After Bordon - Clara (Terry) and Myrta Hosner

In a previous post we learn that Bordon and Clara (Terry) Hosner/Hausner split up between 1875 and 1879. We learned that Bordon went to the Pittsfield, Michigan area, met and married Netti Rundell.  We know that Bordon and Clara’s second child, Ada, had died.

After her marriage broke up, Clara and daughter Myrta moved in with her parents, George and Adaline Terry of Hector, New York.  Then in 1886 Clara married James K. Maus (1859-1908) of Lewisburg, PA.  James was the son of Samuel G. Maus. 

Early in his career James was chief clerk of the Lackawana at Elmira. He then obtained a position with the firm of Ford and Green, becoming confidential advisor and clerk to Broome County Republican Senator George E. Green.  James Maus was prominent in the business and social circles of the city. He was a member of the Union Lodge at Elmira, and Press Club house committee. 

Clara and James lived at 1908 Jay Street in Binghamton with her daughter, Myrta. Myrta is consistently referred to as “Myrta Maus,” so I wonder if James adopted her. 

James Maus died suddenly in June 1908 at the age of 49 years.  Although he had some health issues they were not deemed serious and at the time of his death, he and Clara were planning a trip to begin that very next day. Following the funeral, his body was transported to Perry City, NY.[1]

At some point between 1910 and 1915 Clara and Myrta moved to the Lockport, New York area. Clara, noted writer and poet, died in October 1915 of acute digestion. Her brother, Hamilton Terry, was executor of her estate.  Clara is buried in Grove Cemetery, Trumansburg, New York (Lot 1034).   Her daughter, Myrta, of Lockport survived her.[2]  In 1920 Myrta Maus boarded with the Leonard family in Enfield, New York. The Leonards lived two houses away from Myrta’s uncle and aunt, Gillett and Augusta Hosner.

Myrta died 25 April 1943 and is buried in the Grove Cemetery, Trumansburg, New York under the last name of Hausner. 

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[1] “Clara Terry Maus,” obituary for James K. Maus, The Binghamton Press, 22 June 1908, page 10, col. 3. [www.fultonhistory.com; viewed 4 September 2013.

[2] “Clara Terry Maus,” obituary, Buffalo Evening News, 28 October 1915, page 4, col. 6. [www.fultonhistory.com]

Bordon Goes to Michigan

Bordon Josiah Hosner (b: 17 January 1847) was the tenth and last child of Isaac and Adaline (Cleveland) Hosner.

Bordon married first abt 1869 Clara M. Terry (b: 1851).[1]  They had two daughters: Myrta A. Hausner (b: 1872), and Ada S. Hausner (b: 1874).

No comments were made in his mother’s journal about the marriage to Clara or the birth of the two daughters until an entry on Sunday, April 6, 1879 when Adaline notes, “His (Bordon’s) wife didn’t make him any trouble. Bordon did not try to see his little girl. She lives with his wife’s parents. So Bordon was not disturbed, went back [to Michigan] in good health and in peace and may the God of peace be with him.” 

The journal entry tells us two things. First, sometime between 1875 and 1879 Bordon and Clara split up. He moved to Pittsfield, Washtenaw, Michigan. The 1880 federal census for Pittsfield, Michigan shows Bordon as a border in the family of Josiah and Mary Rundell. Josiah is a farmer; Bordon is an “engineer.”  Bordon fell in love with and married the farmer’s daughter - Jeanette Rundell, age 26, a schoolteacher. 

In 1880 Clara M. (Terry) Hosner and her daughter, Myrta Hausner were living with George and Adaline Terry in Hector, Schuyler County, New York. George was a house painter; Clara was a schoolteacher. In that household also lived Clara’s brother, 25 year old Hamilton Terry, also a schoolteacher.

On 29 November 1881 at the age of thirty-three Bordon Joshua married Nettie (Jeanetti) E. Rundell.[2] 

Second, the journal entry suggests one of Bordon’s daughters died at a young age. Upon further investigation it was Ada (b: 1874) that died.

In 1882 Bordon writes that he wants to come home for a visit, but his mother notes in her journal that she fears his first wife will make trouble and can even have him jailed. Bordon’s mother was determined to write to him to discourage his visit.  That must have been painful for her. I imagine she ached to see her youngest child again before she died. 

Bordon and Nettie remain in Michigan through the 1900 federal census that shows Bordon is a farmer.  Nettie reports she has had one child with none living.  They don’t appear on the New York 1905 census, so I assume he continued living in Michigan until his death in 1906.  

Bordon Josiah Hosner died 1906 and is buried in the Mecklenburg, New York cemetery.[3]

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[1] Adaline Hosner’s journal states Bordon’s wife and child went to live with her parents after they separated. The 1880 federal census shows Clara M. Terry age 28 school teacher living with her parents George and Adaline Terry. In that household is granddaughter Myrta Hausner.

[2] https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NQSH-S35  [Accessed Aug 2013]

[3] Bordon Josiah Hosner information from the Mecklenburg, NY Cemetery transcription.