Thievery at the Cemetery?

About four hours ago I took a ride to Our Lady Help of Christians Cemetery in Glenmont to check how my ancestor's graves held up over the Winter and to note whether I had any upcoming projects to attend to there. While at the cemetery I took a look at a grave site where there was an old cast iron bench at an unrelated grave site. Years ago this cemetery had quite a few of these benches within it. I remember seeing them as a kid when I visited the cemetery with my grandparents.

As of March of 2013 there was only one remaining bench left in the cemetery. All of them had disappeared one way or another. Today I checked for the bench because numerous times in the past when my kids were at the cemetery with me, we would photograph them sitting on the bench. The last time I did this was in 2013 and I will no longer be able to do the same in the future because today it is missing, gone, not there.  Below is the first picture we took of my kids at the bench. It was taken in 2003.

Summer 2003

Summer2008

The next photo below was taken in March 2012. In order to keep the peace within the family and not start WWIII with the girls; their faces have been whited out. "Are you happy girls?" The bench can clearly be seen between two grave stones.

March 2012

The photo below is of the same spot taken today. The cast iron bench is gone. In the top photo, the bench was wired together. Obviously it was damaged at some point. The question here is: did the cemetery workers remove the bench because of the damage or was it removed by thieves?

30 March 2015

It is very aggravating that this happens and I am sure that it happens all the time. Another item that is no longer found here are the old GAR medallions that hold flags. This cemetery had numerous ones again when I was a youngster. I hope that these small relics from the past are not disappearing for ease of up keeping of the grounds. This will be looked into further.

Association for Gravestone Studies (AGS) Meeting in Menands

Briefly the New York Chapter of the Association for Gravestone Studies will be holding a meeting at St. Agnes Cemetery in Menands in a couple of weeks. Details are listed below. The information was cut and pasted from the Association website.

Spring Meeting -- The New York Chapter of the Association for Gravestone Studies (AGS) is pleased to announce its spring meeting, to be held on April 18, 2015. The event will take place at St. Agnes Cemetery, Menands, NY (near Albany).

The meeting will include talks on conservation, rural cemeteries (including Albany Rural Cemetery), public programming at St. Agnes Cemetery, and other topics. In the afternoon attendees can take self-guided tours of St. Agnes Cemetery and adjacent Albany Rural Cemetery.

Maps and information about points of interest at the the cemeteries will be provided.

An invitation with the program and more details will be emailed at a later date. If you would like to be added to the New York Chapter mailing list to receive an invitation to this and future events, please email evabowerman25@gmail.com.

Updates will be posted on: https://www.facebook.com/New.York.Chapter.AGS

A Brief History of Albany's Water Works System

Some posts and questions arose on the FB group, Albany... the way it was, regarding some of Albany's past reservoirs. I found some info on these former reservoirs and put this together. Below is a picture of part of a Sampson & Murdock 1902 Albany map that shows part of the Patroon Creek to the left of where West Albany is listed. This pond-like portion of water is the same water that can easily be seen today between I90 and the former Tobin's First Prize building.  Two other reservoirs can be seen in the western portion of the city, the Bleecker and the Prospect reservoirs.  A brief history of these water works is below.

The following information comes from pamphlets that were included with city water bills back in the late 1990s. The old Water Works Company, formed in 1802, created Watervliet Lakes, also known as Tivoli Lakes in the 1840s. These lakes were behind Phillip Livingston school.  Only one small lake remains today. In 1850, three streams at the Patroon's headwaters were dammed near Fuller Road to create Rensselaer Lake or Six-Mile Waterworks. A four mile long underground brick conduit would deliver Rensselaer Lake water to Bleecker Reservoir, site of today's Bleecker Stadium. More than four million bricks were used to construct the egg shaped conduit. Bleecker Reservoir held 30 million gallons of water. The reservoir was converted to Bleecker Stadium in 1935.

In the late 19th Century, Patroon Creek, east of Fuller Road, would feed a newly constructed Tivoli system, which provided drinking water to the City until the early 1920s. This system consisted of Sand Creek Reservoir (I believe this might be the pond-like area off I90), Russell Road Reservoir (located on Russell Road just north of Sand Creek Road), and Tivoli Reservoir (located north of Livingston Avenue between Ontario and Quail Streets).

