Henry, John and Mary Ann’s fifth child, was born on 20th Sep 1850 and baptised at St. Andrew’s Old Church, Hove, on 20th Oct 1850.
Leaving England for America
In October 1860, when he was just over ten years of age, John accompanied his mother, father, and six of his siblings on their journey to New York.
Early Days in America
I am still trying to ascertain the Harmer family’s movements during their first few years in America. We know from the 1880 U.S. Federal Census that Mary Ann gave birth to a ninth child, Ada Harmer, at New York (or Hudson, Harrison, N.J.) in Oct 1862, and that she was baptised in March 1863 at Newark, New Jersey. 1862/3 therefore seems to be the latest time that the family settled in the Newark area.
John Harmer Snr. is listed in Holbrook’s street directory for Newark, New Jersey for 1869 at ‘Pike rd n Bridge, South Newark’, with the occupation of ‘Ornamental Plasterer’. This could, therefore, be where Henry lived in his late teens.
Lack of Census Data 1865 – 1885
So far I have been unable to locate Henry Albert Harmer in the N.J. State Census returns for 1865, 1875, or 1885. Nor can I find him in the U.S. Federal Censuses for 1870 or 1880.
I have found his mother, Mary Ann Harmer, living with her daughter Ada Harmer, in the 1880 U.S. Federal Census. Their address was 214 Warren Street, Harrison, Hudson County, N.J. John Harmer so far remains utterly elusive during these 20 years with the exception of a few street directories. I am sure he can be found – but may have spent extensive periods out of the state, probably working on building projects in developing towns or even homesteading.
Holbrook’s 1880 street directory for Newark, New Jersey (compiled up to March 1880) lists a Henry Harmer, painter, at 214 Warren Street, Harrison, Hudson County, N.J. – the same address where John Harmer’s wife and daughter are recorded in the June 1880 census. He also appears there in the 1882 edition. Middle initials are not given in Holbrook’s.
By April 1884’s edition a Henry Harmer, painter, is living up the road at 328 Warren Street. There is still only one ‘Henry Harmer – painter’ in the Newark directories. This address is particularly significant. Henry remains listed at the address in 1885, and after that there are no listings for a painter of that name in Newark.
Marriage
On 2nd April 1888 Henry, aged 37, married at St. Nicholas Church, Brighton. I have a certified copy of the marriage certificate, and it states that the groom’s father was John Harmer, a builder. The bride was 30 year old spinster Zilpah Underwood, the daughter of John’s sister Zilpah Lovell Underwood née Harmer. The contracting parties were therefore first cousins. Zilpah’s address is given as 99 Upper North Street, which we know was her family home. The groom’s address is the same, and his occupation is given as ‘manufacturer’.
We know that John Harmer’s wife (and Henry Albert’s mother) Mary Ann had died on the 10th of Oct 1887, at Harrison, Hudson, N.J. There is no reason to think that John would have left Mary Ann alone in America prior to her death. We do know that after living in America for a little over 27 years, John had returned to the Brighton and Hove area by 18th of February 1888 at the very latest, when he was arrested at Portslade for damaging a gate. His passage from New York (which would have been his most likely port of departure) to England could have taken anywhere from a fortnight to six weeks. If we estimate that John would have needed a week or so to get his ‘land legs’ back after his transatlantic journey, and that his voyage was a month long, he probably left N.J. mid- January at the latest.
Unfortunately I have not been able to locate passenger records for either John’s or Henry Albert’s New York to England voyages. So we currently do not know if they travelled back ‘home’ together.
Back to the marriage: as we do not know when or why Henry Albert returned to England, we have no way of knowing when he and Zilpah met. That they were aware of each other’s existence down the years is a reasonable assumption, as is the possibility that they had been writing letters to each other and even exchanging studio portraits via transatlantic mail before their marriage. That Henry was living at 99 Upper North Street implies that his father’s family had provided him with somewhere to live whilst he made a fresh life for himself in England. We will probably never know if their union was the result of love at first sight, or more of a marriage of convenience for two singletons for whom the clock was ticking. Zilpah was certainly in the unenviable position of having lost both parents, watching her siblings (some of whom she had had to care for as a mother) marry, and needing to think about her own future and security. Perhaps for Henry Albert and Zilpah, marrying a first cousin seemed to be a sensible and timely solution.
The only information which I have found about Henry Albert’s life in England during 1888 is a record in the Brighton Gazette of May 1888, of a British patent application made the same month for an invention of ‘an improved apparatus for tightening railway signal, bell and other wires.’ Henry Albert’s address is given as Pavilion Buildings, and although it is possible that he and Zilpah were renting a flat there above one of the business premises they do not appear in the street directories there at any point. It is more likely that Henry Albert had some connection with ‘Ignace W. Caulfield Ltd., The London and Brighton engineering works etc.’ at 7-8 Pavilion Buildings.
Death
The couple had moved to America by 16th March 1889, when Henry sadly died of diabetes aged just 38. According to his death certificate, which was very kindly sourced for me by the Harmer Family Association, his last illness had lasted for six months. This suggests that the return to the U.S. happened around October 1888. Henry died at home, at 330 Warren Street, with his occupation listed as ‘painter’.
From 1893 – 1895, 328 Warren Street was occupied by ‘Hester Harmer, widow Walter’. I have presumed this to be Esther Harmer, the widow of John’s son Walter. Esther was Irish, and may have pronounced her name differently from its legal spelling. Esther was struggling financially, and may well have taken up the offer of a member of her deceased husband’s family to rent or stay at a property which had remained within their ownership.
According to current realtor websites, 328 Warren Street (seen left, below) was rebuilt in 1985. The house which stands on the plot of 330 today is very different from the older building seen on the right in this 2009 Google Streetview image; perhaps this what the two houses looked like in the 19th century?
My knowledge of researching the ownership of houses in N.J. is extremely limited – if any researchers out there can shed any light on the above I would be very grateful.
What became of Zilpah, widow of Henry the painter?
The last street directory listing I can find for Zilpah is April 1895, at 330 Warren Street. Zilpah never remarried, and had no children that we know of. She returned to England soon after Henry Albert’s death, but retained the house in Newark, which she seems to have rented out, as she continues to appear in the street directories there. You can read more about Zilpah’s life after Henry here.
