Ivy Garlands Set

Frank Rowland Burdick

of Hampton, Canterbury, and Waterford, Connecticut

My great-grandfather, Frank Rowland Burdick, was born on 10 May 1885 in Hampton, Connecticut. He was the seventh of nine children of Abel and Susan (Phillips) Burdick.

When he was twenty-two years old, Frank married my great-grandmother, Sarah Hannah Clark, (in photo, right) the twenty-one year-old daughter of Hon. Levi and Carrie (Larkham) Clark of Canterbury, Connecticut. The date was June 7, 1907. Frank and Sarah (Sadie) settled in Norwich, Connecticut where Frank worked for the New Haven Railroad. Their first child, a son, was born two years later. A daughter, my grandmother, was born three years after this:

Francis Clark Burdick, born July 12, 1909 in Norwich, Connecticut
Bertha Melissa Burdick, born May 27, 1912 in Norwich, Connecticut

Photo left: Frank and Sarah's children, Bertha and Francis Burdick; Photo right: Frank's bride, Sarah Hannah Clark

When he was about 45 years old, Frank fell from a railway car and was seriously injured and was forced to retire early from his job with the railroad. Rheumatoid arthrithis and heart trouble complicated his health. Shortly thereafter, Frank and Sadie went to live with their daughter and son-in-law (my grandparents), Bertha and Constantine (Kotch) Patterson, in Waterford, Connecticut, where they remained for the rest of their lives. After Sadie died in 1955, Frank would spend some time in Canterbury at the farm of Sadie's sister, Bertha Davis. My second cousin, Beverly Wilber (granddaughter of Bertha Davis), has this childhood memory of my great-grandfather:

"...Frank went to visit and stay with my grandmother, Bertha, after she [Sadie] died. I remember one time that he was there during the summer, my mother told me that he had a bad heart and wasn't supposed to be doing anything. He was, however, working on clearing brush from a wall on my grandmother's farm. He worked very slowly with a pair of long-handled clippers. He would very slowly clip one piece of brush at a time and I picked it up and put it in a pile. It was great fun for me and we had great conversations, unfortunately, I can't remember what we talked about, but I'm sure it was very important at the time. I remember that he was very nice and nice-looking. He made quite an impression on me. I was probably about 9 years old then. On my next birthday, he sent me a card with ten dollars in it. That was a lot of money for me at the time and I will never forget the friendly gesture and the fact that he remembered me."

Frank died on January 12, 1960. He was buried next to Sadie at the Carey Cemetery (where Sadie's parents are also buried) in Canterbury, Connecticut.

Note: the photos, scans of old documents and poetry on my web pages are family heirlooms that may not be reproduced in any form without my express permission. Copyright © 2001 by Sally Cox. All rights reserved.

Photo Gallery

Frank, Sadie, Bertha Burdick, Carrie, Levi Clark and others

A gathering in the mid- to late-1920s:
From left to right:
Front row: (standing) Levi Nelson Clark(?), Frank Rowland Burdick, (sitting) Bertha Melissa Burdick (my grandmother), unknown young woman (Weeks daughter?) unknown young woman (Weeks daughter?).
Second row: Madeline Burdick Weeks, Sarah (Sadie) Clark Burdick, unknown young woman (Weeks daughter?).
Back row: Carrie Larkham Clark (standing), Robert Weeks (sitting).

Levi Nelson Clark's birthday party at Bertha Davis' house (probably in the late 1920s - early 1930s).
From left to right,
Front row: Frank Burdick and dog, three little girls (Weeks daughter?), Ellsworth Davis, Addison Davis.
Second row: Unknown man, Sarah Hannah Clark Burdick, Julia Melissa Larkham, Bertha Maude Clark Davis, Madeline Burdick Weeks, Robert Weeks, Levi Nelson Clark, Kenneth Davis.
Back row: unknown woman, unknown woman, unknown woman, Carrie Estelle Larkham Clark (sitting directly to the rear left of Levi Clark.

Written on back of photo:
Northwest Hose Company #8, New London, Connecticut. 1924.
Frank Burdick, Mr. Swatkins standing on the fire engine.