52 Ancestors #47: Smiles and Tears for Mary Amanda Wood Carsten

When I was scanning the 1917 photo album created by my late dad-in-law, Edgar James Wood, I had no idea I would uncover a previously unknown family story that runs the gamut from smiles to tears.

Above is the photo and caption that started me on the hunt. Tall guy Wallis is Edgar's brother, shown behind two younger kids, Olive and Chester Carsten. Their last name is shown elsewhere in the album. Never having heard the Carsten name in connection with the Wood family, I consulted the 1910 US Census and there, in Toledo, was a household consisting of:

• August Carsten, a carpenter, age 25
• Mary Carsten, age 25
• Edward Carsten, son, age 6
• Ernest Carsten, son, age 4

But Ancestry also delivered up birth info for Chester Carsten: He was born after the 1910 Census, and "Wood" is additional info in the birth file--a clue! Olive Carsten was born in 1914. By the time dad-in-law Ed took the photo at top, Chester was 7 and Olive was 3.

I asked our Wood family genealogist for help and after a bit of research, he came back with the info that Chester and Olive were grandchildren of William Henry White Wood (1853-1893), who was dad-in-law Ed's uncle. He also figured out that Mary Carsten is actually Mary Amanda Wood Carsten, a first cousin of my dad-in-law and niece of Ed's father, James Edgar Wood.

My dad-in-law Ed had a LOT of first cousins because his father was one of 17 children of Mary Amanda Demarest Wood and Thomas Haskell Wood. Most of the cousins were way older because the oldest and youngest siblings were literally a generation apart.

Chester and Olive's mother, Mary Amanda Wood, was obviously named after her grandmother, Mary Amanda Demarest Wood. (For more about the mystery surrounding this matriarch, the mother of 17, see here.)

The photo at top was taken in the summer of 1917. Alas, Mary Amanda Wood Carsten, mother of Olive and Chester, isn't in the photo--because she died in January, 1917.

Sad to say, her cause of death was extrauterine gestation, tubal, as shown in the death cert (courtesy of Family Search).

Poor Mary was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Toledo, and later moved to a different plot in the same section. (The cemetery is checking on why that happened and will let me know who she's buried next to.)

Meanwhile, widower August Carsten was left with four young children, the oldest barely 13. He remarried in the summer of 1917 to Matilde C. Kohne, with whom he had two children: Warren (born in Toledo) and Bruce (born in Illinois, where the family later moved).

So the photo at top, with smiling children, shows cousins seeing each other months after a family tragedy. Young Mary Amanda Wood Carsten was my hubby's first cousin, once removed.

52 Ancestors #46: Lojos the Tailor from Budafalu, Hungary

Lojos Mandel (1861?-1914) was the father-in-law of my cousin Margaret Roth (1892-1967). I've been tracing him back in the hope of learning more about the Roth family's history before they arrived in New York City.

Soon after Lojos (or Lajos) sailed into New York Harbor in November, 1890, he Americanized his name to Louis. In 1896, he filed his first papers for US citizenship and 10 years later, he took the oath of citizenship.

Lojos was a tailor, according to multiple census records, living on Avenue D in the Lower East Side of Manhattan for years. He and his wife, Rose Moskovitz Mandel, moved to the Bronx sometime after the 1910 Census period.

Lojos and his wife Rose returned to Europe in late 1911 and sailed back to New York in January, 1912 on the same ship that brought Joseph Roth, brother of Margaret Roth. In other words, Lojos's future daughter-in-law's brother was on the same ship from Hamburg to NYC. Coincidence? Hardly.

When Lojos died suddenly of a heart attack in 1914, at about 54 years of age, the family buried him in Washington Cemetery in Brooklyn. But that's not where he's resting today. His gravestone is in Mt. Hebron Cemetery in Queens, inside a large family plot.

Only by looking up his NYC death certificate on microfilm (thank you, Family History Center) did I learn that his hometown was Budafalu, Hungary, which is now Budesti in Romania, not far from Bucharest.

Was his wife Rose born near Budafalu? And did either have siblings who also sailed to America? Did the Mandels meet the Roths in New York or were they acquainted in Hungary before they left?

52 Ancestors #45: Wally, John, Teddy, Ed, and the 1917 Ford

When my late father-in-law Edgar J. Wood (1903-1986) got his first camera in 1917, he immediately began photographing his brothers (hubby's uncles) and the rest of the family.

1917 Ford owned by James E. Wood

The brothers were Wallis "Wally" Walter Wood (1905-1957), John Andrew Wood (1908-1980), and Theodore "Teddy" W. Wood (1910-1968). Ed was the oldest, Teddy the youngest.

Their father (James Edgar Wood, 1871-1939) had just gotten a brand-new Ford in 1917, when Ed (then 14 years old) began his lifelong hobby of photography.

At top of this page is an excerpt from Ed's first photo album. The inscription reads: "A few 'bum' photos of our big picnic at Salida Beach. July 4th, 1917. Excuse the mistakes. Some of my first attempts." In the "three Musketeers" photo, Ed is holding the shutter release, John is in the middle (I believe), and Wally is at right. Teddy seems to be camera shy for that one photo.

Ed's father, James, and his mother, Mary Slatter (1869-1925), are shown in the couples photo at top, she in a white hat for motoring to Salida Beach and he in a dark jacket.

Salida Beach is at Mentor-on-the-Lake, today an easy half-hour ride from Cleveland, where the Wood family lived. But in the 1917 Ford, which was getting its first photo session courtesy of Ed, the trip by car surely took a lot longer in those pre-highway days.

Later in the summer of 1917, the family drove from Cleveland to Chicago in their new Ford--and the boys pitched in to keep the car going, as shown in the photo just above. "All help when we have trouble," writes Ed in the album. "Wally pumping up a tire. John feeling casing. Near Waterloo, Indiana, on Chicago trip, 1917."


