Amanuensis Monday ~ Marriage License for David H. McAlpin's Second Marriage

My second great grandfather, David Hunter McAlpin, married three times: to Frances Adelaide Rose, mother of his ten children, who died in 1870, widow Adelia Demster (Gardiner) Chamberlin, and widow (and sister of his first wife), Cordelia Maria (Rose) Shackelton.

I recently obtained the marriage license for his second marriage to Adelia.

New York, New York, Manhattan Marriages, FHL Microfilm 1561969, Certificate No. 4474.
D. H. McAlpin and A. D. Chamberlin, July 16, 1873.

Handwritten entries are in blue; my comments are [in brackets].

I hereby certify that Mr. D. H. McAlpin and Mrs. A.D. Chamberlin were joined in marriage by me in accordance with the Laws of the State of New York, in the City of New York this 16th day of July 1873.
Attest, Elisha G. Cobb
Official Station, Minister
Residence, Florence, Mass.
Witnesses to the Marriage:
  Richard McNamee
  Mrs. Emeline Gardiner [the bride's mother]

Other side of the certificate

To the Bureau of Records of Vital Statistics
Health Department of the City of New York.
Return of a Marriage.
1. Full Name of Husband, David Hunter McAlpin
2. Place of Residence, Morris Plains, N.J. [he also owned a home in Manhattan, New York.]
3. Age next Birthday, 59 years [Not quite correct - should be 57.]
4. White
5. Occupation, Tobaconist [sic]
6. Place of Birth, NS [He was born in Pleasant Valley, Dutchess County, N. Y.]
7. Father's Name, ________ [Should read James McAlpin.]
8. Mother's Maiden Name, ________ [Should read Jane Hunter, who was still living.]
9. No. of Husband's Marriage, second
10. Full Name of Wife, Adelia Dempster Chamberlin
      Maiden Name, if a Widow, Gardiner
11. Place of Residence, New York 133 E 54th
12. Age next Birthday, 33 years [Actually she turned 33 in January 1873.]
13. White
14. Place of Birth, Pokeepsie, N.Y. [Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, N.Y.]
15. Father's Name, James D. Gardiner
16. Mother's Maiden Name, Emiline Graham [or Emeline]
17. No. of Wife's Marriage, second
N.B. - At Nos. 4 and 13 state if colored; if other races, specify what, At Nos. 9 and 17 state whether 1st, 2d, 3d, &c. Marriage of each.
New York     187_
We the Husband and Wife named in the above Certificate, hereby Certify that the information given is correct to the best of our knowledge and belief.
____________ (Husband)
____________ (Wife)
Signed in presence of ____________
                             and ____________

Amanuensis Monday ~ Aunt Marion's 1913 Death Certificate

An Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words add to the stories of our ancestors.

What is not noted below is that Great Aunt Marion had suffered from pneumonia three times previously.

Pennsylvania, Department of Health & Vital Records, Death Certificate No. 114591 / 9408.
Marion Lysle Hunter, died 11/30/1913.

The handwritten entries are in blue; my comments are [bracketed]:

Certificate of Death

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Department of Health

Bureau of Vital Statistics

File No. 114591

Registered No. 9408

1. Place of Death
   County of Allegheny
   City of Pittsburgh No. 5629 Elgin Ave. ; 11 Ward
2. Full Name: Marion Lysle Hunter
Personal and Statistical Particulars
3. Sex: Fem
4. Color or Race: White
5. S[ingle]
6. Date of Birth: Sep. 9, 1899
7. Age: 14 yrs 2 mos 21 ds
8. Occupation: -
9. Birthplace: N. S. Pittsburg, PA. [N. S. is North Side, the former Allegheny City.]
10. Name of Father: Percy E. Hunter
11. Birthplace of Father: N. S. Pittsburg, PA.
12. Maiden Name of Mother: Marguerite Lysle
13. Birthplace of Mother: N. S. Pittsburg, PA.
14. The above is true to the best of my knowledge,
Signature: Percy E. Hunter
Address: 5629 Elgin Ave.
15. [I think this is when the certificate was registered:] Dec. 2, 1913 (signature), Local Registrar
Medical Certificate of Death
16. Date of Death: Nov 30, 1913
17. I hereby certify that I attended deceased from Nov. 25, 1913 to Nov. 30, 1913, that I last saw her alive on Nov. 30, 1913, and that death occurred on the date stated above, at 4:45 PM.
The cause of death was as follows: Lobar Pneumonia [I don't know what 92a represents, but it looks like she was ill for 7 days.]
Contributory: -
(Signed) L. W. Smith
Dec. 1, 1913, 6024 Station St.
18. Length of Residence (For hospitals, institutions, transients and foreign residents)
19. Place of Burial: Uniondale Cem.
Date of Burial: Dec. 2, 1913
20. Undertaker: H. Samson
Address: 439 6th Ave. [I think.]

