21 January 2015

A Dead Woman's Wishes Not Fullfilled, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Gertrude Hemstreet Hitchcock, Week 3

This week's bio is a sad finding just discovered during some genealogical research regarding a deceased woman's money and her siblings.  Her story plays out below.

Old Fulton NY Post Cards is a great site to try to locate individuals in old digitized newspapers. Simply type in a name and the website uses OCR to search the thousands of pages of digitized newspapers on the site.

The site was being used to search for death notices for Elijah F. Hitchcock and his wife Gertrude. I believe Elijah to be connected to my Hitchcock's but I do not have the exact connection.  Therefore I was hoping I might find a clue in a death notice.

I have yet to find when Elijah died or where he is buried but his wife, Gertrude, is buried in Albany Rural Cemetery.  In the fall, my daughter and I walked the section in ARC and we could not find her stone.  After visiting the cemetery office it was determined by the office staff and plot records that there was no stone placed on the lot.  This explains why we could not find one.

Unfortunately my Old Fulton search did not give me what I was looking for.  I could not find a death notice for Elijah but I did find an article on the reading of Gertrude Hitchcock's will.  In The Daily Times, Troy, N.Y. newspaper from 10 June 1893 (2:4) it stated;

The will of Gertrude Hitchcock was also proved yesterday.  Alida Cordell, a sister, receives all the personal property, and a bequest is made to a brother.  The money realized from selling the real estate is to be divided between Alida Cordell, her sister, and Garrett Hemstreet, her brother.  Two headstones, at a cost of $150, are to be erected on the family lot in the Rural cemetery.

It apparent that Gertrude's siblings never paid for nor had a tombstone placed at her plot.  They took the money and ran.  Very sad.


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