Bardeen/Orr
This request was worked on in 1990. The client’s initial letter asked about her husband’s sixth grandparents, Ernest Orr and Edith Bardeen. The former had died in Addison, Steuben Co., and his wife was born in Penn Yan and died at Bluff Point in the town of Jerusalem. She was also interested in her husband’s grandparents, L. R. Doty and Sarah Jane Stevens. Besides these four surnames, the search eventually spread out over several more. Following are excerpts from my initial letter, dated 5 March 1990:
Sarah Jane Stevens Doty’s obituary says she spent the early part of her life in the Corning area, and L. R. Doty’s obituary says he was buried in the Hope Cemetery in Corning, so my guess is that you’ll find what you’re looking for there, in Steuben Co.
Ernest L. Orr was the son of Ira Orr of Addison, who married Rachel Plaisted of the Yates County town of Barrington on 18 June 1893. Ira died in Penn Yan on 3 April 1912 at the age of 67, having been born in Steuben Co. He was survived by four sons, Frank and Irwin of Watkins Glen, Harold C. of Honeoye Falls and Ernest L. of Clearfield, Penn.; an unnamed daughter; and a sister, Mrs. Mark Dickinson of Addison.
Ernest himself was a railroad engineer. He was living in the Yates County town of Benton in 1900 when he married Edith Bardeen, was living in Dundee in the town of Starkey when he died in 1925. Edith was in Penn Yan in 1927, left there in 1942 to go to Geneva, where she died in 1957. Ernest’s estate was probated here. The petition says he died 29 November 1925 at Cherry Tree, Indiana Co., Penn. He was survived by his widow Edith A. of Dundee, sons Clyde (207 1/2 South Ave., Elmira) and Max L. (361 Main St., Penn Yan); daughters Marie Enos (RFD, Penn Yan), Mable (age 20, at home), Doris (11), Arlene (6), and Lois (4). I picked the family up on the 1925 census in Dundee (Bigelow Ave.). Mabel was a stenographer. Only the four youngest daughters still lived at home. By the way, both Ernest and Edith Orr are buried here, in Lakeview Cemetery in Penn Yan; so is their son Max and the family of a Walter Orr who was born in 1836 in Dutchess County. Don’t know how they’re related, but since they’re all in the same plot it’s a safe assumption that they are.
Edith Bardeen Orr was the daughter of Lewis and Lucy Rhodes Bardeen. Lewis was born in 1847 in Yates County and his gravestone indicates that he was a veteran; I suppose of the Civil War, though he must have been awfully young. He was alive in 1880 but dead by 1892. On the 1880 census he is shown with his wife and three sons Charles R., Clarence and George B. Edith wasn’t born yet. Charles was born in Michigan in 1871 and died in the town of Middlesex in 1947. Clarence died in 1927 at the age of 54 and George in 1958, aged 78. The family generally lived in the town of Potter. Lewis, Lucy, Charles and George are buried in the Nettle Valley cemetery in that town.
Lewis was the son of George and Maria Bardeen. George was born in Yates County in 1817 or 1818, the son of Moses and Margaret Bardeen. Moses was born in Massachusetts in 1786; Margaret in Vermont in 1794. Lewis had at least one brother Charles and a sister Elizabeth. Besides George, Moses and Margaret had (at least) sons Moses W., Luther and Edwin; and daughters Olive and Letitia. In 1865 Margaret said she had 10 children, so there must have been more. George was still alive in 1905.
That was the first letter; the client was pretty happy, and asked for more research. Back in those days we only charged $6 an hour for research, and I was doing just that, full time. I was almost as happy as the client. The saga will continue when I get a chance.
