A Tedious Courtship

 In the records of the First Presbyterian Church of Morristown, New Jersey is a curious entry for "a tedious courtship of 24 hours." The short courtship was unusual- maybe that is why it was mentioned? What does "tedious" mean in this context?

By Same [Reverend James Richards] January 17, 1806
David Munn, Orange
Miss Phebe Youngs, Malapardis,
"After a tedious courtship of 24 hours."

David Munn, the groom, was from Orange, Essex County. The bride, Phebe Youngs, was from Malapardis, which is now an area within Hanover, Morris County.

Map of Town of Hanover, Morris County, New Jersey. 1868.

The marriage was also recorded at the county level without mention of the courtship.

Marriages in the County of Morris, State of New Jersey.
These can be viewed from home for free via FamilySearch.org.
Film 1314453.

In spite of this unconventional beginning, the marriage endured for 33 years until the death of David Munn.

This union is mentioned in a book from 1907, Vicar Christopher Yonges. His Ancestors in England and His Descendants in America. A History and Genealogy. Three children are listed for David and Phebe. 

-Alson C Munn (died 1841)

-Ira Youngs Munn (1809-1882), married Mary Matilda Forsyth (1836-1920)

-Ruth Munn (1811-1889) married William Denman (1807-1879)

The family relocated from New Jersey to Missouri.

Excerpt from the Youngs Family Genealogy Book by Selah Youngs, Jr, 1907

David Munn served in the military for five years, from 1812 through 1817. He attained the rank of sergeant. He was in the light artillery of Captain John L Eastman's Company. During the Battle of York, War of 1812, he lost a finger. He died in 1839 in his 50s. A military marker sits atop his grave in Ohio.

Certain parts of David Munn's records relating to his military service are available from Fold3 (behind a paywall). Phebe became eligible for a widow's pension under a federal act passed in 1871. The soldier's service needed to have been at least sixty days and the marriage prior to the end of the War.

Act of 1871
Soldiers who served at least 60 days in the War of 1812 could apply for a pension,
as could their widows- if they married before the end of the War.

Phebe applied for her widow's pension under the Act of 1871. She had to prove that she was married prior to the end of the War in 1815. The clerk of Morris County, Richard Speer, copied by hand the lines from Book A of marriages, page 204- the same image above that we can now view on a computer.

Phebe's application to collect her widow's pension for David's service
in the War of 1812.
Number 4835.

The date of recording also had to be included- November 10, 1806- ten months after the event. The time lapse between events and recording of those events must be remembered when we evaluate the accuracy of records. In this case, we have to recordings- one from the county and one from the church, and they are consistent.

Phebe was awarded $8 per month.

Phebe died in 1875. She was buried with her daughter, Ruth (1811-1889), and son-in-law, William Denman (1807-1879), in Illinois.

Related Stepmother on Marriage Record

A marriage record is an excellent way of discovering the names of the parents of the bride and groom. The parties helped create the document and could ensure completeness and accuracy, as opposed to birth and death records in which the subject of the document is of no assistance in providing information.

That said, the information is not always accurate.

This was the case with the marriage record of William Hanford Ocoboc (1872-1941) and Anna Holander (1874-1948). They married December 15, 1894 in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey. William was raised in Rockaway, Morris County, New Jersey, but relocated to Essex County after the marriage. (Hanford is also spelled "Handford." Ocoboc has spelling variants, such as "Ockobock.")

William's parents were Hanford Ocoboc (1844-1918) and Ann Elizabeth Cook (1854-1885); however, on the marriage record, his mother was listed as Clara Lee (1861-1913).

Marriage record.
William Ocoboc and Anna Holander married December 15, 1894
in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.

Names of William Ocoboc's parents as reported on his 1894 marriage record.
His mother was actually Ann Cook, not Clara Lee.

Clara was William's father's second wife. Clara and Ann were first cousins. Their grandparents were Stephen Cook (1798-1853) and Elizabeth Vanderhoof (1799-1878).

Family tree showing relationship of the two wives of Hanford Ocoboc (1844-1918).
William's marriage record listed Clara, not Ann, as his mother.

William was about thirteen years old when his mother died in 1885. The following year, his father remarried, resulting in another child born into the family. William was old enough to remember these events and know that his mother was Ann, not Clara. Perhaps he named Clara as his mother out of respect to her. Perhaps someone else supplied the information and William did not notice the discrepancy. We may never know. We must verify all information with other records whenever possible.

Hanford was related to both his wives. Through Hanford's paternal side, he was their second cousin, once removed. They shared ancestors Conrad Hopler (1730-1816) and Elizabeth Demuth (1735-1814). Handford's mother was Elizabeth Vanderhoff (1812-1889). Presumably she and the other Elizabeth Vanderhoof (1799-1878) were related.

Relationship of Hanford Ocoboc (1844-1918)
and his two wives

The resulting children of these unions were their own cousins.

The Schneider Children plus a Bonus Baby

Joseph Schneider (1892-1945) and Mary Fila (1895-1938) lived in Newark, New Jersey from the 1910's until their deaths. They were buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in East Orange.

