Fred Lathrop’s Family and The Tracks They Left in Danbury, Connecticut
Traditional Genealogy VS Geographical Genealogy
My great-great grandfather Frederick Lathrop seemed to prefer being called “Fred” or, in his later days, “Pop” Lathrop. Until recently, I never knew I had an ancestor called Pop. Then again, there was a lot of things I never knew about Fred “Pop” Lathrop. Since we are talking about preferred names, my great-great grandmother ‘s name was Leurinda. You will see it spelled other ways but on her gravestone is printed “Leurinda Palmer.” So, that’s what I’m going with. Her complete name at the time of her death was Leurinda Evelynn Palmer Lathrop.
Way back in the days before Ancestry or Family Search were ever dreamed of, my Lathrop ancestry was a settled issue all the way back to the Rev. John Lothroppe, who was born in Yorkshire, England and settled in Barnstable Massachusetts.
Going back 5 generations in my Lathrop Lineage, traditional genealogy tells me where the men in my lineage were born and where they died. This is how traditional genealogy works. However, traditional genealogy doesn’t tell us all the places our families lived and whether or not they laid down any tracks anywhere besides the towns where they were born and died. This story attempts to fix this regarding my great-great grandfather Frederick Lathrop and his family.
My Genealogy 5 Generations Back
From my father to my great-great-great grandfather, this is the total of my traditional genealogical information.
Daniel Lathrop Jr (b Colchester, CT 1790- d Danbury, CT 1874)
3rd great-grandfather
Frederick Lathrop (b New Milford, CT 1829- d New Milford, CT 1907)
Son of Daniel Lathrop Jr
Charles Ozias Lathrop (b Cornwall, CT 1860-d Bethel, CT 1939)
Son of Frederick Lathrop
Edward Starr Lathrop (b Danbury, CT 1883- d Danbury, CT 1939)
Son of Charles Ozias Lathrop
Edward Lathrop (b Danbury, CT 1913- d Danbury, CT 1979)
Son of Edward Starr Lathrop
To many, this is what genealogy is. I think of traditional genealogy as a Christmas tree with stick figure ornaments hanging off it. I like to take those ornaments off the tree and, when I can, put a little meat on their bones. I like to find out not just where people were born and where they died but where they actually lived. I think of it as geographical genealogy.
The settled stick figure genealogy above wasn’t 100% correct when it was handed down to me because my great-great-great grandfather Daniel Lathrop Jr was said to have died in New Milford, Connecticut when actually, he died in Danbury. I don’t know where he’s buried, but Danbury is where he lived for his final few years and it is where he died. Basically, Daniel was born in Colchester, came to New Milford as a very young man, Married Sarah Fisher in New Milford, then lived there until he was about 80. Then, he moved himself, his wife, and his business to Danbury. He was a cooper who didn’t have very much time to coop after he moved to Danbury because he died 4 years later at the age of 84 years old.
Below is Daniel Lathrop Jr. death record from Danbury, Connecticut from 1874. 
The Jr. is not a part of Daniel’s name officially. I added it because his father’s name was also Daniel Lathrop.
You’ll notice throughout this story, I have added what family relationship I have with many of the people we talk about. If you are my first cousin, this relationship is the same for you. If you are a child of my first cousin the relationship is the same but with 1X removed added. 2nd and 3rd cousins, etc, will still be related but it will impossible tom tell your exact relation to each person without knowing who you are. Drop a comment if you need any help with this.
Daniel Lathrop Jr. is my great-great-great grandfather
Sarah Fisher Lathrop is my great-great-great grandmother
Danbury, Connecticut’s First Edward Lathrop
Pop Lathrop and his children left tracks in 3 different towns. We will begin the story of Fred Pop Lathrop and his family and where they all lived, by asking the following question.
My name is Edward Lathrop Jr, I was born in Danbury in 1949 and after a quick stay in the hospital, I remained in Danbury, Connecticut. Was I Danbury, Connecticut’s first Edward Lathrop?
I was not but in 1913, my father Edward Lathrop Sr. was born in Danbury and after a quick stay in the hospital, he, too, remained in Danbury. Was Edward Lathrop Sr Danbury, Connecticut’s first Edward Lathrop?
He was not. The “Edward Lathrop” in the census summary above was Edward Starr Lathrop. He moved to Danbury on his wedding date, which was January 12, 1910. This was 3 years before the directory listing above and 3 years before his son Edward Lathrop Sr. moved into his home. Even though this is true, he wasn’t the first Edward Lathrop to live in Danbury, Connecticut either!
