Amanuensis Monday, Dolly Doty’s Death Certificate Feb. 10, 1884

An Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. Amanuensis Monday is a daily blogging theme which encourages the family historian to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts.

Today I’m posting Dolly Doty’s death certificate. 3^rd Great Grandmother Dolly was John Doty’s widow and mother of nine children. She was born Jan. 31, 1798 and died Feb. 10, 1884 in Wawayanda, Orange County, New York.

Last week I published a post with more details about John and Dolly’s family:

CENSUS SUNDAY: John Doty, Farmer, Wawayanda, Orange Co., NY, 1790-1857

 (Just click on title to view it)

You’ll find a transcription below. I’ve [bracketed] unclear words and added a few comments.

Dolly Doty’s Certificate of Death

Issued by the State of New York

STATE OF NEW YORK

CERTIFICATE OF DEATH

County of Orange

   In the Town of Wawayanda

1.    Full name of Deceased   Mrs. Dolly Doty

2.    Age  86 years, 1 months, 10 days.    Sex  Female

3.    Widowed    

4.    Occupation  [blank]

5.    Birthplace  Orange Co., N.Y.

6.    Father’s Full Name and Birthplace  Wm. Hemingway State Conn.

7.    Mother’s Full Name and Birthplace  Esther Hemingway Orange Co. N.Y. [Esther Halstead]

8.    Place of Death  At Home, Wawayanda, N.Y.

9.    Date and Hour of Death Died on the 10^th day of Feb. 1884

10.   I hereby report this Death and certify that the foregoing statements are true according to the best of my knowledge

J. [W.] Doty  Wawayanda, N.Y.  [This could be Dolly’s son Jefferson or John]

     11.  I Hereby Certify, That I attended the deceased from 1^st of Feb. 1884 to 8^th of Feb. 1884 and that I last saw her Feb. 8^th 1884, and that she died on the 10^th of Feb. 1884, about 8 o’clock a.m., and that to the best of my knowledge and belief the cause of her death was as hereunder written:

Chief and Determining  Pneumonia

Consecutive and Contributing  [blank]

Sanitary observations  [blank]

    

      Witness my hand this 10^th day of Feb. 1884

(Signature) [G. A. Emory]

Residence Middletown, N.Y.

No. of Burial Permit [blank]

Place of Burial Family Ground  [Mills Cemetery]

Date of Burial Feb. 12^th 1884

  Undertaker [blank]

CENSUS SUNDAY: John Doty, Farmer, Wawayanda, Orange Co., NY, 1790-1857

My 3^rd Great Grandfather, John Doty, was born July 23, 1790 in Orange County, New York.[1] Isaac Doty and Betsey Paddock were his parents and he was one of ten children.[2]

John married Dolly Hemingway about 1816/1817. Dolly was also born in Orange County and her parents were William Hemingway and Esther Halstead.

3^rd Great Grandfather first appeared as a head of household in1820 in the Town of Minisink, Orange County, New York.[3]

He relocated the family to Wantage, Sussex County, New Jersey by 1830.[4] Both John and Dolly had ties to Wantage. John’s grandfather, Benjamin Doty, had lived in Wantage. Dolly’s parents, William and Esther Hemingway also migrated to Wantage by 1830. John was about 40 years old by this date. An unidentified boy between 10 and 15 years of age resided in the Doty home. John and Dolly’s daughters, Clarissa, Anna Marie, Harriet and twins Lucinda and Arminda, represented the girls in the family. Dolly would have been about 38 years old.

The boys, Jefferson W., Albert, John and Alanson, were born by the time the 1840 federal census was taken.[5] The family remained in Wantage. I don’t know if Great Grandfather owned land in New Jersey.

Sometime between 1840 and 1850 John returned to Orange County and settled in Wawayanda on 125 acres of farmland.

1850 Federal Census

Minisink/Wawayanda, Orange Co., NY

Page 434, Line 22

John Doty Household

I especially enjoyed learning about Great Grandfather’s farm from the 1850 agricultural census. The census enumerator reported July 16, 1850.[6]

     Owner of Land John Doty

     Acres of Land: 110 improved acres; 15 unimproved acres

     Cash value of farm $4300 

     Value of Farming Implements and Machinery $25

     Livestock as of June 1, 1850: 1 horse, 17 milch cows, 4 other cattle, 16 sheep, 10 swine

     Value of livestock $450

     Produce During the Year Ending June 1,1850: 50 Wheat bushels, 100 Rye bushels, 75 Indian corn bushels,100 bushels of oats, 50 bushels Irish Potatoes, 120 bushels of buckwheat, 2,050 pounds of butter, 25 tons hay

     Value of animals slaughtered $125

Wow, 2,050 pounds of butter! That butter probably went to New York City for sale on the Erie railroad.

