What became of Sarah Scherer?

Sarah Scherer, her first husband, William Schoenberg, and their seven children were all together in the 1925 New York State Census in Brooklyn. Sarah was 44 years old, or born about 1881. William was 43 years old, or born about 1882. The children ranged in age from twelve to 22.

1925 New York State Census
178 Throop Avenue, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York

By 1930, Sarah was a "widow," though the disposition of William has not been determined as of this writing. What became of her after the 1930 census was a mystery until the estate papers of Regina Phillips popped up on FamilySearch thanks to their full text search.

The names of Sarah's children appeared in accountings. Sarah's name was misspelled.

Estate of Regina Phillips, 1932, late of Queens County, New York

Sarah was described as Regina's niece. I guess that the connection is through Sarah's mother, Rosa Rubenstein (1853-1924), but the specific relationship is not clear as of this writing.

Parents and spouse of Regina Rubinsons (1870-1932)

Parents and maternal grandparents of Sarah Scherer (1881-19xx)

In 1890 in Manhattan, New York, Regina Rubinsons married Samuel Phillips (1870-1929). Her parents were Elias Rubinsons and Fany Goldberger.

Marriage certificate of Samuel Phillips and Regina Rubinsons
July 8, 1890 in Manhattan, New York.
Groom's parents- Israel Phillips and Amali Hönig.
Bride's parents- Elias Rubinsons and Fany Goldberger.

Samuel Phillips predeceased his wife in 1929. They had no surviving issue when Regina died in 1932.

Death certificate of Regina Phillips
died May 27, 1932 in Manhattan, New York.
Father- Edward Robinson. Mother- Dora Chonowksy.

The names of Regina's parents had morphed from Elias Rubinsons to Edward Robinson and from Fany Goldberger to Dora Chonowsky.

Regina's estate documents mention a change in Sarah's surname from Schoenberg to Koppel, along with the address 518 Bushwick Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. Koppel was the married name of Sarah's youngest daughter, Beatrice.

No marriage record for Sarah Scherer or Schoenberg to Mr Koppel was found in New York City, New York State, or New Jersey.

Using FamilySearch's search text function, Sarah's application for naturalization popped up. She filed twice- once under the name Sarah Koppel in 1942 and again under the name Sarah Mendlinger in 1946.

Declaration of Intention of Sarah Koppel
signed February 4, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York.

Declaration of Intention of Sarah Mendlinger
signed November 21, 1946 in Brooklyn, New York.

These documents are great because she provides a birthdate and place (April 15, 1881 in Sobolj, Megye, Hungary), date of immigration, marriages, and children. These are not necessarily accurate.

Plus we get a picture of Sarah!

Picture of Sarah Scherer attached to her 1942 Declaration of Intention

On the 1942 petition, she wrote that she married Jacob Koppel on June 15, 1931 in Brooklyn. I don't see this in the index of marriages.

On October 10, 1931, Sarah's youngest daughter, Bertha (called Beatrice in the naturalization document), married Bernard E Koppel, the son of Jacob Koppel and Lizzie Friedman.

Marriage certificate of Bernard E Koppel and Bertha Schoenberg
October 10, 1931 in Brooklyn, New York.
Groom's parents- Jacob Koppel and Lizzie Friedman.
Bride's parents- W [Aaron?] and Sarah Scherer.

Bertha, later called Beatrice, was born August 25, 1913 in Jersey City. The surname was misspelled "Schomberg" on the birth certificate.

Birth certificate of Bertha Schomberg
August 25, 1913 in West New York, Hudson County, New Jersey.
Father- William Schomberg. Mother- Sara Scherer.

On October 28, 1931, a correction was submitted to change the surname from Schomberg to Schoenberg. Four months earlier, mother Sarah had supposedly married Jacob Koppel. Yet she signed "Sarah Schoenberg" and not "Sarah Koppel" on the request for the correction.

Correction to birth certificate of Bertha Schomberg to Schoenberg
signed October 28, 1931.

A record does exist for Sarah's marriage in 1943 to Kopel Mendlinger. (Not the same person as Jacob Koppel.)

Marriage license of Kopel Mendlinger and Sarah Koppel
married January 10, 1943 in Brooklyn, New York.

Although marriages for Brooklyn in 1943 are supposedly all scanned and available online, this one was not. I ordered it through the mail. Cost was $18 and turn-around time was two months.

