Where Joseph Jacobs Lived in 1888?

My great-grand uncle Joseph Jacobs (1864-1918) was born in Lithuania and became a naturalized citizen in New York City in 1888. He (and his sister Tillie and his mother Rachel) all lived in tenements after coming to the Big Apple in the mid-1880s.

When Joe became a US citizen in October of 1888, his address was 49 Clinton Street, on Manhattan's Lower East Side, an area crammed with immigrants living in row after row of attached tenements. Many of those tenements are now gone. What about Joe's place?

49 Clinton Street, circa 1940

I used Steve Morse's One-Step tool to quickly and conveniently search the NYC Records & Information Department database of building photos taken for tax purposes, 1939-1941. I wondered whether Joe's tenement was still standing in about 1940.

Shown above is the search form, completed to show the address I was seeking. I specified the year as 1939-1941, selected Manhattan as the borough, and entered the house number "49" and the street "Clinton." Then I clicked to show block and lot, and finally clicked "display single house." The black and white tax photo is at top of this blog post, tenements with stores at street level. The full page of results is here.

Alas, I may not be looking at Joe's actual residence but a replacement. His original residence could very well have been torn down to make way for taller buildings. Current real estate listings for the address suggest the tenement shown at top was built about 1910.

If you're looking for a New York City address from the past, try the Steve Morse search form and also check Google for info about the current status of the building.

49 Clinton Street, circa 2024

Then I pasted the address "49 Clinton Street, New York City" into the Google search box. Up popped a map and a street-level photo. 

Surprisingly, the tenement is still standing and recognizable, as shown by this photo from September of 2024! Fire escapes and stores at street level, similar to the 1940 photo.

Remembering my immigrant ancestor Joe Jacobs on the 106th anniversary of his death in 1918. 

Happy Sweet Sixteen to WikiTree - Free Genealogy Talks!

It's WikiTree's 16th birthday and the celebration includes a constellation of genealogy stars giving terrific, free talks for three days, beginning today.

To see the speaker lineup, click here. 

For more fun activities, see the schedule here.

And a happy sweet sixteen to WikiTree.

Hallowe'en Greetings from 1913 and 2023

 
This colorful penny postal greeting was sent from "Aunt Nellie" (Rachel Wood Kirby) to her young nephew Wally Wood in 1913. 

Note the apostrophe in Hallowe'en, which in earlier years indicated it was the eve of All Hallow's Day (also known as All Saints Day).

My husband's WOOD family used penny postcards like to stay in touch throughout the year, on every conceivable occasion (including Lincoln's birthday and Independence Day).

In 2023, a young relative colored the stacked pumpkins shown at right, now a seasonal favorite proudly displayed on my mantle.

May you have all treats, no tricks, on Halloween! 

Ancestor Word Cloud for Family History Gifts

 
At holiday time or any time, a word cloud made from surnames or given names can be the start of a great bite-sized family history gift. Above, a world cloud I made from ancestor surnames in my husband's maternal line. I chose the shape of a heart to emphasize the family connection and put it on the back cover of a family history photo book.

Here is a different version of an ancestor surname word cloud, using a tree template to symbolize a family tree. The background color can be varied, size/font/color of each name can be varied, direction and number of names can be varied. Also try making a word cloud from given names.

A special word cloud would look smashing on a note pad, scarf, mug, or another item for holiday gifting.

I used wordart.com for the tree word cloud, but you can find other free or low-cost word cloud generators with a simple online search. Have fun experimenting!

FAN Club Includes Military Affiliations

Writing about the military service of ancestors in my husband's family tree, I learned via newspaper items and military records that his 1c2r had served in the Spanish American War: George Ainsworth Larimer (1873-1922). I've written about George before. He eloped with Cora May Lutz (1875-1945) on July 4, 1899 in a surprise move that was seen as a "thunder clap from a blue sky" when revealed months later!

Online search for military unit and war

I wanted to document more about George's military service, so I did a simple online search for the Spanish American War, 1898. This took me to a super-informative site marking the centennial of that war, with names, dates, and photos! I was delighted to discover lots of details about Company C, 157th Indiana Volunteer Infantry--the "Goshen Company" in which George served (because most of the men enlisted from the town of Goshen).

