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!