Success

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Tonight I went to the Family History to view the film that had come in from Salt Lake City. The film had Joseph Hartmann's Death Certificate on it. I now have his parent's name, well I cannot read his mother's maiden name. His Dad was Fritz the mother is Anna. Joseph is buried in Lutheran Cemetery.
So far I cannot find his grave or an obit, but maybe on another day.
Check out how they spelled his occupation. I took a picture of the certificate while it was in the viewer as well as a digital imagine. I'm glad I took the picture, it is almost easier to read. One of the most important parts and the writing is faint and has fancy letters.


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This is the picture with my camera where his parents names are.

Wordless Wednesday

My Dad Elementary School Graduation, St Fidelis, February 1926. He told us he was the last class to graduate from that Catholic Elementary School.


What he wrote on the back of the card the picture is mounted on. I never heard those stories.

Steinway Avenue

I have spent the morning checking out websites about Long Island City, Astoria, Queens, New York and looking up Steinway Pianos. I found this cool picture and I wonder is this the part of Steinway Avenue that had Great Grandpa's Saloon was on? Who knows? I don't know and I'm sure about that. I'm going to have to spend some more time at this web site the Greater Astoria Historical Society and see if I can learn some more history about the area. Lots of smoke stacks in a lot of the pictures I saw of the area back at the turn of century, the 20th that is. The air couldn't have been clean.

The latest on Joseph

Maybe I should rename this post gratitude for the letter my Great Uncle Fred sent me. If I didn't have this letter I won't be able to connect the dots as well as I have. Thank You Uncle Fred for taking the time to write me.

No great finds yesterday at the Family History center but another connection. I found a 1912 Long Island City, New York Directory. On one page I found three Hartmanns, Fredrick a son and a conductor. Isn't it interesting that your occupation was listed in the city directory. Joseph liquors and Peter produce.
I did find another directory page for 1912 which was businesses only and I found Joseph Hartmann listed at the same address with the words liquors. I didn't make a copy since it was the same info just on another type of page.


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Now look at the information I have from Uncle Fred's letter. Joseph owned and operated a beer saloon at 710 Steinway Ave. The three sons worked for him and delivered beer to the employees of the renowned Steinway Piano Factory nearby. Fredrick later worked for the Third Ave Railway CO. The next paragraph talks about Pete, he would go to the market very early in the AM, purchase vegetables and such and then peddle them via horse and wagon to the public.

The more I think about it the more I think this was a pretty good find!!

One small step for me and my ancestors.

Timeline of Joseph Hartmann

I have made this time line of Joseph's life with the facts I now know. There are a Lot of holes to fill in. I didn't have any success finding anything new today on him. I guess I can't have luck all the time. I asked if my film was available that I ordered last Saturday. I really didn't think it would be ready and it wasn't there this morning. Of course I came home in the afternoon and there was a message on the answering machine that it is in. Luckily my friend Kay and I have plans to Wednesday evening.

Maybe I Found a New Relative

Well he isn't really new, I knew he was out there, but I made a connection today. I was re-reading my great uncle Fred's letter. I have had this letter since 1978. When I first became interested in Genealogy I asked my Dad for some names to ask about the family and I wrote them letters asking questions. As tight lipped as my Dad was about his family, I'm kind of surprised he gave me any names. I really don't know this great uncle Fred but he graciously answered me. I regret that I didn't stay in touch but I went on a mission came home etc, etc.
Here is a picture of the letter, where he mentions my Great Grandpa Joseph, his sons and the oldest son Peter, his wife & children. Notice my old yellow highlighter.


Two Saturdays ago when I found my Great Grandpa Joseph on the 1900 census, & my grandfather George as a son. I notice right under my grandfather a Peter Hartmann. I wondered if this could have been the oldest son of Joseph and the brother to my grandfather. It could be very possible they lived right next to each other, Great Grandpa was a widower with small kids. A daughter-in-law right next door would have been a big help. So today I compared the census with the letter. My first reaction was it is a match but there are some questions, which means I must do more research. The wife is Barbara in both sources, both mention four kids. There is a slight variation in the names and sex of a couple of the kids. But how well does a nephew remember these details? The census has two girls and two boys, the letter 3 boys and 1 girls. The census names are Susan, Percival, Barbara & Peter. The letter names are Peter, Percy, Buster & Sue. I don't remember all my cousins names either but I haven't seen any of them since I was 11 and moved from New York to Florida.


My great grandfather is on the previous page, why couldn't they been on the same page?? There is no new house number for Peter but a new family number. Does that mean they were all in the same house?
I felt so close there for a minute and now I'm so not sure. More research is needed!!! More Census, more directories, more everything. Wish me luck.

One small set for me and my ancestors.

