MISSING: Arthur Moses Gartner

Arthur Moses Gartner, my grand uncle. Where did he go?

He was the son of Leopold & Fannie (Edelstein) Gartner, born 15 June 1884 in New York City. He was originally Moses Gartner but is later found as Arthur Moses Gardner or Arthur Gardner.

In the 1900 US Census he was living at 445 East 83^rd Street, Manhattan. In the 1916 – 1917 & the 1918 – 1919 New York City Directories he was living at 234 West 120^th Street. He was a telegraph operator. He was at the same address for the 1920 US Census. For the 1925 New York State Census he was still at 234 West 120^th Street. For the 1930 US Census he no longer lived with his father, Leopold Gartner. Arthur was married and renting a home on West 164 Street, Manhattan. He was working for the Western Union Telegraph Company.

In 1942 Arthur Moses Gardner registered for the World War II Draft. He was living 790 Riverside Drive, New York. He was working for Western Union Telegraph Company. He was described as 5 feet tall, 164 pounds with brown eyes, gray hair and a dark complexion.

In June 1948 Leopold Gartner’s obituary tells us that his son, Arthur, was still living in New York City.

Questions: Where did he go? I believe his wife’s name was Frances. Did they have any children? Did he stay in New York City? When did he die?

Possibilities: The 1940 US Census may be helpful. It might list children. New York city Directories may be helpful. If I knew what temple he belonged to maybe there would be records of him. Perhaps there is a way to get employment records from Western Union.

If you know what happened to Arthur OR if you have suggestions on where I should look please leave a comment or contact me.

Merry Christmas

Marguerite Coyle in Forest Hills, NY

Christmas photos from the Coyle family.

Marguerite Christina (Coyle) Marshall

born 24 December 1901 in NYC
died 13 March 1980 in Arizona

and her younger sister

Kathleen Gloria Coyle

born 31 October 1916 in New York City
died 21 November 2007 in Arizona

Kathleen G. Coyle

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories December 18 – Christmas Stockings

Growing up we had the usual red felt stockings with our names written in silver glitter across the top. Our mother hung them on the back of our front door in the little house when we were small and going up the stair posts in the big house when we were older. When my husband and I bought our house with a fireplace I was thrilled that we could hang stockings form the mantle, like in story books and magazine pictures.

As a quilter, I made our stockings. They were white with an applique on each: an angel or tree or Santa. One year our daughter decided to they needed further enhancement and colored on them with a permanent fabric marker. (Why did I leave it in her reach??)

Our son’s stocking is different from the rest. His is crocheted in red & green yarn. Why? He was born on the evening of December 23. When he was brought to me on Christmas morning, the nurses had put him into the stocking which they had sewn. They even snapped a Polaroid of him, peeking out the top. The best filling for a stocking ever!

This year I have made a new set of stockings, patchwork in greens, reds and golds. Our son will be married soon and I think a more adult stocking is appropriate. However, I put away the crocheted stocking carefully. There may be a time when a new generation can use it.

Written in response to Geneabloggers Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories. Click on the link to read Christmas memories from other genealogists.

Related Posts:

• Christmas Gifts
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• Who is Santa?

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories December 16 – Christmas at School

Teaching at a small Catholic school, I witnessed lots of happy children counting the days till Christmas. The challenge was directing their excited energy in positive directions. I found that having them think of others, giving rather than receiving, helped us get smoothly through the days before Christmas. We baked. Using our math skills [measuring & counting] and language arts skills [following directions & sequence] we measured, mixed and baked cookies. Moms and Dads came in to lend a hand in the process. The hallways of the school smelled like sugar & butter. We gave the cookies to the veterans staying at our local Veterans’ Hospital. Cards & cookies cheered those soldiers and sailors who had to be in the hospital during the holidays.

I learned that the traditional Christmas party where students exchanged gifts with each other almost always ended in tears. Someone was forgotten or someone wanted a different gift. I found a solution to avoid this. Rather than exchanging gifts with each other the children brought in books to donate to our school library. Our small library was always in need of fresh reading material. The children were proud to donate a book or two that had their name on the inside cover. The librarian would come to our Christmas party and exclaim over each book. After vacation the books would be displayed in the library and available for anyone to read.

We also made cards and small gifts for our families with glitter and glue, crayons and ribbons, and big imaginations. The results were always one of a kind creations. Focusing on giving & , of course, on the religious aspect rather than the commercial aspect of Christmas made the days productive as we lit the candles on our Advent Wreath and colored in the days on our Advent Calendars.

