad about his father, William Storkey IV. The hush-hush thing my uncle understood was that his grandpa William IV may have had another wife, a different lady than his father's mother Rose, who was the grandma my uncle knew. Indeed, I found that to be true. There was some hint William had daughters with this "other wife" but I can find no evidence of any children born to the marriage, his first, and perhaps his only official one.
I am not sure when my great grandparents William and Rose (his second wife, my great grandma) married (if they did wed officially) but before Rose was in William's life, there was Sarah.
First wife Sarah and William Storkey IV married in 1889 in Philadelphia, and lived at least some of the first 11 years of their marriage with his parents, probably until they both died in 1902. The couple may be viewed on the 1900 census in Roxborough, which reports them as married 11 years, no children. On this census, Sarah's husband's father (William Storkey III) is reported as an "invalid" (he later died of paralysis) so it is probable she had a hand in caring for him. I do not know what kind of shape her mother in law was in, but she too was an older lady, who ended up passing of a heart attack, so I think it is likely Sarah ended up caring for both her in-laws until they died in 1902 in rapid succession, less than a month apart.
Initially Sarah and William were not to be found on the 1910 census until the parameters were expanded and they turned up together in Cape May County, Wildwood/Angelsea New Jersey as William and Alice Starkey (no address given). William works as a bartender at a hotel. It's definitely them despite the uncharacteristic location - their ages match perfectly, they are both born in Pennsylvania, they report being married 18 years (sic- should be 21) and they report no children.
William did move on (at least by the 1920 census) to his next partner, Rose Kimpel. At this time, I cannot tell you for certain if they ever married officially. I have found no supporting records. Even if they did go through some kind of ceremony somewhere I haven't looked, the truth is that William IV was not legally free to marry, as his divorce, begun in 1930 according to county records, did not get finalized until October of 1934. April 24, 1934, the Conshohocken Reporter announced the divorce suit was filed in Norristown, the Montgomery County seat. It said they'd been married March 10, 1889 and noted Sarah asked for the divorce on the grounds of desertion, which she claimed began on July 1, 1913. This gives us proof positive of one thing: William Storkey did not leave Alice for any reason other than their own interpersonal difficulties. He did not leave her and then go wed or cohabit with someone else. His future wife Rose was back in Philadelphia, raising her son who was not Storkey's child. The couple would not appear together until the 1920 census.
You see, Rose, the young "other woman" seems to have wanted to be married. By 1916 when her son, my grandpa, was still 5, Rose and a Joseph J. Holmes applied for a marriage license. Did she consider marriage to Holmes to provoke jealousy or to provide her son with a father? I believe I have found Mr. Holmes and he was, in fact, already married, living in Norristown with his wife Louisa. Whatever the case, all this confirms my grandpa was born out of wedlock. Perhaps it accounts in part for the warm welcome I got when I found him 20 years after I'd been given up for adoption. His new-found granddaughter was a fellow love child.
This time period around 1910 must have been devastating for Sarah. Her mother had gone to prison for providing abortion services, and is visible on the 1910 census in a cell at the Philadelphia County Prison. Not even a year later Sarah's father would die. Before her husband William left her officially, she must have known her marriage was slipping away. The major anchors in one's life, parents and spouse, had all shifted away from Sarah in one way or another.
Divorce has always been a serious matter, but even moreso back in the early 1900's. The 1920 and 1930 censuses show Sarah still with her married Storkey surname, reporting herself as married, and living as a maid (1920) and boarder (1930) with other unrelated families just up the pike from Roxborough, in Norristown. Despite what she reported about marriage, no husband is present in the households so her being married did not refer to another husband - her only husband was William Storkey, and they would not divorce until a few years before each of them would die. One might wonder why they bothered to do so at so late a date, and the only reason I can think of might be to protect and control their own assets whenever they would pass away. Interestingly, Sarah, who had few assets, initiated it.
