Locating the Graves of Calvin Cook and Mary Neil (Finally)

After several years, I have located the final resting spot of my great great great grandparents, Calvin Cook and Mary Neil.  Here is the story.

Calvin Cook and Mary Neil were both born around 1830 in Morris County, New Jersey.  They were married in the 1840s (different records exist- we'll save that for another post).  I know little about Mary Neil's parentage, but the Cooks were a Morris County fixture for generations before Calvin's arrival. 

I combed through area cemeteries and burial grounds, including the burial place of Calvin's parents, Stephen Cook and Elizabeth Vanderhoof, at the aptly named Cook Cemetery, now engulfed by the Rockaway River Country Club.

Locating a large cemetery plot is a great way to find out names and dates of deaths, making it easier to locate their death certificates.  Depending on which is easier and more accessible to you, you can aim to locate the death certificate or the cemetery first.  I actually had Calvin Cook's death certificate and obituary.  He died in 1889 and burial was "at Dover."  Where in Dover?  That was my issue.

Location of burial of Calvin Cook, died 1889, on his death certificate.
New Jersey Department of Health

Two official cemeteries exist in Dover, Morris County, New Jersey:  Locust Hill and Orchard Street.  I visited both.  Orchard Street Cemetery has no office on site.  I walked around, but saw no Cook graves.  Records for Locust Hill do not start until the late 1890s, so there was no record of Calvin Cook and no matching record for Mary.

The Dover Historical Society has a compilation of gravestone transcriptions for Orchard Street Cemetery.  No Cooks are listed.

Gravestone transcriptions by Brianne Kelly-Bly.
Obtained online through the Dover Historical Society website.

Next I looked for Calvin Cook and Mary at the burial locations of their children.  I was making my way through the children when I stumbled on the Hudson County, New Jersey probate records for Calvin Cook.  Calvin had died in Jersey City, where he was living.  Mary, his widow, submitted papers from Hudson County to Morris County enabling her to dispose of real property held in Morris County.  The actual will and certifications were held in Hudson County.  In Calvin's will, all of the expected children were mentioned, except William Cook.  I thought I had William in the census through 1930.  I erased this 20th century death and looked for a William Cook who died before Calvin in 1889.  This was the key.

Children Francis, James, Charles, Margaret, and Catharine are mentioned, but not William.
1889 Probate papers of Calvin Cook
Hudson County, New Jersey
Obtained online at FamilySearch.org

Someone posted a gravestone for William H Cook, son of Calvin and Mary, 1849-1871.  This fit the names and time frame.  And the location?  Locust Hill Cemetery in Dover.

So back to Locust Hill Cemetery I went, hoping that someone would recognize this stone:  white with a fallen cross.  I also hoped that Calvin and Mary were buried nearby.  The caretaker did recognize the stone- he had lovingly re-cemented the cross many times over the years.

The taller dark stone nearby was for William's parents, Calvin Cook and Mary!  Finally I had found them.

Mary died in 1898.  This is puzzling because I have already searched for a death certificate for her through the early 1900s.  I must return to the Archives at Trenton with this death date in mind.

Calvin and Mary's daughter, Catherine Cook, wife of Calvin Peck,
is also buried in this plot.  Like the other burials, her death date predates
the cemetery's records.

Good Times Searching the Deutsche Zeitung

Someone sent me newspaper clippings from the New Jersey Deutsche Zeitung- "German Times."  These articles are invaluable to my research.  More in later posts.

So much is available online now that I did not realize that Deutsche Zeitung is digitized and available at GenealogyBank.  Years 1880-1898 are digitized and searchable.  These years cover a lot of my lines in Newark, New Jersey.  The problem is that the newspaper is written in German (naturally) and the elaborate typeface is hard to read, especially when smeared.  German was one of my minors as an undergrad [useful after all], so I jumped right in.

Searching for "Lutter" in English newspapers produces hits for "butter" and "letter."  Searching this German paper produces results for "Mutter."  [German for "mother."]  By limiting the date, I managed to find the announcement of the nuptials of my great great grandparents, Herman Lutter and Clara Uhl.

Married 24 January 1888 in Newark by Reverend William Rieb.

The names of the witnesses can be compared against the actual marriage return filed with the state of New Jersey.

It looks like the witnesses were Henriette Ebbede [or Ebbecke?] and Pauline Freemann for the bride, Clara Uhl.  Note that Pauline's signature has only one N in Freemann.  The N has a line over it, a short-hand way of noting a double consonant.  The witnesses for the groom were Alex Lutter and Henry Uhl.  Henry Uhl was the brother of Clara Uhl.  I am happy to see this other version of the witnesses because I was not sure if the name was Alex Lutter on the marriage return.  I do not know who this person is.  I find no trace of Alex Lutter in Newark.  He possibly shows up in Chicago, gets married, and has a few children.

The moral of the story is to collect as much information as you can about an event.  Don't just look for the birth, death, and marriage certificates.  Dig up the local newspaper and look for an announcement.  Look for the church record.

Jumping Over the Border

Tonight I attended a presentation at the Morris County Library hosted by the Morris Area Genealogical Society.  The topic was Researching Common Surnames and the speaker was Vince Smith.  Most of us who study American ancestry have common surnames to deal with:  Smith, Miller, Jones, Johnson.  I have all of these surnames in different branches of my tree.  The offered tip is to narrow your search as much as possible by limiting the time period and geographical area.  There may be thousands of men named John Miller in New Jersey, but very few John Millers in a particular town born in a certain year.

Another helpful tidbit for those of us researching people in the New England states:  check Canadian records.  New Brunswick is next door to Maine.  A free index is online for you to check for records of life events.

If you had ancestors in the New England states, you may wish to check Canadian records as well.
Google Maps

Thank you, Mr Smith, for a wonderful and informative presentation.