More Confusing Birth Records

In a prior article, we reviewed the 1877 birth record of a male child, not named, which was in error for a female child named Lucy Lutter. 

In reviewing births of Duryea children, we have two more instances of incorrect sex on the birth record.

On January 10, 1901, a "male" child was born to John Duryea (1866-1940) and Anna Belle Bogert (1865-1957) in Franklin Township, Bergen County, New Jersey.

Birth certificate of male baby born January 10, 1901
in Franklin Township, Bergen County, New Jersey

Layout on microfilm of birth certificate and correction to birth record

Birth certificates are on microfilm. This birth certificate for a male was corrected in 1937. The form for corrections was filmed next to the original birth certificate. The sex was corrected from male to female. The unnamed child became Alice Janette Duryea. Confusion was averted because the correction was available with the incorrect birth certificate.

Correction to birth of unnamed male Duryea to female Alice Janette Duryea
filed January 30, 1937

For Irvin W Duryee, this confusion was not corrected in the birth records.

On February 17, 1900, a "female" child was born to Charles Cruiser Duryee (1850-1927) and Alice Lavalet (1868-1920) in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey.

Birth certificate of female Duryee born February 17, 1900
in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey

In the 1900 federal census, Charles and Alice had four children. The youngest was a son, Irvin W, born February 1900. No daughters.

On August 24, 1900, Irvin W Duryee died. He was 6 months and 7 days old. He was buried in Fairmount Cemetery in Newark.

Death certificate of Irvin W Duryee August 24, 1900
in Jersey City

To figure out this discrepancy of unnamed female birth and male death certificate, I assembled all the children of Charles and Alice.

Nine children of Charles Cruiser Duryee and Alice Lavalet
born between 1886 and 1905 in New York and New Jersey

The couple probably had ten children. I found seven birth certificates.

I do not know when Charles and Alice married. Harry Milton was their oldest child in the 1900 census. He was either their first or second child. He appears in the index of births for the State of New York.

Births for the year 1886 in the State of New York
Database at Ancestry

New York State stopped issuing copies of vital records. Unlike New Jersey, you cannot visit a repository and view and copy the certificates. This entry in the index is the closest we can achieve for the birth record of Harry Milton. He was born September 13, 1886 in Oyster Bay, Queens County, New York. Because we cannot access the actual record, we cannot see if he was child number 1 or child number 2.

Beginning with Mary Elizabeth in 1892, the children were born in New Jersey.

Mary's birth certificate anchors the numbers. She was child number three; two are living. The other living child was Harry; the deceased child's name and date of birth is unknown as of this writing.

Birth certificate of Mary Elizabeth Duryee
born February 24, 1892 in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.

No birth record for Herbert Hammell Duryee was found for a date of March 7, 1893. He was child number 4.

Child 5 was Charlotte L. Child 6 was Russell Sage.

Child 7 was the confusing female or Irvin/Irwin of 1900.

The child immediately after Irvin was Loraine on December 19, 1901. Although now a female name, this was a male child. The issue was that the birth certificate could not be located because the index from 1901 was illegible.

Index of Births in New Jersey for the year 1901

Birth certificates were filed by certificate number until 1904. Without this number, it is very difficult to locate a particular record among the rolls of microfilm. For years, the only Duryea birth certificate that I had from 1901 was Alice.

Rolls of microfilm containing images of birth certificates
for New Jersey year 1901.
New Jersey State Archives.

The release of the Geographic Birth Index 1901-1929 enables us to find certificates when the handwritten indexes are illegible.

Geographic Birth Index for New Jersey.
Unnamed child of C and A Duryee born in Jersey City December 19, 1901.

Male Duryee was born December 19, 1901 in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey. He was child 8 with 4 still living.

Birth certificate of male Duryee born December 19, 1901 in Jersey City.
This child became known as Loraine Albert.

Thus, we can see that no other child, except "female" or Irvin/Irwin, was likely born between Russell Sage in 1898 and male (Loraine Robert) in 1901. Irvin's birth certificate misstated him as female.

Remember while searching the Geographic Birth Index at Ancestry that not all entries on the typed page appear in the Ancestry index.

This article was written in memory of Richard Alan McCool, researcher of the Duryea families. He helped me craft my skills in genealogical research and inspired me to persist until I linked my "stray" Duryea line to the larger family in New York.

Richard's efforts spanned decades, thoroughly and accurately documenting the Duryeas and collateral lines.

