Category Archives: Paternal

Death certificates provide some, limited information

I recently wrote to the New Jersey State Archives for copies of the death certificates of Mathias Boehm and Catherine Boehm to see what information they may contain, especially regarding birth dates, birth places and parents. Unfortunately, they weren’t as descriptive as I had hoped.

What did I find out about Mathias Boehm?

  • Father’s Name: Phillipp Boehm
  • Mother’s Name: Elizabeth
  • Death Date: 25 Sep 1881
  • Age At Death: 73 years, 2 months, 4 days
  • Occupation: Privatier
  • Cause of Death: Pneumonia
  • Length of Residency: 33 years

Continue reading Death certificates provide some, limited information

Some adverts for Daniel P. Boehm, Inc.

Fresh Eggs

The area where the addresses of these adverts would be located today is nothing like it would have been in 1917 and 1919 when the business was operating. Here is an excerpt from Forgotten New York about the Washington Street markets:

Time hasn’t been kind to the southern reaches of the street named for the father of our country, as multiple construction, destruction, and construction again has sundered it to pieces beginning in the 1950s, when first the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, then the World Trade Center, and then the Independence Plaza housing complex were built in succession. Yet, bits of Washington Street are still holding firm in some areas, and a piece of it only recently was built over.

Though Washington Street runs continuously north of Hubert Street, it only runs intermittently south of that. For our first piece of Washington we look in the heart of the housing complex known as Independence Plaza, completed in 1975, which replaced most of the old Washington Market area. For over 190 years, from the 1770s through the 1960s, this was the heart of Manhattan’s produce market; goods loaded off the docks at the Hudson River would be trundled over the Belgian-blocked streets by horse and cart, later by truck, to dozens of busy wholesalers who crowded the blocks from Fulton north to Hubert and from the river to Greenwich. The original market occupied a the block formed by Washington Street, West, Fulton and Vesey. Beginning in the late 1960s, as the World Trade Center came closer to being, NYC’s wholesale produce market relocated to Hunts Point in the Bronx (where, 30 years later, the Fulton Fish Market also decamped). When these institutions left Manhattan they took some of the borough’s character with them.

Read some more about it HERE too.

This is what the area looked like in 1907:

Continue reading Some adverts for Daniel P. Boehm, Inc.

J. W. Stickney, Mutual Waterbury Hook and Ladder company

Found this little nugget in “The Town and City of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the aboriginal period to the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five

A meeting was called, September 28, 1872, in the rooms of “Phoenix, No. i,” for the purpose of forming a Hook and Ladder company, the city having before this date purchased a Leaverich truck. The company was organized with the following members:

E. L. Cook, C. L. Tinker, Charles Lawton,
I. A. Spencer, Robert Philip, E. E. Cargill,
T. D. Bassett, William Cowel, Charles Olmstead,
B. F. Merrill, Theodore Rogers, J. W. Stickney,
J. W. Gaffney, R. P. Smith, Frank White,
F. A. Hoyt, Alexander Connison, Stephen Hosier,
C. L. White, Edward Barritt, Daniel Nehemiah.
F. L. Wallace, G. W. Roberts,

The officers elected were as follows :

Foreman, Theodore D. Bassett.
First assistant. E. S. Cooke.
Second assistant, G. W. Roberts.
Secretary, R. P. Smith.
Treasurer, Imri A. Spencer.

At a meeting September 28, 1872, in the rooms of “Phoenix No. 1”, a Hook and Ladder Company was formed, the city having before this date purchased a Leaverich truck. The company took possession of its first house, on the corner of Scovill and South Main Streets in August, 1873.

For twelve years the truck was hauled to fires by the men themselves, but in 1884 an arrangement was made, by which hack horses could be used for fires occurring at a distance from the centre. In 1887 two horses were purchased for the use of the truck, and William Goucher was installed as driver. In the same year the company removed to the present house on Scovill Street under the same roof with Engine No. 2. In May, 1889, the city purchased a Preston aerial truck, sixty-five feet long, and was drawn for a time by two horses, but later it was arranged for a “three horse hitch”.

