A Polish Genealogy Resource Like None Other!

This post was written by SCHS Executive Director Mary Zawacki. It focuses on a database of Polish parish records created by the Jaminy Indexing Team. The database search engine is available at https://jzi.org.pl/geneo/.

Despite my surname, which bears the Polish hallmark of unpronouncibility, I've never had a connection to my Polish heritage. This is probably common for third and fourth generation Americans, who have increasingly mixed ancestry, grew up on red milk cartons from the school cafeteria, and can recite at any moment the profound truth of George Washington's cherry tree incident.

Even my father, who had two Polish immigrants as grandparents, didn't have much to say on the matter: "I remember an old lady who couldn't speak English. I believe she had an arranged marriage." Other relatives indicated that the ancestors had come over from Warsaw (no) or were secretly Jewish escapees from the Pogroms (also no). So much for family history!

I visited Poland twice as a young twenty-something and enjoyed my time there immensely, but left both times unconvinced about 'getting in touch' with those elusive Polish roots. The language, I thought, is complicated. Plus the borders of Poland were ever-shifting. Sometimes it was an autonomous state, other times not. Beyond Googling the house of a few great-grandparents in Easthampton, Massachusetts, I thought, what was the point? Even Ancestry.com couldn't help beyond confirming that Frank Zawadzki (born 1883) worked in a rubber plant. How industrial of him! I bet the plant is luxury condos now.

Earlier this year, however, during quarantine, a series of events occurred. First, I discovered a marriage record of these Polish great-grandparents which listed their parents' names. Ah, more information! Second, I employed my excellent internet creeping skills to locate the family's immigration records which enabled me to trace ol' Frank Zawadzki and his wife, Stephania Jurewicz, to a very, very small village near Lithuania. Bingo! An email here, an email there, and an email everywhere related to the village in question, and thus I was introduced to the wonderful, incredible world of https://jzi.org.pl/ or the Jaminy Indexing Team (JZI). 

Members of the Jaminy Indexing Team, 2019. Photo from the 8th Meeting of the JZI Photo Gallery.

JZI is a group of dedicated volunteer researchers who have digitized church records from just about every parish throughout northeast Poland. That includes, of course, the Jaminy parish as well as 41 others. The Jaminy Indexing Team eloquently states their mission on the website, and I believe their mission perfectly parallels much of the work we do at SCHS. On the JZI website, they state:

"Who we are? Where did we come from? Where are we heading? These questions and slogans illustrate the essence of things and the reason for our actions. We try to convert and recall once written words into specific actions. Save the past generations from oblivion...the words read and written take the form of specific people, hidden behind dates and letters of the name. People who once lived in these lands among the same roads, rivers, and forests. In this way, we realize the well-known sentence '...the word become flesh.'"

For JZI, and for SCHS, it's a question of translating the deeds and documents of people long dead into flesh; making history come alive.

A map of the parishes documented by JZI.

 

If your ancestors happen to hail from this region of Poland, the JZI database is the holy grail of genealogy. By utilizing their well-developed search engine, I've been able to trace my family's Polish roots back to the mid-1700s. There's still a lot more work for me to do, like filling in details, and figuring out how/why a few Prussians ended up in the mix. It's a fascinating project that will carry me through winter, and I hope will result in a trip to Poland and Lithuania. The database also holds true to JZI's mission. It's not just names and dates I'm looking at while searching their records. With godparents, professions, and people who attended births and deaths listed, I can begin to see the web of people and families who have been connected to each other for centuries. They know each other and are there for each other through every milestone. The life of a Polish peasant in the 1800s is dramatically different from modern American life, with kinship and family ties being the center of everything they did. A great resource for understanding more about family structures of Polish peasants is The Polish Peasant in Europe and America, a classic sociology book from 1918 that studies Polish immigrants and their families.

I reached out to the Jaminy Indexing Team to try to understand a bit more about their project and to see if similar databases exist in other parts of Poland. Krzysztof Ziecina was happy to help with my queries and his English is excellent. He explained that "there are a couple of similar projects across Poland. None of them index registry books to the level of detail we do. However, I would recommend Lubgens as a group similar to us, which does their job with passion and carefully. They cover [the] area near Lublin. Unfortunately, their page is only in Polish." 

