The one of the few Anglicized names among my direct ancestors is that of my maternal grandfather's family, the Desjardins. They changed their surname to Gardner. Yeah, not close in spelling at all but the translation of the French name, Desjardins, means "from the gardens." Likely that means that somewhere back in time I descend from some Frenchman with a green thumb. I didn't get that gene.
My great-great grandfather, Damas Desjardins, came to the United States from Montreal, Quebec, Canada in the early 1880s. I don't have any information about his immigration but according to my great-great grandmother's naturalization papers, the couple married on May 14, 1884 in New York City, so Damas was in New York before then.
His obituary was published in the Patchogue Advance in October of 1911, and it is one of my favorite pieces of genealogical documentation that I have found to date because it documents this otherwise unofficial surname change. It states that "Mr. Desjardins was known to his friends here by the name of Gardiner, an Anglicization of his French family name." That is the evidence I have to back up my grandfather's statement that the surname was changed. There seems to be no official documentation of a legal name change for them which, based on the time period is not surprising. Names could be pretty fluid back before Social Security.
My great grandpa, Damas's son, was born Almond Desjardins in Long Island City, Queens County, New York on September 21, 1891. He died on February 11, 1946 in the same county but by that time was known as Albert Gardner. Delving into the life of Almond/Albert, I came to learn that he had many brushes with the law in his youth. In the articles dating from 1906 & 1907, he is identified by multiple names and spellings; A. Gardner, Almond Gardener, and Almond Gardner.
One such article appeared on November 8, 1907 in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, titled "Patchogue Lad in Trouble. He is Charged with Stealing Brass from Vacant Houses in L.I. City." It reads as follows:
Almond Gardener, 16 years old of Patchogue L.I. was arrested by the Long Island City police last night, and in back of his arrest is an interesting story.
Young Gardener comes of a good family. He has an industrious brother living in Long Island City, and when he left Patchogue several days ago, he took up his residence with that brother. On Wednesday night two unoccupied frame houses, 86 and 88 Main street, Long Island City were broken into and damage done to the extent of $200. The damage was due to the desire of the marauders to get possession of certain pieces of brass in the plumbing work.
Unfortunately for the guilty parties, their first visit to the buildings resulted so successfully that they returned last night, and one of them was caught. The prisoner described himself as Almond Gardener of Patchogue. As Detectives Hufman and Ebbers of the Astoria Precinct have discovered where the brass pieces were sold for 55 cents, they expect to arrest Gardener's companion.
The police say that about a year ago Gardener and another boy named James Kidney were found sleeping in buildings near the rug works in Astoria. They were arrested and committed to the Catholic Protectory. Mrs. Gardener finally got her boy out of the institution and also succeeded in having his companion released. The Gardener family had resided in Astoria but moved to Patchogue before the boys were let out. They were taken to Patchogue from the Protectory, but after behaving themselves for about four months, the pair cut loose. Kidney was the first one to incur the displeasure of Mrs. Gardener and he was sent away. In three weeks young Gardener packed up his grip and started out to find a place with more life and go in it, and now he awaits the action of the courts.
"Hmm," I wondered, "What is this Catholic Protectory that Al and his friend were sent to?"
Another article from November 8, 1907, appeared in The Brooklyn Daily Star, and went into a little more detail:
Gardner Fell From Grace
Patchogue was too Slow so he came back to L.I. City
And got into trouble again - charged with burglary in Astoria
Tale of a big-Hearted Mother who tried to reform two bad boys and what came of her efforts
About thirty cents in cash and the prospect of a term in some penal institution is the reward Almond Gardner gets for taking the leading part in a burglary in Astoria on Wednesday night that resulted in theft of over $35 worth of lead pipe and plumbing fixtures and damage to the building which $100 will not pay for.
Gardner is the lad who was sent away to the Catholic Protectory in Manhattan about a year ago because he and another boy, James Kidney, persisted in sleeping out night in the stables and outhouses, rather than stay in the soft, warm beds that their homes provided.
