Happy 50th Anniversary!

I would like to wish my parents a happy 50th anniversary!

Those Places Thursday: Old Paramus Reformed Church

The Old Paramus Reformed Church is located at 660 E. Glen Ave., Ridgewood, New Jersey, near Route 17 by the border of Ridgewood and Paramus. The church's congregation was formed in 1725. The church building pictured here was built in 1800.

My parents got married at this church.

Wednesday's Child: Edward Gersbacher

Edward Gerzpacher burial certificate. Missouri Death Records. Jefferson City, MO: Missouri State Archives.

Edward (or Eduard) Gersbacher (or Gerspacher) was born on 26 November 1882 in Niederwihl, Waldshut, Baden, Germany. He was the son of John (Johann) Gersbacher (or Gerspacher) and Kunigunde Dreier. In 1883, he and his mother and siblings left Germany to join his father in St. Louis, Missouri. They sailed on the Braunschweig, and they arrived in Baltimore, Maryland on 26 July 1883. Fifteen days after they arrived in the United States, baby Edward died in St. Louis on 10 August 1883. The cause of death was cholera infantum. He was buried in Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery in St. Louis, in Section 007, Lot 00PG, Row 13.

National Library Week

National Library Week has been observed annually since 1958. It is usually the second week in April. This year it is April 13-19, 2014. It sponsored by the American Library Association and libraries across the United States.

ProQuest is offering free access to some of its resources this week. The most useful of these for genealogists is ProQuest Obituaries. It includes obituaries from the following newspapers: Atlanta Constitution (1868-1922), Boston Globe (1872-1922), Chicago Defender (1921-1975), Chicago Tribune (1852-1984), Los Angeles Times (1881-1984), New York Times (1851-1994), and Washington Post (1877-1950). Many of my ancestors lived in Chicago, so I have made good use of this database to find family members' obituaries in the Chicago Tribune.

Another of the offerings is CultureGrams, which provides cultural information about countries of the world. It is a good source of background information on the countries our ancestors lived in.

More information and links can be found at http://go.proquest.com/national-library-week-2014/.

National Library Week is also a good time to mention the librarians in my family. I am one of them; I am a reference librarian at a college. My uncle Herb was also an academic librarian, but is now retired. My mother's first cousin's wife also has a degree in library science.

Here is a link to an interview with my uncle Herb about book banning and censorship: Celebrating Banned Books Week: Herbert N. Foerstel on Book Banning and Curriculum Censorship

52 Ancestors: #14 Henry Cornelius Gatlin

Today would have been the 104th birthday of my paternal grandfather, Henry Cornelius Gatlin. Henry was born in Chicago, Illinois on 14 April 1910. He was the first child born to Henry Brown Gatlin and Anna Gertrude Tarkington, and their only child that lived (he had a stillborn younger brother, Eugene Joseph Gatlin, and an older half-brother, Robert Leland Taylor, who only lived for three weeks). He attended De La Salle Institute in Chicago. He was offered a football scholarship to the University of Notre Dame, but he chose to attend the University of Illinois instead.

Henry married Helen Martha Marie Anderson on 20 June 1939 at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Chicago. They were married by  H. E. Sandstedt. Henry and Helen had a son and a daughter.

Henry worked as a self-employed commodities broker. He was a member, director, and officer of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He was also a member and governor of the New York Mercantile Exchange, a member of the Commodity Exchange, and governor and director of the Foundation for Human Ecology in Park Ridge, Illinois. He retired in 1970. He was a member of the Society of the Valley Hospital, Ridgewood, New Jersey, for more than 25 years.

Henry and Helen lived in Chicago at first, and then moved to Park Ridge, Illinois. In 1959, they moved to Ridgewood, New Jersey. They lived there for many years, and much later in life, they moved to West Milford, New Jersey.

Henry and Helen attended the Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Chicago and St. Luke Lutheran Church in Park Ridge. After moving to New Jersey, they became members of West Side Presbyterian Church in Ridgewood.

Henry died on 29 December 2001 in Ridgewood, New Jersey. His memorial service was held on 26 January 2002. I sang "The Lord's Prayer" at his memorial service. I know he would have liked that; he liked to sit next to me at church on Christmas Eve, so he could hear me sing the carols. His ashes were interred at West Side Presbyterian Church Memorial Garden on 13 May 2007.

Henry's high school graduation picture, 1927

Avalon Park, October 1945

Lakeside, Michigan, July 1948, with my father

Henry and Helen, La Jolla, California

Grandpa Gatlin and me

Census Sunday: Keeping House for Her Uncle

In 1880, the household of my 3rd-great-grandmother's brother Samuel Samuelson included a servant who was keeping house. Her name was given as Mary Bord.

1880 United States census, Westchester Township, Porter County, Indiana, population schedule, enumeration district 136, page 27. NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 304, image 806. Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.

"Mary Bord" was actually my great-great-grandmother Mary Borg. Although the census record does not indicate that she is related to anyone in the household, she was Samuel's niece. Her mother was Samuel's sister Johanna Carolina (Samuelson) Borg. Samuel's wife Maria had died three months before the census was taken. Samuel had five children between the ages of one and eight years to take care of. Although his 70-year-old mother-in law lived with the family, taking care of five young children and keeping house probably would have been too much for her to do alone. Mary probably moved in after Samuel's wife died, so that she could help her uncle.

Sibling Saturday: Carl, Margaret, and Paula Schneider

My maternal grandmother Margaret Schneider (16 March 1911 - 4 August 1986) is pictured here with her brother Carl (2 June 1905 - 1 August 1974) and her sister Paula (27 January 1913 - 7 February 2004). The only Schneider sibling not pictured is Christina (20 April 1903 - 27 April 1909).