I met cousins!

I am exhausted.

Since I left home last week, I have driven almost 900 miles (from NJ to PA to NY to RI to MA) and met up with one first cousin once removed and one second cousin  (Skinner), one Aunt (Grant),  four third cousins and two third cousins once removed (descendants of Cassie Zeiler),  two second cousins and one second cousin once removed (Foster), and three first cousins once removed and one second cousin (Blackmar),. I've also spent the most part of three days in county and town courthouses (Lackawanna County in Pennsylvania, and Central Falls and Cumberland, Rhode Island) and visited three cemeteries in Pennsylvania, and three in Rhode Island. I've taken 133 pictures, and gone through five sets of batteries for my Flip-Pal scanner (which goes through batteries much quicker in hot weather). And most of the time it's been over 90 degrees (101 degrees in Providence today!).

I loved seeing all these cousins and I thank them all for sharing their time and information with me.

I have many vital records, cemetery records, wills and deeds, town histories, compiled family records, and lots of scanned copies of documents and photos. It will take me weeks to sort through all the information I've received and get it all into my database! I will also make copies of it all and distribute the information to these cousins.

Perhaps the most intriguing discovery so far is my g-g-g-grandfather Ernest Lord Mellor's death record at the Cumberland Town Hall in Cumberland, Rhode Island. Cause of death: Gun Shot.

I think I have a mystery to investigate!

Third cousin meet-up

I'll be traveling back east soon to northeastern Pennsylvania to meet up with at least 2, and possibly 3 or 4 third cousins. We are all descended from the children of Joseph Zeiler and Anna Margaretha (Margaret) Mack of Jefferson Twp, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania.

According to the 1900 census, Joseph Zeiler and Margaret Mack married around 1856. This census indicates they had 8 children but only 5 were living in 1900. These children are:

Mary Zeiler born August 1857
Karolina (Carrie) Zeiler born 28 June 1859
Casoline (Cassie) Zeiler born July 1863
Theodore A. Zeiler born Dec 1865
Hannah Zeiler born 21 May 1869 (my great-grandmother)

All these children, (except Karolina who had no children of her own) have living descendants and some of us will be meeting for the first time. It looks like we might have at least one descendent from each branch! I'm hoping that we can all exchange photos, documents, family records and family stories.

Hannah Zeiler

Last month I posted about Gottlieb Veith here . Hannah Zeiler was his wife.

Hannah Zeiler was born on the 21 May 1869 in Jefferson Twp, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvannia to Joseph Zeiler and Anna Margaretha (Margaret) Mack. Both of Hannah's parents immigrated to the U.S. from Wurttemberg, Germany in the 1850s.

Hannah was the 4th of 5 children, all born in Jefferson Twp, Pennsylvannia. Her father, Joseph, was a farmer in the Elmdale community his entire life.

Since Hannah was just 18, and a minor when she married Gottlieb, her father had to give his written consent to the marriage.

Gottlieb Veith and Hannah Zeiler
marriage certificate - 8 March 1888
Jefferson Township, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania

I love this marriage certificate! The image at the bottom is that of H.A. Smith, Minister of the Gospel.Witnesses to the marriage were Hannah's brother, Theodore A. Zeiler, and Kate Lowert. Kate was probably a friend of the couple.

Gottlieb and Hannah had 5 children. Their oldest child, Carrie M. Veith was born in April 1889, 13 months after the marriage. Harold Theodore Veith, my maternal grandfather, was born 2 years later on  19 May 1891. Esther Veith was born on the 10 April 1895 and the twins, Edwin Veith and Edna Veith were born on 20 August 1903.

I don't know too much about Hannah. My mom once told me that Hannah did not like her much since she was a 'modern woman' and didn't know how to cook!

Gottlieb and Hannah Veith

Hannah died at home on 30 August 1942 at 10:35 PM of a heart attack. Her husband, Gottlieb was the informant on the death certificate. She was buried 3 days later in the Hollisterville Cemetery,  Hollisterville, Wayne County, Pennsylvania. When Gottlieb died 5 years later, he was buried in the same plot as was their oldest daughter, Carrie.

