Businessman of Newark, New Jersey

Newark is New Jersey's largest city. Founded in 1666, it became a manufacturing hub by the late 1800s.

Herman Lutter (1860-1924) resided in Newark after his arrival from Germany in 1881. He was my second great grandfather.

He manufactured wagons - the kind that horses pulled to transport humans and products.

His business was mentioned in a book from 1894, Newark Handsomely Illustrated.

Newark Handsomely Illustrated 1894
(Newark, New Jersey: The Consolidated Illustrating Co, 1894), 229

Text of above article from the book:

HERMAN LUTTER

Among the wagon builders of note in this city, is Mr. Herman Lutter whose well equipped works are located at No. 148 Baldwin Street. He is a first class builder of wagons and trucks - brewery, feed, ice, grocery and butcher carts -  which are his specialty, and manufactures to order all kinds of carriages. Mr. Lutter started about two years ago. The shops are thoroughly equipped with all the latest any best machinery and appliances. He employs six skilled workmen and the demand for his excellent wagons and trucks is steady. He manufactures for the leading brewers, grocers, etc., of the city. Repairing is done in all branches. Mr. Lutter's vehicles are all hand made, and renowned for their light running qualities and great durability. They are made from the best timber, substantially ironed, neatly fashioned, well proportioned and have no superfluous weight. A select stock of these is kept on hand at surprisingly low figures. Mr. Lutter is a practical, experienced mechanic who thoroughly inspects all his work which is always up to the highest standard. Mr. Lutter was born in Germany and came here thirteen years ago. He is actively connected with the United Lodge, the Knights and Ladies of Honor.

In the 1894 city directory for Newark, Herman had two entries:

His business at 148 Baldwin

His residence at 48 Baldwin

1894 city directory for Newark, New Jersey
Herman Lutter, wagon manufacturer.
Resided at 48 Baldwin; business at 148 Baldwin.
His brother was Otto, blacksmith, residing at 36 Beacon.

The wherabouts of Herman in the 1895 New Jersey state census remain a mystery. Personally, he was separated from his wife, Clara Uhl (1865-1955).

Twenty-two years later, in 1916, a booklet about industry was published to commemorate Newark's 250th anniversary. Herman ran an advertisement.

Telephone Connection
Herman Lutter
Manufacturer of Wagons and Automobile Bodies
Expert Repairing and Painting
141-143 Frelinghuysen Avenue
Newark, N J

Herman's wagon business morphed with the times. He had to manufacture automobile bodies in addition to wagons. And he had a "telephone connection."

In Herman's personal life, he was newly married. His second wife was Emma Neubauer (1864-1946), widow of Louis Grieser (1860-1906).

New Jersey Vital Records Online 1848-1878

This is wonderful news.

New Jersey's earliest state-level vital records are online at Ancestry!

The covered years are 1848-1878. There are no individual certificates in this time period; rather, births, marriages, and deaths were recorded in ledger books. The information varies, but can include the person's name, date of birth or age, names of parents, places of birth, marriage, and/or death, residence, and more.

Previously, these records were only available at the Archives in Trenton and, within the last few years, at a FamilySearch Center (not from your house).

The ledger books are "organized" by county, year, and event. Use the guide below to find the correct book.

Paper I copied at the Archives a long time ago

Remember to look in the correct county. Places currently in Union County were a part of Essex County until Union County was created in 1857.

Until 1857, Plainfield was in Essex County.
You need to look in records of Essex County to find what is now called Union County.
And that is how "Essex" looked. Double S.

The microfilm rolls at the Archives:

This image captured the spine of the book.
I have never seen the original books. Do they still exist?

The microfilm is viewable on the reader in the background.
Flashback to the 1960s.

Below is a page viewed at a FamilySearch Center. Alfred Dunlop (1831-1892) married Mary Bedle (1840-1927) on December 20, 1865 in Matawan, Monmouth County. He was my third great granduncle. They moved from New Jersey to Indiana and had three children, but no grandchildren.

Citation and blue markings added by author.

I don't know how Ancestry or FamilySearch comes by their images. The quality varies.

Same page at Ancestry

I didn't find all the images at Ancestry. For example, my great great grandfather, Charles Cook (died 1937) was born in Denville, Morris County on June 11, 1858. This was recorded in Book Z2, Births in Morris County, 1848-1867. I found no match in the searchable index and the book did not appear in any menu for browsing. Below is the image photographed on the microfilm reader at the Archives.

Typing added by author

The State Archives has already indexed this collection on their website. It is more precise than the index currently available at Ancestry.

Search page on the State Archive's website.
The exact URLs change over time, so Google for the current link.
Try "New Jersey State Archives Searchable Databases."

For example, a search of the State's index produces specific and accurate results for David Uhl, died October 3, 1867 in Newark. He was a baby of my third great grandparents, David Uhl (1834-1884) and Clara Patschke (1840-1914).

Ancestry's index, in contrast, omits distinguishing details, such as age, location, and date.

The image of the page in the ledger book is below. The month is written once; hence, the indexer only wrote the day. The year is inferred by the range of dates at the top of the page. In this instant, the dates are from June 1 of 1867 through June 1 of 1868. Because this event was in October, the year was 1867. All events were in Newark, but the indexer did not include location, perhaps because "place of death" was blank on each line.

Benjamin Marsh (1797-1867) was a son of my sixth great grandparents, Charles Marsh (1755-1833) and Abigail Denman or Faitoute (1756-1821). (That will be a post for another day.) Benjamin died in Newark on April 8, 1867 and was buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery. His entry in ledger book N "Deaths in Newark City 1848-1867" is below.

The State's online index tells us exactly where to find Benjamin's entry.

Ancestry's index is wonky. I did not think this could be him, but no other entries looked like him either. His gender, age (off by 44 years), date (missing year), and residence (name of parents of someone else) were all transcribed wrong.

I would anticipate (hope?) that Ancestry will clean up their index. If linking to such a record through your family tree software, you would need to discard the erroneous information. It would be a good idea to go to the page and download it for your files, in case something happens to this collection. Yes, folks, this can happen.

Around May of 1878, the State began creating individual certificates for births, marriages, and deaths. That is why this collection is only from the start of state registration in 1848 through the middle of 1878. If your event is on the cusp, search both the ledger books and the individual certificates.

MyHeritage Photo Enhancement and Colorization Tool

This is Rita ODonnell (1914-1995), my maternal grandmother's oldest sister. (Her eyes were blue, not brown.) She looks multi-dimensional and so real.

Below is the original photo. It's a wonderful photo but the details really come to life in the enhanced and colorized version.

The enhancement and colorization are thanks to a new feature at MyHeritage. You can try a few photos without a subscription.

This is Delia Joyce (1862-1929), my grandmother's paternal grandmother. Below is the original. We can see her features, her hair, even her eyelids!

There are few pictures of my grandmother as a young person. The pictures on the bench are great to have, but are of poor quality. The enhancement tool really brings out her features. (Her eyes were blue, not brown.)

The details for my father's great grandmother, Clara Uhl (1865-1955), really pop. Her soft curly brown hair. Her earrings. The creases in her lips.

Wedding Guest Book

Thank you to my aunt for sharing the wedding guest book of my great grandparents, Howard Lutter (1889-1959) and Ethel Laurel "Laura" Winterton (1891-1962).

They were married in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey in 1910.

Witnesses were the bride's parents, William Walling Winterton (1862-1932) and Catherine Butterfoss Dunn (1865-1944).

Front cover

The only guests who signed the book were Howard's mother, Clara Rosalie Uhl (1865-1955), Laura's brother, William Gladstone Winterton (1898-1976), and Miss J Brown. I do not know who this is.

 

Wedding guests (not bridal party)

In later years, a descendant drew on the book during childhood.


Howard and Laura divorced in 1927. Howard remarried to Fiorita Lorenz in 1928. Fiorita was newly divorced from James Winnie. I do not know how or when they met, but Howard lived with Fiorita and her husband as a tenant in Bloomfield. Fiorita testified for Howard in his divorce. Howard purchased the house from Fiorita and James and then resided in it with his two children, Fiorita, and her daughter.

First Direct Line Lutter DNA Match

My father tested his DNA at Ancestry.com.  He spit July 12th and the results appeared today- a quick turn-around time.

I am already tested at Ancestry.com.  I cannot test my mother because she has passed.  (Ancestry does not accept file transfers from other testing companies.)

To my delight, someone with the Luther surname appeared among the matches.  This is a first.  The amount of shared DNA places him in the second to third cousin range.

No family tree.

Ancestry has a function to check for close cousins in common.  This Luther cousin matches a woman who appeared among my DNA matches two years ago.  This woman is a descendant of Alexander Lutter of Chicago.  A man named Alex Lutter witnessed the marriage of my great great great grandparents, Herman Lutter and Clara Uhl, in 1888 in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.

Herman Lutter's father was Wilhelm Lutter, based on the marriage records of Herman and his brother, Otto (who used the surname Luther).  That is the end of the Lutter line traced to date- the shortest in my family tree.  Herman was from Scheibe (renamed Neuhaus) in Thuringia (Germany).  (Herman and Otto's mother's name varies.)

This DNA connection could break down that brick wall.

Let's hope he answers my message.

DNA shared with a Third Cousin

In a prior post, we were introduced to a third cousin who reached out to me.  The common ancestors are a pair of German great great grandparents who settled in Newark, New Jersey: David Uhl (1834-1884) and Clara Patschke (1840-1914).  I featured pictures of the heirlooms from these ancestors- some passed down through my branch and others through his branch.

Just as the heirlooms from these ancestors were dispersed to the succeeding generations, so was DNA.  This cousin kindly added his DNA to the ongoing genetic genealogy studies of the family at 23andMe.

My father and his three siblings all share autosomal DNA with this third cousin.

 The amount of shared DNA for three of the siblings is on the high end, while the other sibling is on the low end, sharing only 43 cM.

This picture represents where on each chromosome these 3rd cousins match.  The colored lines represent segments of DNA that traveled four generations from David Uhl and Clara Patschke to their great great grandchildren.

Many people- "DNA Cousins"- match my father and his siblings on these segments.  If these DNA Cousins also match the known third cousin, then we know to look into the branch of our family that holds David Uhl and Clara Patschke.  I will have information that the DNA Cousins do not, and vice versa, and we will break down brick walls.

When compared to my father and his two children (my sister and me), we see interesting results.  I inherited most of my father's DNA that he shares with this third cousin.  My sister received almost nothing:  13 cm over two segments.  This is such a small amount that a DNA testing company may not even recognize it as a match on its own.  Imagine if my sister were the only one who tested her DNA.  A match this small would likely be disregarded, yet it is fully solvable based on surnames and locations.

Two years ago, we compared DNA to another third cousin from a different branch- great great grandparents Calvin Cook (1826-1889) and Mary Neal (1830-1898).  The amount of shared DNA was lower than what we see with the Uhl/Patschke cousin, with a low of 70 cM to a high of 121 cM.  The next generation- my sister and me- inherited none of this DNA.

Welcoming a Cousin from a German Branch

A third cousin of my father reached out to me.  He and my dad share a set of great great grandparents, David Uhl (1834-1884) and Clara Patschke (1840-1914).  David was from Gelnhausen and Clara was from Zeitz (both places now in Germany).  They married in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey in 1865.

Here is the family in the 1870 federal census: David, Clara, and their two children who had issue:

I am descended from David and Clara's daughter, Clara Uhl.  She married Herman Lutter.  Our third cousin is descended from their son, Henry Uhl, and his wife, Emma Holzhauer.

Two of David and Clara's children died young: David in 1871 and Nellie in 1882.  Another daughter, Lillie Uhl, married John Kuhl, but had no known children.

Family heirlooms trickled down to our third cousin, who kindly sent scans.  I was thrilled to see a Reisepass [passport] issued to David Uhl in 1854 for his travels from Gelnhausen to America.  David was 19 years old, had brown eyes, and stood five feet, four inches tall.

Signature of David Uhl

From David Uhl my branch received a hatchet with his last name, UHL, carved into the handle.

Our third cousin also received some of David Uhl's tools and belongings, branded with a similar UHL mark.

Subjective Marital Status

In the prior post, we saw the 1920 census entry for Clara Uhl, (ex)wife of Herman Lutter, listing her marital status as widowed.

This does not mean that her husband was dead!  If you do not have a death record for a "deceased" spouse, look for the person in the census anyway.  (Clara had three more years until Herman died.)

Marital Status:  Clara was divorced, not widowed.
Howard was married, but separated from his wife.
Lillian was single, but married John Kuhl two months later.

In this case, I knew that Clara Uhl and Herman Lutter divorced in the 1890s and Herman died in 1923.  In the 1920 census, Herman resided nearby with his next wife, Emma Neubauer.