52 Ancestors: In the Paper

Just in time for this week’s blog prompt, I received this newspaper article from George, the author of my #1 Genealogical Find of 2017 Between the Redwoods and the Bay.  Now THAT was good timing.

Santa Cruz Sentinel
26 Aug 1945, page 7

What really struck me is that this article is from 1945 when Louis Schwartz, my 2x great grandfather, had been dead since 1893.  WAIT – WHAT?  I had never, ever thought about looking for newspaper articles so many years later.  But, fortunately, Louis was pretty well known in Santa Cruz and contributed to so much history that it makes sense that they were talking about him 50 years after his death.

The second thing that struck me was that the address of the house he built was 105 Mission Street – I’d always heard that the address was (and is) 222 Mission Street.  So where did 105 come in?

So I couldn’t stop there and have spent some time looking for newspaper articles about Louis after his death.  Which has led me to many different discoveries.

Santa Cruz Sentinel
30 Sep 1894, page 3

In 1894, the house was at 99 Mission Street.  So now we've gone from 99 to 105 to 222.  Puzzling.  Google Maps shows me that there is currently a 99 and 105 Mission Street but they are NOT the house Louis built as it is at 222 Mission Street.  Did the numbering conventions change along the way?  I have connected with someone who has been researching the house so I'll need to ask her what she knows.

Now this article from 1977 is interesting - a Mission Hill Historic Unit was torn down.

Santa Cruz Sentinel
24 Aug 1977, page 35

This is the part of the article that really caught my attention.

My mother once told me that she remembered a small studio behind the house where my great grandmother, Bertha "Birdie" Schwartz, used to do artwork.  When I connected with the current (now former) owner of the home a few years ago, he confirmed that the art studio was no longer in existence.  So this is probably the structure they were referring to except my great grandmother's name was NOT Rose.  Must have been a typo.  But it secretly (or maybe not so secretly) makes me happy to know that people were so angry at this historic structure being demolished.  I'll bet Louis and Birdie would have been happy, too.

And just by searching on Louis Schwartz, I found some other interesting articles about Birdie and her husband, Abraham Gunzendorfer, and their living arrangements.  This one is COMPLETELY new to me - I thought Birdie and Abe lived in Monterey until Abe died in 1944.

Santa Cruz Sentinel
27 Jul 1943, page 3

I assumed the corner of Jeffenson and Larkin Streets was in Santa Cruz since this was a Santa Cruz paper.  But, I couldn't find anything like that currently.  I also tried Jefferson - no luck.  But after further review, I found a corner of Jefferson and Larkin in Monterey.  I guess it was big news in Santa Cruz since Birdie grew up there.

And just shy of a year later, Abe died and left Birdie on her own.  I knew she spent the last years of her life in a hotel - looks like she moved there in 1948.

Santa Cruz Sentinel
4 Jul 1948, page 12

The 1948 San Francisco City Directory, page 788, shows Birdie at 490 Geary which was either the Hotel Maryland or Hotel Warwick.   I'm fairly certain she lived there until her death in 1950.  It's crazy how many people in that time period lived in a hotel.  I'm sure it was safer for an elderly, single woman to be a resident with so many people just a step away to help her.

I just love to peruse newspapers - it sure tells us a story of the details of their lives.

Louis Schwartz Home
99 or 105 or 222 Mission Street
Santa Cruz, California
Birdie on the left, Louis on the right behind the fence

52 Ancestors: Large Family

This week’s blog prompt doesn’t seem like it would be difficult but for someone with a VERY small immediate family (one uncle, one cousin, plus my two siblings), this was a bit challenging for me.  I’d always longed for a big family – in fact, when I was about 10 I even made up an older brother who, I told people, was away in the Army.  Ahhh, the imagination of a child.

I’ve written a lot about my Waller family so I decided I’d focus my attention there and see what I could find out.  When I first started on this journey I was ecstatic when I would find a shaking leaf and boy, those Wallers produced a lot of those!  But I’ve since learned that these aren’t always correct so I need to research and research and research some more.

I wrote about Phineas Waller, my 6x great grandfather, HERE when the unusual name prompt came up.  While Phineas seems like an unusual name, it actually is somewhat common in my tree. 

Phineas and his wife, Rhoda Taylor, were married 19 Apr 1749 in Cornwall, Connecticut and had 10 (or 11) children.  What I’ve learned today is that not only were women hard to find from 250 years ago, I still have A LOT of research to do here.  And here are the children of Phineas and Rhoda:

Rhoda, b. 21 Jul 1750, Cornwall, Connecticut.

Mercy, b. 9 Oct 1751, Cornwall, Connecticut.

Nathan, b 7 Mar 1753, Cornwall, Connecticut.  Married Elizabeth Weeks 4 May 1773.  Died 11 Jul 1831 Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne, Pennsylvania.

Lydia (per Starr copy of the Barbour Collection) or Gideon (per the Arnold copy of the Barbour Collection), b. 10 May 1756 in Cornwall, Connecticut.

Levi, b. 10 May 2758, Cornwall, Connecticut.  Or maybe 17 Mar 1758?  Died 1778, Princeton, New Jersey.  He was in the Revolutionary War – did he die in service?