Hollisterville Cemetery, Hollisterville, Salem Twp, PA

Gottlieb Veith's Naturalization Record

Last week in this post I wrote that I was waiting for a naturalization record for Gottlieb Veith from the Clerk of Judicial Records in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. I received it a few days ago and it is a bit disappointing. It was only 2 pages and the first page was a cover sheet that listed his name, filing date of 4 October 1888 and "No. 2904". On the second page Gottlieb is listed as a native of Germany.  He states he arrived at the Port of New York on the 2nd day of April 1883. This is a minor discreprancy - this date is off by one day from the ship's manifest of 3 April.

 Here is Gottlieb's signature:

Gottlieb Veith's signature on his Naturalization,
filed 4 October 1888, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvannia

I had been hoping that there would have been a town listed or perhaps some other birth information. I know naturalization records differ in what information is listed depending on the type of court, jurisdiction and era. The Court of General Sessions in Lackawanna County in 1888 obviously did not list much!

There is one piece of new information given though - a witness name:

witness to Gottlieb Veith Naturalization 4 October 1888

I think this signature says J Hallock or Hollock. One thing I learned early on in my genealogy education is to pay attention to witness signatures since they can be a clue to family. I don't recognize this name as a relative. A quick search on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org do not turn up any Hallocks or Hollocks who would have been old enough to be a witness to this signature in 1888. If I decide to try to track down J. Hallock or J Hollock, my next step would be to check the city directories in the Scranton area to see if there are any listings for this name.

Gottlieb Johannes Veith

Gottlieb Veith was my great-grandfather on my mother's side.

Gottlieb Johannes Veith

My mother's paternal grandfather was Gottlieb Johannes Veith. Gottlieb was born in Altdorf, Germany on 3 November 1866 to Johann Martin Veith and Anna Maria (Annie) Helle. Altdorf is a small town in the southern state of Baden-Württemberg, around 10 miles south of Stuttgart. Gottlieb traveled on the Holland-America ship "Zaandam" which left from Amsterdam and arrived in New York on 3 April 1886, when Gottlieb was 16 years old. The ship's manifest indicates that he had one piece of luggage when he arrived in New York. It is not known if Gottlieb traveled with friends or who he stayed with when he first arrived in the United States. Gottlieb's son, Harold, told one of his grandchildren that Gottlieb left Germany to avoid being conscripted into the military. Gottlieb had at least one brother who stayed in Germany, as did his parents.

Veith Farm around 1920

Gottlieb was living in Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania and working as a teamster when he  married Hannah Zeiler at age 21 on the 8th of March 1888 in Jefferson Twp, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. My mother's cousin Art Foster told me Gottlieb and Hannah moved into the new farm they had just bought in Salem Township, Wayne County, Pennsylvania soon after marriage and were there for the Great Blizzard of March 11-14, 1888.  However, the Wayne County death records for both Hannah and Gottlieb recorded how long they lived in "the community" prior to their deaths. These records indicate they lived in the rural Wayne County community since about 1895, not 1888 (when they married) so I will need  to search for a deed that indicates when the farm was purchased.

Gottlieb Veith

Gottlieb and his wife raised 5 children while living on their farm. He died there on 27th of February 1947 from a cerebral hemorrhage. His wife, Hannah, predeceased him by 5 years. The farm was sold soon after Gottlieb died.

What Writing Reveals

I started writing up short posts on my mother's paternal grandparents this last week and the act of writing caused me to examine what I actually knew and had documented about these ancestors. As it turns out, I didn't know as much as I thought I did! There were some gaps in my research that had gone un-noticed prior to this attempt at writing.

So I spent a few hours on Thursday figuring out where to get birth, marriage, and death records in Wayne and Lackawanna Counties in Pennsylvania and have sent off for some of these documents. In addition, an email to the Clerk of Judicial Records in Lackawanna County resulted in this response -

"Please provide me with a postal mailing address and I will mail to you the results that my Clerk/Archivist has located."

Whoo- hoo!

I had enquired what repository I should investigate to find records of Gottlieb Veith's naturalization after his arrival in 1883. I was not expecting that the clerk (or an assistant) would be able to do a look-up right then and there -Sometimes we luck out! And this record should provide the evidence that I need that the immigration record I had is for the right Gottlieb Veith since I know Gottlieb was living in (or near) Scranton, Pennsylvania when he married there in March 1888.

I'll update when I receive the record.