Available marriage records supposedly online at
New York City Department of Records and Information Services

Sarah's place of birth was Tisa Dop, Hungary. This is Tiszadob, Szabolcs, Hungary.

Map of Tiszadob, Szabolcs, Hungary on map of Europe 2025.

Sarah listed one prior marriage to Jacob Koppel. She omitted her first marriage to William Schoenberg. How did that marriage end? Did William die? Disappear? Divorce?

Sarah's marriage history as reported on her license to marry 1943

What became of Sarah Scherer? I do not know. I did not find a death record for her in New York City. 

Notes about the birth records of the children as listed on Sarah's petitions for naturalization:

Sarah had seven children that I discovered. The first, Dora (1903-1934), was deceased by the time of Sarah's petitions, which only asked about living children.

The second child was born February 2, 1905 in Manhattan. "Lena" was originally the name, but "Sadie" was written in read above the crossed out Lena. This is probably for Sadie, but where is Lena's birth certificate? Lena was child number 3.

Birth certificate of Lena [crossed out] Sadie Schönberg
born February 2, 1905 in Manhattan, New York.
Father- William Schönberg. Mother- Sarah Scherer.

I did not find a birth record for Abraham, child number 4. He could not not have been born on January 16, 1909 because the fifth child, Sam, was born July 29, 1909.

Birth certificate of Sam Schomberg born July 29, 1909
in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey.
Father- William Schomberg. Mother- Sarra Scherer.

Catherine, child number 6, was born February 21, 1911 in Jersey City, not February 2, 1912.

Mother Cadmus or Caddan

Patrick McCabe (1845-1912) and Ann Somers (1845-1904) were born in Ireland. In 1867 they married at Saint Peter's Catholic Church in Jersey City, Hudson County New Jersey. The buildings were reconstructed and expanded over time and are now part of Saint Peter's Preparatory School.

Three questions arise when first encountering an immigrant couple:

Where were they from?

Who were their parents?

Who are their relatives in their new home? 

This information can be found on marriage and death records, when the creator of the record writes down such information. Spoiler alert- nothing more than "Ireland" was on these records for Patrick and Ann.

Marriage records filed with the State of New Jersey for the years 1848 through 1878 are in the form of ledger books and can be (mostly) found on Ancestry. 

Ledger entry for marriage of Patrick McCabe and Ann Somers.
Married July 28, 1867 in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey.
Acces through Ancestry.com collection

Close up of the names of the parents of Patrick McCabe and Ann Somers.
Surnames of mothers were omitted.

The marriage record at the State level gave the names of Patrick McCabe's parents as Ed and Elizabeth. Ann Somers' parents were Patrick and Julia. We need surnames for the mothers.

The records of Saint Peter's Church were copied to microfilm and then digitized; however, you cannot view the images at home. You can view the index- not the images- from home at FamilySearch.org.

Indexed entry for Saint Patrick's Church, Jersey City.
Patrick McCabe and Ann Somers married July 28, 1867.
Film number 1403371.

 

Location and availability of images of Saint Peter's Church records
via FamilySearch

Unlike the record filed with the State, the church record contains the names of the parents- according to this index. A trip to the nearest Family History Center enabled access to the image.

Ledger book of marriages at Saint Peter's Church in Jersey City.
The entry for Patrick McCabe and Ann Somers is on the left page, middle.

Close up of marriage entry for Patrick McCabe and Ann Somers, July 28, 1867.
See below for text.

The text appears to be:

July 28, 1867 

McCabe Patrick, aged 23, son of Edward McCabe and Elizabeth Caddmus,

to Ann Somers, aged 26, daughter of Patrick Somers and Julia Reilly.

Witnesses: Michael Welsh and Delia Rafferty.

Patrick Cody

 

I wrote "appears" because I am unsure of the name of Patrick's mother. The indexer typed "Caddan," but when viewing the entry, the handwriting looks like "Caddmus." Both are Irish surnames.

The added bonus of viewing the church record is the entry for witnesses. Presumably Michael Welsh and Delia Rafferty could have a relationship to either the groom or bride. At this point, I do not know their relationships, but at least the names are not terribly common.

The next source to view names of parents is the death certificate. Ann died in Jersey City in 1904 from apoplexy (most likely a stroke). I copied her death certificate from the Archives in Trenton. (New Jersey death certificates are not online.) Her parents match on both documents: Patrick Somers and Julia Reilly.