Wordless Wednesday

George J. Hartmann Jr. My Dad 1925

He mounted these pictures and wrote the caption, this one is just 1925. This is his First Holy Communion. My brother George and my Dad could have pass for twins at the same age. I'll have to look for a picture of my brother. I just don't have one close at hand.

Great Grandpa Joseph

Well I am having lots of fun peeling away another layer of the onion to finding out who my Great Grandpa Joseph is. I was surfing the web yesterday and using my trial period subscription to World Vital Records when I typed his name in under types of records and tried Immigration. Much to my surprise the year he immigrated I found him as a passenger on a ship that landed in New York City in 1868. His age matched what I had found the week before on the census records. I can't describe the feeling and I positive feeling it is the right person. To me that feeling is so strong it is almost like he is sitting by me and saying yes that's me. In the eternal scheme of things he might just be.
Then last night I realized I don't think I wrote down what site I found that information on, even though I took screen shots of the information. I was worried I might not be able to retrace my steps. And what did I learn in class, document those sources. Luckily I had written the main site name down on my Research Log and I was able to get the exact URL today. I'm not sure if that is important or if it will change over time, but I was glad to find it and it reinforced that important lesson to document those sources.
Yesterday afternoon I went to the Mesa Family History Center and wanted to look for his death record and marriage record those were my goals. I was on Ancestry and found a passport application for Joseph that he applied for in May of 1912. I remember my Dad telling me once that his grandfather had gone back to Germany for a trip. The fun thing about the application was it had his date of becoming a citizen, what ship he entered the country on that matches the ship I found earlier in the day, his full birthday and an address where he was living that matches an address a distant cousin gave me in a letter way back in the late 70's. And best of all a birth place in Germany.


I was offered assistance from one of the Missionaries at the library and we found the micro fiche that is an index to his death record. I ordered the film that should have the imagine of that record on it, I hope it comes fast. The missionary had me go back to try and find him on the 1880 census and we found the same guy I thought was someone else, mainly because I didn't know any of those kids names and they didn't match the kids names of 1900. He reminded me that the 1900 census was 20 years later and the kids of 1880 would be gone in normal circumstances. So I'm say maybe its Joseph, only because all the kids names on that census are new to me and what my distant cousin gave me years ago. So I can't say at this time. We tried to find the wife in the 1900 census but we could not, which strengthen the case for the 1880 Joseph because my Joseph was a widower in 1900. The missionary gave me more things to think about and research, but by this time the library was closing and I could do no more. I have plans to be there most of next Saturday with a friend so I hope I find more info.
Well while writing this I have been off looking for more information. I want those Naturalization Records soon also. I think I need to give Joseph a rest today, I know my brain needs one. I'm so glad to have new info.

Happy Birthday to M.E.!!

Well this Blog is about ME and My Ancestors, so today it is my turn!! Today is my birthday. It has been a pleasant day with fun activities and time with family and friends. This evening I went to dinner with my husband and his sister and her husband. I mostly just wanted to post my birth announcement and a baby picture. I think what is so special about them is that my father saved them to give to me. I'm not sure if my mother had him save them or his sisters or who. The important thing is he saved them for me and I really appreciated that. The inside of the announcements have my mother's handwriting on them, the only sample of her writing I have.


On my 17th birthday, my Dad gave me roses and a little silver heart on a chain. He told me my Mom had him pick it out for me before she died. He told me he picked out the white roses because pink are for a girlfriend, red roses are for a wife but white roses are for a daughter. That is the most sentimental thing I can remember him saying to me. I know it was the only time he ever gave me flowers or jewelry.



This morning one of my friends and I went to the Arizona Historical Society Museum, there was suppose to be a needlework show but it was cancelled. Mary Ann and I decided to see the museum anyway. I had never been there before. It was a nice small museum well planned and thought out. I also like museum. As we were walking out I remembered another birthday and a day at a museum. On my 11th birthday I was able to pick the place I wanted to go, so I picked the Museum of Natural History in New York City. It still is my favorite museum. It was my last birthday in New York that June we moved to Fort Lauderdale Florida.

I never went to school on my birthday in New York because at that time they still had a separate birthday holiday for Lincoln and Washington. When I moved to Florida I had to go to school on my birthday, that was a disappointment.
Well here's hoping to a good year of finding out more about my ancestors.

Finding & Learning about Great Grandpa Joseph Hartmann

Yesterday I decided to go to the Mesa Regional Family History Center to take advantage of their subscription to Ancestry. I had decided I wanted to find something on my Great Grandfather Joseph Hartmann. All I knew was he was born in Germany, was married twice and had 6 children. I usually never have any luck finding any thing when I go to the Family History Center but new things are coming out all the time so I went with hope of success.

