{geni:about_me} Gerald Duncan Sylvester
* Birth: Aug 14 1930 - Manila, Luzon, Philippines
* [https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VZ5P-G8P Died]: Aug 31 1986 - Boston, Suffolk, Mass. [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&a...28&PIpi=83757383 FindAGrave]. Buried [http://www.capecodgravestones.com/truropixweb/wir55trs.html Snow Cemetery], Truro, Mass.
* Parents: Harold MacTavish Sylvester (1903-1963), Lilian Elizabeth Wirtz (1904-1980)

Gerald Duncan Sylvester [https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24VY-JSY arrived] New York in 1936 on the ''American Merchant''

"Miss Lilian Wirtz, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=113364769 Bart Wirtz], of Mount Washington, Baltimore County, Maryland, to Mr. H. Mactier Sylvester, Ensign of the United States Navy, son of Mr. and Mrs. I. W. Sylvester, of Alexandria, Louisiana."

Father of GDS, '''Harold MacTavish Sylvester''', appears in the [https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MPYY-W6C '''1910 census'''] for Alexandria, Louisiana:
*'' Household Role Gender Age Birthplace''
* Ira Sylvester Head M 42 Maine
* Eloise Sylvester Wife F 40 Louisiana
* Wallace Sylvester Son M 11 Louisiana
* Harold Sylvester Son M 6 Louisiana
* Malcolm Sylvester Son M 5 Louisiana

Harold MacTavish Sylvester appears in [https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K48V-CVQ '''1940 census'''] for Charleston, South Carolina:
* ''Household Role Gender Age Birthplace''
* H Mc T Sylvester Head M 36 Louisiana
* Lillian Sylvester Wife F 36 Holland
* Gerald Sylvester Son M 9 Manila, Philippines
* Paemole (Pamela) Sylvester Daughter F 8 Maryland

Harold MacTavish Sylvester appears in [https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KNG5-87K ''Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Immigration Cards''] at FamilySearch.org:
* Name: Harold Mactavish Sylvester
* Event Type: Immigration
* Event Date: 1957
* Event Place: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
* Marital Status: Married
* Nationality: United States
* Traveling With Children: No
* Birth Date: 29 Aug 1903
* Birthplace: Alexandria, Louisiana

''Father of Harold McTavish Sylvester'' was '''Ira Wallace Sylvester''', b. Maine in 1868-d. Louisiana in1942; [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=79632961 FindAGrave]. Burials in Waldo County, Maine, that appear in FindAGrave, trace his family back to the 1740s ([http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=43548303 '''Ebenezer Sylvester''', 1745-1834]). The line actually goes back into the 1600s in England, with Richard Silvester (b. England 1608-d. Plymouth Colony, Mass. 1663). [http://www.geni.com/people/Richard-Silvester/6000000003942631799 '''Richard Silvester'''] and his descendants through [http://www.geni.com/people/Daniel-Sylvester/6000000032563520016 '''Daniel Sylvester, Sr.'''] (1775-1846; see below) are on GENI. In addition, a number of sources for Sylvester / Maine data appear on [http://www.genealogy.com/ftm/b/r/o/Sj-Brough/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-Sources.html#1111 Genealogy.com]. Colonial-era Silvester/Sylvesters, such as Richard Silvester and his son [http://www.geni.com/people/Capt-Joseph-Sylvester/351525762180001341 '''Capt. Joseph Sylvester'''] (1638-ca. 1690), appear in the well-sourced[http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/gen/report/rr_idx/idx287.html Pane-Joyce Genealogy] online, although that work focuses on a different set of later descendants from those mentioned here.

