Google Maps for Genealogy

Google Maps provides you with the ability to create your own maps.  I am finding this function useful for genealogy.

Google Maps
Morris County, New Jersey

In the map above, I marked burial places for various families in Morris County, New Jersey.  This helps me visualize their geographical proximity.  I can add locations of residences and places of worship to establish a clearer picture of the close interactions among these people.  Some of the sites are not public cemeteries and finding them is difficult.  I shared this map with other researchers to enable them to find the private burial grounds.

The map could also be used to help you plan a trip to a distant location.  You could include cemeteries, churches, homesteads, as well as local repositories.

Albany Research Trip: Sorting through the Finds

The research trip to Albany, New York lasted three days.  I found a lot of useful information.  I was unable to post because Internet service was spotty.  I refueled the car in Albany and set out for home, where electric service was coming back after Hurricane Sandy.  I was wise to stop in Albany for gasoline.  The entire way back home was dotted with lines at gas stations, growing larger and with more police cars as I approached Northeastern New Jersey.  My home suffered no real damage and the electric and heat had returned Saturday morning after going out on Monday.  The food stores were slowly receiving new shipments of perishables.  Schools were closed because they either had no electricity or were too damaged.  More people were out riding bikes or walking to their destinations.  Traffic lights were out at many intersections and large trees blocked roadways.  At this moment, many blocks in town are still without power, heat, and water- while the first snowfall, Winter Storm Athena, is blanketing last week's destruction.

One of my goals in Albany was to uncover more information about Mary or Margaret Campbell, wife of Patrick Joyce.  I have not found either of them in the 1860 census and the earliest child I can find was born in 1861.  In the 1870 census in Pawling, Dutchess County, New York, Patrick Joyce is head of a household of four children under the age of ten; no wife.  Mary Joyce is listed on the Mortality Schedule, having died in May of 1870, "Railroad run over by cars."  She is a tail in my family tree- I do not know her parents.  Growing up, I heard the story often about how the train caught her skirts and dragged her to her death- after she threw a baby from her arms to safety.

At Albany, the index of deaths for New York State begins in 1881, or eleven years after Mary's death.  No luck there. A consultation with a researcher from the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society raised an important point:  A death by train could have occurred anywhere there was a railroad- not just in Pawling.

I expanded my search of digitized newspapers at GenealogyBank (you can access from home for a subscription or use Ancestry.com) and found a small article about the incident.

According to The New York Herald-Tribune [actually called the New York Herald in 1870], Margaret Joyce died in June of 1870, not May.  The researcher was right:  She was not killed in Pawling, but about 25 miles south, in Katonah, Westchester County, New York.  She was not killed instantly, probably lingering a few days after the train severed her leg.  I can only hope she was unconscious for those last days.

It is interesting (and fortunate) that she appeared on the Mortality Schedule because only deaths before May 31st of that year should be listed.  The newspaper article places her death in June.  So we have two dates of death.

My plan of action:
Contact St. John's Cemetery in Pawling where her husband was buried in 1905.
Contact the local historical society and town clerk for records they may hold for this family.
Search through more online newspapers using keywords of "Katonah" and "Harlem Railroad."

Road Trip: Albany, the Arrival

This trip to Albany could not have come at a better time.

Hurricane Sandy ravaged my hometown.  Combined with the full moon, rivers flooded what the hurricane didn't destroy with winds.  My home is without power, heat, hot water, phone, and internet.  Huge trees are down.  Stores and businesses are closed.  A local nursing home had to evacuate all of its patients because the roof blew off.  Road detours are everywhere.  Traffic lights do not work.  Gas stations with electricity have run out of gas; those without electricity can't access the gas; and still other have had the fuel tanks compromised with flood waters.  Gas-run generators will become inoperable.  Schools are closed.

The town is very still.  Nightfall brings complete darkness and silence.

Line for gallon of gasoline.
New Jersey
31 October 2012

I am on genealogical reprieve, staying at the Hotel Albany.  Discoveries begin tomorrow at the New York State Archives with the assistance of researchers from the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.  I am enjoying the internet service, working lamps, ice, and hot water.

