Genealogical Gems

On This Day in 1880 the Lancaster Daily Intelligencer reprinted a statement written last month by W. Emerson Mead describing a meteorite that just missed his cottage! Mead’s children and his sister had al gone up to bed already the night of the 22 nd . He was sitting at the table in the kitchen writing a letter when all of a sudden the dark night lit up as if it were noon.   “It was dark out,” wrote Mead, “and the clouds were black and heavy. You could not see your hand before you. All at once it became as light as noonday.”       He and his sister went out to inspect the item the next morning. The item turned out to be a white rock. Mead said, in his reprinted letter, that the rock weighed approximately 125 pounds.    The property was in Lakeside , New York , near Schroon Lake .   Source Lancaster Daily Intelligencer. ( Lancaster , PA ), 2 October 1880. Chronicling America : Historic American Newspapers . Library of Cong...

A killer heat wave is to blame for 97 people in New York in just 24 hours. It was On This Day in 1800 that the Lancaster Daily Intelligencer reported that 97 of the reported 187 deaths in New York yesterday alone were the result of the heat. Source: Lancaster daily intelligencer. ( Lancaster , PA ), 2 July 1800. Chronicling America : Historic American Newspapers . Library of Congress.      On This Day is a prompt to further explore historical events.                  © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015

Louise Sharp has always been a bit of a mystery for me. She is my husband’s great grandmother. His family had stories but no facts about her. I first “met” Louisa in those family stories that all state she was a Native American - a story whose pieces did not fit right. Over the years I have filled in some blanks and have (mostly) put to bed a rumor with DNA testing but still have many questions, including her lineage.   To find Louise, I started with her son (and hubby’s grandfather) Morgan Deyoe. I traced him back to the 1880 Federal Census. I found the family in Lexington , Greene County , New York . Daniel G, age 44, is a white male farmer. His wife, Louise, is a 42 year old white female. This puts her born approximately 1838. Their son Morgan is five. Living with them also is a nine year old white male named William Parker. He was adopted by Daniel and Louise. All four were born in New York State , as were their parents.   So today – on Surname Saturday – I am...

A bomb exploded in the main terminal of New York ’s LaGuardia Airport On This Day in 1975. Eleven people were killed. Another 75 were injured. To this day, it remains unsolved.   It was just four days after Christmas and so naturally La Guardia Airport was packed. At 6:33 p.m. ET a bomb went off in the baggage area of the main terminal. The force of the bomb was equivalent to that of 25 sticks of dynamite, according to a 2008 NY Times article. Many groups - Puerto Rican nationalist group FALN, the Jewish Defense League, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and Croatian nationalists – were considered suspects early on but no one ever claimed responsibility for the bombing. To this day, the bombing remains an open investigation. Source: Baker, Al. “ Terrorist’s Release Reopens Wound of Unsolved Bombing” NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/nyregion/10laguardia.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 Published 9 August 2008. Retrieved online 29 December 2014. ...

Historic Huguenot Street will host "Book Talk: Espionage in the American Revolution" on Saturday, 15 March. Award-winning author John A. Nagy will speak about an intriguing, secret part of the Revolutionary War based on his book Invisible Ink: Spycraft of the American Revolution . Explaining cyphers, codes, paper masks and hidden compartments, Nagy tells stories of the Revolution’s unsung heroes, including several based in the Hudson River Valley. Tickets are $8 at the door ($5 for seniors, free for students). The talk will be held in Deyo Hall, Broadhead Avenue, New Paltz, NY.   Note: The above was from a press release from Historic Huguenot Street

Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family history resource, has announced the availability of an index to more than 10 million New York City birth, marriage and death records, spanning 1866-1948, for free online at Ancestry.com/NewYork. The new index, made possible through a relationship with the New York City Department Of Records/Municipal Archives, brings the vast collection of New York records, images and historical documents already on Ancestry.com to nearly 40 million. This will enable people exploring their family history to discover and learn more about their possible New York roots. At the turn of the 20 th century, millions of people from across the world were stepping onto American soil for the first time. New York was a hub for these immigrants, where more than 12 million people came through Ellis Island alone to start a new life for themselves and their families in America’s so-called “melting pot.” Today, tens of millions of people can trace their roots back t...

