What Served as a Scandal Back Then

It's Women's History Month and I am preparing to do a genealogy presentation at a local public library in May for a Mother's Day celebration. It is about researching the women in our family trees. Often, due to the practice of women changing their surnames when they marry, our mothers' lines can prove to be really challenging. Once one abandons their maiden name, it can be hard to push those lines further back. 

The trick to being able to overcome the married name/maiden name obstacle is to research the men who surround that woman in her lifetime. For example, you find some male lodger in the home in a census record, he might be a brother-in-law to the male head of the household, or the wife's cousin of some ilk. Look into that guy.

I have plenty of examples from my own family tree research but I really wanted some more examples from newspapers. Newspapers often reveal a lot about a family. So I opened the website, New York State Historic Newspapers (https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/) and started looking for articles about my male family members.

I threw in my great great grandfather's name, Abram Earle, into a search. I got 2 hits. Neither of which fit my interest. Then I thought, I'll try by his nickname; Abe Earle. 

The second of the five hits led to the front page of The Daily Review (Freeport, New York), October 29, 1923. Headline: "Police Break Up Crap Game"

Oh jeez. 

Now it's not the first time I have run into a record of a family member having a brush with the law but this is one I didn't expect. And really?? This made the front page??

POLICE BREAK UP CRAP GAME

Freeport, Oct. 29 - - Acting on complaint of an anonymous letter believed to have been written by a woman in which it states that her husband was losing money steadily at crap in an unused barn back of the Himmel Bakery on South Main street, Chief of Police Hartmann, heading a party of officers in plain clothes visited that place Sunday night about 7 p.m., and found seven gathered around a dilapidated pool table in the upstairs portion of the building.

The men gave their names as Gene Breen, 89 Archer street; Thomas Cullen, 3 Railroad avenue; Ray Rogers, Franklin Square; Joe Sousa, Hillside avenue; Larry Temple, Banks avenue, Rockville Centre; Abe Earle of Grenada avenue, Roosevelt and George Rich of South Main street.

The party of officers knocked at a door leading upstairs and when it was opened they went up with drawn guns. A one dollar bill and three dice were found in the room but nobody was playing. Blankets, etc., were hung to shut off the light from the street.

One of the men dove under the pool table but was quickly spotted. The men were taken to police headquarters and served with a summons to appear before Judge Albin N. Johnson Tuesday morning.

Breen stated that he was the one who had hired the building.

One dollar?!?!

Is this that big a secret? How did this make the front page? Must have been quiet times in the Village then.

In any case, I ran it past my dad and his brothers to see if anyone of them had heard about it or suspected Abe of being a gamble. Ooo big stakes.

The event took place years before my grandfather was born. They hadn't heard about it but stories unfolded about my grandfather's childhood and numerous accounts of his family fleeing their rental homes in the night due to their inability to pay the rent. Was it because his father Abe was a gambler? It's rumored his mother Ethel was a spendthrift, though. Could it be Abe wasn't losing money gambling but gambling to make money for other expenses incurred? 

To me it's just a reminder that sometimes family doesn't talk about stuff, not because they are hiding it, but simply because it isn't that big a deal.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 51: "Perseverance" - Great-great Grandma Annette Hinch-Henry Survives Strife and Helped Others to do the Same

The word "perseverance" brings to mind my great-great grandmother, Annette "Anne" Hinch-Henry (February 22, 1868 - March 2, 1952). In fact, I feel like Anne's life would make for a good movie and I know exactly who I would have play her... Can you guess who?

...Julia Roberts! I think she looks a lot like her. I didn't get those genes.

Anne was born in Barnamelia, by Knockanna, Co. Wicklow, Ireland in 1868. As far as I can tell her mother, Jane Kavanaugh-Hinch died in about 1875 leaving 6 children ranging in age from about 10 to 2. I have not been able to find a death record for Jane in any Irish registers. In fact, many of the details I have about the Hinch family are vague at best. 

