Go Trenton! I had an easy drive from Red Bank to Trenton through horse country, past golf courses, and along winding roads with only the last 15 miles on the interstate. No tolls, no high bridges, a lovely river (the Delaware).
I easily found the NJ state archives. They are truly set up for visitors. The security people guide you to the elevators and point out the quickest way to get from one building to the next. The Archives staff are delightful women who are cheerful, up beat and ready to help or anticipate any concern. I was able to look through a lot of materials finally settling on copying the wills for Philip Cox Sr. and Jr., Moses Sutton (maybe our Moses Sutton's grandfather but I have to decipher the writing), and David Sutton (Moses' father). I hope these provide the documentation I need to verify the intergenerational lines.
I then found Julia Dodge Tukey's will. I was unable to find it at the Bergen County Surrogate's office last week. Her husband's (Stephen H.) will is very short and lacks detail. On the other hand, Julia's will names all 8 of her children, appoints her daughter Isabella as executor and guardian for the youngest son Roy, and details their various building lots in Ridgefield Park which Isabelle may sell as she sees fit. The probate records also includes a death certificate. In another microfilm record, I retrieved the marriage certificate for Armenia and James Tukey. An altogether satisfying day topped with realizing the parking garage next to the archives is free to visitors!!!
Tomorrow I head to Philadelphia to begin looking for Atkinson relations.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Day 85
Look at this - an early blog. First time in 85 days!
Tom and Carol's son Jonathan (age 27) took charge (and his mother's car) and drove me to NYC! We first retrieved my driver's license from the Bergen County Surrogate's office. Amazing how some of those high bridges aren't so bad when someone else is driving.
Then Jonathan tackled the heart of New York. Through the dreaded Lincoln Tunnel we went emerging into - Manhattan. Somehow I thought we were going straight to Brooklyn but then I have been geographically challenged this entire trip. We wound through the part of the theater district and ended up on the water. Now I know that Manhattan is an island but I just didn't expect for docks and waterways to appear before me at the end of a street. A left turn and down the length of the city we went. Quick glimpses of the Statue of Liberty and a long slow drive past ground zero. Very sobering especially given the 9th anniversary just this weekend.
Over a bridge and ramps and look - Brooklyn. Again, not what I expected. There are homes and neighborhoods. No tall buildings. People actually have a small community lifestyle within a large city. Any other time I have been to NYC, I never saw this side of living. We came to the Greenwood Cemetery, and came to the Greenwood Cemetery and kept going around the Greenwood Cemetery. Finally the main entrance complete with guard (see photo), kiosk for locating your relative by name or plot number, and printer to provide maps - to the correct section and then within the section. Jonathan, who is NOT directionally challenged, took us to the correct area. Up the hill we climbed and there were Stephen H and Julia Dodge Tukey, my gg grandparents. I think we now have photos of the all the direct line Tukey grave sites from my dad's generation back to the original John Tukey. Yeh!!
From Brooklyn, we crossed the Verrazano Bridge to Staten Island where we found Jonathan's favorite pizza place for lunch. Yum! We are now back in Red Bank in time for laundry, grant writing and preparing dinner (Tom and Carol are both working today). It has been another lovely day on the road. Tomorrow - the state archives in Trenton!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Day 84
Just a short blog tonight. I spent the day "at home." Tom and Carol ripped tile off the walls in the kitchen in preparation for some kitchen renovation. I paid bills, did as much grant work as possible given the lack of info from clients, and labeled photos from yesterday. Delicious dinner tonight using a recipe for pork roast courtesy of cousin Harold III. Then Jonathan arrived home from his week in Pennsylvania.
In the midst of all the Sutton and Cox data this afternoon, I found a really good article with lots of citations that helped clarify the Cox lineage. Bottom line, Coxes and Suttons intermarried several times and Susannah Cox (who married Moses Sutton and moved to PA and Ohio) was the granddaughter and great-great-granddaughter of Isaac Cox. Two different children of his from two different wives had progeny that married to produce Susannah. I don't know whether to be excited about having fewer details to put in the database or more concerned because we could all be mental defectives!
Jonathan and I are off to Brooklyn in the morning. He promises no bridges on the way to the cemetery
In the midst of all the Sutton and Cox data this afternoon, I found a really good article with lots of citations that helped clarify the Cox lineage. Bottom line, Coxes and Suttons intermarried several times and Susannah Cox (who married Moses Sutton and moved to PA and Ohio) was the granddaughter and great-great-granddaughter of Isaac Cox. Two different children of his from two different wives had progeny that married to produce Susannah. I don't know whether to be excited about having fewer details to put in the database or more concerned because we could all be mental defectives!
Jonathan and I are off to Brooklyn in the morning. He promises no bridges on the way to the cemetery
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Day 83
Another beautiful day on the east coast with clear skies and bright sun as the country remembered 9/11. The local community was out in force at the park with police, fire trucks and families of all ages gathering.
