Amanuensis Monday: Aunt Mary's Birthday

Fourth in a series of transcribing the notes in the BISHOP family file at New York State Library in Albany.

Today's item is a letter written on the 5th day of December, 1900 by Anna P Kelsey to her cousin Mary, requesting that she honor the 10th day of December as the 100 year anniversary of the birth of their aunt Mary.

Cape Vincent, NY

Dec 5, 1900

My dear Cousin Mary

I received a letter from cousin Julia Wilson today (whose address is 1032 Pine Street, Boulder Col) asking that we might as a family celebrate the 10^th day of Dec 1900, as it is the 100^th anniversary of Aunt Mary’s birth- “In the only way we can, scattered over the continent as we are, by observing a special commemoration, a continual commemoration in our hearts, giving thanks 1^st for the noble lives of our grand parents, and their children” of whom (your father and mine, together with Aunts Mary, Maria, and Julia and Uncle Ogden,) we have such lovely remembrances.

2^nd  “That not one of their posterity has disgraced the name.”

3^rd  “That no quarrel, hatred, misunderstanding has ever entered the circle to spoil our home love.”

And 4^th a prayer for each of us, that we may have grace given us to live worthy of the ancestry which is our, Worthy of them.

Cousin Julia wishes me to “notify you of this call for our centennial commemoration and give her your address.  She will try on that day to send a short telegram to you.[“]

Lovingly your cousin

Anna P Kelsey

1900 United States Federal Census
Cape Vincent, Jefferson County, New York
Ancestry.com

Amanuensis Monday: Johnson and Lindsley of Connecticut

Part Four in the transcription of hand-written notes found in the family file of BISHOP at the New York State Library in Albany.

Frederick H Johnson.  Born April 6, 1804.  Died Jan 8, 1883.

Married

Nancy Lindsley.  Born Dec 22, 1802.  Died Apr 18, 1849.

Children:

Henry H Johnson.  Born May 5 or 9, 1825.  Died Aug 21, 1878.

Harriet L Johnson.  Born Feb 9, 1830.  Died Feb 10, 1830.

Harriet L Johnson.  Born July 29, 1831.  Died Mar 10, 1835.

Herman Johnson.  Born Feb 8, 1834.  Died Mar 14, 1835.

Chauncey Johnson.  Born Dec 21, 1835.  Died Aug 1901.

Frederick L Johnson.  Born Sept 21, 1839.  Died Aug 23, 1908.

Nancy Adelia Johnson.  Born Feb 1, 1843.  Died July 26, 1914.

Augusta Cornelia Johnson.  Born Jan 15, 1845.  Died Dec 18, 1917.

Mary C Johnson.  Born Oct 22, 1848.  Died Dec 7, 1848.

Ancestry.com collection

We can search records for this family to make them more real.  The Barbour Collection is digitized at Ancestry and is a great resource for these older Connecticut families.  Frederick W Johnson of Wallingford married Nancy Lindley of North Branford on April 6, 1824.

Same Name, Different Spellings

Holbrook's City Directory for Newark, New Jersey 1895
Page 674.  Fold3.com

Helpful guidance from a century ago:

Members of the same family spell their name differently.

Final Journey from Queens to Westville?

Microfiche copied at New York State Archives in Albany

According to the New York State Death Index, Coe D Jackson died 18 July 1888.  [Middle name is Downing.]  This date is consistent with online transcriptions of his gravestone at the Jackson Family Cemetery in Wantagh, Nassau County (was Queens County in 1888), New York.  (Thank you Dyane for posting pictures of these stones!)

The problem is the location:  Westville.  There is a town called Westville in Franklin County, New York, near the Canadian border.  All of Coe's life events took place in Queens or Kings Counties, New York.  Coe's wife, Sarah Duryea, died two years earlier in Far Rockaway, Queens County, and Coe's estate was settled in Queens County.  What was he doing 350 miles away in Franklin County?

Queens County was not part of New York City in 1888, so deaths in Queens were reported to Albany.  My other thought is that Westville was a neighborhood or area in Queens whose name fell out of use.  Yet I cannot find any mention of such a place in Queens in the 1880s or 1890s.

If Coe died in Franklin County, this information can lead us to locate additional records and family that we never suspected.  We shall see where this trail takes us.

Choice of Wedding Venue

Microfiche copied at The New York State Archives in Albany

The entry for this marriage is interesting.  This is the New York State Marriage Index for 1938.  New York City maintained its own records at this period of time (and still today).  Yet the marriage of Joseph Leary to Regina Engman was recorded at the state level with New York City as the location.

Also note that this is an unfortunate indexing system for marriages, especially because you do not have quick access to the actual marriage certificates.  Only one party to the marriage is listed.  You can order the certificate for a fee and wait to see who the other person is.  Otherwise, you need to know the last name of the other person in order to verify that you have the correct people.  In this particular situation, I had the name Joseph Leary, son of Jacob Leary and Mary Sanderson.

1940 United States Federal Census
Ossining, Westchester County, New York
Ancestry.com

Jacob was 23 years old in 1940.  His wife, Regina, was 25, and they had a one year old child.  So we would look for a marriage from 1940 backwards.  December 4, 1938 fits well for this time frame.  The index entry for this marriage does not provide us with the name of Joseph's bride.  We only have Regina's first name from the 1940 census.  So how did I find Regina's corresponding entry?

I found Joseph Leary's exact day of birth in the New York State Birth Index:  February 2, 1917.  I plugged this date into my Family Tree Maker software.  Up pounced new, little, shaking leaves.  I found a family tree giving Regina's last name as Engman.  I located a Regina Engman in the index with the same date of marriage, location, and certificate number as Joseph Leary.  A match!

Then I sprinkled that family tree online with the exact date of marriage and the certificate number.