Washboard: Early Records Relating to Quimby

The Roswell Randall Hoes transcription of the Kingston Church records (see previous post) includes the marriage of a Betsie Quinbe to Philip van Keuren in 1799. The more complete version of these records includes the baptism of two children: Catherine, 20 July 1800, and Eida Christina, 16 Jan. 1802. No witnesses are recorded.

I have encountered Betsie—or a similarly named person—before, as Elisabeth Quenbe, in the Dutch seat registers and the membership rolls of the Dutch Reform Church of Esopus in the years 1799-1802, on a different film roll.

She also turns up in the membership records of the Baptist Church of Lattingtown, Marlborough, which indicate Elizabeth Quimby died in 1819 (just a couple of years after Janette was born). These Baptist records are handwritten and quite crabbed. Elizabeth seems to have several family members whose entries surround her own:

Mary Quimby, M.G.S. [(“Member in Good Standing”] 1825, April 19; M.G.S. 1839 [illegible]1808, [illegible] dis. Sept. 16 184[2?] [illegible] with the First Church of Brooklyn

[Illegible] daughter Maria dis[missed] 1822
S. Neaiman[?]

Elizabeth Quimby Dec’d Jan 1819

Rimpey[?] Quimbey This member was dec’d before his name was recorded here (1828 Apr. 19) but not known by the clerk.

Anne Quimby M.G.S. 1828 dis. Oct 15 1831

A few pages on, more Quimbys appear:

Polly Quimby bapt. Aprl 16, 1810. ex. Jan 16 1830
wife of Samuel Quimby

The following page has this entry:

Maria Quimby bapt. Apr. 16, 182[?] dis. by let[illegible] 1822

Maria Neuman, Polly Quimby’s daughter
dis. by let. Feb. 16 1832

Then, a few pages further in the record comes a quite puzzling series of entries:

Elder Joseph[?] Quimbey, by let. June 18/9, dismissed Sept 26, 1880.
[The surname is edited to be Grimley.]

Samuetn[sic?] Quinby by let. June 18/ 9 1849 dis Sept 21, 18 [??]
[The surname is crossed out, with Grimley written over it, and then printed above more clearly: Grimley.

This material is highly confusing. If these records pertain to the same family, it would seem that Betsie/Elizabeth joined the Dutch Reform Church, possibly because of her marriage to Philip, but that other family members were in the Baptist church—although Elizabeth is recorded as a member towards the end of her life and dies as a member. (Of course, it would be possible for her to be in both churches, I suppose, one being her birth family’s church and the other her husband’s.) I need to discover how close Lattingtown is to Esopus, and also take a look at census records to see if I can find these Quim/nbys.

Then there is the matter of the crossouts and name substitution. Did the family change the name for some reason? Or is the Samuel Quinby-changed-to-Grimley fellow a different person, whose name was confused with an earlier Samuel Quinby and then corrected? Quim/nby is a name usually (not occasionally) misspelled in the census transcriptions I have examined, so anything is possible in regard to this early church record.

Finally, whether Betsie/ Elisabeth or any of these church members are related to my Janette is entirely unknown.

Baptism and Marriage Registers of the Reform Dutch Church (formerly called Wiltwyck or Esopus/Sopus, tr. Roswell Randall Hoes. Film # 0129840, item 4. (complete); also Film # 1321446, item 3, seems less complete, i.e., lacks PVK & BQ child baptisms).

Records of the Baptist Church at Lattingtown, Marlborough. Film # 0017987, item 11.

Washboard: Cornelius’ Great-Grandparents Eduwaart and Lea

The microfilm rolls from the Family Search library often contain as many as ten items, often quite disparate. This week I reviewed one that contained “The Book of Dow,” the genealogical records of families with that name, originating in MA and ME. There was also a copy of “Pioneer Days in Idaho City,” which looked to be a lovely book with very nice photos of the frontier, and which, of course, is completely unrelated to anything New Yorkish.

