Tracking Down Lost Lives: A Family For Sale on eBay
- By Michael Stillman
Family patriarch William T. Rudd,
By Michael Stillman
It may not be you, but there is probably some one of your kin who has kept a family album. It may take different forms, photos, letters, news clippings, anything that recounts the story of a life or lives. At one time vibrant and alive, eventually they and the lives they recorded fade away. What then becomes of these personal and family histories, these pieces of ephemera recording ephemeral lives? If only I could provide an answer worthy of such questions of mortality and immortality. Unfortunately, I cannot. But, for one man and his family, I can. They ended up on eBay. Fifty dollars bought the rights to the most cherished memories and remembrances of William P. Rudd and his family.
Who is William P. Rudd? He is not a great celebrity or historic figure. Nevertheless, he was not unimportant either. He was a prominent, respected man, who lived along the edges of influence and power in the capital of the largest state in the Union. He sat next to a President for dinner, received an audience with the Pope. He served on the Supreme Court of the State of New York. Most of his career was spent as an attorney in private practice, and his most important client was one of the major railways of the era, where his father had worked as a conductor. Not bad for the son of a railroad conductor. And still, here is what it comes to in the end. Fifty dollars for a collection of his, and his family's, lives.
When the album arrived, I opened it with much anticipation. There is nothing quite like the thrill of discovering some artifact of another time, whether it be in an attic, a yard sale, a bookshop, or....eBay. This one had an extra bit of relevance to me personally, as William Rudd lived his life in Albany, New York. All of my grandparents lived most or all of their lives in the Capital City. My parents grew up there; I visited often. In time, we moved to warmer climes. We were part of that great migration which explains why New York is no longer the most populous state in the nation. But, during the first half of the twentieth century, New York was a political powerhouse. From 1880-1948, New Yorkers would be elected President 7 times, finish second in the voting 8 times, and ascend to the presidency through assassination twice (but not one New Yorker has even been nominated since). This was the New York in which William Rudd lived.
The Rudd family album now in my possession is almost entirely a collection of newspaper clippings. William P. Rudd is the central character, but not the only one. What remains something of a puzzle is who compiled this album? We'll get back to this question after examining it, as being a sleuth is much of the fun in discovering old papers. While to some extent chronological, at times it is a bit haphazard. And while many articles are taped to the pages, there are at least as many loose ones floating around. They may provide some clues to the album's keeper.
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Tracking Down Lost Lives: A Family For Sale on eBay
- By Michael Stillman
Adeline Rudd was in the seventh graduating class at St. Agnes School
With some help from the Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs, a 1911 book edited by Cuyler Reynolds, now available online through the Schenectady County Public Library, here is the list of characters. William Tracy Rudd was born in 1816, the ninth of ten children, and married Adeline Martha Platt in 1848. They had three children, William Platt Rudd, central character of our story, Adeline Martha Rudd, and Charles Beckley Rudd. Charles died at the age of three, long before this scrapbook begins. William P. was born in 1851 and married Aimee Allen in 1883. They had only one child, Tracy Allen Rudd, born in 1884. On reaching adulthood, Tracy moved to New York, then to Boston. He is virtually invisible in this album. Adeline Rudd was born in 1859 and married George Parker Howlett in 1886. The Howletts had at least three children, Parker Rudd Howlett, who died at six months, and daughters Marion and yet another Adeline Martha (the third). This family was very much into recycling names. They, too, are practically invisible in this collection.
The album begins with articles about graduation exercises at St. Agnes School, Adeline being a member of the graduating class of 1878 (in 1975, Episcopal St. Agnes merged with Catholic Kenwood Academy to form Doane Stuart, the nation's only merged Catholic-Protestant school). Next thing we hear is the passing of their mother, the first Adeline Rudd, in 1883. She seems to have been a pleasant, friendly, deeply religious woman, who suffered through a long illness before passing away at the age of 62. An obituary notice informs us she was "a lady who has borne the agonies of physical torture as only a devout and sincere Christian could...." Obituaries today are not quite so graphic. Her passing would lead to a reserved affair when William P. was married later that year.
There would be no such celebratory reservations when Adeline married George Parker Howell three years later. A clipping tells us "the presents were numerous, varied and beautiful, as well as costly." Howell worked for the Wright Brothers. No, not those Wright Brothers. The Wright Brothers' Umbrella House.
