The Mysterious Natalia Acosta 1861 - 1945

I first encountered the name Natalia Acosta while researching my Lake family members Maria Lake and her husband Robert Carley.  Maria (1839 -1917) was a daughter of Schuyler Lake and his wife Caroline Morse, the 5^th of their 10 children born in Ulster County, NY.I  Maria and Robert married in 1854 and raised their 4 children in or near Fallsburg, Sullivan County.

In my effort to link as many family members together as possible, I review Findagrave entries and add parental information and maiden names, if known.  Maria Lake Carley’s FAG entry #176176881 was rich with information.  She was linked to her parents, 7 siblings, her husband and all 4 of her children; none were new to me. However, I was quite puzzled when I looked at the attached photo and clearly saw the name Natalia A Acosta listed with Maria and Robert. Unfortunately her dates were not visible and she did not have a FAG record. The NY Death Index listed: Natalia A Acosta, 27 July 1945, Fallsburg which was a start, but it didn’t really identify her nor provide a link to Maria and Robert.

In reviewing Maria Lake Carley’s census records I found that a 13 year old niece named Nettie Lake was with them in 1875. Who was she?  Could this be Natalia? She was not with Maria in the 1880 census, but I wondered if she was the dressmaker, Netty Lake, recorded in NYC as a boarder. I decided to see if I could find a Natalia Acosta in New York and work backwards.

I found a widowed Natalia Acosta in the Brooklyn 1900 census and earlier found her at that same address with husband Luis. Searching for a marriage record led to Hoboken, NJ where they wed in June 1889 – she as Nettie Roe, widow of Walter.  Perhaps Puerto Rican born Luis called her “Natalia” and she adopted it. She had previously married the older, widowed Walter Roe in Jersey City listed as Nettie A Lake, age 22. She and Walter had a son who died as an infant in 1887 and the following year Walter died.  

 

Feeling that this was very likely the same Nettie who had lived with Maria and Robert, I wanted to identify her parents and determined the only viable candidate was Maria’s oldest brother George, born in 1830. George and his wife Nancy had 10 children, with Nettie as the fifth. She is not listed in the 1860 census and the 1870 records are very confusing with many family members missing including all but one of Nettie’s assumed brothers. George was having serious health problems and was listed as disabled in the 1880 census.

Newspaper notices regarding Maria Carley’s son William listed Mrs Acosta as a guest at his  1896 wedding and his 1919 obituary stated ”survived by cousin Mrs Nettie Acosta”.  My final query was to the municipal offices of Fallsburg, New York which provided a brief transcript of Natalia’s death record showing what seems like evidence that she was indeed the daughter of Maria’s brother, George.

 

Date of death 27 July 1945     age 84-5-26  =  born 1 Feb 1861  in Sundown, Ulster, NY    Status: widow             father = George Larte  < assuming it was LAKE>