52 Ancestors: #10 ~ Charles Albert Engle – The Other Adorable Twin

This is part of the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" Challenge begun by Amy Johnson Crow, author of the blog No Story Too Small.



This cute photo may seem familiar to my regular readers. That's because I shared it in last week's 52 Ancestors post. In that post, I wrote about Mary Albertina Engle, the adorable girl standing on the chair. I also mentioned in last week's post that in the future I would write about her twin brother, Charles, who's standing on the chair next to her.

So, today, I'd like to introduce you to Charles Albert Engle, the other adorable twin in the photo.

Charles Albert Engle was born on 20 June 1864 in Chesterhill, Morgan, Ohio to his parents, Richard Engle and Sarah Amanda Waterman.



When Charles and his twin sister Mary were born, their father, Richard Engle, had just been honorably discharged from active service in the Civil War.¹ At the time of their births, their sister, Ella Eliza, was six years old. Their older brother, Lewis Asher, died before they were born. He died in 1862 when he was only one year old. Their younger brother, William Barker, was born when Charles and Mary were three years old. Another brother, Edwin Caleb, was born when Charles and Mary were five years old. When Charles and Mary were eleven years old, their youngest brother, Frederick, was born and sadly, died on the same day.

Charles, along with his parents and siblings, lived in Ohio until sometime before 1880. They moved from Ohio to Iowa. In 1880, the family is found in the U.S. Federal Census for Barclay, Black Hawk, Iowa.² The Engle family lived in Iowa for a number of years before moving to South Dakota. However, I don't know when Charles moved to South Dakota. His parents, Richard and Sarah Engle, are found in the 1895 South Dakota State Census in Willow Lake Township, in Brule County.³ But Charles is not listed with his parents in this census.

In the 1900 U.S. Federal Census,⁴ Charles was living with his parents in Sioux Falls, Minnehaha, South Dakota. He was 35 years of age and his occupation was listed as a grocery salesman.

I haven't been able to locate Charles' whereabouts between 1900 and 1920. I can't find him in the 1910 census. However, he wrote several postcards to his mother, Sarah, between those years. These postcards were sent from several different locations. I've shared one of them recently here on this blog. It shows that in June of 1905 he was in Denver, Colorado. It could have been a business trip or perhaps he was on vacation there. If you'd like to see this interesting postcard, click HERE.

Charles Albert Engle never married. He remained a bachelor his entire life. It also appears that Charles remained in the grocery business for the rest of his life until he retired.

In the 1920 U.S. Federal Census,⁵ he and his unmarried brother, William, were living with their widowed mother, Sarah, at 1308 Marengo Avenue in South Pasadena, Los Angeles, California. Charles' occupation is listed as a salesman in the groceries industry.

In the 1930 U.S. Federal Census,⁶ Charles and his brother, William, were still living with their mother, Sarah, at the same address in South Pasadena, Los Angeles, California. Sarah was 94 years old at the time this census was taken. In this census, Charles is listed as a traveling salesman in the groceries industry. He was 65 years old.

By the time the 1940 U.S. Federal Census⁷ was taken, Charles' mother, Sarah, had passed away. She died in 1939 at 103 years of age. Charles and his brother, William, still lived in the same house they had lived in at the time the 1920 and 1930 censuses were taken. By this time, Charles was no longer employed. But, his younger brother, William was. Unfortunately, it looks like William hadn't earned any income because the amount in the income column of the census was zero. Charles and William did have two lodgers living with them though.

Charles Albert Engle passed away on 20 September 1946 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California at 82 years of age. He was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, Los Angeles, California.

Several years ago, our family visited this cemetery and were able to take photos of the grave marker for Charles and his brother William, as well as the grave markers for his parents Richard and Sarah Engle, who are also buried at this cemetery. As you can see, Charles and his brother William share the same grave marker.



Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

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1 Richard Engle Civil War Pension File ^↩
2 Year: 1880; Census Place: Barclay, Black Hawk, Iowa; Roll: 327; Family History Film: 1254327; Page: 358A; Enumeration District: 041; Image: 0338.^↩
3 Ancestry.com. South Dakota, State Census, 1895 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002. Sheet 3, Line No. 71 and 72.^↩
4 Year: 1900; Census Place: Sioux Falls Ward 6, Minnehaha, South Dakota; Roll: 1553; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 0265; FHL microfilm: 1241553. Dwelling No. 217. Line 15.^↩
5 Year: 1920; Census Place: South Pasadena, Los Angeles, California; Roll: T625_119; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 614; Image: 975. Dwelling No. 107. Line 47.^↩
6 Year: 1930; Census Place: South Pasadena, Los Angeles, California; Roll: 175; Page: 13A; Enumeration District: 1519; Image: 398.0; FHL microfilm: 2339910. Dwelling No. 332. Line 16.^↩
7 Year: 1940; Census Place: Pasadena, Los Angeles, California; Roll: T627_243; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 19-514. Visited No. 231. Line 13.^↩