The agricultural schedule of the 1855 New York State census was even more detailed than the 1850 census.[7]

     Owner of Land John Doty

     Acres of Land: 123 improved acres; 2 unimproved acres

     Cash Value of Farm $5,000, of Stock $800, of Tools and Implements $150

     Acres plowed the year previous 20

     Acres in fallow the year previous 0

     Acres in pasture the year previous 50

     Meadow: 30 Acres, 40 Tons of Hay

     Oats: Acres sown 7, 150 bushels harvested

     Rye: Acres sown 15, 25 bushels harvested

     Buckwheat: Acres sown 6, 17 bushels harvested

     Corn: Acres planted 7, 200 bushels harvested

     Neat Cattle: Over one year exclusive of working oxen and cows 6,

          2 working oxen, 13 cows, number of cattle killed for beef 1

     Butter: number of cows 13, pounds of butter 1,600

     Horses 2, swine under 6 months 10, swine over 6 months 4

     Special manure used 1,000 lbs., Value $4

After Great Grandfather’s death on January 27, 1857 his estate was divided among his children.

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[1] Gravestone Inscriptions from Mills Cemetery, Kirbytown Road, Wawayanda, NY. John Doty’s birth date calculated from age at death entered on tombstone.

[2] The Doty-Doten Family in America, Descendants of Edward Doty, an Emigrant by the Mayflower, 1620 compiled by Ethan Allen Doty, 1897, page 359

[3] 1820 Federal Census, New York, Orange Co., Minisink, page 580

[4] 1830 Federal Census, New Jersey, Sussex Co., Wantage page 253

[5] 1840 Federal Census, New Jersey, Sussex Co. Wantage, page 97

[6] 1850 Non Population Schedule, New York, Orange Co., Minisink/Wawayanda, Pages 167-168, Line 13

[7] 1855 New York State Census, Orange County, Town of Wawayanda, Pages 48-52, Line 42

WILLIAM WILSON JOSEPH AND ELIZA JANE SPITLER OF AUGUSTA CO., VA

In today’s post I would like you to meet my 2^nd Great Grandparents William Wilson Joseph and Eliza Jane Spitler.

  

William Wilson was born 1822 in Virginia to John Joseph and Elizabeth Piper. Eliza Jane was the daughter of Jacob Spitler and Margaret Dunlap. She was born 1828 in Augusta County, Virginia.

My grandfather’s cousin, Rachel Jane Joseph, shared her family stories with him. We knew her as “Cousin Ray”. She was a granddaughter of William Wilson Joseph and Eliza Jane Spitler. Ray was born in 1896 well after her grandfather’s death but heard her father, Henry Milton Joseph, speak of his parents.

William Wilson and Eliza Jane were married October 26, 1848 by a minister associated with the United Brethren Church named J. Markwood.[1] Jacob Markwood was an Elder in the church and would later become a Bishop.

Their first born children were twin boys who died at birth.[2]

When the 1850 federal census was taken, William Wilson and Eliza were living next door to his parents, John and Elizabeth Joseph. [3] William and his father both worked as carpenters.

By September 26, 1860 William and Eliza’s family grew to include six children--Margaret Jane born 1850, Elizabeth born about 1852, Anna Belle Virginia born 1854, John W. born 1855, Jacob M. born 1857 and Henry Milton Joseph born in 1860. William continued to work as a carpenter. [4]

My Great Grandfather, Daniel Franklin Joseph, was born near the end of the Civil War in February 1865. Wilson Otterbein was the last born in 1868.

I haven’t found any documented record to know if Wm. Wilson served with the Confederacy or the Union during the War Between the States.

I suspect life would have been difficult for his family if Wm. Wilson strongly supported or joined the Union Army. As a matter of fact, Rev. Jacob Markwood was a Union supporter. You’ll recall he had married Wm. Wilson and Eliza years earlier. Rev. Markwood was reported to the Southern Confederacy and wasn’t allowed to be in Virginia during the war.[5]

In the following excerpt Cousin Ray tells about a Yankee raid when her father, Henry Milton Joseph, was a small boy.[6]

   “My father remembered when the “Yankees” invaded the Valley. He was five years old and they lived near Swoope. The men had taken the cows and horses to the mountain but left the big stallion as they didn’t think the army would want a stallion but said one of the officers threw a saddle on Barney and rode off. He said he could remember just how Barney looked going down the road.

   They burned the Swoope mill and said his mother stood in the doorway and wept.”

