John Magai 1843-1916 Civil War Veteran

A stone for a veteran of the Civil War surfaced at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Montclair, New Jersey.

The stone is inscribed: SERGT JOHN MAGAI  CO I  4 U.S. CAV.

I wanted to find out more about this soldier. He was in a family plot. Locating him in a census with his family would help to identify him.

LLOYD OTTO MAGAI

1893-1953

ANN E MAGAI

1902-1986

John Magai, age 39, born in Austria (probably present-day Slovenia) was living in the Town of Union, Hudson County, New Jersey, in 1900 with his wife, Eliza [Gutberlet or variation], and their many children, including Loid [Lloyd], born in 1893. This fits the Lloyd on the tombstone next to John.

The Town of Union became part of Union City in 1925. Lewis Street became 38th Street.

John may have returned home in Europe a few times. He applied for a passport in New York in 1873, listing his birthdate as May 14, 1843.

An obituary for John Magai appeared in the Jersey Journal on August 18, 1916. He was a veteran who served the 5th New York Cavalry, which does not match the stone.

Next I viewed records at Fold3. John Magai, also known as Johannes Maggai, served in Company E of the 5th Regiment from 1864-1865, then Company I of the 4th Regiment of the New York Cavalry from 1865-1868.

For some reason, the 4th Regiment is on the gravestone, while the 5th Regiment is mentioned in the obituary.

John and Elizabeth probably married as he completed his service. The children were born from 1869-1893. All but Lloyd appeared to have been born in New York.

Lloyd served in the Army in World War I. His application for a headstone can be viewed in color at Ancestry.com.

Couple Died on the Same Day

While in a cemetery, Mount Hebron in Montclair, New Jersey, a family plot caught my attention because two members died on the same day.

Alexander Luchars and Sarah Rose Luchars died February 19, 1931. (A couple in my family also died on the same day in 1901.)

A little digging revealed that Alexander and Sarah were husband and wife, originally from Massachusetts. Sarah's name was Yarnall. Alexander was a mechanical engineer. The cause of death of both was pneumonia according to the shared obituary. 

The State Archives are closed for now. I cannot lookup their death certificates, which would possibly reveal additional relevant information.

A Celtic cross stands over the family plot, adorned with triquetra.

Question 1: Do the S-shaped swirls have a formal name? Are they a form of triskele?

Question 2: Is triquetra the plural of triquetrum?
Or is triquetra singular and the plural triquetras or triquetrae?

2020 Census

The notification to complete the 2020 United States federal census arrived at my home.

This is the nation's 24th.

For the first time, the questions can be answered online.

Questions included:

Name

Date of birth

Sex

Hispanic or not

Race

Relationships between inhabitants and head

We do this every ten years because it's in the Constitution. The old-fashioned term is Enumeration. We now generally refer to it as the Census.

The census is a wonderful tool for genealogists to glimpse people every ten years.

The most recent census available for viewing is from 1940. The 1950 census will be released in the year 2022.

(The federal census in New Jersey is missing for 1790, 1800, 1810, and 1820.)

The first census was in 1790. Everyone was counted, but some people counted more than others. Only the head of the household was listed.

Questions from 1790 were:
Name of head of household
Number of free white males 16 or older
Number of free white males under age 16
Number of free white females
Number of other people
Number of slaves


Below is the handwritten form for Northfield, Richmond County, New York.

The numbers of categories of people were tallied at the end of the district.

While the census is a great resource, the obvious problem with listing only the head of household is that you cannot be certain that you have the correct person of interest.

In Northfield are three men named John Merrell. Which one is my 7th great grandfather? I would need to find all of these men in other records and try to distinguish them based on ages of sons and daughters (if mentioned in wills or deeds) and slaves (mentioned in wills, tax records, and possibly other surviving records).

Only writing the head of household was an efficient way of conducting the first enumeration. This practice continued until the 1850 census, when the names of all free inhabitants were written.

Missing World War II Draft Card

Draft registration cards for younger men have been published at FamilySearch. You can view them from home. There is no index yet.

Fold3 already published and indexed this set for New York and New Jersey.

I am still searching for George D Russell. He enlisted in the Army in May 1943 in Queens, New York. I do not have his full date of birth or the names of his parents.

Using the signature from George's final payment voucher, I viewed the draft cards for Russells in New York City.

There were several men named George Russell, but none of their signatures seemed to match.

