Catching up since my last post!

Hello! I know, I know... I dropped the ball. It's been over 2 years since my last post and I apologize to family members who have been following along.

Just because I have not posted in a while that does not mean that I have stopped the research. There have been a few discoveries which I would like to share with both sides of the family. In next couple of posts I will tell you how I have determined new branches of the Fanning family and of the Finck family on my mother's paternal side.

Since I already have the Finck page up on my other monitor I will begin there. I was searching for more articles on Alderman Frederick Finck's indictment in regards to the Broadway Railroad scandal when I came across this article:

George Illmensee Suicide

As you can see in the sub-title of this newspaper article, Alderman Finck's brother-in-law, George Illmensee, committed sucide. The article dates to June 1885 in New York City's lower east side. Finck had arranged for George Illmensee to work as a custodian in a public school at 160 Chrystie Street off Delancy Street. I will let you read the article to see what caused George's demise but the important genealogical discovery is how is he related to Finck?  A search of marriage records showed he was married in 1868 to Babbette Muger in Manhattan. This answers a long lying question that I had in regards to my 2nd great grandmother, Marie Antoinette Finck. I have a few variations of her name including Meagher and Mueger that have been taken from other family trees on Ancestry. This is the first where I have seen an official record.

So, now this leads us down the Ilmensee branch of the family which I was able to find through census and military records. George Illmensee (1838-1885) and Babette (often referred to as Barbara in records) Muger (1838-1885) were married July 13, 1868. George was a furniture maker and upholsterer by trade according to census reports. I suppose the school job provided a more steady income and allowed them to live in the basement of the school which saved them in rent. They had two boys, Herman (1873-?) and George Jr (1879-1945). George's suicide was on June 23, 1885. Babbette died three days later on June 26 in Newark, NJ, at 50 years old. I don't know the circumstances but we can assume it was more than a coincidence.

Herman Illmensee (1873-?) married Ida M. Volmar (1872- ?) November 24, 1897 in Manhattan. Ida seems to be from Oneida, NY, if my census record search is correct. They lived in the Tremont section of the Bronx, on Hornaday Place & then on Weeks ave through the 1930's. I do not know when they died. They had a son, George Volmar Illmensee. (1899-1961) who married Veronica G. (1908-?). Veronica was born in New Jersey and it appears that they settled in Atlantic, NJ in Monmouth County according to the 1930 census. George is listed as a poultry man and he died in September 1981 in Colts Neck, NJ. He was also in the Naval Reserve during WW1 as a Landsman Yeoman. Veronica died in 1961. They had one child George possibly born in 1957.

George Illmensee Jr (1879-1945) is the other son of George & Babette. He married Caroline (1877-?) before the 1905 census and they had four children. This group of the family also lived in the Tremont area of Bronx on Clay Ave for many years. George's occupation was insurance clerk. Their children are George III (1904-1975) who died in Westbury, Long Island. Daughter Grace who married Albert Kelsey (1904-?) in 1934 and they moved to NJ  after the 1940 census and her place of death is listed as Eatontown, NJ. Son Arthur (1911-1990) was married to a woman named Elinor (1911-2004). They lived with their parents in the 1940 census on Clay Ave. They had later records indicating that they lived in Eatontown, NJ, too. Elinor died in Ashburn, VA.

I have not been able to locate George III's wife but they had a daughter, Elizabeth Grace (1938-), who I was able to find an engagement notice in the TY Times. In 1962 she became engaged to Robert G. Schenker (1935-?). Both were graduate students at Adelphi University. I have been able to find public records for them residing in Peapack, NJ as late at 1993.

Tomorrow, I will outline the new Fanning branch.