My thoughts are with everyone miles south of me at home.

View of Albany City Hall
from my room at Hotel Albany

Road Trip: Albany

I received this fortune inside a cookie just when the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society announced its trip to the New York State Archives in Albany.  I leave tomorrow!

Visiting Home

As you research your ancestors, you will uncover more and more locations where they lived.  You will probably want to visit these locations.  Most of my ancestral lines lived fairly close to where I live now, so I have visited many homesteads.  The original structures are usually long gone, though.  Amazingly, a house where my family lived in Manhattan in the 1850s is still standing.

Stephen C. Duryea lived at 326 Spring Street in New York city in the early 1850s with his first wife, Mary, not to be confused with his second wife, also Mary.  Here is his listing in the city directory in 1851:

Doggett's New York City city directory, 1851

Back in Stephen's time, just as today, the building houses a bar, now called the Ear Inn.  The structure was built around 1817 and is now called the James Brown House and is on the National Register of Historic Buildings.  [Information not digitized at nps.gov as of this writing.]

This land used to be on the southern shore of the island and was part of a farm.  Isn't that hard to picture?  If you follow the links for the official sites of this building and the bar, you can view pictures of the inside of the living quarters as well as items found over the years.  I wonder if Stephen Duryea sat in front of the same fireplace 160 years ago, or if he used any of the bottles found in the attic.

If you wish to visit an old homestead, first try google maps to see if you can satisfy your curiosity from your couch.  If you decide to physically travel, keep in mind that house numbers and street names change over the years.

Road Trip: Warwick, New York

For years, I had searched for the date and location of death of Rene Marion Duryea, wife of Eugene Cook.  They were living in Caldwell, Essex County, New Jersey in the 1930s.

1933 The Price & Lee Co. Directory
Montclair, Bloomfield, Caldwell, Essex Fells, Glen Ridge, Verona, Cedar Grove

Eugene died in Florida in 1979, survived by a second wife.  So where was the record of Rene Marion’s death?

One hindrance was the name.  She was known as Marion, but the family was surprised to discover that she was Rene for the first few decades of her life.  Rene was a popular female name on her father’s side; Marion was from her mother’s side.

The family story was that Marion died, was cremated, but not buried until her father died a few years later; they were buried together at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, Westchester County, New York.  Marion’s father was buried in March of 1944.  The problem was that the cemetery had a record of his burial, but not hers.  “The cemetery didn’t know we slid her ashes into his arms,” was the reason given for not finding a record.

Burial record from Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.  The year is 1944.
When the century is omitted, the records can become confusing.

Until recently, New Jersey death records were not searchable for my target time frame of the early 1940s.  I had to request a search by mail, which did not uncover a death certificate.  I did not know if this was because of a mix up with “Rene” versus “Marion,” or if Cook was spelled with a final E.  The slightest variation from your request could result in no record found.

An index for Florida death records is available online at Ancestry.com for the years 1877-1998.  There is no shortage of Cook findings, but nothing seemed like a good match for Rene Marion.

This year, New Jersey death records for the years 1941-1946 became searchable at The Archives in Trenton.  I looked under Duryea, Cook, Cooke, Marion, Rene, but found nothing.  It’s best to search yourself because you are aware of name variants and the little details that distinguish your records from others.

Then an observation by a relative gave me the lead I needed.  We were going through a box of family pictures.  The pictures are mostly of houses, buildings, cars, animals; few people.  A large picture of a house on a lake caught my eye.  The back of the picture was blank.

“Oh, that’s the house in Warwick,” was the answer to my query, which prompted more queries.

I hopped online to see what I could find out.  Warwick is in Orange County, New York.  It’s not where I would have thought to look for Rene Marion, but it’s close enough to Caldwell that I should try it.  The Albert Wisner Library website had an online index of obituaries from local papers that covered my target time frame.  There was a good match for Rene Marion’s death.

Online Index to Obituaries

So to Warwick I went.

The Albert Wisner Library had two local newspapers and both carried an obituary for Rene Marion Cook.  I had finally located a date and place of death.