I did not find a marriage record for this couple. The strategy is to start with the first child and work backwards. Locating birth certificates for all the children was difficult because the surname was spelled a different way for each of the five children: Snajder, Snaider, Shnyder, Schneider, and Snyder.

All five birth certificates were located by sifting through the geographic birth index. In New Jersey, birth certificates for the years in which these children were born are filed alphabetically by year on microfilm in the Archives in Trenton. Instead of spending hours looking at the microfilm, I used the index at home. This index is indexed at Ancestry; however, not all names on the page were transcribed into Ancestry's index. This is a very important consideration when a name cannot be found in an electronic database. Death records helped narrow down the date of birth. All were born in Newark, which also helped immensely.

You can view the New Jersey Geographic Birth Index at The Internet Archive or Family Search.

The couple's first child was Josephine Madlin, born on Leap Day, February 29, 1916. The midwife was K Zamlynska. The birthplace of Joseph and Mary was Austria. He worked as a button maker.

Birth certificate of Josephine Madlin Snajder.
Born February 29, 1916 in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.
87 Richmond Street.

The midwife signed her name "K Zamlynska." In the 1920 census in Newark, the birthplace of Caroline Zamlysnki was Austria and she spoke Polish. This could be indicative of the origins of the parents of the baby. Her profession in the census was "none," which is why the city directories are so helpful for finding midwives.

City directory entry for Karolina Zamlynski, midwife.
115 South Orange Avenue in Newark, New Jersey.

Baby Josephine died September 12, 1916 from acute gastro enteritis. She was six and a half months old. She was buried at Holy Sepulchre in a plot where her parents would later join her. Already in this plot was another baby, discussed at the end of this article.

Death certificate of Jozefa Schneider.
Died September 12, 1916 in Newark. 87 Richmond Street.
Cause of death acute gastro enteritis.

The birthdate on the death certificate is February 29, 1916. This is how her entry was located in the birth index, leading to her birth certificate, even though the surname was spelled differently on the death certificate versus the birth certificate.

New Jersey Geographic Birth Index
Josephine M Snajder born February 29, 1916 in Newark.

The couple's second child, Stanislau, was born April 2, 1917. He was child number two, one alive. He was the living child; Josephine had died over six months earlier.

Birth certificate of Stanislau Snaider.
Born April 2, 1917 in Newark.
87 Richmond Street.

The midwife signed her name "Antonia Wakova." This was a feminization of her husband's surname, Wak. In the 1910 census, she was from Bohemia. In 1920 and 1930, she was from Czechoslovakia. No profession was given in the census entries, again making the city directories invaluable for finding this midwife.

City directory entry for Mrs Antonio Wak, midwife.
82-17th Avenue in Newark, New Jersey.

Stanislau became Stanley John. He married and has living descendants. He died October 30, 1988.

The couple's third child, Edward Shnyder was born July 21, 1918. He was incorrectly listed as the second child on his birth certificate.

Birth certificate of Edward Shnyder.
Born July 21, 1918 in Newark.
30 Lones? Street.

In 1936 Edward's surname was modified from Shnyder to Schneider via an official correction to the  birth certificate. These are filed with the birth certificates.

Corrected birth certificate of Edward Schneider, born Edward Shnyder.

Correction to birth certificate of Edward Shnyder,
changing surname from Shnyder to Schneider.

Edward Jacob married and has living descendants. He died October 2, 2001.

The couple's fourth child, Sofie Anna, was born September 26, 1920. This was the only birth certificate to use the Schneider spelling. The first name became Sophie and she married Alphonse Peter Anthony Ulinski in 1939. She died in 1995 in Florida.

Birth certificate of Sofie Anna Schneider.
Born September 26. 1920.
119 Broome Street.

The couple's fifth and final child was Joseph Snyder, born December 11, 1921. He married and has living descendants. He died in 1974 in Alabama.

Birth certificate of Joseph Snyder.
Born December 11, 1921 in Newark.
Beth Israel Hospital.

Baby Josephine, born and died in 1916, appears to be the first child of this couple. They probably married in 1916 or 1915. I found no record in New York or New Jersey. This could be because the names were butchered in the index, or they married in a different state or country.

Another mystery about this couple arises because of a baby buried with them.

In the same plot as Joseph Schneider and Mary Fila is a two-month old baby name Katie Fila. I don't know who this is, but based on the surname Fila and the address- 85 Richmond Street- she is related. Baby Katie died October 17, 1914 at the Babies' Hospital in Newark. The cause of death was enteritis and malnutrition.

Death certificate of Katie Fila.
Died October 17, 1914 in Newark at The Babies' Hospital.
"C. H. S." is Cemetery of the Holy Sepulchre.

The image is of very poor quality. "O.W." is written after Katie's name. This stands for Out of Wedlock. The names of her parents appear to be Stanislaw Floczyiski and Mary Fila, both of Poland. Katie's birthdate is given as August 19, 1914 and her age 2 months, 27 days. Perhaps the month of birth would be more accurate as July. Either way, I did not identify a listing for Katie in the birth index in Newark for this time.

Could Baby Katie have been a child of Marie Fila, wife of Joseph Schneider?