Saturday, October 5, 2013

Woodland Cemetery Photo Day 2013

Today the weather was beautiful for the annual photo day at Woodland Cemetery in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.  Cloudy skies without rain allow for the best pictures of the stones.  The annual Safe Day in June was not held this year because of the hurricane damage and overgrown landscaping.  Last weekend, volunteers cleaned up debris during the Revitalization Event.  (The next revitalization is in one week.)  Thank you to Mary Lish for her devotion to discovering and preserving the records of this historical cemetery.


Mary's tip:  Take a picture to reveal lettering.

Visiting the stone of David Uhl, one of my great great great grandfathers.

I don't recall ever seeing something like this on a stone.
Florence Wittstock 1903-1961

The gatehouse continues to decay.

Kudos to the volunteers who found Leopold Specht.

The woolly bear caterpillars are predicting a mild winter.

Intriguing row of stones.
I thought this stone for Scheibemantel looked like it had lived face-down for a while.
In comparing pictures over the years, I indeed found it flat on the ground seven years earlier.



Jody at the Gatehouse
Photo by R. B. (thank you)

Friday, September 27, 2013

New Index: First German Reformed Church, Newark, New Jersey


Thank you to Tom and Kathryn Peters for indexing records of the First German Reformed Church in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.  This church was located on Mulberry Street.  About 52,000 names are indexed, covering years 1847-1904.  The index is housed at the Old Newark website.  The actual records are held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at The Lutheran Archives Center.

This was no easy task.  Look at this writing.  I would not have been able to decipher most of it.  Tom and Kathryn's efforts were a true labor of love.

Marriage record of Fidel Bossert and Regina Pfeiffer
24 October 1853
First German Reformed Church, Newark, New Jersey

The index is divided by baptisms, marriages by groom, marriages by bride, and two sections of deaths/burials.  Because of spelling inconsistencies and difficulties in deciphering the names, you will need to view similar nearby names as well as alternate spellings.

Groom index, First German Reformed Church
Far easier to read than the original above


Bride index, First German Reformed Church
Marriage entry for my third great grandparents, David Uhl and Clara Patschke

My 3rd great grandparents, David Uhl and Clara Patschke, were married at this church in 1865.  The general rule with immigrants is that they did not come alone.  Clara's parents were August Patschke and Wilhelmine.  I do not know if they came to the United States.  In this index, I quickly found a marriage record for Wilhelmine Auguste Patzschke, in 1860, contemporaneous with Clara Patschke.  This is a great lead to explore if these two women were perhaps sisters.

1870 United States Federal Census
Heinrich Wilhelm Heiner from the marriage index is spelled William Hyner in this census record.
Newark, Essex County, New Jersey


Gospill's City Directory for Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, 1867
The indexed records were from the First German Reformed at 43 Mulberry.
Newark city directories are available at Fold3.com
To find churches for events in your family trees, you can look at the local city directory for the relevant time period.  If you have a government record or family bible entry, the officiant is perhaps recorded.  This can help you identify the relevant church.  Otherwise, begin with the church that was geographically closest to your ancestor's home.


Saturday, September 21, 2013

Bilineal Cousin


A genetic cousin appeared in my sister's autosomal DNA matches at 23andMe.  The match illustrates how your DNA results can confuse your search, especially if you do not have other close family members tested.

The shared identical DNA between S. G. and my sister was two segments comprising 0.40%  This is worth exploring and could be as close as a third cousin.  Upon comparing other family members, we can see that the actual relationship will be more distant and from two separate ancestral lines.

23andMe:  DNA Relatives (viewed with Google Chrome Extension)
The M/P indicates that this cousin matches my sister through both parents.
(The M/P function only works if you have both parents tested at 23andMe and link them to the child.)

Cousin S. G. matches my sister through both our mother and father.  My sister inherited both segments from each parent, while I inherited none.  This is the randomness of DNA inheritance.

23andMe: Family Inheritance Advanced.
Cousin S. G. shares one segment with each parent.  My sister inherited both segments.

23andMe: DNA Relatives
Cousin S. G. matches my mother 0.25%


23andMe: DNA Relatives
Cousin S. G. matches my father 0.14%
The aggregate in my sister is thus 0.40%


So how is S. G. related to my parents?  I don't know.  Because close cousins have tested on both sides of my family, I can narrow down the possibilities.

23andMe: Family Inheritance Advanced
S. G. matches three members of my paternal family on the same segment.

S. G. matches my father and one of his siblings on the same segment.  More importantly, S. G. matches their mother's maternal cousin on the same segment.  This eliminates 75% of my father's family tree from holding the Most Recent Common Ancestor.  The match will be in my father's mother's mother's family tree.

I cannot narrow down the possibilities in my mother's tree, though.  S. G. does not match any of my mother's close maternal relatives.  This DOES NOT rule out a match on her maternal branch.  The common ancestral line could be anywhere in my mother's family tree.  This is much more difficult to work with.