Written in response to Geneabloggers Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories. Click on the link to read Christmas memories from other genealogists.


Cousins, do you have a Christmas memory you'd like to share? Let me know. I can add it to this Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories and maybe to the next family book. Contact me: cgbp[at]nycap.rr.com

December Brithdays, December 16 - 31

Do you have a December birthday? Look and see if someone else incur family shares your special day. Happy Birthday!

16 December     

1872       David J. MCMILLAN

1877       William C. FORTENBERRY

1879       Mary POLLACK was born in South America, daughter of David & Mary (English) Pollack. She grew up in Ireland and came to the USA in 1885 with her cousin, Mary Josephine (Mullane) Coyle.

 17 December    

1898       Elma M. Blades

1912       Ross POWELL

1914       Raymond Alexander FORTENBERRY

1933       Hugh Frances BROWN was the son of Hubert Allen & Freddie (Smith) Brown. He married Frances Birch and had two sons.

18 December     

1918       Arnell Wessie WILSON was the daughter of Thomas Clarence & Euna Clarabelle (Fortenberry) Wilson. She married Eugene C. Pigott.

19 December     

1850       John W. RITTER

 1858       Amos RITTER

1937       Kenneth Leroy MARK was born in Ohio, one of 11 children  of James Everett & Effie Margaret (Carter) Mark.

20 December     

1840       Margaret Ellen SWANK

1869       Joseph Davis BRUMFIELD was born in Mississippi, son of Isaac Nelson & Sarah J. (Smith) Brumfield. He married Annie Quinn.

 1877       Alfred M. SCHILLING

21 December    

 1806       Jacob WOLF

1888       Bridget COYLE was born in Connecticut, daughter of Patrick & Margaret (Brady) Coyle. She married Bernard William Kelly. They had no children.

 1903       Isabell Esther MARK

22 December     

1856       Olevia Luminda FORTENBERRY married Jeptha Josephus Alford on 18 February 1874. He was the son of Ira Payne & Elizabeth (Hope) Alford. Olevia and Jeptha’s son was George Howard Alford (1875 – 1958).

 1897       Edna J. FORTENBERRY

 1902       Elma Grace Pletcher Jolliff

23 December     

1773       Jeremiah SMITH was born in South Carolina, son of Jeremiah & Jemimah (Hollis) Smith. He married Joanna Dillon on 16 December 1798. They had 13 children. Jeremiah died in 1843 in Mississippi.  He was my fourth great grandfather.

 1840       Rachel Ellzey Smith Schilling

 1860       Frederick Jacob WOLF

1873       Catherine COYLE

1882       Celia Euseba SMITH

24 December     

1835       Warren M. HUFFMAN

1854       James Monroe BRUMFIELD

1884       Annie Myrtis ELLZEY

1886       Blake H. WALDO

1900       Lyda Mearl Brown Pierce

1901       Marguerite Christina COYLE was born in New York City, daughter of Michael & Mary Josephine (Mullane) Coyle.  On 29 December 1933 she married Wilfred Stewart Marshall. She died 13 march 1980 in Arizona.

25 December     Christmas!

1860       Elizabeth RITTER was born in Ohio, daughter of Isaac & Isabell (Fisher) Ritter. She married William Hawk on 22 February 1880. They had six children, all born in Ohio: Gertrude, Forest, Lulu, William, John and Ruth. She died 1 January 1950.

 1862       Mary Fortenberry Ellzey

 1870       Thomas MULLANE

1881       Mary Louise Fortenberry

1901       Luther Vernon Fortenberry

1902       Willie Webb Morris

26 December     

1861       Margaret Jane GRUISSY was born in Ohio, daughter of Augustus Ceaser & Mary Ann (Everett) Gruissy. She married Seth Benner Morrison on 24 October 1880. They had eight children. Margaret died 8 March 1946.

 1937       Mildred Fay TURNAGE

 1942       Jimmie Joe MORRIS

27 December     

1739       Johann Jonas WOLF

1764       John RITTER

1857       Mary Jane ELLZEY

1863       Letitia Susan BLADES

 1907       Milton Sydney WEISSBERG was born in Buffalo, New York, son of Frank Samuel & Florence (Gartner) Weissberg.  On 26 December 1937 he married Anne Bloom. They had a son and a daughter. Milton was a lawyer. He was my first cousin, once removed.

  1917       Claudia Martha BRUMFIELD

28 December     

1799       William M. FORTENBERRY

1839       Frederick Calvin WOLF was the son of Frederick & Louisa C. (Goetz) Wolf. He married Eleanor Getz.  Frederick died in 1907.

 1879       Patrick Joseph COYLE

 1914       James Albert BRUMFIELD

29 December     

1777       Esther Barbara SHAFFER

1874       Susan Isabel RITTER

1886       Martha BRACEY

1890       Ina Lucille BROWN was born in Mississippi, daughter of Jasper Pascal & Rose Ella (Brumfield) Brown. She married Dewitt William Alford. They had seven children: Devoe, Doris, Bruce, Zelda, Mary, Louise and Lindy. Ina died in 1972. 

30 December     

1842       George Washington FORTENBERRY was born in South Carolina, son of Calvin Kennington & Narcissa (Simmons) Fortenberry. He married Emily Pittman. 

31 December     

1763       Appollonia WOLF was born in Pennsylvania, daughter of Johann Jonas & Appollonia (Dick) Wolf.

1787       Willis D. DILLON

1886       Clark Rudy WOLF

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories December 13 – Holiday Travel

1969

There’s no Place Like 

Home for the Holidays. 



For my brothers and I the place to be on Christmas was home, our parents’ house. No matter what was happening in our lives or where we lived, we went home. We gathered around the tree together, opening gifts, covering the floor with papers and ribbons, and laughing. Later in the day we sometimes went to our Uncle Leo Brown’s house for dinner or dessert but our house in Germantown, NY was the gathering place for Christmas Joy.

Of course, lives change. As adults there was a time or two that one of my brothers was missing due to holiday travels and now we gather at each other’s houses but I never thought I would be away from my brothers on Christmas. I love to travel on any other day of the year but not on Christmas.

2007

As with many things, our children change our lives. When our oldest daughter got married and moved to South Carolina she and her husband invited us there for Christmas. My husband and I and our two other children packed up the old minivan with suitcases & pillows, gifts & tins of Christmas cookies, stockings & surprises. I was secretly afraid it would not ‘feel’ like Christmas, far from snow and cold and my brothers. The day was wonderful. We opened gifts, played board games, ate too much food and passed around the phone so we could all talk to the family back up north. Now we go to our daughters’ house every third year and in the future who knows where we will be? As long as we are together it will be special.

Written in response to Geneabloggers Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories. Click on the link to read Christmas memories from other genealogists.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories December 12 – Chartable/Volunteer Work

1967. Thomas K. Mark

Here is a Christmas Memory from my grand aunt, Viola Cathern (Mark) Nothstein, 1913 – 2004, daughter of Thomas K. & N. Regina (Gruissy) Mark. She talked about Christmas in Ohio when she was a girl, one of seven children.

Viola said her father, Thomas Kenneth Mark, 1879 - 1975, dressed up as Santa Claus for the program at church. He wore a red costume from the church. Viola said, “I remember one year when we were pretty small Owen got up in church and said, ‘That’s my Daddy!’ Another time Dad had a turkey for the church.  After the program Daddy come over to home and he had the red suit on and he’d said. ‘Now you guys better be in bed before I get back.’ He always done a lot around the church. If they wanted anything fixed they would always ask Dad.”

Written in response to Geneabloggers Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories. Click on the link to read Christmas memories from other genealogists.

Cousins, do you have a Christmas memory you'd like to share? Let me know. I can add it to this Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories and maybe to the next family book. Contact me: cgbp[at]nycap.rr.com

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories December 10 – Christmas Gifts

The Thomas K. Mark family, Ohio

Ohio Christmas Memory

Here is a Christmas Memory from my grand aunt, Viola Cathern (Mark) Nothstein, 1913 – 2004, daughter of Thomas K. & N. Regina (Gruissy) Mark. She talked about Christmas in Ohio when she was a girl, one of seven children.

 “Well Momma made everything. What Mom didn’t make, Dad did,” she said. Sometimes they strung popcorn to hang on the tree. One year Viola wanted her father to make her a red cedar box for Christmas. She said, “I wanted one he made but he saw this one down at town and he was running short of time and he saw this one at the candy store and he bought it for me. I still have it. I was disappointed because I didn't get one he made.” She said she and her sisters each got two dresses for Christmas. They needed the dresses and wore them all year.   

Written in response to Geneabloggers Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories. Click on the link to read Christmas memories from other genealogists.

Related Posts:

• Christmas Gifts
• Cats & Christmas
• Who is Santa?

