My Darling Little Rabbit

Marion with her father, Clifford Lutter.

My aunt Marion received the letter below from her father, Clifford Lutter (1915-1980). It is dated January 16, 1962. For context, Clifford was residing in the family home in Newark, New Jersey. His wife, Beulah Cook (1921-2003), and children were staying in Florida with Beulah's sister. This was not a vacation. The family eventually reunited in Newark. "Grandma" was Clifford's mother, Ethel Laurel Winterton (1891-1962). She died two weeks after this letter was written.

Howard is Marion's brother. He either did not go with his mother to Florida or had made his own way back to New Jersey.

Letter written from Clifford Lutter to his daughter, Marion

January 16, 1962

My Darling little Rabbitt

I was very thrilled to get your nice letter. I am feeling quite well. I have a slight cold, which makes me cough a little bit, but other than that it doesn’t bother me. I am glad to hear that you are having a lot of fun.

I am sure that you are making some nice new friends, and that they all like you.

Grandma is not feeling well. She is very sick. I told her that you had gone on a vacation trip, so she said that she hopes you are enjoying yourself.

Howard and I miss you and Mommy and the boys very much. It is very quiet here now. We do things to keep busy. We cook our supper, and do the dishes. Howard washes his clothes and irons them.

He is also working in the Twin Store, up on Broadway. He gets ten dollars a week. Isn’t that a lot of money?

There was a little bird sitting on the window sill this morning. I asked him what he wanted, and he said that he was looking for you. I told him that you had taken a vacation trip, so he said he would see you when you came back. He said to tell you that Albert was asking about you. I gave him some bird-seed and he flew away with them.

Oceans of love

Daddy

Picture of Ethel Laurel "Laura" Winterton and her son, Clifford Lutter.
Ivy Haven Nursing Home, Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.

Marion Laurel Lutter 1952-2026

Marion Laurel Lutter passed away on May 1, 2026. She was 73 years old.

Jody and her aunt, Marion
July 12, 2025
Her last birthday

Marion was the youngest child and only daughter of Clifford Lutter (1915-1980) and Beulah Bernice Cook (1921-2003). She was born in Newark, New Jersey on July 12, 1952.

1958
Howard, Clifford, Marion, David

In 1970 Marion graduated from Barringer High School in Newark.

Marion's high school graduation photo
1970

Marion trained as a hairdresser and beautician.

She joined The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls in 1972.

Installation of Marion
May 26, 1972

Later Marion specialized in billing for medical offices.

Family photographs and documents wound up in Marion's custody. I have them now.

May 2011

When the prior generation is gone, you cannot ask them questions. There will be no more stories, no more explanations, no more naming the mysterious people in unmarked photos.

Thanksgiving 2009
Howard, Marion, Clifford, David

Marion is survived by a son and two grandchildren, two brothers, one first cousin, many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, great-grandnieces, great-grandnephews, and countless second, third, fourth, fifth and beyond cousins.

Copies of a Philadelphia Birth Certificate

Among my paternal grandfather's papers was a copy of his birth certificate. Clifford Lutter was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 18, 1915. Below is the paper I found.

Birth certificate of Clifford Lutter born March 18, 1915 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Typed reproduction.
Father- Howard Lutter. Mother- Laura Ethel Winterton.
(They lived in Newark, New Jersey. They stayed in Philadelphia briefly.)

I do not know if this very paper is what Clifford received, or if he received a smaller paper and made this copy.

I already had a copy of the birth certificate that I made from microfilm at a Family History Center. 

Birth certificate of Clifford Lutter born March 18, 1915 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Handwritten and stamped March 19, 1915.
Film 2169638.

This film of Philadelphia births has been digitized but is restricted, meaning you cannot view at home. You have to log in at a Family History Center. The process in the past was to order the microfilm, pay a fee, and then wait. Now the process is free and instant- but as long as you can get to a particular physical location.

Note that the birth certificate copied from microfilm is handwritten, while the copy is typed. On the handwritten version, a date is written on top, "2/?/39." This could indicate that a copy was issued on that date. Sure enough, the official copy date on the typed copy is February 6, 1939.

Ancestry has published birth certificates of Philadelphia. Clifford's birth record appears in this collection, but is not the same as the handwritten birth certificate viewed on microfilm all those years ago. This was not easy to find because it is indexed as Sutter with an S, not Lutter with an L.

