Selected Families and Individuals

Notes


Thomas E. TUITES

Obituary (from Watertown Daily Times of Friday, 22 May 1959):  CLAYTON---The funeral for Thomas Tuites, 80, former custodian of the Clayton High School and one time engineer of St. Lawrence river boats and vessels, who died Wednesday at 10:45
p.m. in the Edward John Noble Hospital, Alexandria Bay, will be Saturday at 10:45 a.m. at the Cummings Funeral Home and at 11 a.m. at the Clayton Methodist Church, Rev. Russell E. Little, pastor, officiating.  Burial will be in Clayton
Cemetery.

    Clayton Masonic Lodge 296, F. & A. M., will conduct a service tonight at 8 at the funeral home and friends may call at the funeral home from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. today.

    Mr. Tuites, who had resided at the Ruth Easter nursing home since December, 1958, was admitted to the hospital by ambulance earlier in the day Wednesday.  He had been in poor health since 1954.  Death was attributed to infirmities of old
age.

    Surviving are two sons, Clarence E., Webster, a teacher at Rochester Institute of Technology, and Thomas E., Altadena, Calif., assistant mathematician at the jet propulsion laboratory at Pasadena, Calif.; two daughters, Mrs. Percy (Lillian
G.) Sayer, DeKalb Junction, and Mrs. John (Naomi M.) Hoffman, Point Pleasant, Rochester; five grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.

    Mr. Tuites was born May 1, 1879, at Napanee, Ont., a son of Patrick and Mary Reed Tuites.  He attended schools in Canada and came to this country in 1897 and lived on Grindstone Island.  On July 15, 1899, he married Miss Amy Belle Garnsey,
Rev. Mr. Danforth, then pastor of the Grindstone Methodist Church, officiating.  After their marriage, they moved to Clayton.  Mrs. Tuites died in 1949.

    Mr. Tuites was employed by the New York Central Railroad and for 27 years was an engineer on boats and vessels on the St. Lawrence River.  In 1927 he was appointed custodian of Clayton High School and served  in that capacity until
retiring in 1952.  In 1954 he left Clayton to live with his daughter at DeKalb Junction.  He returned in 1958 and lived at the Ruth Easter Nursing Home.

    He was a member of Clayton Masonic Lodge 296, F. & A. M., the I. O. O. F. of Depauville and the Clayton Methodist Church.

Thomas emigrated through the port of Grindstone Island 1 May 1891, and was naturalized 9 April 1904, at age 25.


Benjamin Franklin GARNSEY

Obituary:  CLAYTON, (Oct. 9)---Benjamin F. Garnsey, 63, driver of the Clayton Central School bus and former caretaker of Hickory Island at the head of Grindstone Island, died at 11:45 yesterday morning at his home, 214 State St., Clayton, of a
coronary thrombosis with which he was stricken earlier in the morning.

    Funeral services will be held Saturday afternoon at 2 at the family home.  Rev. Henry Bridge, pastor of the Methodist Church of this village, will officiate.  Burial will be made in the Clayton cemetery.

    Surviving Mr. Garnsey are his wife, Mrs. Helen L. Gale Garnsey; three children, Kenneth L. Garnsey and Paul R. Garnsey, this village, and Mrs. Nicholas (Esther) Altieri, Schenectady, and three sisters, Mrs. Grace Slate, Grindstone Island,
and Mrs. Thomas (Belle) Taites and Mrs. Claude (Laura) Hutchinson, Clayton.

    Mr. Garnsey was stricken ill about 9 a.m. yesterday while driving the school bus transporting the children to the Clayton school.  After completing the routine trip, he drove the bus into the school garage and returned home, ill.  A
physician was summoned to attend him, but he failed to recover.

    Prior to being stricken ill yesterday, Mr. Garnsey appeared to be in his usual good health.

    Benjamin Franklin Garnsey was born Aug. 8, 1884, on Grindstone Island, a son of the late Edgar J. and Esther Calhoun Garnsey.  The greater part of his life was spent on the island, where he was educated and where in his early days he was a
farmer.

