My step great grandpa William Hamilton Storkey was the husband of Rosena "Rose" Kimpel, and the man who raised William Hamilton Storkey V.

There is ample information showing that our William had been married before Rose. There is also the then-unspoken family suggestion he had another family with children (supposedly possibly daughters) and they may have lived in Norristown. That part is "close no cigar". His first wife did later live in Norristown but there is no evidence of children on any census, nor in her will.

It is a serious tangle, all involved are dead, and my grandpa did not speak of it while he was living. My grandpa did not speak much of either of his parents, and at age 15 lied about his age to work on a ship that went through the Panama Canal. One really has to wonder what was going on at home, and why such a young boy was allowed to or driven to go so far away at so young an age. Was it just an adventure or was he escaping something? I go back over what I can recall him saying about family, about his mother spending her last dollars to buy supplies so he could go to a special high school for drafting... why was it her last dollars and not that of the father who raised him? At this time, between records and DNA, it's rather clear that Storkey was not my grandpa's biological father, but when Grandpa spoke of Storkey, he did call him "father". Still maybe there was some leftover feeling in the household that the child was Rose's mistake, and thus more her responsibility. I struggle on with this.

Back to our subject, my adoptive great grandpa. Unless William Hamilton Storkey IV was buried alive, the above date of death must remain uncertain. Family records show his date of death as June 24, 1937, while family cemetery records indicate he was interred June 20, 1937, aged 68 years. Even his date of birth has been a question, but recently a record of his birth in Philadelphia came to light, and it states his birth was December 22, 1867, which differed from some previously done family genealogy that had the date as December 21, 1868.

His parents were William Storkey and his second wife Mary. He was the baby of a combined family, the last child born to his father who was by then age 47 and the only child of this union. He also had two half-sisters from his father's first marriage to Barbara, and a sister and brother who had been born in his mother's first marriage. The date of birth above is from family knowledge, while the Mormon IGI records show him as being born December 22, 1867, parents Mary and William. The Mormon records appear to be correct, as evidenced by information found by kind fellow contributor Donna Elliott. That data comes from baptism records of the Ridge Avenue Methodist Church which shows my great grandpa's date of birth the same as the Mormon record. Further, the data shows he was baptized December 1, 1872, just shy of his fifth birthday. The Rev. George S. Broadbent performed the baptism at the church by sprinkling.

The church he was baptized at, founded 1847, had just had a new second story put on the year before. That suggests a financially successful congregation, even if the area was not wealthy. Located at Ridge and Shawmont Avenues in Roxborough, it was within probable spitting distance of the family farm.

The 1870 census shows the family indexed as "Starkey" and young William at home with his parents and sisters and an older man named Christoph in Philadelphia. My grandfather had referenced the original owner of a muzzle loading musket handed down in the family as an "Uncle Chris who came up from down South" though he did not know where "down South" was. The southern part of the US or south of Philadelphia in Chester or Delaware County where our adopted Storkey family seems to have its US roots? In any case, the family is compromised of William (49), Mary (35), Anna (aka Georgeanna, age 20), Elizabeth (18), Ella (14), William (2), and Christoph (69). Father William is a farmer, and all the kids but William are working in a paper mill. The family was, in fact, employed by the Hamilton Paper Mill, and it is almost certainly where my great grandpa, our subject, got his middle name.

The 1880 census lists him as a boy born in Pennsylvania like his mom, but his dad born in Delaware - a probable misunderstanding of his having been born in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The family is living on Ridge Avenue in the Roxborough or Manayunk section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is 13; his parents are William (age 58, a laborer) and Mary (age 47, keeping house). There are boarders with the family, John Smaltz, a Ms. Spence, and Sallie Cramer. This census is of note because it is the first time any William Storkey is listed with a middle initial or name - my great grandpa is listed as "Willie H. Storkey". That's the first time I have seen the Hamilton middle name come into play, and as said, I suspect it was because Willie's sisters and father worked for W. C. Hamilton - the girls in the paper mill, and his father farming for Mr. Hamilton.

The 1900 census shows him at home with his parents and a wife Sarah. This name was news to all of our living family. At first I wondered if Sarah was Rose with a nickname, but the birth info for Sarah (September 1871) is not close to Rose's (February 1888) so he was married to a different woman at this time. The family is on Shawmont Avenue in Roxborough section of Philadelphia so the area is right. Our William and his wife Sarah reported being married 11 years with no children. Our William's age is given as 31, and his birth month of December, which is legible, is correct. He works as a motorman, and his father is listed as an invalid. His father owns the home on a mortgage. This census shows our William as born in PA like his parents reportedly were. I cross checked this with Philadelphia marriage licenses, and he is indexed by his full name, and it is the very first time the middle name of Hamilton has appeared in full on any family documents- it does not go back as far as the first name William Storkey. In any case, this is our family - I have seen pictures of William, and in one or two he's proudly in uniform behind the wheel of a Philadelphia streetcar.