Birth certificate of Sutter born March 18, 1915 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Was there more than one set of Philadelphia birth records? When Clifford requested his birth certificate in 1939, did this trigger an unrecorded correction in spelling from Sutter to Lutter?

Letter of Condolence

Among my grandmother's papers was a letter of condolence for the loss of my grandfather, Clifford Lutter (1915-1980). The author was Harry Hazelwood (1921-2007), a judge in Newark, New Jersey.

A brief search produced a page at Rutgers University dedicated to Judge Hazelwood, where he attended for undergraduate studies. Some letters he wrote are pictured on his alumni page, so I decided to post this letter here in case anyone wants to view.

Judge Hazelwood was buried in Fairmount Cemetery in Newark.

Letter of condolence dated January 31, 1980
from Judge Harry Hazelwood, Jr to Mrs Clifford [Beulah] Lutter.
A transcript is below.

January 31, 1980

Mrs Clifford Lutter
c/o Funeral Home of James F Caffrey and Son
809 Lyons Avenue
Irvington, New Jersey 07111

Dear Mrs Lutter:

You and your family have my deepest sympathy upon the passing of your husband. I trust that God will give all of you the strength and courage to carry on during the coming days of stress and strain and will comfort you during the time of your bereavement. For many years I have known of your husband and his work particularly as treasurer of Special Police Local 11. He will long be remembered for his professionalism and for his community concern.

Again, my heartfelt sympathy to you and to all of the family.

Sincerely,

Harry Hazelwood, Jr.
Judge, Superior Court

Indirect Date of Birth

An announcement of a wedding date provided an indirect date of birth of a grandparent.

Shirley Adele Hofacker and William John Geerke announced the date of their upcoming wedding in The Newark Sunday Call. "June Bridal On Birthday" explained that June 24, 1939 was the 72nd birthday of Shirley's grandfather, Charles Lutter.

Newspaper article providing the date of Shirley Hofacker's wedding in 1939.
The Newark Sunday Call. April 23, 1939. Page 4.

Shirley and William were indeed married on June 24, 1939 in at Saint Leo's Catholic Church in Irvington, Essex County, New Jersey.

Shirley's mother was Florence Lutter (1892-1983). Florence's parents were Karl Lutter Anna Lau (1869-1914). Karl was anglized to Charles. He was likely a cousin of mine as discussed in an earlier article , "Connecting the Lutters of Newark, New Jersey." Charles was born in a German area, likely in or near the town of Scheibe, where my Lutter line originates. I do not have his record of birth; however, his death certificate provides this date as June 24, 1868. That would make him 71, not 72, on the day that his granddaughter married.

Death certificate of Charles K Lutter,
died September 26, 1952 in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.
Father- Karl Lutter. Mother- "Unknown."
His parents were Robert Lutter and Nathalia Zitzman.

Shirley's date of birth is given on her marriage record: October 11, 1918. Again, a record of birth made at the time of the event would be better evidence of when she was born. Shirley's birth certificate is accessible from the New Jersey State Archives. (Births through 1924 are public in the Archives as of this writing.) On this document, Shirley was born on the 12th of October- not the 11th as stated on her marriage record.

Birth certificate of Shirley Adelle Hofacker
October 12, 1918 in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.
Father- Adam Hofacker. Mother- Florence Lutter.
Record available through the New Jersey State Archives mail or in-person.

A note about researching in online newspapers:

Not all text will turn up in a search feature. On the page of The Newark Sunday Call where Shirley's article was found, there are several blank spots. Any print that was there did not carry over to the electronic scan and will not turn up in a search. If the date of an event is known, you may have to check newspapers published on and around this date to locate possible articles.

The Newark Sunday Call newspaper
April 23, 1939. Page 4.
Digitized version found at OldNews.com.
Shirley's wedding announcement is in the upper left.

Another Lutter Baby 1914

In an effort to find out what became of Baby Boy Lutter, born May 9, 1916 in Newark, New Jersey, I looked up a death certificate for Richard Quackenbush.

An index of deaths in New Jersey can be found through Reclaim the Records or Ancestry. In spite of the name of this database at Ancestry ("New Jersey, U.S., Death Index 1848-1878, 1901-2017"), there are no indexes for the years 1904-1915 and 1930-1948.