    For 39 years he was employed as caretaker on the Hickory Island summer estate of the late Mr. and Mrs. J. Walter (Nathalie Wilmer) Wood of New York, owners of Hickory Island.  Mr. Wood, prominent Wall Street figure, died in 1930, and
thereafter Mr. Garnsey was an employe of his widow, Mrs. Nathalie Wilmer Wood, until her death in July, 1943, at her island home.

    Three years ago Mr. Garnsey and his family moved to this village from Grindstone Island.  He had for years, however, spent the winters here.  For the past three years he had been employed as driver of the school bus.  He also followed the
carpenter's trade.

    Mr. Garnsey married Miss Helen L. Gale of Sodus Point Oct. 3, 1905, at Sodus, Rev. Benjamin Miller, a Methodist minister, performing the ceremony.


Helen L. GALE

1  CMNT Her Obit. Says They M. 8 Oct. 1907, At Clayton


Obituary from newspaper of 14 Dec. 1953:  CLAYTON---Mrs. Helen Gale Garnsey, 64, widow of Benjamin F. Garnsey and a longtime resident of this village, died yesterday at the Ellis hospital in Shenectady where she had been a patient for two
weeks.

    For the past three years she had been living with her daughter, Mrs. Nicholas (Esther) Alteri, in Schenectady.  She had been in poor health for more than a year.

    The body was brought to the Cummings Funeral Home here Sunday night.  Funeral services were held there today at 1 p.m., Rev. Dr. Cedric C. Bentley, acting rector of Christ Church, Episcopal, officiating.  Burial will be in Clayton
cemetery.

    Surviving are two sons, Kenneth L. and Paul R. Garnsey, both of Clayton, and a daughter, Mrs. Alteri; eight grandchildren; one great granddaughter; five brothers, William W. Gale, Clayton; John and Harry Gale, Ithaca; George W. Gayle,
Sodus Point, and Frederick W., New Britton, Maude Amo, Huntington Park, Calif,; Mrs. May Meno, Chicago; Mrs. Hazel Cottrel, Detroit, and Mrs. Ida Olette, Marine City, Mich.

    Mrs. Garnsey was born at Sodus Point, March 13, 1889, daughter of Frederick and Ellen May Gale. She attended schools at Sodus Point and Clayton, coming here with her parents when she was still a grade school pupil.

    On Oct. 8, 1907, she was married at Clayton to Mr. Garnsey.  The couple lived all their married life in this village.  Mr. Garnsey, caretaker for the J. W. Wood estate at Hickory Island for 36 years, died in 1947.

    Mrs. Garnsey was a member of Christ Church, Episcopal; the Martha Class of the Methodist Church and Rebekah Lodge 109 at Clayton.

    Bearers were Harold Garnsey, Irwin Turcotte, James Dodge, Harry, Howard Slate and Robert LaShomb, all of Clayton.


Claude M. HUTCHINSON

Obituary (from newspaper of 27 Dec. 1971):  CLAYTON---Claude M. Hutchinson, 88, Clayton, R.D. 1, retired farmer and boat captain, died 7:50 a.m. Sunday in the House of the Good Samaritan, Watertown, where he was admitted Nov. 20.  In failing
health four years, he had been confined to his home the last two years.

   The funeral will be 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Cummings Funeral Home, here, Rev. Kenneth D. Reynolds, pastor of the Clayton United Methodist Church, officiating.  Burial will be in Clayton Cemetery.

    Friends may call at the funeral home from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. today.

    Surviving are his widow, Mrs. Laura Garnsey Hutchinson; three daughters, Mrs. Esther Reed, Mrs. Rita Cerwins and Mrs. Willard C. (Ruth) Farr, all of Clayton, R.D. 1; four sons, Claude M., jr., LaFargevile, Norman, Ogdensburg, Roland, Glen
Park, Gordon, Clayton; 20 grandchildren and 33 great-grandchildren.  Three children have died : James, July 25, 1970, in Alexandria Bay; Mrs. Leota Lindsay, Sept. 6, 1946, in Liverpool, and Charles, Dec. 10, 1938, at Wellesley Island.

