Introducing Mary Walton Starling

 (C) 2021 By Frederick E. Walton Walton Family Historian

I recently received a package of photographs and information from a cousin, Rod La Croix, who I have become acquainted with only last year. His grandmother and my great-grandfather were siblings, so our family trees have parallel branches that join at the level of John and Eliza Walton, my great-great grandparents. This blog is about one of the stories that we have uncovered through this shared information.

George Walton (1864-1910), my great-grandfather, the son of John and Eliza Walton had eleven siblings. Many of them immigrated to America, including an older sister name Mary, known as "Polly" to some of her English family. Mary Walton (1859-1936) was recently married to John Starling (1863-1920) when they immigrated to America around 1885/6.  

Mary Walton Starling
(1859-1936)

There must have been somewhat of a close familial relationship between siblings George and Mary, especially since they were both foreigners living in a foreign land. They lived near each other in New Jersey when they first arrived, and then later both moved to adjoining towns in Westchester, N. Y. Where they settled down and raised families. 

We have uncovered her basic facts: when Mary was born (18 February 1859); Married (1885); and Died (20 Dec. 1936). The U.S. Federal Census tells us where she lived and who her children were. The documents Rod sent me included his grandmother's obituary, so I will start my introduction to Mary, at the end of her life.

Mary's obituary fills in some of her biography, but not all the details are exactly "correct". Attached is the transcription of her obituary and some footnotes to make clarifications of correction where known. Future blogs will try to fill in some of the the blanks surrounding Mary's Life.

Mary Walton Starling Obituary
Courtesy of grandson Rod La Croix

Obituary (newspaper source undocumented, probably an Ossining paper)

Transcribed by Frederick E. Walton

MRS. MARY WALTON STARLING

Mrs. Mary Walton Starling, seventy-six, died in the Ossining hospital at 8:40 o'clock yesterday morning [20 Dec. 1936] after an illness or four days. A heart attack was the cause of death.

The deceased was born in Manchester England¹ and came to the United states about 55 years ago², settling in Morristown, New Jersey.

Home of Maurice and Constance Starling La Croix
where Mary Walton Starling lived during her final years (1926-1936)
Photo (of his boyhood home) Courtesy of Rod La Croix

 About 30³ years ago she came to Ossining and has resided here and in Scarsborough since. At the time of her death she resided with her daughter, Mrs. Constance Lacroix, 1 Stephen place, Ossining.

John Starling Headstone at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
Courtesy of grandson Rod La Croix

She was the window of John starling who died about 16 years ago⁴. They were married 51 years ago⁵.

Burial record in St. Mary's Register
St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Scarsbourough, N. Y.
 

Surviving are four daughters, Mrs. Gertrude Chatten of Hawthorne, Miss Sissil Starling of Valhalla, Mrs. Alice Lewis of Briarcliff Manor and Mrs. Constance La Croix of Ossining; one son, George Starling of Ossining⁶, and a brother, Charles Walton⁷.

Starling headstone in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
Courtesy of grandson Rod La Croix

Funeral services will be held from the late residence at 2 o'clock Wednesday afternoon. The Reverend Charles W. Baldwin, rector of Saint Mary's Church, Scarsborough will officiate. Interment will be in Sleepy Hollow cemetery, Tarrytown, New York.

Notes:

1. Mary Walton was born on 18 February 1859 in Appleby-Magna, Leicestershire, England to John Walton (1830- 1890), Coachman, and Eliza (Bonsell) (1830-1893) Walton. Her early years were spent in Appleby and Cheddleton. Her parents and some of her siblings moved to Manchester in the late 1800’s where she likely corresponded with them, perhaps giving her American family the impression that this is where she was from.

   

   1859 Birth Certificate for Mary Walton 
   from the Walton Archive 
   courtesy of Gayle Walton Judd

   
   
2. 55 years ago would be 1881 and is probably too early. I have made a study of U. S. Federal and State Census records from 1900-1930  (1890 is, of course, unavailable).The date of immigration is documented as 1885, 1886, 1887 and 1890 with 1885 the most consistent. There is a record for a Mary and John Starling arriving in NY on 17 April 1886, but this has not been verified as being totally correct.
3. “About 30 years ago” is 1906. They are living in Ossining as early as 1 June 1905 when the 1905 New York State census was enumerated.
4. John Henry Starling was buried 9 July 1920 (Death date not recorded) That is 16 years earlier.
5. Married in Prestwich, Lancashire, England in 4Q1885, 51 years ago. 
6. Her children in birth order are:
1. Gertrude M. Starling (1886-1959) married Hugh Thurgil Chatten (1884-1955)
2. Sissil Starling (1889-1970) (Never Married)
3. Rueben W. Starling (1890-1891)
4. Alice Louise Starling (1893-1965) married John William Louch Lewis (Jack) (1886-1938) second marriage to Frank Raymond Smith.
5. Margaret Starling (1895-1895)
6. Constance Wilhelmina Starling (1896-1967) Married Maurice Fernand Joseph Lacroix (1889-1977)
7. George Starling (1897-1969) Never Married
8. Both the 1900 and 1910 census have a question to declare number of Children Born and Number of Children surviving to which she answered: 8 and 5.  In later Census records they have 5 Children
7. Mary Walton was the 4th Daughter and 4th child. She had 12 Siblings, of which Charles Walton (1874-1954) was the youngest and 12th child. He was living in the Bronx when Mary Died. Her brother John Joseph  Walton ( 1862-1936) of Washington, D. C. predeceased her by 6 months. Her sister Rosalia Alberta Walton (1870-1937) of Manchester, English (twice Married- Williams/Taylor) outlived her by almost 6 months. Her other siblings were deceased by the time she died. Her Brother George Walton (1864-1910) is also buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.