Family Heirlooms provide Ancestor Clues

When I taught genealogy classes I often spoke about the clues that our family heirlooms can provide us about our ancestors if we take the time to look. If we are lucky, the item is labeled with the maker’s name which helps identify, date, and place the item but if it isn’t labeled, there are other ways to identify it. This cake stand was handed down from my Great-Grandmother to my Grandmother to my Mother to me. It has what the television show Antiques Roadshow calls provenance, a chronology of ownership. But I really wanted to prove that it had belonged to my Great-Grandmother because family stories can change as they are passed down through the family. I knew the pattern of the glass might give a clue as to how old it was. My Great-Grandmother, Emma, was born in 1856 in southern Indiana and was married in 1874 in the same area. After researching a bit I found out that this glass pattern is called Dewdrop with Star. The pattern has small pointed hobnails known as dewdrops and the points of a star are formed on the base with these hobnails. I discovered that the pattern was introduced by Campbell, Jones & Company in 1877. This company was in business from 1865-1886 so the time period was correct for it to have been in the household of my Great-Grandmother Emma. To add icing on the cake, Emma’s husband, Joseph, died in 1880 and when I was looking at his 1880 probate file, I found his Estate Inventory and lo and behold, there was a cake stand mentioned!

In the left column, the last line on this page lists a cake stand.

Joseph and Emma Pruitt about 1875.

So by identifying the age of the cake stand and the property that was in Emma’s household, I have two strong pieces of circumstantial evidence that the story is correct. The cake stand probably did belong to my Great-Grandmother, Emma Pruitt.

This is an antique silver spoon known as coin silver (needs a bit more polishing). The term is used to describe American silver flatware and hollowware made before 1870 that is not sterling. Coin silver is about 90% silver, the silver content is about 2.5% less than sterling. Coin silver is about 10% copper. This spoon was handed down in my family, I received it from my mother. I was told that it belonged to my Great-Great-Great-Grandmother, Phebe Putnam and the engraved initials are P. P. so that matches but I wanted to find additional information that might help prove that it belonged to Phebe. Phebe was born in 1789 in New York State and lived most of her life near Batavia in Genesee County, New York where she died in 1862. She was married about 1805.

Phebe Burroughs Putnam’s tombstone in the Putnam Settlement Cemetery, Genesee County, New York.

Fortunately, the back of the coin silver spoon is engraved with a maker’s name and mark. I searched for some time for information about this silversmith but was unsuccessful. I decided to search old newspapers online from the place and time period of Phebe’s life. (I use old newspapers frequently when doing genealogical research, they have a wealth of information.) I found the following advertisement in an 1830 Batavia, New York newspaper.

So on May 27, 1830, S. McCain was advertising his products including “Silver spoons , made and kept constantly for sale” in the Batavia newspaper near where Phebe lived. Strong circumstantial evidence that he made Phebe’s spoon and it did belong to her.

This is called a Ruby Stained Souvenir cup, they were popular from about 1880-1910. It belonged to my grandmother, Joanna, and for years I did research to try to determine what club or group she belonged to in San Bernardino in 1909 that used the initials A. Y. P.. I knew she married Willis Leonard in December 1909 but I assumed it was a club or group of some kind. I wasn’t having any luck so recently I decided to do a google search and lo and behold, it is not a club or group, it stands for Alaska Yukon Pacific. The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition took place in Seattle, Washington from June 1 to September 16, 1909. It’s possible that Joanna or someone she knew bought the cup there. After their wedding, Joanna and Willis left on a 6 weeks wedding trip through the Eastern and Southern U. S.. A 1909 San Bernardino newspaper article mentioned their wedding and trip.

I am wondering if they also went to Seattle and bought the cup there. I inherited a collection of several sterling silver souvenir spoons that Joanna bought on their wedding trip. While writing this I checked that collection and found the following spoon.

This is a souvenir spoon also from the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition.

