Sunday, October 16, 2011

Caroline Sheppard Henderson

More information on the Henderson lines keeps flowing in.  I am pleased to share the following information concerning Caroline Sheppard Henderson, who was the sister of my 3x great grandmother Rebecca Henderson.  The following comes courtesy of a third cousin, twice removed, who was gracious enough to share it in the first place:

Caroline was the 7th child of the family (out of 15 children, 14 of which lived to adulthood- the family was locally famous for this feat). She was born 09 June 1861 in Deerfield Township, New Jersey.  Her father was a farmer.  Their homestead was called "Love Lane", which was located off of Finley Station Road.  The house is no longer standing.

On 16 Sep 1885 she married Ernst Frederick Kurtz of Philadelphia (son of John George Kurtz and Louisa Young, both of Germany).  Ernst and his father owned a stove store in Philadelphia.  They lived at 2535 Montgomery Ave in Philadelphia until 1918, at which time they built a home at 4901 Monument Road.

After Ernst died on 09 Aug 1930, Caroline sold their house.  Apparently they had lost much in the stock market crash, and their house which was valued at $49,500 the prior year, sold for less than half that amount.  Caroline went to live with her son Ralph and his family in Woodbury, NJ.  She died 13 Jul 1949 and is buried in Eglington Cemetery in Mickleton, NJ.

Caroline and Ernst "Fred" Kurtz had 2 children: Dr. Arthur Daniel Kurtz (05 Jun 1886 - 21 Jan 1939) who married Lucille LaDow Riley from Bridgeton, Cumberland Co, NJ., and Ralph Swain Kurtz (24 Mar 1894 - 17 Nov 1990).

Ralph was married twice- his first wife, Elizabeth Robertson Keach (1897-1931) died suddenly.  They had 3 children: Shirley Adele Kurtz (1918-1997), Roger Sheppard Kurtz (1921-1934) and Edith Harriet Kurtz (1924-2004).

Ralph's second marriage took place in 1935 to Margaret Christine Chew Pitt (1909-2000).  They had 2 children.


So, there you have it, another piece of the puzzle.  Caroline's line was one I had been unable to trace through my academic research, so I am very grateful that a fellow Henderson descendant was willing to share this data.  There is much information still out there that we need to piece together for posterity, so I hope more people will step forward.

As it turns out, I knew of Ralph Kurtz for quite a while, through a story my father told me.  This involves his grandmother, Effie K. Robinson, wife of Ned Ingham.

Back in the early 1970's when my father was moving to Maine, Effie tried to bribe him into staying near the family, telling him she would get "Uncle Ralph" to give him a chunk of farm land.  As generous as the offer was, my father declined, as he had his own plans, and they did not involve settling in New Jersey.  While he knew that "Uncle Ralph" was actually a cousin of some sort, he hadn't been privy to the precise connection.   Now we have the answer.  Ralph was actually Effie's first cousin once removed, making him my father's first cousin three times removed.

In conclusion, I'd like to share the following photograph that was graciously given to me along with the valuable data on Caroline's line.  This is a picture of Caroline Henderson Kurtz and six of her brothers, taken around 1930 perhaps.  It is not known which brothers are pictured, though it may be possible that someone else out there might know.  No doubt, a few of these guys had other pictures taken at some point, as well, so that might be of help.  If you have any information to share, let me know.


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