Walter (born abt 1790) and his wife Eliza are first found in the 1855 Census in the City of Troy, Tenssalaer, NY. Walter is working as a Chandler and Eliza as a laundress. Living with them are their children – Eliza, Walter jr, Anne, Margaret and Jane – who had immigrated to America at various times over the previous 13 years.
The 1860 Census finds Walter still living and working in the City of Troy, Renssalaer, New York. Troy was a prosperous city and famous for its iron foundries in the mid-1800s. Walter was working as a Laundryman by this time, and living with him were his wife and daughters Eliza O Oakman and Jane Oakman.
By 1870, Walter’s wife, Eliza, appears to have died. Walter is now 87 years old and no longer working, while daughter Eliza is Keeping House for him. Living with them is his daughter, Jane Church, and her two young children – Robert 6 yrs and Annie 3 yrs – both of whom were born in New York.
This family would have been in Troy at the time of the Civil War (1861-64) and The Great Troy Fire of 1862. Walter had died by 1880 and I have found no trace of daughter Eliza. Jane’s first husband had died and she had remarried.
NOTE: Members of this family had arrived in America at different times, starting with Walter’s eldest daughter, Eliza, in about 1841. Daughters Anne (arrived abt 1846) and Margaret (arrived 1848) were living with their older sister, Eliza, in 1850. Sons Robert (arrived 1848) and Walter (arrived 1845) were boarding in the same house in Saugerties where they were working as Coopers in 1850.