The first Edward Lathrop I could find living in Danbury, Connecticut was listed in the 1880 census. He was Edward P Lathrop.
By reading the census summary page above, I can’t tell for sure which part of Danbury this Edward Lathrup, who was really Edward Lathrop, was living in. We do know he was living in Danbury; on a street nobody knew what to call. Therefore, someone concluded that Edward Lathrup/Lathrop lived on Question Mark Street. The following is the actual clipping of Edward Lathrop in the 1880 census.
So, what about this Edward Lathrop guy? Here’s the story: The instructions in the 1880 census were to write down your relationship to the head of household. In the box where he was supposed to do this, he wrote “Boarder” instead of his family relationship. Family relationships are what the censuses want to record. This Edward Lathrop must have been like another Edward Lathrop of Danbury at whom, in 1962, Sister Luca would often reprove “Edward Lathrop! you are completely incapable of following directions!” She meant this in the nicest way, of course. The 1880 version of Edward Lathrop should have written “Brother-in-Law” in this box. In other words, Edward Lathrop in the census above was the brother of Estella Bragg, whose name is two lines above his. Estella Bragg’s maiden name was Estella Lathrop.
Estella and Edward were two of the children of Frederick and Leurinda Palmer Lathrop. In fact, Edward’s full name was Edward Palmer Lathrop. He was born in 1855 and was the oldest of 9 children in the family. In the late 1880s, Edward would move out of Question Mark St and he would live his life in West Orange, New Jersey. I noted that in the 1880 Danbury census, he worked in a hat factory. In the 1910 East Orange, New Jersey census, he was also listed as working in a hat factory, of all places. So, he must have been a hatter all his adult life.
We all know Danbury, Connecticut was the hat manufacturing capitol of the world between the 1850s and 1930s. In some of these years, Orange, New Jersey was running a close second and was determined it would steal Danbury’s mantle of being the world’s number 1 hat maker. They did not quite get there. However, while trying to achieve their goal, they stole many of the Danbury Hat Manufacturers’ ideas and many of their best people as well. Perhaps Edward P possessed the Lathrop high level skill gene and because of this, an Orange, New Jersey hat manufacturer enticed him to make a lucrative career change. That’s the story I’m going with, at least!
The first we see Edward Palmer Lathrop listed in a directory in an Orange, New Jersey was in 1898, but they might not have had directories in Orange before that year. There were no city directories in Danbury before 1886, so directories were just coming into being around that time.
However, New Jersey has censuses that come out every 10 years on the 5th year of each decade. Edward wasn’t in the 1885 New Jersey census but was in the 1895 New Jersey census. This means it is most likely Edward became a New Jerseyan sometime between 1885 to 1895. Below is a clipping from the 1895 Orange, New Jersey Census. It gives us very little information, in part, because Edward, once again, filled out a census incorrectly. He only entered his wife and not himself. However, the census summary gives us the information we need. This is that Edward was living in Orange, New Jersey in 1895.
Edward was married to Margery McBride. He and Margery had two children. He died on February 10,1925 in East Orange, New Jersey and is buried in St. John’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in Orange.
It says in Edward’s findagrave record that his parents, Fred and Leurinda Evelyn Palmer Lathrop were Episcopalians and by default, so was Edward. However, I mildly disagree on the basis that, as we will seed later, another one of their sons was a Methodist. In any event, no matter what religion Edward grew up in, like a lot of men, he converted to Roman Catholicism while he was in the process of marrying his Irish wife.
To summarize, Edward Palmer Lathrop lived:
In Cornwall, Connecticut from his birth on November 11, 1855 until he moved to
Danbury, Connecticut in 1880 and lived there until he moved to
Orange, New Jersey in about 1890. This is a guess because we are not sure where he was from 1886 until 1894. He lived in Orange until his death on February 10, 1925.
Edward Palmer Lathrop is my great granduncle.
Estella Abigail Lathrop Bragg Hartwell
So, who are these other people living on Question Mark St anyway? One line above Estella is her husband, Albert Bragg, who worked in a Foundry. The poor man was laid to rest in Wooster Cemetery in Danbury before his 30th birthday. I don’t know the cause of his untimely demise. Albert’s son Albert A Jr, was only 5 years old when his dad died. For those of us who like happier endings, young Albert died in 1957, at the age of 79, and was laid to rest with his dad in Wooster Cemetery. He was married to Betsey, “Bessie” Wildman. (A fine old Danbury name!) She died in 1953 and is also buried in Wooster Cemetery.
