Stark family

The Stark family emigrated from England to Boston, Massachusetts, in the mid-19th century, eventually settling in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Frederick and Bertha Stark's daughter, Marguerite, married Paul Bellamy and lived in Cleveland, Ohio. Another daughter, Natalie, lived in the Philippines, where she was interned by the Japanese during World War II, and later resided in Cleveland.

John Henry Stark, son of James and Mary (Willmott) Stark, was born in Shepton-Mallott, England, on June 4, 1823. He was a graduate of Queen's College, Cambridge and was a teacher of languages. Around 1850, he immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, where he became a conveyancer, eventually establishing the Stark Credit Mobilier and Stark Credit Financier. He married Mary Elizabeth Ann A'Court (1824-1849); they had one son, James Henry Stark. He later married Mary Browning with whom he had a son, Frederick John Stark. He died in Dorchester, Massachusetts, on February 19, 1885.

James Henry Stark was born on July 6, 1847, in Shepton-Mallott, England. He was raised by his maternal grandfather, Thomas Cook A'Court, in Shepton-Mallott until he joined his father in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1856. He attended Hawes Branch Grammar School, the Lincoln School, and Boston Latin School. He left school in 1864 to learn the trade of stereotyping and electrotyping, which he pursued until 1900, when he opened a real estate office. An avid yachtsman, he founded several local yacht clubs and helped organize the Savin Hill Yacht Club. He helped organize and later served as vice president of the Dorchester Historical Society and authored several guide books and historical works, including The Loyalists of Massachusetts . He married Kate Manton and they had three daughters, Jane Evelyn Stark, Elizabeth Isabel (Stark) Snow, and Mildred Manton (Stark) Kidd. He died in Dorchester, Massachusetts, on August 30, 1919.

Frederick John Stark was born on June 11, 1851, in South Boston, Massachusetts. He was head cashier for Hogg, Brown & Taylor, a Boston dry goods house before joining his father, John Stark, in his financial and real estate endeavors. He married Bertha Harris Scott on June 15, 1876. Bertha Harris (Scott) Stark, daughter of George Cross and Mary Jane (Burnham) Scott, was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, on January 22, 1856. Frederick and Bertha had four children, Mary Ethel Stark (January 27, 1878 - April 15, 1967), Frederick William Stark (August 4, 1882 - March 25, 1885), Marguerite Scott (Stark) Bellamy (1886-1968), and Natalie Corona (Stark) Crouter (1898-1985). Frederick died on January 3, 1928; Bertha on February 4, 1952.

Marguerite Scott (Stark) Bellamy was born on September 13, 1886, in Dorchester, Massachusetts. She attended Dorchester public schools and Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She married Paul Bellamy in 1908. Bellamy, son of utopian author Edward Bellamy and Emma (Sanderson) Bellamy, was born on December 26, 1884, in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard College in 1906, and worked as a reporter for the Springfield Union (Springfield, Massachusetts) and the Cleveland Plain Dealer before joining The Credit Co. in Chicago, Illinois. Following the closing of The Credit Co. in 1918, he joined the Army, returning to the Plain Dealer following his release from the service at the end of World War I. In 1928, he was appointed editor of the Plain Dealer, a position he held until 1954. Marguerite and Paul had four children, John Stark Bellamy (1910-1948), Richard King Bellamy (1911-2004), Peter Bellamy (1914-1989), and Joan (Bellamy) May (b.1926). John, a lawyer, married Molly Doan; they had three children (Susan, Constance, and Frederick). John died of polio in 1948. Richard, an advertising executive, married Aileen O'Neil; they had five children (Marguerite, Edward, Michael, Hazel, and Paul). Peter, a reporter, married Jean Dessel; they had five children (Sheila, Stephen, John, Christopher, and Nicole). Joan married Robert Carroll May, an architect; they had three children (Candace, Ethan, and Damon). Marguerite and Paul separated in the 1930s following Paul's affair with Mary Mitchell Henry. They divorced in 1941 and Paul married Henry later that year. Marguerite died in September 1968; Paul died on April 12, 1956.

Natalie Corona (Stark) Crouter was born on October 30, 1898, in Dorchester, Massachusetts. She survived a bout of meningitis and polio at age nine, and was left with a weakened left leg. She attended Dorchester public schools, the Deverell School (New York), the Burnham School (Northampton, Massachusetts), and Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School (Boston, Massachusetts). She used her secretarial skills in the Sacco and Vanzetti defense effort. In 1925, she met Errol Edgerton Crouter in the Philippines where she was forced to stop during a world tour with her father due to her father's illness. They were married on February 3, 1927, in Tientsin, China, and settled in Vigan and later Baguio in the Philippines. Errol Edgerton Crouter, whose nickname "Jerry" was inspired by Jack London's Jerry of the Islands, was born on April 11, 1893, in Greeley, Colorado. The son of Charles, a pharmacist, and Mabel (Maltby) Crouter, he became a lawyer but disliked legal work so he enlisted in the Army and was stationed in the Philippines where he remained following his discharge in 1918. He was a recruiter of Filipino workers for the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association before the organization closed during the Depression. He then became an insurance salesman and managed a Shell gas station. Natalie and Jerry had two children, June (b.1929) and Frederick (b.1931). The entire family was interned by the Japanese Army during World War II. Following the war, the family stayed with Bertha and Mary Ethel Stark in Dorchester, Massachusetts, before moving in with Marguerite (Stark) Bellamy in Cleveland, Ohio. Jerry moved back to the Philippines as an employee of the U.S. War Shipping Administration and suffered a massive stroke in August 1946. He then returned to Cleveland where he was sporadically employed by the Veterans' Administration and several private businesses. June graduated from Western Reserve University and received her master's degree in social administration from Western Reserve's School of Applied Social Science. She married Richard Wortman in 1967; they had two children, Rebecca and Glen. Frederick graduated from Mather College and received his M.A. in education from Montclair State College. He married Louise "Lou" Patterson in 1953; they had three children (Jerrol, Jennifer, and Lenore). Jerry died in 1951 of cirrhosis and cancer of the liver; Natalie died October 15, 1985.

From the guide to the Papers of the Stark family, (inclusive), (bulk), 1683-1985, 1850-1978, (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)