52 Ancestors Week 16: Step

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 16

The theme for Week 16 is "Step." When I wrote this theme, I thought about all of the "step" relationships in our family trees and how they are often overlooked. But there are numerous ways to interpret "step" -- steps in a house, long walks, steps in a process, etc. Feel free to be creative!

Not sure where I'm going with those footprints.

    Stepping into the step-relationships in your family tree can be an interesting challenge. Though, you are bound to find drama. Let's not kid outselves. There are multiple reasons why there are step-relationships in your tree stemming from a death of a parent to even divorce. I have instances of both in my family tree and today I am going to share the unique step-relationships my great-grandfather Austin had with his step/half-siblings in the Felker and the Senter clan. 

Austin and Henrietta

        Austin's life could not have been an easy one. His parents Wilfred and Gertrude were divorced shortly after he was born and they would go on to marry other people and have many children together. Wilfred married a woman named Mary Anne Porter Pierce in 1901 and Getrude married a man named Walter Howard Senter in 1899.

    I'm not sure how often Austin saw Walter and the Senter family because shortly after they got married he and Getrude moved to Farmington, New Hampshire. You would think that this would leave Austin in the care of his father in Haverhill. I'm not sure that's the case.

    Austin was seen living with his grandparents Jeremiah Felker and Elizabeth Fellows in the 1900 and in the 1910 US census in Haverhill.

    Curious, isn't it? I could understand him being in the census there if he was visiting his grandparents in 1900 when he was just seven years old and the enumerator recorded him as being a resident of that house. However, he was again in the same place just ten years later as a seventeen year old! What on Earth was going on here? It can't be a coincidence. You know what they say. First time it happens is a coincidence. The second time is when a pattern starts to  emerge! Where was his father?

  

Wilfred Felker

    Well, I haven't been able to find him in the 1900 census. Instead I found him in the 1910 living with his wife and three children George, Richard and Grace. A fourth child, Clara, was born in 1915.  Once again Austin was nowhere to be seen. Odd, isn't it?  Some people are enumerated twice and yet my great-grandfather was at Jeremiah's house on East Broadway. What's even more strange is how George was listed as a stepson in that census when he definitely was NOT a stepson. More on that another time. 

    I'm not sure what the family situation was at the time and at first glance you might say to yourself that Austin didn't get along with his stepmother or his half-siblings. I would have agreed with you had I not found an article which sheds a different light on their family dynamic.

    You might recall me talking about an article where Austin and his wife were in a skiff that hit a Coast Guard boat in the Merrimack river. The boat capsized and the passengers all had to be saved. Well, one of the passengers was his half-brother/step-brother George. I don't know about you. But, I wouldn't go boating with someone you didn't like. Sufficed it to say I think Austin got along well with his new siblings. Let's just hope they laughed about the incident because I know from firsthand experience that swimming in the Merrimack is not fun.

    Meanwhile in Farmington, Walter and Gertrude had their own growing family to take care of. I'm not sure how often they saw Austin or what kind of relationship he had with his half/step-siblings in Farmington and wow there were alot of them. Gertrude had seven children with Walter and they were: Theodore,  John, Lawrence, Ruby,  Clarence,  Hilda and Helen. That's quite a bunch, huh. A Brady Senter Bunch.

Gertrude and the Senters

    The distance between Farmington and Haverhill is a little over fifty-five miles and so you might think Austin didn't see his new stepfather as often as he saw his stepmother and his half-siblings. Fifty-five miles does seem like a good distance. However, let's consider the fact that during the era in which they lived trains were running up and down the east coast all the live long day. People traveled in the 1910s before cars were readily available.

    In fact, a few of the Senter children moved to Haverhill once they reached adulthood. Did they contact Austin? You bet they did!  Now, I'm sure no one went on an ill-advised ride in a skiff. So, let's just get that out of the way!

    I think relations with the Senters went well because my mother has good memories of meeting them and being around them for special events. In fact, Theodore and John Senter were both at my parents' wedding in 1971. So, I guess you could say they were close? You don't invite enemites to a wedding unless your last name is Lannister.

    All in all I would say that Austin had a good relationship with his half/step-siblings despite the admittedly rocky start to his life. I wish there was more information about the Felkers. Unfortunately,  many of them moved to Indiana and all contact was lost until I came across Wilfred's page on WikiTree. Richard's son, Rick made the profile for him and Jeremiah. Naturally, I sent him a message and he filled me in on a few things here and there.

    For one Rick told me that his father grew up with Austin since they lived in the same house. I'm a little confused by thate statement because if that were true why was he in his grandfather's house in two consecutive censuses? Was he really just visiting or was something else going on? I think a trip to the Haverhill courthouse may be in order. They might have information about his parents'divorce and why Austin ended up living with his grandparents.

    Austin and his relationship with his step-mom and step-dad is definitely something I want to explore further in the future. However, I may not have to since it's clear he got along well with his half-siblings clandestine trips into the Merrimack aside. At least things turned out well for Austin in the end. I think that's all anyone can ask for to be honest. He had a good life and plenty of plenty of family around him.

See ya next time!