Some of the other Fincks (Wright side)

In my last Wright family post I wrote of Frederick Finck and wife Marie Antoinette. I haven't had much success with Antoinette, as variations of her last name have come up. I first came up with Maujer, as listed on a child's marriage license. Another researcher believes it is Meagher with her parents Antan Meagher (1800-?) & Katherine Vongurus of Darmstadt, Germany.

They had seven children who grew up at the Eldridge St. flat and each has an interesting story to tell. Last month I wrote about Frederick Finck Jr. (1858-1889) and his apparent suicide by jumping from a cruise ship. The next sibling is George D. Finck (1860-1917). A search of the NY Times archives shows that he was a very successful lawyer and real estate investor. Many of his notable deals were in the $250k-$500k range, which was a great amount of money in the late 1800's. One of his larger purchases involved several lots on East 19th Street and Fourth Ave. (later renamed as Park Avenue South). George and his partners developed the street, including the building where several of his family members would reside for several years, including where my grandfather George Wright, was born, 138 E. 19 St. (check out the cream colored building here on google street view). He also bought several buildings on West 86 & 87 St and Riverside Drive and was instrumental in developing them to an upscale area.

On June 23, 1892, George married a British woman named Louisa Adrianna Cameron (1860-?). Born in London, she was the daughter of land owners in British Guiana (now the independent nation Guyana) and resided there with her first husband. She is mentioned in the social pages numerous times. They had a daughter Gloria Finck (1899-1982) and they lived in different upper West Side apartments with servants over the years. Gloria married an interior designer named William Chauncey Sloan (1887-?) on July 26, 1937 and they lived in Manhattan until her death. I have not found any children for them.

Next of the siblings is Henry Ulrich Finck (1862-1898). The 1880 census lists Henry as a designer and he relocated to Chicago at some point. He met Margaret Alice Eagle (1864-1948) and they were married in September 1892. They moved to Pasadena, CA, that year and had their first child Frederick Eagle Finck (1893-1970). In 1895 Elizabeth Eagle Finck (1895-?) was born and in 1897, their last child, Margaret Finck (1897-1993) was born. The next year Henry died out in California and the family moved back east, living for a while on Staten Island. They are also listed on a couple of censuses at 189 Claremont Ave in upper Manhattan.

Their son Frederick worked for Westinghouse Electric prior to getting married in 1922 to Clara Aloysia Jones in Oyster Bay, LI. By 1930, they were living in the Los Angeles area where he died in 1970. Clara, originally from Lithonia, GA, died in Montrose, CA. in 1993. They had two daughters Clara Lousie Finck (1924-2010) and Elizabeth E. Finck (1926). Clara married Raymond Ramsower and I think they had two children, Steven (1953) and Michelle (1958) who are still living in California.

Henry and Margaret's other children: Elizabeth was a clerk at a publishing company in 1920 and was listed as living with her mother at Claremont Ave in the 1930 census. She married James Morrow in 1963 at 68 years of age. Her sister, Margaret, was listed in the 1920 census as a clerk at an advertising company. She married James Winslow McGovern (1891-?) in 1922 and they moved to Jackson Heights. She died in NY in 1993 at 96 years old. I don't know if they ever had any children.

Next post continues with the Finck descendants....

The rest of the Kempen Clan part 1 (Fanning Side)

In the last post I discussed the Kempens and their Yorkville upbringing. The Kempens immigrated from Germany in 1882. My great x3 grandfather, Gerdes "George" Kempen (1840 - ?), appears to come to the U.S. prior to the rest of the family. The 1910 census states that the whole family arrived in 1882, but generally the husband had to be in the country for a couple of years prior to bringing the rest of the family over. I have found the passenger manifest for the Kempen family minus Gerdes. On December 5, 1882, aboard the ship Neckar, Vendelina Helena Niemeyer Kempen and seven children arrived on the shores of the United States, but not at Ellis Island like we have been led to believe but at Castle Garden located at the Battery in NYC. Castle Garden was part of Fort Clinton and was the first immigrant debarkation in NY, in use from 1855-1890 when the federal government took over immigration affairs at Ellis Island.

 Passenger list for the steamship Neckar on Dec. 5, 1882. Kempens are 6 lines down.

Gerdes and Vendalina Kempen had seven children that I know of:

• Folkert George Kempen (1864 - ?)
• Bernhard H. Kempen (1866 - 1915)
• Heinrich Kempen (1869 - ?)
• Felix Kempen (1872 - ?)
• Gerhard Kempen (1875 - ?)
• Rinsie (?) (1876 - ?)
• Charles "Carl" Kempen (1880 - ?)