Looking at the names of the men in that company, I noticed someone familiar from hubby's family tree: Miles Powell Bradford (1872-1944). A newspaper search gave me more info, including the snippet shown above, about Miles Bradford being on the sick list as Company C was to be mustered out after the war was over, in the fall of 1898.

Served with future brother-in-law

From previous research, I knew that Miles had married George's sister, Atta Larimer (1875-1936) in 1902. They announced their intention to take the train to Chicago to be married by a minister who had previously led their congregation in Goshen, Indiana. Not a surprise, not a thunder clap. 

My discovery that Miles and George had served in the same military unit opened up a fresh avenue of speculation about how Miles might have met his future wife, Atta. Their home town of Goshen, Indiana had 7,800 residents counted in the 1900 US Census, not a tiny fly speck of a town but not a metropolis either.

Could George have encouraged his military buddy Miles to meet or court his sister Atta? Was the men's military service a catalyst in the romance? Or were Atta and Miles acquainted before the war? Since Miles's father operated a Goshen grocery store, and Miles worked with his father, it is possible they met when Atta shopped there. Lots of possibilities here. 

This situation reminds me that military affiliations can be a really key part of an ancestor's FAN club (friends/family, acquaintances, neighbors) and as such, they are worthy of closer investigation. 

Full House For George and Lucy Before He Sailed to War

Researching military ancestors in my husband's family tree, I was a bit surprised to see that his great-grand uncle George Scarborough Handy (1819-1892) joined the Union Navy despite having a house full of kids.

Born in Dartmouth, Massachusetts in 1819, George married Lucy M. Wood (1821-1902) in June, 1841. They settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and had nine children together as he worked as a farmer and a carpenter to support his growing family. At times, it seems he struggled financially: he reported himself to be a laborer with $100 in personal property when enumerated with his wife and 7 children in the 1860 US Census.

Joining the navy

In September of 1861, during the US Civil War, George left his family to enlist with the Union Navy at the rank of ordinary seaman. He served on the Bark Kingfisher, chasing Confederate ships and enforcing the Union's blockade along the Atlantic coast and into the Gulf of Mexico. Scurvy, scarce food and water, and other problems plagued the Kingfisher and other Union vessels constantly on the move.

George had some kind of health crisis because in March of 1862, he was sent to the Naval Hospital in New York with a diagnosis of “deafness and imbecility” as shown in the document above. Among his possessions were 3 jackets, 4 pairs trousers, other clothing, and 1 book. George was discharged due to disability from the Union Navy in April of 1862, and returned home. 

Rejoining his family

Whatever his health condition following his military service, he resumed working as a gas fitter and then as a house carpenter after rejoining his family. He and Lucy had one more child in 1863, who sadly died young. Later in life, George qualified for an invalid pension and after his death in 1892, his widow Lucy received his pension payments until she died of heart disease, age 82, in 1902.

Enumerated as deaf? 

What intrigued me about the hospital transfer was the diagnosis of "deafness and imbecility." To that point, George had been enumerated in the 1850 and 1860 US Census and there was no indication that he was either deaf or imbecilic. Both of those US Census questionnaires have a place in the far right column to show whether a person had such disabilities, but George was not identified in this way. (To see the full questions of each US Census, look at this handy list of viewable/downloadable blank forms at the US National Archives site.)

Was George temporarily deafened by some explosion? Or did he have another injury that caused him to have symptoms of deafness and imbecility? I'll never know...but I do know that he lived to the age of 73, survived by his wife and only 3 of his children.

Full House is the genealogy prompt of the week for #52Ancestors from Amy Johnson Crow.

Label and Organize Genealogy For Today and Tomorrow

 

It's Family History Month, and I want to show one of my indispensable tools for genealogy. 

Above, my trusty label maker sitting on top of genealogy file folders for intermarried families Roth/Mandel, and Lebowitz/Markell, and Waldman. Rather than alphabetize, I prefer to group files according to connected families. 

