The Theodora "Dora" Starr Story

The Theodora Starr Story
Theodora was either the first or second child, but only daughter, of Theodore Burr and Caroline Margaret Morris Starr. She was born on July 11, 1866 in Kings County, New York – Brooklyn. Her father was a jeweler working in Manhattan and her mother kept house on Congress Street in Brooklyn.
In the 1875 New York census, the family is living in a brownstone at 149 Congress Street, Brooklyn, claimed to be valued at $17,000. The house was across the street from Cobble Hill Park. One can assume that Dora played with her siblings and maybe even cousins in that park. The family of 6 had at least two servants living and working with them. Dora was the eldest of 4 children; her siblings were Louis Morris, 6, Theodore, 4, and Howard White 2. They were living on the same block with her paternal grandmother, Harriet Howard White Starr, who was living with her younger brother’s family, Joseph Theodore White. Another sister, Amelia E. White, was living within that household, as well. It appears that perhaps Amelia (or Elizabeth) never married.
Dora’s brother Theodore died sometime before the 1880 census. (There may have been a first child, also called Theodore, but records are hard to decipher.)
In 1878, Dora’s father moved his business from 22 John Street to 206 5th Avenue. Perhaps this indicates that his business was growing and the family was enjoying additional wealth.
By 1880 the small family moved from Cobble Hill to 112 East 39th Street in Manhattan. They still have two servants from Ireland living with them.
Theodora seems to have spent summers in Ridgefield, Connecticut. It is there, during June, that her engagement to Harry L. Bloomfield is announced. Tragically, only a month later, on July 16th, Theodora dies of pneumonia. Her parents did what they could for their beloved daughter, bringing the family physician to Ridgefield from his home on Long Island. The reports of the day claim that “social gayeties here during the past few days have been at a standstill, owing to the sudden death of Miss Theodora Starr, daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Theodore B. Starr, of New York, whose summer home is here,…”
Nothing is known about Theodora’s daily life, except for the tragedy of losing two of her brothers. She died on July 16, 1894 just after having reached her 28th birthday.
Theodora was the first of her family to be buried in Section 4 of the Ridgefield, Connecticut Cemetery.