In 1875, a new pumping station was built at the northwest corner of Montgomery and Quackenbush Streets. Hudson River water was pumped from a pier in the river to a 30 inch cast iron main located beneath Clinton Avenue. The water would supplement the existing water in Bleecker Reservoir.

A second storage reservoir, Prospect Hill was constructed in 1877 to better supply elevated sections of the City. The new reservoir held 7.5 million gallons and was built on a sandy knoll, known as Powder House Hill, between Colby Street and Manning Boulevard.

Who Are They? 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 9

As I have mentioned before everyone should know the importance of lightly writing on the back of old photos as to who the individual/s are. If writing on the reverse of the photo is not an option, some means of name identification should be accomplished. I have numerous photos of relatives and ancestors that date back to the 1860s and maybe earlier. Unfortunately everyone who would be in the know as to who these people are are long gone; some upwards of one hundred years or more.

This week's ancestor biography is on ... I do not know?  Below are photos of unknown ancestors. I have an idea of who they might be but that is it. No solid proof. Only a hunch?

Below are two photos that came from the town of Zierikzee in the Netherlands. Zierikzee is the town where my great great grandfather Hendrik Koreman and his three siblings were born.  Around 1852 the family immigrated to America. On the reverse side of the photos is the address of the photographer, which is how we know the photos are from the Netherlands. The below photos could be of siblings to my ggg grandfather Cornelis Koreman. Whoever they are? They felt it important to send these photos to New York.

CJ Korsten, Zierikzee, Photographer

Zierikzee

The remaining two photos below are from Rondout, New York; just outside Kingston. My grandfather told me numerous times about his ancestors living in Rondout before coming to Albany. These photos are proof that they were in Rondout.

Vallaha, Division Street, Rondout

DJ Auchmoody, Garden & Ferry Streets, Rondout, NY

The final photo, I do not know if it can be called a photo. It is like a piece of glass with a negative print in it.  It is very difficult to see the print. However if a dark background is placed behind it then the image becomes very clear. I do not know what type of photo it is. If anyone knows the answer to this question, please let me know. One noticeable thing is the man in this photo is also the same man in the photo two pictures above. Both of these photos came from different cousins within the Koreman family.

Glass negative type photo?

Anna Simon; 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 8

For this week's ancestor bio I picked Anna Simon who married Josef Eger; younger brother to my great great grandfather Georg Eger.  Tante Anna was picked because of the number of children that she and Josef had.  I believe that I have another ancestor in my database who had more children than Anna but I just cannot remember her name at the moment.

Anna Simon was born on 05 February 1873 in Trausnitz in the German state of Bayern after Bismarck's unification of all German states into the country of Deutschland.  She married Josef Eger who was born on 09 February 1870 in Trausnitz also.  They were married on 08 October 1895 and had the following children.

• Katharina (09 September 1894 - 23 March 1976) married Alois Rottler
• Margarete (06 August 1896 - xxxx)
• Josef (21 June 1897 - xxxx)
• Johann (10 May 1898 - 14 February 1962)
• Josef (16 April 1899 - 08 December 1975) married Anna Lobinger
• Mathias (02 March 1900 - xxxx)
• Maria (22 February 1901 - xxxx)
• Mathias (27 March 1902 - xxxx)
• Margarete (28 April 1903 - xxxx)
• Michael (29 October 1904 - 07 September 1992) married Franzisha Vogl
• Margarete (04 December 1905 - 1974)
• Georg (16 January 1907 - 1907)
• Georg (11 December 1907 - 1993) married Elisabeth Simon
• Maria (11 April 1909 - xxxx) married Georg Schulmeyer
• Barbara (30 April 1910 - xxxx)
• Andreai (05 July 1911 - xxxx)
• Anna (20 September 1912 - xxxx)
• stillborn boy (13 April 1914)

Josef Eger died on 18 August 1954 and Anna died three days later on the 21st.

Below is a photo of my ancestral home in Trausnitz.  My great great grandfather, Georg Eger was born here and Josef and Anna raised their family here also.