Besides these two censuses, it's hard to know what Sarah's life was like once William left her. In 1922 and 1924, an Alice Storkey appears in the Wildwood City Directory as living at 125 E. Walnut Avenue in Anglesea. Too perfect. While directories don't tell us who owned the home, it's a fabulous location, just off the beach at the end of the street, built in 1910 by property records. That area today would more likely be called "North Wildwood". In the 1930, 1932, 1934, 1936, and 1938 Norristown city directories, she appears as "Mrs. S Alice Storkey" at 1246 Markley as a housekeeper. No husband is ever present, but the 1938 directory calls her parenthetically "(wid. William H. Storkey)" - technically true as he had died, but they had by then divorced, and not lived as husband and wife for many years.
Sarah died in Norristown's Sacred Heart Hospital at the age of 69 years, 2 months and 21 days. Her cause of death was chronic myocarditis (an inflammation of the sac around the heart). Dying the 8th of December, she was buried on the 12th, the funeral taking place from 1246 Markley Street in Norristown. According to the funeral home, she was buried next to "Baby 1882" - that is, a baby who died in 1882, I believe her sister Ida May Brey. The funeral home, which confirmed the cemetery but had no lot location information, has names on record that include her sisters Gertrude and Laura, her brother William, and a Mary A. Rothman from Chicago who is another of her sisters, Annie. There is an Anna Rothman in Chicago on the 1930 census who was born in Pennsylvania, and age 61, right for Sarah's sister. This widowed Anna is living with her daughter and son in law Anna (25) and Charles (33) Andersen who have no children, at least not yet. She died in Chicago on April 4, 1946, and her death certificate gives her mother's name as "Bauder" and her father's name (semi-erroneously) as "William Brey" and her date of birth as 16 Feb 1868. The death data says she rests at Concordia Cemetery in Forest Park, Cook County, Illinois, and voila, she is on site at this memorial.
Sarah's will, written April 19, 1934, the week of the divorce action's publication, passes on her worldly goods to her two sisters, Gertrude Fillman of Norristown and Laura L. Jenkins of Philadelphia. It seems these two sisters might have benefited from her thoughtfulness because like her, their own lives had not been simple.
Sister Gertrude married Fred Fillman and was in Chicago for the 1910 census with their daughter Gladys. By 1920's census, the three are back in PA in Montgomery County. By 1930, both Gertrude and her daughter Gladys genteely report as widowed while it seems they have both been truly divorced or seperated from their living spouses; they live together in Norristown, Montgomery County with Gladys' child, William Staley, age 4. By 1940, Gertrude is on her own, boarding with the Clara and A. John Rose family in Norristown, where she is age 62, still shown as married, and listed as "U" - unable to work.
Sister Laura Brey married Wm. M. Jenkins and had a son Edward H, and the family is together in Washington DC for the 1910 census. Laura and her son Edward appear together on the 1920 census in PA where she reports being married, but no spouse is present; husband William is rooming down in D.C. By 1930, she is listed as a widow and she and son Edward, now age 33, are living with another family as roomers. By 1940, Laura is living with her son Edward and his wife Jean N. (nee S. Jean Norcom) in Philadelphia. Thus, these two widowed sisters got the small estate that Sarah left.
When she died, Sarah owned no property. Her estate was her savings account which, when all was said and done, minus estate expenses, amounted to $633. Her final arrangements, handled by D. Rae Boyd's funeral home amounted to $374.50.
Death notices were run in the Norristown Times Herald, which will hopefully be found. In the meantime, we might surmise that she had no children, as none are reported by her or appear with her on any census, and none are mentioned in her will.
Cemetery records show that "Alice Storkey" (the name under which she was interred) also owns Lot # 0514, though no one is buried there presently according to their records.
I have no relationship with this lady, we share no blood or history, and she had passed on long before I was born. Still, it bothers me that Sarah was never spoken of in the family she married into, perhaps much like I was not spoken of once I was given up for adoption. Sarah had nursed two in-laws, had no children, and was left behind by her husband, my step great grandpa. She died with few goods or people to mourn her. She deserves to be remembered, as do we all, but a little more for being abandoned and for traveling the autumn of her life alone.
