What became of Sarah Scherer?

Sarah Scherer, her first husband, William Schoenberg, and their seven children were all together in the 1925 New York State Census in Brooklyn. Sarah was 44 years old, or born about 1881. William was 43 years old, or born about 1882. The children ranged in age from twelve to 22.

1925 New York State Census
178 Throop Avenue, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York

By 1930, Sarah was a "widow," though the disposition of William has not been determined as of this writing. What became of her after the 1930 census was a mystery until the estate papers of Regina Phillips popped up on FamilySearch thanks to their full text search.

The names of Sarah's children appeared in accountings. Sarah's name was misspelled.

Estate of Regina Phillips, 1932, late of Queens County, New York

Sarah was described as Regina's niece. I guess that the connection is through Sarah's mother, Rosa Rubenstein (1853-1924), but the specific relationship is not clear as of this writing.

Parents and spouse of Regina Rubinsons (1870-1932)

Parents and maternal grandparents of Sarah Scherer (1881-19xx)

In 1890 in Manhattan, New York, Regina Rubinsons married Samuel Phillips (1870-1929). Her parents were Elias Rubinsons and Fany Goldberger.

Marriage certificate of Samuel Phillips and Regina Rubinsons
July 8, 1890 in Manhattan, New York.
Groom's parents- Israel Phillips and Amali Hönig.
Bride's parents- Elias Rubinsons and Fany Goldberger.

Samuel Phillips predeceased his wife in 1929. They had no surviving issue when Regina died in 1932.

Death certificate of Regina Phillips
died May 27, 1932 in Manhattan, New York.
Father- Edward Robinson. Mother- Dora Chonowksy.

The names of Regina's parents had morphed from Elias Rubinsons to Edward Robinson and from Fany Goldberger to Dora Chonowsky.

Regina's estate documents mention a change in Sarah's surname from Schoenberg to Koppel, along with the address 518 Bushwick Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. Koppel was the married name of Sarah's youngest daughter, Beatrice.

No marriage record for Sarah Scherer or Schoenberg to Mr Koppel was found in New York City, New York State, or New Jersey.

Using FamilySearch's search text function, Sarah's application for naturalization popped up. She filed twice- once under the name Sarah Koppel in 1942 and again under the name Sarah Mendlinger in 1946.

Declaration of Intention of Sarah Koppel
signed February 4, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York.

Declaration of Intention of Sarah Mendlinger
signed November 21, 1946 in Brooklyn, New York.

These documents are great because she provides a birthdate and place (April 15, 1881 in Sobolj, Megye, Hungary), date of immigration, marriages, and children. These are not necessarily accurate.

Plus we get a picture of Sarah!

Picture of Sarah Scherer attached to her 1942 Declaration of Intention

On the 1942 petition, she wrote that she married Jacob Koppel on June 15, 1931 in Brooklyn. I don't see this in the index of marriages.

On October 10, 1931, Sarah's youngest daughter, Bertha (called Beatrice in the naturalization document), married Bernard E Koppel, the son of Jacob Koppel and Lizzie Friedman.

Marriage certificate of Bernard E Koppel and Bertha Schoenberg
October 10, 1931 in Brooklyn, New York.
Groom's parents- Jacob Koppel and Lizzie Friedman.
Bride's parents- W [Aaron?] and Sarah Scherer.

Bertha, later called Beatrice, was born August 25, 1913 in Jersey City. The surname was misspelled "Schomberg" on the birth certificate.

Birth certificate of Bertha Schomberg
August 25, 1913 in West New York, Hudson County, New Jersey.
Father- William Schomberg. Mother- Sara Scherer.

On October 28, 1931, a correction was submitted to change the surname from Schomberg to Schoenberg. Four months earlier, mother Sarah had supposedly married Jacob Koppel. Yet she signed "Sarah Schoenberg" and not "Sarah Koppel" on the request for the correction.

Correction to birth certificate of Bertha Schomberg to Schoenberg
signed October 28, 1931.

