The family historian knew of him as "Cord" and thought his given legal name might have been "Cortes"
The lore surrounding Quartus was that his father or grandfather was married to a Native American woman.
But the names of his parents are not known.
What little bits we do know about his early life, such as his birthplace, are taken from later sources. And those sources - for instance census takers - probably heard it from Quartus himself.
It is suspected that he may have spent his early years deep in the mountains or even "out West" on the colonial frontier in Western New York.
Our first trace of Quartus is the New York State census of 1855. Here he is listed as a single boarder living in Denning, NY with no spouse, children or occupation. He would have been 32 or 33 years old at this point. That may not seem too odd-being a bachelor living in a rented room. What is odd is that the 1860 Federal census tells a different story.
In 1860 he is listed as living in Vernooy Falls, Rochester, Ulster County, New York with a wife and family.
Esther(or Hester, maiden name unknown) and Quartus have the following children, with birth year approximate:
He even has a job! Quartus was a bark peeler.
When the 1870 Federal census came around they found no piles of bark, but a new wife and a pile of children.
Quartus was now married to Rosa "Rose" Tallett.
A "M.Tallett" is seen on this 1875 map South of the property of "Q.S. Dewitt"
Together with Rose, Cord fathered (dates approximate):
There is a conspicious lack of prodigy starting in 1862...Could Quartus Dewitt have left for Washington D.C. as a member of the 20th Infantry Regiment, New York State Militia "aka Ulster Guard" in April 1861? The members of the Ulster Guard fought throughout the war, and remained as part of the occupying force that maintained martial law in Southern Viriginia until November 1865. They were reconstituted in January of 1866 and marched home to Ulster County-nearly five years later. That would fit with the gap in children. But hey-we found something! Here is the ledger from the 1863 Consolodated Enrollment List (Class 2&3). These list were made for each congressional district in preparation for a draft. All information is attested to be accurate as of 1 July 1863.
Well well well looky here who do we find at lucky number 13?!
Is there any record of whether or not Quartus was indeed drafted? I haven't found one yet
Holy cow he had one more wife Sarah A. Cole and somehow had one more child:
I don't know anything about any of Quartus's children except Warren sadly. He died young before having any children himself.
As we get closer to the modern era we know much more. Information has been preserved and indexed, even digitized and searchable.
Here's another wrinkle to the mystery, courtesy of a newspaper archive search:
Did Quartus make it to claim his inheritance? Maybe? But he died April 18, 1888.
Like so many things...the location of his grave in unknown.
Thanks for travelling down this road with us!
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