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Charles Britt
Born April 29, 1824 Died December 24, 1893
Old Red Church Cemetery, Tivoli. Marble, tiered square column with four arched pointed tops, near a cedar tree and access road in the northwest of the cemetery not far from the CW Potts mausoleum.
As you wander in this and other cemeteries near the Hudson River you might come across a gravestone similar to the one belonging to Charles Britt—it states in capital letters “Born IN SUSSEX ENGLAND”. Many other immigrants to our area from the British Isles also decided to proudly remind those that survived them of the land of their birth, such as John Corlett in the Red Hook Methodist cemetery (“Native of the Isle of Man”) and James Ashdown in this one (“Born at Playden, Sussex, England”).
Charles Britt, born in 1824, resided in Tivoli from at least 1850 when he was recorded in the census as a carpenter. In his household at the time were his wife Hannah June who was originally from New York, his mother Fanny Britt, and two daughters. Charles and Hannah had four daughters–Estelle Britt died young at only 12 years of age, Mary Frances Britt 1854–1837 married William E. Fraleigh and they did not have any children, Sarah Matilda “Tillie” Britt 1861–1942 married Frederick M. Harrison and they also did not have any children, and Alice Britt 1865–1950 never married. All but little Estelle are accounted for in this cemetery.
A carpenter by trade for at least 40 years, Charles was labeled as such in the 1892 census, despite having had a stroke in 1890 that rendered him helpless. He passed away in 1893 at age 72. Charles was also a Mason, and it can be assumed that they helped to pay for his burial. His funeral was “well attended.” Hannah survived him and had only been ill a few days when she passed at 90 years of age in 1919.
When Tillie Britt married Fred Harrison at her mother’s home in 1895, the Rev. Dr. Malcolm of St. Stephen’s College (later Bard College) officiated the ceremony. Fred was an industrial painter. The Harrisons lived in Poughkeepsie, and by 1930 their household included Tillie’s widowed sister Frances and spinster sister Alice. As none of them had children of their own, Charles and Hannah’s Britt’s lineage ended with these women.