The family history class I have been taking reminds us to always start with what you know and move to the unknown. So I picked my Grandfather George Hartmann who was born in 1891 and looked at the 1900 US Federal Census. And there he was as clear as day! You ever wrote that census pages had a beautiful clear handwriting and I thank you for that. George is circled in red.



So George was at the top of the page and I turned back one page to find my Great Grandpa Joseph. Here he is circled in red. I found out a couple of things I didn't know. I had his birth as about 1865, here it is as Sept 1845, he is a widow in 1900. I still don't know when his wife died, but at least I know it is before 1900. His youngest child was 6 and he had 5 kids at home as a single man. This also confirms all his children were from his first wife.


Here is some more helpful information, he immigrated in 1868, he has been in the country 32 years and he is Nationalized. So now I have a lot more clues to find out more about my Great Grandpa. So say the less I'm excited and looking forward to finding more out about him. I guess his age to be 23 when he came to this country.



I also found him in the New York City directory for 1890, his occupation was listed as brewer and my distant cousin Fred's letter had told me he work at a brewery.

Some of the interesting and things that bug you are on the 1910 census, Hartmann was spelled with only 1 N. I won't tell you how many times I have told people 2 Ns please. Anyway he had a servant named Katie Whitenheimer, my cousin Fred told me his second wife's name was Katie Wyland or Wieland, she was a widow at this time. One census had the mother of the children born in Germany and one had her born in New York. I had her birth place as Germany. I didn't find him on the 1920 or 1930 census. I will have to go back and see if I can find Katie. I did find my Grandpa & Dad as a son on those last two census. I didn't find Joseph on the 1870 or 1880 census. So I hope to go back one evening this week and see what else I can find and check to see if I have enough info to apply for some Nationalization papers. I also need to check for some State Census.

Edith Inez Chaplin

Edith at age one and a half.
Today 61 years ago Feb 5, 1949 my mother Edith died from the complications of Breast Cancer. It was one week before my first birthday. I am really looking forward to meeting her in the next life.


Edith age six.

I have wondered what she was like and what she saw in my father. Remember all kids have a funny view of their parents. What things did she enjoy, her favorite color you know those normal things. Dad didn't tell me much about her maybe because he had a new wife and maybe because it was too painful for him to remember.



Edith with her mother Minnie and her sister Bea.

I can remember when they told me I had a different mother than my brothers. I think I was six. It was the second time, they told me about my mother. They had told me the year before but I didn't remember that. They gave me a compact with an "E" engraved on it and her picture. I unfortunately lost the compact.

I also wonder what she worried about as she lost her battle to cancer and what things she would have like to tell me if she could. She was diagnosed in August and was gone by February, after spending 25 years of my life as an Oncology nurse, I know she had a very aggressive kind of cancer.


Edith with her brother Bill 8th grade graduation.

What I do know about her I know from my Aunt Bea & Uncle Bill her siblings. Her nick name was "The Swede" because she was so blond when she was little, as her picture above shows. As a little kid she had an active imagination and was frequently caught talking to her boys, her imaginary friends. As a young girl of 9 her Dad passed away and she had to fend for herself after school as everyone else in the household had to go to work.

When I went to New York that summer I was 15, the first I did when i walked into Aunt Bea's house was kick my shoes off. My Aunt tells me, "That is exactly what your mother always did as soon as she walked in the house the shoes came off." It made me feel very good to know I had a habit of my mother's even without knowing it. She liked to sing and would sing harmony with Uncle Bob, Aunt Bea's husband.

As a teenager if she didn't want to go out with a guys again, or didn't want to give a guy her phone number she would give them the phone number to the police station. Now that sounds like something I would do. Come to think of it I have. And to think I got all my sass from my Dad.

She worked as a waitress and had office jobs. She eloped at 18 to a guy about 10 years older but that ended in divorcee. I guess when she married my Dad that was a very negative fact to his parents.

I call this picture Edith the knock out.

My Aunt Em, my Dad's sister like both of my mothers and enjoyed them both as much as if they had been sisters. I don't know when or how she & my dad meet. She became a Catholic to marry him. And that is about all I know. I like this last picture of my mother, she looks like a really classy gal. I also think some of the fashions from the forty's had a real classic style and made women look great.

I just remembered one more story. My Mom use to tell me that my Mother and Dad wanted to have children real bad, and they had been married for 3 years before I came along. The story goes that once the doctor told her she couldn't have any children she got pregnant. That was real cool of my step mom to share such a story with me.

As I re-read the letter from my uncle and aunts everyone expressed a lot of love for both of my mothers and that I was always to respect and honor both of them. I think I have.

Annette Carolyna Corkish

Annette Carolyna Corish & George J. Hartmann Jr on their Wedding day June 25th 1949.

