Relatively Speaking Blog

When I began researching my paternal line, I asked my aunts and uncles about Jane and got the typically reply that they “did not know much about her.” Jane was mentioned as a sibling to my grandfather Charles Brown, though it was uncertain whether she was his full sibling. Jane lived in North Central PA and a few times an aunt or uncle paid her a short visit while passing through, such as the time my Aunt Mazie went up to Lock Haven to get married. They did not see Aunt Jane much, so aside from the names of her children, my aunts and uncles gave little detail about Jane. One vague comment I recall was one of her houses had a dirt floor in the kitchen, which suggested Jane lived a simple life with modest means. With little information to start, I turned to the census and other documents to solve some of the ambiguity surrounding Jane.

The first item I wanted to resolve was Jane’s parentage. Charles’ parents were John Brown and Margaret McGarvey and research showed this was the second marriage for both. How did Jane fit into the family? Delving deeper I found John’s first wife was Angeline Parr and Margaret’s husband was Valentine Allen; both of their spouses died in the early 1870s. Constructing a timeline with various documents, I was able to determine from Jane’s age that she was in fact an Allen, and thus a half-sibling to my grandfather Charles.

Jane, also known as Martha Jane, was the third child of Valentine Allen and Margaret McGarvey; she was born in Lycoming County, PA July 17, 1863. The first census in which she appeared was in 1870 in Greenwood Township, Columbia County, at age 6, living with her parents, her older brother William and two younger siblings, Susanna and Mary. Her father was a farmer and had no values listed for either personal or real estate. Both he and Margaret were unable to read or write, certainly limiting the opportunities available to them.

1870 census Greenwood Township, Columbia County PA
Name	Age	Occupation	Place of Birth
Valentine Allen	35	farm laborer	PA
Margaret Allen	28		PA
Wm H. Allen	9		PA
Martha Allen	6		PA
Susanna Allen	3		PA
Mary Allen	1		PA

Shortly after the 1870 census, Jane’s sister Minnie was born and a couple years later, her brother Francis. Misfortune hit the Allen family in the fall of 1872, when Jane’s father, Valentine, died at the age of 37. Valentine’s death left Margaret with six children to care for, but she had few resources and little means to raise the family and keep her children together.

1880 census Franklin Township, Lycoming County, PA
Name	Relationship to head of household	Age	Occupation
Jeremiah Rider	Head	31	Farmer
Jane A. Rider	wife	28	Kept house
Elizabeth Rider	daughter	7
George H. Rider	son	2
Jacob Rider	brother	15	worked on farm
William Rider	brother	13	worked on farm
Jane Allen		17	servant

By 1880 Margaret had remarried to John Brown, but her children were scattered around the county. Jane was in Franklin township, not too far from her mother, and she resided with the Jeremiah Rider family working as their servant. Jane did not attend school in 1880 or the previous year, but a later census notes she completed third grade and could at least read and write.

Living beside Jane was the Clinton Swank family where her younger sister Clara worked as a servant. This was a few doors away from their paternal uncle, Jacob, who may have helped get his nieces into these households. Another sister, Susanna resided and worked in neighboring Jordan Township where she was a servant in the Frank Worthington household. Incidentally, a 21-year-old John Temple, listed as single, was a boarder in this household.

In the next census, Jane was married to John Temple. It’s possible that Jane and John met while he and Susanna both lived in the Worthington household. Comparing census data from various years, Jane and John seem to have married about 1881. However, in 1910 John reported he had been married twice. If true, he had to have married his first wife in the fall of 1880, and most likely she died within the first year of marriage. To further complicate the issue, a notice from the Lock Haven newspaper announced a family reunion of family members to celebrate the Temple’s 50th wedding anniversary on May 27, 1930. If this indeed was Jane and John’s golden anniversary, then John would have had to marry his first wife before 1880.

Regardless of when they married, Jane and John had a large family. By the 1900 census they had eight children, two whom had died in infancy, namely Pierce and George. Other children in the household were James, William, Ernest, Jerry, and Sherman. During the next 10 years, Jane had three more children, Ethel, Charles, and an unnamed son who was still born in 1906.

