P.O.W.

     Today is Memorial Day.  Rest In Peace Daniel.


        

     Daniel Davis was my 3rd great-grandfather, William's younger brother.  He was a Prisoner Of War at Libby Prison.  I have a record that shows he was at Belle Isle but I also found something showing Libby Prison.  Maybe he was at Libby Prison then transferred to Belle Isle?

                                                  Daniel Davis
                                                   1838 - 1863

I Found the Child!

     When I discovered that my great-great-grandmother, Teresa (Devine) Duper had six children but one died, I was determined to find the missing child.
     The 1910 census states five children born, four living (Gerald was born in 1910, after census was taken).  I only knew of four children as of the 1910 census: Josephine, my great-grandmother, Steven, Theresa, and Albert.  Who was the missing child?  When did he or she die? When was the child born?  I still have not found the Duper family in the 1900 census but then again my 2nd great-grandfather was Austrian and had a thick accent.  The other censuses I found had the names badly misspelled.  The 1905 NY state census has three children- Josie, Steve and Tessie.  I know those names so I must did deeper.
     I had ordered Theresa's birth certificate from the Municipal Archives in New York City.  Tessie was born in August of 1902 in Manhattan and her birth certificate states three children born previously and four now total.  My great-grandmother Josephine was born in December of 1894 and her brother Steven was born in May of 1897.  Was the missing child born before Josie?  Was he or she born between Josie's birth and Steve's or between Steve's and Tessie's?  I needed to order more birth certificates.  Josie and Steve were both born in Rosendale, NY. I ordered Josie's birth certificate because she was my great-grandmother so I thought I'd start with a direct line ancestor.  The town clerk in Rosendale processed my request quickly and I had the certificate approximately a week after I mailed them my check.  I could barely contain my excitement as I carefully opened the envelope.  I found that there were no children born before Josie.  I then ordered Steven's birth certificate.  Steven was born in 1897.  If the missing child was not born before Steve then I would have to search for the years 1898-1901 in Rosendale and if not there then I'd have to check Manhattan because his younger sister Theresa was born in Manhattan in 1902.  I hoped Steve's birth certificate was helpful.  That certificate arrived just as quickly as his sister's.  I opened the envelope and was happy to see that there were two children born previously.  That's great!  Josie and Steven were both born in Rosendale, one in 1894 and the other in 1897 so I will assume that the missing child was also born in Rosendale.  I called the town hall and asked if it was possible to search for a birth certificate without the first name or date of birth.  I was told that they could so once again I mailed a check for $22. along with my request for a birth certificate for Baby Duper born in 1895 or 1896 unless he or she was a twin to Josephine born in 1894.  I also listed the parents names with their places of birth.  I waited patiently for my request to be fulfilled.  I expected this request to take a bit longer because i couldn't provide a name and an exact date of birth.

     *************************************************************

     The child has a name!  Let us rejoice!  The child has been found!

     William Vincent Duper was the second child born to Teresa Devine and Stephen Duper.  William was born on the 13th of January in 1896.  He was probably baptized at St. Peter's Church in Rosendale as his siblings Josephine and Steven were.  I will find out soon enough.  William does not appear in the 1905 NY state census but was alive in 1902.  Now that I have a name and birth date for the missing child it will be easier to order the death certificate.  William would have been 7 or 8 years old at the time of his death.  What caused the child to die so young?


William Vincent Duper  - - found at last!

Goodbye Aunt Tessie

     I had written about my maternal great-grand aunt, Theresa (Duper) Engstrom  who was born in NY then moved down to Florida with her family.
     I finally ordered a copy of her death certificate.  I already knew when and where she died but I was curious about the informant.  I wondered if it might be her daughter, Violet and if so then I would get Violet's last name if she married.
     I received the death record and couldn't wait to open the envelope.  I was a bit disappointed to find the informant listed as Records of Villa Maria which was her last residence and her place of death.  Theresa Engstrom died on November 16, 1995 at 2:15pm at the Villa Maria Nursing Center which was a nursing home in Miami, FL.  She was 93 years old.  There was no burial, she was cremated.

     Goodbye Aunt Tessie.

Missing Child Update (getting closer...)

     I received my great-granduncle, Steven's birth certificate.  I already had his date and place of birth but needed to see the actual certificate to find out how many children were born before him.  Steven's younger sister, Theresa's birth certificate stated that three children were born previously making the total four but I know of only two children born before Theresa.
     Theresa Duper was born in Manhattan, NY on August 14, 1902.  Her older sister, my great-grandmother, Josephine was born in Rosendale, NY on December 11, 1894. Josie's birth certificate stated that there were no children born before her.  The child born after Josie that I know of was Steven who was born on May 20, 1897 in Rosendale.
     I was so excited!  I could barely wait to open the envelope from the town clerk in Rosendale.  Did Steven have two older siblings or was this missing child born after him?  I opened the envelope and read
     Number of this Mother's Previous Children  2
So this would make Steven the third child born to Teresa and Stephen Duper.  The second child would have been born in 1895 or 1896 unless he or she was a twin to Josephine in 1894.  I shared this information with my mother and she told me that she didn't think her grandmother was a twin.
     Who was this child born between Josie in 1894 and Steve in 1897?  Was the missing child a little girl with blue eyes like her older sister or a boy with younger brother Steve following his every move?
     I hope to find out very soon.  Today is Saturday so I'll mail my request on Monday.  My letter and $22.00 check for the town clerk is sitting on the kitchen counter and ready to go.
     As soon as I find this missing child I will call St. Patrick's Church for the baptism information then order a death certificate.
     What was the name of the missing child? 

