Jane E. (Monroe) Delanoy Proof Summary

Jane E., wife of Evert Delanoy, was born about 1829 in Tompkins County, New York, according to the 1855 census. She was living in Saugerties, Ulster County, New York at the time and had reportedly lived there for 6 years, or since about 1849.[i] If true, then she is likely the “Mrs. Delanoy” who was enumerated with Evert in Saugerties in 1850, and born about the same year.[ii] Evert, Jane and their children disappeared from Saugerties sometime after 1855. Evert resurfaced in New York City with a new family.

I found Jane and her four children living in the Shaker community at Hancock and Pittsfield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, in 1860 and 1865. (See Chart 1.)  It was such an unexpected place for them to be that it took me a while to convince myself I had the right people. That they were living in Shaker households does not seem to be in dispute. The heads of household were listed with occupations like “Elder” and “Trustee,” and often “Shaker” was written down the margin of the page. There is no evidence that Jane and her children became Shaker members, however. I corresponded with people working in the archives at Hancock Village, where no record of them has been found. Hancock Village keeps a database that includes information about members from various sources; the Delanoys appeared there only in census records.[iii] Shaker death records from Hancock (and other locations) have been transcribed in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, and the heads of household in Chart 1 were all found there.[iv]

Delanoy family members were enumerated in several different Shaker households, in two towns, with creative surname spellings, and this complicated locating them. These census records are extremely faded and difficult to read. I never did find Jane’s son James in 1865. Overall, the ages for the people I found in Massachusetts were consistent with the ages of Jane and her children in Saugerties, and I did not find the family elsewhere.

Jane was enumerated in 1865 as married. This is odd (unless it’s a mistake), because Evert and his second wife, Adeline Keller, married in 1863.[v] Could Jane have been unaware of Evert’s second wife? Given that Evert was arrested and convicted of bigamy in 1881 (with second wife Adeline and third wife Jennie Moore),[vi] the possibility that he left Jane and his children with the Shakers and did not mention the second wife and family has crossed my mind. Jane listed herself as a widow in the 1867 and 1869 city directories for Cohoes, Albany County, New York.[vii] Evert was still living at this point, he died in 1890.[viii] Perhaps by this time, Jane knew of Evert’s second marriage, and decided to describe herself as a widow rather than an abandoned wife when she moved to Cohoes.

I can be reasonably certain that the Jane E. Delanoy listed in the city directories for Cohoes is my Jane because her daughter, Sarah, bore a daughter in Cohoes about 1869.[ix] Just recently, I discovered a little item in the Albany Morning Express, dated 25 June 1890, which said that Mayor Garside had received a letter from Mrs. A. Delanoy of New York City asking about Everett B. Delanoy and his four children who had lived there 25 years ago.[x] This is almost certainly Adeline Delanoy, Evert’s second wife, perhaps wishing to let Evert’s children know about his death?

It’s not clear how Jane ended up in Cohoes. It’s possible the Delanoys were moved from the Hancock community to a Shaker community near Cohoes, called Niskayuna. The West and North families were broken up in 1867, after the death of Elder David Terry, according to Hancock Shaker Village, p. 52-3. Or perhaps Jane had family there. Whatever the case, by 1870, Jane disappears from the records, and her children are living in Tompkins County, New York, where Jane was born.

No known document names Jane’s parents. A son’s marriage record gives Jane’s maiden name as Monroe.[xi] Her daughter’s death record states that Jane was born in the Town of Caroline, in Tompkins County, New York.[xii] The best candidate for Jane’s father is John R. Monroe (also Munro or Monrow), who was living in Caroline, Tompkins County, New York in 1830, the year after Jane’s likely birth. He had a female child under 5 living in his household.[xiii] John R. Monroe apparently died in 1877,[xiv] leaving no will.[xv] John’s first wife, Sally (reportedly Willsey) Monrow, died in 1833, and is buried in Garrett-Mandeville Cemetery in Caroline.[xvi] If John is Jane’s father, Sally would be her likely mother. If Jane went to live with relatives after her mother’s death, it might explain how she ended up in Ulster and Albany Counties.

[i] 1855 New York census, Ulster County, population schedule, Town of Saugerties, 3rd Enumeration District (ED), unpaginated, dwelling 50, family 51, Everit Delanoy household, along with Jane E., Sarah, and James; digital image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-25916-10613-81 : accessed 13 April 2016); citing count[y] clerk offices, New York.

