Sunday, August 7, 2011

Little Eloise Crittenden (Random Ypsilantians Series)

Eloise Crittenden was the daughter of New York-born Newton Crittenden and English-born Emily Elizabeth Tripp. Born in 1862, Eloise was the oldest child in her family, with younger sisters Amy (1873) and Mary Alice, or Allie (1874). There is an 11-year gap between the birthdays of Eloise and the middle child Amy. Emily had had 4 children, but had lost one: Mabel, born in 1868, who only survived for 10 months. Mabel died of dysentery.

In 1888, Eloise married Charles Lowe, who died in 1895. IN 1900, the widowed Eloise was living in Jackson. In 1910, Eloise's 72-year-old mother Emily was also widowed (Newton died in 1904) and living with her married daughter Amy. In 1916, Emily died. In 1920, 57-year-old Eloise was still living in Jackson, with her 45-year-old sister Mary Alice. Eloise worked as a stenographer and Mary Alice as a bookkeeper. Eloise died in Jackson in January of 1924 and is buried in Highland.

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1 comment:

  1. Dusty DAugust 7, 2011 at 7:42 PM

    Why is one of three children of a farm family wearing such a fancy dress?

    Here's my theory (from a FB post): Eloise was born in 1862. In this pic she looks roughly 6 or so years old, dating the photo to 1868. That is the year her little sister Mabel died. Later Amy and Mary Alice were born...but when I first saw the 11-year gap between Eloise's and Amy's ages on the census, I wondered if a child had died. Later checked out the family card in the Archives and sure enough...it was Mabel. I'm guessing this pic was taken for a very sad reason: the family feared that their only other child at the time, Eloise, might be next to die, so this photo would be a keepsake. Or, perhaps it was taken as part of a series of photos done at the time of Mabel's death, a set that may have included a memorial photo or "death photo" of Mabel, fairly common in that era.

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