Index of Deaths in New Jersey
Richard Quackenbash died December 1916 in Newark

I have all of the Lutter death certificates through 1965. Baby Boy born 1916 is not among them. Although Baby Boy was born with the surname Lutter, his parents were not married. His death certificate may be under his mother's surname- Quackenbush.

This is why I wanted to view the 1916 death certificate for Richard Quackenbush.

Death certificate of Richard Quackenbush, died December 27, 1916
at Newark City Hospital, Newark, New Jersey.
Cause of death tubercular meningitis.
Father- O.W. [out of wedlock]. Mother- Margaret Quackenbush.
Burial- Evergreen Cemetery. Undertaker- Jas M Vaughan.

I was on the right track; however, this is another child created by my great grandfather and Margaret. This child was born June 30, 1914 in Newark- according to his death certificate.

This was unexpected.

I have all of the Lutter birth certificates through 1924. How did I miss this Lutter baby born in 1914?

An index of births is available online through Reclaim the Records and Ancestry. Nothing matched this birthdate in the year 1914 in Newark under the surname Lutter or Quackenbush. Next I searched by the exact date. SUTTER. The surname was misinterpreted in the index as Sutter instead of Lutter.

Birth index New Jersey at Ancestry
This is an index of the index.
The certificates are on microfilm at the Archives in Trenton, New Jersey.

Sutter born June 30, 1914 in Newark.
This is Ancestry's index of the New Jersey geographic birth index.

Image of the geographic birth index.
Sutter, baby of H. and M., born June 30, 1914 in Newark, New Jersey.

This index is as close as you can get to the birth record from home. Because I was physically inside the New Jersey State Archives while viewing this index, I could then view the microfilm roll of births for 1914 and copy the certificate for baby Sutter. Howard Lutter was listed as the father.

Birth certificate of Baby Lutter, indexed Sutter.
June 30, 1914 at Newark City Hospital, Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.
Father- Howard Lutter, age 27, occupation brakeman.
Mother- Margaret Quackenbush, age 18.

Baby Lutter/Sutter became Richard Quackenbush. Two year old Richard was buried in Evergreen Cemetery. This cemetery lies in three cities- Newark, Elizabeth, and Hillside, New Jersey. I called the cemetery office for the location of this grave and was told that he was buried in the baby section. These are tiny, single plots, usually with no markers.

Another avenue to pursue is the funeral home or undertaker. James M Vaughan was a lesser-known undertaker. I do not know what became of his business and those records. He died in 1954 and was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in East Orange.

I have not found baby Richard in the 1915 New Jersey State census.

I reviewed what I had uncovered about the life of Howard Lutter.

Howard Lutter and Ethel Laurel Winterton married in Newark on September 17, 1910. The first child of this marriage was my grandfather, Clifford Lutter, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 18, 1915.

Howard had already made a son, Richard, with Margaret the year before Clifford was born.

The next year, 1916, Howard and Margaret had twins. The female twin died. Then Richard, age two and a half, died.

In 1918, Beryl, the second and final child of Howard and Ethel, was born in Newark.

Howard divorced Ethel in 1927. He narrated the movements of the family in the 1910s. He failed to mention the children he made with another women that overlapped the birth of the children of this marriage.

Responses of Howard Lutter in his divorce action
against Ethel Laurel Winterton, 1926

In 1928, Howard remarried to Fiorita Lorenz (1890-1969). In 1923, Howard began renting a house from her and her then-husband, James Howard Winnie (1887-1957). Howard described Ethel as a disinterested wife and mother. Because Howard married his landlord soon after their mutual divorces, I suspected that Howard was not a good husband. This suspicion was reinforced when I discovered that he made three children with Margaret while making children with Ethel, his wife.

The earlier baby that Howard created outside his marriage indicates a more involved relationship with Margaret, who was only 17 years old when baby Richard was conceived.

Still missing is the male baby born on May 9, 1916.

Scrapbook of Charles Lutter 1934

My grandfather, Clifford Lutter (1915-1980), kept a scrapbook of newspaper articles.

New picture of my grandfather, Clifford "Charles" Lutter.
Probably circa 1934. Date and newspaper unknown as of this writing.

I must recommend to anyone who clips articles from anywhere (including now online) note the source: Title of newspaper, location, date, and page.