Photographer Ed liked to caption most of his photos, luckily for his descendants, often adding his own humorous comments. At right, his brother John Andrew Wood in some kind of uniform. "The cop! J.A.W.," writes Ed. Brother Teddy was "The tough egg," according to Ed.

The album is a treasure trove for our genealogical investigations, complete with some new faces and names and places. Thank you, Ed!

 

This post is part of the Genealogy Blog Party "Road Trip" for July of 2022.

52 Ancestors #44: Edgar J. Wood's Jazz-Era Summer of Playing Jazz in Europe

College jazz band in which Edgar James Wood played piano for two summers

When my father-in-law Edgar J. Wood (1903-1986) was in college at Tufts, he spent two summers during the 1920s playing his way across the Atlantic as part of an All-American college jazz band. At least two dozen college jazz bands toured Europe each summer, following a similar pattern.

Ed and his band buddies would board an ocean-liner in New York, receive free passage by playing for guests during the trans-Atlantic voyage, and then criss-cross Europe, playing at clubs and resorts that had booked their services. They would cruise back to New York in the same way, trading music for passage.

Above, Ed (second from right) with his college buddies on the S.S. Rotterdam, looking natty in their blazers and bow-ties, neat white trousers, and stylish shoes. Ed is the only one without an instrument, because his grand piano was in the ship's grand salon.

The 1926 summer band consisted of: Leo Lyons, Norm Mertelmeyer, Jimmie Rosselli, Joe Rosselli, Gil Gilbert, Ed Wood, Al Egerter, and Jack Conant.

Edgar James Wood Interview from 1926

Ed's scrapbook of this summer jazz tour includes a clipping from the Boston Herald of October 10, 1926. So 88 years ago this month, 23-year-old Ed was interviewed about his most recent jazz-era summer job. He told the interviewer about an unforgettable gig they played in a palace in Venice:

One of the things I remember best was when we played at a costume ball given by Count Volki, Italian minister of finance--he was at the head of the Italian debt commission to the United States, you know--at his castle on the Grand Canal, in honor of Prince Umberto, the Crown Prince. It was attended by members of the royal family and a host of Italian dukes and counts. It was one of the things that you see only in the movies, unless you are fortunate enough to be a member of the Italian nobility or a jazz musician.

Rosa and Berna's Snowy October Wedding Day in 1895

A light snow fell over Rhode Island on October 21, 1895, the day Rosa Lebowitz and Berna (Banna/Barnhart) Markell were married in Providence.

Now, 119 years later, I'm staring at their marriage certificate, thanks to the advice I was given by members of the FB Rhode Island Genealogy Network. They told me how to obtain this document--and the cost was the princely sum of $2.30.


Rosa said she was 20 (she was actually younger) and Berna said he was 21 (his correct age). His occupation was listed as brush maker, the same occupation he listed on his naturalization papers. Not every detail fits what I know of these ancestors, but there are enough points of agreement (her parents, their birthplaces) for me to conclude that this marriage document is theirs.

Although the couple said they were residents of Providence at the time of their marriage in 1895, Rhode Island was known throughout New England as a Gretna Green.

As this Connecticut newspaper article so eloquently states, couples from nearby states would seek out Rhode Island for "spur-of-the-moment marriages" without the consent of either parent. They "would be man and wife a few minutes after touching Rhode Island soil." Instant marriages continued until late in 1909, when the RI legislature required a five-day wait between license and marriage.

Were my ancestors seeking an instant marriage or were they really living in Providence at the time? The Providence directories for 1895 and years around then weren't arranged alphabetically. No, businesses and residents were listed according to the street where they were located. There was a separate directory listing for businesses ("brush manufacturers," not "brush makers"), but my ancestor was an ordinary worker, not an owner.

I have to be more creative to find Rosa and Berna if they're really in the Providence directory--which I suspect they're not.

52 Ancestors #43: James Larimer of "Pioneer Stock" and a Democrat

Hubby's 3d great-grand uncle James Larimer, 3d son of Isaac M. Larimer of Pennsylvania, married Asenath Cornwell (1808-1897) in Fairfield county, Ohio (in the 1830s?).

James and another Larimer brother soon bought land in Middlebury, and the families became pioneer farmers in Indiana. James and Asenath had five children: John, James, Nancy, Anderson, and Amos. Later they sold some land to his brother-in-law, Abel E. Work (1815-1898), who married James' sister, Cynthia Hanley Larimer (1814-1882).

James Larimer was tall and known for his strength, which he needed to split rails for farm fences. In fact, he won a local reputation for his speed with an axe.

But James also had a political side: He served as one of Middlebury's delegates to the Democratic convention of Elkhart county in Goshen, Indiana, on May 29, 1840. At left, a snippet from an article in the Goshen Democrat of June, 1840. James's name appears under "Middlebury."

It was a presidential election year, and Martin Van Buren was running for reelection against Whig party nominee William Henry Harrison, an 1812 War hero. Despite the support of loyal Democrats like James Larimer, Van Buren lost the popular vote by a small margin--and lost the Electoral College vote by a wide margin (234 to 60). William Henry Harrison was inaugurated in early 1841, then developed pneumonia and died just weeks later. His vice-president, a former Democrat named John Tyler, succeeded to the Presidency and pushed the "states' rights" view of government.

Back to ancestor James. He died on a cold winter day when his horse stumbled and James was thrown, hitting his head hard. James's grave in Middlebury, Indiana has this inscription:

"Type of Pioneer stock that, for one hundred years, pushed Government, School and Church into the Wilderness."

