Death of John Martino -- thanks to him we have free indexes to NYC records

As a long time volunteer myself, I just received the news of John's death on November 30. He had tirelessly led a large team of volunteers who created databases for many NYC b-m-d and other records. If you visit the NYC municipal archives, they direct you to italiangen.org as the only comprehensive index to the records held in the archive. Many researchers around the country have benefited from the work of this organization and the FREE information contained in them.

If you have used these records, you might want to send a contribution in his honor to help with postage and database costs and / or volunteer to help in their ongoing projects.

You can volunteer for future projects to be done at home with Mark Waldron at GenDatabases@gmail.com

Your contributions are tax-deductible !!

ITALIAN GENEALOGICAL GROUP INC is a non-profit organization in New York and its Employer Identification Number(EIN) is 11-3302825. ITALIAN GENEALOGICAL GROUP INC was established on 04/1996. The company's organization type is listed as Corporation.

Send a contribution to Italian Genealogical Group
   c/o Mary Anne Yenoli, 212 East 3rd Street, Deer Park, NY 11729

Ruth E Flint born Berne, Albany, NY 1849

I came upon Ruth listed in census records with David Smith and his wife Rachel in Rensselaerville (near Berne), at times listed as grandchild and later as adopted daughter. The first listing was a state census in 1855 when Ruth was 6. That afforded me the opportunity to find her with her parents in the 1850 federal census. It seems they were Joseph M Flint (who died in 1854) and Sabra Ann Ticknor. Ruth was the 3rd of their 5 children and the only one NOT found in any later census record with her widowed, and later remarried, mother. In the 1860 census Sabra appeared with second husband Levi Bailey, living in Berne, with daugthers Mary Ann 16 and Caroline 7 plus 10 month old son DeWitt Bailey. Her sons Seth and David Flint were not in the household.

Rachel Smith's maiden name has not yet been discovered, but she was born about 1813. David was born in 1809. It seems that she and David likely married about 1831, so it does not seem too likely that they were actually the grandparents of Ruth. I have been trying to propose various scenarios, but knowing Sabra's maiden name and having found her parents, that does not seem to be the link. I have not found the parents of Joseph Flint who was born in 1827.

It also seems odd that Ruth was the only child living away from her mother ... could it be that she was not actually the child of Sabra and Joseph? More investigation is needed ! None of those named are actually part of my family line, but were neighbors / associates of my ancestors. The situation just struck me as odd ... so, I'll keep looking for an explanation.

New Jersey Death records 1878 – 1893

I have not done much research in the state of NJ and was rather befuddled as I followed a New York family line as they moved to (and died in) Union County, New Jersey.  Index records are available on ancestry, so I was able to confirm when and where they died but wanted more information.

I thought perhaps I should order the microfilm from the FHL, but as I read the description for film 589830 it was described as an INDEX that might or might not include more information.

I decided to check the NJ State Archives site and was so pleased with what I found. They have numerous searchable databases including deaths (now complete for June 1875 – June 1893). I needed records for1880 and 1881. PERFECT !

 

Select the death records database and a search box appears. 

Then the result is shown with an order option.

Hit select and a printable order form appears.

Mail it in with a check ... and hope great information shows up soon.

If only New York State would be so helpful !! (The New York City are this

easy to use also .... but the rest of the state, not easy at all).

Jennie May Peckham Wright died in 1921

After spending time following the wrong Jennie down the wrong paths I decided to spend some additional time examining her family members. I knew that her husband George was buried at Graceland in Chicago and wondered if she might be too, but that was a dead-end. I knew that her cousin, Helen Wooster Peckham, lived and taught in Berkeley, California. So when I found a possible match for Jennie in San Francisco, I thought I had found her.

 

A California death record for Jennie M Wright, born 1855 and died 1907 seemed a match. But

reviewing that fact that her mother died in Chicago in 1912 made me wonder. Yes, I found the two living together in Chicago in the 1910 census, so that San Francisco death record was someone else. I could find no Chicago death record for Jennie, so I really wasn't sure what had happened to her.

