Josephus Gervasius Pfort

Yesterday was a day of helping others. Early in the day I located, photocopied, scanned, and emailed a few obituaries for another genealogist who lives out of the area. Later in the day I was helping my father-in-law with a genealogical line on his wife's side. And what a surprise we found! I will mention soon.

My mother-in-law's third great grandfather was Josephus Gervasius Pfort. Joseph was baptized on 29 March 1815 in Breisach am Rhein, Freiburg, Baden. He was the son of Gervas Pfort, born circa 1777. Gervas married Maria Magdalena Barbara Klar on 31 July 1804 in Breisach. Maria was born circa 1768 and died on 02 July 1829 in Breisach.

What was interesting was Joseph and his family lived in Watervliet in the early 1850s. Matter of fact according to the 1855 New York State census he was also living next to the "Last Patroon" Stephen van Rensselaer IV (1789-1868). A scan of the census page is below.

On the previous census page living nearby was Angelica Schuyler and also Peter and Elsie Schuyler. We never knew that my wife's family lived near and probably rubbed elbows with the Schuylers and the van Rensselears.