[ii] 1850 U.S. census, Ulster Co., N.Y., pop. sch., Town of Saugerties, p. 235 (penned), p. 118 (stamped), dwell. 596, fam. 600, Evert Delanoy household; digital image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-11100-16919-13 : accessed 13 April 2016); citing NARA microfilm Series M432, Roll 608.

[iii] “Hancock database,” Hancock Shaker Village (http://experience.hancockshakervillage.org/searchable-hancock-database : accessed 18 April 2016), search for del (to capture all surname variants).

[iv] Cottrell, Rachel, “Shaker Death Records,” New England Historical and Genealogical Register 115 (January 1961): 32-45, and ibid., (April 1961): 118-135; in particular pp. 123-128, “Account of those who have died in the Society since the year 1780 at Hancock.” (Nathan Holland, Joseph Patten, and Simon Mabee are on p. 125, and William Williams and Hannah Williams on p. 128.)

[v] New York City, New York, Marriages, no vol., unpaginated, 9 December 1864, E.B. Delanoy-A. Keller; City of New York Municipal Archives, New York, N.Y.

[vi] “Held for Bigamy,” New York Times, 17 April 1881, clipping, p./col. not given; image copy, New York Times Article Archive (http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch : accessed 19 October 2015), search for Everett Delanoy Bigamy.

[vii] Sampson, Davenport & Co., compilers, The Troy Directory, for the Year 1869: including West Troy, Cohoes, Lansingburgh and Green Island, also a Business Directory, a Record of the City Government, its Institutions, &c., &c., 182; image, Ancestry.com (http://interactive.ancestry.com/2469/2255101 : accessed 13 April 2016); also The Troy Directory, for the year 1867… [and Adjacent Areas],188; image, Ancestry.com (http://interactive.ancestry.com/2469/2255447 : accessed 13 April 2016).

[viii] New York County, Manhattan Certificate of Death no. 9290 (1890), Edward Delanoy (original)/Everett B. Delanoy (corrected); Municipal Archives, New York City.

[ix] Bessie’s marriage record, among others, lists her place of birth as Cohoes. Tompkins County, New York, Record of Marriages, vol. 1: 252, no. 1256, Crans-Armstrong, 16 November 1912; image, “New York, County Marriages, 1847-1848; 1908-1936,” FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YS83-NJV : accessed 5 October 2015); citing county offices, New York.

[x] “[V]icinity Happenings, [N]ews from All Around About Albany,” Albany (N.Y.) Morning Express, 25 June 1890, p. 5, col. 1; image, Old Fulton NY Post Cards (http://fultonhistory.com : accessed 18 April 2016), search for delanoy cohoes..

[xi] Chemung County, New York, certificate of marriage no. 4917 [written in margin], Ora M. Delanoy-Alice Loomis, 5 May 1916; image, “New York, County Marriages, 1847-1848; 1908-1936,” FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-159371-209162-64 : accessed 18 April 2016); citing county clerk offices from various counties, New York.

[xii] New York State Department of Health, death certificate no. 2322, Sarah M. Foote (1897), Vital Records section, Albany.

[xiii] 1830 U.S. census, Tompkins County, N.Y., pop. sch., Caroline, p. 505 (penned), line 25; image, Ancestry.com (http://interactive.ancestry.com/8058/4409686_01011/99574 : accessed 18 April 2016); citing NARA microfilm M19, roll 109, FHL microfilm 17,169.

[xiv] Find A Grave, database with images (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=94442083 : accessed 19 April 2016), memorial 94442083, John R. Monroe (d. 1877), Ellis Hollow Cemetery, Dryden, Tompkins Co., N.Y.; gravestone photograph by Ginny Delong.

[xv] I found no entry for John Monroe or Munro in the Tompkins County Probate General Index, however, I’m not certain he died in Tompkins County. Tompkins County, N.Y., Probate Records, General Index 1818-1910, pp. 182 and 186, entries for “Mon” and “Mun”; images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-24596-6907-7 : accessed 19 April 2016); citing county clerk’s offices.

[xvi] Find A Grave, database with images (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=94443287 : accessed 19 April 2016), memorial 94443287, Sally, wife of John R. Munrow (d. 24 December 1833), Garrett Mandeville Cemetery, Caroline, Tompkins Co., N.Y.; gravestone photograph by Ginny Delong.