A record does exist for Sarah's marriage in 1943 to Kopel Mendlinger. (Not the same person as Jacob Koppel.)

Marriage license of Kopel Mendlinger and Sarah Koppel
married January 10, 1943 in Brooklyn, New York.

Although marriages for Brooklyn in 1943 are supposedly all scanned and available online, this one was not. I ordered it through the mail. Cost was $18 and turn-around time was two months.

Available marriage records supposedly online at
New York City Department of Records and Information Services

Sarah's place of birth was Tisa Dop, Hungary. This is Tiszadob, Szabolcs, Hungary.

Map of Tiszadob, Szabolcs, Hungary on map of Europe 2025.

Sarah listed one prior marriage to Jacob Koppel. She omitted her first marriage to William Schoenberg. How did that marriage end? Did William die? Disappear? Divorce?

Sarah's marriage history as reported on her license to marry 1943

What became of Sarah Scherer? I do not know. I did not find a death record for her in New York City. 

Notes about the birth records of the children as listed on Sarah's petitions for naturalization:

Sarah had seven children that I discovered. The first, Dora (1903-1934), was deceased by the time of Sarah's petitions, which only asked about living children.

The second child was born February 2, 1905 in Manhattan. "Lena" was originally the name, but "Sadie" was written in read above the crossed out Lena. This is probably for Sadie, but where is Lena's birth certificate? Lena was child number 3.

Birth certificate of Lena [crossed out] Sadie Schönberg
born February 2, 1905 in Manhattan, New York.
Father- William Schönberg. Mother- Sarah Scherer.

I did not find a birth record for Abraham, child number 4. He could not not have been born on January 16, 1909 because the fifth child, Sam, was born July 29, 1909.

Birth certificate of Sam Schomberg born July 29, 1909
in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey.
Father- William Schomberg. Mother- Sarra Scherer.

Catherine, child number 6, was born February 21, 1911 in Jersey City, not February 2, 1912.

More Confusing Birth Records

In a prior article, we reviewed the 1877 birth record of a male child, not named, which was in error for a female child named Lucy Lutter. 

In reviewing births of Duryea children, we have two more instances of incorrect sex on the birth record.

On January 10, 1901, a "male" child was born to John Duryea (1866-1940) and Anna Belle Bogert (1865-1957) in Franklin Township, Bergen County, New Jersey.

Birth certificate of male baby born January 10, 1901
in Franklin Township, Bergen County, New Jersey

Layout on microfilm of birth certificate and correction to birth record

Birth certificates are on microfilm. This birth certificate for a male was corrected in 1937. The form for corrections was filmed next to the original birth certificate. The sex was corrected from male to female. The unnamed child became Alice Janette Duryea. Confusion was averted because the correction was available with the incorrect birth certificate.

Correction to birth of unnamed male Duryea to female Alice Janette Duryea
filed January 30, 1937

For Irvin W Duryee, this confusion was not corrected in the birth records.

On February 17, 1900, a "female" child was born to Charles Cruiser Duryee (1850-1927) and Alice Lavalet (1868-1920) in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey.

Birth certificate of female Duryee born February 17, 1900
in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey

In the 1900 federal census, Charles and Alice had four children. The youngest was a son, Irvin W, born February 1900. No daughters.

On August 24, 1900, Irvin W Duryee died. He was 6 months and 7 days old. He was buried in Fairmount Cemetery in Newark.

Death certificate of Irvin W Duryee August 24, 1900
in Jersey City

To figure out this discrepancy of unnamed female birth and male death certificate, I assembled all the children of Charles and Alice.

Nine children of Charles Cruiser Duryee and Alice Lavalet
born between 1886 and 1905 in New York and New Jersey

The couple probably had ten children. I found seven birth certificates.

I do not know when Charles and Alice married. Harry Milton was their oldest child in the 1900 census. He was either their first or second child. He appears in the index of births for the State of New York.