Based on events mentioned in the articles, I determined that these clippings were from the year 1934.

The Newark Star Eagle was published in New Jersey in the year 1934 and is not online. I would suspect that the articles were from this newspaper because Clifford lived in Newark. I did not find these articles in any of the newspapers that are online. I searched some unique phrasing within the articles on sites such as GenealogyBank, Newspapers, Old News, Google, Chronicling America, and the Newark Public Library. Nothing matched.

Some of the articles were written by "Charles Lutter." Others list no author. My grandfather used the name Charles in addition to Clifford.

Page from the scrapbook of Clifford Lutter

"People Are Dumb" sounds like something a Lutter would write.

The topics were often covered in articles across the country, but these exact articles are not online.

Peter Kaliscik, age ten, was severely injured by electric shock while playing on train tracks of the Long Island Railroad in Brooklyn, New York. Doctors told the boy, who was fully alert, that he was going to die. Modern-day healthcare workers would probably not approach a child with such bluntness. Newspapers across the country carried very similar articles about this incident, which occurred November 12, 1934.

"Little Boy, Electric Victim, Will Die." Newspaper unknown. 1934.
Spoiler- he lived.

Peter died November 13, but twenty years later, in 1954. In 1942 he married Theresa VanHouten and had children.

The next step was using this alternate name of "Charles Lutter." This produced articles that were likely about Clifford.

Charles Lutter, age 21, of Newark, found a skeleton in 1936.
This matches the age of my Clifford Lutter, who was born in 1915.
We don't hear much about Bound Creek.

Other men were also named Charles Lutter. One was close in age to my Charles/Clifford:

Charles Lutter, born in Bayonne in 1912 to John Ernest Lutter (1882-1944) and Emma Otto (1885-1964). Charles moved to Newark after his 1936 marriage to Catherine Radoshvic (1916-1983). He lived in Staten Island, New York prior to this.

So my grandfather, Clifford "Charles" Lutter, was the only person who went by Clifford or Charles Lutter living in Newark born around 1915.

In the back of the scrapbook are eight lines of writing.

He is utterly active; but, in time, no
movement is fortuitous, or without a
motive; his will is always active, his actions
have a definite aim. If he shows
violence, it is in order to insure
execution of his commands- to show
that he has strength to overcome anything which opposes him.

Family Documents: Clifford Charles Lutter, Mason

Among inherited family documents is now a single paper establishing Clifford Charles Lutter as a 32 degree Mason. He signed December 4, 1971 in Newark, New Jersey.

Document establishing Clifford Lutter (1915-1980)
as a Freemason 32d Degree

Signature of Clifford Lutter December 4, 1971

A few years ago the document surfaced that established Clifford's father, Howard, as a 32d degree Mason. Howard signed exactly 39 years before his son.

Document establishing Howard Lutter (1889-1959)
as a Freemason 32d Degree. 

The flat marker of Howard's burial location
(Glen Haven Memorial Park in Sylmar, Los Angeles, California)
is engraved with the masonic symbol of square and compass with the letter G center.
Photograph courtesy of Bill Burgess.

Surprise Babies of 1916

My great-grandparents, Howard Lutter (1889-1959) and Ethel Laurel Winterton (1891-1962), were married in 1910 in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey. This union produced two children, Clifford Lutter (1915-1980) and Beryl Enid Lutter (1918-1989).

Beryl and Clifford, early 1920s,
at their maternal grandparents' home in Holmdel, Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Howard divorced Ethel Laurel in 1927 for abandoning him and the children. Fiorita Winnie testified against Ethel Laurel. In 1928 Howard and Fiorita married.

In the last article, I wrote about Ernst Lutter, who died in Newark in 1916. A DNA match prompted me to realize that I had not collected the Lutter deaths from the year 1916.

Two Lutters died in New Jersey in 1916. One was Ernst. The other was a newborn baby of Howard Lutter and Margaret Quackenbush. Not the same Margaret as my cousin Margaret Quackenbush (1899-1940).

Death Certificate
Female baby Lutter died May 9, 1916
in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey

As I sat in the Archives looking at this death certificate, I was surprised. Howard had made a baby outside of his marriage. And- this document was out there, waiting for me to find it.

