Monday, October 9, 2017

Another Piece of the Puzzle in Chicago: A Lutter Marriage

The marriage record arrived for Charles Lutter, the possible brother of my great great grandfather, Herman Lutter.  This record is from the Cook County Clerk in Illinois. Charles was 25 years old when he married Theresa Doanow in 1887 in Chicago.




Like the marriage record of the other possible brother, Alexander Lutter, in 1890, marriage records from this time period do not contain the names of the parents.




Alexander Lutter died in 1897 in Chicago; his death record does not list his parents.

Charles Lutter died probably in Brooklyn, New York between 1915 to 1917; I cannot find the record.

So I do not know the parents of Alexander or Charles to tie them into my Lutter line.


But with Charles' marriage record we have a possible lead.  Unlike Alexander, Charles was married by a pastor from a church: Carl G Zipf of the First Evangelical Reformed Church, 181 Hastings Street.  A church record might list additional information, such as names of parents, witnesses, and towns of origin.  Maybe even the children were baptized there.

Discovering this church's transformation was a group effort (thank you everyone!).

In 1887, the church was at 181 Hastings according to the city directory.  Today, there is no such church or street.



The Newberry, a Chicago library, has an online directory of church records.  A possible listing for this church:



On the "Our History" page of The First United Church of Christ, the church states it was chartered in 1865 as the First German Reformed Church and was on Hastings Street.  This could be what I'm looking for.  No email address, so I will write to them and ask if they have records and would be willing to search for me.






Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Birth Certificate Answers Some Questions

Following up on the expanding Lutter branch with the connection to Charles, I received the birth certificate for Otto Herman Luther.  He was born January 31, 1907 in Neillsville, Clark County, Wisconsin.

My great great grandfather was Herman Lutter and his brother was Otto.  Repetition of names is a clue that there is a relationship here.

This certificate was ordered online through WisconsinHistory.org for $15 and arrived via email within a few days.




I was hoping that a hometown in Germany was provided for the father, Charles, or Charlie.  No.  Saxony, Germany was the birthplace of Charlie Lutter.  The birthplace of the mother, Theresa Turnow, was provided: Kolmar, Posen [Prussia]; now in Poland.

My great great grandfather, Herman Lutter (1860-1924) was from Scheibe, now in Thuringen.  This area was south and east of Sachsen in the late 1800s.  What we know as Germany today was a collection of states that grew and shrank and were renamed often in the time that Herman Lutter left the area until his death.  It is possible that one member of the family referred to their area of origin as Thuringen and another as Sachsen.

States of Germany 1871-1918



And why is the reporting person Carl Luther?  Is this Charlie Luther, also known as Charles Luther?  Or do we have another relative living with them?




Sunday, September 10, 2017

Year of Death Questionable in Spite of Multiple Records

In what year did Emma Dunn, wife of Andrew J Newcomb (1851-1929), die?

She was born around 1855, likely in Matawan, Monmouth County, New Jersey, to Ezra A Dunn (1821-1898) and Hermoine Dunlop (1827-1900).

She died in East Orange, Essex County, New Jersey, according to the resources that provide a location.  All resources have the same month and day- January 31.

The year differs.

Below are the offerings.

1.  Gravestone: 1890
Entry on Find A Grave and photo by CindyS.



2.  Online death indexes for New Jersey

Of note- New Jersey indexes for deaths prior to 1901 do not run on a calendar year.  Deaths for the years of concern here (1888, 1889, or 1890) were compiled from July 1 of one year through June 30 of the following year.  So the entry at Family Search for a death from January through June of 1888 would have been in 1889.  Entries for January through June are off by one year.

     a.  Family Search: 1888




     b.  New Jersey State Archives Index: 1889





3.  Death certificate:  January 31, 1889.

Cause of death was pneumonia.




4.  Deaths listed in newspaper, The Red Bank Register: 1890.


So which one is correct?

The indexes are not actually records; rather, they are guides to help find the record, which I did- the death certificate.  The death certificate is a primary source.  It was created at the time of the event.  This certificate has the year 1889.  I included the indexes to demonstrate that this certificate with a date of death of January 31, 1889 was filed with the other death certificates for July 1, 1888 through June 30, 1889.  Certificates for the time period are not filed alphabetically, but by fiscal year.

The gravestone is a derivative source.  We don't know when the stone was carved.  It is possible for gravestones to have the wrong dates, especially if created years after a person died.  Emma's stone may have not been carved when she died.  Her infant daughter, Viva, died shortly before Emma in 1888.  Viva's information is carved below Emma's entry and there is no room on the stone for anyone else.  This indicates that the stone was not created for Viva, but for Emma, evidencing a time lag.  But it is a vote for 1890.

The death listing is another matter.  While not a primary source, a newspaper would contain contemporaneous information.  The news of Emma's death may have taken a few days to reach the Red Bank newspaper from East Orange, but it should not have taken a year.  This is another vote for 1890.

We go back to the death certificate.  A habit that people have every January is that they write the prior year instead of the new year.  The year on the death certificate is a scribble.  If Emma actually died in 1890, and the writer put 1889 on the death certificate, how did it get filed with the prior year's certificates?  There is no "received date" on the certificate.  Were the certificates not organized and logged until later?