Births for the year 1886 in the State of New York
Database at Ancestry

New York State stopped issuing copies of vital records. Unlike New Jersey, you cannot visit a repository and view and copy the certificates. This entry in the index is the closest we can achieve for the birth record of Harry Milton. He was born September 13, 1886 in Oyster Bay, Queens County, New York. Because we cannot access the actual record, we cannot see if he was child number 1 or child number 2.

Beginning with Mary Elizabeth in 1892, the children were born in New Jersey.

Mary's birth certificate anchors the numbers. She was child number three; two are living. The other living child was Harry; the deceased child's name and date of birth is unknown as of this writing.

Birth certificate of Mary Elizabeth Duryee
born February 24, 1892 in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.

No birth record for Herbert Hammell Duryee was found for a date of March 7, 1893. He was child number 4.

Child 5 was Charlotte L. Child 6 was Russell Sage.

Child 7 was the confusing female or Irvin/Irwin of 1900.

The child immediately after Irvin was Loraine on December 19, 1901. Although now a female name, this was a male child. The issue was that the birth certificate could not be located because the index from 1901 was illegible.

Index of Births in New Jersey for the year 1901

Birth certificates were filed by certificate number until 1904. Without this number, it is very difficult to locate a particular record among the rolls of microfilm. For years, the only Duryea birth certificate that I had from 1901 was Alice.

Rolls of microfilm containing images of birth certificates
for New Jersey year 1901.
New Jersey State Archives.

The release of the Geographic Birth Index 1901-1929 enables us to find certificates when the handwritten indexes are illegible.

Geographic Birth Index for New Jersey.
Unnamed child of C and A Duryee born in Jersey City December 19, 1901.

Male Duryee was born December 19, 1901 in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey. He was child 8 with 4 still living.

Birth certificate of male Duryee born December 19, 1901 in Jersey City.
This child became known as Loraine Albert.

Thus, we can see that no other child, except "female" or Irvin/Irwin, was likely born between Russell Sage in 1898 and male (Loraine Robert) in 1901. Irvin's birth certificate misstated him as female.

Remember while searching the Geographic Birth Index at Ancestry that not all entries on the typed page appear in the Ancestry index.

This article was written in memory of Richard Alan McCool, researcher of the Duryea families. He helped me craft my skills in genealogical research and inspired me to persist until I linked my "stray" Duryea line to the larger family in New York.

Richard's efforts spanned decades, thoroughly and accurately documenting the Duryeas and collateral lines.

He passed away last month.

Surprise Babies of 1916

My great-grandparents, Howard Lutter (1889-1959) and Ethel Laurel Winterton (1891-1962), were married in 1910 in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey. This union produced two children, Clifford Lutter (1915-1980) and Beryl Enid Lutter (1918-1989).

Beryl and Clifford, early 1920s,
at their maternal grandparents' home in Holmdel, Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Howard divorced Ethel Laurel in 1927 for abandoning him and the children. Fiorita Winnie testified against Ethel Laurel. In 1928 Howard and Fiorita married.

In the last article, I wrote about Ernst Lutter, who died in Newark in 1916. A DNA match prompted me to realize that I had not collected the Lutter deaths from the year 1916.

Two Lutters died in New Jersey in 1916. One was Ernst. The other was a newborn baby of Howard Lutter and Margaret Quackenbush. Not the same Margaret as my cousin Margaret Quackenbush (1899-1940).

Death Certificate
Female baby Lutter died May 9, 1916
in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey

As I sat in the Archives looking at this death certificate, I was surprised. Howard had made a baby outside of his marriage. And- this document was out there, waiting for me to find it.

I had to find out more. Howard was still married to Ethel Laurel when this child arrived in 1916. Howard and Ethel Laurel stayed together and produced another child in 1918.

There are some avenues on this death certificate for possible additional information:
-hospital
-cemetery
-undertaker

Newark City Hospital no longer exists. It became Martland Medical Center and then was engulfed by University Hospital, which was then engulfed by Rutgers University. They do have an archival collection. More about this later in this article.

