vital records sources
go to Eveline Amelia Hoyt's page

Charles may have been the third generation of Ellingwoods born in his great grandfather's house on Water (now Cabot) Steet near the Beverly ferry and grew up in a house at the corner of Federal and Cabot Streets. According to notes made by Virginia Carpenter, Charles attended the "Groton School." The well-known school of that name in Groton, Massachusetts, wasn't created until the 1880's, long after Charles' school days. The Lawrence Academy, formerly the Groton Academy, also in Groton, published a list in 1855 of students since it was founded in 1793, but he isn't on it. He very likely went to a private school since brother Edward was sent to the Thetford Academy in Vermont.
     Charles moved to New York City by 1860, when he was 23.1 During the Civil War, Charles was commissioned as a second lieutenant in Co. D of the First Regiment of New York State Volunteers (National Guard) on 2 November 1861.2 Eventually he was in Co. F. of the same regiment, but by then renamed the Seventh.3 He had the command of the company as of 5 January 1862 according to a muster roll. He resigned on 3 February 1862 although he had signed on for two years. His official service records include a letter of resignation, citing pressing business needs, but the nature of his business goes unmentioned. During his service the regiment was stationed at Camp Butler, Newport News, Virginia. He made a pen-and-ink drawing of a camp scene including himself and other men on horse from various companies in the regiment. It's a humorous picture that spoofs his friend and fellow lieutenant William Wallace, shown bouncing out of his saddle and getting a dubious look from his horse.

The number 7 is on his cap in the photograph of him with William Wallace above. A sewing kit brought to Virginia was made for Charles supposedly by his fiance Eveline. It was about four years before they married, but Charles was living at the same address as the Hoyts as early as January 1862. It's more likely it was made by one of his sisters.
     Little else is known about Charles and what he did for work is a mystery. Evidence suggests he was a clerk or bookkeeper in a high position at a Manhattan firm. He was a member of the Waverley Boat Club, and when he served as treasurer in 1862 and 1863, his future uncle-in-law Benjamin F. Brady and future brother-in-law Eugene Heath were fellow officers. IRS records place him at the same address as the Hoyts in January of 1862. His meeting the Hoyts there may have led to his meeting Brady and Heath, or his Waverley connection led to his moving to the Hoyt house. He moved with the Hoyts to another house on 22nd Street after Eveline's father died, but years before he married Eveline. This was either a very long courtship or they didn't become a "couple" right away despite proximity, but the removal of all from one house to another is interesting.
     Charles and Eveline married at Anthon Memorial Chapel (Episcopal) in Manhattan. He hasn't been found as an adult in censuses. He was mistakenly left out of the household list in the 1870 census, when the family was still living with Eveline's mother. They all moved to Valley Road, Upper Montclair, New Jersey, before 1876. I haven't found where they lived on that street, and they apparently rented the property. According to other family notes, Charles commuted to work in New York on the Erie Railroad. Both a death record at Evergreens Cemetery in Brooklyn/Queens, where Charles is buried, and the New Jersey Department of Health death register say he died of "softening of the brain." This description is too vague to point to a certian cause of death in modern terms, but his newspaper death notice says it was a short illness. This points to encephalomalacia, which is brain softening due to hemorrhage. The usual cause is a stroke, but that would have been given as the cause of death. It can also happen after a brain injury due to some sort of blow to the head. It's possible Charles fell and hit his head or had some sort of accident that wasn't considered the actual cause of death, since it wasn't immediate. He was only 38 years old. The cemetery record for the Hoyt family plot says he was buried in December. Having died in August, he must have been reinterred, but from where? Eveline's mother died of typhus 19 days after Charles, and she also wasn't buried at Evergreens until December. After they died, Eveline and "Charlie" (Charles Hoyt Ellingwood) moved to St. Felix Street, Brooklyn, to live with Eveline's aunts.

ELLINGWOOD - At Montclair, N. J. on Saturday, Aug. 5, after a short illness, CHARLES HENRY ELLINGWOOD, in his 39th year.
Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend his funeral at his late residence at 2 P. M. on Monday, without further notice. Carriages will meet 12 o'clock train Midland Road at Walnut Street Depot.4

child of Charles Henry Ellingwood and Eveline Amelia Hoyt:

i. Charles Hoyt, b. 7 July 1867

vital records sources: Charles' birth is in Vital Records of Beverly, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849, vol. 1 (Topsfield, MA:1906), 122. His marriage date is in private family notes, confirmed in the New York Times, 9 Dec 1865, 8. His death is in the New York Times, 6 Aug 1876, 7.

1. New York city directory, living on Platt St.
2. New York in the War of the Rebellion 1861 to 1865 (Albany:1912), 1696, 1701.
3. At least part of his regiment was made part of the 1st Regiment of New York Infantry of the US Army to serve in the Civil War. Others who served with him in the 1st were already in the 7th, and are on muster rolls of those who marched to defend Washington earlier in 1861. Charles wasn't on those lists.