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Homer Lusk Collyer (November 6, 1881 – March 21, 1947) and Langley Wakeman Collyer (October 3, 1885 – c. March 9, 1947), known as the Collyer brothers, were two American brothers who became infamous for their bizarre natures and compulsive hoarding. For decades, the two lived in seclusion in their Harlem brownstone at 2078 Fifth Avenue (at the corner of 128th Street) where they obsessively collected books, furniture, musical instruments, and myriad other items, with booby traps set up in corridors and doorways to ensnare intruders. In March 1947, both were found dead in their home surrounded by over 140 tons of collected items that they had amassed over several decades. Since the 1960s, the site of the former Collyer house has been a pocket park, named for the brothers.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Collyer Brothers Park )〕 ==Family and education== The Collyer brothers were sons of Herman Livingston Collyer (1857–1923), a Manhattan gynecologist who worked at Bellevue Hospital, and his first cousin,〔Jarvis, Robert M. (2007), "The Curious Legal Career Of Homer L. Collyer". ''Journal of Maritime Law & Commerce''. 38 (4):571-582〕 Susie Gage Frost (1856–1929), a former opera singer. The brothers claim that their ancestors had traveled to America from England on the ''Speedwell'', the ship that arrived in Massachusetts a week after the ''Mayflower'' in 1620. The Collyers' mother was descended from the Livingstons, a New York family with roots going back to the 18th century. Robert Livingston was the first of the Livingston family to immigrate to America in 1672 – 52 years after the ''Mayflower''. In 1880, Dr. Collyer and Susie had their first child, a daughter they named Susan. She died at four months old. The following year, on November 6, the couple's first son, Homer Lusk, was born. In 1885, their second son Langley Wakeman was born.〔 At that time of Langley's birth, the couple were living in a tenement while Herman Collyer interned at Bellevue. As a child, Homer attended PS (Public School) 69. At the age of 14, he was accepted to the College of the City of New York as a "sub-freshman", earning his bachelor's degree six years later.〔 Both Homer and Langley attended Columbia University, which had just relocated to its present-day Morningside Heights campus. Homer obtained a degree in admiralty law, while Langley studied engineering and chemistry.〔 Langley was also an accomplished concert pianist; he played professionally for a time and performed at Carnegie Hall.〔Steketee 2010 p.6〕 Langley was also a layman of the Trinity Church where the family had been parishioners since 1697. In 1909, Dr. Herman Collyer moved the family into a four-story brownstone in Harlem at 2078 Fifth Avenue. Dr. Collyer was known to be eccentric and was said to frequently paddle down the East River in a canoe to the City Hospital on Blackwell's Island, where he occasionally worked, and then to carry the canoe back to his home in Harlem after he came ashore on Manhattan Island.〔 Around 1919, Dr. Collyer and Susie Collyer separated. Dr. Collyer moved to a new home at 153 West 77th Street while Susie Collyer stayed in the Harlem brownstone. Homer and Langley, who had never married or lived on their own, chose to remain with their mother. Dr. Collyer died in 1923 leaving his sons all of his possessions, including items from his medical practice, which they brought to their home in Harlem. Susie Collyer died in 1929 leaving the brothers all her possessions and the Harlem brownstone. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Collyer brothers」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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