Another train collision

John Preston was the son of Irish immigrants, born around 1860 in New York.  His son, Michael J Preston, was killed by or near a train in Bayonne, New Jersey in 1918.  I previously wrote about uncovering documents that shed light on the family story about Michael's fatal train ride.  The missing part from that story was the dog.  "The dog always went to meet him at the train station.  We knew something was wrong when the dog returned without him that day."  Michael was killed late at night and I hoped that the dog was not supposed to be wandering about at night for Michael.  So who else was killed by a train?

I located the 1928 death certificate of John Preston.  I think that the circumstances of his death would support the dog part of the story.  John worked for the Central Rail Road of New Jersey.  He was about 69 years old on June 28, 1928 when struck by a train in the morning.  My grandmother would have been old enough to remember the dog's return without its master.

Same Name, Same Family?

While researching Eugene Cook in New York and New Jersey in the 1800s and 1900s, I come across his doppelganger.  Eugene Everett Cook.  They were born about twenty years apart and seem to have no blood relation.  On my most recent trip to Trenton, I was not even looking for this other Eugene Cook and poof- I came across his death certificate.

This Eugene Cook died in Orange, Essex County, New Jersey in 1943.
He was born in Brooklyn in 1878 to Lyman Cook and Sarah See.

This Eugene Cook died in Florida in 1979.
He was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1898 to Charles Cook and Minnie Bishop.

Nellie Shelton, died 1916

I came across this death certificate and attached note and did not want this woman to fade away completely.

Nellie Shelton, died 19 June 1916 of tuberculosis at 625 Sycamore in Camden, New Jersey.  Age 28.  Born in Ohio.  Burial at Butler Cemetery.

"She was a stranger to the people among whom she lived, having very recently come among them.  She was too bad to talk much so did not tell them anything about her social condition."
"Nobody knew anything in relation to the matter you inquire about and I overlooked writing in the word 'unknown'."
Truly yours,
S. H. Quint [illegible]