Thelma Brewer>> Mabel I. Baines

Mabel I. Baines
1889-1982

Mabel I. Baines was born on July 20, 1889 in New York. Her father was William Edward Baines and her mother was Louisa Oster.

1900: Mabel shows up in the 1900 Federal Census at the age of ten. She is living with both of her parents and her brother, Charles and two sisters, Lillian and Martha in Brooklyn. Her address was 556 Wythe Avenue. This home housed not only her family, but also a second family that additionally took in boarders. Her mother is stated to have had a total of seven living children on the census, so Mabel's family was quite large. Her father was a machinist and her older brother, Charles is listed as a cloth cutter. All three girls were currently at school. The census also states that they rented, rather than owned their Brooklyn home.

1909: At the age of 20, Mabel married Robert Melvin Brewer at her parent's home, 556 Wythe Ave, Brooklyn on October 14, 1909. Her younger sister, Martha was her bridemaid and Robert's brother Arthur was the best man.

1910: The 1910 Census shows Mabel and Robert living in the Bronx at 683 East 138th Street on April 15, 1910. Due to the large number of people living at this address, this may have been a larger apartment building. In addition to Mabel and Robert, their one month old son, Howard W. Brewer is living their. If one were to do some quick math, Howard is born in March 1910 and they are married in October 1909- Mabel was  somewhere between two and three months pregnant at the time of her marriage. Robert is listed as a truck driver- in fact, he is a milk delivery man.

1915: The New York State Census shows us a picture of Mabel at the age of 25. Robert is still a milk delivery man, but now, Mabel, listed as the housewife, has two more children in addition to Howard (5 years old) - Dorothy (3 years old) and Muriel (1 year old). They are now living on East 139th St., at number 699, in the same building as Robert's brother, Arthur.

1940: We don't get a historical record of Mabel again until 1940 at the age 50. She is captured in the 1940 Federal Census. At this point, Mabel is now widowed. She rents a house at 631 St. Annes Ave. in the Bronx. Her children, Thelma (18 years old), Adelaide (16 years old), Robert (14 years old), and Evelyn (12 years old) are still at home. The older three children have fled the nest at this point. The only person earning money for the family seems to be Thelma Brewer, who was working as a silk worker in a silk company. In the previous year, Thelma worked 48 weeks and earned a total of 606 dollars. From the record, this seems to be the only income the family had- although the older children may have been sending money home for their mother and siblings.

I do know that Mabel remarried a man with the last name Powers after Thelma left the home.

1982: The last record of Mabel is her death in July 1982. Mabel lived to be 93 years old. I know I got the opportunity to meet her as a young child, but I do not remember her much. Any stories about her life or about her personality are much welcomed from family members.