Aunt Tessie

      

     My second great-grandmother, Teresa had two daughters that I know of.  My great-grandmother Josephine was born in 1894 and her younger sister Theresa was born in 1902.  There was another child born between these two sisters who I haven't found yet.  Theresa was born in Manhattan, NY then the family eventually moved to Brooklyn, NY.

     When Tessie was 20 years old, she married Robert Engstrom.  They lived in New Jersey with their two young children before relocating south to Miami, FL where she spent the rest of her life.  Tessie's daughter, Violet was a swimsuit model in Miami who appeared in magazines and I don't know anything about her son.  Tessie and her husband divorced in 1947.

     I have Tessie's birth certificate which shows an older sibling who I never knew about.  I tried ordering the death certificate but was denied because I am not a direct descendant.  The state of Florida has two types of death certificates - one with and one without the cause of death.  I was denied because I tried ordering the type with the cause of death which is not released earlier than 50 years from date of death unless the person ordering is a direct descendant.  Theresa Engstrom was 93 years old when she died so do I really need a cause of death?  I was a bit doubtful when I mailed in the form but thought I'd try anyway.  I really don't need the death certificate.  I have Tessie's date and place of death and her name appears on the Social Security Death Index.

     I wanted the death certificate to see who was listed as the informant.  Was it her daughter, Violet?  I was curious to know what became of Violet when her modeling career was over.  I know that Violet, who used the name Pat had three children.  I thought if she were the informant on her mother's death certificate and used a married last name then I could try to track down her children.  I'm trying to connect with cousins since the older generation is already gone.  While waiting for Theresa's death certificate I tracked down her son Robert's children.  I drafted a letter to Robert's daughter but hadn't mailed it yet because I'm making a few copies of family photos to share.

     I wonder if I will ever locate Tessie's other grandchildren and if any of them, Robert's children or Violet's children know about their grandmother's older sibling who died between August of 1902 and June of 1905.

                                           ♥ Theresa Duper Engstrom ♥

                                                    2 August 1902

                                                16 November 1995

                                                       

                                                    

Still Missing

     I'm looking for my 2nd great-grandmother, Teresa's child who was alive when his or her younger sister Theresa (Tessie) was born in August of 1902 but already dead at the time of the New York state census in June of 1905.
     I found out that there had been another child after I received Tessie's birth certificate and noticed that it stated there were three children born previously and four now living.  I'm trying to find that other child.  I've narrowed down the year of death to sometime between 1902 and 1905 but I need to find the year of birth.  I would love to find my grandmother's aunt or uncle.  I had my great-grandmother's birth certificate but it didn't look like her younger sister, Theresa's which had more information.  This must have been a short certificate.
     My last blog post had me wondering if the missing child was born between my 2nd great-grandmother's marriage in 1890 and my great-grandmother, Josephine's birth in 1894. Well, I wonder no more.  I received Josie's birth certificate (long certificate) which has a few errors on it. Besides the parents first names being misspelled it has Josephine Duper's father's place of birth as Australia.  the man was born in Austria.  Most importantly though, and the reason for ordering the long form birth certificate, is the number of the mother's previous children.  The answer was zero.  Josephine Duper was the first child born to Teresa Devine and Stephen Duper.  The next child that I know of was Steven who was born in May of 1897.  Was the Missing Child born in 1895 or 1896?  I guess I need to order Steven's birth certificate to find out.  I'll mail that request tomorrow.  I hope to get my answers soon.

Almost Found?

     In my previous post I had written about the discovery of a missing child.

     My 2nd great-grandmother, Teresa already had three children when her daughter, Theresa was born in August of 1902.  In 1908, Albert was born making him the fifth child for Teresa and her husband Stephen.  The 1910 census states that five children were born but only four were living.
     I ended the previous post wondering about that missing child.  When was the child born?  When did he or she die?  Because this child was missing before 1910 and I was looking at the records on Ancestry.com, I completely forgot about the 1905 NY state census.  I have not seen the 1905 census on Ancestry.com yet they have the 1915 and 1925 censuses.  After I posted The Missing Child to my blog is when I thought of looking at FamilySearch.org.
     The 1905 NY state census shows Stephen Duper (head), Teresa Duper (wife), Josephine Duper (daughter), Steven (son), Theresa (daughter) and that's it.  Where was Theresa's older sibling?  The 1902 birth certificate for Theresa Duper states 3 children born prior and four now living but the 1905 NY state census shows only 3 children including Theresa.  So it seems Theresa's older sibling died between August of 1902 when Theresa was born and June of 1905 when the state census was taken.  Maybe the child was living with another relative?  I don't think so.  I have never come across another child's name for my 2nd great-grandmother and my mother doesn't know of any other children. If it weren't for Theresa's birth certificate and the 1910 census I would never know this child existed.  Who was this child and when did he or she disappear?
     I already have my great-grandmother, Josephine's birth certificate but it is the short form and doesn't have the information that her younger sister's certificate has.  I just ordered the long form of Josie's birth certificate to see if it shows any previous children listed for her mother.  Josephine Duper was born in 1894 and her mother was 15 when she married according to the 1930 census.  Did Josie have an older brother or sister who was born between her mother's marriage in 1890 and her birth in 1894?  If Josie's birth certificate is not helpful then I will order the certificate for her brother Steven who was born in 1897.
     I wonder if I could try to order the Child's death certificate now that I've narrowed down the years of death.  I don't have a first name.  All I have is the last name, along with the parents names and the city which was Manhattan.  The address on Theresa's birth certificate in 1902 is the same address as the 1905 NY census.
     Little child, who were you?