The JZI team is also able to put records from their database into context which helps those of us with a limited understanding of late 19th century Polish history. I asked Krzysztof why there was such an exodus of young people from the region. He explained that it was due to the January Uprising when Poland was part of Russia. In 1863, when the "Russian partition of Poland ended, the Tsar granted each peasant a small piece of land taken from noble landowners. That was fine until the farmers' children grew up. There was not enough land to feed them all, so typically the oldest son inherited the farm, and [the other] children had to find jobs on their own. It was really hard. Some of them decided to emigrate. Very often the first sibling who emigrated and had a good life in America, he/she invited brothers, sisters, and friends to join him/her."

We see this pattern not just in the Jaminy to Massachusetts pipeline, but also in immigration patterns from other parts of Poland (or Italy) to Schenectady. Indeed, the 2015 SCHS "Boomtown" exhibition explored how family connections in the 'old country' meant certain neighborhoods and streets in Schenectady were filled with immigrants from a single European village.

Screenshot of a baptism record for the author's great-grandparent from the JZI database.

As I head back into their extensive database to continue my quest for answers, I'm endlessly grateful to the JZI volunteers for making this resource possible and accessible to English speakers. I'm also personally fascinated by some of the family history I've uncovered thanks to JZI. Apparently, the Zawadzki clan hails from a village very close to an ancient shrine deep in the woods. Perhaps that explains my own draw to nature; it's in my blood, after all. And, above all, I found humor in discovering that Frank Zawadzki wasn't the son of a nobleman or landowner or anything we Americans tend to imagine when we think of our ancestors. Nope, Frank's dad was a beggar. Thanks to those intrepid Poles, making the journey to America in the early 1900s, I can happily say the Zawacki family is no longer known as the village beggars.

Uroczysko Święte Miejsce, the holy shrine near the village where the Zawadzki clan lived. Photo from Gosi Szymańskiej's blog "Po Kraju"

The JZI database search engine is available at https://jzi.org.pl/geneo/.

Genealogy Day 2019

Join us on October 19, 9am-4pm, for Genealogy Day at Grems-Doolittle Library!

We have three speakers lined up to educate you on a variety of genealogy topics and the library will be open extended hours for research. Tickets are $8 for the day and free for members. See the schedule below for more details:

Maps can be great supplements to genealogy research, especially when using land records.

9-10:15am: “Complex Evidence: Untangling Multiple, Same-Name Individuals” presented by Judith Herbert

It’s pretty common for names to be reused in families, but it can be frustrating to track your genealogy when it seems everyone is named John, Jacob, and Mary. Judith Herbert, certified genealogist, will present strategies for untangling the confusion caused by same-name individuals within your family tree.

10:15-11:30am: “Patching Families Together Through Land Records” presented by Tina Post

When genealogists hit brick walls it’s not fun. Land records can provide the clues necessary to put stymied research on track again. This presentation will provide examples of how relationships can be gleaned using deeds, bounty lands and land grants. In addition, platting will be discussed as a means of creating more leads to investigate.

11:30-12:45pm: “Gravestone Conservation for the Genealogist” presented by Christopher White

Have you ever seen that unreadable gravestone or that toppled monument and wondered what can I do to address its condition? There is a correct way and a wrong way to remedy that gravestone. Christopher White, a genealogist, historian, and gravestone conservator, will present a program on gravestone conservation including cleaning, repair, what to do, what not to do, when to do nothing, and when to seek a professional conservator.

12:45-4pm: Research in the Library

Learn to care for gravestones and memorials at this year's Genealogy Day.

Best,

Marietta 

A Genealogy Success Story

This post was written by SCHS member Carol Clemens published in the Heritage Observer

My husband and I recently did DNA testing through Ancestry’s service. When the results were completed, I noticed a “first cousin match” in the results, on my husband’s side. Thinking it was probably one of the “known cousins” and being busy, I did not contact the person immediately. Shortly after, I received a message through Ancestry from the person, and found she was NOT one of the cousins I knew about.

