Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Coffin Plate Of The Week. Steven Tyler 1798 ~ 1868



Steven Tyler Died Feb 26 1868 at the age of 70 years.


I went and had a look in the 1860 United States Federal Census and I think this is the man we are looking for.

Name: Stephen Tyler
Age in 1860: 63
Birth Year: 1797
Birthplace: New York
Home in 1860: Virgil, Cortland, New York

Post Office: East Virgil

Household Members: Name Age
Stephen Tyler 63
Margart Tyler 55
George Tyler 25
Emeline Tyler 20
Margaret N Tyler 20
William Tyler 18
Celestia Tyler 14
Anna Tyler 2
Infant Tyler 1/12

I cant say 100% that this is the Steven Tyler that this coffin plate belongs to but as it was with the coffin plate of Margaret Tyler who died in 1885 at the age of 80 I would say its a good bet.

This is a fairly common Coffin Plate for this time period but it may be possible to make some educated guesses that will tell us a little something about the family. The fact that the plate was purchased tells us that the family was not dirt poor. A coffin plate was a luxury. However it is a middle of the road plate as far as quality goes so they were probably not a rich family. Also the quality of the engraving is poor. This tells us that they probably lived in a more rural setting or small town. Coffin plates from a larger town or city generally have a better quality engraving.

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