Frederick Archie “Fred” Ryder (1910-01-17 – 1956-10-13) was my paternal grandfather, father of my father Ronnie Ryder. Born in Whiting, Vermont to George Ryder and Mary Fleming, he later moved to New York and ultimately northern New Jersey. He married Italian-born Betty Latteri, my grandmother, on 1937-11-25 in New York City.
His WW2 registration describes him as 6’ tall and 157 lbs.
Life
I have not found any record of Fred between 1920 (in the Vermont census) and 1937 (marriage). In particular, he does not seem to be listed in the 1930 census. He is not then living with his mother and siblings in Leicester, Vermont, and so may have already moved away, perhaps to New York.
In 1940, he was recorded living in an apartment at 4760 39th Pl, Long Island City, NY with my grandmother.ref His war registration records this address initially, but was updated three times with new addresses:
- 26 E Sunset Drive, Red Bank, NJ; this is St. Thomas Episcopal Church, and the building was the same church in the 1940s, so it is unclear why he submitted it as his address.
- 9108 Bergenwood Ave., North Bergen, NJ.
- 87 N Sunnycrest Drive, Little Silver, NJ.
The order is not certain, and the first two might have been swapped chronologically, which is perhaps geographically more sensible.
The last is also his address in a 1945 city directory and on the 1950 census, and where he lived the rest of his life, and where his widow continued to live.
Fred had two sons, Douglas and Ronald, the latter my father. See Fred’s wife’s entry for details.
Death
Fred worked as a carpenter and handyman. His friend William Johnson was the superintendent of Riverside Gardens Apartments in Red Bank, New Jersey, and would often employ him to assist in maintenance jobs. On Saturday, 1956-10-13, Fred was working on a ledge outside an apartment on the third floor of the building and fell to his death. The circumstances around this accident were disputed. There were no witnesses to the fall. The occupants reported he arrived around 1pm, and they observed him on the ground around 1:30pm.
At the time his sons were 11 and 7.
Compensation case
A workmen’s compensation claim (today called workers’ compensation) for his death was filed and initially granted, but after a protracted court battle the claim was reversed and my family received nothing.
Timeline of case
1956-10-13 Incident 1957-09 Comp hearing 1958? Monmouth Co. Court case 1959-04-06 NJ Superior Court hearing 1959-07-08 NJ Superior Court decision 1960-03-21 NJ Supreme Court hearing 1960-04-25 NJ Supreme Court decision
At issue was who employed him that day. Riverside’s contention in court, and the initial statements made by Johnson and the apartment’s resident Burton Moore, were that Fred was working for Moore, with Johnson having put them in touch, to install plastic covers on the outside of the apartment’s air conditioners. However, at the comp hearing in September 1957, Johnson and Moore testified instead that Fred had been employed by Johnson on behalf of Riverside Gardens Apartments to measure Moore’s windows so they could be replaced. Based on this testimony, the deputy director ruled that my grandfather had been working for Riverside and thus his heirs were entitled to workmen’s compensation.
Riverside appealed the case to the County Court, which upheld this determination, presumably deferring to the original investigation. Riverside then appealed to the New Jersey Superior Court, where the case was heard in the spring of 1959.
Three months later, the three-judge panel issued a ruling reversing the lower-court decision, thus denying compensation benefits. Judge Sidney Goldmann (
Riverside had also claimed that Fred was drunk at the time and this caused the fall, but the court dismissed this argument for lack of proof. They also argued that Johnson was not authorized to hire Fred on their behalf, but the court disagreed, since a pattern of such employment had existed. Finally, it was raised whether Fred was an employee or an independent contractor, but the court did not attempt to decide this since it determined he was not working for them at all at the time.
My grandmother appealed the decision to the New Jersey Supreme Court, where the case was heard in the spring of 1960. However, they a month later issued a short per curiam ruling agreeing with Goldmann’s analysis. This effectively ended the matter, as appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was not realistic.
Aftermath
This result, on top of the loss of her husband, was reportedly financially devastating for my grandmother.
The Riverside Gardens Apartment building was demolished in 1988 and the site is now Riverside Gardens Park.ref
Obituary
Little Silver Man Dies From Fall
Red Bank Bureau
RED BANK — A 47-year-old Little Silver man was killed Saturday when he fell from the fourth floor of Riverside Garden Apartments, 50 W. Front Street.
Frederick A. Ryder, 87 N. Sunnycrest Dr., was working on a carpentry job at the apartment building when he fell from a ladder, according to police here.
He died immediately.
Born in Whiting, Vt., Ryder was the son of Mary L. Ryder, Brandon, Vt., and the late George Ryder. He was a member of St. James R. C. Church and of Carpenters’ Union Local 2250.
In addition to his mother, Ryder is survived by his wife, Mrs. Betty L. Ryder; two sons, Douglas and Ronald, both at home, a brother, George Ryder; four sisters, Mrs. Minnie Nicklan, Mrs. Emma Hall, Mrs. Bernice La Porte and Mrs. Elizabeth La Porte, all of Brandon, Vt. Funeral arrangements are in charge of the Adams Memorial Home, 310 Broad St.
There are small errors: Nicklan for Nicklaw, and it was Mrs. Elizabeth Forrest. There are also discrepancies from the court record: he fell from the third, not the fourth, floor (but perhaps the police counted from, say, a basement with street access); and the court did not mention use of a ladder (but he may still have had one).