Daughter Never Meets Her Father

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It was a hot August afternoon in 1907 when brakeman John F. Squires climbed between two freight cars in New Haven, Connecticut — doing the kind of dangerous work that kept America moving. Within moments, one misstep would cost him his life and leave behind a wife expecting their fourth child. More than a century later, his great-granddaughter uncovers the coroner’s report that tells his story in heartbreaking detail.

Deceased was brought to the New Haven Hospital in the police ambulance at 2:30 pm  August 11, 1907; died at 7:15 this same afternoon. There was a crush of the right thigh with a bruise of the back. His thigh was amputated but he died from the shock of his injuries. Deceased was extra brakeman on extra freight of the N.Y., N.H. -R.R. Co. which stood on two tracks next to the (unreadable) siding at Cedar Hill yards, New Haven. Three cars were on one track and the remainder of the cars were on another track. The three cars mentioned were being shifted to the track where the others were stood. After setting the switch for this purpose and giving the signal to back the three cars to the rest of the train, deceased ran ahead of these cars, slipped and fell, the wheels of one car passing over his leg. This occurred between one and two P.M., August 11, 1907.

I am satisfied that the said death was not caused by the criminal act, omission, or carelessness of any other person or persons, and that an inquest is unnecessary. In accordance with the statute I have delivered the body of said deceased to his friends for burial.

Dated at New Haven, Conn., this 14th day of August, A.D. 1907.
Signed: Eli Mix, Medical Examiner—Coroner.[1]

 

News articles tell of the John's accident and that he was married and had 5 children.  Mary, his wife, had several children prior to marrying John.  No matter, he was the father of all of them.  

Heartbreakingly, two months later, in October 1907, John’s wife gives birth to their fourth child, Ruth Virginia Squires (1908-1947) — my grandmother. Ruth never met her father, but his story lived on through the memories and whispers that stitched our family’s generations together, like threads in an unfinished quilt.  

John Francis Squires married Mary (nee Warner) Lawrence in 1900.  This was his first marriage and her 3rd even though she claimed it was her 2nd.  She was several years older than John.

Marriage Cert in private collection Barbara Fueston Grandon

  

For years, John F. Squires was just a name on a death certificate. But now, through a single page of a coroner’s report, we can see the man behind the ink — a hardworking brakeman, a husband, a father of four, and the great-grandfather whose story was nearly lost to time. Sometimes genealogy gives us more than names and dates — it gives us back our people.

The loss of John F. Squires in 1907 was only a small part of a heartbreaking chapter in the Squires family. Grief would echo through their lives in ways no one could have foreseen — and yet, somehow, threads of love and endurance prevailed.

And that's a wrap!

           Up next: “The Weight They Carried: The Squires Family After the Fall.”  

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[1] Family Search, “Connecticut County Coroner's Records 1833-1934,” database (www.familysearch.org : accessed 10 March 2023), entry for John F Squires, 11 Aug 1907; citing Coroner Report, Connecticut.