Here is part of her message:

I was actually adopted. I found my birth mother's family several years ago and all I know about my father’s side is that he was a policeman with the Downey Police Department. I'm trying to figure out his name due to the fact that by the time I found my birth mother she was deceased, and my siblings, through her, do not remember his name. They have asked the older family members but no one can remember his name. Maybe this story rings a bell for someone in your family. I hope I'm not opening a can of worms that is, or was, a secret for your family. If you have any information, please let me know. I don't need to meet anyone, I just want to get some family medical history and have names for my children's family trees.

The clue was the fact that her father was a Downey, CA police officer. My husband’s Uncle Walt was a police officer in California and later an Alaskan State trooper. I had documentation of his residence in Downey for the correct time span. Piecing together my research, her limited knowledge, and DNA, we have no doubt that she is indeed the daughter of Uncle Walt. 

I have added her info to the family tree and shared it with her. From knowing nothing other than the occupation of her father and his residence, she now has family history going back to 1801 in Norway. She has the colorful story of her Grandfather “jumping ship” in New York harbor in 1923 and his purchase of “immigration papers” for $50 that he believed made him a US citizen. She now knows about her half-brothers and sisters and has photos of many of her Norwegian ancestors.

My husband’s mother recently passed away and we held a Celebration of Life Service in her hometown in upstate New York. Our “new” cousin and one of her daughters made the trip from the West Coast to join us in celebrating the life of the aunt she never knew.  She was so excited to meet the family she never knew about.  She was welcomed with open arms….and went home with not only new memories, but photos and even a quilt made by her late aunt.

I am delighted that I could play a part in this wonderful success story. It would not have been possible without both careful, documented research and the benefits of science through DNA testing.

Not Quite the Real Story: The Murder of Martino Franchetti



Grave of Martino Franchetti from St. John's Cemetery, Schenectady. The gravestone reads, "Martino Franchetti. Born in Castione (Italy) March 5, 1870. Died by assassination November 2, 1902.

This Blog Post was written by Carol Clemens

 

As a child, I remember hearing the family story that my great-grandfather, Martino (Martin) Franchetti, was accidentally shot and killed while walking home from work. As it was told, a fight erupted in a saloon on Summit Avenue and a stray bullet struck Martino. No one ever really talked about the tragedy, but it was simply stated that he died when my grandmother was young so she never really knew her father. However, in the course of my genealogy research, I discovered that was not quite the real story! 

My first clue was finding a reference at http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/  to an obituary in the Schenectady Gazette for Martino Franchetti…however there were five other articles listed for dates between early November and the end of December 1902. This seemed a bit unusual. Since my sister lives in Schenectady, I asked her to check the newspaper microfilm at the Schenectady Public Library. Once she did, she immediately called me with the news that all the articles were about Martino Franchetti’s murder and not an accidental shooting.

Using the Schenectady Gazette newspaper articles as a starting point, I was able to piece together a very interesting story that is quite different from the family tale. While there are details that vary from article to article, this seems to be the closest to the real story.



Article from the Schenectady Daily Union, Nov. 3, 1902.

 

Martino Franchetti immigrated to New York on April 6, 1891. He went to Schenectady where he found work as a laborer. Around 1897, Martino married Amelia Benedetta Lavacchini, another Italian immigrant who arrived in 1891 as a 12 year old with her family from Florence, Italy. As was a common practice at the time, Martino and his wife had taken in Italian boarders. From about Oct. 1901-March 1902 Antonio Tonetta boarded with the family. Antonio fell in love with Amelia, and reportedly threatened her, trying to coax her to run away with him. Amelia told Martino about the threats and he kicked Antonio out of his home. Newspaper reports state that Tonetta threated to “get even”, telling Amelia he would shoot her husband and run away with her.

On November 2, 1902, Martino went to a saloon near his home on Summit Avenue. Tonetta and a friend, Nichola Vittelli, were also there. After a couple glasses of beer, Tonetta and Vittelli left the saloon. They had gone only a short distance when a man later identified as Martino Franchetti, called to Tonetta and walked toward him from the saloon. An argument ensued. Vittelli left the men and went back to the saloon to tell the customers there that he "feared the two men would injure each other." He had just opened the saloon door when he heard a shot. Tonetta had shot Franchetti with a 32 caliber pistol in the back of the head.