Hook and Ladder Company No. 1, was the first to adopt the regulation uniforms, it also possesses portraits in oil of all the foremen of the company up to the present time, and a large picture of the company taken in 1881.

Paying my respects to John Stickney

On a recent trip to the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts with my wife for our third wedding anniversary, I took advantage of being in South Hadley to visit to the relocated Old Burial Ground at the Evergreen Cemetery. Having rushed in preparing for a few genealogical stops on this trip, I didn’t know what the layout of the cemetery was, or where my ancestor’s headstone was in relation to the entrance.

Upon entering the cemetery, I noticed that there were many historic headstones mixed with more recent headstones throughout, so I determined I would have to look at each one in the hopes of finding the right one. After about 20 minutes or so, I thought I would check Find-a-Grave for a picture of the headstone so I would have a better idea of what I was looking for. After doing that, and noting the stones and trees in the background of the posted image, I knew it had to be on the edges.

It was about this time that I noticed over a hill an area that was set aside from everything else with a marker on a large boulder at the entrance of this hallowed ground. Sure enough, this was the relocated old burial ground. After another 20 minutes of seemingly looking at each row twice, and on the verge of giving up since it was hot and my wife and dog were patiently waiting for me on a bench at the entrance of the cemetery, I took a look at one row one last time, and that’s when I saw what I had hoped to find:

20140927_114557 Continue reading Paying my respects to John Stickney

Kindness and Wasungen

As someone who has a full-time job, a house and marital obligations, often I have to resort to lazy genealogy which amounts to plugging names and places into Google and seeing what comes up. As Google continues to add websites, digital books and more, these results change over time and are becoming more useful.

While I was googling for Wasungen–the hometown in Germany of my 2nd GGF Theodore Koch–I didn’t find anything on him, or his parents and Wasungen. So I turned to simply searching for Wasungen and found results for a website created by a certain family with historic roots in Wasungen and the surrounding area. They had done lots and lots of research, held a reunion and connected with people domestically and in Germany. So as a “shot in the dark” I emailed the person listed as the contact on the site. He replied. Continue reading Kindness and Wasungen

Tracking down Isaac Mayer’s headstone

IMG_2433Kind and generous people have become somewhat of a rarity, but they are truly a blessing when they are a part of your life. One of these people is a student at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary named Preston. He goes to my church, attends the same Bible study as me and who hails from a town near Augusta, Georgia.

When I found out that he was near Augusta, I mentioned to him my ancestor Isaac Mayer (3rd great grandfather) being from that area, and that I had recently found where he was buried – Magnolia Cemetery. Not only did he know where that was, but offered to try and find the headstone for me next time he went home. Here is some of what he wrote to me after he returned from this genealogical scavenger hunt on my behalf:

I’ve never actually been to that cemetery before, but it is a historical place so I took a lot of pictures just for fun. It turns out I have a few relatives buried there, though I don’t know where they’re buried.

About halfway through you’ll see I stumbled upon the Jewish plots (thanks to the map you sent me). The grave stones were interesting, most of them had some Hebrew on them. I haven’t translated any of it. It would be difficult for me since the vowel markings aren’t there, or put another way, the text is “unpointed.”

It took me a long time to actually find the grave, because Mayer is not a common family name in the Jewish plots at that cemetery, at least from what I saw. In fact, I only found two grave stones belonging to the Mayers, one of which is Isaac’s as best as I can tell

So you’ll see two Mayer grave stones in the last part of the album. The rectangular one says

To the memory of Benj. A. Mayer second son of Isaac & Elizabeth Mayer Born August 11th 1856 Died August 25th 1857.

The other gravestone belongs to Isaac himself. I almost didn’t even see it because it had broken and was resting face down, but I ended up flipping it over and cleaning it off. And sure enough, there it was. This is the best that I can make of what the stone says

To the memory of Issac Mayer Born March 1st 1818 at Osthofen Germany Died April 29th 1864 – Peace be to his ashes.

You’ll see on the back side some Hebrew text engraved there. I haven’t looked at it too closely, but I can perhaps find out what it says later if you want.