It was my return to her father, Robert Watson Peckham, who died in Chicago in 1897 and is buried with his second wife at Rosehill Cemetery, that resolved the question. 

What happened to Jennie May Peckham Wright?

Born to Robert Watson Peckham and his 1^st wife Valeria Peck in Richland, Oswego, NY in 1855, Jennie was raised by her maternal aunt Jenny Peck who married her father Robert after he was widowed in 1858. The family lived in Stillwater, MN and then settled in Chicago. It was there that Jennie married George Edward Wright, a native of Ohio, in 1879. They were married until George’s death in 1901; they had no children. I cannot find Jennie after the 1900 census when her stepmother Jenny was also living with them. Her stepmother died in Chicago in 1912 (though I cannot find her in the 1910 census) … were Jennie and Jenny living togehter? Why can't I find them?

At first I thought perhaps Jennie married Robert P, Smith in 1906, but it was not her. I found Jennie M Wright listed as a beneficiary in the 1919 probate notice for her relative George P. Elliott in New York. Was she alive? Where? I had found a possible death reported in San Francisco (where her cousin Helen lived) for Jennie M Wright born 1855 -- could it be her? If so, why would she be listed in a probate public notice 12 years later? So confusing!

Next I will check with the cemetery where her husband is buried. Puzzling.

Look carefully at Findagrave Photos

While researching my Peckham line from Oswego, New York I briefly glanced at a gravestone photo Erasmus Peckham (1832-1879) on findagrave.  He and his wife Nancy Wooster are listed together. However (thank you findagrave contributor H. Harmych) there is a also a photo of a second stone that provided new new information.

At first I had not paged down to see this second photo and when I did, initially the impact of the information contained there did not hit me. When I decided to transcribe information about these 2 previously unknown children, the death year 1865 seemed odd since Erasmus and Nancy married after 1870. Then examining it more closely I saw that Kittie's parents were noted as E.W. and K.B. Peckham while John's were E.W. and N.A. Peckham. Who was K B Peckham and what happened to her?

Civil War: 150th Anniversary

Today, the anniversary of the end of the Civil War,  makes me reflect on the many, many ancestors who fought in this conflict and the wives and children who were left to fend for themselves ... some for a lifetime if their soldier didn't return.

I have documented about 75 family members (some less directly related than others) who fought ... on both sides !  Some of my RI Watson groups and NY Comfort groups had splits within the family with some of the males moving south and fighting for the Confederacy. I can't really imagine how the family would feel with brothers and cousins pitted against one another.

All of my direct ancestors were in the north and those who fought were Union supporters. Today I am especially remembering 3rd great grandfather Charles Mansfield and two of my great great grandfathers, James McDole and Reuben Lake. All three were from Ulster County, New York. Charles died of disease in Louisiana at age 49 survived by his wife and 6 children (2 of whom joined his unit, Co D NY 156th). James McDole, a native of northern Ireland who immigrated in 1846, left his wife and 4 children. Luckily he returned unharmed, had 5 more children and lived to be 70. Reuben Lake joined as did his younger brother Francis. Reuben was shot in the neck and shoulder in South Carolina and was somewhat disabled for the rest of his life. However, he married Sarah Ann Mansfield (daughter of Charles) and produced a clan of 12 ! When he died in 1897 Sarah was left to raise her 7 minor children on a paltry widow's pension. Her pension files list her only asset as one milk cow.

I am trying to pass along some of this information to the next generation so they will have a better understanding of history as they learn about this in school ... I wish I'd had been told of the "Human" side of the war back when it seemed to be just a list of dates and places.

Did wives own property outright in 1870s?

I was surprised after examining the published probate notices for Mary Watson Rider of Orleans County, NY to find that her husband was still alive, but not listed as "kin". Intitially I thought he had predeceased her and that she was passing on their real and personal property to her family members. No one on his side of the family was named in Mary's probate filings. 

Mary and Job Rider lived in Murray, Orleans County at the end of their lives. They had been farming in Cortland and Monroe counties before showing up in Orleans in the 1875 census. It does appear that Mary's probate process dragged on for some time following her death in November 1878.  Job died the following summer and his probate notices listed many, many people in numerous New York counties and as far flung as Wisconsin and Alabama. Their probate notices were published repeatedly in The Holley Standard newspaper.