I left Tom and Carol's about 9:30 makin
g my way to Costco for replacement sunglasses and then on to Westfield, NJ, mom's childhood town. Westfield is charming. The downtown maintains the old store fronts while incorporating upscale shops. The neighborhoods are kid friendly with lovely homes - a great place to grow up. 713 Prospect Street is nicely maintained wi
th colorful flowers out front. 540 Elm Street is a bit more overgrown. The vegetation makes taking a great photograph a challenge. I did knock on the door to ask permission to photograph the house but no one was home so I took pictures anyway.
While in Westfield, I stopped at Barnes and Noble to find a book with old area photographs. The store no longer carried the book but one in Edgewater did. I figured it couldn't be too far so I plugged the address into Fiona and we were off. The traffic wasn't heavy but the route was complicated. Fiona fired directions like a drill sergeant with a machine gun. Off exits onto thruways, under bypasses and onto ramps. I really don't like high bridges with low railings and nothing between you and the ground 70 feet below. But over we went moving ever closer to - Newark. The skyline from the top of bridges is lovely - but I really DON'T like those high bridges. Meanwhile, we are getting close to the Lincoln Tunnel exit. I figure I made a mistake, got off at ann exit, and Fiona whipped me into shape. Back towards the Lincoln tunnel I went. Now I don't know where Edgewater is but the Lincoln tunnel and NYC is not in the plan just for a book. Abandon ship! Turn off Fiona. Take any exit. And now I am GOING OVER ONE OF THOSE BRIDGES I REALLY HATE with a great view (ha!) of some river and the cranes and docks of Newark but I am headed west away from the Lincoln tunnel.
Of course without Fiona, I am on some two lane industrial road with trucks, large barricades, pots holes - hey, look at the cool cemetery - if I could just get through that construction site and the pigeons.... Well, maybe next time.
I finally pull into the parking lot at an Asian market and breathe. Fiona comes to life and I plug in the address of the Somerset County Historical Society. Wow - it will take an hour and 15 minutes to get there. 30 minutes later the exit for Westfield whizzes by. Hmmm - maybe I should have made a different choice about 2 hours ago. Finally, at 1:30 I arrive at a restored 1723 home in back of an industrial park next to a swamp (forgive me, marsh). I sign in at the front desk (unmanned) and go upstairs to great the 3 individuals who didn't even know I had come in. Collectively, their ages are more than 200 years but they are excited to see me as it breaks up their four hour stint (this is a twice a month effort). I let them know I am looking for Suttons and Coxes. They pull out books, read pamphlets, locate vertical files. Information is coming at me faster than I can photograph the pages. There is no time to read. Bottom line, I had 3 researchers working on our family for two hours. It was great. We now have moved those two lines from the mid-1700s to 1600 England sorting out cousins, brothers, and property. Interesting points:
I left Tom and Carol's about 9:30 makin
g my way to Costco for replacement sunglasses and then on to Westfield, NJ, mom's childhood town. Westfield is charming. The downtown maintains the old store fronts while incorporating upscale shops. The neighborhoods are kid friendly with lovely homes - a great place to grow up. 713 Prospect Street is nicely maintained wi
th colorful flowers out front. 540 Elm Street is a bit more overgrown. The vegetation makes taking a great photograph a challenge. I did knock on the door to ask permission to photograph the house but no one was home so I took pictures anyway.While in Westfield, I stopped at Barnes and Noble to find a book with old area photographs. The store no longer carried the book but one in Edgewater did. I figured it couldn't be too far so I plugged the address into Fiona and we were off. The traffic wasn't heavy but the route was complicated. Fiona fired directions like a drill sergeant with a machine gun. Off exits onto thruways, under bypasses and onto ramps. I really don't like high bridges with low railings and nothing between you and the ground 70 feet below. But over we went moving ever closer to - Newark. The skyline from the top of bridges is lovely - but I really DON'T like those high bridges. Meanwhile, we are getting close to the Lincoln Tunnel exit. I figure I made a mistake, got off at ann exit, and Fiona whipped me into shape. Back towards the Lincoln tunnel I went. Now I don't know where Edgewater is but the Lincoln tunnel and NYC is not in the plan just for a book. Abandon ship! Turn off Fiona. Take any exit. And now I am GOING OVER ONE OF THOSE BRIDGES I REALLY HATE with a great view (ha!) of some river and the cranes and docks of Newark but I am headed west away from the Lincoln tunnel.
Of course without Fiona, I am on some two lane industrial road with trucks, large barricades, pots holes - hey, look at the cool cemetery - if I could just get through that construction site and the pigeons.... Well, maybe next time.