Though not my great grandmother by blood, Sara Alice Brey born in Roxborough, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was the first wife of my step great grandpa William H Storkey IV. She was the daughter of Benjamin R. Brey and Kate/Catherine Bauder Brey of Roxborough. Sarah was the second eldest daughter, and her siblings were elder sister Annie (2 years older), Laura (2 years younger), Gertie (6 years younger), Ida (8 years younger) and William H (9 years younger). Her father Benjamin was a farmer, and later is listed on the census as a streetcar driver; further, after his wife has moved on (more on this below), he lives with families headed by streetcar drivers. The reason this resonates is that Benjamin's daughter memorialized here, Sarah, wed a man who also was a streetcar driver - my great grandpa. In doing so she unwittingly seems to have become a corner on a future love triangle, the other two occupied by her husband William and a younger lady named Rose, my great grandmother.
Sarah, who seems to have used both her first and middle names, but more often her middle name, was my almost-great-grandma, and a seemingly forgotten "starter wife". My uncle remembers his mom telling him not to ask his dad about his father, William Storkey IV. The hush-hush thing my uncle understood was that his grandpa William IV may have had another wife, a different lady than his father's mother Rose, who was the grandma my uncle knew. Indeed, I found that to be true. There was some hint William had daughters with this "other wife" but I can find no evidence of any children born to the marriage, his first, and perhaps his only official one.
I am not sure when my great grandparents William and Rose (his second wife, my great grandma) married (if they did wed officially) but before Rose was in William's life, there was Sarah.
First wife Sarah and William Storkey IV married in 1889 in Philadelphia, and lived at least some of the first 11 years of their marriage with his parents, probably until they both died in 1902. The couple may be viewed on the 1900 census in Roxborough, which reports them as married 11 years, no children. On this census, Sarah's husband's father (William Storkey III) is reported as an "invalid" (he later died of paralysis) so it is probable she had a hand in caring for him. I do not know what kind of shape her mother in law was in, but she too was an older lady, who ended up passing of a heart attack, so I think it is likely Sarah ended up caring for both her in-laws until they died in 1902 in rapid succession, less than a month apart.
Initially Sarah and William were not to be found on the 1910 census until the parameters were expanded and they turned up together in Cape May County, Wildwood/Angelsea New Jersey as William and Alice Starkey (no address given). William works as a bartender at a hotel. It's definitely them despite the uncharacteristic location - their ages match perfectly, they are both born in Pennsylvania, they report being married 18 years (sic- should be 21) and they report no children.
William did move on (at least by the 1920 census) to his next partner, Rose Kimpel. At this time, I cannot tell you for certain if they ever married officially. I have found no supporting records. Even if they did go through some kind of ceremony somewhere I haven't looked, the truth is that William IV was not legally free to marry, as his divorce, begun in 1930 according to county records, did not get finalized until October of 1934. April 24, 1934, the Conshohocken Reporter announced the divorce suit was filed in Norristown, the Montgomery County seat. It said they'd been married March 10, 1889 and noted Sarah asked for the divorce on the grounds of desertion, which she claimed began on July 1, 1913. This gives us proof positive of one thing: William Storkey did not leave Alice for any reason other than their own interpersonal difficulties. He did not leave her and then go wed or cohabit with someone else. His future wife Rose was back in Philadelphia, raising her son who was not Storkey's child. The couple would not appear together until the 1920 census.
You see, Rose, the young "other woman" seems to have wanted to be married. By 1916 when her son, my grandpa, was still 5, Rose and a Joseph J. Holmes applied for a marriage license. Did she consider marriage to Holmes to provoke jealousy or to provide her son with a father? I believe I have found Mr. Holmes and he was, in fact, already married, living in Norristown with his wife Louisa. Whatever the case, all this confirms my grandpa was born out of wedlock. Perhaps it accounts in part for the warm welcome I got when I found him 20 years after I'd been given up for adoption. His new-found granddaughter was a fellow love child.
This time period around 1910 must have been devastating for Sarah. Her mother had gone to prison for providing abortion services, and is visible on the 1910 census in a cell at the Philadelphia County Prison. Not even a year later Sarah's father would die. Before her husband William left her officially, she must have known her marriage was slipping away. The major anchors in one's life, parents and spouse, had all shifted away from Sarah in one way or another.
Divorce has always been a serious matter, but even moreso back in the early 1900's. The 1920 and 1930 censuses show Sarah still with her married Storkey surname, reporting herself as married, and living as a maid (1920) and boarder (1930) with other unrelated families just up the pike from Roxborough, in Norristown. Despite what she reported about marriage, no husband is present in the households so her being married did not refer to another husband - her only husband was William Storkey, and they would not divorce until a few years before each of them would die. One might wonder why they bothered to do so at so late a date, and the only reason I can think of might be to protect and control their own assets whenever they would pass away. Interestingly, Sarah, who had few assets, initiated it.