Uniondale Cemetery is where many Lysle family members are buried. Marion's remains were later moved to Allegheny Memorial Park. You can see her Find A Grave Memorial here.

Amanuensis Monday ~ 1898 Letter From An Adsit Cousin

An Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

After teasing my readers by sharing an 1898 postcard from a distant Adsit cousin to my second great aunt, I found that I had already transcribed his letters years ago. Following is the first letter in the series. My editorial comments are in red.

Seventeenth Judicial Circuit
Allen C. Adsit, Judge
Grand Rapids, Mich. March 2d, 1898
Mrs. Belle Adsit Wheeler,
Chicago, Ill.
Madam: Yours of yesterday rec'd. Yes, I belong to the "Adsit" family and have spent a great deal of time during the past year in studying the genealogical history of the name. I have succeeded in getting more knowledge on the subject than anyone else possesses, I think. I am still at work at it, however, and expect to get more. No genealogical book has ever been published in regard to the family; [six decades later, there was a book published by Newman Ward Adsit] such a work would entail a larger amount of work than I have time to devote to it, to say nothing about the expense it involves. I have got sufficient facts concerning the first of the name, who settled in this country and his immediate descendants to enable those who bear the name to make a genealogical tree of their own family, I think.

Amanuensis Monday ~ Death Certificate for James M. Adsit

An Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin – some we never met – others we see a time in their life before we knew them.

Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1878-1922 (index and images, FamilySearch, https://www.familysearch.org, from Illinois Department of Public Health, Division of Vital Records, Springfield, Illinois, accessed May 2011), www.familysearch.org, James M. Adsit, died 4 Sep 1894. Citing Death Records, FHL microfilm 1,030,999.

The handwritten entries are in blue; my comments are [bracketed]:

Physician's Certificate of Death-Issued by State Board of Health

State of Illinois, Cook County
The Physician who attended any person in a last illness should immediately return this Certificate, accurately filled out, to the County Clerk, if the party deceased died outside the limits of the City of Chicago; all deaths inside the city limits should be returned on these blanks to the
City Board of Health

  1. Name: James M. Adsit
  2. Sex: M    Color: W
  3. Age: 85 years 6 months 30 days  [Calculated birth date is February 5, 1809]
  4. Occupation: Banker
  5. Date of Death: Sept. 4th 2:30 AM 94  [1894]
  6. Married
  7. Nationality and place where born: Spencertown, N.Y.  American  [In Columbia County, N.Y.]
  8. How long resident in this State: 56 years
  9. Place of Death: 400 Dearborn Ave St.  24 Ward
  10. Cause of death: Cerebral Hemorrhage  [no entry under Complications]
  11. Duration of disease: About 8 days
  12. Place of Burial: Graceland
  13. Name of Undertaker: C. H. Jordan + Co.
  14. Dated at Chicago Sept 4th 1894.  (Signature:) Frank Billings M.D.
                                                               Residence:  45-22nd St.

1894 Chicago Directory, p. 228; Fold3.com

I like to confirm the signature by looking up the physician's name in the city directory.

See his wife's death certificate here.

See a brief biography of James M. Adsit, First Chicago Banker, published in 1899 here.


I am descended from James M. Adsit as follows:

James Monroe Adsit

|

Charles Chapin Adsit

|

Elizabeth Adsit

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Charles McAlpin Pyle, Jr.

|

Me

Amanuensis Monday ~ 1891 Death Certificate for Mary E. Ashby

An Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin – some we never met – others we see a time in their life before we knew them.

Mary Elizabeth (Gorin) Ashby, my second great grandmother, died on July 7, 1891, in Chicago, Illinois. FamilySearch.org (Free!) has Death Certificates for Cook County, Illinois, 1878-1922 which is where I found the following.

Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1878-1922 (index and images, FamilySearch, https://www.familysearch.org,
from Illinois Department of Public Health, Division of Vital Records, Springfield, Illinois, accessed 5/8/2011),
Mary E. Ashby, died 7 July 1891. Citing Death Records, FHL microfilm 1,030,967.

Handwritten entries are in blue. My editorial comments are bracketed.

 1. Name: Mary E. Ashby
 2. Sex Female  Color White
 3. Age 58 years - months 7 days [Implies birth date of June 30, 1833; family bible has June 28]
 4. Occupation None
 5. Date of death July 7th, 1891 11:50 PM [I think]
 6. Married
 7. Nationality and place where born American  Glasgow, Kentucky
 8. How long resident in this State Residence Louisville [Kentucky]
 9. Place of death 455 Elm St, Chicago [Residence of her daughter, Mary, and son-in-law, who had only just married in the previous October]
10. Cause of death Hemiplegia [Paralysis affecting one side of the body]
11. Duration of disease Fifteen hours
12. Place of burial Rose Hill Cemetery
13. Name of undertaker Jordan [See their full page advertisement below.]
14. Dated at Chicago, July 7, 1891. G. E. Richards, M.D.
                                                 Residence 44 1/2 Bellevue Place [See his directory entry below.]