For instance, I don't know when Anne came to the U.S. from Ireland. Various census records note her arrival in 1886, 1887, and possibly 1890. I did find a record for a Jas Hinch or Hench arriving on June 6, 1885 aboard the H.M.S. City of Chester with 2 daughters, Anne 22 and Sarah age 20. Now her father James Hinch did have 2 daughters, Anne and her younger sister, Sarah, but the ages are off a bit, not that that ever matters. I do think that 1885 arrival date is correct though. It is said she came to NY from Ireland with her widowed father after the death of her younger brother; that could be them. As if the loss of her mother and a younger sibling weren't enough tragedy, her father James dies in the City of New York on January 29, 1886, not long after their arrival in the U.S. I can only assume that her paternal uncle, Charles Hinch, assumed a role of father figure to Anne.

Nine years later, though, her uncle Charles Hinch dies on January 24, 1895. That same year Anne married to Victor Henry on June 18, 1895, maybe with the hope of finally having some security and a family of her own. The following year she gives birth to their first child, my great grandfather, Charles Aloysius Henry. The couple has six children in all. Only 3 of which survive to adulthood. The 10 years between the birth of her first child and the death of her 6th child, again, seem to me wrought with tragedy:

• March 26, 1896 - Child #1, Charles Aloysius Henry is born
• December 8, 1897 - Child #2, Mary Anne Henry is born
• April 6, 1899 - Mary Anne dies before her 2nd birthday
• November 14, 1899 - Child #3, Jane Veronica Henry is born
• July 10, 1902 - Child #4, Victory Henry is born
• June 24, 1904 - Child #5, James Henry is born
• July 16, 1905 - James dies shortly after his first birthday.
• February 7, 1906 - Child #6, Robert Henry is born
• February 10, 1906 - Robert only lives 3 days.

Oh but it gets worse. 

On June 23, 1907 her husband, Victor Henry, committed a murder-suicide. Being widowed with 3 small children (Charles 11, Jane 7, and Victor 4) would be hard enough but add to that the shame of losing a husband to suicide in a very public display must have been a horrendous weight to bear. To make matters even worse, Victor's victim was Anne's first cousin, her Uncle Charles Hinch's daughter, Mary Ann Hinch-Cassidy. Scandalous articles appear in local papers speculating that Victor was enamored with the Widow Cassidy if not outright having an affair with her. Mary Ann's death also left 3 orphaned children.

Anne had to find someway to financially support herself and her three children. A story shared by my grandmother's cousins was that initially she put her children into an orphanage. Where ever this home for children was, it was located near a beach. Charles, being the oldest child, saw that his siblings weren't being properly fed at this facility, so he would hide food from his lunch in his pockets, take it out to the beach, and bury it. Later, his siblings would retrieve the food so they would have something to eat. Anna learned of this and immediately brought her children home. She took on odd jobs, mostly cleaning for people. At one point she worked at Aquaduct Raceway in Queens cleaning at what is a pretty well know horse racing track. She also took in foster children which I am sure came with some money from the state as it still does today. In several census records I saw children other than her own living with Anne.

In the 1915 NY State Census, Anne had 6 children living with her; the three that we know are her biological children and Joseph (age 3), Frank (age 1), and Antonio (age 1) all listed as with the surname Henry. In the 1920 U.S. Census she had three "foundlings" in her care; George Hula age 4, and twin girls age 2, Marah and Mary Gericie. In 1930, Victor is the only one of Anna's children still living with her but they also had an 8 year-old "boarder" named Edward Reed.

My Great Uncle Bobby told me Edward died of appendicitis while in Anna's care. He recalled that his grandma, Anne, took Eddie to the doctor's office with terrible stomach pain and the doctor dismissed his ailment as an act; that Eddie's was just trying to get out of going to school. Apparently though, he was treated for appendicitis because according to his death certificate, Edward Reed died on December 7, 1937 at the age of 16 at Jamaica Hospital of gangrene following an appendectomy conducted on November 19, 1937. He is buried with Anne at St. John's Cemetery in Queens, NY. Anna signed his death certificate as his guardian and Uncle Bobby recalled Anne was devastated with grief at Eddie's death.

Edward, George, Marah, Mary, Joseph, Frank, and Antonio are just the 7 foster children I know of; I imagine there were many others.

Now burying one child is horrific enough, Anne buried 3 of her own babies and a foster child and goes on to outlive 2 of her own adult children. Both my great grandfather, Charles, and his younger brother Victor predecease their mother. On September 30, 1940, Victor drown at the age of 38, overcome in a storm while fishing with his brother-in-law Clarence Edsall (July 26, 1890 - March 30, 1955). My grandmother recalled the day her Uncle Victor died. She was just 11 when the police arrived at their door in East Hempstead, Long Island, now Uniondale, to inform her father, Charles, that Victor had died. 