I had to find out more. Howard was still married to Ethel Laurel when this child arrived in 1916. Howard and Ethel Laurel stayed together and produced another child in 1918.

There are some avenues on this death certificate for possible additional information:
-hospital
-cemetery
-undertaker

Newark City Hospital no longer exists. It became Martland Medical Center and then was engulfed by University Hospital, which was then engulfed by Rutgers University. They do have an archival collection. More about this later in this article.

Newark City Cemetery was a burial area for the indigent. Nobody claims to know where the records are.

Holle Funeral Home still exists. Other Lutters were processed through this same funeral home. There is no record of this baby in the records.

I did not find a notice of death in the newspapers the Newark Evening News and the Newark Sunday Call.

As I sat at home, I thought to myself that there was no birth certificate for this baby. I had all the Lutter birth certificates issued through 1923. In earlier times, if a baby was born and quickly died, a death certificate may have been issued without a corresponding birth certificate.

I checked my files anyway.

Ten years ago I had indeed copied a birth certificate for a baby born in 1916 to Howard Lutter. I had tucked it away, planning to investigate this other Howard Lutter. This was a disorganized approach and the certificate became quickly forgotten as the ancestors and current life piled in.

Birth certificate of Baby Lutter #2 born May 9, 1916 in Newark.
This had been in my collection since 2014.

Howard Lutter had created a baby outside his marriage. I had been sitting on this information for over ten years.

I noticed a faint "#2" written after the surname. This baby was a twin. I did not have a birth certificate for the other twin at home in my files.

The birth index is now available from home. No such index was available in 2014.

Index of Births in New Jersey 1915-1919
H & M had twins on May 9, 1916 in Newark.
Database online Ancestry

For whatever reason, I copied certificate 357 but not the 356- the first born twin.

Back to the Archives I went.

Birth certificate of baby number 1, a male.
This baby has no corresponding death certificate.

Birth certificate of baby number 2, a female.
This baby died the same day.

Howard Lutter had a son on May 9, 1916 who lived. What happened to him? I do not know. If he survived into adulthood and had descendants, they have not tested their DNA.

I tracked down Margaret Quackenbush. She married, had children, and died. I corresponded with a grandchild of hers. The family had no knowledge of these twins.

The children raised by Margaret's siblings were reviewed in light of this new information. Nobody in the Quackenbush family raised a baby boy with this birthdate. He is not buried in any family plots.

If adopted, he does not appear on the Surrogate's Docket in Essex County, New Jersey. I requested a search of the files, but I do not expect cooperation from the Surrogate's staff.

Doctor D L Golan signed the birth certificates. This was Daniel Leonard Golan (1892-1969). He briefly appeared in the Newark city directory of 1917. He served in World War I, then moved to back to New York, where he married and practiced medicine.

Golann D Leonard physician
1917 Newark City Directory

Dr Daniel Leonard Golann's record of military service World War I
U.S., World War I Jewish Servicemen Questionnaires, 1918-1921
Collection at Ancestry

Dr Daniel Leonard Golann's summary of career before World War I

Dr Golann's questionnaire about his wartime service lists him as an intern at Newark City Hospital from 1915-1916. This comports with the birth certificates.

I visited the George F Smith Library of the Health Sciences at Rutgers University (University of Medicine and Dentistry) in Newark. Thank you to the staff there for meeting with me and showing me historical documents and pictures.

Dr Golann was listed in a chronological recording of interns, but none of his records survive in this repository. The library's archives offered an image of Newark City Hospital as it appeared in 1915.

Newark City Hospital, 1915
Special Collections, George F Smith Library of the Health Sciences

Howard and Ethel Laurel were living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1915. This is where baby Clifford was born. In the divorce papers, Howard explained their moves to New York City, Philadelphia, then back to Newark. Was he travelling for work or to escape personal problems he created?

In 1915, Howard resided in Philadelphia then in Newark.
Does his use of the pronoun "I" indicate that he was not relocating with his wife?

Howard had nerve calling Ethel Laurel a bad wife in the divorce complaint.

We are left with a missing male baby born May 9, 1916 in Newark, New Jersey.

Takeaway research method:

My current method is to log all information into a family tree in Family Tree Maker. Had I done this ten years ago, I probably would not have lost track of the birth certificate from 1916 and two men named Howard Lutter.