I have separate file folders labeled for documents about donated artifacts (with my counter-signed copies of the deeds of gift), Civil War ancestors in the Wood family tree, and other non-surname records. 

Over time, I've culled these files to get rid of printed Census records and other redundant paperwork now digitized and attached to my online family trees. Still in my file folders are letters and notes from discussions with cousins, plus recent vital records, requests for genealogy info, and research plans. 

I also have digital files with scanned genealogy items, organized by surname or surname groupings or topic, backed up in the cloud and on an external hard drive for extra safety.

Plus I have archival boxes clearly labeled by family and contents ("Edgar Wood negatives" is specific enough to identify what's inside). 

Printed labels make my files and boxes look neat, legible, and accessible for today and tomorrow. I want my heirs to know what's what and what's where. 

For more ideas about keeping family history safe for the sake of future generations please see my genealogy book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past. 

Ask a Local Historian or Librarian About Your Brickwall Ancestor!

For a long time, I've been trying to learn more about my husband's 3d great-grandparents, William Tyler Bentley (1795-1873) and Olivia Morgan Bentley (1799?-1838). The earliest official document I have for this family is the 1830 US Census, where they're enumerated in the town of Sandy Creek, Oswego County, New York. Other documents confirm Oswego as the birthplace of William and Olivia's children in the 1820s and 1830s.

Browsing the 1830 Census page by page, I noticed two other men named Bentley were enumerated as heads of households, each with a wife and a few young children. Are they relatives of William? Don't know--yet. No entry for Morgan anywhere in the Sandy Creek Census for that year. 

Local knowledge, networking with other researchers

A decade ago, I spoke with the historian of Sandy Creek, New York, who had a Bentley surname file but nothing about these specific people. She did, however, have the names of Ed and Ruth, two other researchers also on the trail of William and Olivia, and gave me their contact info (with their permission).

Ed, Ruth, and I have pooled info and made some discoveries. For instance, Ed found a "list of letters" newspaper notice (image above) showing that "William T. Bently" lived in the area as early as 1821. Ruth traced other descendants and found their burial sites, adding those to Find a Grave. I found Olivia's maiden name by obtaining death certs of two children.

What reminded me to take another look at William and Olivia this week was the 121st anniversary of the death of their daughter Lucinda Helen Bentley Shank (1825-1903), on October 12th. I retraced my research steps and that's when I decided to pick up the phone.

Ask, share, leave contact info

I noticed there's a new town historian at Sandy Creek, so I called to introduce myself, asking about anything new that might have been collected, donated, or filed since my inquiry ten years ago. I sent a followup email with a simplified family tree of these ancestors plus I shared some original documents pertaining to these people, for her files. I thanked her sincerely for any assistance in adding to my knowledge of my husband's Bentley and Morgan ancestors.

If I'm lucky, William or the other two Bentley men will be in the historian's files and we can try to piece together any possible relationships. If I'm really lucky, Olivia Morgan's family will be somewhere in her files. It will be a week or so until I hear from her, well worth the wait, and I will be appreciative for any clues she can offer. Fresh eyes, fresh ideas.

After I hear back from the historian, I plan to contact the library in Sandy Creek to ask about their genealogical files, cemetery records, and other info that may be in their collection. Of course I'll leave my contact info in case other researchers are looking for Bentley or Morgan. 

Local folks have local knowledge, so consider whether a local historian or librarian may be able to help you learn more about your brickwall ancestors. 

On the Trail of My Most Wanted Paternal Ancestors: Necke and Hinda

My paternal Chazan cousins in Manchester, England are DNA matches with me, and we also have evidence of close family relationships via photos and letters exchanged by our ancestors in the 1930s/40s/50s. 

But we don't know how, exactly, their matriarch Hinda Mitav Chazan (1864-1940)  is related to my paternal matriarch Necke Gelle (Mitav?) Shuham Burk (no dates). These names are at the top of the "most wanted" list of ancestors we have in common.

Our hypothesis is: Hinda (pictured at left) and Necke were sisters or possibly half-sisters.