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories December 9 – Grab Bag

This Christmas memory dates back to Christmas 1959, the children of Delbert Keith & Alberta Joy (Gardner) Brown living in Germantown, NY. My brothers and I were int he area newspaper. The Hudson Register Star. The local photographer, Mr. Gibson, asked our mother if he could photograph us for the newspaper. The result is very cute. 

Written in response to Geneabloggers Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories. Click on the link to read Christmas memories from other genealogists.

Cousins, do you have a Christmas memory you'd like to share? Let me know. I can add it to this Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories and maybe to the next family book. Contact me: cgbp[at]nycap.rr.com

‘The Mark Family Story’ is Here

My book is in hand & available to be ordered. After years of research, interviews with relatives, traveling to cemeteries and archives, reading local histories, and gathering documents I wrote my book centered on my paternal grandmother’s family. Formatting, proof reading and cover design are behind me. My dream of sharing the family’s heritage is a reality.

‘The Mark Family Story’ is dedicated to my father, Delbert Keith Brown, and his mother, Ivy Regina (Mark) Brown, both born and raised in northeastern Ohio. They left Ohio reluctantly, leaving behind a piece of their hearts. The Ohio stories they shared with me were the beginning tales for this book.

Surnames included: Mark, Ritter, Wolf, Dick, Heffelfinger, Keck, Gruissy and more. 

It is a large 8 x 10 soft cover book with a color cover and over 400 pages, including family charts, timelines, many  photographs, documents, an index and the story of an American family that begins before our country was born.

I hope you read and enjoy the book as much as I have enjoyed writing it. To order a copy (copies), click on the tab above. To contact me concerning my book email me at cgbp[at]nycap.rr.com. 

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories – Santa Claus

This Christmas Memory dates back to 1985, the year my brother, Mark Keith Brown, dressed up as Santa for the little ones. We were gathered at our parents' house in Germantown, NY. I remember our older daughter saying that, when his mustache slipped a bit,  he looked familiar.

Written in response to Geneabloggers Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories. Click on the link to read Christmas memories from other genealogists.

Cousins, do you have a Christmas memory you'd like to share? Let me know. I can add it to this Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories and maybe to the next family book. 

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories December 5 – Outdoor Lights

Don’t look for a photo here. I almost always post a photo with my blog, a scan of an old document, the face of an ancestor or a photograph of a piece of treasured family memorabilia. Therefore, you are probably expecting a photo of the front of our house on its hill, draped in tasteful white lights along the roof line, around the big windows and wrapped perfectly around the front porch pillars. No inflatable figures or pink flamingos, of course, just a photograph equal to any magazine cover.

I do spend hours working on our photo Christmas card and yearly letter. I quilted our stockings and hung them with care. My husband cut down our tree and we decorated it with love. However, on the subject of outdoor lights, don’t ask. We just don’t have the skills. Ask our children. They laugh and say my husband just throws lights on the shrubs in the front of the house. We do not have the outdoor light gene. I will have to widen my genealogy research to uncover where this came from. Are we throwbacks to earlier ancestors or has this been passed down to every generation? I’d be happy to hear from anyone else who shares this rare gene. And, if you come to visit, please step inside quickly. It looks good inside.

Written in response to Geneabloggers Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories. Click on the link to read Christmas memories from other genealogists.

Cousins, do you have a Christmas memory you'd like to share? Let me know. I can add it to this Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories and maybe to the next family book. Contact me: cgbp[at]nycap.rr.com

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories December 4 – Christmas Cards

Cards from Ireland 

This Christmas memento is a card sent from the Mullanes in County Tipperary, Ireland to the Coyles in New York City, c. the mid 1930s. 

The card was signed by Aunt Ellen (Ellen Mullane, 1874 – 1952) and Uncle Dan (Daniel J. Mullane, Jr., 1882 – 1965). It was sent to the Coyle sisters, Marguerite (Coyle) Marshall, Lillian A. Coyle and Kathleen G. Coyle. 

The Coyle sisters were all born in New York City, the daughters of Michael & Mary Josephine (Mullane) Coyle. Although their mother had left Ireland in 1885 she kept in touch with her family in Ireland and, after her death in 1927, her daughters continued to keep the connection alive. It must have been a special connection because the card was treasured and saved and is still in the family.

Written in response to Geneabloggers Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories. Click on the link to read Christmas memories from other genealogists.


Related Posts:

• Christmas Gifts
• Cats & Christmas
• Who is Santa?