This may or may not be him, but how many William Storkeys are there who were age 37 in 1905? There is a record of a 37 year old man of this name arriving in Vancouver, British Columbia by way of the ship "Empress of Japan" which came from Hong Kong. Did our William go a little crazy and take off after he lost both his parents three years earlier? This record from "Manifests of Passengers Arriving in the St. Albans, VT, District through Canadian Pacific and Atlantic Ports, 1895-1954" says his residence was in New York, so it is hard to be sure it's our man. Could it be a mis-read of his next home, New Jersey? His adopted son certainly had a love of the sea, and in fact also sailed. Further, if it is our William, perhaps he needed to be by the sea, as evidenced by his next census entry.

Our man in 1910 is in New Jersey. There is a William "Starkey" in NJ, Cape May County, in Angelsea, now usually called North Wildwood with a wife, Alice, our Sarah's middle name. His age is exactly correct as is hers. They both report being born in PA like their parents. William is working as a bartender at a hotel. The only thing off is the number of years they have been married, reporting 18 when it should be 21. They have had no children.

When I found this census for 1910, it crossed my mind that Sarah Alice and William might have been there on holiday... or worse yet, that (had he been the biological father) William may have fled his pregnant young lady Rose back in Roxborough. Thankfully, that was not the case, as I recently found a 1905 census done in New Jersey - he (age 37) and Sarah Alice (age 34) are in Cape May, even that early; also in the home is a Walter Mower (age 29). It makes one wonder how William met Rose. Did her family come visit the shore? I find that doubtful, as the odds of two people from the Manayunk/Roxborough area meeting at the shore are smaller than them having already known one another back in Pennsylvania, or meeting when William may have gone back to see relatives or friends.

More curious... this Walter Mower was from the Roxborough section too, on the 1900 census as a single man, a milkman... he living at 7105 while only a few blocks away on Ridge Avenue, Sarah Alice's parents, the Breys, are at 7519. Walter was at this same address as shown in the 1900 city directory, which said "milk" suggesting he sold or delivered it. In fact in 1896 he was in "milk" at "Ridge n Paoli ave". In 1897 he was at the same address as a "driver". 1898, same address and "milk". 1899 at 7105 Ridge, "milk". By 1901and into 1902 he had a feed store or lot at 7730 Ridge while living at 6641. In 1904, he ran Walter Mower and Company with L W Lopez, the office of which was at 7730 Ridge Avenue. It was a feed business. Walter then lived at 2 Paoli Avenue in Roxborough. 1905 spells it out a bit more - his partner is Lemuel Lopez, and Walter's home is now listed as in New Jersey, matching that 1905 census. That office address at 7730 is a huge bingo moment because it is right at the corner of Ridge and Shawmont, William Storkey's old home corner - the last home he'd share with his parents, where they died, and where his wife Sarah Alice probably nursed them til they passed. William's father was a farmer and he had done some field work himself - doing business with a feed store on your corner would make a lot of sense, and it seems a friendship must have developed as well. So William and Alice were in NJ by 1905, and Walter lived with them, probably making it official in 1910 when his new domicile finally appeared in the directory.

But it did not end there. The 1915 census in NJ still has the couple there, now in North Wildwood. This means that our William here was apparently still living the married life with Sara Alice while back home in Philadelphia, his future sweetheart Rose was raising my 5 year old grandpa.

So it would seem, with his parents passing in the early 1900's, that William decided it was time to move to NJ and he was there at least 1905 to 1915.

When Social Security became a thing, my grandpa had to suddenly document Storkey as his father. My grandpa has a delayed birth certificate claiming he was born in Delaware at 3rd and West Streets in Wilmington. It's an amended one, filed in 1945 and signed off on by his aunt (who was 9 years old at the time of the birth) attesting the info to be true. His mom Rose was alive - why would he not ask her to sign it? Was the out of wedlock question making it too awkward? And Delaware is just wrong for the family at this time. Are we to believe that William Storkey went from being a NJ bartender in May 1910 to being a DE ship riveter by December 1910?

I tried very hard to find William or Rose in the Wilmington Delaware city directory, trying Rose, Rosena, Rosina, Storkey, Starkey, as well as her maiden name of Kimpel, Kimple, and her mom's maiden name of Merkert, plus her mom's married names in case she was with family there... Fullerton and Turvey. Nothing fit. Searching for "3rd and West" led almost nowhere.

