Tonight I thought I would treat myself and have dinner out. Usually, to stay on my diet and within my budget, I have a wrap or a salad for lunch and dinner at McDonalds or Subway. This let's me get by on ~ $10 per day for food. However, since I hadn't eaten out since Aunt Louise's I figuered I could splurge. I might also find another single person or traveler to talk to. So I hoofed it down the street a few blocks to a nice looking restaurant. Once seated, I realized what a creature of habit I am. I chose an Italian, family restaurant. Prices were reasonable, within walking distance but - you guessed it - everyone there was part of a family. Now the restaurant did have a bar but it seemed rather noisy and it Never occurred to me that perhaps I should ask to be seated in the bar if I wanted to meet someone else. But, I had a nice dinner. Didn't read my book. Looked around at the interesting decor - a spent a lot of time laughing at myself.
OK - genealogy. I found ggg grandparents Phillip and Catherina Mehrhof waiting for me in the St. Peter's Lutheran Cemetery on Verona Mills Road. Didn't even take more than 5 minutes to locate their graves and several others - since they were right in front! The gravestone is a bit hard to read but here it is.
Phillip Mehrhof: b March 1803, d. 2 April 1869
Catharina D. Mehrhof: b 28 April 1798, d. 1 May 1870
Phillip arrived in the US in 1841, Catherine arrived in 1844 with sons Peter, Nicolas, and Phillip - b, 1836, 1830, 1839 in Germany). Armenia Mehrhof Tukey was the first child of Peter Mehrhof and Helen Christina Dick and was born in Higginsville, Verona Twnsp, NY.
There was also a John W? Mehrhof grave. I have never heard of him but he was a bit older than Phillip. (b. 1794, d. 1862). Maybe he was an older brother/cousin and perhaps this was a reason for Phillip moving to Oneida County after spending 15 years in the Croton-on-Hudson area. We have no information on this older generation that immigrated from Germany. More research to do!
Then it was back to the Oneida County Historical Society - housed in the basement of an old church. I combed through a lot of records but didn't find much on our Mehrhofs since they were in the area less than 10 years. However, I did find an 1859 an Oneida County directory for Higginsville, NY, Verona township. It lists Daniel Mehrhof (age 65-born in 1804) - another brother or cousin? He was living on lot 120 and was a farmer. Nicolas Mehrhof age 74 (another brother or cousin? - b. 1795) was living on lot 118 and was a boatman and farmer. Phillip Mehrhof (our ggg grandfather) was age 63, a farmer, and living on lot 119. The archivist had an old county map (6 ft and 8 ft) that had to be unrolled and handled with white gloves. Using a magnifying glass, sure enough, here were each of these individuals with their names attached to the lot numbers. There was also a store listed in Higginsville - C. Snyder and Mehrhof - right at the edge of Daniel M's property. Made a copy of that section of the map!
I also did some looking for the "Dick" family (Armenia's mother). We have no informationn on them. However, there is a Heinrich Dick (age 38 in 1852) who applied for and received his naturalization papers in 1837 in Oneida County which would make him about the right age (30) to be Helen Christina's father. LOTS more research to do. No opportunity to go back to Verona to search out a birth record for Armenia. However, I have the clerk's name and address so will write her for that information as well as researching marriage information for Peter and Helen Christina and a birth record for Helen C.
Tomorrow - Herkimer, NY to research/find the birth record for Roxanna Peabody - Ezra Coats' wife then on to Kingston (on the Hudson near the Catskills).
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