Similar Name, Different People

As I sort through the Vanderhoofs, I processed the death certificate of William H Van Derhoef. He died at age 79 years on October 9, 1943 in West Orange, Essex County, New Jersey. According to this document, his wife was Jennie Byington and his parents were John Van Derhoef and Sarah Graft. Burial was in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

Death certificate of William H VanDerhoef.
Died October 9, 1943 in West Orange, Essex County, New Jersey.
Document available through mail or in-person at the New Jersey State Archives.
(New Jersey death certificates are not accessible online.)

William was born in the early 1860s, probably in Brooklyn. He was one of the middle children. His father, John, worked in the seafood markets and had deep roots in Monmouth County, New Jersey.

1880 United States Federal Census
Brooklyn, Kings County, New York
Household of John V Vanderhoef and Sarah Ann Graff

William was already entered at Find A Grave. I found his parents entered at Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn: John V Vanderhoef (1824-1900) and Sarah Ann Graff (1829-1919). Sarah's entry at Find A Grave currently has no year of death. Burials are searchable on the website of Cypress Hills. She was interred on December 11, 1919. She probably died in New Jersey, which has no index for deaths in 1919.

There is a problem with the Find A Grave listing for this family. John V Vanderhoef and Sarah Ann Graff were already attached to a son named William H Vanderhoef (1861-1930), buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. 

Memorial page at Find A Grave for William H Vanderhoef
1861-1930 in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn

There are so many people named Vanderhoof or variant spellings that it is easy to mix them up. In my family tree are currently 49 people named William Vanderhoof/hoff/hoef.

The creator of William's memorial page in Green-Wood Cemetery supplied a spouse- Henrietta Dixon (1863-1908).

Marriages and deaths in New York City are digitized for these earlier years. 

On the marriage record from 1882, William J Vanderhoof's father was John Vanderhoof, but his mother was Catherine Mulligan- not Sarah Ann Graff.

Marriage certificate side 1
William J Vanderhoof and Henrietta Dixon
married April 27, 1882 in Brooklyn, New York

Marriage certificate side 2
William J Vanderhoof and Henrietta Dixon
married April 27, 1882 in Brooklyn, New York

On William J's death certificate from 1930, his father was again John Vanderhoof. His mother was Elizabeth, not Catherine, but her surname remained Mulligan- not Graff.

Death certificate of William J Vanderhoof
died January 1, 1930 in Queens, New York

Note that the death certificate lists the place of burial as Evergreens Cemetery. This is another large cemetery in Brooklyn. Although they do not have an online index, they will confirm burials via email. Because I had precise dates of death for William J, his wife Henrietta, and their son, William, Evergreens Cemetery was able to quickly confirm that the family was buried there.

The entry on Find A Grave, in contrast, lists the place of burial as Green-Wood Cemetery.

I did request changes to the memorial page of William H Vanderhoef (1861-1930) of Green-Wood Cemetery, but they were declined.

Email notifying me that changes would not be made to the memorial page
of William H Vanderhoef (1861-1930)

Do not blindly rely on relationships found linked on Find A Grave, or anywhere else. View the original documents whenever possible.

Beregszasz Hungary

The European hometown of William Schoenberg has been identified.

(Thank you, MG!)

William filed his Declaration of Intention to become a citizen of the United States on April 18, 1917. This document was also known as "First Papers." In William's Declaration, we find the following statement:

"I was born in Bergsas Hungary on the 25th day of March anno Domini 1882."

Declaration of Intention signed by William Schoenberg
April 18, 1917 in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey

Close-up of the town of birth place and date of William Schoenberg-
Bergsas, Hungary on the 25th of March, 1882
as written on his Declaration of Intent

Indexes and images for naturalization papers for Hudson County, New Jersey are available through Family Search, but only until the year 1907. William was not found in this collection.

For $3 the Hudson County Clerk searched their collections for 1907 forward.

Website of the Clerk of Hudson County, New Jersey
explaining procedures for obtaining copies of naturalization records

Within a week, the Clerk returned William Schoenberg in their index.

Index of Declarations of Intent
Hudson County, New Jersey
William Schoenberg, Volume 61, Number 30031

These Declarations of Intent for Hudson County are housed in the State Archives in Trenton.

Website of New Jersey State Archives
Form to order naturalization records for certain counties.
The records are not searchable through this website.

I was going to the Archives in person so I did not order the record online. At the Archives, I received a copy of the one page Declaration of Intention. As stated on the document, the Declaration becomes invalid after seven years. William did not complete the citizenship pathway within seven years. If he did so later I do not know as of this writing.

So where is this place? It is currently in Ukraine and is called Berehove, but looks a little different in the Ukrainian version of the Cyrillic alphabet.

Modern-day map showing the location of Berehove, Ukraine,
formerly Beregszasz, Hungary

Borders changed after William was born in Beregszasz, Hungary. The town was in Checkoslavakia between the world wars. As a result, the name is spelled many different ways in various languages.