My great grandpa, Charles, died on June 14, 1949 at the age of 53 from a rare form of cancer; cancer of the peritoneum. The peritoneum is a thin layer of tissue that lines the abdomen. It is believed he may have developed the cancer because of chemicals he was exposed to while carrying out his profession as a paint manufacturer.

Although I did not know my Great-great Grandmother, I know Anne must have been a strong woman with a gentle heart. She seems to have showered great kindness on the unfortunate, even though she herself was likely viewed as unfortunate. That's a nice legacy to leave behind; to survive strife and help others to do the same.

Last Stop: St. Monica's Cemetery, Jamaica, Queens - The Hinches

This is the last cemetery Cousin Peter and I visited on our cemetery marathon on Saturday April 23, 2021. St. Monica's Cemetery is located on the southwest corner of Liberty Avenue and 160th Street in Jamaica, Queens, New York.

The cemetery was once the burial yard for a Catholic parish of the same name. The church was built in the mid-1850s but was deconsecrated in 1973. It had been damaged by a series of fires. All that remains today is the facade and steeple which were incorporated into the construction of a child care center for York College in about 2005; just about the time that I got a job at nearby St. John's University. 

The church had once been the parish of Mario Cuomo who was the Governor of New York State from 1983 to 1994. He and I are both graduates of St. John's University. (Go Red Storm!) It was also once the parish of my Hinch ancestors who lived in Jamaica; ancestors Peter and I share.

Annette "Anne" Hinch-Henry is our great-great grandmother. Annette was born in Barnamelia, County Wicklow, Ireland on February 22,1868. I often reflect on her life in my blog. It was tough. Her mother died in Ireland, her paternal uncle brought the family over to America. Her husband, Victor Henry, committed a murder-suicide in 1908. He murdered Annette's cousin. Annette had three small children to raise on her own after she had already buried three infants. She took in foundlings, or orphans as we would call them. One of them died of appendicitis while in her care. Then she wound up burying two of her adult children; her youngest son Victor Henry drown in a boating accident at the age of 38 and her older son, my great grandfather Charles Henry, died of cancer at 54.

Her father, my 3rd great grandfather, James Hinch was born in about 1816 in Ireland. James died January 29, 1886 in Jamaica, Queens, NY. He is buried in St. Monica's Cemetery. As are Annette's three infant children: Mary "Annie" Henry (8 December 1897 - 6 April 1899), James Henry (24 June 1904 - 16 July 1905), and Robert Henry (7 February 1906 - 10 February 1906).

I also know that her uncle, Charles Hinch, is buried there as well. Charles was slightly younger than James and I get the sense Charles was a bit better financially. Charles died on January 24, 1895. It was his daughter who Victor Henry murdered; Mary Ann Hinch-Cassidy. She is buried in St. Monica's cemetery too.

I don't know what other Hinch relatives might be in that graveyard because I have not been able to track down who has St. Monica's records. I know these burials because their New York City death certificates state the cemetery.

We also could not get into the cemetery which was locked. We could only peer through the chain-link fence at the spot I know is marked for them. They are that cluster of stones framed by the fence.

The stones are no longer legible but I know it is the spot based on content listed on FindAGrave.com. FindAGrave lists 458 photographed headstones in this cemetery. That is about 84% of the stone in the cemetery, not to mention all the unmarked burials there may be. So its a tiny cemetery. Not the tiniest I've been to but still small. In the whole church yard, the Hinches' stones are the only ones that butt up against each other.

FindAGrave only shows the headstone for Charles Hinch. But from family I have heard that my 3rd great grandfather James is buried right next to his brother. 

On my call to the Catholic Cemeteries of Brooklyn, I was told they do not maintain that cemetery. Someone does. I think it's them but I have  also contacted York College to see if I they are able to let me into the cemetery but I have received no reply.

With Reservations and Reluctance

So many people are so excited about researching their family history through these newfangled online websites that often we forget that some come to genealogy research with reservations and reluctance.

