Showing posts with label ship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ship. Show all posts

Sunday, April 6, 2025

Connecting the Lutters of Newark, New Jersey

A DNA match caused me to revisit the Other Lutters of Newark, New Jersey. This is what I call the people using the surname Lutter or Luther who lived in Newark in the 1800s and early 1900s. They may or may not have been related to my direct immigrant ancestor, Herman Lutter (1860-1924).

Herman arrived in 1881 after most of the Other Lutters had already arrived, bought homes, and created more Lutters. Herman did not associate with them, at least not on paper. 

Shared DNA between Jody's aunt and the descendant of Ernst.
AncestryDNA
One segment. As of this writing, Ancestry offers no chromosome browser.


At AncestryDNA, my paternal aunt showed a 24 centimorgen match to a great grandson of Ernst Lutter (1841-1916).

The question: Is Ernst Lutter related to my Lutter line?

We are looking at autosomal DNA. We know that there is a connection somewhere between one of my aunt's ancestral lines and one of this DNA cousin's lines. We cannot tell at Ancestry if Lutter DNA is the source of this shared segment.

We must turn to paper documentation.

Ernst Lutter left Prussia and arrived in New York in 1867 and settled in Newark, New Jersey. He travelled with his wife, Charlotte Fischer, their baby, Carl, Ernst's mother, Wilhelmine, and Charlotte's sister, Louise. Note that the relationships are not detailed on this record. I am filling them in based on review of other records.

1867 ship passenger record:
Ernst Luther, Charlotte, Wilhelmine, Carl, and Louise Fischer


I have no ship record for Herman. Having this robust record for Ernst is wonderful.

In the 1870 federal census in Newark, Ernst and Charlotte are listed with two more children, Bertha and Florence.
1870 Newark, New Jersey
Household of Ernst Lutter

Where was Wilhelmine, Ernst's mother, in 1870?

She was residing with Charles Luther in Newark. Next to them was the household of Robert Luther.

1870 Newark, New Jersey
Households of Charles Luther and Robert Luther

Note that in these entries for 1870, Ernst's place of birth was Turingen, while Charles and Robert were born in Schwarzburg Rudolstadt. This is why I did not link the three together in the early stages of research.

Charles and Louise married in New York City in 1870. This was after the 1870 census was taken and after the birth of their first child.

This marriage record is full of details. The full names of bride and groom were written. Charles August John Lutter married Louise Wilhelmine Johanne Fischer. He was born in Scheibe, Schwarzburg Rudolstadt, Germany. His parents were Florence Lutter and Wilhelmine Lutz.

Scheibe is where my Herman Lutter was born- but in Türingen, not Schwarzburg Rudolstadt. I think what may have happened was that the Lutters who left Scheibe in the 1860s knew the area as Schwarzburg Rudolstadt. By 1880, when Herman was preparing to leave, Türingen took over control of a broader area, including Scheibe.

Map circa 1870 showing the German areas from which Lutters and Fischers hail.
(The map is written in Italian.)

Charlotte and Louise Fischer were from nearby Meiningen.

Wilhelmina Luther died October 17, 1872 in Newark. The names of her parents and place of burial are not provided on her entry in the death ledger book.

Wilhelmina Luther died October 17, 1872 in Newark.
Deaths New Jersey. Book AU.

After finding this DNA match, I realized that I did not have the death certificate of Ernst Lutter from 1916. This document could provide the names of parents. I had skipped the year 1916 entirely as I collected Lutter death certificates. (I mention this because one other Lutter died in 1916 and requires her own future article.)

Death certificate of Ernst Lutter, died August 14, 1916 in Newark.
His parents are written on this record.


Ernst's parents were Floyd Lutter and Wilhelmine Lutz- according to the death certificate.

Robert Lutter died in 1886. His death certificate did not give names of his parents.

Charles Lutter died in 1920. His parents were listed as Florian Lutter and Amelia.

We have another sibling who links to this group as evidenced by her own documents. Johanetta died in 1904. Her parents were listed as Florenz and Wilhelmina Ludder. On her second marriage record in 1898 to Ludwig Lichtenfels (1826-1904), her parents were Florenz Lutter and Wilhelmine Lutz.

Plus, my aunt shares DNA with a descendant of Johanetta.

Ernst and Charles were buried in Fairmount Cemetery in Newark. Robert and Johanetta were buried in Woodland Cemetery in Newark.


Family Tree
Children of Florenz Lutter and Wilhelmine Lutz
born 1830s and 1840s in Scheibe, Schwarzburg Rudolstadt.
(Created at Canva.com)

There is another Lutter in Newark during this time period: Emilie Lutter, born about 1839. In 1866 in Newark she married Franz Jaeger. Is she another child of Florenz Lutter and Wilhelmine Lutz? She died in 1892 and was buried in Woodland Cemetery. No parents were listed on her death certificate.

My uncle shares DNA with a descendant of Emilie

In 1873 Franz Jäger was a godparent at the baptism of Emma Franziska Anna Lutter at First German Presbyterian Church in Newark. Emma was a daughter of Ernst Lutter and Charlotte Fischer. She died in 1884 and was buried in Woodland Cemetery.

Baptism of Emma Lutter, 1873 in Newark.
Frank Jäger was a godparent.
Collection at Ancestry

So how do these Lutters connect to mine? Not sure. My great great grandfather, Herman Lutter, had an uncle named Johann Georg Florentin Lutter, born September 25, 1799. Maybe he was "Florenz," husband of Wilhelmine Lutz and father of Johanetta, Ernst, Robert, and Charles; and perhaps Emilie.

Current map showing location of Scheibe (now Neuhaus am Rennweg) in Germany
Current map showing location of Scheibe (now Neuhaus am Rennweg) in Germany

In an upcoming article I will discuss the other Lutter death from 1916.


Monday, February 10, 2025

Missing the Boat

Ship records of passengers can be informative, possibly revealing places of origin, occupations, and relations in the originating country as well as the destination country.

You can view indexes on the websites of the National Archives, Family Search (current catalog of passenger lists here), and Ancestry.

The most recent immigrant ancestor in my family tree is Herman Lutter (1860-1924). I have not (yet) found him on any passenger list. From his entries on the federal census of 1900 and 1920 in Newark, New Jersey, he gave his year of immigration as 1881. In 1910, it looks like his year of birth, 1860, was written instead of his year of immigration. His brother, Otto Luther (1845-1909), arrived in 1884.

On November 1, 1892 Herman Lutter swore his Declaration of Intent in Newark. Frank Geisler (1848-1937) swore to Herman's "good moral character." At that point in time, Herman was living apart from his wife, Clara Uhl (1865-1955), and their son, Howard Lutter (1889-1959).

Herman Lutter. Declaration of Intent.
Essex County, New Jersey. Naturalizations November 1, 1892.
Film 1317423.


1900 United States Federal Census. Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.
Herman Leuter, boarder of Frank Geisler. Born May 1860 in Germany. Immigrated in 1881. Naturalized.


1910 United States Federal Census. Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.
Herman Lutter, lodger of Frank Geisler. Age 50. Immigrated in 1860. Naturalized.
The year of immigration is probably wrong; he was born in 1860.
Joseph Hoffman Jr, age 9, was probably Joseph Edwin Hoffmire (1909-2007), a grandson of Frank Geisler.

1920 United States Federal Census. Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.
Herman Lutter. Immigrated 1881; naturalized in 1886.


1900 United States Federal Census. Harrison, Hudson County, New Jersey.
Otto Lutter, born January 1845 in Germany. Immigrated in 1884. Alien.


In 1881, the nearest port of entry to Newark, New Jersey was Castle Garden in Manhattan, New York. (Now a national monument called Castle Clinton.) Yet Herman and Otto do not seem to appear on any lists or indexes, including Germans to America.

Close proximity of Castle Garden in Manhattan to Newark, New Jersey

The port of entry may not be where the person settled. They could have arrived in Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, or New Orleans. Even Canada!

In 1875, a family of Lutters arrived in New York, among them Hermann Lutter, age 15. This matches the year of birth of my Herman- 1860. We can look at their records to see that this is not my Herman.

First I found the passenger list for Steamer SS Silesia, which arrived in the Port of New York on March 19, 1875 from Hamburg and Havre- ports in Germany and France. Hamburg is over 200 miles north of Herman's hometown of Scheibe, now called Neuhaus am Rennweg, in Thuringia, Germany.

Map of modern-day Europe showing the 200 mile distance
between the port of Hamburg, Germany and Scheibe (now Neuhaus am Rennweg),
hometown of my Lutters

On this list, "Herm" Lutter was 15 years old and the brother of Aug Lutter, age 30. Among the people with them was Ottilia, their sister, though this name was scribbled. Herman and Otto had a sister named Ottilia. She ended up staying in Germany.

Passenger list of SS Silesia. Arrived in New York March 19, 1875.
The Lutter family is crossed out; they took an earlier ship.

The strikethrough lines signal that these people did not make the trip. This made sense since my Herman arrived in 1881, not 1875, but this is not him.


Passenger list of SS Herder. Arrived in New York March 11, 1875.


More digging revealed the reason for the crossed out names. The family took an earlier ship, SS Herder. On March 11, 1875, Hermann Lutter, age 16, arrived in New York with his family. The names varied a little from the other entry.

Next I looked for the companion record of this arrival. The departures were recorded in Hamburg. The Luther family was on a separate paper from the ledger book. Their place of origin was among the recorded information; however, I cannot read it. The transcription in the index is Salohow, Preußen. No such place. If accurate, this is not my Herman Lutter because he was from Scheibe.

The originating record of the Lutters' sail to the United States


In a future article, I will explore other Lutters from Newark who appeared on a passenger list bound for New York in 1867.