Another Lutter found through DNA Testing

Another DNA connection for Lutter.

My ancestral Lutter line is the shortest of my family tree. The will of my great great grandfather, Herman Lutter, (1860-1924) named two deceased siblings, Otto and Ottillia. DNA testing revealed connections to descendants of Alexander Lutter and Charles Lutter, possible additional siblings.

Herman probably had another close relative living near him in Newark, New Jersey: Emilie Lutter.

Emilie was a great great great grandmother of a DNA match to my uncle. I did not have to research the entire family tree because the match has only one great grandparent of German origin.

Emilie's first record so far discovered in the United States is the 1870 federal census for Newark. In this snapshot of her life, Emilie was 31 years old and born in Türingen- same place as my ancestor Herman. She was married to Franz Jäger/Yäger and had two children, Emilie J and Charle, both born in New Jersey.

The index is wrong for most of the German families I've sought.
Franz Jäger shifted the spelling from J to Y, but this is not a T in the 1870 census.
Compare the first letter of Franz's surname to his occupation, Taylor. Not a T.

I have not located a marriage record for Emilie and Franz.

In the 1880 census, the couple had two more children, Caroline and Frank.

Emilie died July 29, 1892 in Newark from heat stroke. She was buried at Woodland Cemetery. Her death certificate and obituary did not provide the names of her parents. The obituary mentioned that she had siblings, but did not name them.

"Unknown" are the most disappointing names of parents on the death certificate.

Franz Jager- husband.
Children: Emilie, Charles, Carrie, and Franz.
Otto Unglaub, son-in-law (husband of Emilie).
In addition to siblings and relatives.

In 1904, the plot at Woodland Cemetery was reopened to bury Emilie's granddaughter, Clara Yaeger.


The source of Emilie's name of Lutter is from the marriage records of three of her children in Newark:
Emilie Jäger married Otto Unglaub in 1886.
Caroline Jaeger married Frederick Teufel in 1894.
Frank Jäger married Anna Seyfarth in 1899. (They moved to Rhode Island, where most of their children were born and where daughter Clara died. They returned to Newark by 1910.)

Charles used the spelling Yaeger. He wife was Clara Augusta Seyfarth (1881-1943), but I have not found their marriage record yet.

This brings us up to the following siblings of Herman Lutter (1860-1924):
Otto Lutter, born about 1845 in Germany, died in 1909 in Harrison, New Jersey.
Ottillia Lutter, date of birth unknown, died before Herman died in 1924, maybe in Scheibe (renamed Neuhaus, Thuringia).

And relatives of Herman:
Emilie Lutter, born about 1838 in Thuringia, died 1892 in Newark, New Jersey.
Charles Lutter, born about 1863 in Germany, died in 1919 in Newark, New Jersey.
Alexander Lutter, born about 1864 in Germany, died in 1897 in Chicago, Illinois.

Death of a Limb

If someone loses a limb, a death certificate may be issued, abundant with the details we need, such as the names of parents.

This was the situation for John Joseph Coburn's right arm. While working on the trains in Clifton, New Jersey, John's arm was severed between two railroad cars.

Thanks, Pat!

The death certificate provides great information, such as address, names of wife and parents, birthdate and place, and cemetery. Because John was still alive when this document was created, it could be more accurate than the usual death certificate.

Articles appeared in the local papers.

The rest of John Coburn died December 14, 1978. Those death certificates are not available at the Archives. His obituary is below.

1959 New Jersey Death Certificates are Available

New Jersey State Archives has acquired death certificates through 1959.

The indexes for 1901 through 2000 can be browsed at a site set up by Reclaim the Records. Some years are missing as of this writing. (The work-around for the missing indexes from 1904-1919 and 1930-1948 is to look at the certificates year by year. They were filed alphabetically.)

This is the death certificate for one of my great grandfathers, Frank ODonnell (1889-1959). He was born in Bayonne in 1888 to Patrick ODonnell and Delia Joyce. His first wife was Anna Preston. She died in 1921. He married his second wife, Gertrude Farman, in 1940.

Frank died in Bayonne on Halloween, October 31, 1959. He was buried at Holy Name Cemetery (Hudson County Catholic Cemetery).

"Severe epistaxis," or nosebleed, is listed among his medical diagnoses. My grandmother used to say that her side of the family had a bleeding disorder. This could be one of the reasons why she said this.

If you order a death certificate from 1959 via mail from the Archives, please let us know if the cause of death was blocked. This certificate was copied by me in person from microfilm, thus the area containing the cause of death is not restricted.