He passed away last month.

New York City Ledger Books

Older New York City births, marriages, and deaths with images are on Ancestry ("New York, New York, U.S., Vital Records, Births 1847-1897, Marriages 1847-1903, Deaths 1798-1900"). The earliest year is 1795- people who died from yellow fever in Manhattan. These are ledger books- not individual certificates.

Caroline Duryea, age 27. Died May 14, 1851 in Manhattan.
Dropsy of brain. Interment in Dutch Reformed, Harlem.

The links on Ancestry may not bring you to the exact page of the record. Search a few pages earlier and later if you do not see the target entry.

Based on the years contained in the title of this collection, you might think that there is overlap with the collection located on the website of the New York City Department of Records and Information Services ("DORIS"). The difference appears to be that the collection at Ancestry contains the collective ledger books, while the collection at DORIS contains the individual records, which started around 1866.

It may be possible that some events appear in a ledger book and an individual record. If anyone finds examples, please comment below.

Not all people and events made it into these ledger books. For example, I cannot find a record of death for John Evenshirer. He probably died sometime between 1842, when he married Rene Brewer, and 1847, when she remarried.

These images with indexes have been available at FamilySearch, but at a Family History Center and not at home. Now they can be found and viewed from home via Ancestry. The images at FamilySearch are probably from microfilm and in black and white. The images at Ancestry are high-resolution, color images of the originals.

Index of New York City Municipal Deaths
FamilySearch.org

John H Duryea died in 1836, leaving behind his pregnant wife, Sarah Moffat (1815-1896), and their daughter, Catherine Jane (1834-1906). I had his will, but his entry in the ledger of deaths is great to also have. His cause of death was consumption, now known as tuberculosis.

John H Duryea, age 29 years, 3 months, 26 days.
Died May 6, 1836 in Manhattan.

I think I found a surprise baby of John and Sarah. Garret S Duryea died November 9, 1832 in Manhattan on Spring Street. His age was one year and six months. He was likely the first child of this couple. John's father was also named Garret S Duryea.

Garret S Duryea, age 1 year, 6 months.
Died November 9, 1832 in Manhattan.

The next topic to tackle in these records of death is the places of burial- now gone from the crowded landscape of modern-day Manhattan.

John and baby Garret were buried in First Baptist. They lived at 326 Spring Street in between Greenwich and Washington Streets, on the west side of the island.

I did not find much about First Baptist. The cemetery is on Find A Grave. New York City Cemetery Project featured an article with some details. On the lower east side, on North Street (now called Houston), was the First Baptist Church with adjoining land used as a graveyard. The bodies were reinterred at Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn. The website of Cypress Hills Cemetery has a Find a Loved One search, but I did not find any entries that could match John or Garret.

Randel Map Number 1 from New York City Cemetery Project

Notice the angle of the adjoining church property to the cemetery. A condominium building, 14 Second Avenue Condominium, now sits atop this strip of land at the same angle.

2025 aerial view of Houston Street, location of First Baptist Cemetery

2025 map of Houston Street, Manhattan, New York
showing location of First Baptist Church and burial area

Randel maps were created over 200 years ago, showing the layout of streets and properties in Manhattan. This website beautifully lays out the corresponding geographical location of the smaller maps.

Website to access Randel Maps of Manhattan circa 1820
thegreatestgrid.mcny.org/greatest-grid/randel-map-gallery

Caroline Duryea, a later death in 1851, was buried much further north in Harlem Dutch Reformed. This cemetery is also gone. The physical church structure moved around the neighborhood over the centuries. In 1851, in the New York City directory, the church's address was Third Avenue and 122nd Street. There is still a church there, renamed Elmendorf Reformed. The burying ground predates the moves of the physical church buildings. As of this writing, I have not found a definitive map of the perimeter of the burying ground, but it was in the area of First Avenue and 125th and 126th Streets.

1851 New York City directory
Harlem Dutch Reformed Church
Minister Jeremiah S Lord
122d (Street), corner Avenue 3

A portion of the burying ground became dedicated to the burial of people of African descent, but fell out of use and was forgotten over time. In 2008 the graveyard was discovered when Metropolitan Transportation Authority dug to build a bus depot.

Beginning in 1869 some of the bodies were moved to Woodlawn Cemetery. The images are housed at FindMyPast. There are only 35 pages. I viewed all of them and did not see an entry for Caroline. There are several entries for unnamed people.