The film also had a copy of Roswell Randall Hoes’ transcription of the Baptismal and Marriage Registers of the old Dutch Church of Kingston, 1660-1809, which was published in book form in 1891. It is quite an elegant publication, and has an informative preface about the growth of the various Dutch Reform churches in Ulster. It is in this church that Hieronymus and Helena (Lena), Cornelius’ (purported) grandparents married in 1760.

This same record (in a more complete form) was included on films in my first batch, and coming back to it with several months’ experience was useful. I now have a more extensive sense of the branches of the family. I was able to look for the families connected to Cornelius’ second wife, for example, and more importantly, to identify his grandmother Lena’s family.

Her surname is quite common in Ulster, and has several variant forms, but only one of the couples had a daughter named Lena: Edwaard (also written as Eduwaat, Eduwart, Edewaard, Eduard, and Evert) and Lea, his wife. Lea’s surname is provided, also with several variations. Their daughter Lena was born October 5, 1740, making her 20 at the time of her marriage to Hieronymus June 20, 1760. But there is no record of Hieronymus’s birth; he was possibly an immigrant. Or, I have recently realized, perhaps he was born in New York City or Brooklyn. In any case, these records also show Lena had several siblings: Zacharias (Oct. 17, 1736); Zara (Aug. 29, 1742); Benjamin (June 16, 1745); Wilhelmus (March 6, 1748) and Abraham (Feb. 11, 1750).

Witnesses at the various baptisms included several with Eduart’s surname: Jooris; Willem; and Sara. Other baptisms in this family include Niklaas and wife baptizing Neeltjen–Lea, Lena’s mother, is a witness to this in 1742. Willem, Jr., and wife baptize Sara in 1748, with Willem, Sr. as a witness. Willem, Sr., isthus one generation up, and probably either father or uncle to Eduart.

An interesting convergence is Hieronymus and Lena acting as witnesses to the baptism of Levie, son of Wilhelm and Janye, in 1774. I wonder if this Wilhelm is the son of Lena’s brother Willem, born in 1748. (I copied this record the first time I looked at Hoes’ book.)

The records of the family start in Kingston, and then switch to the Esopus/Wiltwyck Dutch Reform Church. It can be confusing, because Esopus is also called Kingston, or vice versa, but these appear to be two separate churches. Esopus, south of today’s Kingston, is where Hieronymus and Lena had their family, where Zachariah and Elizabeth W. had their children, and where Cornelius and Jannette lived as well.

Baptism and Marriage Registers of the Reform Dutch Church (formerly called Wiltwyck or Esopus/Sopus, tr. Roswell Randall Hoes. Film # 0129840, item 4. (complete); also Film # 1321446, item 3, seems less complete).

Family History Center: The Wheels Go ‘Round and ‘Round

I started at 9:40 this morning: inserted the film reel, snapped the light on, turned the handle. The film was labeled “Methodist Church Kripplebush,” which refers to an area west of Esopus, NY, but the first items on it were for Reformed Churches in Dutchess County. What the hell. My main quarry died in Esopus, but I don’t know where in New York State she was born. I turned the wheel, turned and turned, noted names that echoed my families or those married in. Notes and notes, marriages, baptisms, turning the wheel. Around me conversations, more than usual, machines being fixed, searchers learning to use the scanner, chit chat chit chat. I’m turning the wheel, making notes, and page after page goes by.

I shift my legs, realizing my left has been crossed over the right at the ankle for so long it feels stuck. But I’m reading, still reading, turning the wheel, pages go by.

I’m lucky today; the first register is typed. The data is from the 1700s, but someone typed it up. The second, not so lucky, it’s a manuscript, but a transcription. Someone with a beautiful hand has made a fair copy of the church records, and even adds little notes when things are illegible or contradictory. I’m reading Dutch names, very Dutch, Van this and Van that, and then, gradually, in the second list, the names start to shift: Williams, Johnson, Green, Griggs, the English are taking over.