Gardner comes [...illegible...] the good influence of a comfortable home, and seems to prefer the excitement of the under-world to obeying his parents.
After he had been in the Protectory for a few months, his folks moved from Astoria to Patchogue, and his mother, thinking that life in a country village would offer fewer temptations to evil doing, managed to ensure his release from the institution.
Took Both Boys Home
When she went over to Manhattan to get her boy, her attention was attracted to young Kidney, who looked pale and emaciated as the result of his confinement. Her mother's heart was touched and she begged to be allowed to take Kidney home with her too. Kidney has no mother having been living with an aunt.
She took both boys with her to Patchogue and set to work to reform them. Kidney lasted about four months before he fell from grace. He could not stain the strain any longer, so he stole from his benefactor and fled out into the alluring world.
Gardner Lasted Longer
Gardner clung to the paths of rectitude with commendable tenacity up to about three weeks ago. Then he begged to be allowed to come to Long Island City to visit his brother who lives on Eighth street. Once here he became fascinated with the old life again, and began to consort with evil companions.
The climax came when he and another boy, who has not yet been arrested, tore boards off one of the rear windows of the houses at 86 and 88 Main street and forced an entrance. They tipped out all the lead pipe they could carry and took away six sewer traps. This stuff they sold to a junk dealer for fifty-five cents. It cost new about $25. A plumber will probably charge over $100 to repair the damage.
Not content with this escapade, the boys came back later on to get more loot but they were frightened away. Detectives Hufman and Ebers were put on their trail with the result that Gardner was caught Thursday evening.
He readily confessed to the part he played in the burglary and said that it was no use for him to try to be good, anyway. He was arraigned in the Fifth street police court this Friday and held for the Grand Jury at $1000 bail.
This mention of the Catholic Protectory prompted me to go looking for more information about that institution. The New York City Catholic Protectory was an orphanage / juvenile delinquency program run by the Catholic Church in an effort to instill morality and ethics in children. They took in children who were under the age of 14 years, either with the consent of their parents or guardians for the well-being of the children because of the families' financial situation, or the child was committed to the institution by order of a New York City magistrate due to truancy, vagrancy, or homeless.
A few years ago, I uncovered records available in FamilySearch.org titled Residents' Identification Cards, ca. 1880-1938. The record set was authored by The Society for the Protection of Destitute Roman Catholic Children of New York City. Lot of words to remember. However, it is indeed the records for what was the New York City Catholic Protectory. At one time, it was also known as The Lincoln Hall School in Lincolndale, New York.
In addition to being tricky title to find in the FamilySearch Card Catalog, it is also un-indexed dataset; meaning you can't search it, you have to browse through it image by image. The images are relatively well organized alphabetically by the child's surname but as I described above, Great Grandpa had some issues with his surname.
The first time I went looking for him in the record set I did not find him. I thought maybe he was under a different last name. Essentially I gave up. Earlier this year, I decided to take another look. Actually, I went looking for his friend James Kidney first. I hadn't looked for him before. I figured if I could find James in there, Al had to be in there. And sure enough - - - there on Film #1851431 (Fucelli, Mario - Gargano, Louis) - Image Group #7856562 - Images #2862 & 2863 out of the 2916 images of that digitized real of microfilm is my great grandfather listed as Almand Gardner.
"Ungovernable." That seems right. Might be genetic but I digress...
Some children's files are, of course, much larger and reveal much more detail about them and their family's circumstances. The interesting note for me is that is the April 8, 1907 note that states "Sent on trial to friend, Miss Emily Gardner, Patchogue, L.I." The same note is on James Kidney's card. Now Al's mother's name was Malvina, not Emily. Even his card shows his mother as Alvina - close. I don't know who Emily Gardner is. Perhaps it's just a human error or maybe it was Al's oldest sister, Emma. Although, the articles do say the boys were released to Al's mother. Hmm. With every answer comes more questions.
Ungovernable. Ha. Love that.
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