Images of records books of Disinterments
Harlem Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery
1869-1875

On March 12, 2025 I sent an inquiry of Caroline's reinterment to Woodlawn Cemetery.

Two Sisters, One Husband

While researching my Duryea roots, this family popped up.

John Duryea, born about 1842 in New York (Manhattan), and his wife, Lizzie White. Only one child, Agnes, was found in records, born about 1871 in Manhattan.

1880 census. New York City.
Household of Albert White, including married daughter Lizzie
with her husband, John Duryea, and their baby, Agnes.

I don't think that this John Duryea is descended from the original Duryea immigrant, Joost. Joost arrived in the United States one hundred years before it became the United States. He lived in what is now called Brooklyn or Kings County, New York by the 1670s.

In contrast, John Duryea's parents, according to the 1880 census, were born in Germany. His wife's parents were from Baden and Prussia. They may have adopted the Duryea surname or shared an ancestor before Joost. I have not located the death certificate of John Duryea. The names of his parents could be on his death certificate.

Agnes Duryea married John Joseph Lee (1864-1938) and had eleven children from 1892 through 1908 in Jersey City. (I have not located a marriage record.)

1910 census in Jersey City
John Lee and household
Deceased children were Mary (1892-1893) and Annie Ida (1900-1900)

This branch is notable because two of the daughters married the same man. This was not unusual, but can be a bit tricky to figure out.

Loretta (also spelled Lauretta in records) Lee married Henry Treichel (also spelled Trieckel) in Jersey City in 1916.

1916 marriage certificate
Henry Treichel and Loretta Lee married January 26, 1916
in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey

Their first child, Ruth Elizabeth, arrived the same year.

1920 census. Jersey City.
Loretta died two months after this census was recorded.

The next child, Loretta, arrived March 27, 1920. Mother Loretta died two days later from pneumonia, with pregnancy contributing.

1920 death certificate
Loretta Trieckel died March 29, 1920 in Jersey City

The following year, 1921, Henry remarried to Irene Lee- a sister of his deceased wife.

1921 marriage certificate
Henry Trieckel and Irene Lee married February 8, 1921
in Jersey City

Henry and Irene had two children, Anna Marie born in 1926, and Henry William, born 1932.

Henry died in 1956 and was buried with his first wife, Loretta, in Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City. The name was spelled Trieckel by this time. Loretta's parents, John Joseph Lee and Agnes Duryea, are also in this plot, but are not on the gravestone.

Family tree
Duryee, Lee, Trieckel

New York City Jury Census 1816

My fourth great grandfather, Garrett Smith Duryea (1777-1834), was a cartman and grocer in New York City. (The name is spelled with variations throughout records.)

In between the federal decennial census, individual locales ran their own enumerations of inhabitants.

In 1816, New York City created a Jury Census- people who were possibly qualified to serve on a jury.

A search tool for this collection is at Ancestry while images are on the website of the New York City Department of Records and Information Services. 

The address of a person in the jury census is provided by the index at Ancestry. To find this entry in the images, you need to look page by page, or find the possible ward by using a map from this time. Garrit S Duryee was living at 168 Maiden Lane, according to the index. On a map from 1817, Maiden Lane was in Ward 2. (Some streets lie in more than one ward.)

Map of New York City 1817
The New York Public Library Digital Collections

This jury census is different from the federal census in that it provides the exact age of the subject. Garrit was 39 years old in 1816, which matches a year of birth of 1777. His occupation was grocer and he had no exemptions from jury service.

The second page provides details about the household. He was a freeholder of more than 100 pounds (not dollars). This could have been 134 Delancey Street, which he purchased in 1807. Four males and three females lived in this household in 1816. The males were probably Garrett and his three sons, Rulief, John, and Stephen. One of the females was likely my fourth great grandmother, Ann Cornell (1784-1871). The other females could have been servants, siblings, mothers, or daughters who died young and are not named in any records discovered yet.

New York City city directory
Images online at The New York Public Library Digital Collections

The 1816 New York City city directory provides Garrett's address as 168 Fly-market. His address changed often.

For comparison, in 1810 Garret Deryea lived in the tenth ward, probably on Broome or Grand, based on the city directories for this time period. He was the male between the ages of 26 and 44. The two young males were probably his sons John and Rulief. One of the females was probably his first wife, Charity Horton.

In the 1820 census, the household had grown.