The first man to reach Franchetti was Frank Columbo, who was about to enter the Franchetti home where he boarded. Columbo helped carry Franchetti to his home and also identified the shooter as Tonetta. Dr. George McDonald, the surgeon who operated on Franchetti at Ellis Hospital, said that the bullet was fired from a point in the rear from close proximity and that he had little chance of surviving. Franchetti died on Nov. 3 leaving his wife, Amelia, a widow with two young daughters.

The murder weapon, a 32 caliber gun, was found under an apple tree in a vacant lot close to the site of the crime. Meanwhile, Vittelli was jailed as a witness but Tonetta disappeared. Police searched Tonetta’s current room on Strong Street and found a trunk with about $80 in cash, several photos of him, and other personal belongings. To the police, the packed trunk indicated that Tonetta might have been planning to leave town. Local authorities circulated a description of Tonetta to neighboring cities. On November 11^th, the Schenectady Gazette ran a headline stating “Tonetta probably Captured.” Tensions grew as days passed and Tonetta was not found. The November 18^th Gazette had an article titled “Murderers not Brought to Justice”. The search for Tonetta continued across the state and neighboring areas. 

An inquest was held and Tonetta was indicted, even though he remained at large. Amelia Franchetti testified and was described as being very "composed". She said she had not seen Tonetta for 4 days prior to the killing. The last time she saw him, Tonetta again insulted her, but she did not tell Martino because she was afraid it would lead to trouble. Amelia said she received several letters from Tonetta after Martino evicted him, but she never answered them. She also testified that Tonetta always carried a revolver and that he had several times drawn it on her and threatened to kill her unless she would go away with him.  In conclusion, Mrs. Franchetti said that she did not like Tonetta and never had.

Finally, on December 30^th, nearly two months after the crime, Tonetta was captured in a Green Mountain logging camp in Vermont. When captured, Tonetta admitted that he had shot Franchetti, but did not know he had died. Tonetta was transported by train back to Schenectady, attracting crowds along the route. Once in Schenectady, he was questioned by authorities and gave the following account of the evening. According to Tonetta, he and Franchetti did not have words, but rather their friends got into an argument. Tonetta claims that when Franchetti started to enter the controversy, he drew his revolver and tried to hit Franchetti on the head.  Instead, he states the weapon discharged. Tonetta fled, dropping the revolver in the yard where the young boy later found it. Tonetta said he fled along Veeder Avenue and hid in the woods near Veeder’s Mill and eventually made his way to North Adams, MA. Hearing of work in a logging camp, Tonetta went to the Green Mountains and worked there until he was captured.

Commutation of Antonio Tonnetta. From New York, Executive Orders for
Commutations, Pardons, Restorations and Respites, 1845-1931. Courtesy of Ancestry.com and
the New York State Archives.

Antonio Tonetta was arraigned before the Supreme Court in March of 1903 on a charge of Murder in the First Degree. When asked what his plea was, Tonetta stated that he had killed Franchetti but he hadn’t meant to do so. Presiding Justice Martin Stover ordered a plea of not guilty be entered.  Stover then ordered extra jurors to be called for the trial which was to begin on March 18^th, 1903. That morning as the trial was about to start, Tonetta’s court appointed attorney, Alexander Fenwick, asked for the plea to be changed from not guilty of murder in the first to guilty of murder in the second degree. Tonetta feared if found guilty of murder in the first degree he would face the electric chair, while murder in the second degree would bring a life sentence. District Attorney Walter Briggs accepted the change, and Tonetta asked to be sentenced immediately. Judge Stover sentenced Antonio Tonetta to life at Dannemora Prison in upstate New York.

Using records found on ancestry.com, I was able to find Antonio Tonetta in Dannemora Prison in the 1910 Federal Census. Other on-line sources led me to find references to prisoner records for Dannemora Prison for that time period. Contacting the New York State Archives, I was able to obtain copies of prisoner records affirming that Antonio Tonetta was in fact detained in Danemora for a life sentence. Additional records found on ancestry.com confirmed that Antonio Tonetta was released from Dannemora on March 20, 1917 after serving about 14 years for Franchetti's murder.

