Benefit for the Widow and Children of George Duryea 1864

Found on eBay- 

this small card measuring two and a half by four inches.

A child in Victorian garb is depicted on one side.

Reproduction of a painting.
Child holding an open book. Wavy hair to the shoulders.
Shirt sleeve rolled up past the elbow.
Garments tied around the waist. Skirt to the knees.
Toes peeking out.

The other side is what interested me.

The card was trimmed at the sacrifice of the wording. From what I can ascertain, the inscription reads:

          Grand Ball
          of the
          ---ds and Clever Fellows' Jr. Club,
          ---d of the widow and children of the late officer
          George W. Duryea,
          at Irving Hall,
          -illegible-

George Washington Duryea (1823-1864) was the brother of my third great grandfather, Stephen Cornell Duryea (1814-1887). He was killed on May 16, 1864 in New York City while working as a police officer.

Notice of death and funeral services for George W Duryea
in The New York Herald

I did not find much about this club. I saw a few mentions in the newspapers about other benefits for widows and children hosted by the Clever Fellows.

Notice of benefit by the Clever Fellows Club, 1865
in The New York Times

George's widow, Rene Brewer (1824-1904) (who was also my fourth great grandmother), did not remarry. She died in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, on August 7, 1904. She and George had six children together. When George was killed, they ranged in age from four to sixteen years old.

To find family heirlooms on eBay, set up emails of saved searches containing the surname. If the surname is common, or is a word in its own right, you will need to add other search parameters to narrow down the results.

On This Day- August 6, 1919

On this day in my family's history, my great grandparents, Eugene Everett Cook (1898-1979) and Rene Marion Duryea (1900-1943), married in Manhattan, New York.

Marriage Record of Eugene Cook and Rene Duryea
August 6, 1919
Manhattan, New York, United States.
Harold Lockwood Duryea and Alwine Wrage were the bride's brother and sister-in-law.
(Certain New York City records are available online free of charge at
the Department of Records and Information Services)

Both resided in New Jersey at the time of this marriage. It was not uncommon for residents of New Jersey to marry in nearby New York City. Eugene lived in Newark, Essex County, with his parents, Charles Cook and Minnie Bishop. Rene lived in West Hoboken, Hudson County, with her parents, Abraham Brewer Duryea and Nellie May Cummins. (West Hoboken is now a part of Union City.)

The couple had two children, Beulah (my grandmother), in 1921, and Jeane, in 1925.

This was the first marriage for both. Rene died in 1943 in Warwick, Orange County, New York.

Eugene remarried to Gladys Marvin (1904-1986). They resided in Florida.

Beulah Cook (my grandmother)
Eugene Cook (my great grandfather)
Gladys Marvin (wife of Eugene)
1978 in Florida

Eugene was my only great grandparent who was alive when I was born. I don't think we ever met.

James Kittson's Medicine

While researching the life of Augusta Luther (1892-1956) (my first cousin, three times removed), an advertisement in a newspaper from 1922 surfaced featuring a supposed testimonial for the "medicine" Tanlac by her husband, James Kittson.

"Gains 25 pounds and says it saved his life."
Perth Amboy Evening News. July 7, 1922.

They resided in Harrison, Hudson County, New Jersey in the 1920s.

Family of James Kittson in the 1920 federal census.
Harrison, Hudson County, New Jersey.
Gussie, wife. James, son. Martha [Luther] (born Klindt), mother [in-law]. Pyron Getz, boarder.

A search for Tanlac from the 1910s through the 1940s produces many advertisements in the form of these personal testimonials presented as news articles. The ingredients of Tanlac are omitted from these ads. Modern-day regulations would not permit this level of secrecy, nor would Tanlac be described as a "medication." The main ingredient was wine, around 17% or 34 proof. Other ingredients included herbs and glycerin. It was touted as a digestive aid among other uses.

Description of the ingredients of Tanlac
Journal of The American Medical Association
June 5, 1915

For all its popularity, I did not find many photographs online of the bottle or packaging for Tanlac.

Drawn advertisement for Tanlac- A Splendid Tonic and System Purifier.
The world's greatest tonic. 25,000,000 bottles sold.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bottle_of_Tanlac_patent_medicine.jpg

I was curious as to why James many have weighed so little. I checked his death certificate. He died from cancer, specifically laryngeal with metastases. But this was in 1934, twelve years after his testimonial for Tanlac. Perhaps consuming wine daily, in the form of medicinal Tanlac, made him feel better.