Not one person appeared as heirs of both Mary and Job. I thought that seemed a bit a strange.

1909 MN Death Certificates Lists Children Born & Alive

This is the first time I have seen this information captured on a death certificate … and it’s for their father!   

Rufus Metcalf Watson was born in New York in 1835 where he lived with his wife and children until some time following her death in 1882.  In the 1900 census he showed up in North Dakota and then died in Chippewa County Minnesota in 1909.

I examined his death certificate looking for some record of how long had been in Minnesota, but instead found a notation that he married at age 32 and that of his 6 children, 2 were living. 

In this case I already knew about his children – but such information could be very revealing!

Henry Jenkins, son of Jonathan or not?

I had a good deal of information about lawyer Jonathan Jenkins of Rensselaerville NY.  He was the son of Samuel Jenkins and Mercy Squire and the sister of Sarah who married Thomas Watson of my RI line.  In 1809 Jonathan married “Betsey” Mulford and I knew they had son Charles in 1810 and daughter (Julia) Harriet in 1816.  I thought that was it. Then I came across a listing of beneficiaries from the 1842 will of Eli Hutchinson of Catskill. Named were Charles, Henry and Harriet Jenkins, children of Jonathan. Really? I had not heard of Henry.

It is difficult to identify children who were born in those decades before the census named everyone in the household. I went back to check Jonathan’s records in 1810, 1820, 1830 – there was more than one assumed son. I did not find Henry living in Rensselaerville in 1850 … but thought perhaps I had found him, with wife Jane and daughter Mary in Albany.

I searched around for more information on Henry and thought he seemed to be the one referenced as living in Albany and Hudson, NY, at times a banker, legislator and later referred to as a lawyer (somewhat of the “family business” for Jenkins). I stumbled upon death notices published both in Arizona and in New York (both Albany and Hudson) for a Henry who died suddenly in Tucson in Nov 1868 – saying he was from NY, had arrived in 1859 and “left family in Albany”. Was that him?

What was Emma Lehtola's Maiden Name?

As I began researching Herman Sylvester Lehtola who emigrated from Finland to Massachusetts in 1909, I found him married to Emma on his 1917 World War I registration. I have been unsuccessful in finding a record of their marriage assumed to have been in/near Quincy, Mass between 1910 and 1917.

Emma was also a native of Finland, but I did not know her maiden name. I didn't know where to look beyond familysearch and ancestry. So, when all else fails, go to Google.  And there I hit upon a Finnish genealogy website with a page titled RAITTIUSKANSAN KALENTERI with an index of obituaries for Finnish Americans.  

Listed on the 4th page was Lehtola, Emma nee Waihkonen, housewife Quincy MA which seemed to match.  Now with her maiden name I went back to familysearch to see if I could find a marriage record for verification, but did not. 

Herman was single in the 1910 census living in Quincy working as a granite cutter. I have not found Emma though I know I should have since she arrived at Ellis Island on Jan 24, 1904. The ship's manifest can be viewed for free on the Ellis Island website and her entry shows her destined for Quincy, Mass with her passage paid by her brother-in-law Gustaf Sten. It seems he was married to Emma's older sister Alma.

The 1910 census showed Alma and Gustaf Sten living in Quincy, MA but Emma was not with them. There is some confusion over Gustaf's name as well ... their 1903 Quincy marriage record lists her as Waikonen and him as TUTINEN. Referring back to Alma's arrival record I can see that her passage was paid for by Kustaa Tutinen of Quincy .... Kustaa is the Finnish version of Gustav.  Could he have also shortened his surname?  I'll leave that investigation for others.

It seems that Emma and Alma's father Johan or John was also in Massachusetts based on his 1912 Quincy death certificate at age 69 with the informant "his daughter Mrs Gusraf Sten". So I feel quite sure that Emma was born Waihkonen .... now I want to find her in 1910 and locate her marriage record.