The following information about my family is incomplete, and some of it may be erroneous, but it’s the best I can do based on personal knowledge and recollections of what I’ve heard and been told over the years.

My paternal grandfather, Clarence Ellsworth Broadhurst was born in Pound Ridge, NY.  He moved to New Canaan, CT and later moved to Darien, CT.  His only marriage was to Sarah Jane Campbell.  They had five children:  George Ellsworth, Victor Rowland, Arthur Francis, Oliver, and Ada.  Oliver and Ada  both died as infants or very young children.  My grandmother claimed to have been married before and had a son named Clarence Scofield who used the alias, or perhaps legally changed his name to James E. Jean.  He lived in Bridgeport, CT during the 1930’s with his wife Pearl and their two sons.  During that time he may have been a member of the Ku Klux Klan.  The last thing I heard about him was that he was serving time in Joliet Prison, Joliet, IL for stealing shirts from a store.  It seems doubtful that he would be sent to prison for shoplifting, so it probably was not his first arrest.  As far as I know, he never lived with my grandmother and grandfather.

Charles Broadhurst, my grandfather’s brother, lived in New Canaan, CT and was married to a woman named Florence.  Their children were Woodrow, Louis, Lawrence, Jesse Franklin, Florence, Charles (Snap or Jumbo), William (Snap or Jumbo), and George B.  who was of questionable character, and sometimes gave my father’s address in order to avoid bill collectors.

William and Irving Broadhurst were also my grandfather’s brothers.  One of them may have had a son named Graydon who drove a bread delivery truck in Norwalk, CT.  Irving may have been lame.  One or both of them may have been what my mother called the “Strawberry Hill Broadhursts”, referring to a section of Norwalk, CT.

Alice Broadhurst was my grandfather’s sister.  She lived in New Canaan, CT and was married to Warren Avery.  After he died, she married Ed Neher.  There were no children from either marriage.  She and both of her husbands are buried in Lakeview Cemetery, South Main Street, New Canaan, CT.

Annie Broadhurst was also my grandfather’s sister.  She lived in New Canaan, CT and was married to Ed Ferris (Pork).  They had one son named Louis and one granddaughter named Elsie.

My paternal grandmother was the daughter of Alex Campbell.  She spoke of only one sister, but never mentioned her name.  All she ever said was that her sister had been sent to the “nut house”.  I don’t remember references to any other family members.  Her father is buried in Emmanuel Episcopal Church Cemetery , 977 Hope Street,  Springdale, CT.

The first residence my grandfather and grandmother had in Darien, CT was apparently in an apartment over some stores on the Post Road.  I’m not sure, but I think it was in the block between West Avenue and Mansfield Avenue.  The next home that I know of was sometime during the 1930’s and was in the center section of a three-family row house on Old King’s highway South at the corner of Railroad Avenue (now called Tokeneke Road).  There was indoor plumbing, but no bathroom – a three –family outhouse was in the backyard.  In later years, bathrooms were installed on the second floor.  There was no central heating – heat was provided by a coal or wood-burning kitchen stove that was eventually converted to kerosene.  After World War II, their son Frank bought a house at 34 Herman Avenue, Darien, CT where they lived until the time of their deaths.  My grandmother died in 1950 and my grandfather died in 1958.  They and their two infant children are also buried in Emmanuel Episcopal Church Cemetery in Springdale, CT.

At various times, my grandfather worked on a “soda water wagon” (probably horse drawn), and was a short-order cook at the lunch wagon in Darien, CT on the east side of the Post Road near Sedgewick Avenue.  He also did some interior painting, and near the end of his life was a school crossing guard at the corner of Noroton Avenue and Linden Avenue in Noroton Heights, CT.  Apparently he never worked very steadily and drank excessively when he was younger.  I knew he drank beer, but I never saw him drunk.  My father quit school when he was in the sixth grade because he had to work to support the family.  After my father got married, his brother Frank supported the family.

The only job I ever heard of my grandmother having was at the Greyhound Depot in Darien, CT which was located on the Post Road at what is now the corner of Old King’s Highway North.  I don’t know what kind of job it was.

Arthur Francis Broadhurst (Frank) was the youngest son.  He married Helen Stevens of Stamford, CT.  They have two adopted sons – Kevin and Richard (Ricky).  They all live at 34 Herman Avenue, Darien, CT.  Prior to his marriage, Frank went out with a girl named Dorothy Ely for sixteen years.