I’m thirsty. The gal next to me gets up and goes to the scanner, and I reach in to my bag for my water bottle. I don’t know if it’s allowed to drink in the reading room, but it’s all shadowy and dim, and probably nobody cares. The films are above our heads projecting down; the reader tables are laminated.

I think I should check what time it is. I pull up my sweater sleeve, and see it’s 12:30. Three hours have passed. I’m still consumed; one hour left till closing, and this record is endless . . . I turn the wheel, a genealogy mouse, spinning and spinning, getting, maybe, somewhere.

Here’s what I found:

Re the Quimby clan:

1783, April 6 Levi Quimby and his wife Elener Willsie brought Jane, b. Jan . 28, for baptism.

1787, June 21, Levi Quimby and Elenor Quimby are sponsors at the baptism of Elenor, daughter of John Wilsie and Susannah Brus [?].

On the same date, Joseph Smith and Hannah Buis [?] baptize their son John.

1791, April 23, Teunis Wilsie and Cornelia Wilsie are sponsors for Cordelia, the daughter of Gerardus Lewis and Fryirtje [?] Van Klenk.

1792, May 20, Abraham Van Keuren and Petronella Wiltsie baptize their daughter Jeanny, b. April 2.

Additional references to Wilsies: Abr. Wilsie and Seletie Lucky baptize Rebecca in 1793; Abr. Van Keuren and Nelly Wiltsie baptize Sarah in 1797. Abraham Willsie and Salatje Lucky baptize Samuel in 1798. John Willsie and Rebecca Gulilan baptize William in 1810. [Note: in Ulster County records I have found a Betsy Quinby married to a Philip Van Keuren.]

Additional references to Bruns/ Bruis [?]: 1793 Simeon Pels and Elizabth Bruns baptize Mary.

Re the Burgers:

1791, Isaac Burgan [?] and Anna Waldron baptize John, b. Sept. 1790. No sponsors.

1795, Feb. 1. Jacob Burger and Ann Maria Barus [?] baptize Abraham, b. Nov. 20, 1794. No sponsors.

1797, Jan. 7. Jacob K. Burger and Ann Maria Barus baptize Jacob, b. Dec. 19, 1796. No sponsors.

At this point, however, I cannot say that either Levi or Jacob are actually related to me.

“R” is for Rogers

William R., Jr., the son of my grandmother’s uncle Willie, must have been draft age in 1917, so I have been searching for him in the wanning moments of the free access to the WWI draft registration cards at Ancestry.com. His birth date is crucial, since his is a common name. Once I satisfied myself that the 1900 census does say his birth was in August, 1881, he popped right out of the draft records: the R stands for “Rogers,” and he was born on the seventh of the month.

His address is hard to read: 9th Ave.? 1st Ave.? It’s written twice, once for him, once for his nearest relative, but I still can’t make it out. He is a caretaker at the Parkview Theatre on Prospect Park southwest (?). Right location, odd job for a relative of my very strictly Methodist grandmother. (My dad loved movies; did Willie, jr., his mother’s cousin, ever let him sneak in?) His next of kin looks like “Nora” but it’s very sketchy.

Physically, he is medium build and height, with brown eyes and black hair (not very like my branch of the family). I would like to trace him forward, but a fast look does not discover him and “Nora” in 1910 or ‘20 in Brooklyn.

Great-Uncle Willie, 1856-1917

I spotted my dad’s great uncle Willie on the Italian Genealogy Vital Records list of Brooklyn deaths. I was pretty sure it was him, and I sent for the certificate. The piece of paper didn’t tell me too much new, but it’s still a thrill to receive an old document from a past that had been so hidden.

William R. died in 1917, at 60, just a few weeks before turning 61. This was a difficult year: in the fall, my dad’s parents, living in the same house, would lose a young baby (and possibly two, if they were the twins). His wife pregnant, Grandpa would register for the draft, claiming exemption as husband and father of two. He didn’t have to serve, but he must have been worried.

Josie (my dad’s grandmother) was four years older than her brother, but she lived for another fifteen years.

