William Stewart Ker, Grandson of William S Marvel

Died at age 29 in 1917 by inhaling illuminating gas in his room at the Oxford Rooming House in Meriden, Connecticut.  William Stewart Ker was an undertaker following in the footsteps of his grandfather, William S Marvel, an undertaker in Delmar.

He had attempted suicide six months before but the landlady detected the smell of gas and stopped him.

He had recently been notified he was about to be drafted.  Some thought he preferred death to being drafted but he was already in the Meriden “home” Guard in Connecticut which I take to be the National Guard.  Others thought the effects of a divorce he had recently went through and a relationship with a Mrs. Charles C. Martin created the problem. Whatever the reason the end result was the same.  For the past year he had worked for Albert A. May Undertaker in Meriden Connecticut.

He had had his own undertaking business in Middletown NY. Until marriage problems made him give it up.

1915 Middletown NY

Notice his father, H C Ker, is listed as an associate

His parents were Rev. Henry Claude Ker and Emily Josephine (Emma” Marvel.  His mother was the daughter of William S. Marvel the Undertaker in Delmar.  He was born in Delmar, Maryland in 1889 and was named for his grandfather.  The family moved to New Vernon, New York.  In 1911 he married Frances Viola New (1893-1952) in New York.  She was the daughter of Charles A. New and Emma Pultz New.  In July of 1916 she divorced him. After his death she would list herself as a widow in the census reports. An odd newspaper item  in the Brooklyn Eagle appeared in 1938 concerning her. See below.  Viola would die in 1952 in Florida. 

The past post on the Ker family is located at

https://delmarhistoricalandartsociety.blogspot.com/2018/05/a-little-about-ker-slemons-davis-and.html