New York has many historical parks and landmarks to interest anyone in either American heritage or specifically New York history. May is National Preservation Month and the theme this year is "Discover America's Hidden Gems". This month go visit your local historical landmarks. Each landmark has its own personal story to tell in relation to the history of your local area. Click HERE to read the full article as it appeared on Knoji. The article also has a section on CASTLE GARDEN, the immigration meca before Ellis Island!

In researching my husband's DEYOE line, I have started to seek out maps from that time frame which might lend a clue. I wish I could recall where I acquired this map. It is an 1829 map of Greene County, NY. Hubby's maternal grandfather was MORGAN DEYOE. Morgan did settle in Philadelphia but the rest of the Deyoes are in Greene County, NY. Morgan was the son of Daniel G. Deyoe and Louise Sharp. Louise is my mystery woman for that line!

Louise Sharp Deyoe is quite hard to find. Family rumors have circled about her origins and one goal is to confirm or deny them positively. She is my husband's maternal great grandmother and they family has always claimed that she is a Mescalareo. No one however has any proof. One of my goals (continued over from last year) this year is to confirm her ancestry - be it Native American or not. Louise was born in 1838 in New York State, according to the 1850 and 1880 censuses. She married Daniel G. Deyoe in 1870. An internet source agreed on the year and included Claverack, Columbia, NY as the marriage location. Their son Morgan is my husband's grandfather. He was born in NY and came down to Philadlephia for work, met Julia Coursault, married and stayed in Philadelphia. Louise eludes me though. I can find no record of her father. I found a 12 year old  Louise Sharp on the 1850 NY Census living with a 32 year old Sarah Sharp. Both claimed to be white and from NY. Now the fami...

I have to begin by thanking Sylvia Hasenkopf and everyone who have provided this information. Sylvia does a great deal with a Greene County Mailing List and it was through that list that I stumbled upon this site which lists the graves in the Deyoe Family Cemetery. Included on this list is John W. and Mary Schermerhorn Deyoe. They are the parents of Daniel G. Deyoe who fathered Morgan G. Deyoe - my husband's maternal grandfather. In small fenced area: John Deyoe, d. June 20, 1880, age 86y8m7d. In small fenced area: Mary Schermerhorn, wife of John Deyoe, d. June 15, 1881, age 87y. While the site did not offer much new information, it did reiterate some information and help to paint a better family picture.

Thanks to Ancestry.com I found my husband's great grandfather's brother in the Civil War! According to: New York State Archives, Albany, New York;  Town Clerks´ Registers of Men Who Served in the Civil War, ca 1861-1865 ; Collection Number: (N-Ar)13774 ; Box Number: 64 ; Roll Number: 35 ... James Deyoe was the son of John Deyoe and Mary Schermerhorn (putting him brother to our Daniel). James was born on 8 July 1822 in Lexington, Greene County. He enlisted on 8 August 1862 in Shandaken, Ulster, NY. He was a Provate in the 120th Infantry with Company B. I also confirmed he was married at the time. I found several other Deyoes - most from Saratoga - but no mention of a Daniel yet.

StoppingPoints.com, a guide for discovery of historical markers and points of interest throughout the United States, this week has launched another new and extensive guide which thoroughly covers the historical landmarks of New York. The New York StoppingPoints guide displays and pinpoints over 3,000 markers within the state, including properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Most markers are grouped and mapped by city, county, and also individually, allowing history researchers, genealogists, preservationists, and geocaching hobbyists to easily locate them when visiting "The Empire State". The simple map pages allow for browsing the NY markers in major cities such as Albany, Buffalo, New York City, Niagara Falls and Rochester - viewing the historic sites as they are pinpointed. Bill Lawson, Editor-in-Chief for StoppingPoints.com, stated "We believe our New York historic site guide is one of the most comprehensive guides of the state anywhere,...