This line (from 1745 on) is discussed at [http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op...ylvester%2C+Ebenezer Rootsweb]; it goes:
* [http://www.geni.com/people/Ebenezer-Sylvester/6000000020625577983 '''Ebenezer (Eben) Sylvester'''] (1789-1870), on GENI. He is the son of Ebenezer (1745-1834).
* Eben's son is [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=70091139 '''Daniel Sylvester, Sr.'''] (1775-1846).
* Daniel Sr.'s son is [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=70123374 Daniel, Jr.] (1811-1885)
* Daniel Jr.'s son is [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=79625465 Evander Wallace] (b. 1839 in Maine-d. 1898 in Louisiana). Served in Civil War: Private, Co. B [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_Maine_Volunteer_Infantry_Regiment Maine 6th Infantry], from April 29, 1861-July 18, 1864. Enumerated in the [https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-16955-13441-58?cc=1877095 1890 Census of Civil War Veterans], residing at Washington, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, where he also appears in the [https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDXF-7PM '''1880 census''']. E.W. had taken a [https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N4JW-YJ8 Civil War pension] in 1873.
* Evander Wallace's son is [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=79632961 Ira Wallace] (b. 1868 in Maine-d. 1942 in Louisiana). Per the 1880 census, his siblings were Marion (1871), Asher, Lydia, William, and Lucy (b. 1880), all in Louisiana.
* Ira Wallace Sylvester attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York State, [https://books.google.com/books?id=V7NGAQAAMAAJ&...ester%22&f=false Class of 1893], and became a civil engineer. He [http://www.google.com/patents/US410218 filed for a patent] on "a new and useful plow" in 1889. He was [https://books.google.com/books?id=-QGyaGsLxLYC&...ester%22&f=false City Engineer] for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandria,_Louisiana Alexandria, Louisiana], designing that city's first sanitation system in 1899. He had three sons: [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=62097795 Evander Wallace Sylvester] (1899-1960), [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=67827434 '''Harold MacTavish Sylvester'''] (1903-1963), and [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=79646451 Malcolm Duncan Sylvester] (1905-1965) (All three sons were U.S. Naval Officers. Malcolm Sylvester was married to [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic...AR2008062401664.html Elizabeth C. Whitmire]).

''Mother of Harold MacTavish Sylvester'' was Heloise Violette 1869-1940; [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=79645013 FindAGrave]. The entry states:

Heloise Violett was the daughter of Oscar Hamilton Violett {see [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=82332921 FindAGrave]; the entry cites "The Violette Family in America" by Genvieve Potts Dolle (Mrs. Percy A.)from the DAR Library}. Heloise was born in Hartford, Licking County, Ohio to Oscar and Aglea LeZeune Violett. ''{Oscar was the son of Justus Violet, b. ~1820, who appears in the [https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCGV-6YX 1860 census] for Hartford Township, Ohio with 10 children.} '' Oscar married three times; Aglea was No. 2 (per [http://www.violettesofvirginia.com/phpGedView/family.php?famid=F143 Violettes of Virginia.com], they were divorced in New Orleans). Heloise Violett was born on 26 September 1869 in Rapides, Rapides Parish, Louisiana. During the Civil War, Oscar served in the War Department in Cincinnati, then was commissioned a Captain of a company "ordered to assist in quelling the rioting and put down the Guerilla Warfare in Kansas and Misssouri" (Corbett). Took law at Yellow Springs, in Athens, Athens County, Ohio, and practiced law in Louisiana. Is he the Oscar H. Violet born 1842 inOhio who [https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VYD3-N9B registered to vote] in Los Angeles in 1888?

Heloise Violett married Ira Wallace Sylvester on 30 June 1892 in Rapides, Parish Rapides, Louisianna. Heloise and Ira had three children. They were: Evander Wallace Sylvester was born on 02 January 1899; Harold M. Sylvester was born on 29 August 1903; and Malcolm Duncan Sylvester was born in 1905. All the children were born in Alexandria, Rapides Parish, Louisiana.

Heloise wrote 'The History of Louisiana'. Heloise also wrote poems.

