William Edward Sweetman : Short Biography

William Edward Sweetman (1841 – 1926) was six years old when the Great Irish famine began in 1846. He survived this and lived to be 86 years old.
My great-great grandfather was William Edward Sweetman born in 1841 . He was a native of Cashel, County Tipperary, Ireland. William was baptized on August 7, 1841 in the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore (Lisronagh), Parish of Powerstown. The Civil Parish was Ardmayle. Godfather was Thomas McInerney and Godmother was Honora McGrath. William was Roman Catholic.
William’s siblings were: Ellen (b. 1835)
James, (1836-1903),
Margaret (b. 1839), all born in Powerstown Parish.
His father was also named William Sweetman, born in 1794 and was baptized on 11 May 1794 at Carrick on Suir Tipperary. His mother was Bridget Margaret Daniel born about 1808 and died in March 1883 in Cashel.
William Sweetman immigrated to Irvington on Hudson, New York in 1864, traveling on the “City of Washington” sailing ship. He was about 25 years old. He resided in Irvington for 60 years.
When he was either 27 or 28 years old (1867 or 1868) , he married Ellen Brown, daughter of unknown. There is a possibility that Ellen was the daughter of a “B. Brown”, who lived within a quarter mile of the Matthiessen estate , where William resided and was employed as a gardener. Ellen was born about 1842 in Ireland. The couple had six children:
William Edward (21 June 1869-16 Feb. 1949)
Mary A.(25 Dec. 1870 – 1 Oct.1891)
Helen C. (10 Jul 1875 – 6 May 1953)
James J. (10 Oct. 1878 – 14 Feb. 1947)
Josephine (1 Aug 1880 – 2 May 1890)
Jane Monica (aka Jennie) (abt. 1883 – 10 April 1954)

Another individual, Edward John Shea (1895-1951), lived with the family from age 20 starting in 1916 until his death in 1951. Edward’s parents were Patrick and Margaret McGlynn Shea and they died when he was very young. At age nine, he resided at the St. Joseph’s Home, a large orphanage, in Peekskill New York with his five siblings. He came to Irvington and worked as a servant, and also attended Irvington schools. He began residing with the William Sweetman family at 104 East Sunnyside Lane when he was about 20. He is buried with the William Sweetman family at St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Yonkers, NY.
William and Ellen’s children were all born on the Arthur L. Barney estate, which later became the Reginald H. Jaffray estate.
William’s wife died on November 28, 1898. She was 56. William was 58 and he did not remarry.
The village of Irvington is on the Hudson River, twenty miles north of New York City. Wealthy residents of NYC began buying up Irvington farms to build large summer residences on their estates. This continued until the early 1900’s. William and his family resided on an estate in the caretaker quarters. He was a gardener all of his life. After William arrived in the United States, he was employed by the estate of Franz Otto Matthiessen for approximately three years (1865 – 1868).

Then, for the next 45 years he was “superintendent” of the Arthur L. Barney (a NY stockbroker) estate grounds. Rail transportation from New York City had reached Irvington by 1849. It was easy for well to do New York City dwellers to take the half hour train ride to their Irvington estate to visit the countryside.
On May 2, 1890, daughter Josephine died at the age of nine. The following year daughter Mary died on October 1, 1891 at age 20. The causes of their deaths are unknown. However, in December 1889, there was a Russian flu pandemic that had reached North America. About one million people died in this pandemic.
His daughters were buried in St. Joseph’s cemetery in Yonkers, NY. The William Sweetman family four- sided obelisk headstone is about five feet high. A Celtic cross adorns the top. His nine-year-old daughter Josephine was his first family member buried.

William Sweetman died on May 3, 1926 at his home on 104 East Sunnyside Lane in Irvington, New York. He had been ill for eight weeks and cause of death was uric acid poisoning.
At the time of his death, he lived with his two daughters: Helen (age 51) and Jennie (age 49) Sweetman, both had never married. Also living with them was Edward Shea. At the time of his death William (1840-1926) was also survived by his two sons, William Edward (1869-1949) of Irvington and James of the Bronx, New York, eight grandchildren and one great grandchild (also named William Edward Sweetman). There has been an unbroken succession of seven William Edward Sweetmans.

His funeral service was at the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church in Irvington, officiated by the Rev. Thomas J. Donlon. He was buried at St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Yonkers, NY.

William worked all his life and retired in 1913 when he was 73 years old. His obituary mentions that his passing marks “one of Irvington’s highly esteemed and well known old time residents and his kindly smile and pleasant greeting made him many friends who will miss him.”