New York Genealogical Conference

Although this conference is months away, anyone interested in it should start planning to attend before hotel rooms and tickets are sold out.  This is being publicized all over and should be a great conference.  The hotel where this event is being held is directly across the street from the Thruway Exit 37. Details about the event are below:

New York State Family History Conference

The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society and the Central New York Genealogical Society are pleased to announce that our 2015 New York State Family History Conference has been chosen by the Federation of Genealogical Societies as one of their regional conferences. The Second New York State Family History Conference is increasing in size and duration and will feature three simultaneous lecture tracks and more exhibitors. The Federation of Genealogical Societies is sponsoring the first day of the conference.

When: Thursday, September 17, 2015 - 9:00am to Saturday, September 19, 2015 - 5:00pm
Venue: Syracuse/Liverpool Holiday Inn,441 Electronics Parkway, Liverpool, N.Y.
Sponsor: The New York Genealogical & Biographical Society and the Central New York Genealogical Society


For more info check the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society website or the conference website at The New York State Family History Conference

Local Documentary on Irish-Americans in Albany

Coming up next week on public channel WMHT TV will be a documentary about the Irish in the local area.  It is titled Hard Days are Gone: The Irish in the Capital Region. Details for the show are below:

Hard Days Are Gone: The Irish in the Capital Region

Watch ON WMHT TV:Sunday, March 15, 2015 at 12:30pmMonday, March 16, 2015 at 7:30pm

When the Irish immigrated to the Capital Region they brought little with them but their strong backs and hands, their belief in God, and the dream of liberty and home for themselves and their family. Their legacy has endured and is affirmed in this hour-long documentary produced as a collaborative effort between WMHT and the Albany Institute of History and Art.

Through letters, diaries, poems, songs and oral history, the rich texture of the Capital Region's Irish heritage is woven. And the pride of being Irish continues today with the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Albany, an Albany visit by Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, and the music of the popular group, The McKrells, performing at Saratoga's 'The Parting Glass'.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 7; Charles William White

This week's ancestral biography is on Charles William White; my great great grandfather. Charles was the second eldest son of Robert White (1813-1893) and Ann Strong (1815-1884) being born on 22 May 1835 in County Westmeath, Ireland. Siblings of Charles included:

• Joseph (1834 - 1904) married Elizabeth Freeman 
• Elizabeth (1838 - ?) 
• Robert (1840 - ?) 
• William Henry (1846 - 1896) married Josephine Elizabeth Parker 
• Frances Ann (1849 - ?) married GLM Carter 
• James (1850 - 1854) 
• Thomas Edward (1854 - ?) married Agnes Jane Laing 
• Sarah Jane White (1859 - ?) 

Robert, Sr. and family consisting of mother, Ann, and children; Joseph, Charles, Elizabeth, and Robert sailed from Liverpool, England on the Salem and reached New York harbor on 2 November 1843. Below are scans from the passenger lists of the ship showing the family.

page 1

page 2

The family was living in Albany by 1850 as can be seen in the Federal Census for that year.  Robert is listed as no occupation but he worked as a farmer and a laborer.  Brother Joseph is listed as a laborer and Charles is listed as a butcher; a trade that he would hold and become prominent at until he became elderly.

1850 Census

Charles belonged to the Episcopalian faith and worshipped at Grace Episcopal Church on Clinton Avenue and Robin Street.  At least three of his siblings, William Henry, Thomas Edward, and Sarah Jane were baptized there.  Charles became the senior Vestryman at Grace Church.  A position that he held until his death.  His son Joseph would succeed him as Vestryman until his death in 1954. 

Charles William White

Mary Ann Wilson White, circa 1907

Charles married a Catholic Irish immigrant girl, Mary Ann Wilson, on 23 September 1861.  Charles and Mary had eleven children.

• Mary A. (1862 - 1918)
• Charles William (1863 - 1937) married Minnie Adams
• James Lincoln (1864 - 1885) married Elizabeth J. Goodwin
• Robert (1866 - 1908)
• Joseph (1868 - 1954) married Theresa Anna Neubauer
• Margaret Agnes (1869 - 1939) married William Charles Brennan
• George Washington (1871 - 1935) married Clara Boyd Hitchcock
• Emma (1873 - 1874)
• Christopher (1875 - 1877)
• Bella (1877 - 1877)
• John Bridgeford (1880 - 1903) married Clara Boyd Hitchcock

Shortly after the death of his daughter Emma, Charles purchased a very large lot in Albany Rural Cemetery for $150 which will become the family burial plot.  Below is a scan of his lot owners card.