Warwick Advertiser
3 June 1943

Next I visited the town clerk for a copy of the death certificate.  If you have to travel a great distance or you have limited time, you may want to call ahead to make sure that the town possesses death certificates and if someone will be available to retrieve the information.

No specific address was listed, so I can’t tell you if the house in the picture was Rene Marion’s house.

Daughters of the American Revolution: Solomon Brewer

Last week I had the opportunity to visit the Daughters of the American Revolution Library in Washington, D.C.  The building is beautiful and the staff is helpful and polite.  DAR is offering more and more information online; some for free, some for a price.

I focused on one of my Revolutionary War ancestors, Solomon Brewer (1746-1824).  Not many of his descendants seem to be researching him.  I lucked out with several generations of this line because they are all buried very close together at Sleepy Hollow, Westchester County, New York.  Solomon and his second wife, Rene Benton, are buried with several children in The Old Dutch Church and Burying Ground.  More children and their children and grandchildren are buried in the adjoining Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

Gravestone of Solomon Brewer at Sleepy Hollow, New York.  The stone is becoming worn.

DAR offers its Genealogical Research System (GRS) online.

I plugged "Solomon Brewer" into the Descendants Database Search and came up with eight applications associated with him.

 
The "purchase" icon indicates that the original application, and possibly supporting documentation, have been electronically scanned into the system and you may purchase them for $10.  At the DAR Library, I was able to view the applications and supporting documentation without purchasing.  By doing this, I clarified what I was viewing in the above list.  The librarian told me to start with the highest number; in this case, 474812.  The higher number indicates a more recent application.  The older applications did not have to supply as much supporting documentation and the actual documentation may have been returned or lost.  The first name in each row, Sally, Martha, or Erastus, indicates a child of Solomon Brewer.  In my reading, Solomon had perhaps over thirty children by two wives, and the above list does not indicate which wife bore which child.  Clicking on the most recent application for Erastus clarifies which of Solomon's wives was his mother.

This application postulates Erastus Brewer as the son of Solomon Brewer and his first wife, Martha Smith.

My line comes from Solomon's second wife, Rene Benton, so this application does not help establish that line.  Onto the next application: the daughter Martha.

This application postulates Martha as the daughter of Solomon Brewer and Rene Benton.

This application is more useful to my line, as it establishes that Solomon Brewer had at least one other wife, Rene Benton.  Now if I were interested in joining DAR, I would need to start proving descent from Solomon Brewer and Rene Benton.  I descend from their son James.  Nobody else has sought membership through James Brewer, so I would have to show that Solomon Brewer and Rene Benton had a son named James; then gather his wife, children, and so forth.

I hope this clarifies what information you can glean when you locate someone in the DAR database.

Roadtrip to Catskill: Tracing Cumming and Heiser

I visited the Catskill Village Cemetery yesterday in Catskill, Greene County, New York.

For years, I have been searching for the parentage of Nellie, wife of Abraham Brewer Duryea.  Nellie died in Glen Ridge, Essex County, New Jersey at Mountainside Hospital on 5 December 1965.  (The certificate was acquired in person from Glen Ridge- back when you could just walk in to town hall and do this.  You can’t do this now.)  Her mother was listed as “unknown.”  Her father was listed as “? Commings.”  Her birthdate was 26 January 1879 in “Catskills, N.Y.”  She was cremated but not buried at Rosedale Cemetery in Orange, Essex County, New Jersey.  The location of her ashes is unknown.  The social security number on her death certificate is not listed in the social security death index.  I wrote to the Social Security Administration for a copy of her application for a number and included a copy of the death certificate.  I received a letter explaining that no such record could be found.

I was not sure if Nellie was born in the Catskills, which covers a vast region, or if she was born in Catksill, a town in Greene County, New York; or if she was born in a completely different location.  I spoke with the town clerk in Catskill, New York, who advised me that birth certificates were sometimes issued in the 1870s and 1880s, but there was no birth certificate matching Nellie.

No matches for baby Nellie in the 1880 census have been found.