So, not only has my friend made this remarkable personal connection for me with the final resting place for my ancestor with pictures, but he has also helped me discover for the first time my ancestor’s hometown in Germany! Osthofen, Alzey-Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany is where he was born, and it would appear that the Family History Library in Salt Lake City has some extensive church and civil records for this region. One scavenger hunt, as expected, has led to another! However, with Isaac being Jewish, it is unclear whether or not any records remain. The Nazis burned the synagogue to the ground in 1938, and the Jews in town were either murdered or driven out. My hope probably lies in civil records, though there is a Jewish cemetery in Osthofen that also may hold clues.

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Gibson’s Cane

This story is from The August Chronicle dated October 29, 1876. If you have any information on the whereabouts of the referenced cane, I would love to hear from you. Isaac Mayer, who brought the cane from Germany and gave it to Judge Gibson, was my 3rd great grandfather.

GIBSON’S CANE

Restored to Its Owner After a Long Separation.

We find the following in the Atlanta Constitution, of yesterday:

The morning after Gov. Smith’s speech in Augusta, your reporter was sitting quietly in the law office of Thos. H. Gibson, when in came the Souther Express man with a walking cane, labeled “From D. H. Chase, for T. H. Gibson, Augusta, Ga.”

Mr. Gibson received it, and stated that it had an interesting history. He went on to say that in the Summer of 1861, while the First Georgia Regiment was stationed at Laurel Hill, in West Viriginia, Judge Gibson visited it. While there the army under General Garnett was forced to retreat before McClellan’s forces. And at the battle of Corrick’s ford, on Cheat river, Gen. Garnett was killed, our baggage train captured, and with it the Judge’s walking cane. A member of the Ninth Indiana Volunteers got it and kept it for several years, when he gave it to Col. R. P. Dehart, who several months ago gave it to Judge D. H. Chase, of Loganport, Indiana.

The latter a few weeks ago wrote to Mr. M. S. Kean, a prominent dry goods merchant of this city, and who was taken prisoner and fell into the hands of Captain Chase, at the Corrick ford fight, stating he had in his possession a cane captured at that fight, and supposing it was General Garnett’s, wanted to know how he could find the owner. On the 18th instant Mr. T. H. Gibson wrote to Captain Chase, describing the stick his father had lost, and the 24th instant received a reply that the stick described was the one he had, and he would forward it immediately by express, and it arrived this morning. The cane was the more highly appreciated and valued by Judge Gibson by reason of the fact that it was a present to him from a very warm friend, now deceased, Mr. Isaac Mayer, a former citizen and merchant of this place, who brought it from Germany.

Original story as a PDF.

John Stickney, musician and composer

stickney-music3

My 6th great grandfather (paternal), John Stickney, was born in 1742/1744 in Stoughton, Norfolk, Massachusetts, and died in South Hadley, Massachusetts in 1804. Here is some fascinating information about his life as a musician:

STICKNEY, John, musician, b. in Stoughton, Mass., in 1742; d. in South Hadley, Mass., in 1826. He was taught music while a boy, and subsequently settled in Hatfield, where he gave lessons. Later he travelled extensively through the New England states, and acquired reputation as a teacher and composer, but finally settled in South Hadley, where he continued his teaching. He published “The Gentlemen and Ladies’ Musical Companion” (Newburyport, 1774), a valuable collection of psalms and anthems, together with explanatory rules for learning to sing.

Source:  Appleton’s Cyclopædia of American Biography, Volume 5, edited by James Grant Wilson, John Fiske. LINK

And also this:

In 1774 John Stickney, teacher of music, published at Newburyport, Massachusetts, “The Gentlemen and Ladies’ Musicial Companion,” a small, but in its time a very valuable collection of psalms and anthems, together with explanatory rules for learning to sing; the whole corrected and rendered plain by the author. John Stickney was born in Stoughton, Massachusetts, in 1742; and while a butcher boy he learned the new style of music, near boston, of one Dunbar; went to Hatfield, and there taught the new music to all such as desired to learn it, and afterwards taught in all the principal towns in that region, but not without much opposition from those who preferred the old style, or that of the Pilgrims. For many years the wife of Mr. Stickney taught music with him, she being a very excellent singer, and having a powerful voice; she travelled with him from place to place, and was an excellent assistant. They finally settled at South Hadley, and continued to teach until John was sixty-five years old. Mr. Stickney died in 1826. His book was printed by Daniel Bailey, of Newburyport, who printed many of the early collections. The music was engraved, and is like other specimens of that time.