Watching CNN Roots

I don't miss an episode of Finding Your Roots so when my wonderful Colorado cousin mentioned CNN Roots, sponsored by Ancestry, I clicked to take a look. If you have 10 minutes, I recommend you click to the main site--the link I've highlighted here--and watch the host or anchor of your choice as he or she traces the tree back generations in a brief genealogical adventure.

CNN will broadcast a two-hour CNN Roots special on October 21. But I snuck a peak and watched several of the roughly 10-minute segments today. The Chris Cuomo segment was a lot of fun, partly because of the genealogical mysteries and partly because of the ancestral locations he visited (tiny Italian towns). Plus his family came along, and their delight in walking the streets where ancestors had lived was quite evident.

52 Ancestors #42: John Larimer Haglind, Cousin and "Useful Citizen"

This week's post continues my look at hubby's Larimer family. His 1st cousin 3x removed was John Larimer Haglind (1852-1918), the first son of Eleanor Larimer and Eric Haglind. Born in Elkhart, IN, where many Larimers lived and worked, John and his family moved to Lagrange, IN when he was a teen.

Using Newspaper Archives (accessed through my membership in the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center), I was able to locate dozens of news snippets about this cousin.

During his life, John served in many civic roles, including as superintendent of a municipal water works, clerk of the town of Lagrange, recorder for the adjutant general in Lagrange county, and on and on.

As his obits show, he was also active in the Masons, Odd Fellows, and Knights of Pythias. Plus he found time to play the violin. As the newspaper says, "Mr. Haglind was a good man and a useful citizen and Lagrange sustains a great loss in his demise."

PS John's son, Harry W. Haglind, became a bandleader in the 23d Engineers during WWI and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. This means music runs in the family in the Larimer line as well as the Slatter line.

Wishful Wednesday: Where Art Thou, Great-Great-Grandma Rachel Jacobs?

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I wish I could find the death date and final resting place of my great-great-grandma, Rachel Shuham Jacobs.

 Background: Born in Russia (or Eastern Europe) and widowed with two children, Rachel came to New York City in 1886. I found her at 88 Chrystie Street in Manhattan in the 1900 US Census, living with her daughter Tillie Jacobs Mahler and Tillie's family. She doesn't appear in the 1905 New York Census, the 1910 US Census, or the 1915 New York Census (or if she's there, I've been unable to find her--looking for Jacob, Jacobs, or Jacoby, plus looking for her two children). 

According to one of her granddaughters, Rachel died in December, 1916, but so far, I've found no trace of her. I'd like to know more about her and visit her grave. I've checked possibilities at ItalianGen.org and ordered some microfilms from FamilySearch, showing New York City deaths in 1914-16.

Above are snippets from two death certs I viewed on these microfilms today. Neither seems to be MY Rachel, sorry to say. Where art thou, great-great-grandma?

UPDATE: Rechecking my search, Rachel is definitely NOT in the households of either of her two children in 1905. Nor is she with either in 1910. (Of course Joe Jacobs isn't with his wife Eva in 1910, when she and 4 children were living in Brooklyn...she said she was married, and he must have been at work.)

BUT: In the 1905 NY Census I was sad to find a Rachel Jacobs, age 60 (a little younger than I expected), from Austria (not Russia?) in the Manhattan State Hospital on Ward's Island. The area for "where inmate lived before coming to the institution" is left blank for every patient in this hospital. Too bad for me. Even sadder for her.

Is it possible Rachel was in a hospital or institution for years after 1900? And stayed there until her death? Unfortunately, that would explain why she wasn't with either of her children in any of the NY or US censuses after 1900. Still not giving up!

Sunday's Obituary: Dr. Bartlett Larimer, Inspiration for His Nephews

Dr. Bartlett Larimer (1833-1892), fourth son of hubby's 3d g-grandparents, John Larimer and Rachel Smith Larimer, was a pioneer-era physician who inspired his nephews to go into medicine and dentistry.

Born in Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1833, he was relocated to Elkhart county, Indiana, in 1835 when his parents became early settlers of the area.

Bartlett went to college to study medicine and became a respected physician in Indiana. He married Sarah Miller, the daughter of the founder of Millersburg, Indiana, and they had seven children--none of whom, so far as I can tell, was a doctor or dentist.

Still, Bartlett Larimer's dedication and success must have inspired the sons of his sister (Margaret Larimer, who married Thomas Short). Two of these nephews became doctors after getting degrees and studying under their uncle's tutelage, and two of the nephews became dentists.

52 Ancestors #41: Samuel, A Dentist Son of Thomas Short and Margaret Larimer

From "The Michigan Alumnus 1920-1"

Hubby's 1st cousin 3x removed was Samuel Bartlett Short (1854-1920). The Short family had a cousin connection with the Scots-Irish Larimer and McClure families, from their days in Northern Ireland. Many descendants of these families became pioneers in Indiana and Ohio, farming and raising sons to be farmers. However, not every son followed that path.

Samuel Bartlett Short grew up in Eden township, Lagrange, Indiana, one of seven sons of the farmer Thomas Short and his wife, Margaret Larimer (hubby's 2d great grand aunt).

Influenced by their uncle, Dr. Bartlett Larimer, Samuel's older brothers William and John became physicians. His older brother Frank B. became a dentist. Not surprisingly, Samuel decided to go to dental school, following in the footsteps of the other professionals in his family. (Brothers Oscar David and James Edson became farmers.) As the biographies above show (from history of Lagrange county), everyone seems to have studied in Michigan.

So Samuel attended the University of Michigan, and graduated with a doctor of dental surgery degree in March, 1879. He returned to Indiana, settled in Elkhart county, established his practice, and in 1884, he married Jennie V. Landon. They had one child, William. Jennie died in 1901--in Battle Creek, Michigan, where she was a housekeeper, according to the death record. This part of the story seems strange, doesn't it--wait, they probably meant she "kept house" and had no other occupation? 