It is interesting to me, how I don't always remember things right and I was there and remember the painful event very clearly. So I guess you can say that primary sources can be inaccurate, especially if the event is stressful. For years I have been telling people my mother died on the 5th of February and my Mom on the 6th of February. While scanning pictures today I found an Obituary book mark of my Mom's with the date as February 4 1965 on it. So I stand corrected. Today's post is in memory of my Mom. Officially she is a step-mother and she legally adopted me. Emotionally she is my Mom, the only Mom I knew.


What kind of a women was she? She was a kind, good, patient woman, but I could make her lose it. Sad to admit that even thought I lived with her until I was almost 17, my memory of her is a little cloudy. I wish I knew her better but when you are in the angst of being a teenager, things like knowing who your mom is not very important.

Some of the things I do remember are she like the beach, the park, she wanted me to be a well rounded person, she was very mindful of proper etiquette, always reminding me to watch my p's and q's. I remember when I was 15, my parents sent me on a trip to Long Island New York to visit my mother's sister and brother. They always encouraged me to have a relationship with my mother's family. Anyway I had to iron my pj before I went because Mom didn't want any of the family back home to think we were backwards since we had moved to Fort Lauderdale Florida from New York. She wanted me to make a good impression. Believe me when I say I have never iron pjs since. We moved to Florida in 1959.

She was a Registered Nurse and she did not want me to be a nurse, because it was very hard work. She use to come home from work so exhausted that she would take her uniform off, roll down her white nylons (that was before panty hose) and sit in the chair in her slip with her stockings around her ankles and just collapse. When we lived in Whitestone NY, we kids would hang out in the empty lot and play until her bus brought her home from work and we would all walk home together. She was an Army nurse during World War II but would never speak to me about it, but promised to tell me more when I was an adult. We never had that conversation. I think she severed in the Philippines. She was also one of the nurses that took care of my mother while she was dying of breast cancer.

Here are a couple of pictures about a month after they were married. I was 17 months old in these pictures. My Dad made the photo albums and wrote all the comments. About 10 years ago I thought it would be a good idea to make a new book. Don't ask me why, I wished I hadn't, expect that these pages are easier to scan, than the book would have been but I miss his handwriting.


My Dad asked her to marry him on St. Patrick's day and they were married in June. They had three boys, George, Donald, & Edward.

She use to curl her hair making pin curls and pining down with two bobbie pins crossing each other. She used C as her middle initial for Corish not Carolyna. She pushed me to be better than I wanted to be at that time. Made me take tennis lessons, which I hated, took as an adult and liked it a little better but not much. If I had been reading too much, I would lose myself in books she would say, "Mary it's time to go outside and dust the cobwebs off." She really wanted me to have a good education and believed in the importance of being well educated. When I was in high school I wanted to go to the public high school and not the Catholic one I was in, but she won't hear of it. She became a Catholic to marry my Dad. She wanted me to be friends with everyone and not to be judgmental.

My Dad would say she wasn't the typical New Englander, I'm not sure what he meant by that. She was from Nantucket Island and I use to love to go see her parents there, we could walk to the beach. Grandma would only let me play the piano, because I didn't pound it like my brothers. Her Dad was a Whaler. She went to nursing school in Boston and sometime after the war moved to New York. I don't know that story at all, but I'm glad she did, so she could meet my Dad.

I can remember when she was sick from her cancer, she had Colon Ca, and at one time had brain tumors from her cancer. I walked into her room and she was dividing the amount of powder in her dilantin capsule so the dose would be lower. So like a nurse to self medicate. It was I who witnessed her first seizure that diagnosed that brain tumor while my Dad was at work. Talk about a scary event that was it. It took the doctor a long time to convince me it wasn't my fault. She and I had just had an argument about something she heard me say to a friend that she didn't like.

Well I'm looking to forward to seeing her again in the next life and getting to know here better.

Scanning Documents

This is how the certificate looks in my hands.

Now you all know that I am a beginner when it comes to Genealogy. I would be willing to bet that some of you have figured this out already. But I'm going to share anyway. Yesterday Miriam here had a Scanfest. I couldn't join in at the time of the fest, so I just spent some time doing some scanning. While I was labeling my certificates I scanned I noticed I had a zoom button. I decided to zoom in on the very faded and hard to read document I was looking at. Guess what, I could read it. I was so happy!! It's a small thing but it made me happy. I was able to read in the computer things I couldn't ready while looking at the photstatic copy I had in my hands. I have had this certificate copy since 1978 or so and it is on thermal type paper, and it is fading badly. I'm very happy to have scanned it before it became worst.

The scanner can have more than one purpose. The names you see here are my great grandparents on my Dad's side.