Hinda's gravestone shows her as the daughter of Tzvi Hersh, a name that was passed down multiple times in the Chazan and Burk branches of the tree. Tentatively I've added that as Necke Gelle's father's name on my tree, but it's nowhere near proven. 

Last week, a Chazan cousin and I received an answer from a query we both sent to someone via JewishGen.org a few months ago. We were given access to a private tree and have been comparing those names to what we know--with the result that we have more descendants to research! Possibly one of these previously unknown descendants might have a clue to our earlier ancestors. And of course we are sharing what we know with this new cousin connection.

I'm grateful that this cousin in England is deeply interested, forever curious, and quite relentless about pursuing our mutual "most wanted" ancestors.

"Most" is this week's #52Ancestors genealogy prompt from Amy Johnson Crow.

Search Find a Grave Bios for Genealogy Clues

Not long ago, Find a Grave added yet another way to search its memorial pages: By key words or names in the biography section.

As shown above, I tested this search by looking for a name in my husband's family tree: Frank Bentley Curtis. Actually, I already knew this name appears in at least three generations descended from my husband's 3d great-grandfather, William Tyler Bentley (1795-1873) and 3d great-grandmother, Olivia Morgan Bentley (1799?-1838). 

Searching without quotation marks returned more than 170 results, so I did another search for "Frank Bentley Curtis" in quotation marks. Only 6 results, including 2 memorials that are sponsored--meaning someone has paid to remove the ads, upload 10 more photos or documents, and showcase the page with a premium look.

I put red arrows on the image below to indicate sponsorship of two of these results. Usually someone who pays to sponsor a memorial has some relationship to the deceased person, which means those memorials are definitely worth a closer look. Find a Grave sponsorship is optional, see the help page here. You can actually search for a memorial according to whether it's sponsored or not, but I didn't do so in this case.

I investigated each memorial in the results list and wow, did I come away with a ton of fresh clues and insights. The creator of these memorials wrote about personally speaking with or corresponding with descendants, visiting cemeteries, looking for proof of marriages, and so on. The creator also posted ancestor photos, vital records, and other relevant images. Happily, each memorial is linked to at least a few of that ancestor's parents, siblings, children, spouses. 

Currently, I'm double-checking some of the bio details but I feel grateful for these information-packed memorials as a headstart to better understanding this branch of hubby's tree. And as always, I'm grateful that Find a Grave remains free for research like this (and for posting bite-sized bios and photos as cousin bait).

There are so many ways to use this new bio search...perhaps by searching for a specific place or occupation or military unit or rank as part of FAN club research (friends/family, associates, neighbors). Give it a try on its own or as part of a search where you look for someone by surname and/or date and/or cemetery location and/or sponsorship.

My Free Genealogy Webinar for Family History Month

In honor of Family History Month, you are invited to my free online webinar hosted by the Southbury Public Library in Connecticut, on Friday, October 25, from 2-3 pm Eastern:

Bring Family History Alive in Bite-Sized Projects

Get fresh ideas for documenting family history stories in engaging, practical, bite-sized projects that can be shared with relatives and posted on genealogy websites for the sake of future generations. Learn why and how to narrow your focus to one ancestor or family, occasion, heirloom, photo, or place. Like a sprint rather than a marathon, each project takes a short time and gives you flexibility to be creative in spotlighting one aspect of family history to share with relatives now. Presentation includes how-to examples of projects such as brief ancestor bios and booklets, heirloom background stories, ancestor coloring books, and full-size and smaller photobooks. 

At top, a slide previewing the five key steps to planning and creating bite-sized projects. I'll also be sharing a few fun ideas for family history holiday gifts! 

**Space is limited, so please register in advance for this free Zoom by clicking this link.** 

Book Review: The Hollywood Strangler by Nathan Dylan Goodwin

Newly released, The Hollywood Strangler is the most gripping genetic genealogy case yet in this terrific series by Nathan Dylan Goodwin. Highly recommended!

The author draws on his extensive knowledge and expertise in forensics, genealogy, and DNA analysis to create an amazingly true-to-life fictional story of talented genetic genealogists digging deep into the mysteries of centimorgans and family history to try to unmask a serial killer who menaced Hollywood decades in the past. 