Death certificate of Ann McCabe.
Died July 18, 1904 in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Copied at New Jersey State Archives.

In 1912 Patrick died in New York City from chronic interstitial nephritis. I do not know why he moved there. Vital records for New York City are online at the website of the Department of Records and Information Services, but with clarification: 77% of the records are digitized. Deaths in Manhattan 1876-1919 have not been posted to the website as of this writing.

Screenshot of website of New York City Department of Records and Information Services.
77% of historical vital records have been digitized as of January 2025.

Patrick's death certificate is viewable at the Family History Center. It's a poor image. I hope that a cleaner image makes its way online.

Death certificate of Patrick McCabe.
Died August 18, 1912 in Manhattan.

The name of Patrick's mother on the death certificate could be Caddan, but I think it looks more like Cadmus.

Names and places of birth of Patrick McCabe's parents, as written on his death certificate.
Father- Patrick McCabe. Mother- Elizabeth Cadmus?
Both born in Ireland.

Below are both versions of Patrick McCabe's mother. Elizabeth's surname differs a little. The marriage record is the earlier record and should be more reliable than the later record. Patrick was alive at the time of making the marriage record. The informant for the death certificate may have had no personal knowledge of Patrick's parents.

Name of Patrick McCabe's mother.
Top image- marriage record from 1867.
Bottom image- death certificate from 1912.

The marriage and death records were necessary to obtain, but they only get us so far. McCabe is a common surname, perhaps too common to chase with this limited information.

Somers was easier. I located three siblings for Ann Somers in New York and New Jersey, thanks to DNA matches and cemetery records. That is for another article.

The next research move is to view the the baptismal records for the children of this couple. The sponsors could be related. Nine children have been identified so far, born from 1868 through 1884.

Error on Marriage Certificate

Samuel Schwartz and Hani "Annie" Perlstein settled in Jersey City, New Jersey after their arrival from Hungary in the 1880s. I wanted to know the names of their parents and their hometown. A marriage record is a great place to possibly find this information.

No match was found in the indexes of New Jersey, New York state, and New York City. However- there was an entry for Samuel Schwartz and Amelia Friedman in 1889 in New York City. Samuel and Annie's first child, Edward, was born in 1890 in Jersey City. In general, to find a marriage record, begin with the birth of the first child and work backwards.

Index of New York City marriages at Ancestry

New York City vital records are being digitized and are available for free on the website of the New York City Department of Records and Information Services.

The Certificate of Marriage is two pages. The first page lists the groom as Samuel Schwartz and the bride as Amalia Friedman. This is consistent with the index at Ancestry.

Certificate of Marriage, New York City
Samuel Schwartz and Hani Perstein married January 20, 1889.
In error was written "Amalia Friedman" as the bride's name.

The second page reveals that there is an error on the first page. The bride was Hani Perlstein, not Amalia Friedman. The author wrote the name of the groom's mother instead of the name of the bride. The document is written with two different colors of ink- blue and black. This could reveal that the document was completed at a later time, resulting in confusion.

Certificate of Marriage, New York City
Samuel Schwartz and Hani Perstein married January 20, 1889.
Groom's parents- Pincus Schwartz and Amalia Friedman.
Bride's parents- Adolph Perlstein and Lina Perlstein.

I will also note that the difference in the color of the ink would not have been known if this document was not digitized in color!

To solidify that we have the correct couple, the death certificates were obtained from the New Jersey State Archives. Samuel Schwartz died in 1958 in Jersey City at the Hebrew Home for Aged. On this document his father was Pincus Schwartz and his mother was Miriam Friedman. This is a good match for the marriage record from 1889.

Death Certificate, New Jersey
Samuel Schwartz died April 17, 1958 in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey

Annie Schwartz died in Atlantic City in 1940 from a stroke. Her residence was in Jersey City. Atlantic City is a popular vacation spot in New Jersey, so perhaps she was on a trip when suddenly struck. Her parents were listed as Abraham Perlstein and Unknown. (My least favorite name.)

Death Certificate, New Jersey
Annie Schwartz died January 23, 1940 in Atlantic City, Atlantic County, New Jersey

After collecting the death certificates to confirm that the entry in the index was for this target couple, I submitted a correction to the erroneous entry for Amelia Friedman in the index at Ancestry. The correct name of the bride, Hani Perlstein, was added. Amelia is not really wrong- it is the bride's name on the first page. Now, if someone searches for Hani, she can be found.