 



Supreme Court Minutes from the case of "The People of the State of New York vs. Antonio Tonetta".
 Courtesy of the Schenectady County Clerk

I also contacted Sharon Sheffer at the Schenectady County Clerk’s office in the summer of 2006, in an attempt to locate any trial records they might have. While nothing was available when I first contacted them, Ms. Sheffer and her staff took a great interest in my quest. In 2007 Ms. Scheffer located a 1903 document in which Mr. Fenwick indicated he had not received any payment for his court appointed defense of Tonetta. Then in February 2009, I was again contacted by the County Clerk’s office. Buried in the back of a vault whose contents were being moved, they found the Schenectady County Supreme Court Minutes Book for 1901-1908, and kindly sent me copies of the pertinent pages.  In September 2009, Ms. Sheffer sent me a copy of the indictment which had been found when old files were being moved.

While it has taken several years to piece together the events regarding the death of Martino Franchetti, it has been a fascinating project for me.  I am grateful to the Schenectady County Clerk’s office and for those who so patiently transcribe and post records on line making it possible for me to fill in this piece of my family’s past.

An Early Schenectady Newspaper: The Western Spectator

Masthead of the Western Spectator newspaper. This particular issue is dated April 21, 1803; it is the earliest issue our library has on microfilm. Image from the collections of the Grems-Doolittle Library.

The Western Spectator, or, Schenectady Weekly Advertiser was an early newspaper published in Schenectady from 1802 to 1807. The Western Spectator is the one of the earliest known newspapers known to be published in Schenectady; the first was the Mohawk Mercury (1795-1798).

A cluster of notices from the April 21, 1803 Western Spectator. The notices include an advertisement seeking "a sober industrious man" to work in the beer brewing business, a house and lot for sale on Green Street in Schenectady, a notice of a 15-year-old enslaved girl for sale, and a notice offering a one-cent reward for the return of a runaway indentured apprentice. Image from the collections of the Grems-Doolittle Library.

Our library has seven issues of Western Spectator, from the years 1803-1805 and 1807, on microfilm. Although only a few issues of the newspaper have survived, the issues provide an interesting look at the local community. A local printer, John L. Stevenson, established a weekly paper titled the Schenectady Gazette in 1799. In December 1802, Stevenson changed the name of the Schenectady Gazette to the Western Spectator, or, Schenectady Weekly Advertiser. Publication of the Western Spectator ceased in 1807.

The Western Spectator contains numerous advertisements for local businesses. This advertisement announces the new general store of P. Brower at the corner of Washington Street (now Avenue) and Front Street, selling liquors, meats, dry goods, and dishes. Brower notes that he will "dispose of low for Cash or country produce." Image from the collections of the Grems-Doolittle Library. 

Notice of John P. Whitbeck of Niskayuna in the February 17, 1804 Western Spectator offering five dollars for the return of Jack, a slave who had escaped. Like many runaway slave notices of the time period, the notice includes an extensive description of the enslaved person. Image from the collections of the Grems-Doolittle Library. 

The Western Spectator was published weekly. Issues of the paper were four pages in length and contained lengthy articles on national, international, and occasionally statewide news. The newspapers also included a number of local news items and notices. Local notices included advertisements for local businesses, legal notices, notices about mail service, notices listing property and slaves for sale, and notices of local elections. Local notices also included notices for the return of runaway slaves and apprentices. Rarely, a death notice of a local person was printed; no marriage notices appear in the newspaper.

Advertisement of the Western Mail Stage, operated by Moses Beal, which ran from Albany to Utica. This notice is rare, as it includes a small illustration; most notices of the time period did not. This notice appeared in the Western Spectator on February 17, 1804. Image from the collections of the Grems-Doolittle Library. 

An index of local people, businesses, and organizations mentioned in the Western Spectator has been compiled by one of our dedicated volunteers in the library. This index makes it possible to easily and quickly locate articles of interest to local history and genealogy researchers. An index to the issues of the Western Spectator in the library's holdings can be found by clicking this link. Have questions? Visit our library or contact our Librarian.

