John Magai 1843-1916 Civil War Veteran

A stone for a veteran of the Civil War surfaced at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Montclair, New Jersey.

The stone is inscribed: SERGT JOHN MAGAI  CO I  4 U.S. CAV.

I wanted to find out more about this soldier. He was in a family plot. Locating him in a census with his family would help to identify him.

LLOYD OTTO MAGAI

1893-1953

ANN E MAGAI

1902-1986

John Magai, age 39, born in Austria (probably present-day Slovenia) was living in the Town of Union, Hudson County, New Jersey, in 1900 with his wife, Eliza [Gutberlet or variation], and their many children, including Loid [Lloyd], born in 1893. This fits the Lloyd on the tombstone next to John.

The Town of Union became part of Union City in 1925. Lewis Street became 38th Street.

John may have returned home in Europe a few times. He applied for a passport in New York in 1873, listing his birthdate as May 14, 1843.

An obituary for John Magai appeared in the Jersey Journal on August 18, 1916. He was a veteran who served the 5th New York Cavalry, which does not match the stone.

Next I viewed records at Fold3. John Magai, also known as Johannes Maggai, served in Company E of the 5th Regiment from 1864-1865, then Company I of the 4th Regiment of the New York Cavalry from 1865-1868.

For some reason, the 4th Regiment is on the gravestone, while the 5th Regiment is mentioned in the obituary.

John and Elizabeth probably married as he completed his service. The children were born from 1869-1893. All but Lloyd appeared to have been born in New York.

Lloyd served in the Army in World War I. His application for a headstone can be viewed in color at Ancestry.com.

Couple Died on the Same Day

While in a cemetery, Mount Hebron in Montclair, New Jersey, a family plot caught my attention because two members died on the same day.

Alexander Luchars and Sarah Rose Luchars died February 19, 1931. (A couple in my family also died on the same day in 1901.)

A little digging revealed that Alexander and Sarah were husband and wife, originally from Massachusetts. Sarah's name was Yarnall. Alexander was a mechanical engineer. The cause of death of both was pneumonia according to the shared obituary. 

The State Archives are closed for now. I cannot lookup their death certificates, which would possibly reveal additional relevant information.

A Celtic cross stands over the family plot, adorned with triquetra.

Question 1: Do the S-shaped swirls have a formal name? Are they a form of triskele?

Question 2: Is triquetra the plural of triquetrum?
Or is triquetra singular and the plural triquetras or triquetrae?

2020 Census

The notification to complete the 2020 United States federal census arrived at my home.

This is the nation's 24th.

For the first time, the questions can be answered online.

Questions included:

Name

Date of birth

Sex

Hispanic or not

Race

Relationships between inhabitants and head

We do this every ten years because it's in the Constitution. The old-fashioned term is Enumeration. We now generally refer to it as the Census.

The census is a wonderful tool for genealogists to glimpse people every ten years.

The most recent census available for viewing is from 1940. The 1950 census will be released in the year 2022.

(The federal census in New Jersey is missing for 1790, 1800, 1810, and 1820.)

The first census was in 1790. Everyone was counted, but some people counted more than others. Only the head of the household was listed.

Questions from 1790 were:
Name of head of household
Number of free white males 16 or older
Number of free white males under age 16
Number of free white females
Number of other people
Number of slaves


Below is the handwritten form for Northfield, Richmond County, New York.

The numbers of categories of people were tallied at the end of the district.

While the census is a great resource, the obvious problem with listing only the head of household is that you cannot be certain that you have the correct person of interest.

In Northfield are three men named John Merrell. Which one is my 7th great grandfather? I would need to find all of these men in other records and try to distinguish them based on ages of sons and daughters (if mentioned in wills or deeds) and slaves (mentioned in wills, tax records, and possibly other surviving records).

Only writing the head of household was an efficient way of conducting the first enumeration. This practice continued until the 1850 census, when the names of all free inhabitants were written.