Wedding Book from 1901

Thank you to the person who sent me this marriage book from 1901. (She found me through this blog. She was cleaning out an old desk.)

The marrying parties were Louis Kraus and Christine Zoeller. They married January 21, 1901 in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey. A letter was inside the book, providing additional details. The letterhead was that of First German Reformed Church at 31 Blum Street in Newark. This church is called Second (West) Reformed Church on the Old Newark website.

Letter inside the book. There was no certificate of marriage within the book.

First German Reformed Church

31 Blum Street, Newark, New Jersey

Frederick Steinmann, Pastor

May 5, 1930

To whom it may concern

This is to certify that the

attached Certificate of Marriage

is a true copy of the record

left by the Rev C Girtanner.

Frederick Steinmann, Pastor

Louis Kraus (1879-1930) was the son of Edward Kraus (1859-1902) and Helen Benz (1860-1931). Christine Zoeller (1885-1957) was the daughter of Anna Elizabeth Stieber (1848-1929) and Louis Zoeller (1851-1919). They are buried at Woodland Cemetery in Newark.

Reverend Carl Girtanner was the pastor from 1884-1918 according to the Old Newark website. Frederick Steinmann (1897-1992) was the pastor from 1927-1966.

If anyone would like these physical objects, please message me.

This is similar to an item that I received from the wedding of my great grandparents, Howard Lutter and Ethel Laurel Winterton. They were married in Newark in 1910.

Cover of wedding book of Howard Lutter and Ethel Laurel Winterton, 1910

Ledley's Vanderhoef Book

There is another family history book written about the Vanderhoof family. It was written by Wilson V Ledley (1913-1978) and published in 1959. Vanderhoef Family. The First Five Generations.

You can find it on The Internet Archive.

Ledley begins with Generation One, the couple Cornelis Van Der Hoeve and Geertje Van Fulpen. In 1661, Geertje, a widow, arrived in New Amsterdam (now called New York City) with her six children, Generation Two.

Ledley tentatively places Jacob Vanderhoof (1772-1847) as a son of Dirck Vanderhoff (baptized 1746). [Ledley wrote the wrong century for Dirck's baptism.] [Also, the spelling as "Vanderhoof" and "Vanderhoff" were interchanged throughout Ledley's work.] Ledley identified one other son of Dirck Vanderhoff and Catrina, Peter (baptized 1772).

Generation Five: Peter Vanderhoff and Jacob Vanderhoff
Wilson V Ledley. Vanderhoef Family. The First Five Generations. 1959.

175. PETER VANDERHOFF, son of Dirck (#54), was baptised
at Pompton on Sep 20, 1772. In the Census of 1800
at Goshen in Orange County, New York, there is listed a Peter
Van der Hoff, aged 26-45, wife same, son and daughter under
10 and other unidentified females in the household who may
have been his wife's relations. She, from the one baptismal
record at hand, was Jude SMITH and they had:

    250. Elizabeth, b. 9 Feb 1797, pb. Pompton Dutch Church

176. JACOB VANDERHOFF, supposed son of Dirck (#54) was
born 1771-72 from his grave in Morris County (GMNJ
7:7). The only basis of assigning Jacob as a son of Dirck is

the naming of his presumed first son Peter probably after the

boy's uncle above, but this is at best only tentative. He

had been married by the Morris County Clerk (GMNJ 4:31) to

Anne HOPLAR on Jan 23, 1796, who died Feb. 27, 1841 in her

69th year. Their presumed son:

    251. PETER (sup.), b. 1797-98, d. 17 Apr 1847 in his 50th

year; wife Rachael d. 12 Nov 1850 in her 50th

year; their graves listed following those above.

Generation Four: Dirck Vanderhoff

54. DIRCK VANDERHOFF, son of Jacob (#20), was baptised
at Pompton on May 30, 1946[sic]. From the baptism of

Peter below, we know his wife's name was Catrina, but her

surname has not been discovered. The only basis for assign-

ing Jacob as a son of Dirck is the naming of the latter's

presumed son Peter possibly after his uncle, but his is at

best extremely tenuous, particularly since no will nor pro-

bate records have been found. Children were:

    175. PIETER, bp. 20 Sep 1772 Pompton, sp. Pieter & Sara Jongh

    176. JACOB (sup.), b. 1771-72 (grave record)

Ledley referenced two sources for Jacob Vanderhoof: a grave stone transcription and a marriage record to Anne Hoplar. I visited the DeMouth Burial Ground in Boonton, Morris County, New Jersey. Below is a picture of the worn stones. Peter Vanderhoof (1797-1847), the only conjectured child in Ledley's work, is buried next to his parents.

DeMouth Burial Ground
Boonton, Morris County, New Jersey

Morris County, New Jersey Marriages
Jacob Vandroff and Anne Hoplar married January 25, 1796

Ledley did not mention Jacob's baptism. Jacob was baptized in Paramus, Bergen County, New Jersey. His date of birth was written as February 13, 1774. His parents were Dirk Vanderhoef and Catriena.

Jacob, born February 13 [1774],
child of Dirk Vanderhoef and Catriena.
Baptisms at the Dutch Reformed Church in Paramus, New Jersey.

Peter, a definite son of Dirck in Ledley's work, was baptized in the Pompton Church. His date was September 20, 1772. I am not sure if this was a birth date or a baptismal date. Sponsors were Pieter Jongh and Sara. This would help the notion that Catriena was born Jongh, later anglicized to Young.

Pieter, born September 20 [1772],
child of Dirk Vanderhof and Catriena.
Sponsors Pieter Johngh and Sara.
Baptisms at the Dutch Reformed Church in Pompton, New Jersey.

Remember that my in-depth look at the Vanderhoofs was undertaken to confirm the parentage of my fourth great grandmother, Elizabeth Vanderhoof (1799-1878), wife of Stephen H Cook (1797-1853). 

On December 24, 1795, in the Dutch Reformed Church in Pompton, Peter Vanderhoof married Judie Smith. (Judie is a rare name for this time period. Maybe it derives from the biblical name Judith.)

Peter Vanderhoof and Judie Smith married December 24, 1795.
Marriages at the Dutch Reformed Church in Pompton, New Jersey.

In this same Pompton church in 1797 Peter Vanderhoff and Jude Smith baptized Elisabeth, born February 9.

Elisabeth, born February 9 [1797],
child of Peter Vanderhoff and Jude Smith.
Baptisms at the Dutch Reformed Church in Pompton, New Jersey.

In her book Vanderhoof (1991), Louisa Caroline Freeman Hickerson (1921-2018) mentioned Peter and Judy and their two daughters, Elizabeth and Ann. Ann was born about 1815 (died 1894) and married Jacob Decker (1810-1882). There is no further information provided about Elizabeth.

Excerpt from Hickerson's book about Vanderhoofs

When listing the probable children of Jacob Vanderhoof and Ann Hopler, Hickerson listed Elizabeth with a birthdate of August 26, 1799. Hickerson did not even speculate if Elizabeth, wife of Stephen Cook, could have been a daughter of Peter Vanderhoof and Judith Smith instead of a daughter of Jacob and Ann.

Hickerson's writing about Elizabeth, wife of Stephen Cook,
and their children

Further Research:

Where were the children of Jacob and Ann baptized? These records could provide precise birthdates and the names of their parents.

What became of Elizabeth, the daughter born in 1797 to Peter Vanderhoof and Judith Smith?

Amanuensis Monday: Seventh Avenue Chapel, New York City

66 West 46^th St N.Y.

Oct 6, 1882

Ulyses S Stitt Clerk

My Dear Sir

On Friday Evening Sept 29^th there were received into the membership of the Church through the Seventh Avenue Chapel the following persons who made a satisfactory profession of their Faith.

Christian Hager and Kunigunda Gebhardt his wife.

Edwin Hide Moore. The last named was baptized by me prior to the Communion.

Yours Very Truly

Joseph R Duryee

Minister in Charge

Seventh Avenue Chapel

 

Elder Bolby were present

 

Report from

7^th Av Chapel 29 Sept ‘82

Read Nov 3 1882

 

George S Stitt Esqr

113 Fulton Street

N.Y. City

Tracking Campbell through Catholic Church Records

Margaret Campbell and Patrick Joyce (1834-1905) were my great great great grandparents.

Patrick's death certificate lists his father as Richard Joyce. I have no further information on his origins.

I have no information on Margaret Campbell's place of birth in Ireland or her parents.

Margaret died in May or June of 1870 a few days after being struck by a train in Katonah, Westchester County, New York.

The first probable appearance of Margaret and Patrick is the 1860 census in Patterson, Putnam County, New York. Patrick is listed as age 25, born in Ireland, with a personal estate of $50. Margaret's age is 20, also born in Ireland. No children are enumerated with them.

In 1865, the family can be more definitely identified because of the children, Mary, age 4, and Adeline, age 2. Adeline came to be called Delia. She was my great great grandmother.

Note that in the 1860 census, 5 years earlier, Patrick and Margaret were 15 years younger.