SourceComplete Encyclopædia of Music: Elementary, Technical, Historical, Biographical, Vocal, and Instrumental. John Weeks Moore (J. P. Jewett, 1854) – LINK

 And finally this from Daniel T.V. Huntoon’s History of The Town of Canton, Massachusetts (1893), CHAPTER XVIII :

Rev. Theron Brown says “the ancient town of Stoughton, which included the present Canton, was the cradle of New England middle-age psalmody, – that strange, quaint, minor mode, with its ‘ down, up ‘ time and its complicated fugues, whose most characteristic specimens are now presented and performed as musical curiosities. ‘ Portland ‘ and ‘ Lenox ‘ and ‘ Windham,” Lebanon ‘ and ‘ Majesty,’ ‘ New Jerusalem ‘ and the ‘ Easter Anthem,’ were all born upon the soil; and the familiar Canton names of Capen, Tilden, Tolman, French, Dickerman, and Belcher appeared ninety years ago on the list of the singing class of William Billings.” Long before the singing-school of Billings, a young man named Elijah Dunbar learned while going through Harvard College, in addition to his Greek and Latin, the art of reading music. On his graduation in 1760, he returned to his native town and at once organized a singing-school and gave to his neighbors the benefit of his knowledge.

In 1762 I learn from the ” History of Dorchester ” that” there was a singing meeting at Stoughton,” and two years later I have evidence that there was an organization in working order for the purpose of practising in vocal music. This was the year the small-pox visited Canton, and it was deemed expedient to send word to the Bridgewater singers who were wont to attend not to come over. Singing meetings were held at the houses of neighbors; sometimes it would appear that they had ” prodigious jangling.” On the 13th of December, 1764, when William Billings was married to Mary Leonard, there were more than forty persons at the wedding, and the singing must have been very fine. Mr. John Stickney seems to have known something about the art, for when Jesse Billings came from Hatfield, and wanted some one to teach them to sing, Stickney went to their assistance. In 1766 ” our singers are at Mr. Adams’s.” John Kenney, a fine bass singer, went with Elijah Dunbar to Boston to buy new books the same year; and they on March 19 ” draw books and sing the old 50th the first time.” On Feb. ri, 1767, the Braintree singers came to Canton, but got into a religious discussion and had ” a remarkable time;” subsequently they met at the old May tavern on March 9, all the differences were made up, and ” there seems to be great love and harmony.” On August 4, they have in the old gambrel-roofed house still standing at Ponkapoag ” sweet singing at Elijah Crane’s,” and on the 24th ” fine fidling.” In 1770 new books were introduced; and on the 2 ist of December, they were used in the house of Samuel Capen for the first time. During the interval from the year 1764 to 1774, the principal persons belonging to this society, or the persons at whose houses they met, were: Elijah Dun-bar, Elijah Crane, Squire Dickerman, John Stickney, John Kenney, Samuel Capen, Enoch Leonard, John McKendry, Thomas Crane, Henry Stone, Theophilus Lyon, Robert Redman, George Blackman, Philip Liscom, Asahel Smith, Samuel Tilden, Wadsworth Talbot, Abner Crane, William Patrick, Benjamin Gill, Jeremiah Ingraham, John Withington.

In 1774 William Billings, then twenty-eight years of age, gave instruction in music, or, as they would have said, taught a singing-school in the tavern of Robert Capen. He interested the young people of Stoughton in his work, inspired them with his own enthusiasm, organized them into choirs, taught them to despise foreign music, especially that of England, and jumbled religion and patriotism into his stanzas with such a grace that he became the most successful organizer of music in America.