Ada, the oldest child, was married and out on her own before the 1900 census. She was born about 1883, a few years after Jane and John’s estimated marriage. For that time, there usually was not a gap before the first child was born. Could there have been another child that died in infancy, but not reported on the census? Or perhaps Jane had some trouble carrying a baby to term. One puzzling item is Ada’s marriage license application, which only listed her father John as a parent, but Martha Jane as her guardian. Jane might have been the one to have given consent for young Ada to marry, and thus listed separately; but it is odd that Jane was not listed with John as a parent. If not for consistent data in several enumerations, I would think it possible that John and Jane married after 1883.

From 1900 through 1920, the Temples lived in at least three different places. As was often the case in those days, one traveled and lived where work was to be found. Jane and John rented a house in Jordan Township in 1900. John was a day laborer and the older children attended school. By the 1910 census, they had moved a short distance across the county line into Davidson Township, Sullivan County where they rented another house. John worked as a woodsman and was unemployed 12 weeks out of the year, perhaps the winter months. Their two adult sons were also employed; William worked about 30 weeks of the year in a clothespin factory, probably the one located in Sonestown, whereas Ernest was a farm laborer.

About 1916 the family relocated quite a distance from where they grew up to Clinton County. Here they would spend the remainder of their lives in and around the town of Lock Haven. In 1920 census they rented a house on Glen Street. John found work as a laborer in the town’s papermill, owned by New York & Pennsylvania Company. William, who continued to live with his parents, also worked at the paper mill. Their daughter Ethel worked in the Lock Haven silk mill as a warper, preparing the loom for weaving textiles.

During the next decade, John and Jane went from renters to homeowners, buying a house on 107 Myrtle Street with the home value listed as $3,000 in the 1930 census. Although 71 years old, John continued to work at the papermill along with his son William, who unlike his father was unemployed for 3 months of the year. Except for William who never married, the remainder of Jane’s children had left home to raise families of their own, returning to Lycoming County as well as the Finger Lakes region of New York, where John and Jane had lived for a short time before moving to Lock Haven.

There were various newspaper accounts of family members who visited Jane and John during the 1930s, as well as an article in July 1936 that reported John was hospitalized after being hit by a truck backing up. He recovered from his injuries and lived for over a year until his death in October of 1937. Jane continued to live at 107 Myrtle street, however, the 1940 census noted she was a renter paying $10 a month. It is unclear if she had to relinquish ownership of the house after John’s death, or perhaps she sold it to William or another relative with the understanding that she would remain in the house.

Although a widow, Jane’s house was not empty. Besides William, who now worked as a laborer on a road project, several other family members lived with Jane in 1940. Her daughter Ethel, also a widow, granddaughter Theresa, a student, and nephew George Allen were part of her household. The additional family most likely helped Jane keep up with day to day living expenses. Ethel cooked in a restaurant, and George was a dye maker for American Aniline Products Company, a dye works company. George earned the most, just over a $1000 in 1939. William made just over half of that, and Ethel as a cook made only a quarter of George’s wages.

When the 1950s arrived, Jane, now 86, resided in the same house that she lived in for over 20 years. William continued to reside with his mother, however, he was listed as unable to work. During the latter part of the 1940s, William was in the hospital on several occasions over the span of a few years; he apparently had health issues that prevented him from working. Jane’s nephew George was again living with her, although he was reported to have been drafted during the war. George still worked for the dye works, but he now was a foreman. Since George was the only one working, perhaps he helped care for his aunt.

In 1952, an article mentions an open house for Jane to celebrate her 90th birthday. She had moved the previous year with her son William to Sugar Run, thought to be a neighborhood near Lock Haven. It reported she was in good health and still cooked. Jane lived to be 93 years old, dying at home after a couple months of failing health. She had over 20 grandchildren, 27 great and 13 great-great grandchildren when she died.

Although I found more information about Aunt Jane than I started with 20 years ago, I am sparse on personal stories about Jane and her life that documents cannot reveal. I wish I had a picture of this resilient woman who lived into her 90s. The census, along with various documents and newspaper articles, give a glimpse into her life, but there remains some ambiguity about details that perhaps only her descendants could answer. Although she went through life with limited resources, through my research I believe Jane was abundant with the care and love of her family and friends.