There was another guy listed directly below Edward in the 1880 census whose name was Anthony Ratchford. I believe he truly was a boarder because I can’t find a path that puts him in the Lathrop Family Tree. He could, I guess, have been related to Estella’s husband Albert.
After the death of her husband Albert, Estella took about 16 years off from married life and then married Frederick W Hartwell. She was an amazing 29 years older than he was. They didn’t have any children together. They lived in New Milford for some time too, but most of the years from 1880 until her death in 1947, she lived in Danbury.
I’m not sure about Arrow St. That sounds a lot like Question Mark St. I think Estella lived on Union St in Danbury a number of years this is off Balmforth Ave.
To Summarize, Estella Abigail Lathrop Bragg Hartwell lived in West Cornwall, Connecticut from her birth, which was on January 23, 1859, until she came to Danbury in 1880. She lived there until 1929. She lived in New Milford from 1929 until about 1943, when she moved to Amenia, Dutchess County, New York. She passed away on August 25, 1947, in Amenia at the age of 88. Estella Abagail Lathrop Bragg Hartwell is buried in Center Cemetery in New Milford, CT.
Estella Abigail Lathrop Bragg Hartwell is my great grandaunt
Where is Minnie Lathrop?
The Frederick Lathrop family tree is below.
As we can see, Fred and Leurinda had 9 children. Unfortunately, the youngest child in the family, Fannie Rosella Lathrop died in June of 1877 at only 2 years and 8 months of age. Also, unfortunate it is that her mom, Leurinda, died on March 3, 1876, at 43 years of age.
Some genealogists have Fred and Leurinda marked down for 10 kids. It gets confusing because the 1870 census shows a 6-year-old daughter Milly Marie and the 1880 census shows a 16-year-old daughter named Minnie. However, like Clark Kent and Superman, you never would see the two, sitting side by side. Maybe Milly changed her name or somebody changed it for her. The only Milly Marie Lathrop I can find in Litchfield County was Millie Marie Lathrop, daughter of George and Sarah Lathrop on born August 14, 1885. So, I have decided for now, at least, to leave the name Millie Marie out of the family tree until I can find a little more evidence that Fred and Leurinda had a daughter with that name. It is logical that “Milly” was a typo and the girl’s real name was Minnie Marie.
It is quite difficult to find evidence of Minnie Marie Lathrop too, and I think some genealogists got her wrong anyway. Many say she is Minnie Grace Lathrop, the mother of Maud Atkins. However, this Minnie Lathrop wasn’t Lathrop until she married a guy from Hartford named Fred Lathrop, believe it or not. This Fred Lathrop was probably related to our Lathrop family, but distantly. Minni G was the daughter of Edward and Martha Hayes Gowdy. So, she was not a Lathrop anyway. Besides, if our Minnie Lathrop married a guy named Fred Lathrop, that would be just too weird! They lived in Coventry, West Hartford, Toland, South Windsor and places like that. They seemed to be a very nice family but they’re not our very nice family.
Also, some say Minnie married Eli Carver, a Toland County guy. Though her maiden name was Lathrop, this Minnie was actually named Mary, and our Minnie already had a sister Mary. Also, the 1900 census shows her mother was living with Minnie and her mother was Ruth Lathrop, age 83. Our Minnie’s mom was Leurinda and she died at 43.
Then there is this lady.
+ 
This Minnie Lathrop was the well documented daughter of Edwin Urich Lathrop and Esther Harriet Boyden. She had a brother Harry and her middle name was Dorchester. Nope, not our Minnie! For now, we will have to move on having no idea what happened to Fred and Leurinda’s number 5 child. She made roll call for the 1880 census, then disappeared into thin air!
To summarize, Minnie Marie Lathrop lived:
All of her life as far as we know in West Cornwall, Connectucut.
Minnie Marie Lathrop was my great grandaunt.
Mary Elizabeth Lathrop Woodford
In the census summary below we see Mary C Woodford. In all the handwritten versions of the1880’s censuses, we find transcription errors and the “C” in “Mary C” is one. Mary C is really Mary Elizabeth Lathrop Woodford. She was the second child and oldest daughter of Fred and Leurinda Lathrop and, like many members of her immediate family, she was a Danbury resident in 1880.
In this census summary, we see she and her family are living on Pahquioque Avenue in Danbury. “Pahquioque” is very creatively spelled in this census summary. Because this family is living in dwelling number 256 of Danbury and her brother Edward and sister Estella are living in dwelling number 771, it is safe to say, though it has it has a name that it hard to read and pronounce, Pahquioque is not the same street as Question Mark Street. Pahquioque Ave is roughly in the area of East Liberty St/Town Hill Ave and, judging by the dwelling numbers, Question Mark St is probably Elm St or close to it. So, these two colorfully named streets are not far away from one another. According to Google Maps, you can walk from Elm St to Pahquioque Ave in 15 minutes. It would be much quicker if you rode on a horse though or hopped on the trolly.