1891 Chicago City Directory, page 1918, Fold3.com

1891 Chicago City Directory, page 3045, Fold3.com

Amanuensis Monday ~ Death Certificate for Arville Chapin Adsit

An Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin – some we never met – others we see a time in their life before we knew them.

Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1878-1922 (index and images, FamilySearch, https://www.familysearch.org, from Illinois Department of Public Health, Division of Vital Records, Springfield, Illinois, accessed May 2011),
Record for Arville S. Chapin, died 6 May 1906, citing Death Records FHL microfilm 1,239,733
[note: indexed as Arville S. Chafini Ad...]

The handwritten entries are in blue:

Bureau of Vital Statistics.

Department of Health: City of Chicago.

Undertaker's Report of Death.

  1. Name of Deceased (in full): Mrs. Arville S. Chapin Adsit
  2. Sex: M [sic: s/b F]   Color: W
  3. Place of Birth: Mass.   Father's Birthplace: N.Y.   Mother's Birthplace: Mass.
  4. Age: 85 Years 11 Months - Days
  5. Lived in Illinois 65 Years, in Chicago: 65 Years
  6. Died on the 6th Day of May 1906 at about 3:45 A.M.
  7. Widowed.   Occupation: None
  8. Place of Death: 400 Dearborn Ave   Ward: 21st
  9. Place of Burial: Graceland
      Date of Burial: May 8, 1906
      Hour: 2:30 P.M.
10. Undertaker: C. H. Jordan + Co.  Address: 14 E. Madison St.   Tel. C1604   License No. 51

Physician's Certificate of Cause of Death

Immediate and Determining: Hypostatic Pneumonia   Duration of Cause: 6 Days
Contributing Cause or Complication: Cerebral Haemorrhage, arteriosclerosis  Duration of Cause: 8 months, 14 Days

1906 Chicago Directory, p. 2909, Fold3.com

(Signature:) Jas. Murray Washburn
Address: 15 Bellevue Place   Tel.: North823


Previous posts about this second great grandmother of mine can be found at:
Matrilineal Monday
Sunday's Obituary
Wordless Wednesday
Chapin Family Sampler
And you can see her gravestone in Graceland Cemetery at Find A Grave.

Amanuensis Monday ~ Gorin Family Bible

An Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. Family bible records are unique items, and following is a bible which contains information that links me to a Revolutionary War ancestor (that I used in my application to the DAR, Daughters of the American Revolution). Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin – some we never met – others we see a time in their life before we knew them.

Inside front cover, left

The bible was published in Philadelphia by J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1856.


Pasted inside the front cover are obituaries of my third great-grandparents, Thomas Jefferson Gorin

Inside front cover, right

and his wife, Mary Ann (Bowman) Gorin.

Amanuensis Monday ~ Chapin Family Sampler

An Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin – some we never met – others we see a time in their life before we knew them.

On the wall of my parents' bedroom when I was growing up was a framed sampler that had come down in my father's family. When my mother downsized, I was given this wonderful sampler. Now that I have a Flip-Pal scanner, I tried scanning it. The scan came out pretty well despite the fact that I scanned it through the glass. Due to the frame, the scan does not go all the way out to the edges of the sampler, but you do see just about all of it below.

Amanuensis Monday ~ Happy 4th Birthday in 1911

An Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. I look forward to transcribing many unique items in my collection. As I was working on Occupations of my Ancestors about Percy Earle Hunter, I came across the following letter that I wanted to share.

My grandmother, Helen Lysle Hunter, turned four years old on Wednesday, February 1, 1911. It looks like her father, Percy Earle Hunter was out of town (on business?) at the time of her birthday. In my collection, I have a letter and a photograph that he sent her.

I love that the envelope has been saved after all these years! You can even see the postmark of Feb. 6 1911 (7 - PM)

The address reads:
Miss Helen Lysle Hunter
3740 Perrysville
N.S. [North Side] Pitts[burgh]
Pa.

I transcribe the letter below:

 Monday Morning
My dear Helen sweet,
   I forgot entirely about
last Wednesday being your birthday
and I am very sorry I forgot it but
will try to remember the next one.
   My, what a big girl you
must be - F-o-u-r Y-e-a-r-s
O-l-d - soon be as old as
mother. Are you able to touch
the chandelier?
   I will be so glad to see
you again and it will not be
long now.
   I wonder if you know whose
picture this is, it is all for you.
   Give Mother one of those
bear hugs of yours for me and
tell her how I love her.
   Hoping you will see
many more birthdays. I am
with much love for you
                Your own
                        Old Daddy.

The postcard photo was included in the envelope. It's interesting to contrast the seriousness of the man in the photo with the obvious sense of humor and love for his family that comes through in the letter.

Amanuensis Monday is a daily blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers, the genealogy community’s resource for blogging. It is used by many genealogy bloggers to help them tell stories of their ancestors.