I am working with a gentleman now who I will call "Mr. S" who is only doing his genealogical research for his daughter. She desperately wants to know more about her ethnic origin and lineage; in part because her husband has a long well-research family history that stretches back to the 12th century. With all these 30-60 minute long television shows that make this all look so quick and easy, it's challenging to impress upon people that research takes much much longer than that. Sometimes it takes years to find information about even one's own grandparents. And Mr. S's circumstances have left him little information to work with. Mr. S grew up in foster care, separated from his siblings, and apparently lied to about the details of his parents' lives.

Together he and I came across a Social Security Death Index (SSDI) record for a man who had the same name as Mr. S's birth father but the dates just did not seem correct. The date of birth was much further back that either of us expected and the date of death was nearly 20 years after the year he was told his father had committed suicide. Additionally the SSDI record indicated this man obtained his SS# in Georgia; a detail Mr. S had never heard before.

Unsettled by the record, I went home and investigated further. I was unable to find this man, who may be Mr. S's father, in a 1940 census record on Ancestry. On a whim I tried looking for him in the 1940 census using FamilySearch.org instead. Sure enough, I found a record. In 1940 this man was living in a boarding house in New York City. Upon closer examination, another man with the same last name was also living in the house, presumably his brother,  his first name was Sidney. Now Sidney is not a bizarre first name but it certainly is not common. AND Mr. S had a brother of his own named Sidney. At that point, I was pretty convinced that these men were Mr. S's father and uncle and that the SSDI record was for his father.

Further confirmation came when I looked more closely at a death record Mr. S & I found together for his older brother who died at birth in 1941. That death record taken from the NYC Municipal Death Record Index through FamilySearch stated that the child died at the same address of the boarding house.

Mr. S's father wasn't born in the 1920s as we estimated, he was born in 1907 in Georgia. And he didn't die in the 1950s, he died in 1976.

I think these are painful truths for anyone in Mr. S's situation to have to face. It's hard enough to have had a difficult childhood, to have to rehash the details of it can be incredibly painful and frustrating.

I am not certain Mr. S's daughter will appreciate how much of a success this find is given how little detail we had. Sometimes adding just 1 more generation to the tree is as much as one can get.

Mother's Day: Blah

I am now older than my maternal grandmother was when she passed away. 

Yeah, it's Monday, people. It takes some effort for me to get into a good mood on Mondays. And Mother's Day is rough for me. Anyway...I'm semi-recycling a post that I think demonstrates an abundance of love that existed on my mother's side of the family.

I am 41 years, 10 months, and 19 days, but if you tell anyone this I will adamantly deny it. I AM 28! Grandma Marilyn was just 41 years, 9 months, and 7 days when she passed away leaving her husband of 21 years with six children ranging in age from 20 to 2. My mother is the eldest.

Several years ago, when applying for my membership to the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). I needed to track down my maternal grandparents' marriage certificate. No one in the family really knew their anniversary which didn't surprise me. 

A few years earlier though, I received a photocopy of a newspaper clipping from my aunt that announced their engagement. So here grandma is at age 19.  

The DAR genealogist discovered that the clipping came from the January 22, 1951 issue of the Long Island Star. There was also an earlier announcement in the January 5, 1951 issue of the same newspaper. Based on this, I think my grandparents got engaged at Christmas or New Years. However, I still didn't know when they were married. I assumed it had to be in at some church in Queens. For my application to the DAR I need to know this information and so I ordered their marriage record from the Office of the City Clerk.

Well, they were married in Greenwood Lake, NY, a resort community about an hour and a half northwest of Elmhurst, Queens, NY on March 25, 1951.  

The end of March? 
Wait! 
My mother was born in late November.

Some quick math and I realized that my mom was born only 34 weeks after the marriage and to my knowledge she was not pre-mature.

Scandal, scandal. 

Grandma would have been 6 weeks pregnant when they married. She probably knew she was pregnant; although, maybe not. Have you ever seen these stories where the woman goes into labor and she didn't even know she was pregnant?? 

I mean, it's not scandalous now. In fact, it is very common but I can imagine that back in 1951 it would have horrified grandma's good Catholic family. It doesn't matter to me though. There is no doubt in my mind that they were very, very much in love then and until the end. So what does it matter?? It doesn't.

My maternal grandfather was widowed at 46 and he never remarried. I am not sure if that is a testament to his undying love for my grandmother or evidence that not many women are open to the opportunity to acquire a ready-made family of six children. 

