Cadet William Lowry Lyman (1923-1943)

Picture of gravestone for William Lowry Lyman, Jr
Montclair Public Library Online Photo Collection
https://www.digifind-it.com/montclair/pages/P3642.php

While scrolling through the online collections of the Montclair Public Library (Essex County, New Jersey), I found a picture of the gravestone for William Lowry Lyman, Jr. No details, such as a cemetery, were provided.

The inscription:

IN LOVING MEMORY OF

WILLIAM LOWRY LYMAN JR

CADET MIDSHIPMAN U.S. M.M.

MARCH 25, 1923 - JULY 13, 1943

KILLED IN THE INVASION OF SICILY

The Lyman family plot is in Mount Hebron Cemetery in Montclair.

The stone from the photograph was in this plot. It is a flat stone, still fully readable.

See William's entry on Find A Grave, linking his family

William registered for the draft on June 30, 1942 in Montclair. He was 19 years old. (You can view these cards in Ancestry.com's collection, United States World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947.)

The first article I found about William appeared in the Montclair Times on September 9, 1943. He was reported as Missing in Action. He was a cadet in the Merchant Marines. His ship was sunk during the Invasion of Sicily. His picture was printed next to the article.

On September 30, an article referred to William as one of four who had made "the supreme sacrifice."

One November 11 (Veterans Day), William was listed as "missing."

For Decoration Day (now known better as Memorial Day) of 1944, May 25, William was listed among those dead from World War II.

What may have happened was the William was onboard a ship that was sunk on July 13, 1943. His whereabouts were initially unknown. As time passed, he was not located. This could be how this date became his date of death.

Two Marriage Ceremonies

The index of marriages for New York City and New Jersey at Ancestry is a great help to researchers. Many people living in northeastern New Jersey crossed the Hudson River into New York to be married.

George Henry Holsten (1882-1955) and Hilda Rachel Frey (1884-1943) married twice. Their first ceremony was in New York City on September 17, 1905. The second was in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey on September 16, 1906. Images are below.

Certificate and Record of Marriage
George Henry Holsten and Hilda Rachel Frey
married September 17, 1905 in New York City

Certificate and Record of Marriage
George Henry Holsten and Hilda Rachel Frey
married September 16, 1906 in Newark, New Jersey

The first marriage was performed at a church, perhaps Grace Church. The specific location of the second marriage is not written, but the officiant was Elliot White of Grace Church in Newark. It may be possible that the couple undertook a religious ceremony and a civil ceremony; however, repeating and registering the second ceremony was not necessary because the first union was recorded.

This is not the first duplicate marriage I have found. See this post for the two marriages of Peter Romain and Lucretia Daily, in 1885 and 1890, both in Newark, New Jersey.

If anyone has any insight into marrying twice, please leave a comment. Is there any significance to the two ceremonies being a day shy of one year?

Research Note: To obtain these images, you can visit the New York City Department of Records and Information Services ["DORIS"] online and search or browse. View and download for free. New Jersey marriages are housed at the Archives in Trenton. You can search for free in person and copy for fifty cents. Or you can order online for $10.

1920s School in Kearny, New Jersey

Black and white photograph of school children in the 1920s.

Someone showed me this picture and asked if I could shed some light on its origins. She suspected that it was from her mother's photo collection. Her mother was born in 1915 and attended school in Kearny, Hudson County New Jersey. The girls in the photo are wearing loose-fitting dresses and all have bobbed hair, so the 1920s fits as the timeframe when this image was probably captured.

In faint pencil on the reverse of the photo is printed, "5th Grade Nathan Hale School." "Home Room Teacher Miss Schad."

A search on Google revealed that Public School Number 2 was renamed Nathan Hale School in 1919. In 1954, the building was demolished.

The photo is not in crisp focus, but if you zoom in on the writing on the blackboard, you can make out most of the names. I listed them below with their dates of birth and death as I could find them. Those with entries on FindAGrave are linked. They were born mostly in 1914 or 1915, making them contemporaries of the suspected original owner of the photo. These were ten students with perfect attendance; 28 students are in the photograph.

Andrew Dick (1914-1976)

Everitt Jarvis (1914-2003)

Peter Kaminskas (1912-1992)

William Weiler (1915-1941)

William Winn (1914-1971)

John Pullins (1915-1990)

Anna Campbell

Josephine Inzano (Inzana?) (1915-1988)

Secrada Nurtz (maybe not spelled this way)

Ruth McAllen (1915-2006)

The teacher could be Pauline Schad (1905-1984) who lived in North Arlington, which is a mile north of Kearny. In 1930, she married Arthur Lehn.