Subjective Marital Status

In the prior post, we saw the 1920 census entry for Clara Uhl, (ex)wife of Herman Lutter, listing her marital status as widowed.

This does not mean that her husband was dead!  If you do not have a death record for a "deceased" spouse, look for the person in the census anyway.  (Clara had three more years until Herman died.)

Marital Status:  Clara was divorced, not widowed.
Howard was married, but separated from his wife.
Lillian was single, but married John Kuhl two months later.

In this case, I knew that Clara Uhl and Herman Lutter divorced in the 1890s and Herman died in 1923.  In the 1920 census, Herman resided nearby with his next wife, Emma Neubauer.

Double enumeration in the census, part five: Newark, New Jersey 1920

Howard Lutter was listed twice in the 1920 federal census.  When this happens, we call it a Double Enumeration.  The cause of the double count for Howard was marital problems.  He was staying with his mother, Clara Uhl, but was also listed in the household of his wife, Laura Winterton, with his young children.  The hint to check for a second entry was that in his mother's household, Howard was listed as married- but no wife was with him.

Gathering Loose Leaves of Trees

My great great grandparents, Patrick O'Donnell and Delia Joyce, were married in 1887 at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey.  While reviewing an online transcription of this church's records, I noted that Patrick and Delia were sponsors for the baptism of Mary Ellen "Otterbury," daughter of John Otterbury and Mary Campbell.  Delia Joyce's mother was Mary Campbell.  Mary was killed in 1870 by a train in Dutchess County, New York.  To date, I have been unable to connect Mary Campbell to her family of origin.

Otterbury is a name of interest to me because my mother shares DNA with R. S., who is also my father's third cousin.  R. S. has Ottenberg ancestors from Germany and then Jersey City.  By testing cousins in my mother's family, I was able to isolate R. S.'s match to the O'Donnell/Joyce branch of my mother's family tree.  An intersection between Delia Joyce, daughter of Mary Campbell, and "Otterbury" in Bayonne is a good lead to follow.

R. S. shares an amount of DNA with my father that is within a third cousin range, which is their documented relation.
R. S. also shares a small segment of DNA with my mother, her maternal first cousin, and two cousins of my mother's mother.
The connection between my mother and R. S. will be in my O'Donnell/Joyce branch.

John "Ottber" was baptized at St. Mary's one year earlier in 1886, likely to allow him to marry Mary Campbell in a Catholic church.  I have not found a marriage record for this couple in New Jersey, either through a church or filed with the State.

Mary Ellen Otterbury's birth in 1887 is shown in an index at Ancestry.com.

Remembering that these indexes are not records, I searched for Mary Ellen's birth certificate.  Mary Ellen Otterbury's birth does not appear in the New Jersey State index of births at Trenton.

The New Jersey Birth and Christenings index at FamilySearch.org presents a different spelling of Mary Ellen's last name- Aughtberry instead of Otterbury.

Mary Ellen Aughtberry shows up in the birth index in Trenton.

And here is Mary Ellen Aughtberry's birth certificate from the State- September 5, 1887 in Bayonne.
Her father is listed as John Aughtberry, age 33, of Sweden.  Her mother is listed as Mary Campbell, age 38, of Ireland.

These pieces of information are pieces of a puzzle, but I need more pieces to determine:
--- Does Mary Campbell, wife of John Aughtberry or Ottbury, have a relationship to Mary Campbell, wife of Patrick Joyce and mother of Delia?
--- Does John Otterbury/Aughtberry have a relationship to the Ottenberg in cousin R. S.'s family tree?