SNGF: Female Ancestors' Age at Death

This week’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (okay, so I’m a day late) from Randy Seaver is to review your pedigree chart and determine the age at death of your female ancestors back at least 5 generations.  You can read about it HERE. 

What’s interesting about this exercise is that I’ve actually given it quite a bit of thought as when my mother died at the age of 84, I thought back to her mother, and her mother, and her mother and I thought they were all about the same age.  It made me realize that I’d really like to go from age 83 to about age 85 and just bypass those ages altogether. 

So an added exercise for me was to identify the ages of those women, in addition to five generations.

My mother, Geraldine (Martin) Levy, died 15 days before her 85th birthday.  So 84 years old.

Her mother, Clara (Fitzgerald) Martin Hunter, died at the age of 84.  Uh-oh.

Geraldine (Martin) Levy & Clara (Fitzgerald) Martin Hunter

 

Clara’s mother, Mabel (McAboy) Fitzgerald, died at the age of 83 years, 5 months.

Mabel (McAboy) Fitzgerald

 

Mabel’s mother, Rebecca (Waller), died at the age of 83 years, 2 months.

 

Rebecca (Waller) McAboy

See?  I’m turning 83 and then poof – I’m gonna be 85! 

Okay, so back to the original exercise.  Some of my math might not look correct as I took into account the age at their last birthday.

Mother
Geraldine (Martin) Levy – 1928-2013 – 84 years

Grandmothers
Clara Maxine (Fitzgerald) Martin Hunter – 1903-1987 – 84 years
Mildred Loraine (Gunzendorfer) Levy – 1896-1982 – 86 years

Great Grandmothers
Mabel Viola (McAboy) Fitzgerald – 1883-1966 – 83 years
Frances Maria (Brooks) Martin – 1860-1936 – 75 years
Bertha (Schwartz) Gunzendorfer – 1872-1950 – 78 years
Goldie (Benas) Levy – 1864-1926 – 62 years

2nd Great Grandmothers
Rebecca (Waller) McAboy – 1845-1928 – 83 years
Julia (Horgan) Fitzgerald – 1849-1886 – 37 years
Sarah (Miller) Brooks Anderson – 1836-1923 – 86 years
Rebecca (Steen) Schwartz – 1848-1918 – 70 years
Fannie (Goldstein) Gunzendorfer – 1848-1910 – 62 years
Fredericka (Wilzinski) Benas – 1840-1915 – 75 years
Millicent (Moore) Martin – 1827-1884 – 56 years
Unknown ( ) Levy

3rd Great Grandmothers
Rebecca (Parker) Waller – 1814-1845 – 30 years
Margaret (Finley) Miller – 1812-1884 – 72 years
Monima (Williams) Brooks – 1801-1867 – 66 years
Hannah (Plotzkey) Steen – 1828-1909 – 80 years
Margaret (Callahn) Horgan – Unknown
Sarah (Frankel) Goldstein – 1838-1897 – 59 years
Sarah (Mann) McAboy – 1825-1910 – 85 years
Margaret (Cullen) Fitzgerald – Unknown
Amelia (Jackson) Wilzinski – 1816-1902 – 86 years
Elizabeth (McDaniel) Moore – 1808-1867 – 59 years
Tabitha (Rodgers) Martin – 1800-1860 – 60 years
Unknown x 5

The female ancestor to live the longest was Sarah Jane (Miller) Brooks Anderson at 31,586 days.  Sarah’s first husband (and my 2nd great grandfather) was killed in the Battle of Fredericksburg and at one point she moved across country from South Carolina to California – what stories she would have had!

A close runner-up was my grandmother whom I’ve written so much about, Mildred Loraine (Gunzendorfer) Levy at 31,519 days.  Besides my parents, I probably know more about her than any other ancestor.

The ancestor to live the least amount of time was Rebecca (Parker) Waller, my 3rd great grandmother.  Rebecca died at the age of 30, within days of giving birth to my 2nd great Grandmother, Rebecca (Waller) McAboy.

The average age of the 23 women I know the age for at the time of their death was about 70 years old.

It sure is hard to see how many of these women died at an age younger than I am today.  But I’m not dwelling on that, at least not until I get to be 83 years old!

Benjamin Benas – what I know

Last week I wrote about my great grandmother, Goldie Benas, which piqued my curiosity again about her parents.  And as typically happens, I’ve been off in a million different directions so I need to document what I do know about her father, Benjamin Benas.

Benjamin was born in about 1826 in Posen, Germany.  He may have come to the United States aboard the Stephani which arrived in New York from Hamburg on 21 July 1845.  There was a young 19 year old Mechanic on board by the name of Benjamin Benas but I need to confirm if that was my Benjamin.

California Voter’s Registrations show that he was naturalized in San Francisco County on 6 September 1855.  What took him to California? 