I finally pull into the parking lot at an Asian market and breathe. Fiona comes to life and I plug in the address of the Somerset County Historical Society. Wow - it will take an hour and 15 minutes to get there. 30 minutes later the exit for Westfield whizzes by. Hmmm - maybe I should have made a different choice about 2 hours ago. Finally, at 1:30 I arrive at a restored 1723 home in back of an industrial park next to a swamp (forgive me, marsh). I sign in at the front desk (unmanned) and go upstairs to great the 3 individuals who didn't even know I had come in. Collectively, their ages are more than 200 years but they are excited to see me as it breaks up their four hour stint (this is a twice a month effort). I let them know I am looking for Suttons and Coxes. They pull out books, read pamphlets, locate vertical files. Information is coming at me faster than I can photograph the pages. There is no time to read. Bottom line, I had 3 researchers working on our family for two hours. It was great. We now have moved those two lines from the mid-1700s to 1600 England sorting out cousins, brothers, and property. Interesting points:
- Philip Cox Sr. and Jr. were buried on their property with other family members. The mini-cemetery became forgotten in a field and their gravestones used as door stops and paving stones. About 30 years ago, the county purchased the old farm area and ignored historical information to create a new roadway extension. Philip Cox, Jr., was one of the township's first Road Commissioners, and is now buried beneath a road and the tombstones are amongst the missing.
- There were two branches of the Sutton family living in Somerset County at the same time. Thanks to some detailed research, we can sort them out and know which ones were our ancestors who moved to PA and Ohio. Interestingly, Suttons were Quakers who moved from Puritan-based Massachusetts in the 1600s and then disagreed on religion. One branch became Presbyterian, one became Baptist. I'm not sure which we are - not enough time to read all the documents.
As the library closed, I thanked the wonderful elders and headed back to Red Bank. Tom, bless his heart, helped me download the 100+ photos I had taken of the historical documents, clean them and then print them so I can piece together the family lines without having 16 files up on the computer screen.
I'll let you know if I find out anything new tomorrow.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Day 82
It is so nice being with Tom and Carol. They have a lovely home in Red Bank, NJ with 2/3 acre of land, deer in the backyard and a very comfy guest bed.
Leaving the cemetery, I drove to the Ridgefield Park Town Hall looking for vital records. No luck. Nothing is available since 9/11. I went on to the Bergen County Surrogate Court to look for probate records. This is a convoluted system in which you look up the docket number in a large index. You then request the Case number and after much effort and stern language from the clerk you receive a group of microfilm reels. The reels must be left on the appropriate table where you may access them one at a time, returning each one to a different basket after it has been scanned. In the scanning process, you locate the case record. Within each case are a series of documents - will, probate, petition, appraisals, guardianships, etc. Each of those documents comes with a volume letter or number and page number. When you have all the cases perused and have noted all the case documents you wish to see, the clerk's assistant staggers to the back to retrieve more microfilm. Again, you can only read the reels one at a time and must return them to the appropriate bin before starting the next one.
I drove back to Hackensack this morning . On the way north I had a glorious view of the NYC skyline - no smog just clear skies and beautiful buildings.
I then made my way to the Maple Grove Cemetery. The whole Mehrhof contingent was waiting. They are conveniently place between the two entrance gates right near the front. All three brothers - Nicholas, Peter, and Philip (all born in the 1830s in Germany) and t
heir wives are buried here. A number of children are as well. The graves are well preserved and tended. Each brother has a large obelisk or monument. Next to Peter and his beloved wife Helen are the graves of our great-grandparents - James and Armenia Tukey. Yes, James IS here. The list of grave sites I have must have been compiled before he died. It is nice to have them together.
heir wives are buried here. A number of children are as well. The graves are well preserved and tended. Each brother has a large obelisk or monument. Next to Peter and his beloved wife Helen are the graves of our great-grandparents - James and Armenia Tukey. Yes, James IS here. The list of grave sites I have must have been compiled before he died. It is nice to have them together.Leaving the cemetery, I drove to the Ridgefield Park Town Hall looking for vital records. No luck. Nothing is available since 9/11. I went on to the Bergen County Surrogate Court to look for probate records. This is a convoluted system in which you look up the docket number in a large index. You then request the Case number and after much effort and stern language from the clerk you receive a group of microfilm reels. The reels must be left on the appropriate table where you may access them one at a time, returning each one to a different basket after it has been scanned. In the scanning process, you locate the case record. Within each case are a series of documents - will, probate, petition, appraisals, guardianships, etc. Each of those documents comes with a volume letter or number and page number. When you have all the cases perused and have noted all the case documents you wish to see, the clerk's assistant staggers to the back to retrieve more microfilm. Again, you can only read the reels one at a time and must return them to the appropriate bin before starting the next one.