Dr. Short remarried in 1909, to Emma Clouse. On September 21, 1920, Samuel Short died and was buried in Grace Lawn Cemetery, Elkhart, close to his first wife, Jennie. Second wife Emma was eventually buried nearby as well, having outlived Samuel by 31 years (she died in 1951).

Family Friends Friday: The Steiner Sisters Visit Miss Pearl Hill

Using one of my newspaper archive subscriptions, I've discovered that hubby's maternal grandma had a cousin we've never heard of.

Here's the tiny item that tipped me off, from the social column of an Indiana newspaper from June, 1901.

It reads: "Mrs. E. Post, of Knoxville, Tenn; Miss Floyda Steiner, of Upper Sandusky, Ohio, and Mrs. Frank Rhuark, of Huntington [Indiana] have returned home after a visit with their cousin, Miss Pearl Hill."

• Mrs. E. Post is Margaret Mary Steiner, who married Elroy Post in 1883 and moved to Knoxville. She was the oldest of the living Steiner sisters.
• Miss Floyda Steiner is hubby's grandma, who married Frank A. Gottfried in 1898, was living with him in Wyandot County, OH in 1900 at the time of the census, and was divorced by the time the above newspaper clipping appeared in mid-1901. Floyda was the baby of the family, born in 1878, 26 years after her parents had their first child.
• Mrs. Frank Rhuark is Etta Blanche Steiner, who married Frank Rhuark in 1888.

There were other Steiner sisters (Minnie Estella and Carrie) but they weren't along on this visit to a cousin whose name I've never seen. If only the newspaper had reported where in the world Pearl Hill lived!

Travel Tuesday: Which Immigrant Ancestors Saw the Statue of Liberty?

Recently I completed a 14-page "memory booklet" outlining the family histories of Henrietta Mahler (1881-1954) and Isaac Burk (1882-1943), my paternal grandparents.

I tried to get a sense of what it was like to be an immigrant arriving in steerage, getting my first glimpse of the city I hoped would have streets paved with gold.

Henrietta and her younger siblings were children when they arrived at New York's Castle Garden in late 1886, just around the time the Statue of Liberty was dedicated (on October 28, 1886).

However, Henrietta's father, Meyer Mahler, arrived in 1885, so his ship didn't pass Lady Liberty on the way to New York Harbor. Still, living in New York and awaiting his family's arrival, he would have been aware of the statue's purpose and the hoopla surrounding its dedication. Ken Burns has a wonderful timeline of the statue's history and the progress leading up to the dedication by President Grover Cleveland.

Henrietta's future husband, Isaac Burk, came to North America by way of Canada, and took a train south to the Vermont border, so he didn't see the Statue of Liberty on his incoming trip.

Both of my maternal grandparents arrived in the 20th century, which means their voyages ended with the Statue of Liberty in full view (and they were processed through Ellis Island, not Castle Garden). Minnie Farkas (1886-1964) sailed into New York Harbor in 1901, two years before Emma Lazarus's now-famous poem was inscribed on the base. Similarly, her future husband Theodore Schwartz (1887-1965) arrived in 1902, the year before the poem was put on the base. In later years, did they ever take a ferry to the statue to get a closer look?

52 Ancestors #40: Why did the Freelands Leave Indiana for the South Bronx?

Hubby's 2d great-grand aunt, Emma O. Larimer (1848-1923), the daughter of Brice S. Larimer and Lucy E. Bentley, was born and raised a Hoosier. In 1869, Emma married James Freeland (1838-1920), also of Indiana, and together they had three children: Lucy (b. 1870), Earle (b. 1877), and James (b. 1891). In 1880, James was a street commissioner in Goshen. Earlier, he was a deputy sheriff (according to his obit) and also involved in manufacturing.

In 1900, the Freeland family was still settled comfortably in Goshen, Indiana, where they had lived for years. James's occupation was listed as "salesman" and two of the three children also were working.

In 1905, however, the New York City census listed the entire family as living at 582 East 165th Street in the South Bronx, a residential neighborhood that was fairly middle class and less than one mile from a major shopping crossroads on 149th Street.

Why did they leave Goshen and go to the Big Apple, where the cost of living was undoubtedly much higher? So far as I can tell, they had no family in New York. Nor did James work in an occupation that required his residence in New York.

But looking ahead at James's 1920 obit (from the Middlebury Independent, Indiana) contains one clue to the move: He was suffering from "a long history of nervous disorders and general decline." The family pulled up stakes and left for New York in 1903, according to the obit, leaving behind siblings and other relatives on both sides of the families. In 1920, James died at 82 and was quickly buried in New York, to be reburied with the rest of the family later. Was the family seeking medical treatment for James? Or did they want a fresh start somewhere else when they left Goshen in 1903 to live in the crowded Big Apple?

Contemporary records show that the Freelands remained in New York City from 1903 on. According to the 1910 Census, Lucy, the older daughter, was a stenographer in an insurance office. Earle was an electrician in a "power house" [sic]. James Lynn, the younger son, was a stock clerk in a drug firm (or store?). Their parents weren't working; presumably, Emma took care of James.

By mid-1920, James and the family had moved to upper Manhattan. Two of the three children -- all grown -- were "retail merchandisers" in a stationery store. James died in September of that year and his wife, Emma, died in 1923 (see obit from the Middlebury Independent, Indiana).

Lucy remained single, later living with her brothers in Manhattan. Earle was also single and kept the stationery store going. James Lynn married Rena and had a son, James Jr. and two daughters, Rhoda and Norma.

52 Ancestors #39: Great-Great Grandma Margaret Shank or Shankland?

Just 207 years ago this month (September, 1807), hubby's great-great grandma Margaret Shank was born, supposedly in Delaware (according to the 1850 and 1860 censuses). She married g-g-grandpa Joseph W. Rinehart (1806-1888) in the 1830s and they were the parents of 6 children:

• Elizabeth Jane
• Joseph Charles
• Hugh
• Mary Elizabeth
• Sarah
• Nancy (Nannie)

Margaret's maiden name is either Shank (Shenk? Schenk?) or Shanklin, according to various documents. Findagrave has 11 "Shank" folks buried in Crawford County, OH, where Margaret died in 1873 and not one Shanklin. Similarly, Delaware's Findagrave has no Shanklins but some Shanks buried. However, the 1860 Census has 2 Shanklin families in Sussex county, Delaware--but is that because the surname wasn't spelled correctly?

Shanklin might also be spelled Shankland--and there were Shanklands in Delaware, I know from various histories. Looking again at Findagrave, I found no Shanklands in Crawford County but six early Shanklands in Delaware. Checking the 1820 census, I found two Shankland families in Sussex county, Delaware, a Daniel and a Saloman, with very small households. No Shanklands in the 1860 Delaware census, by the way, but 8 Shanklands in the 1860 Ohio census and 15 Shanklins in the 1860 Ohio census (none in Crawford county).

In particular, one couple (Mary [maiden name UNK] Shankland, d. 1855 and William Shankland, d. 1815) are possible parents for Margaret. They were buried in Lewes Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Lewes, Delaware. Was this Margaret's family? More "digging" is in my future.

Sentimental Sunday: Roaring Twenties Graduation Photo

Grandma Henrietta Mahler Burk and her husband, Grandpa Isaac Burk, celebrated their eldest daughter's graduation with this studio portrait. Her outfit is so 1920s--which makes sense, since the date was between 1921 and 1924!

Look very closely, and you'll see that Henrietta is wearing a portrait pin--it's surely a photo of her mother and father, the same one that her mother Tillie Jacobs Mahler wore all her life after Tillie's husband, my great-grandpa Meyer Mahler, died young in 1910.

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Rose Lebowitz Markell, RIP in Brooklyn

Rose Lebowitz Markell (mother of Joseph A. Markell, who married my father's matchmaker aunt, Mary Mahler) died in Pittsburgh and was buried one day later in Brooklyn, NY.

Friends were kind enough to photograph her grave yesterday.

The inscription reads: Here lies my beloved mother, Rochel (Rachel), daughter of Sholom.

52 Ancestors #38: Mayflower Ancestors on Mayflower Day

This is Mayflower Day and my post is in honor of four of hubby's ancestors, who were passengers on that ship:

Isaac Allerton, Mary Norris, Mary Allerton, and Degory Priest. 

Mary Allerton married Thomas Cushman, who arrived on the Fortune. Mary Allerton Cushman's son Eleazer Cushman married Elizabeth Royal Coombs, great-granddaughter of Degory Priest, linking these two families from the Mayflower.

Several generations later, Lydia Cushman married Elihu Wood Sr., father of Isaiah Wood Sr.. Isaiah was hubby's 2d g-granddaddy on the Wood side.

The Wood fam genealogist was in England two months ago. He visited the Mayflower Pub, formerly owned by Captain Jones, and wrote me:

"They talk of the Mayflower departure as if it is current events. There is a very different perspective on history over there. 1620 was recent history."

Thankful for the Mayflower on this September 16th.

52 Ancestors #37: Annie Horwitch, Manchester to Montreal After Marriage

My grand-uncle Abraham Birk/Burke (1878-1962) was born in Telsiai, Lithuania; married in Manchester, England; and died in Montreal, Canada.

Abraham's bride, who became my grand-aunt, was Annie Horwitch (or Horowitz). She's listed in their marriage record as "Annie Hurwitch" of Cheetham, Manchester, England, daughter of a teacher, Moses Hurwitch.

When Annie was 19, her Russian-born father Moses completed the naturalization process and was given UK citizenship. (Happily, the UK documents also give Moses's parents' names!)

Annie's courtship came about because Abraham and his younger brother Isaac (hi grandpa!) Birk had left Lithuania and were living with their uncle and aunt in Manchester for a time. The brothers worked, saved money, learned a little English, and planned for a future in North America.

The uncle in Manchester was Isaac Chazan (one of the witnesses to Annie's marriage). The aunt, who was very probably the blood relative, was Ann Hinda (Hannah) Chazan. Her maiden name was either Meton or Mahler. (The UK records say "Meton" but a handwritten family tree says "Mahler." If it turns out to be Mahler, that means my grandparents Isaac and Henrietta were cousins in some way...maybe it was even an arranged marriage?!)

Anyway, Annie and Abraham married in Cheetham in June, 1903. A little more than a year later, they welcomed their first child--and Abraham soon sailed for Montreal to establish his carpentry business. In 1905, just weeks before Annie's second wedding anniversary, she and her infant daughter were reunited with Abraham in Montreal. They had four children in all and were together for nearly 45 years. Abraham outlived Annie and was a guest, along with his children, at my parents' wedding, standing in for his late brother Isaac who had died a few years earlier.

52 Ancestors #36: Margaret McClure "Stricken with Grippe . . . Until Life Became Extinct"

Hubby's great-grandma, Margaret Jane Larimer McClure (1859-1913), the daughter of Brice S. Larimer and Lucy E. Bentley, outlived her husband by more than 30 years.

Born in Elkhart, Indiana, Margaret married William Madison McClure in October, 1876. After great-grandpa Willy died in 1887, Maggie moved to Wabash, Indiana, with three of her four children (Lola, Lucy, and Hugh Benjamin).

The photo above shows Maggie with her daughter Lucy (Lucille) and Lucy's husband, John Everett De Velde.

As a member of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center, I can conveniently search databases like Newspaper Archive from home. So I plugged Maggie's name into the search box for Wabash, IN, and found her obit in the Wabash Daily Plain Dealer of May 15, 1913--the day she died.

According to the obit, Maggie was "stricken with grippe" a few days before her death, "which later developed into a complication of diseases and caused her to grow gradually weaker until life became extinct." Rest in peace.

52 Ancestors #35: Did Abbie Eliza Bentley Cross the (State) Line to a Gretna Green?

Hubby's 2d great-grand aunt Abbie Eliza Bentley (1832-1893) was born in upstate New York [town unknown] and married Leonard Lucien Curtis (1823-1905) in Cass County, Michigan, in 1848.

Why was Abbie Bentley married in Cass County, when she lived in Elkhart? Cass County (bounded by the red dashed lines) was just over the state line from Abbie's home in Elkhart, as the map shows.

Abbie's pioneer parents, William Tyler Bentley and Olivia Morgan Bentley, left New York for Elkhart, Indiana in 1835, when Abbie was just 3. In 1838, Olivia died, and in 1848, widower William took off for California to join the land rush.

Perhaps Abbie crossed into Cass County because it was a Gretna Green--a place where marriages could take place without lengthy waiting periods, or because her father was already in California and couldn't give his consent to a marriage in Indiana?

The 1850 Census shows Abbie living in Elkhart, with her blacksmith husband Leonard Curtis and their oldest daughter, Henrietta, very near Abbie's older sister Elizabeth and her carpenter husband, Emanuel Light.

By 1851, Abbie and Elizabeth and other siblings (and their spouses) were loading wagons for the long trek west to join their father in California. Sisters Lucy and Lucinda stayed behind in Elkhart.

Abbie died in 1893 in Santa Cruz, CA, having been married to Leonard Curtis for 45 years.

52 Ancestors #34: Rachel Shuham Jacobs--Granny of 13, Great-Granny of 8+

Rachel and a Mahler granddaughter (before 1910)

My 2d great-grandma, Rachel Shuham Jacobs (?-1916), was the Russian- (or Latvian-) born matriarch of my father's family. She lived to see 13 grandchildren and at least 8 great-grandkids--with even more great-grandkids born after she died.

Rachel and her husband Julius/Jonah Jacobs had two children (that I know of): My great-grandma, Tillie Jacobs (1857?-1952), and my grand-uncle, Joe Jacobs (1864-1919). Joe left home in 1882, arriving in New York to scout out possibilities for the family.

Rachel was widowed sometime before 1886, when she came to New York with her daughter Tillie Jacobs Mahler and Tillie's growing family. 

If only the 1890 Census hadn't burned up, I'd know a bit more about Rachel and her children and grandchildren. The first and only Census record I have for Rachel is in 1900, when she's living in the 88 Christie Street apartment of her daughter Tillie and son-in-law Meyer Mahler. Down the hall, in the same building, lived Rachel's son Joe Jacobs and his family.

I'll keep looking for Rachel in the 1905 NY Census, but so far, no luck. Another avenue to explore is the New York City directory for Manhattan. Maybe her name will be listed for some year between 1887 and 1916?

According to Rachel's granddaughter Ida, who kept a detailed book of names and dates, Rachel died in December of 1916. Alas, I've never been able to find Rachel's burial place or even a death cert. I came close once or twice, and I'll keep looking. Meanwhile, here's to you, Matriarch Rachel!

52 Ancestors #33: Mary Shehen of London, a Family Link to Ireland

Ancestry Images (www.ancestryimages.com)

Mary Shehen (b. in London abt 1839, died there before 1888) was hubby's great-grandma and one of his links to Ireland.

Her parents, Mary and John Shehen (or Shehan or Sheehan) were both born in Ireland around 1801. It's a mystery how and when they arrived in London, but there they were in the 1841 UK Census, in Gray's Buildings in Marylebone. At that time, the family consisted of Thomas (7), our Mary (3), and Michael (8 mos). Mary Shehen's birth was registered in the second quarter of 1840, yet the 1841 Census shows her as 3 years old. Hmmm...

On December 18, 1859, a Sunday just a week before Christmas, Mary married John Slatter in Spitalfields Christ Church, located in the Whitechapel area of London. She and her new husband moved into Whitechapel, while her parents remained in Marylebone, five miles away.

Mary and John Slatter had six children. The family was quite poor, and the five youngest children left for North America after they grew up. I'm still trying to determine what happened to the oldest child, Thomas John Slatter. He's 1 year old in the 1861 census but missing from the family household in the 1871 census and ever after.

HOWEVER, there's an intriguing possibility in the 1871 census, where a "Thomas Slatter, grandson" is living in the living in the household of John and Sarah Shuttleworth, along with a granddaughter with a different surname. The Shuttleworth household is barely 3 miles from the Slatter household. Could this be our Thomas John Slatter? He's the correct age in 1871. The Shuttleworth name is new to me, not anywhere in the family tree--yet.

Friday's Faces from the Past: Minnie, Teddy, and Mary Celebrate in the 1950s

I found this photo quite unexpectedly while scanning photos from my grandparents'  album, assembled by my mother about 40-odd years ago.

Sometime in the 1950s, my grandparents Minnie Farkas Schwartz and Teddy Schwartz were at an unknown family celebration, and Teddy's sister Mary Schwartz was also invited.

Possibly this is from Minnie and Teddy's 45th wedding anniversary in 1956, given that Minnie has a corsage and is quite dressed up. Or it might be Minnie and Teddy's retirement in Spring, 1955, after they sold "Teddy's Dairy Store" to Teddy's assistant, John.

Did Mary's husband Ed take the photo? Who else was at the event? I'm delighted to have this memento of a very happy occasion in my immigrant grandparents' lives.

52 Ancestors #32: The Maiden Name Mystery of Second Great-Grandma Elizabeth Steiner

The scrap of paper at left shows notes made by hubby's grandfather (Brice Larimer McClure) about his Steiner grandparents--hubby's great-great-grandparents.

Clearly, Brice knew how old his grandma Elizabeth Steiner was when she died but not the age of his grandpa. I'm still looking for Jacob Steiner's death date and place (he died before the 1860 census).

What was Elizabeth Steiner's maiden name? She lived from 1802 to 1864 and, judging by the birth date of her oldest child, she married Jacob S. Steiner in the early 1820s, either in Pennsylvania (where he was born) or in Ohio (where she was born).

Elizabeth and Jacob Steiner had nine children that I know of:

• Sarah Steiner (b. about 1824)
• William Steiner (1827-1899)
• Edward George Steiner (1830-1880)
• James M. Steiner (b. about 1832)
• Samuel D. Steiner (1835-1901)
• Elizabeth A. Steiner (b. about 1837)
• Benjamin Franklin Steiner (1840-1924)
• Stephen Decatur Steiner (b. about 1842, d. 1933)
• Mary M. Steiner (b. about 1846)

Last year, hubby and I visited Elizabeth's grave in the bucolic Oceola Cemetery #2, Crawford County, Ohio. We only found the cemetery thanks to detailed instructions from a kind Find a Grave volunteer who knows the area well. RIP, Elizabeth. Someday, we'll know your maiden name and be able to trace your family back even further.

Workday Wednesday: Horsman Dolls and the Roth Connection

Cousin Joseph Roth and his son-in-law Lawrence Lipson were involved with the Horsman Doll Company, headquartered at 200 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, with a factory in New Jersey. Above, one of the beautiful dolls made by Horsman in 1956.

Horsman was founded right after the Civil War to manufacture baseballs and toys, as well as to distribute sporting goods like archery sets and croquet. There really was a Mr. Horsman (Edward I. Horsman) who established the company in 1865, when toy wholesaling businesses tended to locate in the Maiden Lane area of lower Manhattan. Mr. Horsman died in 1927 and is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

Just before the great stock market crash of 1929, the company narrowed its focus exclusively to doll manufacturing. I don't know how or when my Roth family became part of this business, which passed out of Horsman control a few years after the market crash. I do know that when Joseph Roth died in 1945, his son-in-law Lawrence Lipson told authorities that Joseph had retired from the toy manufacturing business in 1930. Lawrence was the president of Horsman during the 1950s and he remained in charge when the company was bought by Botany Mills in 1957.

My Roth cousins remember being gifted with Horsman dolls for birthdays and holidays. One cousin remembers going to the Fifth Avenue showroom and being dazzled by the stunning displays of one gorgeous doll after another!

Blogiversary #6: Blessed with Cousin Connections

Meyer Mahler and Tillie Jacobs Mahler and family, early 1900s

Six years ago, I began my blog with a post wondering when my great-grandpa Meyer Elias Mahler--the gentleman seated at right in this photo--died. (Answer: 1910).

That same summer, I made my first big cousin connection, with the Wood family genealogist who showed hubby how his ancestors are descended from Mayflower passengers. Blogging as cousin bait!

Since then, I've connected with cousins on both sides of my and my hubby's families and expanded our family trees and family stories all over the map. What a joyful journey it's been to "meet" (in person, online, or on the phone) cousins from these extended families (and related families): Burke/Berk, Bentley, Farkas, Mahler, Markell, McClure, Roth, Larimer, Schwartz, Slatter, Steiner, Weiss, and Wood. 

Some cousins weren't interested in being "found" and simply didn't answer my calls or e-mails or letters. In the past six years, only one cousin has actually told me to buzz off. Before I sent his e-mail to my "junk" file, I saved his final words to share here. He wrote:

There is no need to reply to this email nor any purpose in further

correspondence with me in the future.

Thank you to all my wonderful, loving cousins who have enriched my life and given me so many ideas and so much support as I research the relationships that connect us. The genealogy journey continues!

A New View of Ancestors' Lives via "The Golden Age Shtetl"

Having read a recent review of The Golden Age Shtetl, I dove in for insights into my ancestors' lives in early 19th-century Eastern Europe.

Fiddler on the Roof is one way to look at shtetl life--but not the only way. This book shows the shtetl in its heyday, decades before pogroms drove many (including my ancestors) to leave for good. Although it focuses on shtetls in what is now central Ukraine, its observations apply to a great many shtetls that ultimately came under Russian dominance.

As other reviews and interviews have noted, I was surprised to learn that many shtetls were not impoverished, shabby, shanty towns. In the mid-1800s and earlier, they were often thriving settlements with the right to hold lucrative market days at regular intervals. Some shtetls were quite large, others rather small. The homes weren't dark and dingy--many were brightly colored, as suggested by the book jacket above (picture painted by the book's author).

For family and business reasons, marriages were planned between wealthy merchants when their children were quite young--sometimes only 11. Ordinary families, however, had few assets to consider and could afford to let love make the match. Because of tax consequences, such families might wait a long time to register their children, which of course complicates present-day searches for ancestors who were children in the early and mid-1800s.

The photos and sketches of shtetl homes and synagogues were eye-opening. The sketch on p. 245 is, in my mind, a smaller, wooden precursor of the larger, more solidly-built restaurant that our family long ago operated on the market road to Ungvar (a bustling city then part of Hungary, now Uzhorod, Ukraine). The main floor was where guests were served, the upper floor was for family use, and the lower levels and outbuildings were for supplies and storage. The family also had a mill and cows to supply the restaurant.

The Golden Age Shtetl goes into considerable detail (both a plus and a minus) but it also gave me several ideas for further research into the daily lives of my ancestors in Hungary, Lithuania, and Latvia.

Tuesday's Tip: Try, Try Again--New Clues Come Online Every Day

My most recent research has been looking for Rose Lebowitz Markell (abt 1877-1909, married to Barney Markell), the beauty who died young after having a son who grew up and married my matchmaker aunt. My latest discovery about Rose reminds me to keep searching, keep trying--because new clues come online every day.

Just last week I found Rose's death certificate--only because Ancestry and Pennsylvania have a new arrangement for scanning and making these documents available online. It would have been difficult to find her otherwise, so my timing was good.

Months earlier, I had sent for the death cert of her sister Ella Lebowitz Markell (1886-1965, married to Julius Markell) the old-fashioned way, starting with a Pennsylvania death index and paying $9 (a relative bargain) to receive a paper copy f-o-u-r months later.

But here was Rose's complete death cert, freshly posted on Ancestry! She died in Pittsburgh and was buried in New York City. This makes sense because Rose's mother lived in New York City. Next challenge: There are a LOT of potential burying places around the city. Where to start?

I went to Find-a-Grave, of course, where I've searched in the past. This time I had a death year so I could do a more specific search.

I plugged in the last name, Markell, and the year 1909, and searched in New York only.

Up popped a result that was posted at the end of May by a kind volunteer: Rosa Markell [sic], buried in Washington Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. This cemetery has more than 52,000 burials, but only a small percentage have been photographed or posted online. If I'd checked in early May, I would have found nothing.

Of course some things have to be done the old-fashioned, pre-Internet way. I picked up the phone and called the cemetery. The office personnel had a lot of info to share: Rose was buried one day after her death, in an "independent" plot. A year later, presumably when her gravestone was to be put in place, Rose was moved to the Markell family plot in another area of the cemetery. They also gave me the (new to me) name of the relative who was in charge of that plot.

Timing, as they say, is everything. Who knows what new info will be posted online today or next week or next year?

Military Monday: RIP to Harold Burk of the 3163d Signal Service Company

On this anniversary of Harold Burk's death, I want to look back at his WWII experience. Dad enlisted in 1942, at the age of 32, and after basic training, he was assigned as a teletype operator. Because he could type, he then served as a personnel clerk in the Signal Corps, the Army unit responsible for communications.  

In 1944, he and his unit (the 3163d Signal Service Company) were sent to the heart of Europe to prep communication lines for the Allies' major ground offensives. After Paris was liberated, his unit advanced to a position close to the city in preparation for the final weeks of the war. He spent the spring of 1945 in Paris and sent home photos of himself with famous landmarks.

When Dad was honorably discharged in October, 1945, he held the rank of Technician, 5th grade. I've told the story before of how he was "busted" from sergeant back to private because he wanted to keep the men in his company warm with deliveries of coal. RIP, Dad (1909-1978).

52 Ancestors #31: Beautiful Rose Lebowitz Markell Died Young

For years I've tried to find out what happened to Rose Lebowitz Markell, wife of Barney (Barnhart) Markell and mother of Joseph Markell. Joseph married my great-aunt Mary Mahler, who is one of the matchmaker aunts responsible for introducing my parents.

Earlier this summer, I spotted an Ancestry family tree that included the name of Rose's sister Ella, and I contacted the tree owner. He responded and now that we know he's my Left Coast cousin, we've been exchanging info. The family story was that Rose was quite beautiful and she died young. Details were sketchy, however.

Thanks to Ancestry posting and indexing thousands of Pennsylvania death cert images, my search this morning turned up Rose Lebowitz Markell's death certificate. The informant was Barney and he didn't get everything correct (Rose's father was Samuel, not Solomon) nor did he know his wife's exact birth year.

Still, this is undoubtedly our beautiful Rosie, who left behind a husband and a school-age son. Barney remarried in 1914 to Esther, who had a teenaged daughter from a first marriage. When Barney and Esther had a daughter in 1918, they named her Rose.

Unfortunately, teenaged Joseph didn't get along with his step-mother (according to family lore) and he ran away. As soon as he was old enough, he joined the Navy, serving on a ship that was anchored off the coast of Mexico during the "Tampico Affair" right after WWI.

Happily, Joseph didn't lose touch with his Lebowitz relatives. My Left Coast cousin says that his wife Mary made sure their children got to know their Lebowitz cousins.

My next task is to locate where Rosie the beauty was buried. She's not in Find-a-Grave, but I'll keep looking!

52 Ancestors #30: Alfred Olando Wood of the Wood Bros. Carpenters in Toledo

If name influences destiny, then hubby's Wood ancestors were following their name by working in wood.

Hubby's great-grandpa Thomas Haskell Wood and great-grandma Mary Amanda Demarest Wood had 17 children. Their fourth-oldest son was Alfred Olando Wood, born in 1855 in what was then Cabell County, Virginia* (and is now Huntington, West Virginia).

Alfred Olando Wood was a carpenter, part of the "Wood Bros. Carpenters" family business in Toledo, Ohio.

Above, an excerpt from the 1891 Toledo directory, showing Alfred O. and several of his Wood brothers (Frank E.--really Francis Ellery--plus Charles A.--really Charles Augustus--and Marion E.--really Marion Elton).

The Wood brothers who were not carpenters were painters, according to Census records and city directories. Robert Orrin Wood was a painter. William Henry White Wood was a painter. Marion Elton Wood, shown above as one of the Wood Bros, was also listed as a painter in several Toledo directories.

Poor Alfred died at age 39, in 1895. I know the exact date because it's in the 1895 Toledo directory. And that's where I learned his widow's name, Mary A. [maiden UNK].


*When Virginia voted to secede from the Union at the start of the Civil War, Cabell County stayed in the Union (with the exception of one town).