In 1860 Benjamin was living in Vallejo with his brother, Solomon, and in 1865 he was living in San Francisco at 13 Kearny.  By 1870 he was back in Vallejo and had settled down with his wife, Fredericka (or Frances) and three children, Isaac, Goldie, and Max.  In 1868, Benjamin was a charter member of the Naval Chapter, No. 35, R.A.M. (from History of Solano County: comprising an account of its geographical position).  And Voter’s Registrations in 1867, 1876, 1880, and 1886 show him in Vallejo so my hunch is he never left.

Except maybe in 1892 when he died.  His certificate of death shows his date of death was 17 April 1892 and his previous residence was Amador County and that his place of death was Falley’s or Talley’s.  Take a look and let me know what you think it says.



Solano County is roughly 80 miles from Amador County – did Benjamin go there to die?  From the death certificate, it looks like he died from an abscess and carcinoma of the intestines – probably not a pleasant way to die.  I hope his family was with him and that he wasn’t away from home and alone.

Based on the age listed on his death certificate (65 years, 3 months, 23 days) his date of birth would have been 25 December, 1826.

The notice in the newspaper doesn’t tell me much.

San Francisco Chronicle April 19, 1892 Page 10

Benjamin is buried in Hills of Eternity in Colma, California, where his wife Fredericka was later buried with him.

Photo courtesy of Diane Reich

In researching for this blog post, I stumbled across the Solano County Genealogical Society website and found a few things listed that might be of interest – an Index to Property and Owners and Township Lists from 1878 and a Deed Index showing deeds pertaining to Benjamin from 1864 and 1861.  My request and check are in the mail!

What do I need to research in order to learn more about Benjamin:

• Confirm if the Benjamin Benas who arrived in New York in 1845 was my Benjamin Benas.
• Obtain naturalization records from San Francisco County from 6 September 1855.
• Figure out the parents of Benjamin and Solomon Benas – easy, right?
• Learn more about Naval Chapter, No. 35, R.A.M.
• Wait – patiently – for information from the Solano County Genealogical Society. 

And that’s what I know.  For now.

I could have helped you with this, Mom

The next two pages show my starting point with researching my family history – not much!  Oh Mom, I wish I’d been around in 1950 so I could helped you complete this family tree.   Here’s a close up of the first page.



Okay, that’s a decent start.  Mom’s parents were Clara Maxine Fitzgerald and Earle L. Martin.  Check – good job Mom!  After her parents divorced in the late 1930’s, her mother remarried Sheldon Hunter so at the time of Mom’s marriage my grandmother was Clara Maxine Hunter.

Clara’s parents were Mabel Viola McAboy and Edward Francis Fitzgerald.  Got it.  And that’s all she wrote!  Was that all she knew?  I’m betting it was because when I first started this journey she didn’t seem to know much about her family at all.  I was able to fill in some of the blanks and she seemed to really enjoy hearing what I’d found while helping her fill in the blanks.  Mabel’s parents were Rebecca Waller and William Warren McAboy and Rebecca was the granddaughter of my favorite ancestor, Emery Waller.  And Edward’s (or Eddy, as we called him) parents were Julia Horgan and Matthew William Fitzgerald.  Just this week I connected with a descendant of Matthew Fitzgerald – another cousin!

Earle’s parents were Frances Maria Brooks and Robert Lewis Martin.  I don’t think Mom had any idea of their names until I started researching.  She had a copy of a book about the Martin side of her family – Some of the Descendants of Daniel Martin (1745-1829) of Laurens County, South Carolina – but I don’t think she really paid attention to the information.  Frances’ parents were Sarah Jane Miller and William J. Brooks – William was killed at the Battle of Fredericksburg and Sarah later remarried and moved to Fresno.  Robert’s parents were Millicent Moore and Lewis Saxon Martin. 

And then Dad’s side of the family.



Now surely she knew more than that!  But I’ll fill it in for her.

Dad’s parents were Mildred Loraine Gunzendorfer and Sigmund Levy. 

I have had so much fun learning about Loraine as I’ve been documenting her scrapbook and transcribing the letters she and my grandfather wrote to each other from 1917-1919.  Loraine’s parents were Bertha “Birdie” Schwartz and Abraham Gunzendorfer.  Birdie’s parents were Rebecca Steen and Louis Schwartz.  And Abe’s parents were Fannie Goldstein and Ferdinand Gunzendorfer.

Sig’s parents were Goldie Benas and Herman Levy.  Goldie was the daughter of Fredericka “Frances” Wilzinski and Benjamin Benas.  And Herman was the son of…… oh shoot, I don’t know. 

I could have helped Mom with a lot if she’d only asked!  :-)

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Ancestor Roulette!

Thanks to Randy Seaver at geneamusings, it's time for some Saturday night genealogy fun!  This week it’s Ancestor Roulette!  Our mission:

1) What year was one of your great-grandfathers born? Divide this number by 100 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your "roulette number."

2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ancestral name list (some people call it an "ahnentafel").  Who is that person, and what are his/her vital information?

3) Tell us three facts about that person in your ancestral name list with the "roulette number."