Ashbel, my 5x great grandfather.  b. 18 Oct 1759, Cornwall, Connecticut.  Died 20 Sep 1848, Butler County, Ohio.  Married Sarah Abbott 1 Nove 1781, Cornwall, Connecticut.  Married Elizabeth Blackleach 5 Sep 1820, Butler County, Ohio.  Married Jane Turner, 12 Apr 1842, Hamilton, Butler County, Ohio.  MY TICKET TO DAR!  [get on it you big loafer].  I wrote about Ashbel's inclusion in the first United States census HERE. 

Hannah, b. 6 Jan 1762, Cornwall, Connecticut. 

Joseph, b. 4 Feb 1764, Cornwall, Connecticut.  Died 19 Mar 1849, Elba, Genesee, New York.  Married to Mary Polly McDaniel and Hannah Force.

Daniel, b 17 Mar 1760, Cornwall, Connecticut.  Died in Elba, New York? 

Esther, b. 21 Mar 1768, Cornwall, Connecticut.  Died 27 Feb 1822, Elba, Genesee, New York.  Married John Howe Jr., 21 Dec 1787.

Bonus child – Joseph.  This can’t be true.  Joseph born in 1764 didn’t die until 1849 so why would they have named their 11th child Joseph?  This has got to be an error in one of those Ancestry trees I was so happy to find.

Mercy (pun intended), that’s a lot of kids.  And two of whom were born on the same day (TODAY!) and, thus, share a birthday with my first grandchild who turned 17 years old today. 

And there’s the big family I always longed for!  Who knew?

52 Ancestors: Bachelor Uncle – Hyman Steen

This weeks’ blog prompt is Bachelor Uncle.  When I saw the prompt, Hyman Steen immediately came to mind.  Hyman (or Hymie, as my grandmother called him) was the first cousin, once removed, of my grandmother, Loraine Gunzendorfer.  Hymie was the son of Jacob Steen – Jacob’s brother, Joseph, was the maternal grandfather of my great grandmother, Bertha Schwartz.

Hyman Steen was born 8 Jan 1877 in Santa Cruz.  He was one of seven children born to Jacob Steen and Pauline “Lena” Jacobson.  The children were Jennie, Bella, Estella, Hyman, Harry, Julius, and Myrtle.  (Jacob was previously married and had a child, Amelia, prior to marrying Lena).

In 1880, the family (minus Julius, who had not yet arrived) was living on Lincoln Street in Santa Cruz.  In 1990 it was just Hyman and Jacob living in District 86, San Lorenzo – Lena was listed as a “widow” in Oakland with children Jennie, Stella, and Julius.  Since Jacob didn’t die until 1909, I’m not sure why she would have stated she was a widow.

1910 found Hyman on Baldwin Avenue in Felton with his “companion” George Ley.  I know that George and Hyman were business partners but it seems that usually people are listed as “boarders” when they are not related.  A new mystery to solve.

In 1918, Hyman registered for World War I.  He lived at 768 54th Street in Oakland and listed his mother, Lena Steen, as his nearest relative.

In 1919, Hyman Steen and George Ley founded what would later be known as Santa Cruz Lumber.  The offices were located in Santa Cruz with a mill in Bonny Doon and later moved near Pescadoro Creek in San Lorenzo Valley.

In 1920, Hyman was living at 768 54th Street in Oakland with his sister Bella, her husband Morris Benas, and their son, Lionel Benas.  It was Bella and Morris whom I believe may have ‘introduced’ my grandparents as not only was Bella Hyman’s sister, but Morris was the brother of my great grandmother, Goldie Benas Levy (mother of Sig Levy).

In the letters that I’m transcribing between my grandparents from 1916-1919, my grandmother, Loraine Gunzendorfer, writes about the many times she and “Hymie” went rowing on the lake [I believe on Lake Merritt as this was within blocks of where Loraine lived with her great uncle, Samuel Steen, and his wife, Rachel].  Although Loraine and Sig seemed a bit secretive about their relationship since the two families were intertwined, I think Hymie could have been one person she was honest with.  Since he was 20 years her senior, I like to think he was protecting her as she stated she didn’t want to go rowing without him.

On 23 Feb 1924, Hyman died from double pneumonia at the age of 47.  He never married.

Santa Cruz Evening News
23 February 1924
page 1

The next day the Santa Cruz Evening News reported that his body was being taken to San Francisco for internment.

Santa Cruz Evening News
24 February 1924
page 1

Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.Original data - San Francisco Area Funeral Home Records, 1895-1985. Microfilm publication, 1129 rolls. 

Other than the notice above, I have not found anything referencing Hyman living in Cleveland, although I know others in the Steen/Stein family lived there.

Enlargement of notice above

Hyman is buried in Hills of Eternity Cemetery in Colma, along with his parents Jacob and Lena, and sister Estella and her husband, Leon Boas.  I wonder if my grandmother was at the service.

And with just 28 words, Hyman Steen left all of his $50,000 estate to his mother, Lena.  The executors were his brother, Harry, and his former partner, George Ley. 

Santa Cruz Evening News
13 March 1924
page 1

Thanks for being a cousin and good friend to my grandmother, Hyman Steen.