These remaining 15 years of the 19th century must have been good years for the Rudd family. William P's career was advancing rapidly and spectacularly, and George Howlett was doing fine. Meanwhile, patriarch William T. Rudd was alive and well, and probably basking in the respect his age had earned. At the age of 85 (which would have been 1901), he is written up in the newspaper as the oldest living railroad conductor in New York. Earlier in his career, he carried money, sometimes large sums, between stops on the railroad. In 1844 he signed on with the New York Central as a conductor, a career that would span 38 years. He survived several wrecks without ever being injured or losing a passenger. He was said to have been the conductor when the first sleeper car hit the road. At one point, he had to subdue a group of Indians, but this was not quite the wild west. They were a group of celebratory Indians riding the rails back home after a bit too much partying. He managed to hustle them off at Rome (New York) and ignore one man's challenge to get off and fight. By the time he retired, William T. Rudd was estimated to have traveled almost 4 million miles.
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Tracking Down Lost Lives: A Family For Sale on eBay
- By Michael Stillman
William P. Rudd circa 1910
William T. Rudd passed away in 1903 at the age of 86. The newspapers carried lengthy articles about the state's oldest conductor and his long career. He evidently earned much respect and affection from the many who knew him. Almost to the end, he remained in good health. We can only infer that his was a good and interesting life.
Through these years, life went well for son William P. Rudd as well. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Union, a prestigious university in nearby Schenectady. He would join the Harris brothers in the law firm of Harris and Rudd. A major client would be his father's employer, the New York Central Railroad, which evidently made his dad quite proud. Over the years, he would serve in an incredible number of organizations as his prestige grew. He was President of the Young Men's Association, first President of the Albany County Bar Association, president of a hospital, President of the Board of Trustees of the Albany Law School, President of the University Club, Regent of the Sons of the Revolution, Trustee of the Albany Chamber of Commerce, Trustee of the Albany Institute of History and Art, Vice-President of the Albany County Savings Bank and the Diamond Paste Company, a vestryman in his church, and a member of many other organizations. He served as Corporation Counsel for the City of Albany.
William P. was also involved in politics, though the extent of his influence is unclear. In 1894, he was elected to fill a vacancy on the Albany School Board, which was controlled by Republicans. At the time, Rudd was described as "somewhat prominently identified with Republican politics" and as being a member of the party's general committee. Indeed, that quote sort of sums up his career, "somewhat prominent." He served for seven years on the school board.
The first decade of the twentieth century would find Rudd in private practice, with a new law firm, and managing much legal work for the Railroad. A few clippings give a hint to his prestige. There is a picture of a banquet held by the University Club, which was attended by President William Howard Taft. Rudd is seen next to the President, to his right, with the Governor of New York, future Republican presidential nominee and Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, to his left. Nearby are Canadian Governor-General Earl Grey and former Missouri Governor and U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Francis, who would be the U.S. Ambassador to Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution. In 1906, he received an audience with the Pope. Then, in 1910, William P. Rudd was elevated to the Supreme Court of New York. He remained there until reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70. From there, he returned to private practice and civic responsibilities, which he maintained until his death.
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Tracking Down Lost Lives: A Family For Sale on eBay
- By Michael Stillman
William P. Rudd (3) between President Taft (2) and Gov. Charles Evans Hughes (4). (5) is former Missouri Gov. David Francis; (1) is Canadian Gov. Grey
One more thing should be said about Judge Rudd. His obituaries describe him as an "omnivorous reader," and credit him with being "largely instrumental in securing for Albany the well organized system of public libraries." This being a book site, we can certainly appreciate this exceptional man.
Ironically, when you attempt to learn about Judge Rudd and his career online today, he is recognized only by the "Sodomy Laws" website. Evidently, Judge Rudd struck down a New York State law that allowed for forced sterilization of mental patients. The website quotes his decision as saying, "Frank Osborn is not a malefactor. He is mentally deficient. He is defective without personal responsibility for such defect." Judge Rudd would go on to say that sterilization is not a "proper exercise of the police power. It seems to be a tendency almost inhuman in its nature."
While the years following the death of his father proved to be very good to William P. Rudd, they were much less kind to his sister. While the scrapbook is filled with 20th century news about William, there is very little going forward about Adeline. The century started well enough, with husband George Howlett at least making a decent living working in the umbrella business. He had three brothers and some of them appear to have been quite wealthy and successful running their own business. However, tragedy would strike in 1907 when George would die at home after a long illness. Adeline would live almost twice as many years as a widow as she did as a wife. She would be left with two daughters, but only a few small clippings tell us anything more about this side of the family. There would be a happy time in 1917 when the third Adeline would marry high school sweetheart Frederick Schaschke. Schaschke would follow the route of his wife's grandfather, working for the railroad. However, tragedy would strike the family again. Young Schaschke would die from an illness just a year and a half after the marriage, at the age of 26. Like her mother, it appears that the younger Adeline never remarried, and that she had no children.