To summarize, Edward Palmer lived:
Mary Elizabeth not only lived in Danbury in 1880, but she seems to have lived out her days in Danbury as she was buried in Wooster Cemetery on June 8, 1939. Her husband George seems to have deserted her at some point as we find Mary, in the 1910 census, living in Danbury with her bother Fred Willis Lathrop and his family. George Woodford (the bum!) died in 1930 in Wausau, Wisconsin.
To summarize, Mary Elizabeth Lathrop Woodford lived:
In Danbury from 1880 until 1939. She is buried in Wooster cemetery in Danbury. Her husband George took off on her sometime between 1900 and 1905 but she lived in Danbury even after that. She is shown in the New Milford directory as living there in 1917 but then she came back to Danbury. She lived with her brother Fred Willis Lathrop in Danbury for several years and she lived with her sister Estella in Amenia, New York for a short time in the early 1930s. Then Mary came back to Danbury once more!
Mary Elizabeth Lathrop Woodford was my great grandaunt.
Charles Ozias Lathrop
This brings us to Fred and Leurinda’s 4th child and 2nd oldest son, my great grandfather, Charles Ozias Lathrop. If there are any young children around, perhaps you shouldn’t read this out loud. Let’s start by taking a look at the 1880 Danbury, Connecticut census.
Though the street and street numbers are not in view, it is 111 Main St in Danbury where Charles O and Annie are living. It appears to be a large tenement building. The housemother in apartment 48 is Mary Cunninham. Living with her are her son Alfred Cunningham, a boarder named George Valentine, her daughter Mary Cunningham, a 19-year-old boarder named Charles Lathrop and a 16-year-old boarder named Annie Keenan. Charles O Lathrop is not found in the 1880 Cornwall census nor is anyone named Annie or Anna Keenan found in the 1880 Newtown census. I’m quite certain it is my great grandparents Charles O and Annie living in these shady living quarters in Danbury in 1880.
I tried to track down this Cunningham family, and I wasn’t able to find very much. They moved around a lot. Maybe this was by design. I didn’t find anything about them that was very intimidating but there was also nothing I uncovered that made them sound like they were saintly. Evidently, Danbury was just a quick stopover for them. I found nothing that would make it seem this Cunningham lot had any kind of affiliation with or even knowledge of the Lathrop family or the Keenan family. They lived most of their lives in New York City. So, to Charles O and Annie, they were strangers.
Neither Charles O nor Annie has a birth certificate that I can find, and I can’t find a marriage certificate for them either. Annie’s real age might not have been 16. In most of the other censuses Charles O and Annie filed out, they are about the same age. However, we have the birth record of their oldest son Charles, and this seems to confirm that Charles O was 3 years older than Annie.
The record above tells us Charles was 22 years old on March 15, 1882, and Annie was 19. The 1880 census for Charles and Annie was filled out on June 2, 1880. So, in less than 2 years, they each aged 3 years. This is what marriage will do to you!
On June 29, 1883, Annie gave birth to another child who, I believe, never made it home. Her name was Grace. On the date of the poor baby’s birth, Charles said he was 23 and Annie said she was 22. So, she was catching up!
There was no 1890 census but in the 1900 census, which was filled out on June 7, 1900, Charles O reported he was born in August of 1861 and was 39 years old. He actually would have not been quite 39 yet but people used to round up on their ages a lot in those days. Annie says she was born in June of 1861 but was 38. This would be correct if her birthday was between June 8th and June 30th. I guess she wasn’t a rounder. The eldest son, Charles, says he was born in March, 1882. This we know is correct. The 2nd son, Starr says he was born in June of the same year which we know is impossible. We have very good information that Starr Lathrop was born on June 29, 1883.
Also, in the 1900 census, we also see Charles O and Annie were married for 20 years on June 7 of that year, since that was the date the census was taken. So, since the 1880 census was taken on June 2,1880 and they were using different last names then, this gives us an indication, at least, Charles and Annie were married just a few days after they filled out that census in 1880. Or, if one is the imaginative type, he or she might think they already had tied the knot by the time they were boarding with the Cunninghams but preferred this information was not public.