Corrected entry for Hani Perlstein in the 
index of New York City marriages at Ancestry

No hometown in Hungary was given in any of these records.

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

Cummings and Grant Ancestors in a Book

Thank you to the person who sent me this research tip that my Cummings and Grant ancestry is detailed in a book, Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution, by Bernard Bailyn with the assistance of Barbara DeWolfe.

Book jacket
Voyagers to the West

William Henry Cummins (1858-1882) was one of my third great grandfathers. He lived his life in Catskill, Greene County, New York. About 1877 he married Anna Belle Heiser (1860-1934). I descend from their only known child, Nellie Cummings (1879-1965). (These surnames are also spelled Cummings and Hyser.)

Family tree
Parents and grandparents of William Henry Cummins (1858-1882)
Catskill, Greene County, New York

After William's death, Anna Belle joined her parents in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey. This is 120 miles south of Catskill.

Map showing distance between Catskill, New York and Jersey City, New Jersey

William Cummins and Anna Belle Heiser/Hyser were both buried in their respective family plots in the Catskill Village Cemetery in Catskill. The stones next to William reveal are his maternal grandparents, Annie Cumming (1793-1876) and John A Grant (1792-1882), revealing the intermarriage in his family. 

Gravestones of William Cummins' maternal grandparents,
Annie Cumming (1793-1876) and John Grant (1792-1882).
Catskill Village Cemetery, New York.

Around 1880 the State of New York phased in laws requiring births, marriages, and deaths to be recorded with the State. Today the indexes are published in a few places. You can view for free at FamilySearch. The individual certificates are not available online or in any repository; instead, they must be ordered for a fee from the State.

Recording was spotty at first. I do not see a match in the index for William's death in 1882.

There are entries in the index for:

James Cummings 1912 Catskill Fourth great grandfather

Jane Cummings 1899 Fourth great grandmother

John Grant 1882 Fifth great grandfather

I ordered these three death certificates from New York State in February 2024. I do not expect to receive these records for a few years. I have been waiting two and a half years for a death certificate requested in March of 2022.

Death Index New York State
John A Grant died December 27, 1882 in Catskill.
I sent a copy of this index with highlighting to increase the chances
that the State finds this record and fulfills my order.

The grandparents of William Cummins were born in the 1790s, after the American Revolution ended. The excerpt in the book explains the arrival of the prior generation as they arrived in New York as the War was starting.

Gleaned from the book is some genealogy as well as a history lesson about what was happening in Scotland and New York in the 1770s.

In 1774 John Cumming arrived in New York from Scotland with several other people, mostly Grants and Cummings. "He was a native of Strathspey, the broad valley of the Spey River, southeast of Inverness in the eastern Highlands." John was a half brother of James Grant, governor of East Florida. John's brother was Alexander Cumming, a watch maker in London.

In 1776 John Cumming purchased land called Tapugieht, 1000 acres of land in the Catskill Patent, thirty miles south of Albany. He renamed this area Oswald Field. The families farmed the land. (This was in Albany County but became Greene County in 1800.)

This was a tumultuous time. The American Revolutionary War began in 1775. Great Britain versus the Colonies, which became the United States of America. John Cummings was deemed a Loyalist, meaning he supported the British crown and not the newly emerging country in which he found himself. (What a person had to do, or not do, to prove loyalty to one side or the other can vary and is subject to debate and confusion and is not the topic of this writing, though it is fascinating to explore.)

John Cumming was eventually arrested, lost his land and possessions, and allowed to return to Britain.

Many of the people who originally traveled with John Cumming in 1774 remained on the land, which lost the name Oswald Field.

I would normally place an old map here to help visualize these places, but "Oswald Field" and "Tapugieht" are not used in the literature and do not show up in a Google search. Use this link to view a map of Catskill from 1798- after the War. No Oswald Field or Tapugieht on this map.

I suppose that my third great grandfather, William Cummins, descended from these Scottish immigrants to Catskill who were thrown into a war shortly after their arrival. His grandparents were born to people who grew up during the Revolutionary War.

Citation of book:
Bailyn, Bernard, and Barbara DeWolfe. "The Rise and Fall of Oswald Field." Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution. Alfred A Knopf, Inc, 1986, pp. 597-604.