Martha E. Van Norman

Martha was a daughter of Daniel H. and Margaret (Jones) Messick, of Sussex County, Delaware. By 1870 she and her sister Mary were working as domestic servants in the Sarah Polk household at Port Penn, Newcastle County, Delaware. She evidently may have been married briefly to a Mr. Short, probably of Delaware, since that is where she and her daughter were born. On the 29th of May, 1878, she remarried to David R. Van Norman, son of Mathias and Ann Van Norman. He predeceased her. Both Martha and David lived at that time in Kingwood Twp., Hunterdon Co., NJ, and the Pastor, Rev. Geo. Young, lived at Pt. Pleasant, Bucks Co., PA.

She brought one daughter to that marriage, Margaret E. Short, who assumed her step-father's surname. (DNA of a descendant shows a connection to Del. Short families) David was a widowed farmer. In 1886 Martha and David had a son, Charles Mahlon Van Norman. (The half-sibling relationship was confirmed in a letter by C. M. Van Norman's son Lloyd in the 1980s.) Martha and David evidently had marital difficulties after about almost 20 years of marriage, as Martha appears in the various censuses without him from 1900 onward.

in 1898 Martha was cited in a "Trenton State Gazette" article as having testified in a trial in which William Hoffman, a bricklayer living at 18 New Rose Street, sued Henry Wenzel in Mercer Court for alienation of his wife's affections. As Mr. Hoffman wept in court, Martha testified that Wenzel and Mrs. Hoffman had had inappropriate relations. Wenzel and Mrs. Hoffman claimed Martha spoke out of malice because she was put out of the house, but a jury awarded Mr. Hoffman $1,200. Then in the 1900 Census she is listed as Mattie Vannorman, a servant in William Hoffman's household at the same address. An article in the "Trenton Evening Times" of March 6, 1901, also mentioned her living at 18 New Rose St., when friends gave her a surprise party.

According to the Census, by 1900 she had borne two children and both were living. Those would have been Margaret Short and Charles M. Van Norman. A 1913 deed for David indicated they were divorced. That had happened in a 1906 divorce. The 1920 Census at Trenton is indexed with her living with a Boardman family, and she is credited with that surname. It is more likely the surname was actually "Van Norman." Her daughter Margaret Allen and grandson Lloyd Allen were also residing there.

Obit info from GenealogyBank:
Name Mrs Martha Vannorman
Event Date 16 Jul 1931
Event Place (Original) Trenton, New Jersey
Death Date 15 Jul 1931
Newspaper Trenton Evening Times
Mrs Margaret Allen - Daughter
Charles M Vannorman - Son
Other People on This Record
Lloyd S Allen, Mrs Annie Peeky* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: May 2 2022, 9:59:42 UTC