The raid probably took place about 1864/1865 when the Confederacy was losing more often to the Union Army. I can’t help but feel sorrow when I think of Eliza Jane weeping in that doorway.

Ray writes of life after war:

   “After the war ended everyone was very poor and it was very hard to get clothing or any of the essentials of life.

   Grandfather moved to Churchville from Swoope. He was a carpenter and helped to build most of the churches on the Churchville charge, which was the United Brethren. Grandfather was very religious and would walk miles to church to help any way he could. He would go to teach the Negroes in their churches and meetings.”

In June 1879, William Wilson Joseph passed at the age of age of 58 years. His death was recorded in the 1880 federal mortality schedules. His cause of death is difficult to decipher. It looks like it could be ‘pancretic colic’ or ‘paralis colic’.[7]

Eliza Jane died eighteen years later on March 21, 1897 at her son’s home in Staunton (that was my Great Grandfather Daniel Franklin Joseph). She’s buried in the Bethlehem United Church (formerly known as the Bethlehem United Brethren) cemetery.

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[1] Augusta County Marriages 1748-1850 by John Vogt & T. William Kethley Jr.

[2] Rachel Jane Joseph Family Notes Sent to her Cousin, James McFall Joseph

[3] 1850 Federal Census, Virginia, Augusta County, District No. 2, Page 274

[4] 1860 Federal Census, Virginia, Augusta County, District No. 1, Page No. 227

[5] OUR BISHIPS, A Sketch of the Origin and Growth of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ by H. A. Thompson, D. D., L. L. D., page 441

[6] Rachel Jane Joseph Family Notes Sent to her Cousin, James McFall Joseph

[7] U. S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1880, Pastures, Augusta, Virginia; Page 127

TREASURE CHEST THURSDAY: Casper Kimber and the NYC Common Council Minutes

This post was originally published September 5, 2014 on my other blog Casper Kimber Connections


7^th Great Grandfather Casper Kimber was involved in a court suit per the Minutes of the Common Council of the City of New York, Volume IV, published under the Authority of the City of New York; Dodd, Mead and Company, 1905.

The following is from the Council Minutes dated July 27, 1733, pages 185-186:

 

 

   “Whereas Mr. Thomas De Kay (who hold and is in Possession of a Certain Tract of Land in the Out Ward of this City, which, the 21th day of July 1701 was Granted by this Corporation to his father Jacob De Kay and to his Heirs and Assigns for Ever with Convenants of Warranty &c:) hath made Application to this Court that he hath lately been served with a Lease of Ejectment for part of the Said Land in the Name of one [305] Caspar Kimber on the several Demises of Cornelius Cortrecht, & Margaret Cortrecht also on the demise of Adolph Benson and Eva his wife, Mitie Cortrecht, Susannah Cortrecht, Arent Cortrecht, and Lawrence Cortrecht Infants &c: and prays this Corporation will give such Instructions to his Counsel to defend the Said suits as to them shall appear Adviseable &c:  It is therefore hereby ORDERED that Alderman Cruger, Alderman Stuyvesant, Alderman Rutgers, Alderman Roosevelt, Mr. Chambers Mr. De Peyster and Mr. Roos or any four of them be A Committee to Enquire what Right or Title the Plaintiff in Ejectment or any Other Person or Persons have or Claim to the Lands in Question, and the Quantity thereof, that they Call to their Assistance the Surveyors of this City or one of them, and make a true State of the Matter as it Shall Appear to them. That the said Committee do also Enquire what Encroachments are made upon the Lands of this Corporation to the Westward of Harlem Line, and by whom, and make their Report with all Convenient Speed.”

Upper Manhattan was known as the Out Ward comprising the Bowery and Harlem divisions. It’s clear the De Kay family owned the land but I’m having difficulty interpreting Casper’s role as the plaintiff in the court suit. A lease of ejectment was used to regain possession of real estate held by another. Demises means transferred by will or lease. I wonder if the Cortrecht’s and Adolph Benson were turning their leases over to Casper or perhaps vice versa. Or did Thomas De Kay renege on some agreement with Casper and his other tenants? I don’t know why the number 305 appears in brackets prior to Casper’s name.

More details emerged in the Council Minutes Nov. 4, 1734, page 234:

  “ORDERED that Alderman Bayard, Alderman Johnson, Alderman Fell, Mr. Moore, Mr. Leroux and Mr. Myer or any four of them be a Committee to Enquire into what Title Casper Kimber (on the several Demsies of Cornelius Courtrecht and Others) hath to some Lands in the Out Ward of this City near the Harlem Line formerly sold by this Corporation to Jacob Dekey, and make A Report of their Opinion what will be proper for this Corporation to do in that Affair with all Expediton.”

