Patrick Donnelly & Julia Crowley's Children's Birth Certificates

John Henry Turner (1861-1893): A First Cousin, Four Times Removed

Zephaniah Turner and Sallie M. Conner are  my 4x great grandparents.  They had 10 children that I know of.  Their ninth child was Richard Henry Turner.  He went by Henry.  He was born March 28, 1825.  As per Aunt Helen’s notes, he studied art in Dusseldorf, Germany. He remained in Germany until the Civil War was over.

 

When he did finally return to Culpeper County, Virginia, he was accompanied by his wife and two children.  He married Fraulein Henrika Gilchrest. Their two children were John Henry Turner and Marie Carlotta Turner.  Neither child married.  All four are buried in St. Paul’s Episcopal Churchyard in Woodville, Rappahanock County, Virginia.  This bloodline came to an end, but his son John Henry’s gravestone left me with a handful of questions (he also went by Henry)  It reads:    

 “He was the first white man who explored the hitherto unknown region between Porcupine River in Alaska and the Arctic Ocean.”

Photo taken by Findagrave.com volunteer EG&JG (#46855711).

Thanks to a findagrave.com volunteer EG&JG (#46855711), his memorial can been seen here: http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=54820374

A few searches later and I came across: http://www.explorenorth.com/library/history/geodic-ak-1902-T.html  that had the following to say about him:  

Turner, 1889-1891

    Mr. John Henry Turner, Assistant in the Coast and Geodetic Survey, was engaged on the Alaskan boundary survey from June, 1889, to July, 1891. In the summer of 1889, with Mr. McGrath, he ascended the Yukon River to Fort Yukon, where the party divided. On August 12 Turner began his journey up the Porcupine River to the boundary. On the 19th he landed at the site of an abandoned camp near the one hundred and forty-first meridian, and there began the building of quarters for officers and men and the erection of an observatory. This camp was named Camp Colonna. Longitude was determined by moon-culmination observations in March and April, 1890.
    On March 27, 1890, he set out upon a sledge journey from Camp Colonna northward to the Arctic Ocean, where he arrived on April 8. The next day he started back, and reached Camp Colonna on April 17. Later he left Camp Colonna, descended the Porcupine and Yukon rivers, and proceeded to St. Michael, Norton Sound, where he was compelled to remain until July, 1891, when he departed for Washington. He returned to Alaska in 1892 on boundary work, but owing to ill health was obliged to give it up. During his stay in Alaska he made a valuable collection of bird and animal skins, which he presented to the University of California. The expenses of this collection he bore personally. He died in Washington on June 13, 1893. An account of his work was published in the National Geographic Magazine in 1893, Vol. IV, pp. 189-197; see also Coast and Geodetic Survey Report 1890-1891, Part I, pp. 86-88. 

National Geographic Magazine article can be found here: https://archive.org/stream/nationalgeograph41892nati#page/189/mode/1up

For the great grandchildren of Hugh Turner and Willetta Montague, this is our 1^st cousin 4 times removed.

Charles F. Wegener - Who Knew?

1922 Passport Photo and Signature

My great-great grandfather, Charles F. Wegener, who is my father's maternal grandmother's father.

Charles was born on June 8, 1869 in Scharmbeck, Harburg, Niedersachsen, Germany.

He arrived in the United States at Castle Garden the age of 15 on May 2, 1883. The ship's manifest has him listed as Carl. He arrived on a ship named the SS Salier.

He married Emma Charlotte Kleine in the Gravend section of Brooklyn, NY on November 11, 1888.

He was naturalized on October 12, 1891.

In the 1900 census they were listed as having 3 children all living. The were married 11 years.  He was a bartender. It also indicates that he immigrated about 1884 and has been in the United States for 16 years.  Five years after this census his life would change forever.

On October 30, 1905, Emma died at age 36 of complications of pregnancy during her 4th month.  She left Charles a widower at age 36 with three girls to raise: Frances 7, Lena 12 and Edith 16.

In my research, I learned that Charles soon remarried.  He married Martha Cole, a widow, on April 26, 1906. 

They applied for passports.

