Finding Obituaries of the Unnamed

Obituaries are an invaluable source of information on people from long ago.

Sometimes, unfortunately, a person's full name is not revealed. This happened with Amelia C Degraw, wife of Martin Vanderhoof. She died in Morristown, Morris County, New Jersey on February 5, 1899.

Her obituary called her "Mrs Martin Vanderhoof" and "the deceased." Her first name and name at birth were not mentioned. Even her two daughters were mentioned only by the names of their husbands. Mrs J S Hall was Elsie. Mrs E A Muir was Hattie Amelia.

Mrs Martin Vanderhoof
Mrs Martin Vanderhoof, aged 64, died on Sunday after an illness of less than two weeks. The deceased had been a member of the Methodist Church for about 35 years. Mrs Vanderhoof is survived by a husband, a son and two daughters. The daughters are Mrs J S Hall and Mrs E A Muir, and the son is Charles Vanderhoof, all of Morristown.
The funeral was held at 2 o'clock Wednesday afternoon from the late residence of the deceased, 8 Court street. The pallbearers were Ellis Coe, Dayton Bobbitt, James Couch, Clifford Fairchild, D H Rodney and D S Brink. Interment was made at Evergreen Cemetery.

Amelia's death certificate confirmed the obituary for Mrs Martin Vanderhoof is indeed hers.

Death certificate of Amelia C Vanderhoof. Died February 5, 1899 in Morristown.
Microfilm available to view and copy at the New Jersey State Archives, Trenton.
Parents- Luke Degraw and Elizabeth Clark.

When Martin died in 1913, his obituary provided Amelia's full name. They were married April 29, 1856- according to Martin's obituary. This may have been in Orange County, New York- where Amelia was from. I have not found a record in New Jersey.

Obituary of Martin Vanderhoof
Morris County Chronicle
August 19, 1913

I photographed the grave of Amelia and Martin when I visited Evergreen Cemetery in August of 2024. Their daughter, Hattie, and Hattie's husband, Edward Muir, are also on the stone.

Gravestone at Evergreen Cemetery, Morristown, New Jersey.
Martin Vanderhoof (November 2, 1830 - August 14, 1913)
Amelia C Degraw (October 2, 1834 - February 5, 1899)
Edward A Muir (August 25, 1852 - January 12, 1881)
Hattie A Vanderhoof (January 17, 1859 - February 17, 1929)

As more historical newspapers and documents appear online, search features improve. Strategies are still needed to find information. Searching for "Amelia" and "Vanderhoof" would not have yielded her obituary from 1899.