So, what might pique a person’s curiosity when looking at the 1880 census above? Well, for one thing, Charles O said he was born in New York. On top of that, he wrote down that both his parents were born in New Jersey, or NJ as he wrote. It kind of makes me wonder if he was wearing a pair of fake eyeglasses with the fake mustache underneath them. Maybe I’m overreacting a bit but here’s a little more to ponder: If you follow across Anna’s row in the 1900 census, you will see a number 10 followed by a number 7. This means Annie says she had 10 children and 7 are still living. So, Grace wasn’t the only child she lost. So, the question that pops into my enquiring mind is did Annie lose a child before they had their first child who was still living. This probably didn’t happen but theoretically, the possibility exists and it would explain a lot.
1900 Census 
It makes sense Charles O and Annie moved into this dwelling as a pair instead of individually because I don’t think a young girl would move into close quarters that housed strange men in her age bracket. It makes more sense that Charles O was her protector. Tenement buildings in the 1880s were not at all private. A 16-year-old girl would need a trusted companion in a situation such as the one Annie was in at this time.
We know that Charles O’s moving to Danbury was a part of a family relocation strategy because around the year 1880, every member of the Fred Lathrop family moved away from their home in West Cornwall, Connecticut to scattered around apartments in Danbury. That was obviously their game plan. They were fleeing Cornwall in favor of the greener pastures of Danbury. At first glance, it looks like Charles was going to a strange town where he didn’t know anyone and had broken away from his family. This is not true. For most of his time in Danbury, he lived reasonably close to other members of his family and I’m sure he kept in contact with them. When he did move away from Danbury in the later part of the 1890s, he bought a home in Bethel and remained there for the rest of his life. So, he was never very far away from most of the other members of his family.
At 16 or 19, or however old she was, Annie seems like she really was running away from her family. There were no family members near her at this time in her life. There are indications she interacted with her mother in later years, but judging solely on how much of her mother’s estate she would inherit, it doesn’t seem like Annie and her mother were the closest members of the family.
In the final analyses, I’m going to say Charles O and Annie may have been just a couple of 19-year-olds on their way to their wedding and many times, crazy inaccurate things get written down in censuses. Still, it’s tough trying to be assured everything is normal in regarding the Charles O and Annie wedding. Annie’s sisters had quite large and newsworthy weddings, but Annie’s wedding was completely off the grid! It would seem that if Annie was able to play her cards right with most of the members of her family, she would have been set for life! Michael and Mary Lillis Keenan had a lot of money, a lot of land and a lot of everything. Annie couldn’t have moved in 1880 to try to make more money, instead, she was either escaping discord or trying to find independence.
Now, it’s back to complaining about ages being wrong. Even gravestones are not immune from age errors. Gravestone errors are very difficult to erase. Still, birthdates on gravestones are notoriously wrong. Annie’s gravestone says she was born in 1861, and Charles’ says he was born in 1860. So, there’s another birthyear for Charles O.
The true genesis of age errors in1880s genealogy is people truly did not know when they were born. After all, they don’t remember when they were born and their parents were quite prone to forgetting when their children were born. It is quite forgivable! Some people back then had about 18 kids and none of them had Apple Watches or iPhones, clocks weren’t ubiquitous, like they are today, and to a large degree, people didn’t have calendars.
I find when birth records aren’t available, but the 1900 census is, the 1900 census is the go-to guy. Even though Starr’s birthdate was incorrect in it, this census tells you when people thought they were born. In this case, it was June of 1861 for Annie and August of 1861 for Charles O. Truly though, the summation of the age issue pertaining to Charles O and Annie is we don’t know. We simply have no proof.
While living in Danbury, Charles O and Annie always lived close to Delohery Hat Company, which was on 128 East Liberty St. The Delohery, in Delohery Hat Company was Annie’s sister’s husband. So, even though I’m accusing her of being a runaway, it doesn’t look like Annie completely broke off diplomatic relations with all her family members.
Nichols St is roughly across the street from where the Old Oak in Danbury was for many years.
To summarize, Charles Ozias Lathrop was born, according to his entry in the 1900 census in August 1861 in West Cornwall, Connecticut. He lived there until he moved to Danbury in, or probably before 1880. He lived in Danbury probably until the late 1890s. The earliest record we have of him living in Bethel was 1900. He lived in Bethel until he passed away on August 5, 1939. He was struck by a car while walking home from church.
Charles Ozias Lathrop was my great grandfather.
Anna C Annie Keenan was my great grandmother.
Frederick Fred “Pop” Lathrop
Fred Lathrop was a shoemaker by trade. He ran his own business. He might have already made shoes for all 15 people who lived in Cornwall by 1880. So, to survive, he needed to move to an area where there were more feet. Moving to Danbury was a financial move for the Lathrops; that makes total sense.