Next I obtained the marriage certificate for Nellie to Abraham Brewer Duryea.  They were married in Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey on 9 October 1898.  Nellie’s parents on the marriage certificate appear to be Annie Hyser or Hysen and William Henry Cumming.  This was great.  I had names.  Bride and groom were living in Jersey City.  I found several families named Cumming or Cummings, and a few Hysers.  But none seemed to connect with Nellie.  By the 1900 census, Nellie and Abraham were living in Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey, with two babies and no extended relatives.

Following this couple into 1910, they were living in Jersey City with their two children and Beulah Miller, sister-in-law, and Ray Sprague, boarder.  Bingo.  Now following Raymond Sprague, he was in the 1920 census in Orangetown, Rockland County, New York with his wife, Beulah, two children, and the elusive mother of Beulah and Nellie:  Anna B. Brower, age 59, widowed.

Beulah Miller provided more information than Nellie.  Beulah’s birth certificate gives a date of birth of 18 August 1889 at 21 Henry Street in Jersey City; her middle name was Barton; and her parents were James L. Miller and Annie B. Hyser.

Tracking back from Beulah’s birth, I found a marriage certificate for Anna Bell Cumming, with Cumming crossed out and “Hyson” written above, to James Livingstone Miller in Jersey City on 18 June 1886.  His parents were Christopher Miller and Agnes M. Barton.  (Barton was probably the source of Beulah Miller's middle name at birth.  On Beulah's marriage certificate, she uses a middle name of Katherine.)  Anna’s father was Luman and her mother was Catherine Eckler.

Going back to Catskill, in the 1870 census we find Louman Hyser, his wife Catharine E., and their children, Katie, Charles L, Robert D., Hannah, and Nellie M.  I wanted to trace the Hysers back further.  They look German, but keep listing New York as their birthplace.  I also needed to trace Nellie’s father, William Henry Cumming.  I had a timeframe for William’s death:  he died after conceiving Nellie in 1878 but before Anna remarried in 1886.

1870 census, Catskill, Greene County, New York
"Hannah" is Anna Bell

I kept posting inquiries on message boards and was contacted by a Hyser cousin.  He has the last name, but with a variant spelling.  He sent me a compiled genealogy on the Hysers, The Transactions of the Rockefeller Family Association, by Henry Oscar Rockefeller.  This book provides several generations of the Heiser family, starting in the 1780s, when John Heiser married Margaret Rockefeller.  They were the great grandparents of Anna B. Hyser.  According to this book, the elusive Anna B. Hyser married William H. Cummins on 22 November 1877 and then James L. Miller on 18 June 1886.  No mention of another marriage to a man by the last name of Brower.  This particular branch moved to Jersey City in the 1880s or 1890s, but was buried in Catskill.

Sylvia and Reinhard Hasenkopf have transcribed the stones in the Catskill Village Cemetery and posted this information, along with a map, online.  I found potential matches for the Hysers and William Cumming.  So to Catskill Village Cemetery I went.  I don’t know why, but for some very helpful reason, a lot of the women buried in this cemetery have their maiden names on the stones.  I found the family stone for Louman Hyser, his wife Catherine Eckler, and their five children.  The stone to the right is Peter J. Hyser, father of Louman.  (Nellie Hyser, died 1875, is perhaps the source of the name for Nellie Cumming, born 1878.)

 

Peter J. Hyser, 1796-1877

In a neighboring section, I found a stone for William H. Cumming, 1856-1882.  A death date of 1882 would fit the timeframe for the death of Nellie Cumming’s father.  This stone is next to stones for the Grant family.  The Cumming connection is Annie Cumming, wife of John A. Grant, 1793-1876.  I can find the Grant family in Catskill, as well as possible Cummings families with William.  Are they connected?  Do I have the correct William H. Cumming?  I don’t know.  I must keep researching.

William H. Cumming 1856-1882

Annie Cumming Grant, 1793-1876

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.

Brewer Fire Engine Company of Monsey, New York

Abraham Lent Brewer was born around 1826 and died in 1901.  He was a grandson of Solomon Brewer of Massachusetts, a supposed actor of the Boston Tea Party.  Abraham married Frances "Fannie" M. Duryea, born about 1830 and died just after Abraham in 1901.  Her estate papers helped clarify most of her siblings and their children, as she died intestate with no husband and no children.

