By 1892, the Brooklyn Dorrell’s are living on Carleton Street (mom, dad and 2 sons) in the same home as Mrs. Dorrell’s (Maggie) parents and one of her sisters. A.E.W. Dorrell appears to have continued to work in the shoe trade as a cutter while Maggie was at home with her boys.  

 

The last dated letter in my collection from Alfred the older to Alfred the younger is June 8, 1891. The letter is very similar to all the others – catching up on local news, sharing the completion of tasks  replying to the Brooklyn families news and then sharing of his and his siblings illnesses.  What my husband and I call an “organ recital”.  And finally – the latest weather.  It would be about 2.5 years after this letter, that father Alfred would pass away.

On January 3, 1894, a daughter, Emily, was born to this family.  Unfortunately, her grandfather Alfred would never know of this birth as he died on January 8, 1894 just 5 days later.

 

Here is his death notice:

“Practically conscious“….. exactly, what is that?

And his probate notice: states that his executor is a “commercial traveller” which is equivalent to today’s sales representative.  This is pretty odd to me as he had two living sisters.  

 

There is no indication of how long it took for A.E.W. Dorrell to know if his father’s passing.  There is no oral history about this either.

The Brooklyn family was increased two years later with the addition of a second daughter, Eleanor, in 1896. However, by now, the Brooklynites had re-located to Port Jervis, NY to try their hand at farming.   Mrs. Dorrell’s Irish parents moved with them as well. They worked at establishing this farm for about three years when tragedy struck once again.  

 

In 1899, just 5 years after the death of Alfred Dorrell in London, A.E.W.’s mother-in-law died from pneumonia..  On the day she was buried, her husband succumbed to the same illness.  A mere 10 days later, and A.E.W. Dorrell himself also died from pneumonia. In a two week time period, three adult members of the same family die.

 

When Alfred Edmund William Dorrell passed away, just three years after his father, he was 51 years of age.  He left behind a 40 year old wife, and 4 children ranging in age from 15 to 3 years of age. This Dorrell family was only 3 years into a new community and a new agricultural life style. Then comes the sorrow of three deaths so close together.

 

A.E.W. Dorrell left a legacy behind of a hard working family. They gave the farming life a try, at least through 1910, but by 1915 all  were back in Brooklyn except one son – my grandfather, William Hanna Dorrell – who married a local girl in 1911.

 

A baby boy whose mother dies just a few months after his birth, raised in households that did not contain his family, left his home country by the age of 33 for the opportunities of the new world, met his bride and had a family and then decided that rural living would be the best decision for them – lived a short and tenacious life. I imagine he had his fair share of heartache. Being English, I am certain he was stoic about those feelings.

 

These letters, original in all manner, are a treasure for a genealogist.  The never ending mystery however, is what was not contained in those letters -or the public notices- about these relatives of mine.  This is left to my imagination – to my surmising. In genealogy, this can be a trap – to make up the “rest of the story”.  

 

I will attempt to not do this – and be satisfied with the true and handwritten statement of father to son: