Hiding in Plain Sight and Hidden Treasures

Where do I begin? Since my last post so much has been discovered that it has been slightly overwhelming! From finding family connections to getting hidden treasures from the National Archives it has been a banner couple of weeks.

Let me go back to Nicholas Singsheim. I have in my possession, copies of some of the pages of Saint Joseph Schenectady, New York Marriages August 1862 to December, 2000 from the Schenectady County Historical Society Library. On page 398, there are two records of particular interest:

1.      Zinchsheim, John              08 Feb 1872                Mayer, Elisabeth

         Frederick & Margaret Faerber                          Francis & Barbara Sauter

         WITNESSES Nicholaus Endres, Mattew Lauter*

          *Susan Lauter & Mary Endres; Groom is 59 years old, widower,

            born in Sinheim Prussia; Bride 34, born in Feningen Rehno-Bavari

2.      Zingsheim, James             01 Jul 1872                  Sauerborn, Helen

         John & Elisabeth Roehrig                                     John* & Margaret Benz
        WITNESSES Mathew Gruen & Anne Marie Eva Gruen
         * Schmidt; Groom is 29 years old widower, born in Sehnheim Prussia;
            Bride 23, widow, born in Lach Rheno-Bavanria

It is my belief that John Zinchsheim is the father of James. He is 30 years older than James and they appear to be from the same town in Prussia. Both men are entering into a second marriage. John’s new wife who is 24 years his junior and is definitely of child-bearing years.

Going to the pages I have from the St-Joseph Schenectady, New York Baptisms June 1862 to November 2002, we find this on page 392 and page 479:
·         Singsheim, Andrew                                       (John & Elizabeth Meier)
           Birth: 18 Aug 1876                              Bapt: 10 Sep 1876
·         Zingsheim, Nicholas                                      (Joseph & Elizabeth Meier)
           Born 15 Aug 1881                               Bapt 04 Sep 1881

Nicholas and Andrew are brothers! After all, what are the chances that two different men named John Zinchsheim and Joseph Zingsheim marry a women Elizabeth Mayer/Meier.  Keep in mind that Mayer and Meier are variations of the same name.  If this holds true, as I believe it does, than Andrew and Nicholas are half-brothers to James Zingsheim who married Helen (Schmidt) Sauerborn, my Great-great Grandmother!

Which in turn connects me to Mr. Frank “Red” Singsheim, whose Grandfather was Nicholas Singsheim, as half second cousins twice removed. How cool is that! I can’t wait to get up to Schenectady to meet him. The other cool thing is that since my last post one of the granddaughters of Nicholas Singsheim’s sister contacted me too. Who would have thought that one simple phone call would have led to all of this fun. And to think that all of this was hiding in my own files of documents, quietly sitting there waiting for me to put the pieces together. Man, I love Genealogy!

Now for the other exciting bit of news. This past Wednesday, my good friend Sandra Rumble hopped on a train and headed to the National Archives in Washington, D.C. to do some research. Being the good friend that she is, she asked if she could pull any records for me. Of course I had one, Jacob Singshimer!

Now, Sandy had her own research to do but somehow she managed to find the time to pull Jacob's pension packet from the Civil War for me. And yesterday in my Dropbox waiting for me was a folder with 70+ images for Jacob/James Singsheimer. Hiding in this wonderful folder was Jacob's Certificate of Death naming his parents John and Elizabeth and numerous depositions from various friends and family members verifying that Helen and Jacob were married. It also contains the names and burial information of Jacobs first wife and Helen's first husband.

 

 

But it also had this:



This is a Certificate of Marriage of Helen's first marriage to John Sauerborn, my Great-Great Grandfather! Does it get any better that this? (I apologize that this picture is sideways, for the life of me even though it's saved right-side up, it inserts sideways.)

AND it had the original Baptismal Certificate of Anna Singsheim, Helen and Jacob's youngest. Apparently they were questioning the date of her birth.

Seriously, was this folder not full of hidden treasures? I'm still going through it and finding more exciting tidbits.

So what are you waiting for get thyself to the National Archives you never know what you'll find!

Chance Encounter

Lately, I've been researching my mother's side of the family that lived in Schenectady, New York. Years ago, before I knew how to organize my thoughts, my husband and I traveled up to Schenectady to search the records at the Historical Society, and to find and photograph headstones of those family members buried at St. Joseph's Cemetery.  Though I found a few records at the Historical Society, my luck ran out when it came to the cemetery. I hadn't made a list of potential surnames of the families that lived and died in the area. This was a crucial mistake that caused me to have a less than successful trip.

It's time for me to make a second trip to Schenectady and this time I vow to be prepared. With the help of GenDetective® software I’ll be able to make a list of ALL the families that lived and died in the county. It won’t be necessary for me to remember who and when because the trip report will do it for me! Thank you so much, Sandra Rumble.

But I also wanted to be able to find my way around the cemetery more efficiently. So I made a phone call to St. Joseph’s Church to inquire about the cemetery and plot locations. This was the best phone call I have had in a long time! The Secretary was extremely nice and she cheerfully gave me the name of the gentleman who runs the cemetery. She then asked me what names I was looking for, so I gave her the names of Sauerborn and Singsheim. Her voice lit up and she proceeded to tell me that she was familiar with those names. In fact she knew this one couple, the Singsheims who had been members of the parish for years. Well, to make my story short, I asked her to pass my phone number on to this couple. Which she did and to my surprise Mr. Singsheim called me that very afternoon!

We had a wonderful conversation and though it is unclear at this point in time if we are cousins, I love it that I have made a connection with this delightful man. He proceeded to tell me what he knew about is father Leroy, Grandfather Nicholas and his Grandmother Esther. It turned out he really knew very little, his father died when he was 27 years old and his grandfather supposedly deserted the family just after his father was born back in 1912. His grandmother eventually remarried and he did know that name which was Strout. He also knew the name of another man, Andrew Singsheim. He didn’t know how he was connected to the family, however. WELL! This was more than I could stand. As any red-blooded-hound-dog genealogist I had to try and find something about his grandfather.

With the sparse information I had, the hunt was on. My first find was in the 1910 census and that led to the 1905 New York Census. Searching more broadly, I also was able to find Nicholas in the 1900 census when he was only 19 years old. Knowing the name of his Grandmother’s second husband led me to her Social Security Application which gave the names of her parents. This allowed me to find her family in the 1892 New York Census which supplied the names of her siblings at the time.

But it was frustrating that Nicholas could not be located beyond 1910. Where was he? Going back to search the census records I decided to look outside of Schenectady.  Low and behold, I find in the 1910 census for Albany, New York a prisoner in the Albany City Penitentiary named Nick Singsheim, 29 years old. Esther must have lied! But where did he go after prison? Is there a surviving criminal record? Did he die in prison? And who is this Andrew? And did he know anything about Nicholas? Who was Nicholas's father? Is he connected to my Singsheims?

My trip to Schenectady just got more involved!