Trick or Triplet

Elizabeth, Sarah, and Susan Chamberlain ~ late 1880s to early 1890s

The Chamberlain triplets were born on November 25, 1863, in Chippawa, Ontario, Canada, a village located just 6 miles from Niagara Falls, New York. Elizabeth, Sarah, and Susan were the youngest of nine children born to John and Anna (Munn) Chamberlain. The girls immigrated to the US with their parents about 1881 and the family settled in Syracuse, New York.

The first to wed was Susan in 1883 to a carpenter named George Mackinder. A year later Elizabeth joined in matrimony with Charles Graves, a machinist by trade. And lastly, Sarah tied the knot with a young grocery clerk, Freddie Guckert, in 1885.

My eye tells me that Elizabeth and Susan were identical, while Sarah was the fraternal triplet. This narrows the possibilities when trying to identify the couple in the cabinet card featured above. I think the woman is Susan. What do you think?

courtesy of ancestry

Fred Guckert is the only husband I’ve located an image of, and it rules him out as the gentleman in the photograph. Of course, I already knew the woman wasn’t Sarah. But, it’s always nice to put a face with a name.

Later in life photos courtesy of Find A Grave
Elizabeth, Sarah, Susan

Coincidently, the sisters left this world in the same order that they married. Susan died of a heart attack on February 6, 1933. She is buried in Myrtle Hill Cemetery in Syracuse. In 1950, Elizabeth was laid to rest in the North Syracuse Cemetery Two years later Sarah left this earth and was interred at Greenlawn Cemetery in Warners, NY.

In 1932, the triplets’ birthday fell on Thanksgiving which made the celebration extra special and brought about the local newspaper covering the event. Thanks to that article we know that as young women the sisters liked to dress alike and fool their beaus “who were never just certain whether they were with the girl they thought they were or her sister.”

sources:
Census records
Syracuse American, Syracuse, NY ~ Nov. 20, 1932
Rome Daily Sentinel, Rome, NY ~ Feb. 7, 1933
Niagara Falls Info