Several years later court orders were issued in the Council Minutes Feb. 28, 1737[-8], page 411:

“No 751 Warrant Issued

ORDERED the Mayor Issue his Warrant to the Treasurer to pay to Mr. Joseph Murray or Order the sum of Seven pounds Current Money of this Colony in full of his Acct. for fees in an Action lately depending in the Supream Court of this Colony wherein Thomas Dekey as Defendant at the suit of Casper Kimber on the Demise of Cornelius Cortrecht & Others was Plaintiff in Ejectment as appears by his Acct. which is Audited and Allowed”

“No 752 Warrant Issued

ORDERED The Mayor Issue his Warrant to the Treasurer to pay Mr. William Smith or Order the sum of Nine pounds Nine Shillings and three pence Currt. Money of this Colony in full of his Acct. for fees in an Action lately depending in the supream Court of this Colony in Ejectment wherein Casper Kimber on the Demise of Cornelius Cortrecht & Others were Plaintiffs agt. Thomas Dekey Defendant as appears by his Acct. which is Audited and Allowed”

Well, the suit went to the Supreme Court of the New York Colony. Remember New York was part of British America at this time. Mr. Joseph Murray was an attorney for the New York Corporation and received seven pounds for his services. Perhaps Mr. William Smith was also an attorney.

This is all the information I have about the court case. I would love to know what happened. Readers, your help would be appreciated! Please comment if you can add to Casper’s tale.

CHURCH RECORD SUNDAY: Casper Kimber Early Member of 1st Ref. Dutch Church, Jamaica, Long Island

 This was originally posted August 28, 2014 on my other blog Casper Kimber Connections


Before 7^th Great Grandfather Casper Kimber arrived in Orange County, New York my research led me to Jamaica, Long Island, New York where I found he was a member of the First Reformed Dutch Church of Jamaica.

 Illustration from History of Queens County, N. Y.

W. W. Munsell, 1882

page 325

Casperus Kimber first appears in the records of the First Reformed Dutch Church of Jamaica, Long Island, NY June 10, 1712. He was a godparent or sponsor along with Mary Kimber to Marten, child of Daniel Phillips and Catrina Phillips.[1] I believe Casperus was still a young man at this time—perhaps Mary Kimber was a sister or even mother.

Casper Kimber and Femmetje Williamse were married about 1720. Femmetje Williamse, daughter of Johannis Willemse and Magdalena Winants, was baptized May 29, 1695. I located Femmetje’s baptism in the Holland Society Year Book, 1897, Volume 10, ‘First Book of Records of the Dutch Reformed Church of Brooklyn, New York’ among two sheets not belonging to the Brooklyn Church records labeled as a ‘THIRD LIST’, page 193. It’s not clear from the Holland Society Year Book which church this baptism belongs with. Her godparents were Jacob Fardon and Femmetje Fardon.

Four of Casper and Femmetje’s seven children were baptized in Jamaica. Their son, George (who was my ancestor), and a daughter Maria would have been born about 1725 and 1723 respectively were not included in the Church’s baptisms. Another son, Petrus, was baptized April 14, 1743 in Orange County, New York.[2]

Machdeleen (Magdeleen), Casper and Femmetje Kimel’s daughter, was baptized at the First Reformed Dutch Church of Jamaica, Long Island Oct. 2, 1722. Her godparents were Hannes Welemson and Machdellen Wellemsen.[3]

The next child baptized in Jamaica was Johannes Cimbel on Jan. 1, 1727. His godparents were Johannis Wellemsen and Leena Willemsen.[4]

Tuen Koevert and Doortie Koevert were godparents for Jacobus Kimmel’s baptism on Dec. 26, 1728.[5]

There were no godparents or witnesses to Elisabet Cimbel’s baptism Dec. 27, 1730.[6]

The last recorded date that Casperus Kimber appears in First Reformed Dutch Church of Jamaica records was Sunday, Aug. 27, 1732 when Kas Kimbel and Leena Willemse were godparents for Johannes, child of Matys van felse and Marytie van velse.[7]

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[1] The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, 1974, Records of the First Reformed Dutch Church of Jamaica, Long Island, Volume 105, page 147

[2] The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, Minisink Valley Reformed Dutch Church Records, 1716-1830 (Printed for the Society 1913), page 107

[3] The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, 1975, Records of the First Reformed Dutch Church of Jamaica, Long Island, Volume 106, page 92

[4] Ibid, page 202

[5] Ibid, page 207

[6] Ibid, 1976, Volume 107, page 37

[7] Baptismal Record of First Reformed Dutch Church of Jamaica, Long Island, New York 1702-1733, copied from the original record by Josephine C. Frost