Old Place Names: Westville, New York

In a previous post, Final Journey from Queens to Westville, I wrote about locating a place of death for Coe D Jackson.  He died in 1888 in Westville, New York, according to the New York State Death Index.  The current Westville is in Franklin County, New York, and I saw no reason why Coe would leave Queens County to die there as an old man.

Thanks to T. P. for sending me Coe's obituary, stating that Coe died in Lawrence.  A little more searching provides a small article copied over and over on the internet that Westville was a name for Inwood, Queens County, in the 1860s through the 1890s.  Lawrence was a neighboring area whose name remains as a village in the hamlet of Inwood.  The area became Nassau County after Queens was divided in 1898.

A search of older publications at Google Books provided more details.  Locating exact places when names and borders have changed over the centuries is tricky but crucial for more accurate research.

Final Journey from Queens to Westville?

Microfiche copied at New York State Archives in Albany

According to the New York State Death Index, Coe D Jackson died 18 July 1888.  [Middle name is Downing.]  This date is consistent with online transcriptions of his gravestone at the Jackson Family Cemetery in Wantagh, Nassau County (was Queens County in 1888), New York.  (Thank you Dyane for posting pictures of these stones!)

The problem is the location:  Westville.  There is a town called Westville in Franklin County, New York, near the Canadian border.  All of Coe's life events took place in Queens or Kings Counties, New York.  Coe's wife, Sarah Duryea, died two years earlier in Far Rockaway, Queens County, and Coe's estate was settled in Queens County.  What was he doing 350 miles away in Franklin County?

Queens County was not part of New York City in 1888, so deaths in Queens were reported to Albany.  My other thought is that Westville was a neighborhood or area in Queens whose name fell out of use.  Yet I cannot find any mention of such a place in Queens in the 1880s or 1890s.

If Coe died in Franklin County, this information can lead us to locate additional records and family that we never suspected.  We shall see where this trail takes us.

Choice of Wedding Venue

Microfiche copied at The New York State Archives in Albany

The entry for this marriage is interesting.  This is the New York State Marriage Index for 1938.  New York City maintained its own records at this period of time (and still today).  Yet the marriage of Joseph Leary to Regina Engman was recorded at the state level with New York City as the location.

Also note that this is an unfortunate indexing system for marriages, especially because you do not have quick access to the actual marriage certificates.  Only one party to the marriage is listed.  You can order the certificate for a fee and wait to see who the other person is.  Otherwise, you need to know the last name of the other person in order to verify that you have the correct people.  In this particular situation, I had the name Joseph Leary, son of Jacob Leary and Mary Sanderson.

1940 United States Federal Census
Ossining, Westchester County, New York
Ancestry.com

Jacob was 23 years old in 1940.  His wife, Regina, was 25, and they had a one year old child.  So we would look for a marriage from 1940 backwards.  December 4, 1938 fits well for this time frame.  The index entry for this marriage does not provide us with the name of Joseph's bride.  We only have Regina's first name from the 1940 census.  So how did I find Regina's corresponding entry?

I found Joseph Leary's exact day of birth in the New York State Birth Index:  February 2, 1917.  I plugged this date into my Family Tree Maker software.  Up pounced new, little, shaking leaves.  I found a family tree giving Regina's last name as Engman.  I located a Regina Engman in the index with the same date of marriage, location, and certificate number as Joseph Leary.  A match!

Then I sprinkled that family tree online with the exact date of marriage and the certificate number.

Step Third Cousins

Is there such a thing as a step third cousin?  Well, I found one.  Her great great grandmother was married to my great great grandfather.  We both descend from previous marriages.

My great great grandfather, Herman Lutter, remarried to a woman named Emma.  This was discovered when viewing the 1920 census.

1920 United States Federal Census
58 Hunter Street, Newark, Essex County, New Jersey
Ancestry.com

Herman was “single” in the 1910 census.  A search of New Jersey marriage records from 1910 through 1920 produced a marriage certificate in 1915 of Herman Lutter to Emma Neubauer, widow of Grieser.

Marriage record
Herman Lutter to Emma Neubauer
March 2, 1915 in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey
Via microfilm at New Jersey State Archives

This marriage was also an unhappy one for Herman.  He filed for divorce from Emma in 1923 and relocated to Spring Lake in Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Red Bank Register online
Monmouth County, New Jersey

 

Neubauer was not an unfamiliar name in my research of Herman Lutter.  Lutter v. Neubauer (100 N.J.L. 17; 125 A. 113) was a precedent-setting legal case in mental health decided June 17, 1924.  Herman Lutter sued Albert Neubauer for room and board and won by default.  Rose Seipel, administratrix of Albert’s estate, appealed and won.  Herman appealed and lost.  The Court held, “[A]lthough an insane person may be sued at law for an alleged debt, his incapacity requires that he be protected . . .”  I thought it was strange that someone owed Herman for room and board when Herman himself was always renting a room.

1917 City Directory for Newark, Essex County, New Jersey
Fold3.com
Note that Herman Lutter was rooming at 58 Hunter.
In the 1920 census, he was still renting at this address.

 

Herman died weeks after the court's decision on July 3, 1924, before his divorce to Emma was complete.  Herman’s death certificate listed Fairmount Cemetery in Newark as the burial place.  Research of this cemetery’s records failed to locate any records of Herman’s burial.  I searched at the New Jersey State Archives through the 1930s for a death certificate for Emma, but found none.

Then I remembered that the court’s opinion contained the date of death of the defendant, Albert Neubauer:  October 13, 1921 at the Newark City Almshouse.  With a date, the death certificate was easy to locate at the Archives.

Via microfilm at New Jersey State Archives

 

Albert was buried at Fairmount Cemetery, where Herman was supposed to be buried.  Returning to Fairmount, I located Albert’s record.  Burials are not organized in strict alphabetical order, but rather in chronological order based on the first few letters of the surname.  Having a date of death ensures a more accurate search.  Albert was buried October 15, 1921 in Section L, Lot 51. 

Fairmount Cemetery
Newark, Essex County, New Jersey
Burial log for surname Ne* 1916-1936

Looking up the plot card, we find that the owner was Schmidt.  Without knowing this surname, we needed the date of death of someone else in the plot to locate the record.  Emma Lutter was buried in this plot on December 18, 1946.  This is why I did not locate her death certificate- I had not looked in the 1940s- yet.  Louis Grieser was buried in this plot on February 1, 1906.  No gravestones are in this location.

Fairmount Cemetery
Plot card for Section L, Lot 51

 

Using these dates of death, I looked for these people online in hopes of ascertaining their relationships.  A great great granddaughter of Emma had posted the tree online with photographs!  Emma, Albert, and Rose were siblings.  Louis was Emma’s first husband.

Neubauer siblings
Emma married Herman Lutter.
Rose married Henry Seipel.
Herman Lutter sued Albert Neubauer and Rose appealed the case.

 

The Neubauer family does not have any pictures of Herman Lutter.  I  would not blame Emma if she tore them up.  I am glad that I clarified the relationships of these people and can associate faces with the names.