More to Life than Golf?

A family story holds that my mother's uncle "dropped dead" while playing golf.  With the expansion of the collection of death certificates to the year 1955 at the New Jersey State Archives, I was able to locate this uncle's death certificate.

Death certificate for John E Haas, 1955
Son of Samuel Haas and Mary Zolder

John E Haas died June 18, 1955 from "sudden coronary thrombosis and occlusion," or a heart attack.  The location was the Knickerbocker Country Club in Bergenfield, Bergen County, New Jersey.  Whoever filled out this death certificate was very specific about the location.  John died at the "4th Hole."

Y-DNA Results for Duryea

The results of my cousin's Y-DNA test at FamilyTreeDNA have arrived.  He is a first cousin of my paternal grandmother and is a direct male descendant of Joost Duryea, born about 1650.  Around 1675, Joost immigrated to the English Province of New York, formerly the Dutch Nieuw Nederland.  In 1727 Joost died in Bushwick.

The Y Chromosome is passed from father to son mostly unchanged.  Slight changes, or mutations, occur every few generations.  Joost's sons, their sons, and so on received a Y chromosome identical or almost identical to Joost, right down to today's living descendants.

No man is an exact match to my cousin.  The closest match is also a descendant of Joost Duryea.  The genetic distance of 3 tells us that mutations have occurred, but this is expected when the relation is so far back.

This match and my immediate cousin are 6th cousins, once removed.  We all descend from Joost Duryea's son, Charles (1690-1753).  Charles is seven generations removed from my immediate cousin and eight generations removed from this distant cousin.

None of the other matches list a Duryea as the origin of their patrilineal line.  This can be because the relation is further back than Joost Duryea, when surnames were not used or not handed down father to son.  Other reasons include a non-parental event, name change, or an error tracing family lines.

Y-DNA test at FamilyTreeDNA
Most distant direct male ancestor provided by the other matches

I'm happy to finally have a Y-DNA test with results I can work with.  My father tested earlier this year for the surname Lutter.  He has no matches at any level at any distance.  His direct patrilineal line is the shortest line in his family tree.  I have been able to trace back only three generations to his great grandfather, Hermann Lutter (1860-1924).

P.S.:  FamilyTreeDNA has a sale this month.  Plus, coupon codes abound.

A Page from the Book of Death

While perusing the death records on my most recent trip to the New Jersey State Archives, a found an entry for a murder-suicide.

In 1878, New Jersey started issuing individual death certificates.  Before then, deaths reported to the State were logged in ledger books.  No individual records were created.  Jersey City's deaths are separate from the rest of Hudson County.  Browsing the pages of death gives you a glimpse of the times.  This page from 1872-1873 records the death of eighteen children and six adults, mostly from infectious diseases that we rarely see today.  One set of siblings was wiped out from diptheria; another from scarlet fever.

What caught my eye was the entry for Mary Gehring, age 55, and Michael Gehring, age 45.  Both were born in Germany.  Their deaths were in September of 1872- no specific day.

I followed their lines to the cause of death.  Mary was murdered; Michael committed suicide.  This is not seen often.

The incident made the first page of the Jersey Journal for September 27, 1872.  According to the article, Mary and Michael Gehring immigrated about twenty years earlier.  They had a violent marriage with periods of not residing together.  On the night of September 26, 1872, Michael returned to the home after an absence.  Initially Michael and Mary were getting along, but soon began arguing.  In front of their 13 year old son, Michael fatally stabbed Mary at least three times and then slit his own throat.

Four children survived couple.  An 18 year old son, Frank, is mentioned; as was Christopher Diericks, a son-in-law.

If anyone has anything further on this family, please let us know.  Any descendants out there?