The family lived at 231 East 89th St according to Trow's City Directory of 1888 & 1889. Vendalina died between this time and 1910 census. In 1910 Gerdes, 70 years old, is listed as living with his son, Bernhard, in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

The eldest son, Folkert, was married on January 29, 1893, to Emma Kuhne (1866 - ?) in Manhattan. Folkert was a cigar dealer and the family moved to Rockville Centre by 1920. Their children were Margret (1894 - 1975) who married Robert J. Wundsam (1895 - 1979) in 1919 in Manahattan. They lived in Woodside & Flushing. He died in Stormville, NY. They had a son Robert Jr. (1925 - 1944) apparently killed during WW 2. Although he died in 1944, his body was not returned to the U.S. until 1948 and is interred at the National Cemetery in Farmingdale.

Folkert's middle child was George F. Kempen (1896 - 1963). According to his WW 1 registration card, he was employed by the Harvard Co. as a mechanic and lived at the 1669 3rd Ave address. He served as an Army Corporal during 1918. 1920 census reports he worked for a dentist and lived on Driscoll Ave in Rockville Centre. On June 22, 1924, he married Mary E. Hilderbrand (1901 - 1953) in Manhattan and they moved to Woodside, Queens, where George worked for Ford Instrument Co. He died in 1963 and is buried at the National Cemetery in Farmingdale. I have not found any children for George and Mary.

The youngest child of Folkert and Emma is William Theodore Kempen (1900 - 1975). The 1920 census also shows him living at Driscoll Ave, Rockville Centre and he was married to Lucy "Lulu" (1905 - 1989) but I do not know when. William is listed in several local directories as a Nassau County Police Detective. They had two sons, William Jr. (1928 - 1998) and George Russell Kempen (1938 - 1976). I have not found too much about Willam, but in a previous post I did highlight the life and death of George, also a Nassau County Police Officer. He was killed in the line of duty while trying to apprehend a car thief. George was married to Bernice (1940) and they have a son George C. (1965).

I find much of this mildly ironic since so much of the Fanning family is connected to the areas where this family resided yet we never knew them. I have two uncles who married into the family who grew up in Woodside and my wife's family is from Astoria & Elmhurst. I lived in a neighboring town to the Kempens that lived in Rockville Centre. I will continue with the other Kempens in the next post.

The Finck Family (Wright Side)

To stay along the same vein as the previous Wright family post, I will share what I have learned of the Finck family. The Fincks are from my maternal grandfather's (George Godfrey Wright) branch of the tree. His mother was Marie Antionette Finck (1874-?). She was last recorded in the 1930 census living with her husband, Frederick Harriman Wright (1863-1933), and family at 344 West 72 St near Riverside Drive. She was born in NYC of parents Frederick Finck (1830-1899) and Marie Antionette Meujer or Meagher (1834-1915).

Frederick Finck was a businessman who immigrated around 1835 from Darmstadt, Germany according to a census report, however, his obituary says it was 1849. There are a few conflicting records from this era but one record states that they were married in 1850. They had seven children:

• Frederick Finck (1858-1889)
• George Finck (1860-1917)
• Henry Ulrich Finck (1862-1898)
• Emily Finck Elliott (1864-1924)
• Adam Finck (1867-1922)
• John Finck (1869-1951)
• Marie Antionette Finck Wright (1878-?)

The 1870 census reports that Frederick was a speculator, probably in livestock. I have found a few tax records with meat provisions listed as property. The family lived at 170 Eldridge St near Delancey St in the lower east side of Manhattan for many years. Around 1879 Frederick was elected as an alderman-at-large, modern day city councilman, affiliated with the Republican party. He then became the regular alderman for the 8th Election District of the 11th Ward, which had one of the the largest populations in NYC at that time.

Politics in NYC were wrought with corruption back then - think Tammany Hall - and the elder Finck was caught up in a bribery scandal involving the development of the Broadway Railroad. He, along with 17 other aldermen, were indicted and arrested in 1886. Luckily, Frederick had a son who was a fairly prominent attorney in NYC. George Finck (1860-1917), the eldest living son of Frederick, was able to get the indictment dismissed in 1890. Frederick passed away on March 2nd, 1899 and is buried at the Finck family plot in Woodlawn cemetery.

I will give the run down on the children in the next Wright post. Most seemed to have married into some prominent circles & have been interesting research.