PHOTO ALBUM

CHARLES ROOME PARMELE 1859-1938
Theodore Weld, Truman, Thomas Truman, Thomas, Thomas, Job, John, John


Charles and his family lived in this house, at 141 St. Mark's Place, New Brighton, Staten Island from 1898 to 1911.

Young Charles was a New York City store clerk who often visited Staten Island relatives who lived on New York Avenue. The Butler family lived nearby, and Alice Butler (1865-1952) caught his eye.

The two were married March 25, 1886, in Manhattan and, after living for several years -- and having five children -- in the Clifton neighborhood of Staten Island, moved into this house. Today, 141 St. Mark's Place is an apartment building, right.

Charles eventually became a cashier for Vernon H. Brown, agent for the Cunard line of steamships, later worked for Johnson & Johnson and eventually founded his own pharmaceutical company.

In 1887, Charles assisted Police Inspector Thomas Byres in some private detective work in apprehending "Foster the Banker," who'd swindled the Tiffany and Gorham firms, Acker Merrall & Condit, and country merchants out of sums of hundreds of thousands of dollars with bogus checks. Charles disguised himself first as a barkeep, then as a summer hotel proprietor to help capture Guy W. Foster who was sent to Sing Sing for six years and a month.

Alice, the daughter of Henry Langdon and Mary (Stryker) Butler, belonged to the St. Cecelia Club, a women's choral society and managed a day nursery on the island. She was a member of the Woman's Guild of the Staten Island Hospital and, during World War I, helped sell Liberty Loan bonds and did canteen work at the U.S. Army Debarkation Hospital No. 2 (later the U.S. Army General Hospital 44) for the soldiers returning from Europe. Charles and Alice spent Christmas Day 1918 serving dinners to the men.

Photo Nos.: 08-0213, xh08-0213, x08-0215

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Updated March 1, 2020