Find My Dead

Genealogy of Sharon & Scotty

You are here: Home / Blog

Blog

McLean/Frith/Brimlow/Brown

Peter Charles McLean (1805-1872)

Peter Charles McLean was born 28 Apr 18051 in Columbia County, New York.2 It is not yet positively known who his parents are, but I believe he might be the son of Peter and Mary McLean of Hudson. More research in this area is required. His daughter-in-law Susan Winn (Frith) McLean referred to him in depositions as Charles, indicating that was his preferred name.

On 21 May 1830, he married Margaret Swasey, in the United Methodist Church in New York City.3  Margaret was born about 16 Jun 1806 in Newburyport, Essex, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Samuel Swasey and Sarah (Sally) Leigh. Peter Charles (with a female of the appropriate age to be Margaret) was found on the 1830 census in Ward 7 of New York City,4 but I have been unable to locate him in 1840. Peter C. relocated to Williamsburg in 1842, and thereafter he and his family are found on the 1850, 1860, and 1870 federal census records as well as the 1855 New York State Census.5,6,7,8

Margaret passed away 11 Sep 1854 in Williamsburg and was probably interred in Union Cemetery. Her death notice appeared in the New York Daily Times.

“At Williamsburg, L.I., on Monday, Sept.11, MARGARET, wife of P.C. McLean, in the 49th year of her age.”9

Peter Charles was a house, sign, and fresco painter. Several of his sons followed him into that trade and either worked with him or opened their own businesses. The city directories for Brooklyn between 1860 and 1870 list both he and his sons with paint and wallpaper businesses located on Grand Avenue. He never remarried.

Peter Charles was nothing less than a stand-up guy. When his desperately ill son Peter B. came home from the war in early 1862, he moved in with his father. For almost three years, Peter Charles took care of his son and supported Peter B.’s family as he recovered. In about 1869, Peter Charles suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed and unable to care for himself. Peter B. took in his father and Peter Charles remained with his son until his death on 27 Feb 1872.

He was interred on 29 Feb 1872 in Union Cemetery.10 I have not yet found an obituary.

He and Margaret had five known children who will be discussed in the next post.
1. Charles E. McLean
2. Peter Byron McLean – previously discussed.
3. Washington McLean
4. Nathaniel Bruce McLean
5. Sarah Amelia McLean

*note – Union Cemetery was closed and the bodies relocated. I will cover this in a separate post.


1. Kings County, New York, death certificate no. 1916 (27 Feb 1872), Peter Charles McLean; FHL microfilm 1,324,745. Cit. Date: 2 Aug 2010.
2. 1855, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn Ward 14, Kings, New York, p. E.D. 2, dwelling 832, line 6, P.C. McLean; digital images, Ancestry(accessed 10 May 2014). Cit. Date: 10 May 2014.

3.  New York and Vicinity, United Methodist Church Records, 1775-1949, Vol 72-78, Methodist Episcopal Church: Marriages, pg 106
4. 1830 U.S. census, New York Ward 7, New York, New York, p. 79, line 22, McLean, Peter C.; digital images, Ancestry (accessed 10 May 2014); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M19, roll 97. Cit. Date: 10 May 2014.
5. 1850 U.S. census, population schedule, Williamsburg, Kings, New York, p. 469B, dwelling 1508, family 2100, Peter McLean; digital images, Ancestry (accessed 10 May 2014); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M432, roll M432 522. Cit. Date: 10 May 2014.
6. 1860 U.S. census, population schedule, Williamsburg, Brooklyn Ward 13 Dist 1, Kings, New York, p. 653, dwelling 55, family 89, Peter C. McLean; digital images, Ancestry (accessed 10 May 2014); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M653, roll M653 772. Cit. Date: 10 May 2014.
7. 1870 U.S. census, population schedule, Williamsburg, Ward 14 Brooklyn, Kings, New York, p. 180A, dwelling 281, family 582, Peter McLean; digital images, Ancestry (accessed 10 May 2014); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M593, roll M593 955. Cit. Date: 10 May 2014.
8. 1855, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn Ward 14, Kings, New York, p. E.D. 2, dwelling 832, line 6, P.C. McLean; digital images, Ancestry(accessed 10 May 2014). Cit. Date: 10 May 2014.
9. Newspapers, New York Daily Times, 28 Sep 1854. Cit. Date: 2 May 2014.
10. Kings County, New York, death certificate no. 1916 (27 Feb 1872), Peter Charles McLean; FHL microfilm 1,324,745. Cit. Date: 2 Aug 2010.

