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Hello, Jay...
I was glad to see your interest in Egbert Van Alstyne. I'm probably the world's most definitive expert in his life and times (woo-hoo), as I have been researching him for nearly 10 years and I hope to write a book about him soon.
I visited Saverton and Hannibal a few years ago in search of whatever I could find about him at that time. I dropped off with them an article which I had written in 1996 for The Rag Times, a historical newsletter published by the Maple Leaf Club. I see that parts of that article have been directly taken by the Ralls Co. Herald Enterprise - interesting. You can find the original at:
http://www.rag-time.com/fest/bio.htm
I'm still working on this project and I can shed a little light on his early life. You have his birth and death dates correct.
His father was Charles Van Alstyne (b. Feb. 23, 1852 or 1853 in NY), the only child of Egbert Benson Van Alstyne, descended from Lambert Van Alstyne (whose tree I still have to complete on the computer, but he does go back to Jan Martense Van Alstyne, the progenitor of the Van Alstyne Family in America.
Descendants of Lambert Van Alstyne
1 Lambert Van Alstyne 1772 - 1847
. +Elizabeth Lee 1773 - 1842
..2 Thomas Van Alstyne 1797 - 1847
.....+Sherezada Roosevelt 1803 - 1898
........3 Egbert Benson Van Alstyne 1831 - 1896
..........+Elizabeth Campbell 1834 -
.............4 Charles Van Alstyne 1853 - 1884
...............+Emma Mae Rogers 1856 - 1941
..................5 Egbert Anson Van Alstyne 1878 - 1951
.................... +Lucile Wilson Abt 1880 - Unknown
.....................*2nd Wife of Egbert Anson Van Alstyne: .....................+Anna Mary Louise Henry 1886 - 1940
.....................*3rd Wife of Egbert Anson Van Alstyne: .....................+Mabelle Carolyn Church Abt 1890 - 1937
........................6 Egbert Anson Van Alstyne, Jr 1910 - 1976
.....................*4th Wife of Egbert Anson Van Alstyne:
.....................+Ruth J. Leslie
=================
His mother, Emma Mae Rogers, was born March 29, 1856 in Coral Township near Marengo. The lovely house in which she was born still stands. She was the youngest of some eight children - I'm going to follow up on that next week. Her father was Anson P. Rogers, son of Jedediah Rogers (b. c 1800, in Vermont), son of Jedediah Rogers (b. c. 1775 in Conn.), who is probably the son of the Revolutionary War officer of the same name. He is probably descended from the pilgrim Thomas Rogers, but I have yet to make that connection.
Charles moved the family to Rockford, Ill. in 1881 or 1882. He died in a typhoid epidemic in 1884, leaving his widow and son to fend for themselves. Emma married Ezra W. Trenholm (a really interesting person with a rather checkered history) on Feb. 23, 1887 in Rockford.
On Apr. 12, 1888, the Trenholms bought the Saverton property from William Spears (Sec.33, Tsp 56, Rg 3). Even though they continued to hold the property, they are listed in the Hannibal City Directory 1894-1895 at 103-105 Market St., residence at 103. Ezra was in business as Trenholm & Ross with Andrew Ross (res. 1229 Church) as "Mntrs. of the Household Comfort." Ross was later listed as a tailor. I believe they were renting out the Saverton farm.
I lose track of them for a while after that, with the next confirmed sighting being a contract on file at the Ralls Co. Recorder of Deeds. On April 23, 1897, Ezra Trenholm & Emma (listed as Chicago residents) signed an agreement with George Reilly (also of Chicago) regarding an option to buy the Saverton property. Apparently, Reilly did not exercise the option. Soon after that, Ezra deserted Emma, and she was divorced from him in 1900. She was unable to locate him a the time and he did not show up for the proceedings. She was awarded $1000 which she apparently did not receive, as Ezra shortly thereafter sold the Saverton property outright to his brother, Alex M. Trenholm, who was in the rendering business in Rockford, Ill. My guess is that Alex disposed of the property quietly and handed the money over to Ezra on the sly to avoid having to pay Emma for her share. Ezra seems like just that kind of guy, from what I can discern about him.
I really don't know how much time Egbert spent on the farm in Saverton, but it is reasonably safe to assume that he spent a few summers there. I believe that by the time he was in high school that he went to some academy in Chicago. He apparently entered college (Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, IA) quite young (16 or 17) and quit after 3-1/2 years. He then spent at least one year in Omaha (1898) teaching music and selling a few things to Anton Hospe, the local music publisher. He married his first wife, singer Lucile Wilson, there in Jan. of 1899, listing his residence as Chicago and stating that they would be living "on the road."
Regarding the Saverton farm as being the inspiration for "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree," I really hate to burst your bubble, but the publicity people at Remick, his music publishers, really worked overtime on that one. The source of inspiration has been variously credited to Marengo, Saverton, Hannibal, St. Paul Minnesota, etc... but the most popular version is that he and his lyricist, Harry H. Williams, were commenting on the "scrawny, little apple trees" they saw while riding the surface cars in New York's Central Park. I doubt that there was one single source of inspiration to the song - just memories of some generic apple trees of their childhoods. For what it's worth, neither of them really cared much for the song - they were surprised it even got published, and even more surprised when it became the biggest hit of the decade.
Do you know if any records exist from Centenary School in Saverton? On my trip there, I tried to find any leads as to where he might have gone to school but found nothing.
Thanks for posting that article, and I hope this sheds some light on Egbert's connection to Saverton. BTW, his son's full name was the same as his - he was a junior, but he went by Anson.
Let me know if you have any questions - I'll do my best to answer them. And for anyone interested in the Van Alstyne Family History, there is a copy of the book on file in the local history section of the Rockford Public Library in Rockford, Il.
Kind Regards,
Tracy Doyle
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