The Murder-Suicide: Portraits

I was recently contacted through this blog by a distant cousin. Cousin Laura is my third cousin which means we have the same great-great grandparents in common; Victor Henry and Annette Hinch-Henry.

Although Cousin Laura and I did not know each other, I do know her grandmother. She and I had met at a family reunion many years ago. At that reunion another cousin brought a photo of the man who is our common ancestor. Cousin Laura was able to send me a digital photo of Victor Henry.

Victor Henry committed a murder-suicide on June 23, 1908 when he was just 34 years-old. Cousin Laura knew of the suicide but not the murder. I suspect it was an event Victor's children wanted buried with their father.

In retelling this event I want to clearly distinguish facts from the story.

• FACT: On the morning of June 23, 1908, Victor Henry went to the residence of Mrs. Mary Ann Hinch-Cassidy on Water Street in Woodhaven, Queens, NY
• FACT: Mary Ann was a widow and the first cousin on Victor's wife;  Annette Hinch-Henry.
• FACT: Victor shot and killed Mary Ann and then turned the revolver on himself.

Now the story, as told through several newspapers articles is that Victor was married with three children but that he was estranged from his wife, Annette. During the alleged separation, Victor had taken up boarding in Mary Ann's house which I just find weird. Why would you want to live with your estranged spouse's family? Or better yet, why would they want you living with them? But I digress... It is interesting to note that the year before, in 1907, Victor's mother, Mary Carrillion-Henry, had also resided and passed away at a house on Water Street.

Most of the newspaper articles state that Victor and Mary Ann were romantically involved or that at the very least Victor had romantic interest in Mary Ann. The neighbors who were interviewed for the articles state jealousy was Victor's motivation but who really knows what his motivation was. He was undoubtedly unwell as anyone is who takes such drastic measures.

You can read an article about the murder-suicide for free online from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 23 June 1908, page 1, http://bklyn.newspapers.com/clip/5132888//. There is also an article from the following day, 24 June 1908, buried on page 14 (http://bklyn.newspapers.com/clip/5132772//) which states that Victor's brother, Charles (by the way, I don't know of any brother named Charles although that was Victor's son's name), told reporters that yes, Victor was madly in love with Mary Cassidy but it is untrue that he ever boarded at her home or that he was separated from his wife.

This here is an image of Mary Ann Hinch-Cassidy, the murder victim and Annette Hinch-Henry's first cousin. The photo is cropped from a digital image posted by another Ancestry.com user. Until this past week, I had never seen this picture or any other images of Mary Ann but I definitely see a family resemblance.

Revisiting Edward Hughes

Last October I published a post on my discovery of the murder of my 3rd great grandmother's brother, Edward Hughes.

The story of his death seems so incomplete to me. I don't know why he got into the bar fight. Was he mouthy when he drank? Did he call someone an ethnic slur? Was it over an argument about politics? Was it over a women? The cause of the fight was not made clear in any of the articles I found.

And then I wonder what became of the man who beat up Edward, a beating which the coroner stated only accelerated the cause of death (alcoholism). What happened to the man acquitted of the crime; James W. Cain.

James Cain is more common a name than you would think. I am not able to pin down what happened to that man using ancestry.com searches or NYC vital records.

But wanting to know more, I ordered microfilm through familysearch.org for me to view at the Family History Library (FHL) nearest me. Fifteen dollars, $7.50 each for two reels of microfilm of Coroners Inquests from New York City, to find out the FHL near me doesn't have a functioning microfilm reader that prints. OY VEY! I'm not really complain about the cost of the film; that's not bad. The lack of a functioning printer on the other hand - - grrrrr.

I needed to make a second trip to the FHL with my camera to photograph the images I found on the microfilm. Yeah, so what I don't own a smart phone. Wanna make something of it? Hmm, maybe my short fuse is genetic but how will I ever know if I share that with Edward because the Coroner's inquest said nothing more than what the thin newspaper articles revealed.

32 years-old, died of the effects of alcoholism accelerated by a beating inflicted by James W. Cain. Period.

Let me tell you, the doctor's handwriting then was just as shitty as any doctor today.

I'm really sad about Edward's death. All the other Inquests on the film were 20 to 30 pages long. His was just 6 pages; the cover page, the plea of not guilty by James Cain, 3 eyewitness testimonies which said nothing as to what instigated the fight, and the doctor's description. I feel like they saw a drunk and didn't really care about justice for him. So sad. I hope James Cain made something decent of his life.