So I don’t know for sure but I suspect Willis and Joanna may have also visited Seattle during their travels and bought the cup and spoon there after the Exposition had ended.

This is an autograph album that belonged to my grandmother Joanna Pruitt Leonard before her marriage. Autograph albums were popular during the Civil War and their popularity lasted until the early 20th century. These albums can provide many clues for genealogists depending on who signed the album and what they wrote.

Joanna Pruitt Leonard

This is the first page of the album. Joanna’s name is in it with the date and where she was at the time. So we know she was in Kelly, New Mexico on that date although we don’t know for sure that she was living there. This may have been a birthday present because it was her 6th birthday.

This page provides a clue as to members of Joanna’s extended family, her cousin Matie Clark signed the album.

Another cousin signed this page with the same surname, Vivian V. Clark, still in Kelly, New Mexico but a year later. So Joanna may have been living there during those years.

To do genealogical research all you need is a name, a date, and a place. Autograph albums and family heirlooms can provide that information in many different ways to help with your search.

Germany to America, an Ancestor's Life Travels through Documents

Intermediate Genealogy

Johanns Evangelist Zwisler

The photo above is of my husband’s Great-Great Grandfather on his mother’s paternal side, Johanns Evangelist Zwisler. He was born in Germany and traveled to America in 1852. He moved to Pennsylvania, then Iowa, and then settled in Staten Island, New York where he died.

Above is a copy of Johanns’s birth record. He was born in Burgberg, Germany, 19 September 1833, and his parents were Gallus Zwisler and Kreszenz Reidle. In 1989 a researcher in Germany found his emigration records which stated that he was a baker and planned to work at his former fellow , the master baker Reiger, now in Philadelphia. This was in July 1852. He showed the authorities a shipping contract that showed his voyage would begin in Le Havre with the ship Merkur. At that time he was living with his father and step-mother in Gorisried, Germany. John actually is listed as a passenger on the ship Germania that arrived in New York on 25 September 1852. He stated he was a farmer and he traveled in steerage.

John signed an Intent to become a Citizen on the 26th of August 1854 in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. It stated that he arrived in New York on September 28, 1852 and intended to settle in South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Catharina Elizabeth Metzler Zwisler

John Zwisler and Catharina Elizabeth Metzler were married 2 October 1855 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania by Bishop Charles F. Seidel. A search of marriage records for that time period was unsuccessful however an entry in the family bible gave this date and minister. (In May 1855 Bishop Charles F. Seidel was a Vice-President of the Moravian Church’s forty-second Provincial Synod in Bethlehem.) John and Elizabeth’s oldest child, Caroline (Carrie) was born in Bethlehem in July 1856 however by the time their second child, John was born in December 1857, they had moved to Fairfield, Jefferson County, Iowa. A search of the 1860 census for the family in Iowa was unsuccessful.

The 1869 Burlington, Iowa City Directory lists John as a clerk in a grocery store, the same occupation listed in the 1870 census so we know this is our John.

The 1870 Burlington, Iowa City Directory lists him (with the surname spelled Swissler) working as a porter for Thul but the family has moved to 7 S. Sixth Street.

In the 1870 Census, shown above, (surname spelled Swisler) the family is living in Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa. John is a clerk in a grocery store. John’s grandson Perry told me that the family left Iowa because Germans were not treated well where they lived.

The 1871 City Directory spells the surname as Swissler. John is still a clerk with Thul and the family is living at the same address. (Each Directory is publishing information that was gathered months previously and then published.) By 1871 the family had moved to New York where their youngest child Frieda Ernestine was born in November 1871. The 1872 Burlington City Directory had no entry for John. Elizabeth Metzler Zwisler died 12 May 1877 in Staten Island. On 10 June 1877 the three youngest children, Carl Friedrich, Wilhelmine Frieda, and Frieda Ernestine were all baptized at the German Evangelical Church of Staten Island.

John married Babette Blyer on the 19th of October in 1879 in Stapleton, Staten Island, New York.