Newark City Cemetery was a burial area for the indigent. Nobody claims to know where the records are.

Holle Funeral Home still exists. Other Lutters were processed through this same funeral home. There is no record of this baby in the records.

I did not find a notice of death in the newspapers the Newark Evening News and the Newark Sunday Call.

As I sat at home, I thought to myself that there was no birth certificate for this baby. I had all the Lutter birth certificates issued through 1923. In earlier times, if a baby was born and quickly died, a death certificate may have been issued without a corresponding birth certificate.

I checked my files anyway.

Ten years ago I had indeed copied a birth certificate for a baby born in 1916 to Howard Lutter. I had tucked it away, planning to investigate this other Howard Lutter. This was a disorganized approach and the certificate became quickly forgotten as the ancestors and current life piled in.

Birth certificate of Baby Lutter #2 born May 9, 1916 in Newark.
This had been in my collection since 2014.

Howard Lutter had created a baby outside his marriage. I had been sitting on this information for over ten years.

I noticed a faint "#2" written after the surname. This baby was a twin. I did not have a birth certificate for the other twin at home in my files.

The birth index is now available from home. No such index was available in 2014.

Index of Births in New Jersey 1915-1919
H & M had twins on May 9, 1916 in Newark.
Database online Ancestry

For whatever reason, I copied certificate 357 but not the 356- the first born twin.

Back to the Archives I went.

Birth certificate of baby number 1, a male.
This baby has no corresponding death certificate.

Birth certificate of baby number 2, a female.
This baby died the same day.

Howard Lutter had a son on May 9, 1916 who lived. What happened to him? I do not know. If he survived into adulthood and had descendants, they have not tested their DNA.

I tracked down Margaret Quackenbush. She married, had children, and died. I corresponded with a grandchild of hers. The family had no knowledge of these twins.

The children raised by Margaret's siblings were reviewed in light of this new information. Nobody in the Quackenbush family raised a baby boy with this birthdate. He is not buried in any family plots.

If adopted, he does not appear on the Surrogate's Docket in Essex County, New Jersey. I requested a search of the files, but I do not expect cooperation from the Surrogate's staff.

Doctor D L Golan signed the birth certificates. This was Daniel Leonard Golan (1892-1969). He briefly appeared in the Newark city directory of 1917. He served in World War I, then moved to back to New York, where he married and practiced medicine.

Golann D Leonard physician
1917 Newark City Directory

Dr Daniel Leonard Golann's record of military service World War I
U.S., World War I Jewish Servicemen Questionnaires, 1918-1921
Collection at Ancestry

Dr Daniel Leonard Golann's summary of career before World War I

Dr Golann's questionnaire about his wartime service lists him as an intern at Newark City Hospital from 1915-1916. This comports with the birth certificates.

I visited the George F Smith Library of the Health Sciences at Rutgers University (University of Medicine and Dentistry) in Newark. Thank you to the staff there for meeting with me and showing me historical documents and pictures.

Dr Golann was listed in a chronological recording of interns, but none of his records survive in this repository. The library's archives offered an image of Newark City Hospital as it appeared in 1915.

Newark City Hospital, 1915
Special Collections, George F Smith Library of the Health Sciences

Howard and Ethel Laurel were living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1915. This is where baby Clifford was born. In the divorce papers, Howard explained their moves to New York City, Philadelphia, then back to Newark. Was he travelling for work or to escape personal problems he created?

In 1915, Howard resided in Philadelphia then in Newark.
Does his use of the pronoun "I" indicate that he was not relocating with his wife?

Howard had nerve calling Ethel Laurel a bad wife in the divorce complaint.

We are left with a missing male baby born May 9, 1916 in Newark, New Jersey.

Takeaway research method:

My current method is to log all information into a family tree in Family Tree Maker. Had I done this ten years ago, I probably would not have lost track of the birth certificate from 1916 and two men named Howard Lutter.