The only blip about this couple was that the Abraham L. Brewer, Jr., living with them in 1860 and 1870, was not their son, but rather Abraham's nephew.  Other than that, the couple was straight forward, living by his and her families in the 1850, 1860, and 1870 federal census years.  Abraham worked as a watchman or a warden, according to the census as well as city directories for New York City.  This was a common occupation in both the Brewer and Duryea families.

By 1880, Abraham and Fannie had completely left New York City and were settled in Ramapo, Rockland County, New York.

1880 federal census for Ramapo, Rockland County, New York; ED 59; page 263B; enumerated 28 June 1880.

Nettie L. Duryea, and George W. Duryea are the nephew and niece of both Abraham and Fannie.  James Duryea is of no relation, but just happened to be living next door to this Brewer/Duryea family, perhaps to add intrigue for people looking at this 130 years later.

I do not find Abraham and Fannie in the 1900 census.

When I received Fannie's death certificate, I found out that she was buried at Brick Church Cemetery in Spring Valley, Rockland County, New York.  I took a trip to the cemetery and found the stone.  It's difficult to read.

Abraham L. Brewer, 1826-1901.
His wife, Fannie M. Duryea, 1830-1901.

Jeanette L. and Charles H. Quackenbush are buried by Fannie and Abraham.

I figured that was pretty much it.  I found out what became of Fannie Duryea and Abraham Brewer, as well as Jeanette Duryea and Charles Quackenbush.  I posted the graves at findagrave.com.

A while back, someone added a photo of Abraham Brewer- and I'm not talking about another gravesite picture.  It was his actual image.  Unknown to me, Abraham Brewer had established the Brewer Fire Engine Company in Monsey, New York, and his picture hung at the station.  I have no photos of this group, so this was a first.

Yesterday, I took a trip to Monsey to see what I could see.

I had the correct place.  The Brewer Fire Engine Company of Monsey, New York- named for Abraham Lent Brewer.  Go figure.

My original contact was inside and showed me the picture on the wall.

Abram L. Brewer 1826-1901
Who, in February 1877, organized the Fire Engine Company
that bears his name, and who was its constant benefactor.
This photograph presented by the children of Mr. Brewer's daughter,
Mrs. C. H. Quackenbush.

Everyone at the station was great, listening to what I knew about Abraham, filling me in on what they knew; speculating to try to fill in the blanks.  There is nothing in the family stories that mentions Abraham and his founding of a fire engine company.  More research to be done.  More about the fire department's history may be found on their website.

Thank you to the members of the Brewer Fire Engine Company for their help with uncovering more about the life of Abraham Lent Brewer, as well as their dedication to serving the community.

Road Trip: Pound Ridge, New York

Stephen C. Duryea died 27 April 1887, according to his gravestone at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Tarrytown, Westchester County, New York.  I have copies of his probate records from Westchester County, mentioning his wife and surviving children with no surprises.

I cannot find his death certificate or an obituary.

I was recently in White Plains, so I headed over to Bedford and Pound Ridge.  Stephen's 1870 census had him in Pound Ridge, post office Bedford; while his last census entry in 1880 had him in Pound Ridge.  I ended up at the Pound Ridge Library.  They were quite helpful and directed me to a book called God's County, A History of Pound Ridge, New York by Jay Harris.

There was mention of Stephen C. Duryea owning property.  I found his parcel on a map from the 1870s.  I knew that he had purchased land in Pound Ridge from his probate records and from deed conveyances online at the Office of the Westchester County Clerk.

A search of this website does not show that Stephen C. Duryea sold these lands.  A map in God's Country from 1908 showed Mrs. Eyres on this plot.  Stephen's widow, Mary, had remarried Alfred D. Eyre.  So she owned the land at least until 1908.  I drove to the area, but without house numbers, I could not definitely find the correct piece of land.  I did find a lovely seen that I'd like to imagine they saw every summer.

Back home on the computer, I researched the deed conveyances again, this time for Eyre.  She sold the land in 1910.  Although the name was Eyre, formerly Duryea, the online index only picked up Eyre.

That explains what happened to the property in Pound Ridge.  I still need to find Stephen's death certificate.