At this time, I am reasonably sure that I found Rose and my grandpa's biological father on the 1910 census in Philadelphia. But there is evidence that biological father also later lived in Wilmington at 230 West Street. But below is what I went through before determining that:

I did find a Rose Alexander in Wilmington in 1910, a forewoman living at 117 W 3rd, apparently with Samuel Alexander, "morworker". This address is 1/10th of a mile from 3rd and West streets where my grandpa was supposedly born. But in 1910, would there have been such huge subterfuge?

Trying a different approach, I ran with William's occupation. "Ship riveter" didn't work, but narrowing to "riveter" brings 248 results when searching 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, and 1912. Taking any William who was a riveter, narrowed to 19 results. One was a William Kennedy, in 1910 living at 313 Tatnall. Google maps tells us that address is 382 feet from 3rd and West.

So what's the story with 313 Tatnall? Narrowing to three years before and after my grandpa's birth, the newspaper tells us a few things:

1908 - white girl wanted for general housework.
1908 - child falls from third floor window nearby and Mrs. James Walls who lived at 313 came to his aid. A Dr. J H Spruance is summoned.
1910 - Mr. James Walls of 313 is striken (a stoke) and is said to have run the White Horse Hotel Stables for 23 years at 2nd and Tatnall, and a longtime resident of 313.
1912 - George Senior of the address is an voters' assistant.
1913 - Mr James Walls passes away. Here sited as owner of the White Horse Hotel called "boarding and livery stables".
1913 - George Senior dies after going upstairs to retire, after "laughing and joking but a minute with fellow boarders at the home of Mrs. Annie Walls at 313 Tatnall" where it's said he boarded for 27 years.

So besides being owned by a hotel and livery family, 313 Tatnall was itself a boarding house. Perhaps a place where a pregnant woman and her de facto husband might find a temporary place to live. But this all blew up as I continued to search, because I did find Rose on the 1910 census and she wasn't with Storkey. And I later found Storkey, and he conversely was not with Rose.

Just to finish 313's tale: It truly must have had size; in the 1920-30's it was a polling place. It remained with the Walls family until Helen C Walls died in 1950, and was sold in 1952 (variously described as ten or seven rooms and bath). It was then owned by a gent named Milton Slovin (whose obit noted him as owner of Trash Removers (aka Waste and Materials Inc.) who in 1953 got permits for some alterations, and in 1955 converted it (and neighboring 311) into 7 apartments. 1964 is the last evidence of 313 being used by actual people who lived there, thanks to a story about a faulty space heater. After that, the building was robbed of plumbing items, and went through several fires sometimes attributed to vagrants, and sometimes it just being noted that the building was vacant. In 1973, it was seized as Milton N. Slovin's property. A few more fires happened. The city put it up for sale in 1982 by sealed bid and it's never in the paper again. If you go to Google maps today, the closest existing address is 301 where S G Williams & Bros. is, and there is nothing else on the block. Yes, this is a lot of detail, but if my grandpa was born there, I want to do it justice. Of course, it may not be his birthplace. It may not be where Rose and William laid low while waiting for their baby to arrive. It's truly hard to say, but...

William Kennedy did not appear in any other year's city directory at this address again. I will never be able to prove that William Kennedy was William Storkey in mufti, of course, but if my grandpa was born at 3rd and West in Wilmington in 1910 to a man named William who was a riveter, this seems close to perfect. For now, though, let's set this speculation aside, and return to the story of William, his wife Sarah Alice, and his young future lover, Rose.

In between the 1910 and 1920 federal censuses, in 1916 when my grandpa was not yet age 6, an application for a marriage certificate in Philadelphia was made by Rose K. Kimpel and a Mr. Joseph Holmes. Our subject's second wife's maiden name was Rosena Katterina Kimpel, so it seems certainly to have been her. It is unknown at this time if the marriage took place, but a license was applied for. It hardly matters - how was my great grandma free to consider marriage at that time? Was she not yet or never officially married? Did Rose do this in an effort to give her son a father, or to scare someone into marrying her? Or was "Holmes" a bogus name used by her son's biological father? It is possible - he was married to someone else and may have used a false name with Rose. Further, his mother's surname was Homes, lending support to the possibility.

And while we wonder about that, in 1917, future stepdad William purchased a bar at 505 S. 23rd in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the picture of which is with this memorial. It's an ample building. I find myself wondering if he and/or he and his lover might have lived above it, at least for a time.

Four years later, however, William and Rose are finally definitely together. Initially I could not find our subject in the 1920 census, but that's because the family was listed as "Starkey". They rent their home at 244 Hermitage Street.

