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.