Besides these two censuses, it's hard to know what Sarah's life was like once William left her. In 1922 and 1924, an Alice Storkey appears in the Wildwood City Directory as living at 125 E. Walnut Avenue in Anglesea. Too perfect. While directories don't tell us who owned the home, it's a fabulous location, just off the beach at the end of the street, built in 1910 by property records. That area today would more likely be called "North Wildwood". In the 1930, 1932, 1934, 1936, and 1938 Norristown city directories, she appears as "Mrs. S Alice Storkey" at 1246 Markley as a housekeeper. No husband is ever present, but the 1938 directory calls her parenthetically "(wid. William H. Storkey)" - technically true as he had died, but they had by then divorced, and not lived as husband and wife for many years.
Sarah died in Norristown's Sacred Heart Hospital at the age of 69 years, 2 months and 21 days. Her cause of death was chronic myocarditis (an inflammation of the sac around the heart). Dying the 8th of December, she was buried on the 12th, the funeral taking place from 1246 Markley Street in Norristown. According to the funeral home, she was buried next to "Baby 1882" - that is, a baby who died in 1882, I believe her sister Ida May Brey. The funeral home, which confirmed the cemetery but had no lot location information, has names on record that include her sisters Gertrude and Laura, her brother William, and a Mary A. Rothman from Chicago who is another of her sisters, Annie. There is an Anna Rothman in Chicago on the 1930 census who was born in Pennsylvania, and age 61, right for Sarah's sister. This widowed Anna is living with her daughter and son in law Anna (25) and Charles (33) Andersen who have no children, at least not yet. She died in Chicago on April 4, 1946, and her death certificate gives her mother's name as "Bauder" and her father's name (semi-erroneously) as "William Brey" and her date of birth as 16 Feb 1868. The death data says she rests at Concordia Cemetery in Forest Park, Cook County, Illinois, and voila, she is on site at this memorial.
Sarah's will, written April 19, 1934, the week of the divorce action's publication, passes on her worldly goods to her two sisters, Gertrude Fillman of Norristown and Laura L. Jenkins of Philadelphia. It seems these two sisters might have benefited from her thoughtfulness because like her, their own lives had not been simple.
Sister Gertrude married Fred Fillman and was in Chicago for the 1910 census with their daughter Gladys. By 1920's census, the three are back in PA in Montgomery County. By 1930, both Gertrude and her daughter Gladys genteely report as widowed while it seems they have both been truly divorced or seperated from their living spouses; they live together in Norristown, Montgomery County with Gladys' child, William Staley, age 4. By 1940, Gertrude is on her own, boarding with the Clara and A. John Rose family in Norristown, where she is age 62, still shown as married, and listed as "U" - unable to work.
Sister Laura Brey married Wm. M. Jenkins and had a son Edward H, and the family is together in Washington DC for the 1910 census. Laura and her son Edward appear together on the 1920 census in PA where she reports being married, but no spouse is present; husband William is rooming down in D.C. By 1930, she is listed as a widow and she and son Edward, now age 33, are living with another family as roomers. By 1940, Laura is living with her son Edward and his wife Jean N. (nee S. Jean Norcom) in Philadelphia. Thus, these two widowed sisters got the small estate that Sarah left.
When she died, Sarah owned no property. Her estate was her savings account which, when all was said and done, minus estate expenses, amounted to $633. Her final arrangements, handled by D. Rae Boyd's funeral home amounted to $374.50.
Death notices were run in the Norristown Times Herald, which will hopefully be found. In the meantime, we might surmise that she had no children, as none are reported by her or appear with her on any census, and none are mentioned in her will.
Cemetery records show that "Alice Storkey" (the name under which she was interred) also owns Lot # 0514, though no one is buried there presently according to their records.