Possible reasons why I cannot seem to find the corresponding draft card:
-I missed it
-He did not register
-He registered under a different name
-The card was lost, misfiled, or not filmed
-He was not living in New York or New Jersey when he filled out his draft card.

Anyone have any other ideas?

Thank you.

Veterans Museum in Bayonne, New Jersey

I recently visited the Joyce-Herbert VFW Post 226 Veterans Museum in Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey.

This VFW is unique because the Commander, Glen J Flora, turned it into a museum. The space holds information about local Bayonne residents who served in wars, as well as military artifacts from every foreign war. The is an education in American history.

In December and January I met with Commander Flora and Jackie George, Esquire, Commander's Aide and Museum Tour Coordinator. They explained the Museum and its story.

The place caught my attention because my grandmother's grandmother, Delia Joyce (1862-1929), lived in Bayonne. Whenever people of the same surname live near your ancestor, they should also be researched.

Martin Aloysius Joyce (1894-1918) is one of the two servicemen for whom the Museum is named. He was born in Bayonne to Michael Joyce and Mary Corcoran .

Martin Joyce was a fireman in the Navy aboard the ship USS Delaware when his skull was fractured. The newspaper articles in The Bayonne Review give the date as December 25 and January 25. He died in January 1918 at the Royal Naval Hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland. His parents were notified by cable.

His body returned Bayonne in March. His funeral was from Saint Henry's Catholic Church. Interment was Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City.

I visited Holy Name Cemetery before going to the Museum. I was not sure if I had found the gravemarker because it was unreadable. I expected to find a stone because his mother applied for one in 1931.

At the Museum, the unreadable gravestone was confirmed as Martin's. In the bottom right of the picture below is an older picture of the gravestone.

Commander Flora explained that he would like the deteriorated stone replaced. Federal Regulation, however, specifies that only certain individuals can apply for marker. There is no exception for a marker that has already been issued.

If anyone is a known relative of Martin Joyce, we need your help by way of signature on the application that is waiting at the Museum. Martin had several siblings (listed below). Surely some of them have living descendants who will read this. If not, I can find cousins through his father's Joyce line or his mother's Corcoran line.

-Mary Joyce (1888-1910)
-Michael Joyce (born 1891) married Ida Manning
-Sarah Joyce (born 1896) married George Osbahr
-Margaret Joyce (1898-1968) married Harry John Shannon (1901-1975)
-Andrew Joyce (born 1901)
-Edward Joyce (born 1903) married Augusta Trebour (1905-1947)
-John Joseph Joyce (1905-1952) married Alice Smith
-Regina Joyce (1908-1986) marred Francis Brown (1901-1976)


Thank you to Commander Flora and Jackie for their time and dedication.

You can watch short films about the Veterans Museum here and here.

Identifying Location of Photographs

Thanks to an anonymous reader, additional photographs by my grandfather are identified as Keansburg, Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Locating Waackaack Creek helped.

Modern day aerial image of Keansburg, New Jersey

Double John Cook and Jane Peer

John Cook was my sixth great grandfather.

On December 15, 1745 Johannis was baptized at the Pompton Plains First Reformed Dutch Church in Morris County, New Jersey. His parents were listed as Hendrik VanderKoeck and Catrina. Witnesses were Pieter Post and Annaatje.

On October 4, 1772 John Cook and Jane Peer were married at the First Presbyterian Church in Morristown.

On January 3, 1822 the will of John Cook was submitted for probate in Morris County. No wife was mentioned in the will. Jane was deceased when her father, Samuel Peer, wrote his will in 1818.
John Cook named four children in his will:
Catherine (married Easton)
Henry (my fifth great grandfather)
David
John


The son named John Cook (1790-1878) married a woman with the same name as his mother. Jane Peer (1794-1888) and John Cook were married by Reverend Barnabas King in 1812 in Rockaway, Morris County, New Jersey. They may have been first cousins. Jane's father was Jacob Peer, a brother to John's mother.

In the 1830s John and Jane relocated from Morris County, New Jersey to Onondaga County, New York.

John Cook Junior claimed a pension for service in the War of 1812 for substituting for Stephen H Cook (1797-1853). But Elizabeth claimed a widow’s pension through Stephen H Cook (denied because she could not prove the date of their marriage). Stephen was John's nephew (and my fourth great grandfather).

Questions:

How are the two people named Jane Peer related to each other? Was the younger Jane Peer a first cousin of her husband, the younger John Cook?