Edward Hughes Murdered??

So many novice family history researchers think that Ancestry.com is the end-all-be-all of online genealogy research. 

Ugh. 

Don't get me wrong, Ancestry.com is wonderful! It has revolutionized the field of genealogy. I would credit it with making genealogy the ubiquitous past-time that it is today. It has tons of resources but it is not all there. Real genealogy research still requires visits to libraries, archives, cemeteries, and churches. AND there are also many other free and subscription-based databases available besides Ancestry.com. I recently tried a free 30-day trial of GenealogyBank.com; which is primarily digitized U.S. newspaper articles. I found a lot of interesting things.

Years ago I discovered the death certificates for my 4th great-grandparents; Terrance Hughes and Ellen Sweeney-Hughes. The certificates didn't tell me much more than their ages and dates of death. Both death certificates did reveal, though, that the couple was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. A simple call to Calvary Cemetery directed me to their unmarked plot in Cemetery #1, Section 3, Range 1, Plot A, Graves #1-4.

I knew from census records the names and approximate dates of birth for some of their children; Patrick, Anna, and Edward. Anna Hughes-Gray was my 3rd great-grandmother.

A simple search in GenealogyBank.com for last name: Hughes, first name: Terrance, limited to New York (where he died), and then limited further by his death (1873) kicked back an obituary for him from the New York Herald.

Hughes - On Saturday, September 20, after a long and painful illness, TERRANCE HUGHES, a native of Lincolman [Liscolman], parish of Connmare [Connemara], county Wicklow, Ireland in his 73d year of age.
The relatives and friends are invited to attend his funeral from his late residence, 603 East Ninth Street, on Monday afternoon, September 22, at one o'clock.
Dublin and Carlow papers please copy.

What a find right? It's very difficult to do Irish research without a parish and county. So that's very nice.

Then I found an obituary for Ellen Hughes; like her husband, Terrance, it was also in the New York Herald. The obituary was posted on March 12, 1884 and reads as follows:

Hughes - On Monday, March 10, ELLEN HUGHES, mother of the late Patrick Hughes, in her 81st year of age.
Funeral from the residence of her daughter, Mrs. Gray, 535 East 11th St., Wednesday, March 12 at half-past one P.M. Internment at Calvary Cemetery.

Mrs. Gray, again, was my 3rd great-grandmother. There was no mention of a son Edward though, who like her son Patrick could have predeceased her.

So then I tried to look for Edward whom I know nothing about except his name, approximate date of birth, and a guess at the date of death I gleaned from the NYC death record index; March 22, 1874. Now keep in mind that his date of death is just from the index, I did not actually see the death record and so I may have the wrong Edward Hughes. My Edward Hughes had a lot of contemporaries of the same name living in the same city; New York City. However, I found these headlines which coincided with the date of death for an Edward Hughes:

New York Herald - March 22, 1874 - "Coroners' Cases"
New York Tribune - March 23, 1874 - "Two Probable Homicides"
New York Tribune - March 27, 1874 - "Supposed Homicides"

Was MY Edward Hughes Murdered???

A simple call to Calvary Cemetery answered my question. I asked the woman who answered the phone if she could give me the plot location for a man named Edward Hughes who died in March 1874. Sure enough he is buried in Cemetery #1, Section 3, Range 1, Plot A, Graves #1-4. That is the same plot as my Terrance and Ellen Hughes; Edward's parents.

March 27, 1874 - New York Tribune 

Supposed Homicides

Coroner Woltmann held and inquest yesterday in the case of Edward Hughes, who was found dead on the 20th inst. at his home in Thirty-third-st. near Tenth-ave.
James Cory, residing at No. 787 Tenth-ave., testified that he had seen Hughes and a man named Cain fighting near Tenth-ave. and Thirty-third-st. on the day previous to Hughes's death. He did not know that either of them was drunk. James Goss testified that Cain struck Hughes several times in the face, holding him in the back of the head, while Hughes was so drunk he could not stand nor get up when he was knocked down. Dr. Shine testified that death apparently ensued from alcoholism, there being no signs of any bruises on the body. The jury rendered a verdict that Hughes died from alcoholism, death being accelerated by the beating received, and Coroner Woltmann committed Cain to the Tombs to answer in default of $5,000 bail.