Working with the expanded Catholic marriage index at Find My Past, a record of Patrick and Margaret's marriage may have been found in 1860 at St Joseph Parish in Somers and Croton Falls, Westchester County, New York. Margaret's name is transcribed as Cammell, not Campbell.

I need to see the actual record, if possible, to verify the names and capture any additional information that may not have been included in this index.

I found two baptisms for children of Patrick Joyce and Margaret Campbell:

-Bridget in 1863 at St Mary in Wappingers Falls, Dutchess County

-James in 1869 at Immaculate Conception in Amenia, Dutchess County

In the entry for James, Margaret's name is spelled Cammell. This is what caused me to return to the marriage in 1860.

Was Bridget actually Adelia, my great great grandmother? The 1865 census lists two children, none named Bridget.

Immaculate Conception in Amenia was the church of another branch, Sheehy and Frawley.

The next step is tracking down these records.

Marriage Record Connecting a Person to a Place

Bridget Sheehy (1857-1916) was my great great grandmother.

With John D Preston (1857-1928) she had at least ten children born in New York and New Jersey.

Bridget's death certificate listed her parents, Edmond or Edward Sheehy and Bridget Frawley. A couple by this name lived in Amenia, Dutchess County, New York after leaving Ireland. Nothing definitively linked Bridget to Amenia.

Until now.

Find My Past expanded its collection of Catholic marriages and baptisms for New York.

Bridget Sheehy and John Preston have an entry for their marriage in 1877 in Amenia at Immaculate Conception. This is the same church used by Ellen Sheehy (1866-1938) and Thomas Culligan (1863-1937), the original clue for Bridget's family of origin.

In the transcripts of baptisms are four children of Bridget Sheehy and John Preston at Immaculate Conception:

-Michael, born 1878
-John, born 1879
-Mary, born 1881
-Catherine, born 1883

Amanuensis Monday: Watson at Saint John's Episcopal Church in Jersey City

“Everdue”

Marble Dale Com.

June – 8 – 1932

Not Entered in Books

My dear Mr. Carnie:

I am sending you the correct data in connection with the deaths of my parents- this to be entered in the Parish book- for the benefit of any one in the future, wishing for such information.

Edward Malcom Watson

Born in New Milford, Connecticut

June 13, 1846

Died at his home, Marble Dale Connecticut,

September 12, 1908.

There is a window in St John’s in memory of my father. (The Parable of the Sower)

I did so enjoy being with you for a few weeks, and shall do so again in the near future.

With warm personal regards for you and yours,

Sincerely yours,

Mary S Watson

P.S.

As you know the Sanctuary Lamp is in memory of my mother.

Also please note change in my mailing address.

(Washington Depot Connecticut, R. F. D.)

My mother was-

Susanna Suttle, born in Paterson, New Jersey on July 22, 1846.

Died at her home in Marble Dale Connecticut,

July 7, 1930

My parents were married in St. Pauls Parish, Paterson, N.J. [New Jersey]

on September 18, 1867

by the Rev. Joseph M. Waite, Rector of the Church.

My mother was baptized, confirmed, and married from the same church.

If you will make correct entries I shall appreciate it so much.

I came across this note in the church book for Saint John's Episcopal Church in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey while researching a branch of my Heiser family. The author, Mary Smith Watson (1871-1948), so much wanted this bit of her family history preserved. For Mary, here is her information for anyone's benefit, as she wished.


Saint John's Church is not operational. The stained glass windows are gone. In spite of efforts to covert the structure into condominiums, the building remains vacant and deteriorating. Below is the image from Google maps in 2017.

The Baptism of Bridget Sheehy in 1857 in Limerick, Ireland

Someone from Ireland (possibly a cousin) wrote to me about my Sheehy and Frawley ancestors of County Limerick. He had seen my blog post about trying to connect my second great grandmother, Bridget Sheehey (1857-1916), to a Sheehy family living in Dutchess County, New York, USA.

He had located the baptism record of Bridget, daughter of Edmund Sheehy and Bridget Frawley, on the microfilm for Lurriga (also called Patrickswell), in Limerick. The date was January 4, 1857. According to the death certificate of my Bridget, her parents were Edmund (or Edward?) Sheehey and Bridget Frawley of Ireland.

Bridget, daughter of Edmund Sheehy and Bridget Frawley, baptized January 4, 1857.
Sponsors were Timothy Sheehy and Bridget Flannery (more possible relatives).

You can view these church records for free through the National Library of Ireland. The site is also an excellent resource for detailed maps of divisions within the counties.

Can I finally fit Bridget into this family?
Created in Family Tree Maker 2017

Bridget Sheehy does not show up in Ancestry.com's index for this microfilm. However, Margaret and Ellen, possible sisters of Bridget, do show up in the index. But Ancestry.com calls this place "Clarina," not Lurriga or Patrickswell.

So I continued forward on the roll (online) from Bridget in the year 1857 to the year 1864 and found the entry for Margaret. Same place, Lurriga, same name, Sheehy. Another clue that there is a connection.

Margaret Sheehy baptized November 13, 1864 in Lurriga, Limerick, Ireland.
Sponsors were John Galvey (?) and Margaret Cosgrove.

Clarina is not listed as an alternate name for Lurriga. It could be. (Researching old New Jersey place names is hard enough.) But I was looking for Bridget in Clarina and not finding either when Bridget was indeed baptized in the same location as her supposed sisters near the birth date I have for her.


Neighboring parishes may also have records on the family, if the records still exist (another roadblock in Irish research).

Note: "Sheehy" and "Sheehey" are used interchangeably here.

Another Piece of the Puzzle in Chicago: A Lutter Marriage

The marriage record arrived for Charles Lutter, the possible brother of my great great grandfather, Herman Lutter.  This record is from the Cook County Clerk in Illinois. Charles was 25 years old when he married Theresa Doanow in 1887 in Chicago.

Like the marriage record of the other possible brother, Alexander Lutter, in 1890, marriage records from this time period do not contain the names of the parents.

Alexander Lutter died in 1897 in Chicago; his death record does not list his parents.

Charles Lutter died probably in Brooklyn, New York between 1915 to 1917; I cannot find the record.

So I do not know the parents of Alexander or Charles to tie them into my Lutter line.

But with Charles' marriage record we have a possible lead.  Unlike Alexander, Charles was married by a pastor from a church: Carl G Zipf of the First Evangelical Reformed Church, 181 Hastings Street.  A church record might list additional information, such as names of parents, witnesses, and towns of origin.  Maybe even the children were baptized there.

Discovering this church's transformation was a group effort (thank you everyone!).

In 1887, the church was at 181 Hastings according to the city directory.  Today, there is no such church or street.

The Newberry, a Chicago library, has an online directory of church records.  A possible listing for this church:

On the "Our History" page of The First United Church of Christ, the church states it was chartered in 1865 as the First German Reformed Church and was on Hastings Street.  This could be what I'm looking for.  No email address, so I will write to them and ask if they have records and would be willing to search for me.

Chasing Irish Hometowns

Spoiler alert:  Irish hometowns not discovered (yet).

I am trying to discover where in Ireland Patrick Joyce (1830-1905) and Margaret Campbell (1835-1870) were from.  They were my maternal grandmother's great grandparents.  Their first appearance in the United States was in the 1860 Federal Census in Patterson, Putnam County, New York.

Ancestry.com Family Tree of Jody's mother.
I recently figured out how to change the background color to purple.

We start with Patrick and Margaret themselves.  I do not know if they married in New York or Ireland.  I have found no church records for the Patterson, Putnam County area circa 1860 and no mention in a newspaper, which is not unusual.  Patrick's death certificate from 1905 in Pawling, Dutchess County, lists his birthplace as "Ireland" and names one parent, his father, Richard, of Ireland.  Margaret's death in 1870 was recorded on the federal census mortality schedule and in newspapers without mention of her town of origin or her parents.  Deaths were infrequently reported to the state at this time.

So next we turn to the records of their children.  My direct line is through Patrick and Margaret's daughter, Delia Joyce (1862-1929), who married Patrick ODonnell (1856-1931) in Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey in 1887.  I cannot find a record of this marriage filed with the states of New Jersey or New York.  Saint Mary's Church in Bayonne, New Jersey has a record of this marriage.  Delia's parents are listed without a place of birth.

Even if a marriage record surfaces for this couple in the New Jersey State Archives from 1887, the certificates in this time period asked for the country of birth of the parent, so the answer could be merely "Ireland."

You can view this digitized microfilm at a Family History Library.
John Joyce was a brother of Delia Joyce.
Rose Kenny was a sister of Patrick ODonnell.  She married James Kenny in 1883 in Bayonne.

Delia died in 1929 in Bayonne.  Her parents were listed as Patrick Joyce of Ireland and Cannot Learn of Ireland.  (Sixty years after Delia's mother's tragic death, her name had been forgotten.)

So next we turn to Delia's siblings, the other children of Patrick Joyce and Margaret Campbell.  There were three:
Mary, born about 1861, last seen in the 1870 census
John, born about 1867, married Mary Delaney
James, born about 1869, married Ellen [-]

After Margaret died in 1870, Patrick Joyce remarried to Bridget Cortney (1850-1910) and had several more children.

The problem with finding records for the siblings of Delia Joyce is that they are in New York.  For New Jersey records, I can go to the Archives in Trenton and retrieve the records myself and copy what I need.  For New York records, you need to place an order via postal mail and pay at least $22 (US Dollars) and then wait.

The more time that passed, the less likely Patrick Joyce's children and grandchildren would remember the ancestral Irish hometowns, if this information was even requested.

Obituaries for these siblings were not difficult to track down thanks to FultonHistory.com.  (This site is a free resource of digitized newspapers, mostly from New York.)  Still no Irish hometowns.

I ordered the marriage certificate for John Joyce (1867-1934) and Mary Delaney (1866-1941).  They were married in Pawling, Dutchess County, New York on October 28, 1888 by Reverend Daniel J McCormick of Saint John's Church.  Only the names of the parents were requested; not the birth place.

The bride's parents were Edward Delaney and Catherine McCue.

The witnesses were John Delaney and Mary Ann Walsh.  Delaney was likely for the bride.  I don't know who Mary Ann Walsh could be.  Maybe the lost older sister of John Joyce?  More research needed!  Always investigate the witnesses.


The records kept by Saint John's Church in Pawling may be a great help.  This family was also buried in the church cemetery.  If anyone has a way for me to look at these records, please reach out to me.  Thank you.

Irish Catholic Records: ODonnell and Gallagher in Donegal

If you have not heard, you can now access digital images of Catholic records on the website of the National Library of Ireland.

A lot of these images are not (currently) indexed.  Some parish pages have links to potential indexes.  You need to know where in Ireland you want to search.  The map is great.

For my maternal grandmother's Irish lines, I only know the origins of her paternal grandfather, Patrick Francis ODonnell:  County Donegal.

I clicked on Donegal and the parishes appeared.  I had to make a further selection.

I chose Ardara based on a poem written by a cousin.  In the poem, Father Charles Leo ODonnell (1884-1934) wrote that his father (Cornelius ODonnell, a brother of Patrick Francis) was from Ardara and his mother (Mary Gallagher) was from Killybegs.  I hoped that Margaret Gallagher, the mother of Cornelius and Patrick ODonnell, was from the same area.

Before you jump into a batch of records without an index, you should map out what it is you are looking for.

Over the years and through many research efforts, this is the little family cluster so far discovered.

Parents:  Peter ODonnell and Margaret Gallagher.  Born suppose about 1820.  (No direct records of them.)

Five Children born in Ireland from around 1840 through 1860:
*Cornelius "Neal" ODonnell, married Mary Gallagher; lived in Indiana.
*Kathryn ODonnell, married Charles Mason and Mr Kennedy; lived in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and California.
*Patrick Francis ODonnell, married Delia Joyce; lived in Bayonne, New Jersey.
*Rose ODonnell, married James Kenny; lived in Bayonne.
*Charles Mhici ODonnell; was living in Altnagapple, Ardara, County Donegal in 1923.

All of the children, except Charles, were probably in the United States by 1880.  I do not know if Peter and Margaret left Ireland.

The records for review for Ardara were:  Marriages 1867-1875 and Baptisms 1869-1880.  These were not years conducive to my little group, but I looked through all the images anyway.  Nothing jumped out at me.  There were lots of entries for ODonnells and Gallaghers, but little information beyond names of the parties and sponsors.

Neighboring Killybegs was my next choice.  These records were for Baptisms 1850-1881.  I was more excited for this collection because these years would contain the five children of Peter and Margaret.  Yet I found no children baptized with parents named Peter ODonnell and Margaret Gallagher.  Again, plenty of people with these surnames.

I found two baptism entries for the year 1855, listing Peter ODonnell as a sponsor.  Margaret ODonnell was also a sponsor for one; Margaret Byam for the other.  "Peter" is not a common name in this collection.

March 23, 1855:  James, son of Patrick Mc[?] and May [?Boyle?];
sponsors Peter ODonnell and Margaret ODonnell.

September 9, 1855:  Mary, son of Denis ODonnell and Mary Byam[?];

sponsors Peter ODonnell and Marg Byam.

From this information, we don't know if we have the correct Peter ODonnell and Margaret Gallagher.  These records may place the couple in the area.  Perhaps their marriage record and their children's baptismal records are in a neighboring parish, if those years are available.

Of note is that these records from Donegal did not contain any entries for some of the other Irish surnames in my lines:  Preston, Joyce, Sheehey, reflecting Ireland's areas of surname concentrations.