Mary, Charles' wife died on 20 December 1908 and was buried in the family plot.  Charles joined her on 16 November 1917.  The family honored Charles with an impressive obituary in the Times Union as seen below.

The main White headstone at Albany Rural Cemetery; below.

Samuel Hitchcock, A Soldier of the Revolution; Week 6: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

This week's ancestral biography is on Samuel Hitchcock, my gggggg grandfather. Recently, I tied Samuel and other Hitchcock's into my tree through the help of another cousin, Bob, who is also researching the tree.  Bob found an online tree on Ancestry.com, told me about it, I check out the online tree, made a couple of contacts, and now we have our first found ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War. For years, I have found Samuel Hitchcock in local records but had no strong connection; only a hunch.  Now I have a connection.  I hope that the connection and sources will be strong enough to allow me entrance into the Son's of the American Revolution or SAR; which is a lineage society of male descendants of an ancestor who fought in the Revolution.

Samuel Hitchcock was born in 1760 in Ossining, New York.  He was a son of David Hitchcock (1733 - 1825) & Rachel Knapp (     - 1807). Samuel is supposedly descended from Edward Hitchcock, who immigrated from England and settled in New Haven, Connecticut around 1635.

In March 1776 Samuel was mustered into the Second New York Regiment as a Private.  The Regiment was commanded by Captain Jacob Wright under Colonel Phillip Cortland. Samuel finished his third term of his enlistment in June 1783 and was mustered out.  In Samuel's pension records, it states that his pension for his service in the war amounted to $8 per month to commence on the 25th of March 1818.

Samuel married Mary Schlippe (1760 - 1827).  Mary was born in the Netherlands and immigrated to the colonies. They had the following children:

• James (1785 - 1858) married Peggy Meneely
• Joel (1787 - 1853) married Freelove Dyer
• Rachel (1789 -     ?) married Stephen M. Conger
• Jeremiah (1790 -    ?)
• Isaac (1796 - 1882) married Nancy Meneely
• Nathaniel (1799 -    ?)
• Nicholas (1800 - 1870) married Sarah

Shortly before brother Isaac was born Samuel and Mary moved the family from Westchester County up to West Troy; now Watervliet.  Not much more is known about Samuel.  According to his gravestone, Samuel died on 4 October 1831.  He was buried in the Gibbonsville Cemetery in Watervliet. In 1918 the Watervliet Arsenal purchased the land where the Gibbonsville Cemetery was located and removed all of the internments to Albany Rural Cemetery.  A photo of Samuel Hitchcock's grave is below.

Genealogical and Historical Happenings at the East Greenbush Community Library

The following two programs at the East Greenbush Community Library may be of interest to some readers.

Genealogy 101: Getting Started in Researching Your Family History
Saturday, March 21 at 2:00 PM

This workshop will review the basics of getting started in genealogy, such as discovering what you already know, interviewing family members, organizing information, using a library to do research, identifying websites, and finding your family in the census.  Our presenter, Terri Moran, is a retired school librarian and current vice-president of the Capital District Genealogical Society.
Registration required

Greenbush Historical Society presents Fort Crailo
Sunday, May 31 at 2:00 PM

Shirley Dunn, local historian and author, will talk about her latest research and book on Fort Crailo (soon to be published). Fort Crailo, erected in 1662 by Hendrick van Rensselaer, was a place of refuge for local settlers during wars among the Indians. Learn about the early complex. Crailo is now a state historic site and open to the public.
Registration required

All programs are free and open to the public. Due to limited space registration is required for all programs. Call 518.477.7476 or visit their webpage and use their online registration.

The library is located at
10 Community Way
East Greenbush, New York 12061

Our Lady Help of Christians Church

This blog post is in response to a great photo of the interior of Our Lady Help of Christians Church that was posted on the Facebook group, Albany... the way it was.  The church is located on lower Second Avenue in Albany's "south end" neighborhood.  This information is culled from the vast bank of data that I have collected on German-Americans in Albany.  Below is a copy of the photo from Matthew Magin.

