May 2, 2013

Sarah Hollabaugh Haverstick - First Child of George and Elizabeth Hollabaugh

The Children of George and Elizabeth Bittinger Hollabaugh
(Great-Great Grandparents)
Sarah (1836-1918)
Eliza Jane (1838 - before 1918)
Mary Elizabeth (1840 - 1941)
George W. (1844 - 1924)
David William (1847 - 1936)
Alice Catharine (1849 - 1916)
Jacob B. (1852 - 1943)
Georgianna Hannah (1856 - 1944)

Sarah, the eldest child of George and Elizabeth Hollabaugh, was born on November 30, 1836 in Adams County, PA.  According to Pennsylvania Town and Church Records 1708-1985, she married Robert Scott Haverstick on October 13,1865; she would have been 28 years old.  Robert, however, was born in 1843 or 1844 (depending on the source) and was about 22 or 23.  The couple resided throughout their married life in Carlisle, Cumberland County, PA, where Robert's parents lived...just north of Adams County.

Robert registered for the Civil War draft in June 1863, when he was about 20 years old.  He described himself as single and a carpenter, and listed that he was the only support for his mother and two other dependents, probably two younger siblings.  I have not found that he ever joined the Union forces.  In July 1863, Carlisle was shelled by Jeb Stuart's troops. Little damage was done, but it served the purpose of creating chaos and panic in the town. The Confederate officers did not get the provisions that they wanted from the town.  Stuart left rather quickly then and headed to Gettysburg where he was late in reporting, arriving on the second day of the battle there.


 In the 1870 census, Robert and Sarah Haverstick were found in the west ward of Carlisle, with children: William, 4; Blanche, 3; Charles, 2; and Millie, 4 months.  Sarah had delivered one child per year in her five years of marriage, if these ages are correct.  Robert worked as a carpenter and the family was by no means rich monetarily, with their personal property worth $200 and no real estate, hence they were probably renting a house.

By 1880, Robert, 37, and Sarah, 42, had lost little Millie.  The family consisted of William F., 14; Blanche K., 12; Charles, 9; Bertie E., 7 (Bertha), and Viola J., 5.
This spread of ages varies from the 1870 report which would seem more accurate, considering the marriage date.

Robert Haverstick died at about age 43 in 1886, leaving Sarah to provide for at least three children who were probably still at home.  It is likely that William, at about age 20, and Blanche at 18 could be working outside the home to help support the family.  Without the 1890 census, knowledge of how they made their livelihood is lost.  Robert was buried in the Old Graveyard in Carlisle, PA.

In the 1900 census, the widow, Sarah Haverstick, lived on West North Street in Carlisle with her two single daughters, Blanche, 33, and Bertha, 26.  Blanche was employed as a forewoman at the local wrapper factory, and Bertha was making shirtwaists at the same place. A wrapper was like a dressing gown and a shirtwaist was a dress.  Both are pictured below, with the wrapper on the left.
At the turn of the century, a large three story building on Bedford Street in Carlisle, originally a church, was bought and renovated into a factory which made women's and children's garments.  In 1913, it was officially called the Carlisle Garment Company. I would guess that this might be where Blanche and Bertha worked.

Viola Frances Haverstick was found in the 1900 census, also, living in Philadelphia with the widow, Isabella K. Wetz, and her partner, Mary L. Douglas, in their boarding house.  The boarding house, on June 4, 1900, had 37 women living there, other than the owners, and one cook.  Viola, 23 and single, was working as a trained nurse.

A Charles Haverstick is listed in the censuses of 1900, 1910, and 1920 in Lancaster, PA, working as a telephone lineman, but the ages given in those years do not quite match.

In 1910, Sarah and her daughters moved to West High Street in Carlisle.  She was 73 years old, and reported that she had been married 45 years!  (I guess she was saying that she was still married.)  She had five children, and all five survived.  (She did not account for the death of young Millie.) Sarah and daughters, Blanche, 41, and Bertha, 37, were renting their home.  Blanche was still single and still served as forewoman at the wrapper factory.  Bertha, however, must have tired of factory work, and she was self-employed as a manicurist.

Sarah's son, William Franklin Haverstick, preceded her in death in 1916.  He was buried in the Old Graveyard at Carlisle also.  In 1900 and 1910, William was a lodger in West Chester, PA where he plied his trade as a photographer in his own studio.  He was single in both censuses.  He died at 50, but his photographs live on.  This one I found on a Library of Congress site.
William F. Haverstick photo of the West Chester Courthouse, West Chester, PA
 He took many photos of university students and entered his photos into contests.
Check out the Chester County Historical Society!
Sarah Haverstick died on July 31, 1918.  Her obituary appeared in the Gettysburg Compiler on August 17, 1918.  (I guess it took awhile for news to get from Carlisle to Gettysburg.)

"Mrs. Sarah Haverstick, widow of Robert Haverstick, died at her home in Carlisle last Wednesday.  She became seriously ill the previous Saturday night.  Mrs. Haverstick was long a highly respected citizen of Carlisle,and for half a century or more has been a member of the First Lutheran Church.  She was 81 years of age. Surviving are four children: Misses Blanche and Viola, Mrs. T. Stuart of Carlisle (Bertha),and Charles of Lancaster. Two sisters also survive, Mrs. Mary Hennigh of Carlisle, and Mrs. Annie Pensyl of Iowa.  Jacob Hollabaugh of Adams County is a brother.

 According to church funeral records, Sarah was buried in the Old Graveyard in Carlisle with her husband, Robert.

In 1920, Blanche, then 45, was a designer for the garment company and was still living on West High Street in Carlisle.  With her lived Viola Haverstick, 40, and single, her youngest sister, who was working as a nurse for a private family. 

Update (Feb. 1, 2024 )- Blanche also became a nurse and eventually worked as a nurse for the Bedford family in Philadelphia.  There she met and married Theodore  Bedford on January 12, 1928.  They left immediately for California after the wedding by way of the Panama Canal. Thomas had mining interests there.   She died in 1946 in the Carlisle, Pennsylvania Hospital, while her husband was in Los Angeles. Whether they were separated or not, or he just happened to be on a trip, is not known. 

Also with them were sister, Bertha E. Stewart and her husband, Thomas.  Bertha was 46 and was self-employed as a hairdresser in her home, while her husband, Thomas, 60, had no occupation.



More research could be done on these children of Robert and Sarah Haverstick.  As far as I have been able to determine, the children had no offspring; three of the five remained single.  




2 comments:

  1. Do you have any additional information about Robert Haverstick's death? It appears that he married my great great grandmother in 1889.

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    Replies
    1. This Robert Haverstick died in 1886, so this is probably not the same man who married your great grandmother.

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