I have no relationship with this lady, we share no blood or history, and she had passed on long before I was born. Still, it bothers me that Sarah was never spoken of in the family she married into, perhaps much like I was not spoken of once I was given up for adoption. Sarah had nursed two in-laws, had no children, and was left behind by her husband, my step great grandpa. She died with few goods or people to mourn her. She deserves to be remembered, as do we all, but a little more for being abandoned and for traveling the autumn of her life alone.
Sarah, who seems to have used both her first and middle names, but more often her middle name, was my almost-great-grandma, and a seemingly forgotten "starter wife". My uncle remembers his mom telling him not to ask his dad about his father, William Storkey IV. The hush-hush thing my uncle understood was that his grandpa William IV may have had another wife, a different lady than his father's mother Rose, who was the grandma my uncle knew. Indeed, I found that to be true. There was some hint William had daughters with this "other wife" but I can find no evidence of any children born to the marriage, his first, and perhaps his only official one.
I am not sure when my great grandparents William and Rose (his second wife, my great grandma) married (if they did wed officially) but before Rose was in William's life, there was Sarah.
First wife Sarah and William Storkey IV married in 1889 in Philadelphia, and lived at least some of the first 11 years of their marriage with his parents, probably until they both died in 1902. The couple may be viewed on the 1900 census in Roxborough, which reports them as married 11 years, no children. On this census, Sarah's husband's father (William Storkey III) is reported as an "invalid" (he later died of paralysis) so it is probable she had a hand in caring for him. I do not know what kind of shape her mother in law was in, but she too was an older lady, who ended up passing of a heart attack, so I think it is likely Sarah ended up caring for both her in-laws until they died in 1902 in rapid succession, less than a month apart.
Initially Sarah and William were not to be found on the 1910 census until the parameters were expanded and they turned up together in Cape May County, Wildwood/Angelsea New Jersey as William and Alice Starkey (no address given). William works as a bartender at a hotel. It's definitely them despite the uncharacteristic location - their ages match perfectly, they are both born in Pennsylvania, they report being married 18 years (sic- should be 21) and they report no children.
William did move on (at least by the 1920 census) to his next partner, Rose Kimpel. At this time, I cannot tell you for certain if they ever married officially. I have found no supporting records. Even if they did go through some kind of ceremony somewhere I haven't looked, the truth is that William IV was not legally free to marry, as his divorce, begun in 1930 according to county records, did not get finalized until October of 1934. April 24, 1934, the Conshohocken Reporter announced the divorce suit was filed in Norristown, the Montgomery County seat. It said they'd been married March 10, 1889 and noted Sarah asked for the divorce on the grounds of desertion, which she claimed began on July 1, 1913. This gives us proof positive of one thing: William Storkey did not leave Alice for any reason other than their own interpersonal difficulties. He did not leave her and then go wed or cohabit with someone else. His future wife Rose was back in Philadelphia, raising her son who was not Storkey's child. The couple would not appear together until the 1920 census.
You see, Rose, the young "other woman" seems to have wanted to be married. By 1916 when her son, my grandpa, was still 5, Rose and a Joseph J. Holmes applied for a marriage license. Did she consider marriage to Holmes to provoke jealousy or to provide her son with a father? I believe I have found Mr. Holmes and he was, in fact, already married, living in Norristown with his wife Louisa. Whatever the case, all this confirms my grandpa was born out of wedlock. Perhaps it accounts in part for the warm welcome I got when I found him 20 years after I'd been given up for adoption. His new-found granddaughter was a fellow love child.
This time period around 1910 must have been devastating for Sarah. Her mother had gone to prison for providing abortion services, and is visible on the 1910 census in a cell at the Philadelphia County Prison. Not even a year later Sarah's father would die. Before her husband William left her officially, she must have known her marriage was slipping away. The major anchors in one's life, parents and spouse, had all shifted away from Sarah in one way or another.
Divorce has always been a serious matter, but even moreso back in the early 1900's. The 1920 and 1930 censuses show Sarah still with her married Storkey surname, reporting herself as married, and living as a maid (1920) and boarder (1930) with other unrelated families just up the pike from Roxborough, in Norristown. Despite what she reported about marriage, no husband is present in the households so her being married did not refer to another husband - her only husband was William Storkey, and they would not divorce until a few years before each of them would die. One might wonder why they bothered to do so at so late a date, and the only reason I can think of might be to protect and control their own assets whenever they would pass away. Interestingly, Sarah, who had few assets, initiated it.