Obituary published in Alexandria, Louisiana (quoted on Heloise's FindAGrave page): "The funeral of Mrs. Heloise Violett Sylvester, 71 years old, who died here, was held from Saint James Episcopal church. The services were conducted by the Rev. Dr. W. S. Slack, retired Episcopal minister, followed by interment in Greenwood Memorial Park. She was the wife of Ira Wallace Sylvester, city engineer of Alexandria, to whom she was married on 30 June 1892. She wasborn in Opelousas, on 26 September 1869, and was a daughter of the late Oscar J. Violett and Mrs. Aglae Dejean Violett. She was educated in the schools of Saint Landry parish and taught there and in Rapides parish. Besides her husband, she is survived by three sons, Commander Evander Wallace Sylvester, Lieutenant Commander Harold MacTavish Sylvester, and Lieutenant Commander Malcolm Duncan Sylvester, all of the United States Navy. Mrs. Sylvester had long been a leader in civic and club work and was a writer in several fields of literary endeavor. Some of her poems received national recognition. She was the founder of the local Poets circle and Geographic club and other organizations here. She organized the first American Red Cross chapter here and with her oldest son, Wallace Sylvester, led in the establishment of the first Boy Scout work in this city."

'''Harold MacTavish Sylvester''' in the [https://familysearch.org/search/tree/results?count...th_place%3Alouisiana ''International Genealogical Index''] (IGI)
* birth: 29 August 1903 Alexandria, Rapides, LA
* death: 30 April 1963 Bethesda, Montgomery, MD
* burial: 6 May 1963 Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA ([http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=67827434 FindAGrave])
* marriage: 27 February 1927 Baltimore, Baltimore, MD
* spouse: '''Lilian Elizabeth Wirtz'''

'''Lilian Wirtz''' in the [https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6QD-1L6 '''1920 census'''], Baltimore, Maryland:
* ''Household Role Gender Age Birthplace''
* Bart Wirtz Head M 44 Holland. Immigration 1905
* Elizabeth Wirtz Wife F 35 Holland. Immigration 1906
* Lilian Wirtz Daughter F 15 Holland. Immigration 1906
* Benton Wirtz Son M 12 Maryland. His name was '''Peyton''' Wirtz (8 mos. old on the Sept. 21-Oct. 1, 1907 ship's manifest referenced at [https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JX27-7NL New York Passenger Lists-Ellis Island/FamilySearch.org]). Peyton Louis Wirtz was born January 6, 1907 in Baltimore, [http://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient.php?recipientid=21638 served] in the U.S. Navy (Annapolis, class of 1931) and died February 24, 1979 in St. Augustine, Florida ([https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVKZ-569D FindAGrave]).

Lilian Wirtz immigrated in 1906 at 2 years of age, per [https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JFXG-TYF ''New York, Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island)'']. She and her mother were traveling to join Bart Wirtz in Baltimore:
* Given Name: Lillian Surname: Wirtz
* Last Place of Residence: Groningen (Holland)
* Event Date: 24 Jan 1906
* Age: 2 Y
* Nationality: Holland Dutch
* Departure Port: Rotterdam
* Arrival Port: New York
* Ship Name: ''Rotterdam''. See [http://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/passenger-de...czo4OiJtYW5pZmVzdCI7 Ellis Island ship's manifest]; log-in required.

Father of Lilian Wirtz Sylvester was ''Bart Wirtz'' [https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J1S9-468 Nov. 4, 1875-June 1969], who was on the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore (see [https://books.google.com/books?id=MwgbAAAAMAAJ&...imore%22&f=false ''Annual Report of the Peabody Institute of the City of Baltimore, Volumes 34-49''], by Johns Hopkins University, Peabody Institute, page 6). He taught Cello. In 1918 when he registered for the [https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-25123-32347-15?cc=1968530 World War I draft], his name appears as Bartholomew Christian Maris Wirtz, b. Nov. 4, 1875.

Mother of Lilian Wirtz Sylvester was ''Lily Wirtz'' 1883-1955