The Lost Souls of Bethany Orphanage

From researcher and archivist Carl Bloss:

"While proofing the translation from the German of the Bausman History found in the Board Minutes Bk 1, we found the names of the first 4 children that Rev. Boehringer took in at Morris Street: being Caroline Engel, but the next 3 were Vogel's. We found them in Yundt's and Vandevere Histories as Fogel, but we couldn't find them in the Book of Life? We know and understand the role that Caroline Engel held as the first child to enter the orphanage but no very little about many others.

 The fire at Womelsdorf in 1881 seemed to have destroyed all the children’s records, so they had to be reconstructed from the past; any notes carried over, memories of children remembered from the past even though not currently living at the institution. The Books of Children and then the Book of Life were the reconstructions but many names of children seem to have been missing. These are the “Lost Souls” of Bethany. 

Rev. Yundt made the first attempts by keeping a list of children already at Bethany in the year 1886, the year he became the Superintendent and eventually published in his history of Bethany. Rev. Vandevere repeated this list and added more to the year 1962. There are a variety of other lists that we found in different locations of the Archives as well the census lists.

So, Who were the VOGELs? From the German translation we read: ( On 21 September 1863, the first orphan was accepted into the home of Pastor Emanuel Bӧhringer, No. 702 Morris Street, Southwark, Philadelphia. In the October number of “The Shepherd of the Lambs”, Pastor Bӧhringer reports as follows: “ Accepted children: Karoline Engel from Philadelphia – 6 years old. Heinrich Vogel from Perryville(sic) Parryville, Carbon Co, Pa. – 11 years old. Franz Johannes Vogel “ – 8 years old. Philippina Vogel “ 5 years old. The last three are orphans of the fallen Sergeant Konrad Vogel, who fell on 14 September 1862 in the battle at South Mountain, Md., who left behind a poor widow with eight children.”

From these statements alone, we have, genealogically, been able to track Konrad Vogel and his family at that time. In the 1859 census, we find Conrad Vogel, age 26, as a shoemaker from Germany living in Brooklyn, NY, with his wife Margaret, 27, son John 5 born in NY, and daughter Mary 2. In the 1860 census we find Conrad Vogel, 35, wife Margaret 38, son John H 15, Mary E 12, Peter, 10, Henry 6, Francis 3, Philippine 1, Caroline & Louisa 4/12 and probably his mother-in-law, Phillipa West (Werther), 74, living in Weissport, Franklin Twp, Carbon County, Pa. (Parryville area). In the Boyd’s Pa State Business Directory we find Conrad Vogel living in Parryville, PA in 1861.

Also in 1861, we find Conrad Vogel enlisted in Company F, Pennsylvania 42nd Infantry Regiment, 1st PA Rifles for Civil War service on May 29, 1861 as a Sergeant. His (47 page) widow’s Pension file verifies his death at South Mountain, Md among 443 known Union deaths in that Battle (Fold3.com). The 2 Widow’s pension was filed in 1863. With the death of their mother on January 16, 1869, guardianship and pension was transferred of the minor children to daughter Mary AVENS of Brooklyn, NY. The 1870 census shows Wm Avenes 27, engineer, and Mary, 22, along with Henry 15, and apprentice boilermaker, Francis 15 an apprentice cigar maker, Philippine 11 at school as with Louisa 10.

Information on Ancestry shows that Philippine survived and the Archivist has been in touch with Michael Fanning, 3x great grandfather being Konrad Vogel through Philippine. (hntsgt@gmail.com) We look forward to sharing known pictures of Philippina’s family over the years. The family did not seem to know about this part of their lives. So we have learned a little bit more about another of the several “Lost Souls” of the Civil War and our own past. It is a known fact the “Bethany” had served more than 129 children through the Pa Soldier’s Orphans School Program after the Civil War – Another topic"

Sergeant Conrad Vogel: From German Immigrant to Civil War Casualty

Conrad Vogel, my 3x great grandfather was born in the town of Germersheim in the Bayern (aka Bavaria) region of Germany in December, 1823. He was born to Philipp Jacob Vogel and Philippina Werther. Ancestry.com provided an image of his baptismal record from the Lutheran church in Wörth.He married Margaret Huhn and after the birth of their first son, Johannes (John), they immigrated to America.

They settled in Brooklyn and in 1847 had their first daughter, Mary. The 1850 census shows them living in Brooklyn's 1st Ward, which would be today's Brooklyn Heights/Downtown area. His occupation was listed as a shoemaker.

By the 1857, Conrad and Margaret had moved to Parryville, Pennsylvania. The 1860 census report confirms them in Franklin Township, Carbon County and he is listed as a carpenter. They had eight children by this time, John, Mary, Peter, Henry, Francis, Phillipine (my 2x great grandmother), Caroline and Louisa Vogel. They owned the property they lived on, which was valued at $500, and their personal property value was $100. It seemed that they were living a comfortable life... until the Civil War.

Union Army Roster Card For Conrad Vogel

 

Conrad enlisted in the Union Army in Harrisburg on May 29, 1861 and was placed in the 42nd Volunteer Infantry, Company F. He enlisted as a sergeant as part of the Pennsylvania Bucktail Rifles, also known as "Kane's Rifles". Bucktails carried breech-loading Model 1859 Sharps Rifles, normally only issued to sharpshooters.According to information online, Company F was known as The Irish Company, so I expect Conrad may have stood out among his fellow soldiers.

Battle of South Mountain

 

This regiment fought in several important battles during the Maryland Campaign, including the Battle at Bull Run (Manassas), on July 21, 1861. In September of 1862, Union forces needed to regain control of three passes at South Mountain, Maryland. On the 14th of September, the battle of South Mountain took place at three locations: Crampton's Gap, Fox's Gap and Turner's Gap. I do not know at which gap Sgt. Vogel was fighting but he was shot and killed during the fierce battle. The Union Army was victorious but not before losing 443 men. Three days later the Battle of Antietam took place and another 2,108 Union soldiers were killed. It is believed that the remains of those killed at South Mountain were buried with those of Antietam.

A rendering of Confederate dead at Fox's Gap.

 

There were still two and a half years left before the end of the civil war that ravaged our nation. However, the death of Conrad Vogel, 39 years old, had already ravaged the Vogel family before the end of the war. Margaret was unable to care for her eight children and had died in New York in 1865 at the age of 40 years old.

I will continue the remarkable story of the Vogel children in the next post.

Alice Curtis Fuller Wright Frazer LeRoy

My great-grandfather, Frederick Harriman Wright, is a difficult subject to nail down. An artist & sculptor who lived from 1863 through 1933, I have not been able to locate one photograph of him. The only image we have in the family archives is this very intense self-portrait.

F. Harriman Wright

Before marrying my great-grandmother, Marie Antoinette Finck, he was married to Alice Curtis Fuller (1865-1947). They were married on October 9, 1886 in Manhattan. It was a short marriage and they were divorced in 1888. I found her to be an interesting woman, however, and continued to do some research on her.

Alice Fuller was the daughter of William James Appleton Fuller of Boston and Charlotte Elizabeth Oakes of Charleston, SC. Mr. Fuller was an attorney who had graduated from Harvard. Mr. Fuller was a master chess player and appears to have lead an interesting life:

William James Appleton Fuller was born at Boston, April 8th, 1822.
After spending some time at Harvard College, he paid a brief visit to Europe. He commenced playing chess at sixteen; and enjoyed the instruction of Mr. Hammond, who, with Dr. Oliver, used to play with him at odds. A checkered life gave him but few opportunities to cultivate the game. Among his numerous adventures, we are told that "he has hunted whales in the Polar seas - swam for a wager, and most unexpectedly for life, at Niagara Falls and among the amphibious Fayaways of the tropics - taught school and edited newspapers in the Far West - lost his way and everything else but his life, in crossing the wilderness on his route to California - doubled every cape and horn on the globe - and last, not least, drunk champagne with M. Godard while high up in a balloon." Although he taught chess while on a whaling voyage to the officers of the ship, and encountered in Cuba the magnates of the ever-loyal isle, he did not resume regular practice of the game until he settled in New York in 1854. Then he entered the Club, and in the following year took charge of a Chess department in Frank Leslies Illustrated Newspaper, where he displayed high literary as well as powerful Chess abilities. He was chiefly instrumental in giving accelerated impulse to the outward march of the game, and his brilliant, humorous, and instructive column aroused an enthusiasm for our sport, which had never before been experienced by the public of this country. Mr. Fuller is now (1859) engaged in the successful practice of the law, in New York, and is an Honorary Member of the New York Club.

-Prof. George Allen, 1859 (copied from http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/Fuller.html)

Back to Ms. Alice... after divorcing Frederick H. Wright, she married Dr. Francis MacDonald Frazer in September of 1896. MacDonald was the son the Rev. Dr. Frazer, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Newark, NJ.

A Peek Into the Hurley Family & The Polo Grounds

(L-R) Vera Hurley, Borromeo Hurley and newly married George Wright &Madeleine Hurley

August 1944
 

On my mother’s maternal side, we have the Hurley family. My grandmother’s name was Madeleine Elizabeth Hurley and was born on May 13, 1919. She would have been 102 in a couple of weeks but she passed away in February 2006 at 87 years old. She was born in Manhattan to Bartholomew J Hurley (1879-1963) and Elizabeth C Hoffman (1880-1948). Like most Manhattanites, they lived in an apartment building and at the time of her birth, the family lived at 62 East 129 St near Park Ave. The building still stands but appears to have been heavily renovated as opposed to many of the building on the street. Madeleine was the middle child of the family. Her sister, Veronica, or as we also knew her as Aunt Vera, would live near or with my grandmother for most of their lives. There was a little brother, Borromeo, who was born in 1921. According to the census reports they lived on East 129 St for several years until a move to the Bronx, where they lived at 1021 University Ave near West 165 St. The family remained in Highbridge section of the Bronx for many years.

 

On the left is a young Bartholomew Hurley as a police officer. Right is Elizabeth sitting in Bart's lap during a summer visit to Lebanon Springs, NY.

 

In the 1900 census, Bartholomew was 21 years old and listed as a lithographer. His family lived for a few years in Cornwall On The Hudson when his father, Bartholomew Sr. ran a hotel. He then became a police officer with the NY-Pennsylvania Railroad for a few years. The 1910 census states that he was a theater manager and the family had moved back to the city residing at 166 East 82 St. He eventually took a job with the Independent City Owned Rapid Transit Railroad as a fare collector. This railroad later became the IND line of the NYC subway system. According to my mom, Bart was a token clerk at he the 155 St – Polo Grounds station for many years. I have often wondered how many spectacular sporting events he may have worked in the subway station beneath the action. Did he sneak into the stadium during his lunch break to catch Christy Mathewson win one of his record 373 games? Was he there when Bobby Thompson’s “Shot Heard ‘Round The World” defeated their Brooklyn rivals? How about when Willie Mays made his famous over the should basket catch? There wasn’t just baseball at the Polo Grounds either. Maybe he worked the crowds headed to one of the many Army-Navy football games or those between the Ivy League rivals Fordham vs Columbia University. However, he was surely retired by the time the NY Mets played their first couple of seasons there before Shea Stadium was built.

The Polo Grounds Stadium

Some irony is found with ole Bart’s position at the subway station at West 155 St which sat just beyond the shadows of Coogan’s Bluff. Twenty-four years after he passed away I would be walking the same mezzanines as a NYC Transit Police Officer. The Polo Grounds were long gone by then, replaced by several towering public housing buildings of the same name that were notorious for their crime. Eight years after my great-grandfather died and 15 years before I joined the police department, a horrific incident occurred just down the street from the subway entrance. Two NYC policemen, Waverly Jones and Joseph Piagentini, were assassinated by avowed members of the Black Liberation Army. The suspects in these killings were also responsible for shootings and deaths of other police officers in California.

One of the longest and most lonely nights of my career I was posted at the West 155 Street station. It was New Years Eve of 1987 and I was stuck there for 12 long hours starting at 4PM. It was cold and desolate with the sounds of fireworks, or was it gunshots, echoing down the stairways throughout the cavernous subway. The times had changed for certain from the heyday of my great-grandfather to the footpost of my young police career.

Going Down To Monto, Lan-ge-roo!

It’s been quite a while since I have made any entries in this family ancestry blog. I cannot state any one particular reason why except life carries you in different directions.

I had restarted my genealogy research a year or so ago and have made some interesting discoveries, at least to me. I have delved a bit deeper into the DNA aspect of the hobby and discovered several connections to distant relatives within my family tree. This has given me affirmation to much of the research.

Peter Simon Fanning III

However, this blog post goes back to my great great grandfather, Peter Simon Fanning III, and his family’s life in northern Dublin in the mid 19^th century. While going over some records I found that Peter’s parents, Peter Fanning and Teresa Courtney, lived on Mecklinburgh St when he was born in 1864. I couldn’t find it on modern era maps and searched out its history online.

I first found a New York Times article that described Mecklinburgh Street as it ran through the center of a square mile of brothels, speakeasies, and slums known as Monto. The next street over was then called Montgomery Street, where this slum area obtained its nickname Monto. It was an infamous red-light district, perhaps one of the most well known in Europe in its day. James Joyce wrote of the area in Ulysses, which he dubbed Nighttown.

By all accounts, Monto was truly abysmal. The streets were lined with brothels and lowly taverns. Its proximity to the railway made it an easy entrance and escape for those looking to get their fill of society’s evils undetected. It became a dumping place for unwed pregnant women. Their children often landed in the hands of nuns who operated orphanages that surrounded the district.

 

A map of Dublin's red-light district known as Monto.

 

In 1864, the Fannings lived at 58 Mecklinburgh Street. I am not certain if this was considered the upper or lower end of the street. This apparently made a difference as the working class residents of the upper end lobbied to have their portion of the street renamed in 1886 to Lower Tyrone Street to disassociate itself with the seedier end of the road. In the 17^th century, the road was called Great Martin’s Lane and in 1911 it was renamed again Waterford St on one end and Railway Street at the other. The whole area was torn down during the 20^th century and was reconstructed in an effort to distance itself with the horrors of its past.

From the genealogical value of this post, the document where this info was gleaned came from the baptismal records of St Mary's Pro-Cathedral on Marlborough Street. Young Peter was given the sacrament of Baptism on November 4, 1864. All writing was done in Latin and their last name was actually listed as Fannin. One small mystery has emerged though. The record (a section that is not pictured here) has Magarita O'Brien as the child's sponsor (I assume this is a Godmother) and there is no male sponsor listed.

 

Peter Simon Fanning baptism record.

Coincidentally, when I was a young father, I had a long trek across Long Island to pick up my son for our weekends together. I often played Irish music on cassettes in my car. On one such tape there was a song by the Dubliners called Monto. My son did not enjoy much of the music on these trips but he did fancy this particular song and its catchy refrain. “Going down to Monto, Monto, Monto. Going down to Monto, lan-ge-roo… to you!” Here is a YouTube of Ronnie Drew's version of the song… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSXwttg88Zo

To read a bit more on Monto and Mecklinburgh Streets visit:

https://wideandconvenientstreets.wordpress.com/2015/08/24/nighttown-dublins-monto/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/15/world/europe/magdalene-laundries-ireland.html

William Welles Bosworth

Meet my "second cousin 3x removed", William Welles Bosworth. Another notable descendant of William Little Hull, my 4x great grandfather.

This is from his wikipedia page:

William Welles Bosworth (May 8, 1869 – June 3, 1966)^[1] was an American architect whose most famous designs include MIT's Cambridge campus, the AT&T Building in New York City, and the Theodore N. Vail mansion in Morristown, New Jersey (1916), now the Morristown Town Hall. Bosworth was also responsible to a large degree for the architectural expression of Kykuit, the famous Rockefeller family estate north of Tarrytown, New York, working closely with the architects William Adams Delano and Chester H. Aldrich and the interior designer, Ogden Codman.^[2]

Bosworth is not as well known in the United States as other Beaux-Arts architects of that time, because his career, under the auspices of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., led him to France in the 1920s, where he was put in charge of the restoration of the Palace of Versailles and Notre-Dame de Reims, projects Rockefeller was interested in and that he generously financed. In time, Bosworth was awarded the French Legion of Honor and the French Cross of the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, one of the few Americans ever to receive such honors. In 1918, Bosworth was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full member in 1928.

William Welles Bosworth

"Six Degrees of Separation" to President Woodrow Wilson

Once upon a time.... there was a husband and wife named William Little Hull (1786-1836) and Lydia Packard Hull (1781-1970). They had a 4x great grandson... that would be me! However, they also had a 3x great grandson, Donald Wilson Thackwell (1912-1962), who married a woman named Mary Faith McAdoo (1920-1988). The marriage took place in Delicias, Mexico 1946. I don't know when they were divorced but her next marriage was in 1966. Mary was the daughter of US Secretary of the Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo. Mary was also the granddaughter of US President Woodrow Wilson!

Mary Faith McAdoo as an infant with sister Ellen looking over her.

President Woodrow Wilson

US Secretary of Treasury William McAdoo

Mary Faith McAdoo had two other husbands. She was born on April 6, 1920 in New York City and died in Santa Barbara, California on November 14, 1988.

A Fanning Father's Day

Everyone has a father. Not everyone has a dad. I am fortunate to have a great dad.

My dad, Richard Fanning, has been a great inspiration to me. He and my mom raised my sister and I with a wonderful sense of family pride. He made sure the we did family things even when there was not a lot of money on hand. Trips to the Bronx Zoo & Botanical Gardens and the local beach (Orchard or Rockaway) grew into trips to Virginia Beach, Disney World, Chincoteague Island, Massachusetts for skiing, and frequent visits with relatives even if it meant taking the subway to a bus at the Port Authority.

My dad's promotion to Deputy Chief

My dad spent 32 years as a fireman in NYC after 2 years as a Transit Policeman. I watched him work hard and rise through the ranks of the FDNY to become a Deputy Chief. There were usually lots of fire science books and binders around the house during those years before a promotion test and mom made sure she occupied us kids so not to disturb him while he was studying. I did not become the excellent test taker he was but I did come to realize the value of hard work because of him. I would like to think that I inherited his sense of service and bravery. I have heard from many in the fire department of what great guy he is and a pleasure to work with/for. I used to love to read his scrapbook as a kid with the articles of heroics and mayhem... The Jennings Street Collapse, the two times he apprehended burglars in our Bronx apartment building, and narratives of awards earned. I relished the visits as a young lad to the firehouse. If there was such a thing as direct deposit back then, I surely would have been cheated of many visits to Ladder 19 & Engine 50.

Not everyone can say their dad was Superman.

My dad has a great sense of humor and is always the life of the party sometimes to my mother's chagrin. I believe he inherited that from his parents, Joe & Vera, who knew how to have a good time. I always loved the stories of my grandparents summers in the Rockaway bungalow courts and the St. Ignatius parish hall in Yorkville. One particular story had them and their friends in either O'Gara's Bar or the Paddywagon Pub across from Playland when a fight broke out. They were caught in the back of the establishment near an open window. Rather than get caught up in the fray, the men passed the girls through the window and climbed out behind them but not before grabbing a few pitchers of beer... not all of them were theirs!

Poppy Joe tries a hand at the bodhran drum.

My grandfather, Joseph Patrick Fanning... originally known to me as Pop Pop which later became Poppy Joe, was a hard working man, too. He worked in the printing business and became his own boss when he opened his own agency, FanningType. He, too, valued the family time when he could. Although my father has different recollections from hen he was a kid, my experience as the eldest grandchild included the backyard pool in NJ and beach house rentals in the Jersey Shore's Lavalette and then Long Beach, NY. As I grew older, I was fortunate to live about a mile from him after we both settled in Long Beach permanently. It was nice share a beer with him and visit for a short time unannounced during a bike ride with the kids. It is wonderful that he was able spend time with own great-grand kids. I did not get to meet my great grandfather,also Joseph Patrick Fanning.

Joseph Patrick Sr., the great grandfather, was born in Ireland in 1898 and immigrated to the US as a child with his parents. He grew up in Hell's Kitchen and raised his family there, too. Although born Joseph Patrick, he was known as "Paddy" and I have imagined him speaking in a slight brogue despite being taught the language here in the US. Census reports cite his occupation as "driver" in trucking and "chauffeur for private family".  He passed away when my dad was only 3 years old and, unfortunately, never had a relationship with him. If my memory serves me correctly Poppy Joe told me Paddy drove a car for the Ruppert family. Col. Jacob Ruppert was a well known businessman in NYC. He inherited the Ruppert Brewery in Yorkville, was a Tammany Hall politician, and owned the New York Yankees. In fact, it was Ruppert who purchased Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox in 1919. Coincidentally, Harry Herbert Frazee Sr., the man who sold The Babe to fund his Broadway production of "No, No Nanette" was the father-in-law of my maternal 1st cousin (2x removed) Anna May Hoffman. And to make the family connection greater, Vera Kempen Fanning's (my paternal grandmother) father & grandfather both worked at the Ruppert Brewery at some point, too.

Paddy Fanning

And the man responsible for the Fannings being in America was Peter Joseph Fanning. in 1891, at the age of 28 years old, he moved his family to New York. The 1910 census reports that his occupation was "horse shoer". I am sure he led a life of hard work, too. I don't have much information on Peter. I don't know when he died but I know he wasn't wealthy when he did. Judging from his photo, he was likely a proud man. And I believe he would be proud of all the Fanning fathers that came from his lineage.

Peter Fanning

Not forgotten on this father's day is my other grandfather, who died when my mom was young, and the other great grandfathers whose blood runs through my veins.

George Wright, maternal grandfather

Frederick Harriman Wright, maternal great grandfather

Bart Hurley, maternal great grandfather

Henry "Henny" Kempen, paternal great grandfather

Frederick Finck, maternal 2x great grandfather

Jakob "Joe" Schalk, paternal 2x great grandfather

William Hoffman, maternal 2x great grandfather

Bartholomew Hurley Sr., maternal 2x great grandfather

My First Brush with the Revolutionary War

As I continue to work my way through the Hull family lineage, I introduce to you my 5X great grandparents, Stephen Hull (1743 - 1803) and Comfort Babcock (1746 - 1806).

Stephen Hull, of Stonington, Ct., is the first ancestor I discovered who served in the American Revolutionary War as a member of the Continental Army. Using Ancestry.com, I viewed the 1920 "Sons of the American Revolution" application of Harold Bragdon Winslow. He is also a descendant of the Hull family and has documented that Stephen and his father, also named Stephen, served in the 8th Connecticut Regiment under the command of Captain Thomas Wheeler & Thomas Holmes between September 8 - November 17, 1776. They also served under Lt. Col. Oliver Smith's regiment out of New London but no dates were given. The site also provides a copy of the actual payroll for this militia and shows one of the Stephen Hulls as a sergeant. Also listed are some other names that I have become familiar with during my genealogy research, such Denison, Babcock, and Billings. I have not been able to locate much of the activities of this regiment during the time period indicated.

Roll Call of members of the Eighth Connecticut Regiment in 1776.

A year prior to enlisting in the army Stephen Hull had married Comfort Babcock in Willington, CT. According to other family trees that I have connected to they had seven children:

• Elias (1778-?)
• Comfort (1780-?)
• Ami (1782-?)
• Latham (1784-?)
• William Little (1786-?) *my 4x great grandfather
• Matilda (1788-?)
• Lucretia (1792-1870)

  According a variety of sources, they resided Willington, CT., Windham, CT., and Stonington, CT. According to the pension roll of the US Revolution, Stephen died in 1803 in Willington. The Newspaper Abstract from the Northeast reports that Mrs. Comfort Hull died in Boston at the age of 66.

Journey Through the Hull Branch

Yesterday I wrote about my 3x great grandparents, John William Hull (1810-1881) & his wife, Sophia C. Kelley (1815-?), in an attempt to manage my research on the Hull Family. JW Hull was the son of William Little Hull (1786-1836) and the third child of seven siblings. His mother was Lydia Packard (1788-1870)

William Little Hull [4th great grandfather] was born on February 2, 1786 in Willington, Connecticut. On December 29,1805 he married Lydia Packard [4th great grandmother] in a service by the Reverend Stephen Gano in Rhode Island. They had seven children:

• William Sterry (1806-1843)
• Joseph Augustus (1808-1852)
• John William (1810-1881)
• Cornelia Augusta (1812-1851)
• Charlotte (1814-?)
• Harriett (1822-1885)
• Alexander (1824-1884)

 William and Lydia moved at some point to the Rochester, NY area and he died when he was 50. He is buried at the Brighton Cemetery in Monroe County. Lydia had moved in with her son Alexander in Brooklyn by the 1855 NYS census and she was also living in Brooklyn in the 1865 census at her daughter Cornelia's home. Cornelia [4th great aunt] was married to Washington Van Zandt (1809-1868). She died in 1870 and was buried with her husband at the Brighton Cemetery.

I came across some interesting information regarding the Reverend Washington Van Zandt. He and Cornelia lived in upstate Rochester, New York. According to several books, Van Zandt, rector of St. Paul's Church, was the subject of a trial involving the seduction of 16 year-old Sophia Murdock in 1941. He was found guilty and assessed with damages of $3000. A very hefty fine in those days. It was quite scandalous for the era and was covered by many newspapers across the region. Van Zandt maintained and protested his innocence and there were several articles in the following years regarding appeals. He was dismissed from ministry by the Episcopal Bishop Delaney in 1848. A disgraced Washington & Cornelia were residents of Syracuse during the 1850 census and had moved to Brooklyn by 1865.

Portrait of Cornelia Augusta Hull Van Zandt

By 1856 Washington Van Zandt had become a newspaper editor of The Daily Star. There was a scathing column against him in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle which states, "That a creature with a character so foul and leprous; whose deeds have been recorded in the genial columns of The Police Gazette ; whose transition from the ministry to the purlieus of a three-cent grog cellar was in accordance with the natural gravitation of his character, should invite the lash of personalities by attacking others is a mystery which can only be explained by acknowledging the truth of the quotation, "Quem deus vult perdere prius dementat" ("Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad"). Quite the wordsmiths over in Brooklyn!

According to a Brooklyn Daily Eagle article from 1937, there is a portrait of Rev. Washington Van Zandt at the Zion Episcopal Church of Douglaston-Little Neck. It was unveiled at their 107th Anniversary. It turns out that Washington was the 11th son of Wynant Van Zandt who founded the church in 1830.

Working in the Opposite Direction

In the past, I have started discussing a branch of the family at its furthest point and brought the family tree back to me. I am going to go with the opposite approach with this branch of three because of its reach and distance.

As a child I was told that that one of my ancestors was famed US Navy Commodore Isaac Hull of the USS Constitution who had fought in the Quasi War, the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812. Before the days of the internet, I had seen hand written family trees where it showed my second great-grandmother was named Sophia Kelley Hull. She was married to John Guttridge Wright. I had discussed them a few years ago in this post but we explored the Wright side of the family. Now, I will escort you on my journey to reveal if Isaac Hull was actually in my family tree or is one of those long told family lore that cannot be verified.

Commodore Isaac Hull

Sophia Kelley Hull (1838-1927), born in New York City to John William Hull (1810-1881) and Sophia C. Kelley (1815- ?). She married John G. Wright when she was 19 years old and had three children (Frederick Harriman Wright, William John Wright, and Madeleine Wright) by the time she was 25. John was a successful grain merchant and they seemed to be doing well before 1880. In the 1880 Census it appears that John and Sophia were living separately. Sophia and her son William, a book keeper, were living in Park Slope, Brooklyn at 401 Third Street. John was living a few blocks away at 426 Sixth Street with Frederick, 16 years old. They were all listed as "boarders". John died in 1908 in Chaptico, MD. Sophia was located in the 1910 census in Washington DC with her son William, who had become a minister. In 1920 she was with her son William & wife Lucy Hayden Gough (1881-1969) in Statesville, North Carolina according to a local newspaper article but was also listed in the census as residing with her daughter Madeleine and her husband Cheever Newhall Ely (1849 - 1929) at 289 Madison Ave, NYC (with their two maids). She died on March 11, 1927 in Washington, DC and was buried in NYC on March 27th.

John William Hull, Sophia's father, was a railroad iron dealer according to the 1860 census. He & his wife, Sophia Kelley, lived in 21st Ward. This was the area of Sixth Ave to East River from E 25 St to E 40 St. They also resided in the same building as their daughter Sophia & John G Wright along with 2 servants. Their "Personal Estate" was worth $14,000 according to the census record. John Hull died in 1881 at 71 years old. I wonder if The Hull's were on hand for the grand opening of Central Park in 1858?

Sophia C. Kelley (my 3rd great-grandmother) was born in Philadelphia in 1815. I have not found any records indicating who her parents were. I am not sure how she came to live in NYC or how she met John W. Hull, however, after his death she lived with her daughter Sophia Wright in the Brooklyn apartment on Third St... and no servants!

Sometimes you come across a surprise... (Wright Tree)

I have yet to discuss the Hull branch of the family in any detail. It is a daunting task since it essentially takes us back to the first century. However, this little tidbit is a little more recent. Ancestry.com has a great tool that gives the genealogist "hints" when the information you provide and the endless lists and resources they have accumulated match. The ordinary hint includes a census page or a death index. This evening I came across an unusual hint where an old library index card was matched to a distant relative.

James Joseph Rorimer (1905-1966) was married to Katherine Newton Serrell (1908-2000). Neither of these names would sound familiar to anyone in the Wright family. Katharine Serrell is the 2x great granddaughter of William Little Hull (1786-1842) who is my 4x great grandfather. That would make Katherine my 4th cousin 1x removed. (got that?) There are several notable individuals that have come from this tree but like I said, this one made me raise an eyebrow.

James Rorimer, born in Cleveland, OH., was a well educated art expert. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University & was hired immediately by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He eventually became the museum's curator. He was also instrumental in developing The Cloisters museum in upper Manhattan.

In 1943, Rorimer enlisted in the US Army during WWII. The Army did not waste his his talents and assigned him as an officer in the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section in Normandy and Paris. This may sound familiar to those of you who have seen the film "The Monuments Men". The character played by Matt Damon was based on James Rorimer. He was a captain by the time he was released from service.

James and Katherine had two children, Louis and Anne. James died in May of 1966.

If you care to read a little more on his life & work: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Rorimer

More Fannings Discovered

On a recent visit back to New York I stayed with my aunt who shared with me several documents and photos that I hoped would shed some light on our genealogical search. One unique item that I found interesting was a menu from my grandparents' "Nuptial Breakfast" on September 6, 1941. It was held at Dante's Restaurant & Bar at 1544 Third Avenue at E. 86 St. The menu was signed by everyone who was in attendance and there were 2 names present that I had never heard before.... Emile and Margaret Fanning.

