• Home
•  | 
• Login/Register
•  | 
• Help

Charles Elijah Abijah Trenholm was born in 1857 in Nova Scotia, Canada. He was born to John W, and Mary Elizabeth or Eliza Mason Trenholm. Charles married Emma May Brodie in Lowell, MA on May 3, 1881 in the First United Baptist Church on Church St., right down the road from where Emmas family lived at the time. Charles or Hijah as is found on his marriage record was 24 years old and Emma was 19. By 1884 Hijah is found as Abijah Trenholm in the Fitchburg, MA directories as a carpenter and living on 254 Water St. Emmas parents, Colon and Margaret Brodie had moved to Fitchburg around the same time as Charles and Emma. In November of 1884, Emma and Charles had a little girl named Lena May Trenholm. They were living on 139 Lunenburg st Fitchburg three years later when baby Walter Trenholm was born. He lived only 3 months before he died of general debility, which is a weakened state. Walter died in Feb of 1888, and by that fall, Emma had already married Charles Houle! Directories for Fitchburg indicate that Charles went back to Canada, most likely taking Lena with him. We later find out that Emma was very promiscuous and maybe have even been unstable all of her life. She certainly ended badly in Danvers Insane Asylum in MA. She never remembered being married or having any children.

Charles in the meantime most likely took Lena whom he called Lennie. Emmas family never knew anything of Lena, whereas the Trenholms knew her as Lennie from Boston. In 1890 we find a Charles Trenholm back in Fitchburg and there also is a Charles H. Trenholm in Somerville, which is part of Boston.

In July 1910, Lennie married William Fennimore in Boston. And sometime after 1889, Charles married Sadie Rivet Granger who was born in NY. In 1910, they are living in the Bronx as man and wife. We also find them both together in the 1920 census in Boston. By 1930, Sadie has died and Charles is a widower still in Boston. He died there in June of 1941 and is buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery in Boston, the same cemetery where his daughter and her husband lie.

Lennie never seemed to have any children that I could find. Her husband worked with jewelry. Lennie was a dressmaker when they met. They settled in Belmont, MA a short distance from Boston. About 20 years after they married, William had a stroke and died after collapsing in a store where he went to deliver a parcel. He was only 47 years old. Lennie went on to survive her husband for about 20 more years. She died at the age of 65 of a heart attack.

As far as I know this is the end of Charles Abijah Elijahs family tree. It may very well be that Lennie did not or could not have children due to her mothers problems. We will never know. We do know that her mother died in Danvers State Hospital for the Insane, in 1942. Her body was donated to Tufts Medical University and she was buried in an unmarked grave in Tewksbury in a cemetery specifically for bodies donated to the University.

You must be logged in to post a comment regarding this story.