Working Girl

Anna S Andes (1870-1949) was married to James G Romig (1866-1905).  This couple appeared in the family tree of a DNA match whose recent ancestry I was reviewing, looking for the elusive common ancestors.

Anna is easy to locate once she was married.  Here is Anna and James in the 1900 census in Kansas with two of their children, James and Carrie.

The graves of Anna and James are posted on FindAGrave.  No parents are linked to Anna.  You can only link a child to a parent if you maintain the memorial.  The absence (or presence) of this connection is a guide, not proof.

Several online family trees have Anna as the daughter of Levi Andes (1844-1910) and Susanna Stark (1846-1914).  California's death index is online at Ancestry.com.  Anna died in California in 1949 and her parents are listed as Andes and Stark in this index.  This is tertiary proof of Anna's parentage, even less reliable, because this is an index and not the original record.  Death records can be very informative, but the Names of Parents section can be wildly inaccurate.

The potential parents, Levi Andes and Susanna Stark, are easy to locate in the census.  But they aren't enumerated with a daughter named Anna.  Between 1880-1885, the family moved from Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to Newton, Harvey County, Kansas.

If Anna S Andes was born on July 1, 1870, she missed enumeration in the 1870 census by one month.
Although recorded on July 11, 1870, the census had a cut-off date of June 1st.

1880 Federal Census
No Anna

1885 Kansas State Census
No Anna

When a child is "missing" in a family's records, one explanation is that the childhood name and the adult name were different.  "Anna S," wife and mother, may have been called "Susie" growing up.  To test this possibility, I looked for Susie Andes as an adult- and I found her.  Susan was born in 1871.  She married Robert Bascum Stayton (1858-1934) and died in 1922.  So Susie is not the missing Anna.

The next records to turn to locate a missing child or sibling would be wills and obituaries.  I don't usually deal with records in Kansas or Pennsylvania.  [I've started Pennsylvania research for my Dunlop line, but that will be a different post.]  When I looked to Google for information on this family, I found a lovely and informative blog post written by the Harvey County [Kansas] Historical Museum and Archives.

The article, complete with photographs, explored the lives of three Andes sisters who worked as maids in Newton, Kansas after relocating from Ephrata, Pennsylvania.  Their names:  Annie S, Susie, and Winnie.  Their father was Levi Andes, a tailor and a minister.  This was the link I needed!

The article included a picture of the original, color marriage license for Annie S Andes to J. G. Romig, dated March 30, 1893.  Annie's father, Levi, performed the ceremony at his residence in Newton.  Additional information included that James Romig died in February of 1905 from injuries suffered in a train accident, leaving Anna to care for their two children, James and Carrie.  Anna later moved to California to be with her daughters, Carrie and Alice.  Yes- Anna was pregnant when her husband was killed.  The third child was born seven months after her father's death.

After reading that Anna worked as a maid in Newton, I returned to the 1880 census in Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where Levi Andes and Susan resided with their children, minus Anna.  There was an entry for a ten-year old Annie Andes in nearby West Cocalico.  This Annie was a servant to the Wolf family.  I was hoping that was a mistake- how could a ten year old work as a servant?  There were many child servants in this community in the 1880 census, so such a situation must have been acceptable.

Because young Annie worked as a servant in other people's houses during her childhood, she is not found with her parents in the census.  That must not have been an easy life.

Mystery Photos

This posting is one of several concenring a stack of old photographs that I recently received.  Most are not labeled, so I am attempting to ascertain something about the subjects.

This photograph looks to be professional and from the 1920s, judging by the bob hairstyle and soft makeup.

This photograph is larger than the one above.  I am thinking that these pictures capture the same woman.  This photograph was mounted to a board with the photographer's credentials.

Jay Te Winburn of Montclair, New Jersey was the photographer of the second picture, and perhaps the first.  A little checking for him in the census finds him in Montclair, Essex County, New Jersey in 1920 and 1930, working as a photographer.

1920 census for 563 Bloomfield avenue, Montclair, Essex County, New Jersey

Once the photographer was located and dated, I googled him.  I uncovered several generations of Winburn photographers.  It seems that the Winburn who snapped the above photos specialized in prestigious weddings.

LIFE Magazine
15 July 1940
via Google Books

Finding information on the photographer's main subject, weddings and brides, can help us with the above photos.  The woman or women in the pictures had enough money to have pictures done by a prestigious photographer.  These could be engagement or wedding shots.  So I am looking for a woman in my family tree who was married around 1920 and had enough money to splurge on these photos.  She did not necessarily have to live in or near Montclair, as she could have travelled to Mr. Winburn's studio, or he could have travelled to her.  I have several candidates.  Having the groom in the pictures may have helped.

Pound Ridge Trip: following up

Following up on my excursion to Pound Ridge, New York, I ordered the book, “Images of America, Pound Ridge” by Richard Major and Vincent Manna.  Two items in the book are of particular help for clarifying my findings from my summer trip to Pound Ridge.

A map from 1906 was reprinted from “God’s Country” by Jay Harris, showing a plot owned by Mrs. Eyre.  Relaxing on my couch, instead of navigating the almost dirt roads straddling the New York and Connecticut border, I was able to study this map and the modern-day map of Pound Ridge and figure out where the property is.  I think I was in the correct place.  It appears that Conant Valley Road is either a newly made road or was just not codified on early maps.  That is what was throwing me off.  I was mistaking Conant Valley Road for the nearest cross street, when actually Eastwoods Road was the cross street, at least back around 1900.

  

The second useful item was an explanation of Southwestern Farms.  Mrs. Eyre sold the property to this entity in 1910.  According to Images of America, Southwestern Farms was owned by Artemus Ward for expansion of the reservoir, and “most of the land is underwater . . . .”  I don’t think that the area owned by Mrs. Eyre is underwater.  There are small ponds on the property, but it’s not underwater.  I find little online about this man and his Southwestern Farms, so I am glad to have found the explanation in this book.

Googling: A great find

Google is a great resource for genealogical finds.  Search often and be creative.  I have searched for Stephen C. Duryea (1814-1887) many times.  I usually turn up his contemporary, a man on Long Island, or modern day men of the same name.  New records become available daily.  Look at this genealogical gem that I found yesterday:

I do not *know* the parents of Stephen's father, Garret.  There are theories.  When Stephen states "claimant's father," I do not know if he is talking about Lydia Frazee, or her deceased husband, John Frazee (1790-1852).  Since neither has previously turned up while researching the Duryea family tree, I have to search both Lydia and John until I find the link.  John Frazee was famous in his day.  He was a sculptor, artist, and architect.  Perhaps his best known work is his design of the Custom House in New York City.



picture from bc.edu

 The parents of John Frazee are listed in various places as Reuben Frazee and Jane of Rahway, New Jersey.  His wife was Lydia; her maiden name may have been Place.  I am not too worried about the particulars of these people for now, until I decide how, if at all, they are going to relate to Stephen C. Duryea.  John Frazee left behind papers, some of a genealogical nature, and his descendants gave them to the Smithsonian.  I hope to order the two reels of microfilm.

The marriage of Reuben Frazee and Jane may not have been too happy.  I love these little tidbits.  (The strange f is s.)



New Jersey Journal 4 September 1793 viewed at genealogybank.com