Stories

A short history of Ernest and Kathryn Cruger – and their children

Ernest Bernard Cruger was born December 30, 1872 in West Philadelphia. He died at age 50 on February 12, 1922 at Clason Point in the Bronx, New York.
Kathryn Veronica Cruger was born August 11, 1876. She passed away November 22, 1923 at age 48.
It has been told that after Ernest died that Kathryn and the younger children moved out of the large, brick house in Clason Point and resided in a smaller, frame house on the Cruger property.
Eleven children were born to Kathryn and Ernest. Eight survived, three died at early ages.
The three children that passed away early in their lives were:

Alice Sophia Cruger
Born May 17,1900
Died September 27, 1900

Donald Francis Cruger
Born December 14, 1913
Died March 1, 1914

Eliot Cruger
Born June 24, 1919
Died June 26, 1919

The eight Cruger children that survived and went on to live successful lives were:

Edwin George Cruger                                Ellsworth Benedict "Sonny" Cruger
Born March 11, 1898                                 Born November 28, 1906
New York                                                 Edgewater, New Jersey
Died December 27, 1946                           Died September 24, 1965

Ernest Bernard “Judge” Cruger                   Arthur Alfred Cruger
Born July 9, 1901                                     Born November 3, 1907
Died March 25, 1954                                 New York
                                                               Date died?
James William Cruger
Born July 11, 1903                                    William Henry "Red" Cruger
Edgewater, New Jersey                             Born Willis Earl Cruger, legally
Died July 5, 1975                                      Changed to William Henry Cruger
                                                               Born June 5, 1909
Marion Agusta Cruger                                Died August 16, 1988
Born August 27, 1905
New York                                                  Kathryn Rose Cruger
Date died ?                                               Born February 4, 1915
                                                                Date died?

       He was my dad. Everyone called him “Sonny.” Partially because his personality, his disposition was sunny. Partially because his full name was Ellsworth Benedict Cruger. I never heard anyone call him Ellsworth, it was always “Sonny.”
       He was born November 27, 1906 at Clason Point, New York. His mother was Kathryn Gorey Cruger. His father was Ernest Cruger. My grandfather was an engineer. Dad had 5 brothers and 2 sisters. He was the youngest.
       Dad’s father, Ernest, was said to be a tall man, his height estimated at from 6 feet 4 inches to 6 feet 8 inches. Grandmother Kathryn was 4 feet 11 inches in height. She worked later in her life as a nurse at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York.
       The eight Cruger children were best friends to each other. They had other friends, but their best friends were each other. The family owned their own luxury Chris Craft motor boat.
       Dad told me that we Crugers carried some American Indian blood in our veins. He told me that we had ancestors from the Blackfoot Indian tribes of North Dakota and Montana. Two more generations of Crugers carried the belief – that we were part Blackfoot Indian. There has never been proof of the validity of the belief – nor has the belief been disproved.
       Dad’s father, Ernest, died when dad was 15 years old. Upon Ernest’s death the family began a slow separation. At 15 dad was on his own. He got a job working as a bell boy at the hotel Pennsylvania in Manhattan. He worked with his brother Bernard “Judge” Cruger as a mechanic. He studied to be an electrician and got a job as a signalman for the Interborough Rapid Transit company (I.R.T.) one of the main companies that operated the subway system in New York City.
       Dad played baseball for the I.R.T. company team. In those days company teams were an important part of the game, producing quality players for professional leagues. Dad was always proud of his team and his role in winning city championships in the 1920’s and 1930’s.
       He was a slim 5 foot 9 inches in his youth, but as he grew older he also grew in girth. Never being terribly overweight, he gained pounds until, in middle age, weighed between 180 and 190 stocky pounds.