Our Lady Help of Christians Church, interior

Albany’s third German Catholic church was Maria Hülfe der Christen, or Our Lady Help of Christians, situated at 74 Second Avenue.  The area surrounding Second Avenue was originally located in the Bethlehem hamlet of Groesbeckville until Albany annexed the district, in 1870.  Today the area is known as the “South End.”  The district was predominantly a German enclave.  Its inhabitants resided in small one-family frame homes.  The South End German Catholics originally worshipped at Holy Cross Church, but many found it difficult to travel to Hamilton Street.  Therefore in 1873 they requested that another German parish be created for their locale.

Our Lady Help of Christians

The church began in a small frame building as a mission for Holy Cross, with services conducted by priests from Holy Cross.  In 1874 Reverend Stephen A. Preisser became the first pastor.  The corner stone of the church was laid on June 27, 1880, during an impressive ritual with “pomp and ceremony” where at least two thousand people attended.[1]  On August 28, 1881, the church was consecrated with impressive services.[2]  Within the congregation, the church was known as “Maria Hilf,” or “Mary Help."

Among the parishioners it was well known that the early worshippers, the majority of them immigrants, had mortgaged their homes in order that their beloved church be built.  The cost of the church was $14,000.  In 1874 the church purchased eighteen acres of farmland in Glenmont for use as a parish cemetery.   

Our Lady Help of Christians, interior

Societies that functioned within the church included two benevolent aid societies or Unterstützungvereine: the Saint Stephen Society, established in 1874, and the Saint Boniface Verein, founded on August 27, 1875. As of 1897 eighty members paid monthly dues of $.35 enabling them to weekly sick payments of $4.00, a $100 death benefit, and a $50 disbursement for the death of a member’s wife. The society’s capital amounted to $3,042.41, and in 1891 the Verein joined the German Roman Catholic Central Verein. Both of these associations were benevolent societies that catered to the needs of newly arrived immigrants. The Holy Name Society and the Christian Wives and Mothers Society were based on spiritual enlightenment for women. Other female associations included Branch 452 of the Ladies Catholic Benevolent Association, the Saint Monika Verein, the Sacred Heart Society, and the Junglings und Jungfrauen Sodality, which promoted the advancement of religion in the lives of young females.[3]

Under the direction of the first resident pastor, Reverend Preisser, a parochial school was established in January 1875 on Krank Street, before the congregation was incorporated into a parish. Initially, lay teachers, including John Hess, taught the students until the services of religious teachers were secured. In 1882, responding to an invitation from the pastor, the Sisters of Saint Francis from Syracuse, New York came to replace the lay teachers. Their rigorous and demanding protocol gave the school a reputation for maintaining high standards. The school affectionately became known as “Krank Street College.”

In the 1890s the school had an enrollment of three hundred students.  School tuition was $.50 per month for pupils above the first grade and $.25 per month for first grade students.  As was true of so many of the German national schools of the time, instruction was given in both German and English.[4]  Morning classes were taught in German and afternoon classes in English.  

In 1935 a modern school was built and was in operation until the school closed in 1975, because of low enrollment.  Sadly, the church said an emotional Auf wiedersehen, after one hundred thirty years of service to the community, owing to dwindling parishioners.  The final mass was held on February 10, 2002.[5]

---

[1] Albany Argus, June 28, 1880, 8:2. Phelps, comp., The Albany Hand-Book, p. 59. Reynolds, Albany Chronicles, p. 688.

[2] Albany Argus, August 29, 1881, 8:3.

[3] Louden, ed. Catholic Albany: An Illustrated History of the Catholic Churches and Catholic Religious, Benevolent and Educational Institutions of the City of Albany, pp. 274-276. n. a., Geschichte der Deutschen in Albany und Troy, p. 155.

[4] Leary, The History of Catholic Education in the Diocese of Albany, pp. 53-54. Howell and Tenney, eds., History of the County of Albany, N. Y., From 1609-1886, p. 757.

[5] Robert J. Hohenstein, Our Lady Help of Christians Church Cornerstone, 1880-1980: 100^th Anniversary (Albany: Phil’s Offset Shop, 1980), pp. 1-20.  Roberts and Cockrell, eds., Historic Albany, p. 218. The Evangelist, January 31, 2002.  Times Union, January 24, 2002, 1A:1.