    Mr. Hutchinson was born on Grindstone Island Jan. 30, 1883, son of Charles and Mary Jane Colter Hutchinson.  He attended schools on the island and on May 6, 1903 married Miss Laura Garnsey in the Thurso Methodist Church, Grindstone Island.

    The couple lived at Thurso seven years working for island families, then moved to Wellesley Island, where he worked as a boatman and river captain.  He piloted boats for the Clayton River Boat Line.  They operated farms in the Clayton and
Cape Vincent sections.  After moving to their present home, Mr. Hutchinson worked 15 years as a painter at the Frink Sno-Plow Co., Clayton, before he retired in 1956.


Laura E. GARNSEY

Obituary:  CLAYTON---Mrs. Laura G. Hutchinson, 86, Spicer Bay, Clayton Route 1, widow of Claude M. Hutchinson, Sr., died at 8 p.m. Monday in the House of the Good Samaritan, Watertown, where she had been a patient since Friday.

The funeral will be Thursday at 2 p.m. at the Cummings Funeral Home, Clayton, Rev, Janet A. Reynolds, of the Clayton United Methodist Church, officiating.  Burial will be in Clayton Cemetery.

Friends may call at the funeral home from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday.

She is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Esther Reed, Champlain, Mrs. Rita Cerwins, Lima, and Mrs. Willard C. (Ruth) Farr, Clayton, Route 1; three sons, Claude M., Jr., Clayton, former supervising principal of Indian River Central School,
Norman R., Ogdensburg, and Gordon G., Clayton; 20 grandchildren and 34 great-grandchildren.  Two sons, James and Charles, and a daughter, Mrs. Leota Lindsay, predeceased her.

Born at Thurso, Grindstone Island, April 29, 1887, daughter of Edgar and Esther Calhoun Garnsey, she attended island schools and was married to Claude M. Hutchinson May 6, 1903, on Grindstone Island.

The couple worked for families on Grindstone Island, moving later to Wellesley Island where Mr. Hutchinson worked as a boatman and river captain.  He piloted boats for the Clayton River Boat Line.  They later operated farms in the Clayton
and Cape Vincent sections.  Mr. Hutchinson died Dec. 26, 1971, at the age of 88 years.

Watertown Daily Times, 4 May 1973


Norman R. HUTCHINSON

Obituary (from Town & Country News of 19 Aug. 1981):  A private funeral service was held Friday at Cummings Funeral Home, Clayton, for Norman R. Hutchinson.  Burial was in Clayton Cemetery.

    Mr. Hutchinson, 67, former Clayton resident, drowned Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 12, 1981 in the St. Lawrence River near the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center, where he had been a resident since 1946.

    The body was discovered by a hospital security guard.  St. Lawrence County Coroner Dr. Hugh F. Frame ruled the accidental death was caused by drowning.

    Surviving are three brothers, Gordon, Clayton, Roland, Sackets Harbor, and Claude, St. Petersburg, Fla. and Clayton; three sisters, Mrs. Willard (Ruth) Farr, Clayton, Mrs. Esther Cerwins, Champlain, and Mrs. Rita Nuijens, Dexter; several
nieces and nephews.

    Three brothers and a sister predeceased Mr. Hutchinson.

    Born Feb. 22, 1914 on Wellesley Island, the son of Claude and Laura Garnsey Hutchinson, he graduated from Clayton High School and worked several years at Hawn's Knitting Mills at Clayton.

    He was a former member of the Clayton United Methodist Church.


Joseph BARTLETT

1  CMNT Veteran Of Revolution And War Of 1812


The Bartletts lost 3 boys all under the age of 6 in a house fire in Vermont.  They moved to Wolf Island and had 4 more children.


Lois CHITTENDEN

1  HIST Ancestoral File at LDS says married in Washington, Litchfield, CT. same date.