Babette Zwisler

The 1880 Census shows John and Babette living with John’s three youngest children in the village of Edgewater, Middletown, Richmond County, New York and John is a Machinist.

The five children of John and Elizabeth Zwisler who lived to adulthood, left to right, Ernestine, Caroline, Frederick, John and Minnie.

John died 18 August 1895 and he and Elizabeth are buried in Sunnyside Cemetery, Staten Island, Richmond County, New York. In the 1950’s the Family Bible was in the possession of John’s Grandson, Fred , son of Frederick. (He changed his name to Fred Swisler.) It was borrowed and a copy was made but unfortunately it didn’t include the title page with the date of publication. In the 1980’s a relative went back to see it and they couldn’t find it so the present location is unknown.

I have done research in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City in German Parish Registers for John’s ancestors and have been successful for a few generations back but that search can be another blog post someday.

Who do you think they were?

Genealogy for Beginners

1927 in Balboa.

I will be posting here about Genealogy from time to time, some posts for beginners and some for intermediate researchers. I will try to identify which is which. I am a Genealogist, I trace family history.  I have been doing this for over 30 years and I taught genealogy classes for many years.  I do genealogical research almost every day, it is a passion for me.  The top photo is my mother on the left at age 11, in 1927, and two of her sisters, Lois and Margaret. Above is a photo from about 1940 of my maternal grandparents (back left) with some of their family including my mother (second row down, third from the left). With all the genealogical resources now on the Internet it can be fairly easy to go back a few generations quickly if you know where to look. If you don't have birth, marriage and death certificates for your parents and/or grandparents that will give you further information, you can start with the 1940 U.S. Census, the most recent Census that is available for the public to use.  It is available online for free at https://www.familysearch.org/1940census. The link leads you to the index where you can search for your family by name and other identifying terms. The other Census decades are available at Family Search as well. The Census pages are very difficult to photograph but when you follow the link and find your family, you will be able to see the columns very clearly.

This is a page from the 1940 US Census that shows my maternal grandfather and grandmother (at the bottom, Willis and Joanna Leonard) who were living in San Bernardino, California at that time.  The Census shows (along the left edge) that they were living at 3233 Pershing Avenue.

As you can see, there is a large amount of other information that is provided about them including age, occupation, income, and their state or country of birth.  It also tells where they were in 1935 as well. You should always read across the top and see what the columns include.

The US Census has been taken every 10 years since 1790 however the Censuses before 1850 only list the head of the household and the 1890 Census was destroyed by fire.  Each Census contains different information and it is important to track your family line back through every decade and read each column carefully so you don't miss anything. The Census may contain errors because the census worker was relying on whoever it was who answered the door and provided the information. Also the information between Censuses may differ from decade to decade because memories of the past might have changed or the information wasn't known firsthand and was inaccurate. 

This page shows the family (at the bottom) in the 1930 US Census, still living in San Bernardino but now living at 427 Magnolia Avenue.  Willis and Joanna are listed but also in the household are two daughters, Lois and K. Elizabeth and Willis's mother-in-law, Emma L Howey. 

The Censuses from 1880 on state the relationship of everyone in the household to the head of the household only, no one else. This is important to remember when there are multiple marriages in a family. The 1930 Census also listed what ages the head of the household and spouse were when they were first married and it also gives the state or country where their parents were born.  Again, you need to read each column, across the top, to see what information is provided.

This Census page shows the family in 1920, again in San Bernardino, and at the same address.  This is 10 years earlier and there are now other children still living at home.

What is interesting to note here is that for the older children, the birthplace of the mother is different from the younger children.  This is a strong clue that Willis may have been married before he married Joanna. The other clue is the fact that the oldest child listed is only 16 years younger than Joanna, another strong indication of an earlier marriage. Another clue is the gap between the birth of daughters Dorothy and Lois.

As you move back through the Census decades you will be able to find more information about your family.  It can be a challenge but it is worth it! More genealogy tips to come in the future! Send me a comment if you have any questions.