William H. Sebring and Family

William H. Sebring began life with little, and proceeded to waste what he had. He led a dissolute life that no doubt shocked the neighbors, provided comic fodder for upstate New York newspapers, and left his children without a moral example to guide them in their adult lives.

William H. Sebring was born on 10 June 1858 [1] in Wayne County, New York, the son of Henry Sebring and Hattie E. Shattuck. His father's name comes from his 1889 marriage record and his death certificate; the family has not been found in the 1860 census, and his mother had remarried by 1865. No Henry or William H. Sebring has been found in the 1860 federal or 1855 state censuses who could be a likely candidate for William H. Sebring's father. His 1889 marriage record gives his birthplace as the town of Wolcott; his death certificate lists nearby Rose. Since William himself provided the information for the marriage record, Wolcott is the more likely location, but Rose remains a possibility. [2] In the 1865 census, his surname was given as "Sebring" and he was enumerated with his step-father, Philander Winchell, and his mother, The census indicated that Philander and Hattie were married before, suggesting that William was indeed legitimate. [3] In 1870 he was living the town of Rose with his mother and step-father, attending school. His step-father was working as a laborer. [4]

The 1880 census showed William married and working as a farm hand in Rose. He had been unemployed four months out of that year, probably during the winter. The couple had a two-year-old son, also named William, suggesting that they had married c. 1877. [5] William's bride was Mary Jane Lumbert, the daughter of William Lumbert and Betsey Austin. Her death certificate states that she was born on 17 February 1869. [6] Since this would make her about eight at the date of her marriage to William, she was more likely born c. 1859, consistent with the 1865 census return, and making her a more believable 18 at her marriage. She may have fudged her year of birth when she married a man, John Hapeman, over 10 years her junior. Her death certificate gives her place of birth as Wayne Center, Wayne Co. NY; however, the 1865 census again contradicts this. Although the Lumbert family was living in Rose in Wayne County, Mary's mother and the elder children were described as born in Cayuga County, to the south. [7]

Although the responsibilities of marriage often settle young men, this does not seem to have been the case with William. In 1887 William and two of his brothers-in-law were brought before the grand jury in Wayne County, on the charge of riot, after the shivaree party in which they were participating took their high jinks too far. They besieged the home of the newlywed couple all night, attempting to break down the door and demanding that they be given hard cider. They had very likely already consumed enough of that and probably other intoxicating beverages. [8]

William's wild ways may have been the cause of the break-up of his marriage. He and Mary had five children in regular succession, four boys and one girl, the last born in January of 1888. [9] Then, on 15 April 1889, scarcely over a year later, William married Amelia Lundeman, born c. 1872 in Morristown, St. Lawrence County, NY, the daughter of Joseph Lundeman and Jane Obry. William was 31; his new bride was only 17. [10] William and Mary had presumably divorced by this point.

His new marriage was a stormy one. After the birth of a daughter, Margaret, in October 1891, [11] the two separated in 1893. [12] The separation raises the question of the identity of the "alleged wife" referred to in a newpaper report in September 1893 of the trial in Wayne County of William and the same "wife." The pair were given three months in the penitentiary for stealing house plants. The Oswego Daily Times said of the trial, "The sensational features were numerous and personalities of all kinds were indulged in." Of William and his "wife" it noted "the parties are not desirable from any point of view." [13] Whether the plant-stealing wife was Amelia or another woman, William and Amelia resumed housekeeping together after their break-up, only to part company and then reunite again several more times in the 1890's.

The family had relocated to Syracuse by 1896, perhaps to escape the notoriety they had acquired in Wayne County. In 1896 the Syracuse city directory showed William working as a laborer and living at 214 Magnolia. In 1897-8 he was employed as a cook and boarded at DeWitt Center, near the Erie Canal. The 1900 census listed him working again as a day laborer. [14] If William had hoped to begin afresh in Syracuse, he failed. He quickly blotted his copy book there, as well, getting himself convicted in 1896 for selling liquor without a license. [15]

This was small potatoes, however, compared to the scandal that swirled about William and his wife in 1900, a scandal that filled the local papers for months. It began when William went to the authorities to accuse Amelia of kidnapping their daughter Maggie, running off with a railroad man, and of neglectful mothering. [16] Amelia, who described William as living "a fast life," retaliated with a divorce suit that claimed William had been living in open adultery with another woman, Jennie Caslin. [l7] In response, William charged that Amelia, too, had been living in open adultery with Charles Coss, and that in 1896 she had been the resident of a house of ill fame. [18] Amelia responded by naming more of William's paramours: Mary Frasier, Fannie Budd, Emma Rice and Nancy Shepard, all of Syracuse. [19]

There is likely some truth, and some exaggeration as well, in the accusations of both parties. William offered up the testimony of the Reverend George Coss, a brother of Charles Coss, and Jennie Ryder, his sister. [20] The 1900 census substantiates a least one of Amelia's allegations. Included in the family is "housekeeper" Jennie McIntyre. Jennie, nee Sarah Elizabeth Rice, was in fact the wife of William McIntyre of Elbridge. [21] Her mother's maiden name was McCaslin, and she may have been using some variation of that name to hide her adulterous relationship. That she was William Sebring's paramour, and not his housekeeper, is clear from the fact that she is described as his wife "Jennie Sebring" in the 1910 census of De Witt, Onondaga County, [22] and "Sarah E. Sebring," again as his wife, in the 1920 census of the same place. [23] She was also, as "Sarah E. Sebring," the informant for his death certificate. [24] "Sarah E. Sebring" remarried after William's death, and indicated on the marriage license that she was marrying for the second time, that she was not divorced, and that her first husband had died. [25] Clearly the charges of adultery with "Jennie Caslin" were true; the accusations concerning other women are less clear. Emma Rice was the cousin of Sarah E. McIntyre, the daughter of her father's brother Joseph. [26] If this charge were true, it would certainly have ignited some sparks in the already tumultous Sebring household.

William's life changed little after his moment in the glare of the spotlight. In 1904 he was arrested again, this time for stealing coal from the railroad. [27] In 1910 he was still in De Witt, working as a laborer at a rendering plant. [28] In 1920 they were still in De Witt. The entire household, William, Sarah, grandson William Sebring, and three male boarders, were employed at the rendering plant. [29] By 1922 William and Sarah had back to his birthplace of Rose, where he died, unsurprisingly, of cirrhosis of the liver on 15 May 1922 at the age of 63. [30] He is buried in Rose Cemetery, in Rose. [31]

And what of William's first wife, Mary Jane Lumbert? She married John M. Hapeman of Wolcott c. 1889, about the time of her divorce from William. John, a farm laborer, was born in New York in February 1868, [32] the son of Robert Hapeman and his wife Alcena. [33] The couple had one son, John Jr. The 1900 census indicates that she had given birth to ten children, only five of whom were living, suggesting that she and John had lost several children. John Jr. was the only child in their household; William, despite his "fast life," had gotten custody of their children, a situation that did nothing to brighten the prospects of the Sebring offspring. [34] By 1910 John had his own farm in Wolcott, [35] but by 1915 he was back to working as a farm laborer, [36] a situation that continued in 1920. [37]

Mary died of heart disease on 17 February 1922 in Wolcott and was buried in the North Wolcott cemetery, aka Thorne Cemetery. [38] John Hapeman died the following year and is buried next to her. [39]

William H. Sebring and Mary Jane Lumbert had the following children:
 

William H. Sebring and Amelia Lundeman had the following child:

John M. Hapeman and Mary Jane Lumbert had the following child: