Murder of a Vanderhoof Cousin

While researching Vanderhoofs who relocated from New Jersey to Wisconsin, I encountered a sad case.

Sheri Lee Keller was murdered in 1980 when she was 17 years old. She was kidnapped while hitchhiking and then run over when she escaped. She died six weeks after this assault.

Newspaper article announcing the death of Sheri Keller, 1980 in Wisconsin

Thomas Glander was arrested for killing Sheri. He stood trial and was found not guilty in 1981.

Newspaper article announcing the not guilty verdict in the murder trial

In the 1850s some of the Morris County, New Jersey families relocated to Wisconsin. A few years earlier, in 1848, Wisconsin had become the 30th state.

Map of the United States of America early 1850s
Designated places: Morris County, New Jersey and
Sheboygan County, Wisconsin

At this time, I do not know why some Vanderhoofs made this trek. Modern-day roads offer this route at about one thousand miles. Traveling from New Jersey to Wisconsin in the 1850s must have been treacherous.

Twisted Lines

Sheri was a 5th cousin and a 6th cousin to my father. The common ancestors were Jacob Vanderhoof (1772-1847) and Ann Hopler (1772-1841), as well as Ann's parents, Conrad Hopler (1730-1815) and Elizabeth DeMouth (1735-1812).

Sheri's great great grandparents were second cousins to each other. Conrad and Elizabeth had two daughters, Ann and Susan (1783-1863). Ann's grandson Peter (1827-1910) married Susan's granddaughter Susannah Shauger (1836-1913).

These relationships are confusing to spell out. Below is a diagram that should demonstrate the marriages and children.

Family tree
Ancestors of Sheri and writer's father: Hopler, DeMouth, Vanderhoof

Marriage after Divorce

The record for my great grandfather's second marriage arrived in the mail a few weeks after ordering from the New York City Municipal Archives.  Howard Lutter married Fiorita Lorenz on October 10, 1928 in New York City.

Fiorita's address, 164 South Eleventh Street in Newark, New Jersey, was the home of Clara Uhl, Howard's mother.

Howard divorced Ethel Laurel Winterton in 1927.  ["E Laural" in the 1927 city directory above.]  Their divorce record included testimony from Fiorita, herself married.  Fiorita should have an interesting divorce record for her marriage with James Howard Winnie.

This 1928 marriage record provided the names of Fiorita's parents, Christian Lorenz and Louisa Schneider.  Fiorita died in California in 1969.  The informant, Fiorita's daughter Rita Curtis, was unable to recall the names of Fiorita's parents.

Fiorita was living in Newark, New Jersey in the 1910 census with "cousin" Adolf Eberhardt and his wife, Emilie, and their children.  Emilie, not Adolf, was probably Fiorita's cousin, as her surname was Lorenz.  Emilie and Adolf's daughter, Annie, married Conrad Ley.  Ann was the "distant relative" that Fiorita arranged to watch Howard Lutter's children.

Howard Lutter and "Rita" traveled to Trinidad in 1931.  Fiorita listed her naturalization "through marriage, Selma, Alabama, 1910."  I have not been able to find a record of the marriage, presumably to James Howard Winnie.

The next step was ordering the application for the 1928 marriage in New York City.  The indexes 1908-1929 were recently released via Reclaim the Records and can be viewed at Archive.org.  When it arrives, I will post and review.  The application is a separate document from the marriage certificate pictured above and may provide additional information.

Free Access to Travel Records at Ancestry through September 5th!!!

Ancestry.com is offering free access to its "Immigration and Travel Collection" through September 5th.  I recommend searching for people from every branch in your tree, regardless of when you think they immigrated to the United States.  Your ancestors may have taken a cruise to Bermuda or visited relatives (surprise!) in Poland and needed a passport.  Applications for passports may include a photograph, such as the one below.

Who wouldn't love to find this picture of their ancestors?

The application may have included additional documents explaining the purpose of the trip.

This supplemental letter to this family's application explains why they moved to Belgium, as well as a parent's name.

Other applications may provide dates and locations of births, deaths, marriages, and residences, where you can then look for additional records.

These few sentences provide a date and place of birth, immigration date, residence,
and date and location of citizenship documents.