After the 1880 census came out, there were no more censuses until the 1900 census. For the 20 years in between, we have to rely on city directories to find the whereabouts of the members of The Fred Lathrop family. Hint: Except for Minnie, who was MIA, they were all living in Danbury for at least some of this time.
As we have seen, Edward Palmer Lathrop, Mary Elizabeth Lathrop Woodford, Estella Abigail Lathrop Bragg Hartwell and Charles Ozias Lathrop were all living at different addresses in Danbury from 1880 until, at least 1885. Fred came to Danbury in 1880 with the younger members of his family. These young family members and their ages were Fred Willis Lathrop 14, George Austin Lathrop 11, and Laura Jennie Lathrop 8.
The Danbury City Directory page below is from 1886
The Danbury City Directory page from 1888 is below, by this time, Fred’s son Fred W was 22 years old, and his son George A was 19.
The Danbury City Directory page from 1890 is below, by this time his daughter Laura was 20.
The Danbury City Directory page from 1893 is below,
The Danbury City Directory page from 1895 is below
The Danbury City Directory page from 1896 is below
The Danbury City Directory page from 1902 is below
Though we see Fred Lathrop’s Shoe Making Business was well advertised, Fred was not an all work, no play kind a of a guy. A case in point; from this article from June 9, 1892, we see he took the time to make the long trip to Cornwall to see his old friends.
The following notice is from December 23, 1900. Though it shows Fred Lathrop is a Danbury resident, it indicates he is getting ready to go back to New Milford.
The following newspaper notice, from The Newtown Bee, July 1, 1901, tells us Fred is a native of New Milford. This is true because he was born there. However, it doesn’t tell us if he is now a New Milford resident again. It does, tell us my great-great grandfather Fred “Pop” Lathrop was a music composer.
A galop, by the way, is a very fast musically piece in 2/4 time.
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In the following, also from the Newtown Bee on April 17, 1903, we find out he was a competitive clay Pigeon shooter. It would make sense that Fred Lathrop in the article was Fred Willis Lathrop and Pop Lathrop was his dad.
The following Newtown Bee article from September 16, 1904, informs us that the multi-talented Fred Pop Lathrop played the bass horn. The bass horn in 1903 is known today as a tuba!
Not as much of a fun event was when Fred went to his sister’s funeral in Norwalk with his daughter Mary Woodford on November 24, 1905. November 24, 1905, was the day after Thanksgiving. Fred’s sister was Laura Ann Lathrop Bogardus (1823 – 1905). She is not to be confused with his daughter Laura Lathrop Pomeroy.
Laura Ann Bogardus first married E Clark Morehouse on October 24, 1842. He passed away in 1857, and she married John Bogardus, who was 13 years younger than she was. They had 3 children together.
On June 1, 1906, Pop moved into a room on Church St. I hope Mrs. Briggs knows about this! On Church St, I’m sure he had ground floor access and this is probably what the move was all about. Soon after, he moved to Bridge St. So long, Mrs. Briggs!
On October 11, 1907, Pop passed away. On the death certificate the doctor said he died from Angina Pectoris with Aortic Insufficiency being a contributing factor. The doctor guesses he had had this condition for several years. If it was today, they would have probably gotten another 20 to 30 years out of him. The informant on the death certificate was Fred’s youngest son, George A Lathrop.
Fred’s death certificate is above. There were some answers to the questions on the document that George didn’t know.
Father’s full Name: Daniel Lathrop Jr.
Father’s Birthplace: Colchester, New London County, Connecticut
Mother’s full Name: Sarah Fisher
Mother’s Birthplace: New Milford, Litchfield County, Connecticut
Daniel Lathrop Jr. died in 1874, and Sarah Fisher Lathrop died in 1873, both in Danbury. George was born in 1869 in Cornwall, so I can see that he might not remember his grandparents.
My clay Pidgeon shooting, song writing, tuba playing great-great grandfather Frederick Fred Pop Lathrop was laid to rest with his wife, Leurinda Palmer Lathrop and his very young daughter Fanny Rosella Lathrop in Cornwall Cemetery, Cornwall, Connecticut.
The death date on Fred’s tombstone reads Oct 11, 1908. So, either this is wrong or the death date on his death certificate which reads October 11, 1907 is wrong. In my opinion, it is probably the tombstone that is wrong. They do make errors on tombstones and when they do, you’re stuck with them!
Frederick Lathrop was my great-great grandfather.
Laura Ann Lathrop Morehouse Bogardus was my great-great grandaunt.