Willie’s death occurred at Methodist Episcopal Hospital: another confirmation of what denomination may hold the family religious records. He was a widower—I knew that from the census. It says he had no occupation; he had lived with Josie for some time, and I had suspected he was ill or infirm. He died of, jeez, a “carbuncle of back of neck,” with “diabetes mellitus” as a contributory factor. He’s buried at Greenwood. His father’s name is correct on the certificate, but the spelling of his mother’s adds yet another to the list of distortions of the poor woman’s identity. Her first name is fine, but her birth surname here is “Quimbo.” Willie’s and his parents’ birthplace is listed as United States, leading me to believe the informant for the certificate was not too deep in the family details. We are all, of course, NYers.

And that informant is: William R., Jr. He would have been my father’s first cousin once removed (his mother’s cousin). In 1880, his father, the older William, appears in the census twice, once in Sleightsburg, Ulster County, as “Willie” (“works in mill”), living with his mother (whose married surname in this record has an “h” in it), and also in his sister’s household on Degraw Street in Brooklyn, as William R., (“works in mill”). There, his surname is spelled with an “e” instead of a “u.” In 1880, William appears to be unmarried and transitioning to Brooklyn.

In 1900, William is living with his two children, William, Jr., age 18, and Catherine, age 12, in his sister Josie’s household. The image shows young Willie’s birth date as August, 1881 (the “1″ is ambiguous), and he is indexed as being 18. William Sr.’s wife is absent, although he is listed as married for 20 years. (By 1910, he is listed as “Wd.” so she died in the interval. I don’t know her name, although I wonder if it was Catherine, like her daughter’s.)

My dad’s name was William R. He told me the “R” was for Roger. I wanted confirmation of this, and hoped his great-uncle’s death certificate would reveal the middle name, but no such luck. My curiosity about Willie comes in part from my father being his namesake.

Searching for Mr. M & M s

I just learned a few days ago that Ancestry.com has opened the World War I draft registration records to public searching—but just for the month of February. I also read up on the records; registration was mandatory. During another previous free period, I had found my grandmother’s cousin, but not my grandfather. I redoubled my efforts on the assumption that he was there in the records, but obscured by, most likely, a spelling or transcription error.

I searched his name; then I searched a variation; then I searched a mutation. I have learned that plugging in an aberrant version drives spelling weirdnesses to the front of the results; I have found Burgel and Merriman and McNeninam. This time I looked over the first page of results and realized I had strayed into another paradigm: McNamara and McNulty. I clicked on “Next” anyway, because so many times I have made discoveries on the second or third page of results. I scanned.

There it was: John Mcmman. I knew him by his consonants. I clicked on the image. The first word I noticed as the registration card formed on the screen: Plumber. Sure enough, the signature line on the bottom was clear: my grandpa.

But the card had been folded up on itself when photographed for the microfilming. It’s a miracle they got as much of a name as they did from the first line. (Why didn’t the indexer just look down at the signature? Every letter was clear.) His address at that time is covered up (probably it’s the familiar 17th Street family bastion) Also covered is his date of birth, which I would like to know for sure as I search for his birth records, and place of birth. We presume it is Brooklyn, but much about his birth is mysterious, and I would love to know for sure. It may be tragic that I can’t access this part of the record, if I can’t locate his birth certificate in Brooklyn or NYC.

The first line really visible is line 5, listing an address I have never associated with my grandparents, on 47th Street in Brooklyn. (It turns out that this line is for workplace address.) He is self employed.

The reason grandpa was exempted: wife and two children. That would be my dad and . . . Rachel? According to my research,* grandpa’s card is type A, and he would have been registered in the first cycle, for men born between June 6, 1886 and June 5, 1896. The blank type A registration card I accessed at Ancestry indicates they were completed June 5, 1917. Rachel lived between 1915 and 1919. When was Josie born? 1918, I think. The registration occurred before baby John—and his missing twin–was born (July 23, 1917) and died in Oct. 1917. So grandma must have been about to give birth at the time of the registration.