So according to a jury of his peers, James W. Cain did not murder Edward Hughes; Edward succumbed to alcoholism in a very sad and dramatic scene. 

I tend to have a very soft spot in my heart for those relatives who, like Edward, leave no heirs. No heirs theoretically means that there are no relatives to visit the grave, to remember who he was, to keep the memories of him alive. Edward's story reaches me very deeply, though. Today I pray especially hard for those who suffer from the same affliction as Edward, and for those who judge them, and for those who beat them down.

A Murder-Suicide in the Family Makes the Front Page

On June 24, 1908 former President Grover Cleveland died. As expected a majority the newspapers were dedicated to stories of his life and presidency. Had Great-great Grandpa Victor Henry waited just one more day to murder his wife's cousin and take his own life we might never have had this story. 

The day before, on June 23, 1908, the article transcribed below appeared on the front page of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 

It is interesting to note that Mary Cassidy was born Mary Hinch and was the cousin of Victor Henry's wife, Annette Hinch-Henry. The previous year, Victor's mother Mary Henry was living at the same address at which this murder-suicide occurred. It was the home in which Victor's mother died. Based on those details, with some certainty, I can assume that the property was owned by some member of the family; who exactly, though, I am not sure.

The article below is pretty salacious. I have my doubts that Mary and Victor were having an affair. I suspect he suffered from some mental illness and somehow thought this woman was living rent-free in his mother's house; all speculation on my part though. 

I have one digital photo of Victor. It is a digital photo taken of the picture in a photo album. It was not taken straight on and thus there is some distortion in the image; seems appropriate though.

KILLED COMELY WIDOW WHO SPURNED HIS LOVE

Ozone Park Man, With Wife and Family, Wanted Her to Elope
 
REFUSAL COST HER HER LIFE
 
After Killing Her Victor Henry Sent Three Bullets Into Own Body and Soon Died
 
Victor Henry, an Ozone Park painter married and having a family, shot and killed Mrs. Mary Cassidy, who refused to elope with him a week ago, in the back yard of her home, 95 Water street, Woodhaven, at 10:05 o'clock this morning, and then, turning the revolver on himself, sent three bullets into his heart.

After running twenty yards, following the shooting, Mrs. Cassidy fell to the ground and died in ten minutes. Henry lived for half an hour, but was never conscious during that time and consequently the motive for his act could not be secured from him. Henry had a wife and three children, who live in a tenement just north of Broadway, on Wyckoff Avenue, in Ozone Park.

From the back stoop of her residence next door, Mrs. Joseph Herzog watched every detail of the tragedy from Henry's first arrival at the house to the time that Mrs. Cassidy breathed her last. At twenty minutes of ten she saw him come through the front gate and walk to the rear of t he house where, in the thick shade of a grape arbor, Mrs. Cassidy, who was forty-five years old and comely, was bending over a wash tub. 

They talked in a low tone at first, according to the story told by Mrs. Herzog immediately after the shooting. In a moment Mrs. Cassidy cried in angry tones: " I don't want you to come around here any more. You have a wife at home. I want you to stay away."

With that Mrs. Cassidy resumed her washing and Henry bent over to make a reply, which was not audible to Mrs. Herzog. Henry continued talking for over two minutes when Mrs. Cassidy again stopped her work and exclaimed: "What! My money?" Henry again made a short reply and then, with an oath pulled the revolver from his pocket, pressed it against the side of Mrs. Cassidy's head and fired. 

With a scream that could be heard for blocks, she jumped toward her murderer and then ran wildly from under the arbor to the back fence, where she dropped to the ground, moaning and with the blood spurting from the wounds in her head.

Henry never moved from the spot where he stood, but turned the gun on himself and dropped by the side of the half-filled wash tub after the three bullets from the .32 caliber revolver had entered his breast.

Arthur M. LaPage, who lives at 88 Water Street, was also a witness in the murder and suicide, and when he saw Mrs.Cassidy fall telephoned to the Richmond Hill police station for the ambulance. Then he summoned neighbors, who rushed to revive her with stimulants. She died while they were attempting to pour whisky down her throat. 