This cluster of notices from the November 22, 1805 Western Spectator includes a notice of the opening of a dancing school conducted by Gimbrede and Guey at the Schenectady home of James Rogers, the opening of Dr. John Dodge's medical practice on Ferry Street, and notices regarding the estates of local residents John McIntire and James Adair.

Notices related to unsettled debts, defaults on mortgages, and notices regarding money owed to or from an estate were very frequent in the Western Spectator. In this example, which appeared in the November 22, 1805 issue, Henry Corl, Jr., of Charlton, requests that any debts owed to him be paid at his store in Schenectady by March 1. Remaining unsettled debts were to be turned over to an attorney for collection after that date. Image from the collections of the Grems-Doolittle Library. 

Notice of opening of school of architecture in Schenectady that appeared in the Western Spectator on December 14, 1804. The first part of the notice had originally appeared in a previous issue of the newspaper. The second part of the notice was added in this issue to confirm that the school opened on December 1 and that they were still accepting students. Image from the collections of the Grems-Doolittle Library. 

Advertisement for sale of lottery tickets at the Schenectady post office, from the January 11, 1805 Western Spectator. Image from the collections of the Grems-Doolittle Library.

Barracks, Brewhouses, and Burial Grounds: The Jonathan Pearson Street Books

This undated hand-drawn map by Lawrence Vrooman is an example of one of the rare original documents pasted into the Street Books. The map illustrates the intersection of Front Street, Ferry Street, and Green Street in Schenectady. Image from Jonathan Pearson Street Books, Book 3, portion of Page 7, in the collections of the Grems-Doolittle Library.

The Jonathan Pearson Street Books are a wonderful resource for anyone who is interested in the history of Schenectady from the early Dutch settlement through the mid-nineteenth century, or in researching genealogy and people of Schenectady from that time period. The Street Books are also a valuable resource for people researching the history of homes in the Stockade Historic District and in or near downtown Schenectady.

This page from the Street Books includes notes from an 1816 deed and illustrates property owned at the intersection of Washington Street and Water Street south of Mill Creek. Mill Creek, which ran off of the Binnekill, was piped in the 1880s. Image from Jonathan Pearson Street Books, Book 3, Page 150a, in the collections of the Grems-Doolittle Library.

The Jonathan Pearson Street Books consist of four scrapbook volumes of notes and sketch maps regarding property ownership in Schenectady, created and compiled by nineteenth-century Schenectady historian Jonathan Pearson. Pearson was born in New Hampshire, but moved to Schenectady as a young man and attended Union College. After graduating, Pearson taught at Union and served as the college's librarian for nearly fifty years. He developed a keen interest in the history of his adopted city and became a prominent historian of Schenectady. Pearson wrote a number of works about the history of Schenectady, including Contributions for the Genealogies of the Descendants of the First Settlers of the Patent and City of Schenectady, 1662-1800 (1873), History of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Schenectady (1880), and History of the Schenectady Patent in the Dutch and English Times (1883). Pearson also learned Dutch to be able to translate early records that documented the history of Schenectady and Albany.

The historical notes that Pearson makes about the history of how streets were named or referred to is a particularly interesting feature of the Street Books. The images included here is one of two pages about names once used to refer to Ferry Street, including "New Street," "Market Street," and "The street that leads directly up to the Fort Gate." Image from Jonathan Pearson Street Books, Book 3, Page 2a, in the collections of the Grems-Doolittle Library.

The Street Books focus primarily on Schenectady’s original settlement area, now defined as the Stockade Historic District; to a lesser extent, the Street Books also cover the areas east and south of the original settlement. Source records referenced in Pearson’s handwritten notes include deeds, mortgages, wills, and other documents. Some notes appear to refer to documents held in private ownership. Occasionally, Pearson includes full transcribed copies of documents in addition to his notes. He also includes notes relative to the history of particular streets and alternate names the streets may have been known by before Schenectady streets were first given official names in 1799.

The Street Books occasionally include original documents pasted in among Pearson's note, such as this broadside advertising Jay Street properties up for auction in 1871. Image from Jonathan Pearson Street Books, Book 3, Page 82, in the collections of the Grems-Doolittle Library. 