The prologue, set in 1980, shows dedicated medical examiner Dr. Peter Speth called to the scene of a horrific double murder in Hollywood, similar to but not identical to another recent double killing. Also in attendance: A young rookie cop named Ted Marsden. 

Fast-forward to 2022 in Chapter One, where Marsden is about to retire from the LAPD Cold Case Homicide Unit, headed by Detective Supervisor Mitzi Roberts. Before he leaves, Marsden wants to work on one last notorious cold case: The Hollywood Strangler. The game's afoot.

By Chapter Three, the cold-case detectives have gotten in touch with Venator, an elite investigative genetic genealogy company headed up by Madison Scott-Barnhart, known to one and all as Maddie. The goal is to analyze DNA left at the murder scene in an effort to find familial links to the serial killer. 

Now begins the detailed, step-by-step process of analyzing DNA matches and building speculative family trees to locate living people who are related to the killer. How these talented Venator employees use clusters, centimorgans, vital records, DNA databases, genealogy websites, and other tools and techniques will fascinate genealogy enthusiasts. Very believable and impressive, the quest to tie DNA from the crime scene to a specific family is the heart of the book.

The police procedural chapters that bookend this novel will enthrall mystery lovers. From the acknowledgements, I learned that Dr. Peter Speth is, in real life, a brilliant medical examiner whose meticulous work helped to identify and convict many villains. His involvement in Nathan's fictional case leads to key breakthroughs. I was already aware of Detective Mitzi Roberts because I'm a fan of Michael Connelly's detective mysteries, but it was a delightful surprise to come across her as another pivotal character in Nathan's book.  

Just as important, the author has created interesting, personable, and complex characters whose ongoing life experiences capture the imagination. Although The Hollywood Strangler can be appreciated as a stand-alone novel, I suggest waiting until you read the first two books in this series. As the series unfolds, you'll get to know the characters over time and gain a deeper understanding of how their actions in previous books influenced what happens in this third book.

Highly enjoyable for folks deeply interested in genetic genealogy and for fans of police procedurals. Nathan, I can't wait for your next book in the series!

Olga, Valeria, Blanka, and Tony Curtis

My maternal great-grandma's nephew very likely married Tony Curtis's cousin. I was reminded of this connection when looking at Olga, Valeria, and Blanka Schwartz this week. Okay, this gets complicated!

Schwartz and Klein from Mateszalka, Hungary

Above, an excerpt from the Find a Grave listing of those buried in Mateszalka Jewish Cemetery in Mateszalka, Hungary. Olga and Valeria both died young, sorry to say, and both were buried in this cemetery. Researching them, I again looked at their sister, Blanka "Blanche" Schwartz (1892-1986), who married Alexander Roth (1893-1949). Alex was a son of my great-grandma Leni Kunstler Farkas's sister. Alex was Leni's nephew, in other words. Alex was my 1c2r.

Back to Blanka, Olga, and Valeria, who were all the daughters of Frida Klein and Frank Schwartz. The kind gentleman who put Olga and Valeria on Find a Grave helpfully included the Hungarian records of their deaths, confirming the names of their parents. You can see those snippets just above the wording "no grave photo" in the image at top.

Blanka's Social Security application (above, with her Americanized first name of Blanche) confirms she had the same parents (creative spelling). All the Schwartz sisters were born in Mateszalka, Hungary. Schwartz and Klein were their parents, hold that thought.

Bernard Hersch Schwartz had roots in Mateszalka

I looked up the Mateszalka cemetery where Olga and Valeria were buried. A historic note about the cemetery mentions that actor Tony Curtis (original name: Bernard Hersch Schwartz) donated money to help restore the local synagogue, knowing his family originated in this town. 

His father was Emanuel "Mano" Schwartz, and his mother was Helen Klein Schwartz. Mano's parents were from the Mateszalka region, according to Mano's passenger manifest from his voyage on the S.S. Mount Clay, arriving in Boston in March, 1921. Mano's naturalization petition in New York City (#102586) also specifies his birthplace as Mateszalka. The petition was signed by two witnesses: his grandfather Victor Schwartz and someone named Albert Klein. 