Lucy, Eldridge and Sherman Lathrop
From looking at some of the Danbury City Directories, you’re might be wondering who Mrs. Lucy, Eldridge, and Sherman Lathrop were. The answer is Eldridge and Sherman were brothers and Lucy was their mother. Eldridge and Sherman were both sons of George Dennison Lathrop and Clarissa “Lucy” Scott Lathrop, better known as Lucy Lathrop.
George Dennison Lathrop was an older brother of Fred Lathrop and is not to be confused with Fred’s youngest son, George Austin Lathrop. Fred, by the way, was the baby in his family.
Eldridge was married to Aletia Roselia Tuttle. He was born in 1855 and died in 1938. His full name was Eldridge Solomon Lathrop. He was basically, a New Milford kind of a guy. He was born in New Milford and died there but for several years, starting in 1893, he lived in Danbury with his wife, Aletia, his children and his mother, Lucy. This was after his father, George Dennison Lathrop died in 1888. Lucy died in 1897. In 1903, Eldridge and the rest of his family moved back to New Milford. Prior to moving to Danbury and while in Danbury, Eldridge was a laborer. After he moved back to New Milford, he was a farmer. So, this was a very wise decision by Eldridge Solomon, even though being a farmer is a very tough job, too.
Eldridge was my 1st cousin 3X removed.
George Dennison Lathrop was my great-great granduncle.
Sherman was the older brother of Eldridge. His full name was Sheman Wallace Lathrop. He was born in 1848 and died in 1944. Yes, like his grandfather, Daniel Lathrop Sr., he lived well into his 97th year. As we know from looking at the Danbury directories, Sherman was a Grocer in Danbury. He was married to Josephine Pollitt (1854 – 1939)
Sherman was a carpenter by trade but after he moved to Danbury in about 1893, he put his talent to work. He bought or built a house on 84 Franklin St. In some of the directories this building is listed as 84 Franklin St, but in others it is said to be on the Corner of Franklin and John. You would have to think it is this building below because I am willing to say it has been around for 135 years +/- and it is positively on the corner of Franklin and John Streets.
Originally, this was Sherman’s home but he added a storefront so it became a grocery and meat market with apartments upstairs. Probably, he rented out these apartments after he built or bought the house across the street. This made the address of his new residence 64 Franklin St.
It isn’t clear to me whether or not he sold either or both of these properties at this point but he then built or bought the house at 22 Henry St. and then built his new grocery and meat market next door. These building are across the street from The Henry St Market, which is still in business. I don’t know if the old store pictured below was Henry St Market at any time. Probably Sherman Lathrop never ran a store named “Henry St Market” but he did own and operate a grocery store located on Henry St in Danbury. Though it doesn’t look like much today, it is evident Sherman did okay with his buildings and grocery stores.
In the 1910 census, we see Sherman living with his wife in White Plains, New York. Once again, he is back to being a carpenter. In 1915 we see him listed in the White Plains City Directory as operating a Billiard Hall on Brookfield St. There’s no doubt about it, Sherman Lathrop had the entrepreneurial spirit!
In 1917, he was still in White Plains, but he has no business listed. However, his son Charles R Lathrop who’s listed just before Sherman, is running a heating and plumbing business on Chestnut Hill in White Plains.
Sherman may have been retired by this time. He was 69 years old in 1917. If so, it would have been a nice retirement because he lived until 1944. His wife Josephine died in White Plains on November 7, 1939. It is thought that sometime later, Sherman entered Birmingham Health Care Center, which was a privately owned nursing home. Sherman died in Birmingham, Connecticut in 1944. Birmingham Connecticut is now Derby, CT.
Sherman Lathrop was my 1st cousin 3X removed.
Charles R Lathrop was my 2nd cousin 2X removed
Fred Willis Lathrop
Fred Willis Lathrop was born September 25, 1866, and died June 22, 1940. He married Daisey Bacon (1872-1941). They had 5 children, Nelson, Leslie, Elenor, Marguerite and Leah. Leslie was a boy. He was Leslie Ernest Lathrop. He married Magery Fish. The picture below is of Fred W’s wife, Daisey Bacon Lathrop.
Fred Willis Lathrop, like all Fred’s children, was very close to his dad. Fred W seemed to be close to his whole family. For most of the years he spent in Danbury, either his father lived with him or he lived with his father. Also, his sisters Laura and Mary and his brother George all lived with him at one time or another.
Fred Willis Lathrop also accompanied his dad to clay pigeon shoots and when Pop moved from Cornwall to Danbury, Fred W moved with him. When Pop moved from Danbury to New Milford, Fred W moved with him. Fred W was more than a son to Pop, he was a friend.