Rulief was about 16 years old and the oldest living child. Next were John, Stephen, Garrett Junior, and Jacob. Because the rest of the household is not named, we cannot know if these were the children represented by these counts.

The rest of the household was probably a mixture of other relatives. Some of the young males might be undiscoverable children who died young.

Or the numbers might be wrong.

Note: this is not the same Garret Duryea (1750-1825) who lived in Orange County, New York.

Envelope Addressed to Anna B Duryee

Another envelope addressed to the Duryee family of Newark, New Jersey appeared on eBay.

The prior one was for George S Duryee. This one was for his sister, Anna Brower Duryee, care of their father, Peter Sharpe Duryee.

Envelope addressed to Miss Anna B Duryee, care of P S Duryee Esq, Newark, New Jersey.
"For plate 2L6"
"1858" written under reddish stamp, three cents U.S. Postage, of George Washington

Anna Brower Duryee was born around 1841. She died in 1922. I found no marriage record for her. She was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Newark with her parents and siblings.

Duryee family plot
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Newark, New Jersey

The Duryee family was living in Newark when the 1850 census was created.

John Brower Duryee (1839-1940) lived his brief life before this census.

George, Susan, Joseph, Edward, and Amy had not been born yet.

1850 census. Household of Peter Sharpe Duryee and Susan Rankin.
Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.

The advertised value of this item is not as a family heirloom, but rather as a collectible stamp. I am not familiar with philately. From a brief look, the plate refers to the reddish three cent stamp with the image of George Washington. 

Envelope Addressed to George S Duryee

On eBay is an envelope for sale. The attraction would be to the stamp, I suppose. According to the additional writing on the envelope, the year was 1885. Preprinted as the sender is "United States Senate." The postmark is Washington, D.C. on April 15.

Envelope addressed to "Hon Geo. S. Duryea Newark New Jersey"

I noticed the listing because of the recipient: Hon Geo. S. Duryea of Newark, New Jersey. This is probably George Sharpe Duryee. He was a lawyer who lived and worked in Newark. He was born around 1850 to Peter Sharpe Duryee (1807-1877) and Susan Rankin (1816-1886).

Newark City Directory, 1890
George S Duryee, lawyer, 810 Broad, resided at 30 Washington place

This family cluster was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Newark. Two of George's brothers, Joseph and William, became pastors. You might see their names on baptismal, marriage, and funeral records for families throughout the New Jersey and New York areas in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Duryee family plot.
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Newark, New Jersey.
Section E.

George died in New York City in 1896. These records are being digitized and placed online for free; however, this year is not yet available as of this writing.

Marker at Mount Pleasant Cemetery for George Sharpe Duryee
and his wife, Virginia Teackle Beasley.

Because of the offices that George held, his death was reported in newspapers across the country. 

Article in the Newark Evening News announcing the death of George Sharpe Duryee.
"The State Commissioner of Banking and Insurance Succumbs to an Illness of Two Years' Standing."

George was married once in 1878 in Torresdale, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His wife was Virginia Teackle Beasley, born about 1856 to Reverend Frederick Williamson Beasley and Virginia Teackle Bancker.

Entry in the records of All Saints Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Record collection online at Ancestry.com

Ten months after the wedding, on August 16, 1879 in Newark, Virginia gave birth to their daughter, also named Virginia. The baby and mother were not named on the birth certificate.

Birth certificate of Virginia Teackle Beasley Duryee,
born August 16, 1879 in Newark, New Jersey.
Available through the New Jersey State Archives in person or via mail.

Virginia, the mother, died two days after giving birth from an infection. She was 23 years old.

Death certificate of Virginia T Duryee, died August 18, 1879 in Newark, New Jersey.
Cause of death- puerperal peritonitis.

Death notice for Virginia Teackle Beasley, wife of George S Duryee.
Note that her date of death is given as August 17th.
Her death certificate, which is a primary source, gives the date as the 18th.

Baby Virginia died a few months later on December 24, 1879 from bronchitis.

Death certificate of Virginia Teackle Beasley Duryee, died December 24, 1879 in Newark, New Jersey.
Cause of death- capillary bronchitis.

Both mother and baby appear in the Mortality Schedules for the 1880 census.

Virginia T Duryea [Duryee] in the mortality schedule for the 1880 census

Virginia T B Duryea [Duryee], age four months, in the mortality schedule for the 1880 census

Pictures and documents for Virginia and her family are featured in family trees at Ancestry.