Sunday 1 April 2018

A to Z Challenge 2018 - A




The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2018 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is...
My Family Tree Places.






ALBANY, NY


Thomas Seale, my great grandfather John's brother, owned a Merchant Tailor business in Kingston, Ontario for many years since about 1865. John was a silent partner in the business and in April 1881 they declared bankruptcy.  But Thomas wasn't giving up.  His brother George had just retired as a major from the army and in June 1881 his wife died.  Thomas decided George needed a change and talked him into opening a Merchant Tailor store with him in Albany, the capital of New York State.




I imagine the brothers stopped in Utica, NY on their travels back and forth to visit their half sister, Rachel who lived with her husband Jacob and daughter Minnie at 119 Park Avenue. 

The Albany City Directory, published 1 June 1882, listed the brothers residence at 72 S Pearl Street, and their business at 1166 Broadway.




The Albany City Directory published in 1883 revealed a different story...




George is still listed at 1164 Broadway, but it states Thomas died September 29, 1882. I knew Thomas died in the States, but I didn't know where. Then one day I did a search in the US instead of Canada and these two directories came up!

So it was a short stay in Albany for the Seale brothers.  After Thomas died the business was shut down and George moved back to Kingston where he worked as a bookkeeper for his father, who was a carpenter. 



6 comments:

  1. You can get useful genealogical information from some quite surprising sources :)

    Regards
    Anne
    fellow A to Z-er
    https://ayfamilyhistory.com/2018/04/01/a-is-for-arthur/

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Anne. I surprise myself sometimes!

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  2. What a sad time for George! At least he was able to work for his father.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, and George married late in life and for only 10 years before she died. Thank you for visiting!

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  3. I like that Thomas had such drive. His brothers obviously had faith in him.

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  4. I like that too. They were a very close family.

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