By this time, I figured I was only going to look at a couple of records. I found Stephen H. Tukey's will as well as Julia Tukey's and Nicholas Mehrhof''s. After reading through the records, I wanted to make copies of three of the documents. Oops - they forgot to tell me. I can't just request the copies, the beleaguered assistant clerk has to look at the microfilm records herself and count the pages, in case you had lost your mind squinting at the small screen and could no longer count to 3. With all paperwork complete, I went next door, paid my money to two more overworked individuals who assured me the copies will be mailed in 7-10 days. What should have been a one hour search took four plus I have no driver's license because they forgot to return it to me when I turned in all the microfilm. I have to go back on Monday. Oh well.
It was getting late in the afternoon. I made my way south to Little Ferry, trying to get close to where the old brickyards used to be. It is nearly impossible. The area is mostly industrial making it difficult to sneak around the chain link fences. After an hour, I gave up. I need to get a boat and look at the area from the river. Don't think that will happen.
The traffic headed out of the city was pretty reasonable given that I left the area at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon. Of course I did get myself into the express lane which shunted me 10 miles past Tom and Carol's but I was still back by 6pm. Carol made a wonderful dinner. Great conversation and now I am ready for bed. To Westfield tomorrow!
Day 81a
Here are the photos I wanted to publish last night. I am using Tom's internet which is much better than my Verizon which is struggling to connect.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Day 81
What a fun day this was. I spent several hours working on a grant proposal and finally got to the Ridgewood library about 11:30. I found a map of the Little Ferry and Ridgefield areas from 1868 but Peter Mehrhof didn't buy the brickyard property until 1871. The research librarian and I then went to the storeroom for a 1912 map. There was the brickyard in Little Ferry with the Mehrhof houses lined up not too far away. This map should help me locate the brickyard site tomorrow when I head back that direction.
I then looked through a number of surname and vertical files but no luck on additional Tukey or Mehrhof information. However, opening a book on Ridgefield Park, I came across wonderful photos. There are several of the Mehrhof mansion and various groups of people who have familiar names. One photo is of the 4th of July organizing committee. Walter Townsend, (who married Zeo Mehrhof), Edward F. Tukey (brother of James Bradford) and Morton Brewster (who married Julie Tukey) were all featured. Then a great photo of junior and senior high students in 1891. Zeo Mehrhof (age 14), Edith Mehrhof (age 12), Arthur Tukey (age 11), Helen Ravekes (whose brother Oliver married Lucinda Mehrhof), and Mable Brewster (Morton's sister) are all there. These individuals are the brothers, sisters, and brothers and sisters-in-law of James and Armenia our great-grandparents. I even found a track team photo with Willoughby Chapman (who married Marion Tukey - grandpa's sister). Sorry for the lack of photos in this post - they are taking more than 30 min. to load so I will try again another day.
After all that excitement, I started in on an index of wills and probate records. No luck finding a will for Peter Mehrhof. However, I found Stephen H. Tukey's will in Bergen County because he lived in Ridgefield Park even though buried in Brooklyn. Then in Somerset County (further south), I found probate documents for Suttons and Coxes. These are early ancestors of the Suttons who moved from NJ to southwestern PA and then on to Ohio. I hope to make copies of the wills next week in Trenton. Now if I could only find where Davenports came from in NJ.....
Tomorrow - the cemetery!
I then looked through a number of surname and vertical files but no luck on additional Tukey or Mehrhof information. However, opening a book on Ridgefield Park, I came across wonderful photos. There are several of the Mehrhof mansion and various groups of people who have familiar names. One photo is of the 4th of July organizing committee. Walter Townsend, (who married Zeo Mehrhof), Edward F. Tukey (brother of James Bradford) and Morton Brewster (who married Julie Tukey) were all featured. Then a great photo of junior and senior high students in 1891. Zeo Mehrhof (age 14), Edith Mehrhof (age 12), Arthur Tukey (age 11), Helen Ravekes (whose brother Oliver married Lucinda Mehrhof), and Mable Brewster (Morton's sister) are all there. These individuals are the brothers, sisters, and brothers and sisters-in-law of James and Armenia our great-grandparents. I even found a track team photo with Willoughby Chapman (who married Marion Tukey - grandpa's sister). Sorry for the lack of photos in this post - they are taking more than 30 min. to load so I will try again another day.
After all that excitement, I started in on an index of wills and probate records. No luck finding a will for Peter Mehrhof. However, I found Stephen H. Tukey's will in Bergen County because he lived in Ridgefield Park even though buried in Brooklyn. Then in Somerset County (further south), I found probate documents for Suttons and Coxes. These are early ancestors of the Suttons who moved from NJ to southwestern PA and then on to Ohio. I hope to make copies of the wills next week in Trenton. Now if I could only find where Davenports came from in NJ.....
Tomorrow - the cemetery!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)