When did the older Jane Peer die?

Why did both John Cook and Stephen Cook serve in the War of 1812 if John substituted for Stephen?

The Will of John Cook 1822

JOHN COOK WILL

In the name of God Amen.

I John Cook, of the township of Pequanack in the county of Morris and State of New Jersey- being of sound and disposing mind and memory do make and ordain this my testament and just will in manner following viz-

I give and bequeath unto my Grandson Isaac EASTON, the son of my daughter, Catherine, one hundred dollars.

I give and devise unto my two sons, Henry I COOK and David COOK, five dollars each and I add no more as I have heretofore provided for and given them their proportion out of my estate by deeds and otherways.

I give and devise unto my youngest son John COOK and unto his heirs and assigns forever all the rest and residue of my Estate, both real and personal, that may remain after the payment of my funeral charges, just debts, and the expenses attending the settlement of my estate and the legacies herein before bequeathed.

I do hereby constitute and appoint son, John Cook, and my trusty and esteemed friend, David PEER Esquire, executors of this my last will and testament, hereby rendering and disannulling all former wills and testaments by me made and declaring this and no other to be my testament and last will.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the first day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and nineteen: John Cook.

Signed, sealed, published, pronounced, and declared to be the testament and last will of the said John Cook who signed the same in our presence, who signed our names as witnesses at the same time and at his request: Joseph JACKSON, Mahlon F DICKERSON, John D JACKSON.

Will submitted January 3, 1822 in Morris County, New Jersey.
David Thompson, Surrogate.

Morris County Wills, Liber B, pages 527-528.

Note: Surrogate records for Morris County, New Jersey can be copied from microfiche at the County Courthouse in Morristown. The other twenty counties can be viewed at FamilySearch.org at no cost.

Note: The spelling of the name of the township has varied over the centuries. It is now spelled Pequannock and encompasses much less land than it did when John Cook wrote his will in 1819.

More Lutter DNA

It happened last month and again this month.

Another Lutter has been found through DNA testing.

At Ancestry.com, my paternal aunt shares one segment of DNA with someone who had ancestors of German origin living in Newark, New Jersey. This person also shares DNA with a Lutter cousin.

I started the research with Lydia Bischoff, the great grandmother of the DNA match. She was born about 1861 in Germany. In 1876 she married Albin Oeler in Newark. Only the names of the fathers were provided on this document filed with the State: Anton and Hugo. Albin died in Newark in 1891. Lydia remarried Oswald Schoener in 1892. Her mother's name on this record appears to be Henrietta. No surname given.

By 1900, Lydia had relocated to Brooklyn, New York.

Lydia Bischoff (listed as Lillian here) with second husband Oswald Schoener,
plus her children from both marriages,
at 289 Knickerbocker Avenue in Brooklyn.

Passport photograph of Lydia Schoener 1922

Lydia had a brother, Edwin Anton Bischoff (1866-1923). (Coincidentally, I photographed Edwin's grave over fifteen years ago at Hollywood Cemetery in Union, New Jersey as I attempted to trace my Bishop line.)

Edwin's documents provided the link to Lutter.

In 1891, Edwin married Louise Bechmann (1869-1944) in Newark. His mother's name looks like Nanette Lutter.

On Edwin's death certificate from 1923, his mother's name is Henrietta Lutter.

I located Annetta Lutter and Hugo Bischoff in the 1880 census in Newark. Annetta's age was 45, making her year of birth around 1835. I last found them in the 1885 New Jersey state census. Hugo died 1893 and was buried in Woodland Cemetery. I do not know what became of Annetta. Her death certificate could list her parents.

My great great grandfather, Herman Lutter, was born in 1861. Annetta would have been too old to be a sibling. More records are needed to reveal the relationship.

A House Eighty Years Later

Among the pictures taken by my grandfather, Clifford Lutter (1915-1980), is this house. My aunt said it was in Nutley where Clifford's sister, Beryl lived after she married, but nobody remembered the address.

I revisited this project and located the modern-day house and address.

Beryl Lutter (1918-1988) married Harry Nanejian (1901-1986) in 1937 in Suffern, Rockland County, New York. I do not know why they traveled there to marry.

In the 1938 city directory for Nutley, New Jersey (collection at Ancestry.com), Harry and Beryl are living at 104 McKinley Street. This address, accessible via Google Street View, looks like the house in the photograph. The couple moved around in the years that followed, but those houses do not resemble the house in the photograph.