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.

Parents of Mollie Schoenberger and Louis Schwartz

Where were Louis Schwartz and Mollie Schoenberger from in Europe? Who were their parents?

The couple's second child, Hannah, was born in New York City in 1883. The mother was Minnie, not Mollie, age 23, or born about 1860, in Hungary. The father, Lewis, was age 26, or born about 1857, in Hungary. His occupation was baker.

Hannah Schwartz born March 24, 1883
20 Clinton Street, New York, New York.
Midwife Rosa Rosenberg of 174 Suffolk Street.
Images online New York City Department of Records and Information Services

Their third child, William, was born in New York City in 1884. The surname was spelled Swartz, not Schwartz, but this could be because the midwife's name was Anna Swartz. Anna may not have been too good at spelling English; she wrote "mail" instead of "male." The mother was Bertha, not Mollie or Minnie, age 25, or born about 1859, in Hungary. The father, Louis, was age 33 years, or born about 1851, in Hungary. He was a baker.

William Swartz born October 8, 1884
235 Stanton Street, New York, New York.
Midwife Anna Swartz of 141 Attorney Street.
Images online New York City Department of Records and Information Services

Louis Schwartz appeared in the 1884 New York City city directory in 1884 at 235 Stanton. He was a baker. This matches the address and occupation on William's birth certificate.

Louis Schwartz, baker, 235 Stanton.
1884 Trow's New York City, New York city directory.
Database online at Ancestry

The Swartz family lived at 141 Attorney- the address used by midwife Anna Swartz. She must have inadvertently applied the spelling of her surname to the baby she delivered.

Swartz Henry, tailor. Swartz Ignatz, cloaks. Swartz Maurice, cloaks. 141 Attorney.
1884 Trow's New York City, New York city directory.
Database online at Ancestry

The next four children were not born in New York City. We will detail their records later.

The final child, a daughter, was born in 1900 in New York City. She was child number eight; six were still living. The mother was Mollie, age 40, or born about 1860, in Hungary. The father, Louis, was 45 years old, or born in 1855, in Hungary. He was a pedlar.

Tillie Schwartz born November 28, 1900
56 Cannon Street, New York, New York.
The recorder perhaps wrote the color "Brunette" for the hair instead of the skin.

The 1905 New York State census is the earliest census for this family that I discovered as of this writing.

Mollie and Louis resided in New York City with children Willie, Philip, Henry, Harry, Max, and Pauline (called Tillie at birth).

1905 New York State Census. 56 Cannon Street, Manhattan, New York

Louis and Mollie were born in Hungary. Their birth place of their first child, William, looks to originally have been Hungary with "United States" written over this entry. The next children were born in Hungary, except the final child, born in United States.

The places of birth of the children seem unusual to me. 

We do not know, as of this writing, the place of birth of the first child, likely around 1881. Hannah and William were born in New York City. Did Mollie and Louis return to Hungary and have the next four children there, from 1889 through 1894? Then they returned to the United States where they had Tillie, also known as Pauline or Pearl, in 1900.

A marriage record could provide the hometowns and names of parents, but so far, I have found no marriage record for Louis and Mollie.

The four sons born in Hungary list a town of birth on various records. The name looks like Gavitz, with or without "Nud" preceding this word. If anyone knows where this might be, please comment.

Draft card registration of Philip Schwartz
born February 23, 1889 in Nug Gavitz, Hungary
Database online Ancestry

Questionnaire of military service of Henry Schwartz
born October 20, 1890 in Nud Gavitz, Hungary
Database online Ancestry

Petition for Naturalization of Harry Joseph Schwartz
born December 23, 1892 in Nud Gavetz, Hunary.
Database online Ancestry

Draft card registration of Max Schwartz
born October 23, 1894 in Nudgavetz, Hungary.
Database online Ancestry

The death certificate is another avenue for uncovering a hometown and the name of parents. Ancestry offers two indexes for deaths in the State of Connecticut: 1897-1968 and 1917-2017. Another index 1897-2001 exists on Connecticut Open Data.

Mollie Schwartz died in Bridgeport, Fairfield County, Connecticut on March 9, 1925. Her death was recorded by the State of Connecticut and the City of Bridgeport. Both records are below. These are two separately created records. There is a chance that one has information not contained on the other. In the case of Mollie Schwartz, her parents and place of birth were no more detailed on one than the other.

Death certificate of Mollie Schwartz from the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut
March 9, 1925
Cost $20. Turn-around time was two years via postal mail.

Death certificate of Mollie Schwartz from the State of Connecticut
Side 1
March 9, 1925
Cost $20. Turn-around time was one year via postal mail.

Death certificate of Mollie Schwartz from the State of Connecticut
Side 2
March 9, 1925

Mollie's father was Wolf Schoenberger, according to her death certificates. Unfortunately her hometown and mother's name were not provided.

A descendant of Mollie and Louis has an online tree with pictures. This person does not know where Mollie or Louis was born or raised.

Picture of Mollie Schoenberg, wife of Louis Schoenberg,
as offered by the creator of this tree

Louis died after Mollie. In the 1930 census, he was living with his daughter, Pearl, and her family in Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut.

I do not see a match for Louis Schwartz in the death index for 1930 or later in Stamford. There are people with this name who died 1930 or later.

The issue with obtaining death certificates from the State of Connecticut is that they are $20 each. You cannot view them online or in person, as I found out. I had to make many phone calls and emails to the City of Bridgeport. Connecticut allows members of certain genealogical associations to view death certificates, but a copy still costs $20.

"Sec. 7-51a. Copies of vital records. Access to vital records by members of genealogical societies. Marriage and civil union licenses. Death certificates. Issuance of certified copies of electronically filed certificates. (a) Any person eighteen years of age or older may purchase certified copies of marriage and death records, and certified copies of records of births or fetal deaths which are at least one hundred years old, in the custody of any registrar of vital statistics. The department may issue uncertified copies of death certificates for deaths occurring less than one hundred years ago, and uncertified copies of birth, marriage, death and fetal death certificates for births, marriages, deaths and fetal deaths that occurred at least one hundred years ago, to researchers approved by the department pursuant to section 19a-25, and to state and federal agencies approved by the department. During all normal business hours, members of genealogical societies incorporated or authorized by the Secretary of the State to do business or conduct affairs in this state shall (1) have full access to all vital records in the custody of any registrar of vital statistics, including certificates, ledgers, record books, card files, indexes and database printouts, except for those records containing Social Security numbers protected pursuant to 42 USC 405 (c)(2)(C), and confidential files on adoptions, gender change, surrogacy agreements and parentage, (2) be permitted to make notes from such records, (3) be permitted to purchase certified copies of such records, and (4) be permitted to incorporate statistics derived from such records in the publications of such genealogical societies. For all vital records containing Social Security numbers that are protected from disclosure pursuant to federal law, the Social Security numbers contained on such records shall be redacted from any certified copy of such records issued to a genealogist by a registrar of vital statistics.

Researchers in Connecticut, can you elaborate on the hoops one must go through to get records- legitimate or invented by clerks to thwart genealogical pursuits.

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.

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.