There was one other daughter of the elder Adeline, Marion Howlett. While her sister Adeline appears not to have attended college, Marion graduated from Wellesley, one of the top women's schools in the nation. Her husband, Edward Bennett Rowe, was an MIT graduate and an engineer, but not of the sort that worked on railroads. She appears to have had two children. Her daughter, Esther, died at the age of 15, the result of an appendicitis. Her son, Edward, Jr., also graduated MIT, class of 1936, and later married, though the undated clipping does not tell us when. We do know that grandmother Adeline attended and that "the occasion was a memorable one" for her.
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Tracking Down Lost Lives: A Family For Sale on eBay
- By Michael Stillman
Judge Rudd and woman (wife Aimee?) and unknown man (son Terry?)
The last items to be taped into this album come in 1929. These are a series of articles noting the passing of Judge William P. Rudd. He was 78-years-old and a man of great respect. And with his passing came the end of good times in America, quite literally. The date was October 19, and less than a week later, the stock market would crash and the nation began to sink into a long hard depression. William Rudd would not know any of this.
Less than a month after Judge Rudd's death, his wife Aimee also passed away. They had only one child and no grandchildren when they died. We don't know if there are any living descendants today. However, their son Tracy had no children at the time and was 45 years of age. Having a first child after 45 would have been extremely unusual in that day. And he is clearly no longer with us, as there is no one still living born as far back as 1884.
The scrapbook does not end with the last taped article. There remains a collection of loose clippings. However, with only one more exception, these no longer deal with the Rudd family. That exception is the tiniest of articles noting the passing of the youngest Adeline, who it says was 45-years-old. That would place her death around 1940. The article is so brief it does not even tell us who were her survivors, but we know she never remarried because her name was still Mrs. Schaschke. Other than this, there are items about the hard times, coming of war, and religious pieces. The last are clippings concerning a visit to Wellesley by Madame Chiang Kai-shek in 1943. In the midst of war she stops to give the women of her alma mater some inspiration and encouragement. Then, the album falls silent. There is no more. Sixty-five years after the railroad conductor's daughter graduated from St. Agnes School, we hear no more from this family we now almost seem to know.
So who kept this album? My first impression was William P. Rudd. More than anyone else, it chronicles his career. The only other participant with much space is his father, all concerning the later years of his life. However, this theory is quickly put to rest by the appearance of his obituary. It's not his wife's album either, since her obituary is also present. It can only be that of his sister, the middle Adeline. It starts with her school graduation. It seems likely to me that this album was a graduation gift to her. The focus on her brother, almost to the exclusion of her own family, seems surprising, but it may well be that he was the only one to achieve sufficient prominence to generate a collection of news clippings. The number of clippings about William P. from Albany, particularly after Adeline's marriage, was a bit confusing. After all, she moved to the Boston area and never returned. How did she come upon these clippings? My guess is she convinced her relatives, particularly her brother, to send them. There are a couple of envelopes marked "clippings," which, while not postmarked, may have been hand delivered to her or placed within other packages. Many of these shorter clippings concern other people, most of whom were more distant relatives, cousins and such. Then, in the only handwritten letter in this collection, a "Dear Addie" from her brother, there is a comment about a newspaper article describing a speech he gave. He must have been sending her an occasional clipping concerning his career.
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Tracking Down Lost Lives: A Family For Sale on eBay
- By Michael Stillman
Cartoon of William P. Rudd
And then there is one more piece of evidence pointing to Adeline. Of all the people who might be candidates, she is the only one without an obituary. Of course. She could provide them for her mother and father, her brother and sister-in-law, her husband, her daughter and son-in-law, her son, even her granddaughter. What she could not do was provide her own.
I can tell you no more about what happened to the family. Of the descendants of railroad conductor William T. and the first Adeline Rudd, the only ones that appeared to be alive at the close of this album were their daughter Adeline, then 83 (but her death is probably why the album ends), her daughter Marion, grandson Edward, Jr., and William P.'s son Tracy. If there are any living descendants today, they would have to be either an aged Edward, Jr. (about 90), or his issue. I have not been able to trace any such descendants, which is too bad, as it is with them that this album belongs. Then again, I don't know whether such descendants even exist. William T. Rudd's family may have joined his railroad, the New York Central, once mighty, but now a fading part of history. But for a moment, they come back to life in Adeline's scrapbook, and for a moment, they are with us again. They are remembered.
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