4) Write about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a Facebook status or a Google Stream post, or as a comment on this blog post.

5) NOTE: If you do not have a person's name for your "roulette number" then "spin" the wheel again - pick a great-grandmother, a grandfather, a parent, a favorite aunt or cousin, yourself, or even your children!

Here’s mine:

1)  My great grandfather, Abraham Gunzendorfer was born 28 April 1869, which makes my “roulette” number 18.69 or 17.

2)  The person in my “Ahnentafel List” at number 17 is Fredericka (AKA Frances) Wilzinski.  Fredericka is my 2nd great grandmother.  Her vital information is:

Born 20 April 1840 in Germany.
Married Benjamin Benas in 1875.
Died 4 October 1915 in San Francisco, California.

3)  Three facts:

* Fredericka and Benjamin had 4 children – Isaac (1863-1951), Goldie (1864-1926), Max (1867-1928), Morris (1872-1929).  Goldie was my great grandmother, mother of my paternal grandfather, Sigmund Levy.

* Fredericka was the daughter of Tobias Wilzinski (1816-1890) and Amelia Jackson (1816-1902).

* Fredericka was also known as Frances, I’m guessing in an effort to “Americanize” her name.  I had a hard time finding her grave at first as the listing showed as Frederick (and at the time I only knew her as Frances) so I thought she was really a he!  She is buried at Hills of Eternity in Colma, California.



I don’t know much more about Fredericka and I have not photos of her.  At least no photos that I can identify as her.  I hope one day I’ll be able to rectify that.

Thanks for the fun!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - My 16 Great Grandparents

Photo by Tomorrow Never Knows

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Randy Seaver at genea-musings for the Saturday night challenge of listing our 16 great great grandparents.  I've been in a "blog fog" (where I can't think of anything to write about) for the last few weeks and now I have something to blog about.  I will admit it is Sunday night and I'm 24 hours late but I've been out of town this weekend so I get a free pass :-)

The challenge was:

1)  List your 16 great-great-grandparents with their birth, death and marriage data (dates and places).  [Hint - you might use an Ancestral Name List from your software for this.]

2)  Determine the countries (or states) that these ancestors lived in at their birth and at their death.

3)  For extra credit, go make a "Heritage Pie" chart for the country of origin (birth place) for these 16 ancestors. [Hint: you could use the  chart generator from Kid Zone for this.] [Note: Thank you to Sheri Fenley for the "Heritage Pie" chart idea.]

I'm not going for extra credit as I'm too tired and too technically challenged but here goes:

1.  William Warren McAboy:  Born 12 December, 1842 in DeWitt County, Illinois.  Died 12 January, 1925 in Santa Cruz, California.  Married 10 January 1864 in DeWitt County, Illinois to....

2.  Rebecca Moriah Waller:  Born 7 February, 1845 in Warren County, Ohio.  Died 23 October 1928 in Fresno, California.

3.  Matthew Fitzgerald:  Born 10 September 1850 in Ireland.  Died 24 August 1905 in Fresno, California.  Married June 1869 in Derryleagh, Cork, Ireland to....

4.  Julia Horgan:  Born 1849 in Derryleagh, Cork, Ireland.  Died 4 August 1886 in Black, Yolo County, California.

5.  Lewis Saxon Martin:  Born 9 April 1820 in South Carolina.  Died 19 July 1903 in Laurens County, South Carolina.  Married 12 April 1848 in Laurens County, South Carolina (second marriage) to....

6.  Millicent Moore:  Born 6 October 1827 in South Carolina.  Died 3 January 1884 in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina.

7.  William J. Brooks:  Born 1835 in South Carolina.  Died 1862 in Fredericksburg, Virgina.  (I need to research this - I just realized he must have died at the battle of Fredericksburg).  Married to.....

8.  Sarah Jane Miller:  Born November 1836 in South Carolina.  Died 30 April 1923 in Fresno, California.

9.  Louis Schwartz:  Born 28 December 1834 in Shildberg, Prussia.  Died 23 May 1893 in Byron Springs, Contra Costa County, California.  Married 15 October 1865 in California to....

10.  Rebecca Steen:  Born 8 February 1848 in Poland.  Died 7 January 1918 in Oakland, California.

11.  Ferdinand Gunzendorfer:  Born 1 August 1838 in Adelsdorf, Bavaria.  Died 20 October 1907 in Montery, California.  Married in 1863 in California to....

12.  Fannie Goldstein:  Born 6 March 1848 in Poland.  Died 22 July 1910 in San Francisco, California.

13.  Benjamin Benas:  Born 26? December, 1826 in Posen, Germany.  Died 17 April 1892 in Vallejo, California.  Married before 1870 in California to....

14.  Fredericka Wilzinski:  Born 20 April 1840 in Prussia or Germany.  Died 14 October 1915 in San Francisco, California.

And that's all I've got.  I do not know the parents of my paternal great grandfather, Herman Levy.  I've hit a bit of a brick wall so I've put them aside.  For now.