Who is Katherine Powers? I do not know. I have asked living family members (usually a good place to start). Nobody knows. "Maybe a neighbor," was one reply. On my next trip to Jersey City, I will have to look for an obituary. I don't know if Powers was her married name. None of the Katherine Powers in the 1930 census stand out as a good match. Why was this funeral card kept, while other important documents did not survive? I will eventually find out.Friday, October 22, 2010
Funeral Card
A bundle of papers kept by an older relative could be a treasure chest. I have a few items from past generations. One is a funeral card for Katherine Powers, died 22 September 1952. The funeral home was M. J. Corrigan of Jersey City.
Who is Katherine Powers? I do not know. I have asked living family members (usually a good place to start). Nobody knows. "Maybe a neighbor," was one reply. On my next trip to Jersey City, I will have to look for an obituary. I don't know if Powers was her married name. None of the Katherine Powers in the 1930 census stand out as a good match. Why was this funeral card kept, while other important documents did not survive? I will eventually find out.
Who is Katherine Powers? I do not know. I have asked living family members (usually a good place to start). Nobody knows. "Maybe a neighbor," was one reply. On my next trip to Jersey City, I will have to look for an obituary. I don't know if Powers was her married name. None of the Katherine Powers in the 1930 census stand out as a good match. Why was this funeral card kept, while other important documents did not survive? I will eventually find out.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Following Daughters
Louise and Charles Lutter were parents of five known children- all daughters. This could spell disaster for tracing this family, as women of the late 1800s tended to marry and change their last names.
Fortunately, all of these sisters and their children can be traced with little difficulty. In his 1920 will, their father lists each of them by their married names.
When you get stuck trying to trace the life of one sibling, switch to another sibling. Sometimes siblings are living in the same house or on the same block.
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| 1880 federal census, 52 Belmont Avenue, Newark, Essex County, New Jersey ED 81, page 15, enumerated 3 June 1880 |
Fortunately, all of these sisters and their children can be traced with little difficulty. In his 1920 will, their father lists each of them by their married names.
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| Will of Charles Lutter, proved 12 January 1921 in Essex County, New Jersey |
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| 1900 federal census, 342 Camden Street, Newark, Essex County, New Jersey ED 132, page 2A, enumerated 8 June 1900 |
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Finding Missing Children (of the 1800s and 1900s)
Until recent times, deaths of young people, including babies, was not uncommon. It is very easy to miss several children of a marriage if they their short lifespan was in between census years. I try to collect all members of a family, even those who did not marry and have children. They reveal naming patterns and can lead you to undiscovered family plots and addresses. In New Jersey, birth records were not recorded until the late 1800s, and most births did not start to get reported to the state until the early 1900s. The State of New Jersey has no official online index to search for these births, though familysearch.org does publish some births for New Jersey.
What does get reported are deaths. Although you may not find a birth certificate for a baby, you should find the death certificate. You may not know that the baby existed until you come across the death certificate. One of the questions on the 1900 federal census (for married women, not men) was the number of children they had, and then the number of children still living. For some people, I can prove this number; with others, it seems hopeless.
Johanna V. Bossert was one such child. I did have an entry for her at Woodland Cemetery in Newark, New Jersey, but she was buried in the baby section with no headstone and no other family buried with her. She had no death notice in the Newark Evening News. I did not know whose child she was. I found her death certificate by searching the microfilm reel for 1912 for another Bossert. (Death certificates in New Jersey are mercifully filed alphabetically starting around 1900.) Because she was only one year old at death, she was not around to appear in the 1910 census, and gone by the 1920 census. Now I know that Johanna was an important name in this family, though she remains the only person discovered so far bearing this name.
What does get reported are deaths. Although you may not find a birth certificate for a baby, you should find the death certificate. You may not know that the baby existed until you come across the death certificate. One of the questions on the 1900 federal census (for married women, not men) was the number of children they had, and then the number of children still living. For some people, I can prove this number; with others, it seems hopeless.
Johanna V. Bossert was one such child. I did have an entry for her at Woodland Cemetery in Newark, New Jersey, but she was buried in the baby section with no headstone and no other family buried with her. She had no death notice in the Newark Evening News. I did not know whose child she was. I found her death certificate by searching the microfilm reel for 1912 for another Bossert. (Death certificates in New Jersey are mercifully filed alphabetically starting around 1900.) Because she was only one year old at death, she was not around to appear in the 1910 census, and gone by the 1920 census. Now I know that Johanna was an important name in this family, though she remains the only person discovered so far bearing this name.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Getting Closer
A small newspaper blip about the will of Herman Lutter led me to find his actual will, filed in Monmouth County, at the Archives in Trenton. The article referred to "the three children of his sister who lives in Germany." I wanted names and a location. I found them in the will.
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| Red Bank Register, 23 July 1924 |
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| Will of Herman Lutter, proved 16 July 1924 in Monmouth County, New Jersey |
The newspaper provided a few details. It is best to get as close to the original source as possible; in this case, the actual will. Herman Lutter's will names his deceased sister, Ottillia, as well as her three children: Paul, Edeline, and Anna Michel. I also received confirmation that I need to be looking in Thueringen for records.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Baby Girl Cook, born 1906
Bessie Cook appears in the 1910 and 1920 censuses with her father, Charles. I have no other records for her. I don't know if she married, moved, died, nothing. Using an estimated birth year of 1906 in New Jersey, I searched for her birth certificate.
I probably found it. I say probably because the birth certificate that I found is for a baby girl with the last name of Cook, born 4 March 1906 at 231 North 4th Street in Newark, New Jersey. At some point, she must have been named Bessie, or Elizabeth- we don't know. For some of the other babies born without a first name, they have an amendment to their birth certificate, giving them a first name. Not Bessie.
Plugging this exact date of birth into the online Social Security Death Index gives us several possible matches for Bessie or Elizabeth. Those who died 1997 or earlier in California can be eliminated when the names of the parents are viewed. Others can be eliminated based on their information as listed in the 1930 census. That gives us a shorter, but not definite, list of possible Bessie Cooks to choose from. Or she may still be alive and not listed in the death index yet. She will be located eventually.
I probably found it. I say probably because the birth certificate that I found is for a baby girl with the last name of Cook, born 4 March 1906 at 231 North 4th Street in Newark, New Jersey. At some point, she must have been named Bessie, or Elizabeth- we don't know. For some of the other babies born without a first name, they have an amendment to their birth certificate, giving them a first name. Not Bessie.
Plugging this exact date of birth into the online Social Security Death Index gives us several possible matches for Bessie or Elizabeth. Those who died 1997 or earlier in California can be eliminated when the names of the parents are viewed. Others can be eliminated based on their information as listed in the 1930 census. That gives us a shorter, but not definite, list of possible Bessie Cooks to choose from. Or she may still be alive and not listed in the death index yet. She will be located eventually.
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