Road Trip: Warwick, New York

For years, I had searched for the date and location of death of Rene Marion Duryea, wife of Eugene Cook.  They were living in Caldwell, Essex County, New Jersey in the 1930s.

1933 The Price & Lee Co. Directory
Montclair, Bloomfield, Caldwell, Essex Fells, Glen Ridge, Verona, Cedar Grove

Eugene died in Florida in 1979, survived by a second wife.  So where was the record of Rene Marion’s death?

One hindrance was the name.  She was known as Marion, but the family was surprised to discover that she was Rene for the first few decades of her life.  Rene was a popular female name on her father’s side; Marion was from her mother’s side.

The family story was that Marion died, was cremated, but not buried until her father died a few years later; they were buried together at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, Westchester County, New York.  Marion’s father was buried in March of 1944.  The problem was that the cemetery had a record of his burial, but not hers.  “The cemetery didn’t know we slid her ashes into his arms,” was the reason given for not finding a record.

Burial record from Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.  The year is 1944.
When the century is omitted, the records can become confusing.

Until recently, New Jersey death records were not searchable for my target time frame of the early 1940s.  I had to request a search by mail, which did not uncover a death certificate.  I did not know if this was because of a mix up with “Rene” versus “Marion,” or if Cook was spelled with a final E.  The slightest variation from your request could result in no record found.

An index for Florida death records is available online at Ancestry.com for the years 1877-1998.  There is no shortage of Cook findings, but nothing seemed like a good match for Rene Marion.

This year, New Jersey death records for the years 1941-1946 became searchable at The Archives in Trenton.  I looked under Duryea, Cook, Cooke, Marion, Rene, but found nothing.  It’s best to search yourself because you are aware of name variants and the little details that distinguish your records from others.

Then an observation by a relative gave me the lead I needed.  We were going through a box of family pictures.  The pictures are mostly of houses, buildings, cars, animals; few people.  A large picture of a house on a lake caught my eye.  The back of the picture was blank.

“Oh, that’s the house in Warwick,” was the answer to my query, which prompted more queries.

I hopped online to see what I could find out.  Warwick is in Orange County, New York.  It’s not where I would have thought to look for Rene Marion, but it’s close enough to Caldwell that I should try it.  The Albert Wisner Library website had an online index of obituaries from local papers that covered my target time frame.  There was a good match for Rene Marion’s death.

Online Index to Obituaries

So to Warwick I went.

The Albert Wisner Library had two local newspapers and both carried an obituary for Rene Marion Cook.  I had finally located a date and place of death.

Warwick Advertiser
3 June 1943

Next I visited the town clerk for a copy of the death certificate.  If you have to travel a great distance or you have limited time, you may want to call ahead to make sure that the town possesses death certificates and if someone will be available to retrieve the information.

No specific address was listed, so I can’t tell you if the house in the picture was Rene Marion’s house.

Grave Visit

I found an unexpected visitor to a gravesite today.

Hurricane Irene caused a tree to fall on the Bossert family grave at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Montclair, Essex County, New Jersey.

A deer was napping under the newly formed shelter.  She woke up when I approached.

This is the grave before Hurrican Irene.

Free Access to Travel Records at Ancestry through September 5th!!!

Ancestry.com is offering free access to its "Immigration and Travel Collection" through September 5th.  I recommend searching for people from every branch in your tree, regardless of when you think they immigrated to the United States.  Your ancestors may have taken a cruise to Bermuda or visited relatives (surprise!) in Poland and needed a passport.  Applications for passports may include a photograph, such as the one below.

Who wouldn't love to find this picture of their ancestors?

The application may have included additional documents explaining the purpose of the trip.

This supplemental letter to this family's application explains why they moved to Belgium, as well as a parent's name.

Other applications may provide dates and locations of births, deaths, marriages, and residences, where you can then look for additional records.

These few sentences provide a date and place of birth, immigration date, residence,
and date and location of citizenship documents.

Mystery Cousin

A close genetic match has appeared in my Relative Finder at 23andme.  He matches 5% over 15 segments, which indicates that he is somewhere between a 1st and a 2nd cousin.  (For reference, I share 50% with each parent over 24 segments.)

This is very exciting- BUT this person has not responded to requests for communication!

All I can see about him is that he reported that he lives in the United States.  His haplogroups tell me that he is not a direct descendant on my father's strict paternal and maternal lines and not a direct descendant on my mother's direct maternal line.  I cannot tell which parent he matches because he is too close a relation (1st cousin or closer) to be revealed in the corresponding account.  His account should have an icon for him to press to reveal his close relation.

This is frustrating and disappointing.  This person may be from an entirely unknown branch.  Genetic databases such as the one at 23andme hold the promise of uniting lost family members.  The downside is that most people in the database, for whatever reason, do not participate in the communication necessary to uncover the connections.  My father has 540 genetic relatives in the database.  Contact has been requested of all of them, but 415 have not responded.

I can submit DNA specimens for more relatives under separate accounts and see who else he matches.  There is a cost factor involved with this method, and he still may remain a mystery.

Free DNA testing for 10,000 African Americans?

I'm seeing online mentions of an initiative to increase DNA testing of African Americans by 23andme.  The homepage does not mention this program, so here is the link.  It would seem that the testing, which is not available yet, is free of charge.  I don't know how much genealogical service is included with the free service, such as Relative Finder and notification of new matches.  I submitted an email address to be notified of developments.