Fred Willis Lathrop was born in West Cornwall in 1866 and moved with his dad to Danbury in 1880. He lived in Danbury until about 1902 and then moved to New Milford when Pop did. Fred Willis Lathrop lived the rest of his life in New Milford. It would make sense he would be buried in Center Cemetery in New Milford but I’m not sure where he is buried.
Fred Willis Lathrop was my great granduncle
George A Lathrop
George A Lathrop was born in West Cornwall, Connecticut on June 8, 1869 and died in Danbury on October 25, 1954.
George was married to Jane “Jennie” M Hall (1873 – 1930). He had 3 children, Florence Mary Lathrop (1897 – 1947), Wilbur P Lathrop (1900 – 1925), and Arline Lathrop (1903 – 1993).
Florence was never married. She died in Mount Vernon, New York but is buried in Center Cemetery in New Milford as is her mother, father and brother, Wilbur.
Wilbur also never married. He hardly has time to. He was a World War I veteran. Information about him is tough to come by. I don’t know if his early death had anything to do with his having fought in WWI. WWI ended in 1918, but it affected many of its participants for years beyond that. Wilbur’s birth notice from the town of New Milford, Connecticut records is below.
Even Wilbur’s name is not etched in stone. Well. actually, it is and I believe the etcher got it right. Some of his records say he was Wilbur G Lathrop, though. My best information is he was Wilbur Peck Lathrop.
Arline Lathrop was married to Thomas Peter O’Donnell. They both died in and are buried in San Diego, California but she was living in Danbury at the time of her father’s death.
Like his dad Fred Pop Lathrop, George A was quite newsworthy. The first of the two articles above was about the New Milford Fair on September 21, 1906. In the second article, from January 17, 1902, The Waramaug Lodge, which is mentioned became a historical sight. At some point in the early 20th century, it became “The Inn on Lake Waramaug.” Unfortunately, it went out of business and was torn down in 1998.
George A’s family lived many years in New Milford, but they lived in Danbury for many years too. When George lived in New Milford, most of the time, he lived on Wellsville Ave. When he lived in Danbury, most of that time he spent living on Harding Place, which is off lower Park Ave.
George Austin Lathrop was my great grandunle.
Laura Lathrop Pomeroy
We only saw Laura Lathrop’s name in the 1890 directory but none of the others. She got into and out of the workforce quickly! She soon married a guy named Lester Pomeroy and had her first child, Ray, in 1894. Her children were Ray, Bessie, Warren and Eunice.
Since she got married so young, everybody said it wouldn’t last! The following is from the Connecticut Post (Bridgeport) New Milford section on April 21, 1948.
George Lathrop was one of her brothers. (George Austin Lathrop) No, he didn’t have an “e” at the end of his name. Unfortunately, all of her other siblings have passed away by 1948, though she just missed being able to invite Estella who passed away in 1947.
I simply had to post this tidbit from May 7, 1903. It was printed in the Connecticut Western News. This newspaper had been in circulation for almost 100 years closing down 1970. It was the local paper for Salisbury.
In the newspaper clipping above, Fred was probably her father Fred because her brother Fred was usually referred to a either Fred W or Fred Willis Lathrop. Yes, Fred’s name shouldn’t have an “e” at the end of it, either! A.F Palmer was Abram F Palmer. He was Laura’s uncle on her mother’s side. Abram was the postmaster in Cornwall Hollow. I apologize for adding the following because it really has no relevance about a story of the Danbury part of Fred Lathrop’s family history. Still, I think it adds a little charm to the story.
Lester and Laura’s son, Warren Frederick Pomeroy served in World Wat II. He was 39 when he enlisted. He died in Danbury on April 25, 1988. Warren Frederick Pomeroy is buried in Wooster Cemetery. His birth record is below.
Laura was born on July 11, 1871, and died March 3, 1954. She and Lester and the kids moved to New Milford in 1910. She lived out her years in New Milford but was a Danbury girl for close to 20 years.
Laura Lathrop Pomeroy was my great grandaunt.
It is appropriate Warren’s birth record ends our story about The Fred Lathrop family because his middle name was Frederick. For sure, this was a close family.
I have searched the Fred, Frederick and Pop Lathrop well past Fred Pop Lathrop’s death year of 1907. There are other Fred Lathrops that pop up (pun intended) but there is no Pop Lathrop that pops up (another pun intended) after the death of my great-great grandfather, which pretty much proves Pop was Pop!
Skipper
Lathrop Genealogy