The card tells me little else of use. I already knew my grandfather had no military experience. And the upper right, which contains a physical description, is obscured. I would have loved to have seen that: his hair color (probably brown), his eye color (definitely blue), and his height and weight, here charmingly queried as “tall, medium or short?” (probably tall), and “slender, medium, or stout?” (probably slender). But it’s possible he was blond, and more medium in form. I only remember him as an older bald man, tall of course, as all men are tall to children.

*The Italian Genealogy site has a relevant newsletter article, “World War I Selective Service System Dreaft Registration Cards 1917-1918,” from the Oct. 1997 Newsletter, updated March 17, 1998. The blank Card A downloaded from Ancestry shows the full roster of questions asked.

Half the twins is better than none

I found one of the twins. This would be one of my paternal uncles: an infant who died three months after his birth. I knew my father had twin siblings who died young; he never told me their names, only just referred to them as “the twins.” No one seems to know any more about them.

But I was searching around in the Italian Genealogy Site’s vital records databases, and I realized one of the twins might have been called John. The repeating names in my father’s family have helped me find footholds for stepping back in time, but the name John seems to skip a generation. Or not. So I searched, found nothing, meaning what? One possibility is that the name had been so misspelled or misinterpreted that it didn’t come up even in a sounds-like search. (Four-syllable last names are very susceptible to becoming alphabet soup.) I switched the “m” and “n” around, and up it came: an infant John, with a very weird last name, born and died in 1917 in Kings Co. I sent away for the certificate, and bingo: my grandma and grandpa are listed as his parents. His name is misspelled on the top of the certificate, but his father’s last name is correct!

That’s the second deceased sibling I’ve found; Rachel died at age 4 in 1919. She was easier to pick out: her surname is spelled correctly. I saw the name Rachel and I knew she was mine: my grandmother had a sister named Rachel.

But there should be another twin. I’ve searched some likely first names, pairing them with fractured versions of our surname, but with no results. James? Catherine? Walter? And many others. The census is no use: these children were born and died between the censuses.

They may be ancestors, but they were people, too.

Some human interest details from the microfilm roll, “Church Records of Ulster and Orange Counties”:

At the end of the baptismal lists for “The First Record of the Reformed Church at Shokan,” a minister writes:

Peter J. Winne is sponsor for child which was born in town of Saugerties on Aug. 5, 1827. child’s name is Sally Margaret. It’s mother Rachel Winne daughter of said Peter.

The child was begotten by illicit intercourse between said Rachel and a Yankee from Connecticut. His name was Benj. Reed.

By the anxious solicitude of Peter Winne I was induced to baptized [sic] the child on Dec 10 1827 at Jacobus Wolven’s house in Kingston.

[signed] William Boyce

The “Record of Reformed Dutch Church at Woodstock” contains the following note at the end of the membership lists:

Mrs. Anne Burger wife of Martyn was found on a fair examination guilty of Swaring imprudently and was suspended from privileges of church. In July 1809 she was again admitted by unanimous consent.

This particularly caught my eye . . . though I have no indication that my Burgers ever lived at Woodstock and believe the Martynus Burger line is a quite separate one. . . . What is swearing prudently, anyway?

Reading the Reels: Old Dutch Church

The predominant church in the Hudson Valley in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was the Old Dutch Church, and many records have survived. I’ve just spent six weeks plowing through as many rolls of microfilm pertaining to Esopus and Kingston and environs, and I’m not done yet.

On one roll, labeled just “Miscellaneous Records,” the initial pages were in Dutch. The date itself was mysterious: 17 something, two digits that looked like sideways 8s, with the left loop minimal in size. It seemed a fussy way of writing zero; and it seemed somewhat possible that records might be kept in Dutch as late as 1700 (the Dutch lost the colony about 1661). The records were followed, however, with English records from 1811, with many of the same names. Internally, the Dutch portions had other dates, referencing the 1770s through the ’90s. Eventually I could see that the sideways 8s were really 8s, and the records dated from 1788–an amazingly late point for Dutch to be in use.

