My granduncle was so beloved by my grandfather that Nathaniel Gardner named his only child after his brother. My mother, Alberta Joy Gardner Brown was named after her uncle Albert Gardner, who died a few years before she was born. However, her uncle was not born with that name.
Adolph Gartner/Albert Gardner
On
11 December 1888 Louis [Leopold] Gartner and Fanny Edelstein had a baby boy who
they named Adolph Gartner.[1] Fanny’s
father was Adolph Edelstein so it is easy to assume the baby was named to honor
him. This birth certificate was found for me by Robert Friedman from Steps to
the Past LLC when he took a trip to the New York City Archives. I never would
have found it on my own because every other reference to this name called him
Albert.
1900
US Census. Albert Gartner was 11 years old and attending school. The Gartners
were living at 445 East 83rd Street in Manhattan. Albert was one of
five children.
1905
NY State Census. Albert Gardner was 15 years old and attending school. The
family was living on 87th Street in Manhattan.[2]
1910
US Census. Albert was a salesman at a dry goods shop. He was 21 years old &
single. He lived with the family at 58 West 118th Street.[3]
1916
NY City Directory. Albert Gardner was living with the family at 234 West 120th
Street and working as a nurse.[4]
World
War I Draft Registration Card. Albert Gardner, 28 years old was a nurse. He was
not able to serve because of an “operation on stomach”.[5]
Albert was not listed with the
family in the 1920 census. He did not live to his 30th birthday. Fortunately, my grandfather had a picture of his brother that has stayed with our family.
I
recently discovered that some members of the Gardner family are buried in
Washington Cemetery in Brooklyn. Fannie Edelstein Gardner, who died in 1908,
was the first to be buried there. Ten years later Albert joined his mother. Family
stories say he died of complications from Diabetes. Making a phone call to the
cemetery taught me that he died 20 July 1918 and is listed as Albert Gardner. I
hope to make a drive down to take a photograph of the Gardner tombstones. I
think my mother would like me to take a visit, say a prayer and leave a stone
on this tombstone.
 |
| Albert Gardner |
[1]
Birth Certificate for Adolph Gartner; 11 December 1888; Certificate #35435; The
State of New York; New York City Archives.
[2] 1905 New York State Census, New York County,
Manhattan; ED 13, AD 30, Block A, Page 8; Louis Gardner family on East 87th
Street
[3]
1910 US Census, New York, Manhattan; SD 1, ED 491, Sheet 4B; Leopold Gardner
family.
[4]
1916 New York City Directory, Reel 14,
page 668; New York State Library, Albany, NY. Albert Gardner.
[5]
World War I Draft Registration Card for Albert Gardner; 1917 – 1918;
Ancestry.com.
That's a lovely custom - leaving a stone on the tombstone.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting. The family certainly wasn't distancing themselves from Hitler with that name change, so I wonder why. And was it an official change? Do you know?
ReplyDelete