Klein--the maiden name of Tony's mother, and the maiden name of Blanka, Olga, and Valeria's mother. My second cousin L knew Blanka very well, staying in touch in her later years when she was in a Bronx nursing home. He heard firsthand the stories of Blanka being Tony Curtis's cousin. Others in the wider family had heard the same story from their parents or grandparents.

Surely the Mateszalka area had an abundance of Klein and Schwartz residents. But the combination of family stories, shared surnames, and many given names from the Tony Curtis family tree being repeated in the Schwartz and Roth lines of my family tree lend credence to the stories. A circumstantial case for Blanka and her sisters Olga and Valeria being cousins of Tony Curtis but that's my story and I'm sticking to it! 

At a Glance, Is This Your Louis Hartfield?

 

Quick! Which ancestor profile on Ancestry seems more credible and worth checking out, the top one or the bottom one? Same man (a very distant relative, you know I really like putting these folks on my tree), one with and one without a profile image.

By adding the man's marriage cert as his profile image, I wanted to turn a generic profile into one that might seem more appealing to other researchers interested in the Hartfield family from Galicia, Austria. 

Why? Because any researcher can now easily read the marriage cert and verify the name of bride, groom, and their parents, plus the date and place (and of course the two witnesses and the officiant). 

With a glance at the profile image, it's faster to figure out whether this might be their Louis Hartfield and they will then dive deeper into my family tree's sources for a closer look at his life.

Adding a document or personal photo as the profile image is my not-so-subtle way of suggesting that I can back up the facts for this ancestor with actual documentation. The more folks who have real facts for their ancestors, the better.

Please, go ahead and add my Louis Hartfield to your tree if he belongs there--along with the sources and the profile image. I don't want Louis or his wife Bessie or anyone on my tree to be forgotten, that's why their profiles are public. 

This how LOCKSS works: Lots of copies keep stuff safe. The more trees Louis and Bessie are attached to, the better the possibility that they will be remembered into the future. For more ideas about safeguarding and perpetuating family history, please see my genealogy book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past.

Happy 155th Birthday, Mollie

Born in Toledo, Ohio, on September 20, 1869, Mary Emma Wood (1869-1950) was always called by her nickname Mollie. She was the 14th of 17 children of Thomas Haskell Wood and Mary Amanda Demarest Wood, and the last of their 5 daughters to be born. In fact, by the time Mollie was born, her oldest sibling was already 23 years old. Mollie was my husband's great aunt. 

On May 3, 1892, Mollie married Francis Elmer Eagle (1864-1944) in his home county of Licking, Ohio. The bride was 22, the groom was 27. By 1900, the couple had moved to Detroit, Michigan, where Elmer was a boiler maker for railroads and Mollie was working as a dressmaker. 

According to that US Census, Mollie had no children of her own. But Mollie and Elmer were taking care of Mollie's nephew, Walter A. Lewis, aged 12 (see above). Walter's father had died suddenly several years earlier and his mother, Mollie's older sister Nellie, was living in Detroit and scrambling to support herself as a dressmaker. 

Then in 1905, Mollie and Elmer welcomed a son, Howard Paul Eagle (1905-1987). I wondered a bit about the timing, since the couple had been married for 13 years at that point with no children. The answer was in the 1930 US Census. As shown below, Howard's relationship to the head of household was "Ad-Son" meaning adopted by Mollie and Elmer. At age 25, Howard was working in an auto plant, like his father Elmer, all noted in that Census. Howard went on to a long career as a skilled machinist in the auto industry.

 Elmer died in 1944 of a stroke, age 79, and Mollie soon went to live with her son Howard and his family. In early 1950, Mollie died and was buried next to Francis Elmer, her husband of 52 years, in Westlawn Cemetery, Wayne County, Michigan. She was 80 and had not only adopted a son 45 years earlier, but lived long enough to meet her daughter-in-law and two grandchildren.

This week is the 155th anniversary of Mollie's birth. Remembering her, her family, and her life!