There are many men named William Schoenberg. The William on the Declaration provided a birthdate of March 25, 1882. This matches the birthdate provided by the target William on his draft registration card for the World War in Hoboken, Hudson County on September 12, 1918- about a year and a half after the Declaration of Intent.

Draft Registration Card for World War I
William Schoenberg of Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey.
Collection at Ancestry

Was March 25, 1882 really William's birthday? I don't know yet. Records for this time period in the area of Bereg are online at FamilySearch. Unfortunately, I have not found an index. Browsing these records produces a few people using the surname Schoenberg or variant spellings.

Images for the Bereg area, formerly of Hungary, are online at FamilySearch.
They cannot be downloaded. Screenshots are blurry.

At MyHeritage, I plugged in the place Beregszasz and the surname Schoenberg and immediately found a ship record for Cilli and Esther Schoenberger. They arrived in New York on April 2, 1908.

Manifest of Alien Passengers
SS Rotsdam from Rotterdam to New York 1908

According to this ship record, Cilli, age 19, and Esther, age 18, were sisters from Beregszasz. Their father was David Schönberger. They were to meet up with their brother, William Schoenberg, of 295 Terrace Ave, New York. (Actually in Jersey City, New Jersey.)

Close-up of the relevant entries for Cilli and Esther Schoenberger

How do we know this William was the target person? In 1909, William's son, Sam, was born at 295 Terrace Avenue in Jersey City.

Birth certificate of William Schomberg July 29, 1909
295 Terrace Avenue, Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey
Collection available on microfilm at the New Jersey State Archives

As of this writing, I do not know what became of Esther.

Cilli, also spelled Cillie and Celia, married Morris Niederman in Manhattan in 1916.

Marriage record of Morris Niederman and Cillie Schönberg
Manhattan, New York City, New York
May 21, 1916.
Her parents- David Schönberg and Lalie Mermelstein.
Collection online at New York City Department of Records and Information Services

From this document we see that the names of Cillie's parents match the names of William's parents on his marriage record from 1902 to Szera Scherer.

Marriage record of William Schonberg and Szera Scherer
Manhattan, New York City, New York
April 9, 1902.
His parents- David Schonberg and Lalie Marmorstein.
Collection online at New York City Department of Records and Information Services

Using variant spellings of the surname Schoenberg and the place name Beregszasz produces many potential leads. Of note was Benjamin Schoenberg (1901-1974).

Petition for Naturalization signed by Benjamin Schoenberg
December 29, 1921 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York
Eastern District of New York.
Collection online at Ancestry

Benjamin Schoenberg was born in Beregszasz in 1901 to David Schoenberg and Maria Haupt. His birthplace is from his Petition for Naturalization. The names of his parents are from his marriage record in Manhattan in 1929 to Leah Drasdo (1895-1986).

Marriage record of Benjamin Schoenberg and Leah Drasdo
August 29, 1929 in Manhattan, New York City, New York.
Collection online at New York City Department of Records and Information Services

Esther Rosenberg was a witness on Benjamin Schoenberg's Petition for Naturalization. They both gave their address as 1241 Avenue U in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. They were siblings. Esther died in 1948 in Brooklyn. On her death certificate, her parents were listed as David Haupt and Mary Haupt. Her father's surname is incorrect. He was David Schoenberg, not Haupt.

Death certificate of Esther Rosenberg
Died March 23, 1948 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.
Parents- David Haupt and Mary Haupt. [Probably should be David Schoenberg.]
Collection online at New York City Department of Records and Information Services

Esther Schoenberg and Harry Rosenberg (1883-1924) had at least three children: Sadie (1913-????), Lillian (1917-2007), and Morris (1922-2011). Lillian married Sidney Weinberg in 1937 in Manhattan. She listed her mother's name as Esther Schoenberg, not Haupt. I am a DNA match in the second to third cousin range with a child of Lillian and Sidney.

Marriage record of Sidney Weinberg and Lillian Rosenberg
January 24, 1937 in Manhattan, New York City, New York.
Collection online at New York City Department of Records and Information Services

Morris Rosenberg married Elaine Gellers (1922-2009) in 1946 in Brooklyn. He provided his mother's name as Esther Schoenberg, not Haupt.

Marriage record of Morris Rosenberg and Elaine Gellers
November 27, 1947 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.
Collection online at New York City Department of Records and Information Services

Much more research is needed. Identifying the hometown was a vital component to move this quest forward.

The Daughters of Masons

The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls

Elizabeth, New Jersey Assembly Number 19

May 26, 1972

In the picture: Loretta Bowman, Beth Sue Durning, Hazel Hutmaker, Marion Lutter, Diane Hutmaker, Mary Beth Phillips, Jean Hanna, Helen Hoens, Robin Hanna, "Willy," Eileen Derry, Gail Yeats. (There are more people than names.)

Membership in Rainbow Girls was open to girls and young women whose fathers were Masons.