244 Hermitage in Manayunk is a huge building. Even seeing it today as a completely private residence, you can make out that the ground floor front was once a store. Indeed, the city directory shows it as a variety store run by Elizabeth Kennedy (hey, that Kennedy name again), even as far back as 1898. She reappears there over the years 1898 to 1921 as Betsy and Elizabeth, sometimes just as a private residence, and other times as "varieties". In 1910, Hannah Landers shows up there too. In 1902, 1905 an 1908 Ephraim Eppright also appears there. But that's it for names at this address - no Storkey or Starkey, ever in a city directory. In fact, abandoning the address completely and just looking for Storkeys or Starkeys in these years, you get a few Starkeys (none near Manayunk), an actual Starkey street in the Northeast near Lott in the Bustleton area, and William P Storkey, who is a known distant relative. So our William's family was censused at this address on Hermitage but not listed anywhere else that I can find.

Searching newspapers, the address barely appears. In 1906, Ephraim Eppright reported a fire loss of $100 from children playing with matches. In 1910, Howard Wittrock used his home to hold a funeral for his father. In 1955 it was offered for sale: "TRIPLEX - 244 Hermitage Street, 3 apartments, gorgeous yard, copper piping, near Holy Family. $9300!" For now that's the light I can shed on the home, and William's association with it, so back to that 1920 census.

It is the first census I can find where Rose and William are together, with my grandpa William, age 9. Our subject's occupation appears to be die maker at a box company. I find it odd that among the family pictures, there are none of he and his wife Rose together. Meanwhile, Sarah Alice Brey Storkey would report herself as married on the 1920 and 1930 censuses, though no husband was present with her. With the social modesty of the time, this could be normal.

The 1930 census at 244 Hermitage shows Elizabeth Kennedy there (age 56) with her uncle Samuel Robinson, 69. The only other household in the building is the Storkeys - William (58), Rose (44) and young William (19) still together as a family unit. William would die 7 years later, and his first wife Sarah Alice not long after.

So who is Sarah and what became of her? A lady matching the age of the above lady shows up in the 1930 census in Norristown where supposedly my great grandpa may have had another family. By that time, Sarah is age 59 and working as a maid for the Fred and John C. Murphy household. Interestingly, she is listed as married, but no husband is shown in the household.

Going back to 1920, there is a Sarah Alice Storkey of the right age living in Montgomery County, with Ashton H. Powell (50) and Marie Powell (16). Sarah's listed as married, and again, no husband is listed. (Mr. Powell, incidentally, appears to have been a motorman, as evidenced by a claim filed by his daughter Marie regarding his death from acute miliary tuberculosis which is shown in "In Transit, Volumes 31-32" where he's cited as a former member of Division 811, Norristown, PA, and later in the same volume a note from the financial secretary of the chapter has kind resolutions in Ashton's memory and says they will be shared with another motoring publication, and that the chapter will be draped in mourning for 30 days.)

My grandmother told her son, my uncle, never to mention my grandpa's father. Why?

By the 1960's, 30 years after his death, Rose continued to keep a picture of Storkey on her dresser.

Finally in September of 2011, the marital truth was found. Though William and Sarah had not lived together since at least as far back as 1920 and probably earlier (she alleged he deserted her in 1913), and though Sarah would live essentially as a single lady from then on, and though William and Rose were together from 1920 on... William and his first wife Sarah would file for divorce only in April of 1930, and the decree was granted October 9, 1934. One might wonder why they waited so long. Was it shame that kept them from pursuing it, or was facing end of life thinking and property settlement a deciding factor?

So the remaining question is if William ever married Rose, and if so, when? Before or after he and Sarah made their divorce official? He could have married (while already married) in another county or state and probably have avoided detection since the counties and states maintained separate records in handwritten books that weren't shared. Was he ever a bigamist by legal definition? Did he ever seal officially the family he began late in life? It seems not, as no record has yet been found.

In the meantime, fellow contributor Donna Elliott has found that my great grandpa died or was interred 6/20/1937 but no obituary has been found. I have since confirmed with a death index that he died on June 20 1937, so he was probably interred not long after that. Donna has trudged most of Levertington Cemetery where our William rests, but it seems there is no stone for him. He had but one ostensible(adopted) son and a widow surviving, and there's a sense of not a lot of money. But it could have been about personal preference - that son himself would choose to be cremated and his ashes scattered in a river. It may also have been timing. Not even six months later, that son would marry. And have both a mother and wife to support.

The state index confirms the date and place of death further to Lower Providence, and the death certificate tells us more. Diabetes. And in 1937, there wasn't a lot known about controlling it. It is all but guaranteed he passed at the family summer cottage based on that last address.

Historical note: William died about a month and a half after the Hindenburg disaster.