Victor Rowland Broadhurst (Vic) was the middle son.  He married a woman named Mary Poccia (pronounced po-shay) who was not liked by our family, and we never spoke to her when I was growing up, although we remained on friendly terms with him.  They had several children.  One child choked on a pea and died in infancy.  Their other children were Joyce, Barbara, Ethel, Kathy, Edward, and Victor (Charlie).  Barbara and Ethel married two brothers name John and Donald Luce.  I don’t know who married whom.  Donald and Barbara or Ethel had a son named John Luce who lived with foster parents on Half Mile Road in Norwalk, CT.  All of the children of Barbara and Ethel and their husbands were taken away from them because they were unfit parents.  Kathy is married to John D’Acunto and lives in Bridgeport, CT.   (According to Helen Broadhurst, Kathy was divorced at some point and remarried in December 2004 to someone who owns a gun shop in Stamford.  As of December 2005, they live in Southbury, CT.)   Vic is buried in Woodland Cemetery, Woodland Place, Stamford, CT.  His wife Mary is still alive and has remarried.

My father, George Ellsworth Broadhurst was the oldest son and was born in New Canaan, CT on September 22, 1906.  As previously stated, he quit school when he was in the sixth grade, but I don’t know what kind of work he did then.  He drove a taxi in Darien, CT when he first met Margaret Jane McWhirter on a blind date.  Either before or shortly after they were married on June 30, 1927 in South Salem, NY, he took a home study course and got a job as an auto mechanic at Hudson & Essex on West Avenue in Norwalk, CT.  This auto agency was located in the building previously occupied by Bargain World and now occupied by CVS.  During the depression the company went bankrupt and he found a job as an auto mechanic for J.H. Wherlie Buick-Pontiac on West Avenue near the foot of Armory Hill in Norwalk, CT.  The building fronted on West Avenue, and the back door opened onto Armory Hill.  After J.H. Wherlie died, William Saabye and David Harford took over the agency, renamed it Saaybe & Harford, and moved into a building diagonally across the street on West Avenue next to Matthews Park and across from the complicated intersection at the bottom of Armory Hill.  My father worked there for more  than 30 years, first as an auto mechanic and then as Service Manager.  The company went out of business when David Harford died (William Saabye had previously died), and my father went to work as an auto mechanic for H&L Chevrolet in Darien, CT sometime in the late 1960’s.  He worked there until the early 1970’s when he retired because of congestive heart disease.  He died on March 4, 1974 in Stamford Hospital, Stamford, CT.  He is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery, Hecker Avenue, Darien, CT.

My maternal grandfather, Robert Patton McWhirter was the son of Peter McWhirter and Mary Agnes Patton McWhirter.  He was born in Scotland and married Mary Stewart Kennedy who died of acute appendicitis in 1908.  She was the daughter of  ? Kennedy and Margaret Stewart.  He married Martha Gauslin in 1914.  He and his first wife had two daughters, Eva Patton McWhirter and Margaret Jane McWhirter.    Margaret Jane was born December 27, 1903 in Dumfires, Scotland.  There were no children from the second marriage.

Elizabeth McWhirter (Liz) was my grandfather’s sister.  She lived in Scotland and was married to a man named Roderick or Robert Dickson.  They had two sons – Tommy and Roderick Dickson.

Tom McWhirter was my grandfather’s brother.  He lived in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and had at least one daughter – Margaret McWhirter.  She came to visit during World War II when she was a WREN (Women’s Royal Canadian Navy).

There were three other brothers, William McWhirter, John McWhirter, and Anton McWhirter.  I vaguely remember hearing that one brother fought and may have been killed in the Boer War or World War I.

My biological grandmother’s family was supposedly related to the British Royal Family.  Other than that, I have very little information about the families of my biological grandmother and my step-grandmother.

My grandfather migrated to the U.S. in 1908 after his first wife died, leaving his two daughters in the care of either or both of their paternal grandparents and a great-aunt, Jane Stroyan (Aunt Jean), who was my biological grandmother’s aunt.  My grandfather became a U.S. Citizen in 1913 and sent his second wife to Scotland in 1914 to pick up his two daughters.  My mother and her step-mother arrived in the U.S. on October 19, 1914 (automatically becoming citizens because of my grandfather’s citizenship)  and left behind her sister Eva because Eva didn’t like her new step-mother.  She was left in the care of her paternal grandparents.  After they died, she lived with her aunt, Elizabeth McWhirter Dickson.  My mother and her sister never saw each other again.  Eva died several years ago.