The original arrangement of the Jonathan Pearson Street Books has been maintained. Each volume contains a section dedicated to a specific street. Streets covered by the Street Books include Amanda Street (now Chapel Street), Barrett Street, Church Street, College Street, Ferry Street, Fonda Street (now the portion of Jay Street north of Union Street), Front Street, Green Street, Jay Street, Jefferson Street, Liberty Street, Maiden Lane (now Broadway), Mill Lane, North Street, Pine Street, Rotterdam Street (once a portion of Washington Avenue south of State Street), State Street, Union Street, Washington Street (now Avenue), and Water Street (now the closed portion of street between Washington Avenue and South Church Street that runs just south of present-day Liberty Park).

This page from the Street Books includes Pearson's notes from the will of Harmanus Peek and a sketch map based on information from the will. Image from Jonathan Pearson Street Books, Book 3, Page 72b, in the collections of the Grems-Doolittle Library.

The physical volumes of the Jonathan Pearson Street Books are very fragile, as they are often composed of very thin paper pasted in layers on acidic scrapbook paper. To minimize damage to the original volumes, volunteers in the Grems-Doolittle Library have created high-quality digital scans of each page of the Street Books for general access.

Although small sketch maps are usually included at the bottom of a page of notes, some of Pearson's sketch maps are more elaborate, such as this piece of a map showing property ownership near the intersection of Liberty Street and College Street. Pearson also indicates how the construction of the Erie Canal transformed the interection. Image from Jonathan Pearson Street Books, Book 4, portion of Page 84, in the collections of the Grems-Doolittle Library.

Volunteers also indexed all instances of names of people, street names, landmarks, waterways, and other features found in the Street Books. The index to the Street Books makes it possible to quickly and easily find references to a variety of pieces of information. Genealogy researchers can locate where their ancestors owned property in Schenectady. Researchers of military history and fortification in Schenectady can quickly find references to forts, garrisons, palisades, and blockhouses. Researchers interested in occupations and industry can easily find references to mills, taverns, breweries, blacksmiths, hotels, restaurants, and tanneries. Those interested in transportation can find information related to bridges, ferries, railroads, and the Erie Canal. There are myriad possible research uses of this information-rich resource.

Some images from the Jonathan Pearson Street Books are included here. Researchers can gain full access to the scanned images of the Jonathan Pearson Street Books by visiting our Library or contacting our Librarian. A master index and guide to the Jonathan Pearson Street Books can be found by clicking this link.

Schenectady County Cemetery Records

Undated photograph of Vale Cemetery in Schenectady, taken from a glass plate negative. Image from Grems-Doolittle Library Photograph Collection. 

Schenectady County contains a number of cemeteries and burial grounds, from large cemeteries such as Vale Cemetery to small family burial plots that were once part of local farms.

The earliest known burial ground in the area appears on a 1698 map of Schenectady by Wolfgang Romer. The small plot was situated just east of the intersection of Front Street and Church Street, and ran along the south side of Front Street. This plot may have also been where bodies were buried after the Schenectady Massacre in 1690. Unfortunately, records of the people buried in this earliest cemetery have not survived.

These skeletons were unearthed from the grounds of a Front Street home in 1902, in an area were the earliest known burial ground in Schenectady was once located. Newspapers of the time suggested that the skeletons were the remains of some of the victims of the Schenectady Massacre. Image from Grems-Doolittle Library Photograph Collection. 

During the 18th and early 19th century, most burial grounds in American towns and cities were located in churchyards (such as the cemetery of St. George's Church on Ferry Street in the Stockade neighborhood in Schenectady) or near the center of town (such as the Green Street Cemetery in Schenectady, which was situated between Front Street and Green Street in Schenectady). Meanwhile, in rural areas, church burial grounds were common, as were family burial plots on local farms.

The graveyard at First Presbyterian Church in Schenectady can be found on the church's property, next to the church building. Another early Schenectady church, St. George's, is also home to a small graveyard. Image from Grems-Doolittle Library Photograph Collection.  

