Two More Marriage Ceremonies

Another couple had two marriage ceremonies.

Louis Kossuth Goldberger (1887-1971) and Celia Schlesinger (1887-1962) were married in New Jersey on October 31, 1910. They married again in New York City on April 9, 1911.

Any guesses why this was done? 

Marriage record for Louis Goldberger and Celia Schlesinger
October 31, 1910
Woodbridge, Middlesex County, New Jersey

Marriage Record for Louis Goldberger and Celia Schlesinger
April 9, 1911
New York City

His parents were Herman Goldberger and Rosa Balogh. Hers were Moritz Schlesinger and Mary Spitzer.

Records using the surname Goldberger stop in the 1930s. They changed their name to Dormont.

1940 United States Federal Census for Brooklyn, New York
Louis Dormont with wife, Celia; and children:
Paul, Richard, and Miriam

Research Notes:

New York City records of certain years can be searched and downloaded for free on the website of the New York City Department of Records and Information Services.

New Jersey records 1878 forward are not online, but indexes exist. The years 1920-1929 only have initials of the groom, so if you do not have the name of the bride, you may not find your person of interest in the index. The certificates are filed in the State Archives by year in alphabetical order for the years 1904 forward, so you can search year by year if you only know the groom's name.

Unusual Name

I've never seen "United States" as a given name, but here it is on a birth record from 1909- for father and son.

Birth certificate for United States Cook, Jr.
Born May 29, 1909 in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey
Father: United States Cook.  Mother:  Bertha Wilkins.

I also found it unusual that the notice of a name change- over sixty years later- was on the microfilm with the birth certificate.

In case you thought this was a clerical error, it's not.  Here is United States Junior with his mother in the 1920 census.

What is in a Name?

Someone asked about the first name of my great grandmother, Laura Winterton (1891-1962).  She died before I was born; I was told that she went by the name "Laura."  As I found her records, I saw that she also used the name "Laurel" and "Ethel."  She is not named on her birth certificate.  I entered the varying names into a chart to notice any pattern.  I'm not sure that there is a pattern.

For some clarity, I turned to prior generations to see who Laura may have been named after.  The source of the name may be a paternal aunt, born around 1858, listed as "Laura E. Winterton" in the 1860 and 1870 census; and dead before the 1880 census.

Birth Corrections

People can "correct" a birth certificate years later.  They can change names, dates, and locations.  Always be on the watch for a correction to any record.  When viewing images, this correction may be filmed before or after the original record, or you may have to search a different collection.

Naturally, discrepancies result in changing any official record.  You need to consider the original information as filed and weigh it against the "correct" information and when the amendments were requested.  Most of the corrections I see where not made around the time of the event.  You need to look not just at the information provided and changed, but when the changes were sought and figure out the motive.

I usually find corrections to names.  This includes giving "Baby" a first and middle name.  (Yes, you could have a birth certificate issued for "Baby.")

Birth certificate for Gertrude HERZIG, born November 10, 1904 in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.
Copied at the New Jersey State Archives by J Lutter.

Birth certificate correction for Gertrude HERZIG.  "Gertrude" was changed to "Louise Madeline."
Note the time of correction- almost 39 years after the event.

I see two factors in correcting birth certificates in the 1930s and 1940s.  First, people could apply for a Social Security Number under the 1935 Act and may have needed a birth certificate to reflect the name under which they were employed.  Second, during World War II,  people needed to "prove" their American citizenship.

Birth certificate for Marie Kenny, born "December 9, 1917" at "86 W 7th St," Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey.

Birth certificate for Peter Kenny, born "March 6, 1919" in Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey.

The birth certificates for these siblings appear in order.  But wait- the dates were changed!  Changing the date is something I don't usually see and really makes you question the validity of any of these records.  Nevertheless, on the official form, under "Items to be corrected," "Date of birth" is one of the suggestions.

Correction to birth, 25 years later, during World War II.
The date of birth was changed by a month.
The place of birth was also changed from house number 36 to 86; but it is 86 in the original.

On the same date as his sister sought to amend her date of birth by a month,
Peter Kenny also amended his- by only three days.

When you encounter official corrections to a record, you will need to cite both the original and amended information and reference the respective sources.

These documents demonstrate that even a birth certificate is not absolute proof of the event.

Fold3

I subscribed to another fee-based site, Fold3.  I paid $39.95 for one year as a special deal for subscribers to Ancestry.com..  The site has lots of American military records and I have several Colonial lines, so I decided to give it a try.  I started with a safe search:  locate a pension file for Elizabeth Duryea, wife of Joseph Henley, widowed during the Civil War.  I found the record quickly- 33 pages of names, dates, and places!!!

By age 28, Elizabeth Henley was widowed by the Civil War and had two minor children.  Two other children died early.
Her mother and sister wrote certifications for her application, though their relations are not identified.
I hope that their support made her life easier.  She did not remarry.

The tidbit of information that I was not expecting was that Joseph B. Henley was not this man's original name.  He was Joseph H. Jones when the couple married in New York City in 1854.  This explains why I had not uncovered a marriage record and could not locate Joseph Henley in the 1850 census.  The record was silent as to the reason for the name change.

Excerpt from one of the certifications.

Elizabeth's application for a widow's pension was approved.  She received $8 per month plus $2 per minor child.  She collected for 38 years.