When my mother and step-grandmother arrived in the U.S., they lived with my grandfather on a private estate called “Rock Lea” which was next to Pear Tree Point Beach in Darien, CT.  My grandfather was employed there as a gardener by the owner, Mr. Fleitman.  He continued working there after the estate was sold** to John McCormack, who was a well-known opera singer. (The widow of John McCormack wrote a biography of her husband entitled “I Hear You Calling Me”.  My grandfather is the man called Bob in that book.)  When John McCormak decided to sell “Rock Lea”*** my grandfather thought the new owner might not hire him, so he answered a classified ad and got a job on an estate in Valatia, NY.  My mother did not go to Valatia with them because she was either still in school or was already working.  She lived with Anna and Jean Wylie and their parents until her father and step-mother returned to Darien, CT.  My grandfather bought a house at 8 Pine Street, Noroton Heights, CT in 1926 when he was employed by Paul Renshaw, who lived on Hollow Tree Ridge Road, Darien, CT.  (My step-grandmother had worked as a cook for A.H. Renshaw, the father of Paul Renshaw, on Long Neck Point, Darien, CT before she was married.)  In addition to his duties as a gardener, my grandfather also looked after the kennel of AKC registered Cairn Terriers.  Many of them were “show dogs”, and he was responsible for handling them at dog shows.  In 1937, Paul Renshaw bought an estate on West Road, New Canaan, CT, and my grandfather and step-grandmother moved into a cottage on the estate.  The cottage was located on Dan’s Highway near the corner of West Road, New Canaan, CT.  They lived there until the time of their deaths.  My step-grandmother died in 1951 and my grandfather died in 1953.  They are both buried in Spring Grove Cemetery, Hecker Avenue, Darien, CT.

My mother attended school in Darien, CT and Merrill’s Business School in Stamford, CT.  She worked as a secretary until she married my father.

My mother and father lived in several different rented houses in Norwalk, CT – Stuart  Avenue, Hendricks Avenue, Burwell Street (2 different houses), and at 49 Gregory Boulevard.  They moved to 8 Pine Street, Noroton Heights, CT on February 13, 1937 after her parents moved to New Canaan, CT.

There were three children in our family –George Robert, Margaret Eva, and Jean Campbell.

George Robert Broadhurst (Bobby) was born at home in Norwalk, CT on October 17, 1928 and died on April 8, 1952 near Hill 200 in the Chorwan Valley of South Korea while serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.   At the time of his death, he was engaged to a girl named Jean Kristoff of Stamford, CT.  He is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery, Hecker Avenue, Darien, CT.

Margaret Eva Broadhurst (Snooks) was born at home at 8 Pine Street, Noroton Heights, CT on May 16, 1938 and married William Vasilakos on February 14, 1960.  They have one daughter, Deena Ann and one son William Robert.  They live at 10 Devon Road, Darien, CT.****

Jean Campbell Broadhurst was born at home on Burwell Street, South Norwalk, CT on February 7, 1930.  The doctor didn’t arrive in time because of a snowstorm, so I was delivered by a man named Dave Drew  who lived upstairs.

The first school I attended was Marvin School on Gregory Blvd., East Norwalk, CT.  When we moved to Noroton Heights, CT I attended Baker Elementary School, Darien Junior High, and was graduated from Darien High School in June 1947.  While working for PS Advertising in Stamford, CT, I met Howard Mehr who was also employed there.  We were married August 22,1953 by Rev. Thorpe Bauer in Union Memorial Church, Glenbrook, CT.  Two months after we were married I was diagnosed as having Tuberculosis, and spent two or three months at Laurel Heights Sanatorium, Shelton, CT.  I signed out “against advise” and continued treatment at home.  It took a year, and I have never had a re-occurrence of the disease. 

Our first home was a three-room apartment over a grocery store at 151 Spruce Street, Stamford, CT (the rent was $80/month).  On January 1, 1955 we moved to a four-room garden apartment at 2079-B South John Russel Circle, Elkins Park, PA (the rent was $108/month incl. garage) because Howard went to work for Selas Corp. of America in Philadelphia, PA.  Two years later we bought a split-level house at 1031 Boyd Avenue, Lansdale, PA (it cost $13,590).  The house wasn’t completely finished when our apartment lease expired, so we lived at the 309 Motel in Montgomeryville, PA for almost two months (we were charged $100/week).  In March 1959, we bought a Dutch Colonial house and moved to 4 Circle Street, South Norwalk, CT, because Howard went to work for Harry W. Smith, Inc. in the Pan Am Building in New York City (the house cost $18,000).  He worked for Harry W. Smith Inc. until 1960, then joined the staff at Dorr-Oliver, Stamford, CT.  The house on Circle Street was condemned by the State of Connecticut to make way for the Route 7 Expressway, so we bought a split-level house at 17 Mohawk Drive, Norwalk, CT in August 1965, where we still live (this house cost $25,750).  After leaving Dorr-Oliver in 1969, Howard worked again for Harry W. Smith, Inc., then at Castagne Communications in Pleasantville, NY.  In 1978 he started his own technical publicity agency, MarTek Communications Services which he ran until he retired in 1988.

We have two daughters, Lenore Adrian Mehr, and Laraine Ellen Mehr born in Norwalk.

Lenore Adrian Mehr married John Kalotai in 1982.  They have three children, all born in  Bridgeport, CT: Margaret Allison Kalotai (Maggie),  Andrew Charles Kalotai, and Emily Laraine Kalotai,.  They all live in Bridgeport, CT.

Laraine Ellen Mehr is unmarried and lives in Norwalk, CT.*****

That’s about all I can remember at the moment without going into a lot more detail.  My mother probably has additional information including dates of birth and death for several people.

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