Eveline Amelia Hoyt (1843-1931) - Doug Sinclair's Archives

(watercolor by Doug Sinclair based on a daguerreotype - where is it now??)

above: Eveline flanked by "Gran Brady" on her right and "Gran Hoyt" on her left, according to her own label

Eveline was born and raised in Manhattan. Letters passed down in the family suggest she had a more than modest education. In addition to her family background, there's no doubt she was the "Evaline E." Hoyt mentioned at the graduation ceremonies of Rugers Female Institute in the Spring of 1858.

There were prizes given to various girls throughout the school's departments. Eveline won a gold medal for her essay "Nature's Beauties,"1 She was in the "Third Department," followed by the Academic and Collegiate Departments, which works with her being 15 that year.
She was only nineteen when her father died and she may have helped her mother when she took over their tea store on 8th Avenue. She likely met her future husband Charles when he rented rooms in the Hoyt house on West 22nd Street. They were married at All Soul's Episcopal Church, which at the time was on West 48th Street.

Also called "Anthon Memorial Chapel," It was sold in 1903 and was converted to a garage, known as the Studebaker Cathedral

They lived with Eveline's mother on West 22nd Street into the 1870s, then moved to Upper Montclair, New Jersey. Charles died in 1876 when he was 38, but Eveline, who was 35, didn't remarry. She and her son "Charlie" moved to her aunts' house on St. Felix Place in Brooklyn. Although her Aunt Louisa was a committed Methodist at the Hanson Place church, Eveline and Charlie apparently attended the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer nearby at Pacific Street and 5th Avenue, Brooklyn. Aunt Louisa, who ran a fancy goods store with her sisters, owned the St. Felix Place property and willed it to Eveline. She sold the house and moved back to Montclair.
A 1906 map shows Eveline's name on two properties. Charlie had married and Eveline lived with him and his family at both addresses at different times.

The larger property is at the corner of Gates and Clinton Streets, and the Ellingwoods were living there by 1910. In the upper right are the houses of the Ellingwoods and Cunninghams. The Ellingwoods were there in 1900, and the Cunninghams must have bought their house soon after. They apparently weren't neighbors when Charles and Horatia met and married, but may have met at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Montclair.

Eveline's diary near the end of her life mentions the activities of the family and letters to and from family and friends. I think I remember someone saying her memory was failing, which may explain the appearance of a diary so late in life, and it's basically a recitation of events. The Evergreens Cemetery has an summary copy of her death certificate and gives her cause of death as chronic myocarditis and senility, which is another clue. Her granddaughter Virginia J. Smith recalled that her "Granna Ellingwood" taught her how to play the piano, although she had the more specific and child-like memory of Eveline's fingernails clicking on the keys. She died at 169 Wildwood Avenue in Montclair.

Child of Eveline Amelia Hoyt and Charles Henry Ellingwood:

Charles Hoyt Ellingwood b. 7 July 1867

vital records sources:

1. The New York Tribune, 2 July 1858, 7.