This project actually began about 1985 as I
researched the family that built our home in Grand Rapids. After gathering facts on
the artist's life, I found that I had quite a bit of information on Larry Earle's family
as well. As an exercise in Internet Genealogy, I assembled what I had, added more facts
from local deeds, cemetery records, obituaries and marriage records and started searching
online. I guess this is a testament of what can be found online now-days. I
started my online search "close-by" with the records available on the
Kent County GenWeb pages. Thanks to Jennifer
Godwin, Evelyn Sawyer and others for doing such a great job keeping that resource very active and alive! The local
marriage records, especially the
St. Mark's
Episcopal
Church, were very helpful and led to many of Larry's immediate family members I had
not previously encountered.
I next went to the fabulous website of the LDS Church at
www.familysearch.org. I was very fortunate to have
found the I.G.I. fairly well-populated with EARLE records. It took awhile to
positively identify which John EARLE in the I.G.I. was Larry's father,
but a clue was discovered in the Grand Rapids Public Library
Local History Department. John's obituary happened to be indexed in one of the many
scrapbook collections (Richmond). With that was a reference to John's brother, Lawrence
who died in New Jersey. Armed with that information I returned to the I.G.I. and searched
for a John and a Lawrence with the same parents and found them. Next I searched for all
children by that couple, Edward EARLE & Sichy (Cynthia) VAN DUYN. I repeatedly
came across another John Earle married to a Mary Smith RUTZER. Knowing
this was not Lawrence's mother, she was Mary DORSET, I dismissed them as
another unrelated couple. But the names of THEIR children popped up in Grand Rapids in the
deed records, marriages at St. Mark's, and probate notices when John died. Retracing my
steps, I quickly came to the conclusion that John EARLE was twice married, and several of
the children indeed lived in Grand Rapids for at least some time.
As a clue for those who've not figured it out, if you use the I.G.I. search in
the custom search area, NOT the ancestor search or Ancestral File, you can search by
parents names and the results will be every child in the database listed with those
parents. Very handy! Be sure to try Mrs. EARLE or other variations if the mother's name is
not known.
These findings led to several generations that were well documented in
subsequent publications I found. I have always treated the I.G.I. with caution and urge
the same to you the reader. But, the families laid out in this chart have been
cross-checked as much as I could reasonably accomplish from my desktop and the local
library. The I.G.I records differed only slightly with the other sources.
Of particular interest to me was Lawrence's ethnic origin. The surname EARLE is
decidedly very English, and I had assumed he'd come from early New England stock. I was
very surprised to discover his extensive Dutch ancestry going back to early New Jersey and
New York City (New Amsterdam). It was fortunate in my research I guess, because these
records are quite well documented and readily available. It may be argued, I suppose, that
Lawrence Earle's skills in the visual arts may have been inherited in this line as the
Dutch have well proven their contributions to the art world for centuries. The Dutch
ancestry also connects to the famous VanderBilt family of American industry.
Another interesting connection is the early Polish ancestry represented by the
SABRIESKI branch of the family. The name was repeated proudly as a middle name in several
of the lines I found for many generations. The immigrant ancestor may well have been the
first Polish-American!
As you read some of the narrative I've included in the ancestry, you'll see that
Lawrence EARLE's grandfather was a Loyalist at the time of the American Revolution. He was arrested
and removed with all his family and probably none of his belongings to New Brunswick
(Canada). Many of his children were there born. Years after the war, family members moved
back to the U.S. and settled in New Brunswick, NJ, and nearby New York City. John EARLE's
three oldest sons, grandsons of Edward the Loyalist, were military officers and served in
the Civil War. Lawrence was barely old enough to serve in the war, but didn't that I could
find. Instead, he was studying the arts & playing base ball.
Other sources I found to fill in over the skeletons of the families:
- Calendar of New Jersey Wills
- Documents Related to the Colonial History of New Jersey
- Register of the Early Settlers of Kings County Long Island New York
- The History of the town of Flatbush in Kings County Long Island
- Various Census indexes and Census records
Many of these were found online at
www.genealogylibrary.com
and www.ancestry.com
- Don Bryant, September 1999.
