Unfortunately we will have to start with how does one spell this sister’s name. We can safely assume that no one has been baptized Lizzy, so we know we are already going to be at a disadvantage and hopefully looking for a Elizabeth. Mary is pretty sure it is spelled Lizzy, or at least that is her “pet” spelling for her sister. Here is the way she writes it on the April and May letters.
I know, the first one is VERY hard to read but I would argue, that just as is clear in the second, after the two Zs there is a third descender that we can guess is a y. Just to add a little excitement, Mary’s husband Ben adds this line to the May letter:
My great grandmother was Ada Fahnestock Pears and went through her mother’s photo album and wrote the following over a picture:
I propose that the above says Papa’s sister Aunt Lizzie. OK, so now I want to build from here. Ada’s father was Franklin Levi Fahnestock Born 3 Sept 1807 East Berlin, Adams, Pennsylvania, Died 20 July 1854 Baltimore, Maryland, Of course you can guess his wife’s name: Sarah Fahnestock 1827–1909 BIRTH 1 DEC 1827 • Menallen, Adams, Pennsylvania DEATH 7 MARCH 1909 • 6706 McPherson street, East : End Pittsburgh PA
Might as well take a look at Levi’s family first. His father was Peter Fahnestock 1784–1864 BIRTH 17 APRIL 1784 • Chambersburg, Franklin, Pennsylvania. DEATH 11 NOVEMBER 1864 • Baltimore City, Maryland.
#41. PETER FAHNESTOCK (.Benjamin [No. 7], Johann Died- rich), b. (probably Warrington Twp., York Co., Pa.) 15 April 1784; d. Baltimore, Md., 17 Nov. 1864; m. Berlin, Adams Co., Pa., 22 June 1806, Mary Fahnestock, b. E. Berlin, Pa., 24 May 1784; d. Baltimore, Md., 23 July 1866, daughter of Borius and Elizabeth (Enders) Fahnestock [No. 8]. Peter Fahnestock was a wholesale dealer in oysters at Baltimore. He served in the War of 1812 as a private in Capt. John Berry’s Company 1st (Harris’) Artillery, Maryland Militia. He was stationed at Fort McHenry 5 to 13 August 1813 and 19 Aug. to 30 Nov. 1814. The children of Peter and Mary (Fahnestock) Fahnestock, the first b. E. Berlin, Adams Co., Pa., the last five or six b. Baltimore, Md., were: #108. I. Levi, b. 3 Sept. 1807. II. Elizabeth, b. 4 Dec. 1809; d. unm., 3 Dec. 1869.. III. Benjamin G., b. 5 Dec. 1811; d. 29 April 1812. IV. Mary Frances, b. Baltimore, Md., 25 May 1813; d. Pittsburgh, 23 Feb. 1897; m. Baltimore, 1850, Benjamin Latshaw Fahnestock [No. 105] q.v. V.Catherina, b. 14 Feb. 1816; d. 23 March 1816. #109. VI. Joseba, G., b. 7 Dec. 1817. #110. VII. Derick, b. 25 June 1821. #111. VIII. Joseph Daniel, b. 26 April 1824.
OK, so here is Levi #108, Ada’s father, and his sisters. One is Mary who marries Ben! What we really need is an Elizabeth who is living in Baltimore in 1865. We have an Elizabeth born in 1809, the second oldest, and she is alive in 1865. Below is the 1850 census entry to Peter and his family:
We are in Baltimore. Peter and his wife Mary are the right age, 66, so born in 1784. Levi is there with his young wife Sarah. And Elizabeth age 40 ties in with a birth date of 1809. We should take a moment to look at the other household members. Derick 27 a merchant. We read lots in the letters about brother Derick. Jos 24 is a clerk. Then again we get into non-Fahnestocks. H.G.Hunt is 39 and S. Manufactory what ever that is. Ellen and Fany Hunt are 7 and 5. Then we seem to have two Black servants, Emma Addison 21 and Barbara Wagner 7. And Barbara is reporting as having been born in Germany. Clearly there are interesting stories here but I have to move on down the Elizabeth path.
Next I am going to the same type of source, the 1860 census. It is not as clean cut!
This is the same Ward 18 in Baltimore. The man at the top is the right age to be Peter, just like in the last census. But the name is wrong! This one seems to start with J. Ancestry thinks it is Jno. The next name is David, age 39 and he seems to be head of house as the “money” numbers are after his name and not after the top J name. This name should be Derick, Peter’s son. The age is right, Derick was born in 1821. The next two names, Albert 8 and Harrie 7 are children of Derick, born in Baltimore in 1851 and 1853. Next is a 76 year old Mary born in Penna. That ties in perfectly with Peter’s wife. Then another problem. Elizabeth or Lizzy is here. Correctly born in Penna but the age is wrong! She was 40 in 1850 and here she is 40 again! Next is Lucinda, Derick’s wife and mother of Albert and Harrie. Her placement in the column is correct if we assume it is women second and then by age and she is correctly born in Penna. Things then get a little better, Ellen and Fenie Hunt are still in the house and have each added 10 years. The father Frederick George Hunt is gone? I have been able to find no record of his death. You might say, bad enough the father is gone but where is the mother who has not even here in 1850. We do have records that she dies in 1849.
So, all in all I think this is Lizzy but I sure don’t have perfect evidence. We do get one last helpful source.
This is an 1863 Baltimore directory. Peter and Derick are both living at 300 W Lombard. Census records don’t usually give the actual address. They only tell us that such and such family was the 163d enumerated. We don’t have the envelopes from the Mary Lizzy letters but I am pretty sure they are coming to 300 W. We also have no source for Lizzy’s death in Baltimore in 1869 other than the family bible.