Date of Death: April 6, 1897
Interment source:
Bay View Cemetery Association, Corpus Christi, Texas. Record of Interments
NO HEADSTONE
1. Biography
Sarah has other relatives also buried in Old Bayview as she is the mother of the Tinney children. Thomas and Samuel Tinney, for instance, are her sons, and Samuel C. Tinney who was buried in Old Bayview Cemetery in1900 is her grandson. Her daughters include Cerro Gorda who is Mrs. Chris W. Yung. Sarah was initially married to Edward B. Tinney, and they are found listed in the 1850 federal census of Tazewell County, Illinois (p. 114A). Information found in ancestral files submitted to the collection organized by the Mormons reports that Edward B. Tinney married multiple times. Edward is listed as the son of Nathaniel Tinney and Caroline Marshall. He was born 12 February 1813 in Washington County, Kentucky and initially married Sarah L. Wilson in May of 1833 in Meade County, Kentucky. Subsequently he married Sarah Berry on 7 June 1837 in Morgan County, Illinois. This appears to be Sarah M. Rosenberg. And it seems from other documentation that she is probably a relative (sister?) of H. W. Berry (also buried in Old Bayview Cemetery). According to information in the obit of her son T. W. Tinney ( Corpus Christi Caller of 1 May 1920 page 5 col. 6), Sarah and the family came by steamboat to New Orleans, then to Indianola, and finally to Corpus Christi in 1853. In the 1860 census record of Nueces County, Sarah is listed as 37 years old and a single mother with three sons and two daughters (page 282). Her son Thomas is already working as a printer for the local paper, and son Samuel is a sailor. Edward is no longer with them. A public notification published in the Nueces Valley (7 November 1857, page 3 column 3) includes the statement that Edward B. Tinney is no longer a resident in the state of Texas. Subsequent action appears to indicate that Edward abandoned the family. Ancestral records noted above lists Edward's third wife as Laura M. Beelman whom he married in 1855 in Louisiana. Edward reportedly died 20 April 1903 in Paradise, St. Charles Parish, Louisiana. The public notification referred to above was a suit filed against Edward, his wife Sarah (nee Berry), and Henry W. Berry. For that reason, it is speculated that Sarah is probably a relative of Henry W. Berry. By 1870 Sarah is no longer listed in Nueces County and she has remarried. The Nueces County Marriage Records (volume C page 39) report her marriage to "Jacob Rosenberg" on 10 May 1862 during the Civil War in which her son T. W. Tinney was active in defending the city of Corpus Christi. He was later captured by Federal troops along with others defending fortifications on Mustang Island. After her marriage to Mr. Rosenberg, Sarah subsequently moved to Wharton County where she is found in the 1870 census (page 351). However, again she is alone and presumably already widowed. In the 1880 census Sarah is back in Nueces County, living with her son William Tinney in the Rincon section of the city on Corpus Christi Bay (page 48A). She lists herself now as 56 years old, widowed, a native of Illinois, whose parents were natives of Virginia. According to the Bay View Association Record Books, Sarah M. Rosenberg died 6 April 1897 (about 73 years old) and was buried in Old Bayview Cemetery.
Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell
2. Divorce Petition
Divorce petition
Sarah M. Berry initially married Edward B. Tinney in Illinois where their children were born. The family moved to the Corpus Christi area via New Orleans. She subsequently divorced Edward because of problems outlined in her petition, and later married Mr. Rosenberg in Wharton. Her petition for divorce gives a good history of the family and a slice of life from the early years of Corpus Christi. Sarah as well as a number of her children and at least one grandchild are all buried in Old Bayview Cemetery.
SARAH M. TINNEY vs. EDWARD B. TINNEY—No. 463—In District Court, Nueces County
The State of Texas—To the sheriff, or other lawful officer of said county, greeting: Whereas, on the 19th day of April A. D. 1858, Sarah M. Tinney, formerly Sarah M. Berry, filed in my office her petition against said Edward B. Tinney and Affidavit that defendant is not a resident of this State &c., said petition representing that on the 6th day of June 1838, she intermarried with said Edward B. Tinney in Morgan co. Ills., where they lived happily, that they removed to Texas about the 15th day of March 1853, that soon after their arrival here, a series of abuses were commenced by her said husband, by offering to inflict corporal punishment, that for the love for her children she remained with him, hoping that he might change his course of conduct towards her, but vainly, he became more abusive, and drank excessively, that on the 24th of Dec. 1855, he abandoned her, having first attempted to kill a man known as Little Red, that he has been absent more than three years, before the commencement of this suit, and is still absent, that the outrages offered to her are such as to render their living longer together insupportable, that she has been credibly informed, that he is living in Adultery with another woman in the State of Louisiana. She prays that said Edward B. Tinney be cited by publication to appear and answer Said Petition, before the Hon. District Court of said county, at the next term to be held in the City of Corpus Christi, on the 8th Monday after the 1st Monday of April A. D. 1858, that said Court grant her a divorce from the bond of matrimony, and the custody of her minor children, Martha J. and Sarah G. Tinney (note that this is the alternate name of "Cerro Gordo"--MAH), Samuel H. and William Tinney, and such other relief as the case may require.
The above petition is published in the Weekly Nueces Valley of May 29, 1858 on page 3 and column 4. The dates given in it are somewhat different from other dates found in alternate records, but are close enough to indicate that this is indeed the same Sarah Berry-Tinney who is buried in Old Bayview as Sarah M. Rosenberg.
Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell