Discrepancies Disprove a Genealogy Theory

 

Recently, I wrote about the perils of researching my young 1c2r Pauline Jacobs (abt 1901-1907).

When Was Pauline Born?

I didn't know exactly when this little girl was born, although I knew she was born in New York City. 

Several possibilities turned up when I initially searched Ancestry and the Italian Genealogical Group (see results excerpt below). 

After seeing this list, I theorized that my Pauline Jacobs was born on June 26, 1901. The birth date fit quite well with what I knew from her death cert. Still, the bare-bones index or even a quick transcription wouldn't be enough to prove or disprove this theory. I needed more details, available on the full/original birth certificate, to more definitively prove a match--such as the parents' names and birthplaces, their home address, etc. 

Not my Pauline Jacobs

When I obtained the actual cert (excerpt is shown at top), I noticed that the parents' names do not match what I know about MY Pauline. Here the mother's name is Pauline Uhle, but MY Pauline's mom was Eva Micalovsky. Same goes for the father's name on this birth cert, not a match for MY Pauline. Father's occupation is not what I know of Pauline's father, either. Parents' birthplace differs from what I know.

Moreover, my Jacobs ancestors didn't live on West End Avenue in Manhattan (the address on this cert) and probably didn't even know anyone there; West End Avenue is quite far from the Lower East Side where the Jacobs family lived in this period. Looking at all the discrepancies, I'm confident this is NOT my cousin Pauline. The details don't match what is already known from other documents.

Theory disproved, next steps

After ruling out June 26, 1901 as Pauline's birth date, I redid my search to see whether there were other possibilities. This time I used the Germany Genealogy Group's database page, which checks volunteer-transcribed birth indexes from New York City.

The results shown here include a Pauline E. Jacobs born in May of 1899, but I'm not even tempted to look at her cert. Why? Because my Pauline was NOT in the Jacobs household according to the 1900 Census. That year's Census was taken on June 1. The Pauline E. Jacobs in the search results was born in 1899 and I strongly believe my cousin Pauline was born after the 1900 Census.

One big reason I think Pauline was born after mid-1900 is because Eva Jacobs told the enumerator she had 5 children in all but only 4 were living. All four were named in the Census listing and I know them all. So far, no good possibilities for a birth cert, but I'll keep looking.

Who's in the plot?

Knowing that Eva and Joseph Jacobs had lost a child before the 1900 Census, I took a little side trip looking for a child's death cert from before 1900. 

I clicked to the "interment search" on the website for Mount Zion Cemetery in Maspeth, NY, where the Jacobs family is buried in the Plungianer Society plot. Doing a search for any "Jacobs" in that plot I found Annie Jacobs, who was buried in that plot on February 1, 1896 according to the cemetery's website. 

Family Search shows a death index record of a one-year-old girl named Annie Jacobs on February 15, 1896, with burial on February 16, 1896 in Mount Zion Cemetery. Parents are Joseph and Eva Jacobs. With the theory that Annie Jacobs was the missing baby lost before 1900, I asked a kind parking lot angel to pull Annie's death cert image for me to examine more carefully. So grateful to these volunteers for their assistance!

Not all details fit . . .

Sadly, I saw on the death cert that this Annie was only 13 months old when she died of bronchitis, with contributing causes of rubella and "brain congestion." 

The cert says her parents were Joseph Jacobs and Eva (no maiden name, darn it!), both born in Germany (supposedly). Address was a tenement on West Third Street, close to the Lower East Side. 

Doctor Oscar Smith, who signed the death cert, lived around the corner. Since he wasn't at Annie's side when she died at 1 a.m. on February 15, according to his own statement, he might not have really known where the baby's parents were born, but made a guess based on their foreign accents. (I'm guessing about his guess now.)

Until I can locate a birth cert and get more info, I'm going to put Annie down as "very possibly" the daughter of Joseph Jacobs and Eva Micalovsky Jacobs--the child who passed away before the 1900 Census. I still need a bit more evidence, but most of the details fit AND she is buried close to her parents in the cemetery, which helps to support but not prove my theory. Yet.

4 Reasons to Keep Conference Syllabus Files

Do you have old syllabus files from conferences you attended in past years? Here are 4 very good reasons to hold onto them and keep them handy. Note: Mine are all digital, taking up no room on my bookshelf and yet easy to find and review in a matter of moments.

Refresh Your Memory 

Sometimes I can't absorb all the key points from a session even with the handout in front of me. This is especially true for topics that are new to me or techniques I use only very occasionally. 

For instance, Pamela J. Cooper's "Railroad Trilogy" session at the 2013 FGS conference got me started researching my husband's ancestors who worked on the railroad. She had so many great ideas! I've returned to her handout in the syllabus more than once to remind myself of occupational words (like gandy dancer) that suggest a railroad background, and for how to obtain employee and pension records.

In 2014, I attended Maureen Taylor's NGS session about "Photo Detecting 101" and got educated on the basics of photo identification. Her handy chart comparing the daguerreotype, the ambrotype, the tintype, and cartes des visite has been such a treasure as I sort my family's old photos for dating and captioning. I refresh my memory on the differences as often as needed.

  

Less Relevant Then, More Relevant Now 

In 2013, I had no idea I would find so many ancestors in my husband's family tree who worked for railroads. Back then, I was thinking primarily about the background of my husband's grandfather (Brice Larimer McClure), who worked as a machinist for the "Big Four" railroads in Wabash, Indiana at the turn of the 20th century. 

Since that conference, I've discovered some of hubby's ancestors were station agents ... some were railroad machinists ... and on and on. Having the syllabus available with a few clicks allows me to return to Pam's handout and see it with fresh eyes, getting more out of it because I know more about family history than I did back then. In short, the session is even more relevant to my genealogy research today than in the past.

Sources, Techniques, and Tips Are Timeless 

Nearly all of the info in my syllabus files (even the oldest, from 2013 and 2014) has stood the test of time, particularly methodology and tips. The basics are sound and remain valuable. The syllabus files provide quite an education and allow me to expand my knowledge well beyond the sessions I attended.

Some speakers included web addresses in their handouts. A few led to "404 Not Found" but the vast majority are still working and still helpful. In fact, some of the links led to pages that are being updated on a regular basis. I was delighted to see that Pam's link to Jim Sponholz's page on "Locations of Railroad Genealogical Materials" was very much alive--Jim updated it just a few weeks ago!

Talk about timeless: I should put Maureen Taylor's "Photo Detecting 101" handout from NGS 2014 on speed dial. Having connected with more cousins in recent years, I refer to her tips and techniques often as I investigate each new family photo.

Ideas and Inspiration from Old Syllabus Files

Like browsing a library's shelves in search of a good book to read, clicking through old syllabus files can lead to fresh ideas and inspiration. Just now, I was clicking through the 2014 NGS syllabus and stopped at the handout for Elizabeth Shown Mills's session "War Is Hell." She not only suggested a strategy for researching military claims made by ancestors, she included a detailed list of sources to check for claims related to each war or conflict. This is an angle I didn't even consider when examining hubby's Civil War ancestors, but now will try to investigate.

Old syllabus files are the gift that keeps on giving, year after year. If you haven't opened one lately, find a quiet moment to take another look. You're sure to notice something you can use in your current genealogical situation!

Reading Frederick William Slatter's WWI Military Records

My husband's Slatter family had a multi-generational tradition of military service. This post honors the memory of his 1c1r Frederick William Slatter (1890-1958) who was severely wounded while serving with Canadian forces in World War I. Frederick was the second son of Capt. John Daniel Slatter (renowned military bandmaster in the 48th Highlanders of Toronto) and Sophie Marie Elizabeth Le Gallais (1861-1943).

Beyond Attestation

According to Frederick's Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Forces attestation paper, he joined the 75th Battalion on August 11, 1915. It had just been formed as an infantry unit for World War I service. 

Frederick, a bank clerk, was just weeks shy of his 25th birthday. He told officials he was unmarried, had been a member of a Canadian militia, and had previously served in the 2d Queen's Own unit. 

The complete military record covers 62 pages (including envelopes and blank pages) in the Library and Archives of Canada. This comprehensive file tells the story of his journey from the time he signed the attestation (and resigned and signed a new attestation) to his period of service in the European theatre and then to hospitals and finally to leaving the military. Unexpectedly, the file even included his date of death, decades after the war.

From Private to Acting Sergeant

After Frederick was medically cleared to serve in the 75th Battalion (formerly the 180th Battalion), he went into training. He was ranked as a private when he resigned from the 75th Battalion on February 8, 1916 to accept a commission as an acting sergeant with the 109th Regiment and then absorbed into the180th Battalion.  

Before being deployed overseas, Frederick trained at Camp Borden, the same Canadian training camp where his father (Capt. John Daniel Slatter) was training hundreds of buglers for World War I service. Then, 104 years ago this week, Frederick sailed from Halifax to Europe with other Canadian troops on H.M.T. Olympic. 

"GSW Chest Sev" Before Battle of Vimy Ridge

By early 1917, he was one of the thousands of soldiers massing in France to prepare for the notorious battle of Vimy Ridge. Many were wounded or lost their lives before the major offensive. On March 28, only days before the big battle began, Frederick was shot and subsequently admitted to the Duchess of Westminster Hospital in Le Touquet, France.

His medical condition was noted as: GSW chest sev - meaning a severe gun shot wound to the chest. He was moved to two other hospitals for treatment before being discharged from medical care on May 6, 1917. He was promoted to become Lt. Frederick William Slatter in September, 1917, and appears with that rank in the history of the 180th Battalion booklet. Ultimately, he was reevaluated by medical boards, declared medically unfit for service in early 1918, and returned to Canada for discharge.

Unexpected Find: Death Date

As I scrolled through Frederick's lengthy file, I found several pages that revealed his death date. Above, the card noting that Frederick was considered active in the theatre of war (France) from November 13, 1916 (the date of his sailing from Canada). Typed above his name at top left is the date he died, July 15, 1958.

Rest in peace, Lt. Frederick William Slatter, being honored for Remembrance Day and Veterans Day in 2020.

For Remembrance Day, Honoring Lance Sgt Arthur Albert Slatter

My husband's 1c1r, Arthur Albert Slatter (1887-1917), was among the second generation of Slatters to choose military service as a career. 

Born in London, England, on July 2, 1887, he was the son of hubby's great uncle, Henry Arthur Slatter (1866-1942) and Alice Good Slatter (1864-1914). Great uncle Henry was a military bandmaster and not surprisingly, his son Arthur was musically inclined.  

With Remembrance Day approaching, I thought this post would be a straightforward bio of Arthur and his death while serving in World War I. To my surprise, there was more to the story, as I learned by digging deeper into his military service.

Serving with the Royal Fusiliers, 1902-1914

In 1902, supposedly at the age of 16 years and 11 months, Arthur enlisted for a dozen years of service in the Royal Fusiliers. He said he was a musician (see paperwork at right). 

In reality, Arthur was not yet 16, if his baptismal record and second record of military service are both correct--and I do believe them!

Thanks to Fold3 and Ancestry, I could read all pages of Arthur's paperwork documenting his initial time in the Royal Fusiliers. He trained as a stretcher bearer and ambulance driver, passed a swimming test, and qualified in chiropody (treating feet) at Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight. By 1913, he had been promoted to a corporal. This was one year before he was due to complete his 12 years of service.

From London to Vancouver, 1914-1915

In the ordinary course of events, Arthur would have gone on to the next stage of his life after earning a pension for a dozen years of service with the Royal Fusiliers. 

He was, in fact, honorably discharged on July 17, 1914, "on the termination of his first period of engagement." This was only a few weeks before the United Kingdom became embroiled in World War I. 

After leaving the Royal Fusiliers, Arthur journeyed to Vancouver, Canada, where his parents had moved in 1911. Arthur's father Henry was bandmaster of the 72d Seaforth Highlanders, and Arthur joined up as well. But tragedy struck on Christmas Day of 1914, when Arthur's mother Alice died at the age of 50. 

On May 20, 1915, after six months with the 72d, Arthur signed papers to serve with the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Forces. He was single, in his late 20s, and he stated his occupation as "musician." (See excerpt above.)

The Plot Thickens

Upon enlisting, Arthur was made acting sergeant of the 11th Canadian Mounted Rifles and then promoted to provisional band sergeant by June, 1915 (see document directly above). By November of 1915, however, the red ink tells the story of an unexpected event: Arthur was discharged as a deserter, having apparently gone away in October of 1915. 

Yet Arthur somehow made it across the Atlantic and rejoined the Royal Fusiliers. That's clear from the index card at right. He was officially listed as wounded and missing in action in France as of May 20, 1917. At the time, he was serving in Company C of the 20th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers. 

In addition, I found documentation that Arthur was awarded a Victory medal posthumously for WWI service in the 1st and 20th Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers. 

Somehow, Arthur unofficially left the Canadian forces and rejoined the Royal Fusiliers, but so far I haven't located the exact paperwork to indicate how he managed to do this in wartime.

Memorializing Arthur Albert Slatter and the Royal Fusiliers

More than 20,000 servicemen of the Royal Fusiliers, including Arthur Albert Slatter, lost their lives in World War I. The graceful Royal Fusiliers Memorial in London is a fitting way to honor their memories and service. 

Arthur's name isn't actually on the London memorial, but it is on the hauntingly stately Arras Memorial which serves to commemorate the passing of the many thousands of soldiers who died in the area during World War I.

Lance Sgt. Arthur Albert Slatter's name on the Arras Memorial has been transcribed and photographed on Find A Grave by volunteers. He has his own memorial page (shown at top of this post) that I've now linked to the memorials of his parents.

There is one more memorial to Arthur Albert Slatter: His parents, Henry and Alice, chose to add their son's name to their joint gravestone in Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, Canada. Arthur's name is not in the cemetery's database because he's not actually buried in Vancouver. But looking at the photo of Henry and Alice's gravestone, I noticed his name/date below theirs. 

When Henry Arthur Slatter died in 1942, his obit stated that his son Arthur Albert Slatter had been killed in action during World War I, a final bit of evidence that I am honoring the memory of the correct Slatter ancestor on my husband's family tree.

This is my Genealogy Blog Party post for November, 2020.

Continuing to Curate My Genealogy Collection

As I curate my genealogy collection, I'm finding new homes for items with historical value but no real family-history value.

Case in point: The Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper from Monday, December 8, 1941. Shown at top, it is intact and in good condition, despite being folded neatly for nearly 80 years.

My Cleveland-born father-in-law (Edgar James Wood, 1903-1986) and his entire family had gathered around the radio on the night of December 7th, listening to the terrible news about Pearl Harbor. When the next day's newspaper arrived, he wrapped it and put it away in a dry, safe place.

Because many families did the same thing, this newspaper is anything but rare. In fact, other historical societies and museums I contacted already had one or more copies of this day's newspaper and didn't want another. 

But after exchanging emails with a senior library official at Cleveland State University in Ohio about donating Cleveland theater programs from the 1950s, I brought up the subject of donating this 1941 newspaper. I explained my worry that the paper would inevitably deteriorate little by little unless kept under the proper archival conditions.

Understanding my concern, the official agreed to accept this issue of the Plain Dealer. My husband signed a deed of gift agreement, legally transferring ownership to the university library, found protective packaging to keep the newspaper safe during its journey to Cleveland, and sent it on its way. 

The acknowledgement of this donation arrived the other day. It feels good to know this item is in an appropriate repository, and will NOT be tossed in the rubbish or sold for pennies at a flea market after I join my ancestors!

--

Want to learn how to curate your genealogy collection? I'm giving a members-only virtual presentation to the Virtual Genealogical Association on Tuesday, November 24, starting at 8 pm. The VGA's membership fee is extremely affordable ($20/year), and includes benefits like webinars and discounts and more. Please check it out if you're not yet a member! 

The Perils of Researching Pauline

 

It took a village to overcome a number of perils in researching Pauline Jacobs, who sadly died at a very young age.

Pauline, my 1c2r, was a daughter of paternal g-g-uncle Joseph Jacobs (1864-1918) and g-g-aunt Eva Micalovsky Jacobs (1869-1941). She was a younger sister of Flora Jacobs, whose life I wrote about yesterday.

My first actual document recording Pauline's death (see above) came from the cemetery where she's buried, Mount Zion in Maspeth, New York. The cemetery has a handy "interment search" where I located Pauline, her sister Flora, and her parents and grandmother, all buried in the Plungianer Unterstutzungs Verein plot. They copied and sent me Pauline's interment record, shown at top of this post.

Even with this information in hand, I still faced four perils in researching Pauline!

Peril One: Details Count 

If I had not seen the cemetery record card with my own eyes, I might have believed the incorrect death index for Pauline, shown at right, which indicates 1908 as her year of death. There is no access to images of the actual index, just this transcription. In general, I prefer to see for myself, not blindly trust transcriptions.

My guess is that the actual death info was received by New York City in 1908, since Pauline died just two days before the end of 1907. But I believe the cemetery got the year correct and the index/transcription was incorrect. Therefore I searched for Pauline's official death cert with the assumption she died in 1907.

Peril Two: Limited Access to Images

Searching on FamilySearch.org, I could see that Pauline's death cert was in fact in the database. However, images of many vital records are accessible only at a Family History Center. The pandemic has mostly closed these down for the time being. 

Happily, I knew from social media that a few volunteers regularly visit FHC parking lots and access the database wirelessly to pull images by request. It's impossible to say enough good things about these volunteers, who are incredibly generous with their time and energy.** 

A kind parking lot angel saw my FB request for Pauline's death cert (I provided full details, including the cert number from the index and my belief that the year was 1907). Within a few minutes, she had accessed and sent me the image, for which I am truly grateful. 

The cert says Pauline had been treated for 3 weeks at Willard Parker Hospital in New York City (specializing in communicable diseases). The cert also solved the medical mystery of Pauline's untimely death at the age of 7. Well, it would have if I could have deciphered the cause of death. 

** During 2021, Family Search is offering a remote lookup service that takes the place of parking lot angels. I've had very good luck using this service! Try it.

Peril Three: Handwriting and Medical Jargon

The cause of death was handwritten...and I couldn't decipher what it said, let alone what it meant. More eyes were needed. I took a screen shot of the cause of death and posted on Twitter with a request for #Genealogy help. And I got out my tissue box, ready to cry.

Within moments, answers began pouring in. Not only did these savvy folks know that the cause of death was scarlatina (scarlet fever), but they read the rest of the details: 24 days, sepsis. Scarlet fever can be treated today but it was quite perilous in the early days of the 20th century, well before antibiotics, making me tear up. 

Thanks to the helpful Twitter community of genies, I knew a lot more about Pauline's fate. But I still needed one more piece of the puzzle for a better picture of Pauline's life.

Peril Four: Finding the Right Jacobs

My next quest was to obtain little Pauline's birth certificate. I clicked to the Italian Genealogical Group's New York City vital records databases and searched for births of "Jacobs, Pauline" after 1899 and before 1902. Jacobs is a fairly common name, of course. I began with her name as recorded on the cemetery and death documents. I would have tried "Jacob, Pauline" if no decent possibilities showed up--because different official records showed "Jacob" OR "Jacobs" for this family's surname at different times. 

I was able to narrow down the list of possibilities, as shown above, from the ItalianGen database results. In my opinion, the most likely is the second on the list, Pauline Jacobs, born on June 26, 1901. I decided it was worth paying $15 for this record and I ordered online from New York City, saving a week or more in the long waiting time for a response. 

Having overcome four perils of researching Pauline, I'll hope to see this birth certificate before the end of 2020. Meanwhile, I'm remembering this cousin who unfortunately died way too young, keeping her memory alive for future generations. 

-- This post is part of the Genealogy Blog Party "Virtual Research Trip" for July, 2021. 

Remembering Thoroughly Modern Flora

The 1c2r cousin in this picture is Flora "Florence" Jacobs (1890-1923), the first child born to my paternal great-great uncle Joseph Jacobs (1864-1918) and his wife, great-great aunt Eva Micalovsky Jacobs (1869-1941). 

Until this week, Flora was just a name from the past on my father's side of the family tree. 

Flora Jacobs in the Roaring 20s

Now I can see from the photo that my cousin Flora was thoroughly modern for the 1900s, a young woman of the Roaring Twenties with cropped hair and a fashionable frock. 

What an emotional experience it was to see Flora's face for the very first time. I am very grateful to the exceptionally kind photo angel who visited the cemetery and sent this closeup of Flora's gravestone. She also was thoughtful enough to post the gravestone photos on Find a Grave.

From US and NY Census records, I learned that Flora worked as a bookkeeper for a neckwear company in 1910, as a "forelady" in a garment factory in 1915, and as an operator on knitted goods in 1920. Working in New York City's garment district, she would have seen and wanted to wear the latest styles, I'm sure, gazing at her fashionable dress.

Flora Laid to Rest in Mount Zion Cemetery

Sad to say, Flora died of rheumatic endocarditis on September 26, 1923, only weeks before her 33rd birthday. She was buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in Queens, New York, near her father (who died 5 years earlier) and sister Pauline (who died 16 years earlier).

Flora's headstone, translated by the nice folks on Tracing the Tribe/FB, indicates that her Hebrew name was Bluma--"flower." She was named for her maternal grandmother,  Blume Manes Micalovsky - I found Blume's name on Eva's marriage license!

Notice the unusual wording "My beloved daughter" just above Flora's name? If I hadn't been aware of the father's death, this wording would be a hint that only one parent was alive when Flora died. The surviving siblings at the time were Louis, Hylda, and Frank Morris. 

In 2020, I'm remembering thoroughly modern Flora of the last century's Roaring Twenties and honoring her memory by keeping her story alive.