Then sailed to Germany on August 2, 1906 and returned to the US on September 25, 1906. That day Mrs. Wegener started the action of separation.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle: Wednesday, October 26, 1906  Page 22

I  am in the process of requesting the court records and will update int the near future.  Who knew he was married twice? 

Weird Coincidence - It's all in the Dates

Two days ago I received 2 death certificates in the mail.  One for Lena (Wegener) Hargrave and the other for her son Edward T. Hargrave, Jr.  Lena is one of my grandmother's, June Weller Turner's maternal Aunts and Edward her only maternal first cousin.

The certificates came on Tuesday.  I did not have much time to review them, but noted that I should probably call the funeral home as they were both cremated and there was no place of interment listed for either.  I called Wednesday and they were able to look up the record for Edward.  There was a note that he owned property in a local cemetery and recommended that I try there.  I then called the cemetery, but the woman I needed to speak with was not in and was told to try her tomorrow.

Well it's Thursday and when I called the woman was on the other line, but a very nice man tried his best to help me.  While waiting for him to look up some info, I was able to really take a good look at Edward's death certificate and notice that he died 7 years to the day - today.  He died on February 5, 2008.  Then I noticed his date of birth: February 3, 1916.  Oddly enough, his death certificate arrived in my mailbox on his 99th birthday.

After a very lengthy conversation, he was able to tell me that Edward and Verna are in niches next to each other.

It is nice to know what became of Grandma's only maternal cousin. Glad to learn that he lived to be 92 years old.

Ed Hargrave Jr., June Turner, Lena Hargrave & Vern Hargrave

Complements of Pamela Ward Howard a Findagrave.com volunteer.

Aunt Dee's notes on her Parent's, Patrick & Julia Donnelly, Transcribed:

Married in Sac. Heart Church, Elizabeth November 27, 1907.

Frank born on Spring Street, Elizabeth, November 7, 1908. 
All other children born on Bond Street 922.

When Pop & Mother moved into this house - bought for $2000 it had no cellar, no running water, no heat, no electricity, pump in yard. Eventually, Pop & his brother-in-law dug a cellar, put in 2 baths, put in heat, first put in gas light & then electricity. 

922 Bond Street was 100 years old when Mother & Pop bought it in 1909.  Street was cobble stoned; (Belgian blocks) & grass grew between the blocks.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Here are some photos I have of the family at 922 Bond Street.  I would love to know if anyone has a photo of the actual house.

Edith June Weller Turner: June 1, 1914 - December 13, 1987

100 Years Ago Today….        

                                       

Edith Marie (Wegener) Weller gave birth to her first child, my grandmother, Edith June Weller on June 1, 1914 in New York, NY.  She was called “June”. She grew up in Manhattan and went to Katharine Gibbs Secretarial School.

She later moved to Montclair, New Jersey with her parents. 

I never knew her as an adult.  I was in high school when she passed.  I wish I would have asked her more questions.

I remember that she wore White Shoulders perfume and loved Julio Iglesias.  She thought he was “dreamy”.  She would light up and start singing whenever he came on the radio.  She taught me how to play poker and introduced me to chocolate flavored soda.  She loved the ocean and taking her children and grandchildren to the beach.  She taught her granddaughters how to get picked up by a lifeguard at the beach – literally. 

 




She wasn’t known for her cooking, but she did make a killer pot roast.  Whenever we planned to visit her, she would ask us what we wanted for dinner (even though she already knew the answer). We usually could smell it walking in her door.  

There was a lot I did not know about my grandmother’s life until the genealogy bug bit me.  We had similarities in our own personal life experiences that I did not realize until years after my father passed.  

Her father died February 26, 1939, later that same year on October 6^th she married my grandfather, Hugh D. Turner. Her brother gave her away.  

 

 

Sixty-one years later, my father passed on February 29, 2000, later that same year on October 8^th  I was married.  My brothers gave me away.  History has a way of repeating itself even when we don’t know it’s happening.

I sit here today and watch my two children play in the back yard, something I know she did. Today is a little different for me, because today I’m wearing White Shoulders and thinking I wish I knew what the secret to her pot roast was.

Happy Birthday Grandma Turner!