Forty-five minutes after the police had been notified by telephone, the ambulance from St. Mary's Hospital in Jamaica arrived, but Ambulance Surgeon Voltz, who came in it, found his services were not needed. With his permission, and the consent of the police authorities, the bodies were removed to the morgue of Edward J. Ruoff, Jr., in Ozone Park.

Mrs. Cassidy moved with her four children to the Water street house, from Newark, N. J., after the death of her husband on February 29. Henry appeared at the house for the first time in the second week of May, and was assiduous in his attentions to the widow. He was well known in Woodhaven, and his visits became a scandal in the village.

Slave-owners in my Tree

Recently Cousin Lisa asked me if we had any slave owners in our family. Having such deep New York roots one might think that, no, we couldn't have possibly owned slaved; New York is a northern state. You might be surprised though to learn that New York did indeed uphold the institution of slavery until 1827. In 1799 New York State passed an act that gradually emancipated slaves but all slavery was not abolished in the state until 1827.

On the side of the family that Cousin Lisa and I share I have not found slave owners. However, that is the side where I just found my American Revolutionary patriots so I would not be surprised if I find some slave owners on that side too. In the 1700s slavery was ubiquitous.

In any case, several years ago a researching cousin shared with me a transcription of the will of my 7th great grandfather, Uriah Bedell (1733-1815). I was very young at the time; only a few years into my research. Maybe I was 18 at the time; I am not sure. I am sure I was devastated though. There among the shares of land and endowment to the Presbyterian Church of Hempstead, Long Island were his "negro-boy" Tone and "slave-girl" Freelove. I was DEVASTATED! 

The only solace I could take was that he clearly states that when each of these people reach the age of 23 it was Uriah's will that they would be set free. Additionally, it was not my ancestor who inherited a slave; although that provided little comfort. I am descended from his daughter Phebe Smith who is named in the will though.

I can not wrap my modern-day, liberal mind around the fact that anyone ever thought owning people was an okay thing to do. I don't care if it was a desirable show of wealth or a acceptable necessity of the time, how could anyone have thought that slavery was OK - - ever? I don't get it. Especially this man so pious in his behavior that he leaves a huge sum of money to the church at which he was a deacon. It just befuddles me.

Scandal, Scandal: Finding Out a Wedding Date.

This past Monday I received a copy of my maternal grandparents' marriage license which I had ordered from the The Office of the City Clerk of the City of New York. This office maintains the records of all Marriage Licenses issued in New York City from 1930 to the present. Marriage Records older than 50 years from today's date are considered historic records and available to the general public by mail or by visiting the Record Room Division at 141 Worth Street, New York, NY 10013 for a fee of $15 for the first copy. 

No one in the family really knew my maternal grandparents' anniversary which wasn't startling really. My maternal grandmother died at the age of 41 in 1972 leaving 6 children between the ages of 20 and 2. Being so young it made sense to me that her kids did not remember their parents' anniversary.

Some time back though, I received a photocopy of a newspaper clipping from my aunt. The clipping was an engagement announcement that showed a photo of my grandmother; age 19 at the time. It was really the only photo I had ever seen of my grandma.

Recently, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) genealogist I have been working with gave me a copy of the same announcement. She was able to tell me when and which newspaper it appeared in; January 22, 1951 in the Long Island Star. The DAR genealogist also found an earlier announcement from January 5, 1951 in the Long Island Star.

Based on this I assume that my grandparents probably got engaged at Christmas or New Years. However, I still didn't know when they were married. I assumed it had to be in at some church in Queens. For my application to the DAR I need to know this information and so I ordered their marriage record from the Office of the City Clerk.

Well, they were married in Greenwood Lake, NY, a resort community about an hour and a half northwest of Elmhurst, Queens, NY on March 25, 1951.

The end of March? Wait! My mother was born in late November.

Some quick math and I realized that my grandmother was pregnant at the time that they were married.

Scandal, scandal.

Mom was born only 34 weeks after the marriage and to my knowledge she was not pre-mature. Grandma would have been 6 weeks pregnant when they married. She probably knew she was pregnant; although, maybe not. Have you ever seen these stories where the woman goes into labor and she didn't even know she was pregnant?? 

I mean, it's not scandalous now. In fact, it is very common but I can imagine that back in 1951 it would have horrified grandma's good Catholic family. It doesn't matter to me though. There is no doubt in my mind that they were very, very much in love then and until the end. So what does it matter??