Besides these two censuses, it's hard to know what Sarah's life was like once William left her. In 1922 and 1924, an Alice Storkey appears in the Wildwood City Directory as living at 125 E. Walnut Avenue in Anglesea. Too perfect. While directories don't tell us who owned the home, it's a fabulous location, just off the beach at the end of the street, built in 1910 by property records. That area today would more likely be called "North Wildwood". In the 1930, 1932, 1934, 1936, and 1938 Norristown city directories, she appears as "Mrs. S Alice Storkey" at 1246 Markley as a housekeeper. No husband is ever present, but the 1938 directory calls her parenthetically "(wid. William H. Storkey)" - technically true as he had died, but they had by then divorced, and not lived as husband and wife for many years.
Sarah died in Norristown's Sacred Heart Hospital at the age of 69 years, 2 months and 21 days. Her cause of death was chronic myocarditis (an inflammation of the sac around the heart). Dying the 8th of December, she was buried on the 12th, the funeral taking place from 1246 Markley Street in Norristown. According to the funeral home, she was buried next to "Baby 1882" - that is, a baby who died in 1882, I believe her sister Ida May Brey. The funeral home, which confirmed the cemetery but had no lot location information, has names on record that include her sisters Gertrude and Laura, her brother William, and a Mary A. Rothman from Chicago who is another of her sisters, Annie. There is an Anna Rothman in Chicago on the 1930 census who was born in Pennsylvania, and age 61, right for Sarah's sister. This widowed Anna is living with her daughter and son in law Anna (25) and Charles (33) Andersen who have no children, at least not yet. She died in Chicago on April 4, 1946, and her death certificate gives her mother's name as "Bauder" and her father's name (semi-erroneously) as "William Brey" and her date of birth as 16 Feb 1868. The death data says she rests at Concordia Cemetery in Forest Park, Cook County, Illinois, and voila, she is on site at this memorial.
Sarah's will, written April 19, 1934, the week of the divorce action's publication, passes on her worldly goods to her two sisters, Gertrude Fillman of Norristown and Laura L. Jenkins of Philadelphia. It seems these two sisters might have benefited from her thoughtfulness because like her, their own lives had not been simple.
Sister Gertrude married Fred Fillman and was in Chicago for the 1910 census with their daughter Gladys. By 1920's census, the three are back in PA in Montgomery County. By 1930, both Gertrude and her daughter Gladys genteely report as widowed while it seems they have both been truly divorced or seperated from their living spouses; they live together in Norristown, Montgomery County with Gladys' child, William Staley, age 4. By 1940, Gertrude is on her own, boarding with the Clara and A. John Rose family in Norristown, where she is age 62, still shown as married, and listed as "U" - unable to work.
Sister Laura Brey married Wm. M. Jenkins and had a son Edward H, and the family is together in Washington DC for the 1910 census. Laura and her son Edward appear together on the 1920 census in PA where she reports being married, but no spouse is present; husband William is rooming down in D.C. By 1930, she is listed as a widow and she and son Edward, now age 33, are living with another family as roomers. By 1940, Laura is living with her son Edward and his wife Jean N. (nee S. Jean Norcom) in Philadelphia. Thus, these two widowed sisters got the small estate that Sarah left.
When she died, Sarah owned no property. Her estate was her savings account which, when all was said and done, minus estate expenses, amounted to $633. Her final arrangements, handled by D. Rae Boyd's funeral home amounted to $374.50.
Death notices were run in the Norristown Times Herald, which will hopefully be found. In the meantime, we might surmise that she had no children, as none are reported by her or appear with her on any census, and none are mentioned in her will.
Cemetery records show that "Alice Storkey" (the name under which she was interred) also owns Lot # 0514, though no one is buried there presently according to their records.
I have no relationship with this lady, we share no blood or history, and she had passed on long before I was born. Still, it bothers me that Sarah was never spoken of in the family she married into, perhaps much like I was not spoken of once I was given up for adoption. Sarah had nursed two in-laws, had no children, and was left behind by her husband, my step great grandpa. She died with few goods or people to mourn her. She deserves to be remembered, as do we all, but a little more for being abandoned and for traveling the autumn of her life alone.
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