Over time, the overcrowding of graves and emerging sanitation laws in cities and towns led to the rural cemetery movement. Instead of graveyards placed in city centers, new cemeteries were established on the outskirts of communities. In contrast to the simple design of graveyards, these "garden cemeteries" often featured meandering paths, creeks, art and statuary, and areas for picnicking. Cemeteries were intended not only as places to bury the dead, but also as a place for recreation. In line with these developments, Vale Cemetery was established in 1857. Burials in the Green Street Cemetery were soon after disinterred and were transferred to Vale, and the former cemetery land between Front and Green Streets was developed as residential property.

Colorful postcards promoting Vale Cemetery as a pleasant, peaceful place for recreation and relaxation were popular in the early years of the twentieth century. Image from Grems-Doolittle Library Postcard Collection. 

Cemetery records can be helpful to genealogy researchers in establishing dates of birth, marriage, and death, and in connecting the generations of a family. Epitaphs and designs on a headstone can also give a genealogy researcher information about an ancestor's religious background, military service, membership in fraternal organizations, or even his or her occupation.  By studying the names, epitaphs, and ages of people buried, and by examining the placement, landscape, and architecture of cemeteries and burial grounds, local history researchers can learn about epidemics and disease, lifespans, wealth and status, ethnic groups, cultural practices, and a number of other topics related to a community's history. Analyzing the information found on headstones and monuments can also illuminate a community's beliefs regarding death, religion, family, childhood, and old age.

A tree has grown up close between headstones in a small family cemetery in Duanesburg. Image from Grems-Doolittle Library Photograph Collection.

The Grems-Doolittle Library has several printed collections of cemetery records. These records, usually compiled from information on headstones, focuses on information about individuals. Headstone inscriptions are generally included in these records. A complete list of Schenectady County cemetery records in our holdings can be found by clicking this link. Clipping files, photographs, maps, city directories, and postcard collections in our holdings also provide contextual information about local cemeteries and burial grounds. If you have questions about using cemetery records for your research or are seeking information about local cemeteries, please visit our library or contact our Librarian.

The McWilliam, Parkhill, and Simpson Family Papers

Image from the McWilliam, Parkhill, and Simpson Family Papers in the collections of the Schenectady County Historical Society.  

This blog entry is written by Library Volunteer Jason Thomas.

A new addition to the Schenectady County Historical Society's holdings is the McWilliam, Parkhill, and Simpson Family Papers, 1790-2006. The family papers contain photographs, correspondence, financial records, legal documents, and genealogical resources including family bibles and detailed family histories. The bulk of the material is dated between the 1880s and 1910 and represents material collected by Hawley Bell McWilliam, Sr. The only documents in the collection that date post-1950 are family histories.

Image from the McWilliam, Parkhill, and Simpson Family Papers in the collections of the Schenectady County Historical Society. 

The family story begins when George McWilliam (1749-1812) left the Parish of Whitman in the Shire of Galloway, Scotland, and arrived in America in 1774 with several other Scottish Families. George McWilliam settled on a 114 acre farm in the Charlton-Galway area of New York. He married Mary Millory (1772-1840) and had a son, Robert A. McWilliam (1804-1883). Robert married Jane Ann Wemple, a descendant of the Dutch Wemple family who were a founding family of Schenectady, in 1828. Robert and Jane McWilliam had six children: Mydert Wemple McWilliam (1829-1910); Margaret M. (1831-1837); Elizabeth A. (1833-1888); John McWilliam (1837-1850); Margaret M. (1841-1881); and George McWilliam (1844-?).  Mydert lived on the farm for much of his life but never held active ownership of it as his parents lived until the 1880s. Mydert married Mary E. Bell (?-?) in 1856. Mydert and Mary had two children: Jennie A (1858-?) and Hawley Bell McWilliam (1863-1918). Hawley took over ownership of the farm after the death of his grandfather Robert. He married Alberta Parkhill Simpson (1868-1954) in 1890. Hawley and Alberta had five children: Jennie Louella (1890-); Alberta Cornelia (1892-); Robert S (1894-1894); Hawley Bell Jr. (1907-1967); and Mary Elizabeth (1909-).  Hawley Bell McWilliam Jr. married Florence Young (?-?). The marriage did not result in any children and the McWilliam family name died out with Hawley’s death in 1967. The family farm was sold in 1968.

Click here for a complete finding aid for the McWilliam, Parkhill, and Simpson Family Papers.