McLean/Frith/Brimlow/Brown

As Strong as They Come

Susan Winn (Frith) McLean (1839-1915)

The Civil War pension file for Peter B. was often painful to read, but much of the personal material about his quality of life was found in his wife Susan’s widow’s pension application and the depositions written on her behalf. While reading about his condition and demise saddened me, more often than not, my mind turned to the question of what it must have been like for Susan.
Susan

Susan Wynn Frith was born 24 Jun 1839 in Kings County, New York. She was the second child of William and Frances (Brown) Frith who had arrived from England only two years earlier. Her mother died when Susan was thirteen and her father died the following year. Her grand aunt Ellen Winn took in Susan and her siblings. She was barely seventeen when she married Peter Byron McLean on 27 Aug 1856 in Brooklyn. Her first child, Franklin Byron McLean arrived on 6 Nov 1857. Son Washington and daughter Sarah R. followed.

In June of 1861, Susan might have thought life was pretty good. Her husband had a thriving business in Brooklyn, she and Peter owned their home, she had three children, and her siblings and in-laws lived nearby. But then Peter decided to go play soldier. He helped raise a company and by the beginning of winter, he’d gone marching off to war, leaving Susan to manage without him.

Eight short months later, Susan was married to a complete invalid who was delusional and, according to the doctors at the hospital, a man who “might become violent.” [Read more…] about As Strong as They Come

McLean/Frith/Brimlow/Brown

Peter B. McLean, 1st Lt, Co H, 87th NY Inf – 4

The Civil War & its cost –
Part 4 – Peter B.’s Bitter End 1890-1895

By the end of 1890, Peter B. McLean was crippled by rheumatism and still struggling with the malarial fevers that had plagued him throughout his post war years. His pension made it possible for him to turn his business over to his sons, and I like to believe that life became a little easier for a short time. However, it appears that any relief and peace may have been short-lived.

Sister-in-law Ruth Reed stated, “Mr. McLean was totally disabled from labor last 5 years of his life. … I noticed evidence of insanity a year or two before he was sent to the Asylum. He used to think his children were all in hell and he was trying to get them out. He talked at random. I knew of no cause for this. He had no financial or family trouble or religious trouble to my knowledge. For 5 or so years before he died he used to say that his head bothered him and that he couldn’t sleep nights.”

According to his wife Susan, Peter B. came down with a case of “la grippe” in January 1893. Grippe was a common name in its time for influenza. She stated in her deposition that this bout of illness “left him very weak and nervous. Could not sleep and as a result his mind gave way… Every time he was sick it would seem to affect his head.”

From Daniel Harrison’s deposition: “For several years prior to his death, he lost so much sleep from pain that his mind became affected and a commission was appointed to inquire into his sanity.”

In June of 1893, a panel of doctors was assembled to examine Peter B., and they recommended his commitment to the asylum at Middletown, New York. The records of his examination are not part of his pension file as they were medical records that went to the hospital with him. He was committed to The Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital on 1 Jul 1893.
middletown2

Peter B. remained in the asylum for the rest of his life and died there 1 Oct 1895. His death certificate stated the primary cause was chronic melancholia and the secondary cause a pulmonary hemorrhage.

Only after his death is the reality of his final years brought to light. When his wife applied for a widow’s pension shortly after his death, the hospital was contacted for a statement about his death. The pension board was attempting to determine if his death was related to his military service. The following letter dated 4 Feb 1896 was received:

“Sir:-
Your communication under date of Jan. 31, 1896 regarding the late Peter B. McLean, has been received, and in reply I would state:
On admission to this hospital he was in a feeble physical condition, rapidly losing flesh; weighed on admission 144 lbs. and a month later 109 lbs.; was very restless, suspicious, careless in his habits, destructive and inclined to suicide, having the delusion that he was being persecuted by the devil, did not care to talk, would admit of no pain but manner very nervous. The remote cause of his sickness were supposed to be predisposition (nervous), and exciting physical disease. The physical disease referred to, was an attack of grip he had had in January 1892. In his history it was stated that “he was ill with typhoid fever in the army in 1862. After convalescence his mind was not right for six months.” It is probable that phthisis was developed before admission to this hospital.
Very truly yours,
C. Spencer Kinney”

According to my Merriam-Webster, phthsis is a wasting or consumptive condition such as pulmonary tuberculosis. This explains the secondary cause of death.

It was a painful and ugly ending for a good man.