I still didn’t know what I was looking at. I’ve become quite accustomed to the layout of baptismal records, with their three columns for parents’ names, child’s name and birth or bap’t. date, and sponsors’ names. I’ve read quite a few marriage records, often organized under the presiding minister, with date, person and residence, and residence of the couple. I’ve decoded church membership lists, usually rough and poorly laid out, with dates and notations about “adm. by confession, “by let.,” and “bap’t.” and sometimes with details of death (or not: ”dead” reads the note appended to Zacharias Burger’s 1799 membership listing in the Esopus church) or dismissal: “dis. by let. to M.E. ch,” for example, means a member in good standing was given a letter to that effect so as to change to the Methodist Episcopal church). In one set of records, MGS was added after current members’ names.

But these Dutch lists of ladies’ names, what were they? Names crossed out, named added, “nue.” I thought perhaps there was a club or group requiring dues, and this was the account book. But when the records switched to English I saw they were bench assignments: “Maritje Beever, now Elesabeth Quembe.” Astonishing, but, then, of course, I guess I knew that; somewhere in my history education I learned that church membership required contributions. Did the less financially able stand around in the back? Were they even allowed in? I haven’t found my own ancestors enrolled in the church, except for Zacharias; it’s possible they were members of another denomination: my grandmother, Zach’s great-granddaughter, was a Methodist. But it’s also possible they didn’t spend the money. Zacharias was a farmer; Cornelius a mason. Not poor, but not pillar-of-the-community landowners either.

Misc. Records reveal Betsie Quimbe

Reading microfilm today, a tape labeled only “miscellaneous records.” The first bit of it was in Dutch and seemed to start 1700 [dated Jan.2 1700]; each page was numbered: “No. 1,” “No. 2,” and so on, with a few lines of explanation and then a score, below which were the names of women, in a sort of list, with some crossed out and others added alongside. There were familiar names: Elting, Roosa, Van Vleet, Dewitt. No Burgers. On page No. 40, the last line read, “Maritje Beever nue Elesabet Quembe.”

The next list was in English and jumped forward to the early 1800s; each numbered page referred to a pew in the church, and the list was of those who had paid for a seat. This was followed by a Dutch list of men, and then a later list in English.

What a little piece of cultural history to stumble upon. Church pews were “owned;” some were “seats for life,” and others, “seats forever.” Some distinction! Churches were segregated by sex. Makes sense, but I hadn’t thought about it before. This system makes religion a function of the economy and of social caste. I wonder what the poor did. Did they hover around the edges or stand in the back, or did they just not attend?

However, last week, in looking at the registers for the Dutch Reformed Church of Kingston/ Esopus, I did find references to Betsie Quinbe, wife of Phillip Van Keuren. They married on 14 Jan. 1799, both from Kingston. There are two baptismal records for them in 1800 (Catharine) and 1802 (Eida Christina). This Betsie, (or Elisabeth?), would be the age to be Jannette’s aunt. No witnesses are listed for either ceremony. There are quite a few Burgers in those lists, Hieronymus included, and some I think are Zacariah siblings (but nothing to connect them to H.)

Using Family Search this morning, I found these same records, of Phillip Van Keuren, and his marriage to “Betsy Quinbe” on 14 Jan. 1799 in Kingston. Betsy’s vitals are b. 1776 in NY and d. 1853 in Kingston (check census on that). Her spouse is Phillipus Van Jeuren, b. Jan. 1776, Flatbush, NY, d. 1812 Kingston, NY; his parents, Phillipus Van Keuren and Cathrina Turck. According to FS, Phillip and Betsy had an additional son, Phillipus, b. 30 Dec. 1804 and d. 24 Jan. 1806, Kingston. The question is: are any of these people related to my Jannette?

Does this matter? Is Betsie a sister of Jannette’s father? There’s no further data on her. How does Elesabet Quembe in 1788 (?) relate to Betsie in 1811?