I was able to find Emile with no problem in an Ancestry search but what was his relationship to me?
Going back through the census reports I found that his father was James P. Fanning and they lived at 1528 Madison Avenue in the NYS 1905 census. I jumped to a conclusion, and I don't think it is a far stretch since Emile & his wife were actually invited to my grandparents wedding, that Emile was Paddy Fanning's, my great grandfather's, cousin. James P. Fanning and Peter Fanning were most likely brothers. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any document from Ireland to confirm this.

Grandpa Peter (1863-?) immigrated to the US in 1891 at the age of 28. James (1861-?) immigrated in 1887 as a single 26 years old. There are no 1890 census records available and the next record states that James married a woman named Frances M. Guggenheim (1877-?) on June 28, 1899 in Manhattan. Frances, born in NY of German immigrants, was mentioned as Fanny in most of the censuses. 1900 shows them as newlyweds at 1685 Madison Ave with their new son, Emile. James was a foreman at a rubber store. By 1910, James & Fanny had moved to The Bronx on E. 173 St. and James still worked in the rubber business. Daughter Teresa is listed as 9 years old. The 1920 census has them living in a house at 3934 Park Ave in the Bronx. James was now working as an elevator operator at the Salvation Army. Emile, 19, worked for as a telegrapher for a paper company, and Teresa was an 18 year-old clerk for American Express. The last census James is mentioned in is the 1930 census. They resided at 1018 Summit Ave in the Bronx and still worked at the Salvation Army at 69 years old. The kids were all married by then. I do not know when either James or Fanny died.

Emile married a Yonkers girl named Margaret Hughes (1900-1972) in 1930 and they lived at her family's house for several years on Van Cortland Park Avenue staring in the 1930 census. He was a manger at a dye works company & she was a stenographer for welfare services. In 1940, Emile was a life insurance agent and he and Margaret had three children.

Emile's sister, Teresa, is documented well before she gets married but her trail runs cold after that. I found a record indicating Teresa Fanning married an Edward A. Conner in the Bronx on June 28, 1926. However, I have been unable to locate them in any other records. Nor have I been able to find any history on Mr. Conner.

Emile and Margaret had three children: Mary (1932), Anne Marie (1932), and James (1934-2012).

Mary Fanning married Fausten "Frank" Kokosky (1930-2006) and they lived in New City, NY. I am not sure about children but when I search their address it is only a few blocks away from my sister-in-law.

Anne Marie Fanning, I believe, married Donald E. Popp (1932-1913). If accurate, they lived in White Plains at the time of the 1940 census and at some point moved to Edison, NJ. An obituary states that he died in Venice, Florida, and is survived by his wife, Ann M, 4 sons (William - Nazareth, PA., John - Charlotte, NC., Stephen - Clark, NJ., Christopher - Easton, PA.) and a daughter (Maryann Savoth - Edison, NJ.)

James Fanning never married according to his obituary which reads "James Francis Fanning, a lifelong Yonkers resident, passed away on October 21, 2012. He was 78 years old. James attended Yonkers schools, served 2 years in the US Navy and was a graduate of Fordham College in the Bronx. He worked for many years as a clerk with the Metropolitan Port Authority.James is the beloved brother of Ann Popp and Mary Kokoski. He is also survived by many loving nieces and nephews." He is buried at St. Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx.

You may have noticed another unfamiliar signature on the menu, too. I am in the process of investigating who "Helen Fanning" is.

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.

Hurricane Sandy

Just about everyone in the Northeast was affected by Hurrcane Sandy in some degree, whether it was loss of electricity, a tree down across the street, a foot of snow in your yard, or inability to travel freely due to gas shortage. A couple of twigs of the Fanning family tree were adversely affected in a big way. Luckily, there were no deaths or injuries to report since the families evacuated before the storm's arrival. However, property damage is vast.

The Fanning Family bungalow in Long Beach, NY sustained great damage as the storm surge caused the ocean to meet the waters of Reynolds Channel. It appears the water was about four feet into the house and above the kitchen counter tops. There was enough water to make the refrigerator float and ruin just about everything in the water's path. Aunt Margaret, Anthony and Carolyn have been displaced since then and we will need to rebuild.

The Fanning bungalow in Long Beach after it was gutted on November 21.

In Rockaway, Aunt Ronnie and the girls were evicted by Hurricane Sandy when the flood waters caused the basement windows to break under pressure and the entire basement filled up. The water line raised up into the first floor by nearly 2 feet. There were splash marks on the exterior of the house as high as 14 feet from the ground as Jamaica Bay and  the Atlantic Ocean clashed along Cronston Ave. Furnace, hot water heater, electrical panels, and lots and lots of memories were damaged by the sea water. Water pressure was strong enough to cause an old oil tank to dislodge in the basement.

The first load of flood damaged belongings are curbside at the Hynes' Rockaway home.

To add insult to injury, a local landmark dear to the family was utterly destroyed by fire during the storm. The Harbor Light Restaurant was the venue to wedding rehearsals, birthdays, christenings, communions, and other meetings too numerous to list. As the 80 mph winds pushed the fire across the peninsula, the restaurant once owned by Uncle Walter was engulfed and burned to its very foundation. When I saw the first photo posted online of its smoldering ruins it caused me goosebumps.

The Harbor Light the morning after the storm.

If you have been following the story of my family through this blog, you have read how we have overcome adversity in the past. And we will overcome again. We have come from a strong lot who have endured months long trans-Atlantic journeys, terrorist attacks, and depressions. We have each other and through each others strength we shall soar once more.

The Weinbrecht Family

My great aunt, Marie Elizabeth Fanning (March 13, 1908 - January 10, 2000), was my grandfather's sister. I don't recall ever meeting her but often heard about her and her family at gatherings and family discussions. My mother has described her as a gentlewoman with wonderful manners and proper, but not in a stuffy, pretentious way. She married William Joseph Weinbrecht (April 13, 1905 - August 24, 1978) on June 17, 1933 in Manhattan.

William & Marie Weinbrecht in 1933

Before marrying Uncle Bill, she had traveled out to San Diego to live with her aunt Mary Alice & Eric Carl on 50th Street, as discussed in a previous blog entry. At some point after their wedding and before 1940 they moved to Corona, Queens. Their address was 31-12 100 St in the 1940 census. Uncle Bill was listed as a NYC Police Officer (from 1931-1951) and I know that he worked at the 110 Precinct, which covers the Elmhurst & Corona sections of Queens. His nickname was "Whitey" and he played on the police baseball team... quite an honor in those days.

NYPD Baseball Team in the 1930's Outside City Hall

Bill and Marie relocated to San Diego after Bill retired from "the job". They had three sons:

• William Joseph (b.1935) married to Mary Mort in 1960 in San Diego.
• Raymond (b. 1940) and married to Mary Maloney in 1968
• Joesph Francis (b.1944) and married to Margaret Sullivan in 1971

Bill, Joe, and Ray with their mom, Marie

Bill & Mary had a son Mark (b. 1961) who also possessed some baseball skills like his grandfather. Mark was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 14th round in the 1980 MLB Baseball Draft. He was a pitcher who played for Clairemont HS in San Diego. Mark married Kimberly Turner in 1986 and they have a daughter Amanda.

Mark with the Elmira Pioneer Red Sox

We'll have to continue with the rest of the Weinbrecht family on my next entry.... until then stay well.

September 11, 2001... Never Forget.

It touched all of our hearts in so many ways... of the 3,000 people murdered that day, one of them was our own family. He will always be missed and remembered.

"Capt. Walter Hynes was the person his extended family relied on for everything. If you needed your plumbing fixed or a room painted, Walter would do it. He would change your tire. He was the family lawyer. He even met his wife while lending a hand: he was helping another firefighter, Richard Fanning, move into a new house and was introduced to Mr. Fanning's sister.

Captain of Ladder Company 13 at 85th Street and Lexington Avenue, Walter lived in Belle Harbor, Queens, with his wife, Veronica, and their three daughters. He had worked as a firefighter in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and put himself through law school at St. John's University at night."

The rest of the Wrights...

I am back after taking the summer off from blogging and looking forward to providing some new and interesting information on the Wright and Fanning families.

The previous post on the life and family of Reverend William J. Wright, wife Lucy, and his daughters. They appear to have led a moderate lifestyle in the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC. However, Frederick and William's sister, Madeleine Wright (not to be confused with my grandmother, Madeleine Hurley Wright), married into a wealthy New York family. They were descendents of English aristocrats who immigrated to the new world in its infancy.

Madeleine (1861-1932) married into the Ely family. Her husband, Cheever Newhall Ely (1849-1929), was a successful textile businessman and they were socialites. In the late 1890's they lived in a large Victorian home in Yonkers that had been profiled in a few architectural periodicals of the era. The below photo is of the home at 526 Warburton Avenue across from the Trevor Estate. The structure still exists but recent photos show the property has not been maintained to its original splendor.

The Ely family apparently played a significant role with the Wright family and socialized in the same circles. Cheever's cousins, Moses and Smith Ely, were in the wedding party of Frederick Wright & Marie Antionette Finck. While doing my research, I learned that there was a NYC Mayor by the name of Smith Ely Jr., but the dates of his life do not match up with the one mentioned above.

Madeleine & Cheever had 3 children but only one lived past childhood. Even wealth could not protect the children of this time period from disease and misfortune. Their daughter, Madeleine, died as an infant in 1885 and their son, Cheever Marsfield Ely, died at the age of 2 in 1893.

The surviving child, Grace Ely (1889-1953), has conflicting formation for the birth date. It appears that October 6, 1889 is the correct date, however, a passenger manifest on a cruise liner listed it as October 10, 1893. She married David Edward Cain (1891-1965) in 1914. David Cain was a Colonel in the US Army, serving in World War 2 and the Korean war, and they resided in many places across the country. Grace died in Jamestown, Rhode Island in 1953 and David died in 1965.

They had two children, Virginia Ely Cain (1916-?) born in NYC and David Edward Cain, Jr. (1917-?) born in Honolulu, HI.

Virginia married a man named Henry Lloyd Thornell Koren. HLT Koren was a well known Foreign Service Officer, who also dabbled in CIA activities, and was once the chief of the Congo Mission in Africa in the mid-1960's and also a Deputy Ambassador in several other countries. His State Department biography is posted here. I have not located Virginia's death records but Henry passed away in June 1994 in James City, VA. They had 2 children, Henry Lloyd Koren (b.1944) and Ann Koren.

David Cain Jr. married Martha Appleton (1919-1994) in 1942 but died just 4 years later in Rhode Island. I believe they had 2 children who are still living.