Thursday, November 17, 2011

Whatever Happened to Annie Taylor Wenzel?

Annie Sarah (Or Sarah Annie) Taylor married Peter Wenzel in Dutchess County, New York about 1879. This is the Annie who was born in Safe Harbor, PA about 1862 to Hellen Walker Taylor and the unknown Mr. Taylor (George or Harrison?). Annie and Peter Wenzel had about 8 children, at least three survived; my grandmother Flora (Florence Sarah) being one of the first was born in 1882 in Poughkeepsie, New York, and the others were Carrie, who married Patrick Morris, and George. Florence left home at about age 19 with William Carl Lieberknecht and was living in Jersey City, New Jersey where my mother, Ottilie, was born in 1908. Florence and William along with Ottilie were in Detroit, MI in 1910 and in 1911 arrived in Los Angeles setting down (so to speak, but not for long) in Santa Barbara where Barbara was born in the "Anapamu House." I have a photo of Ottilie and her sister, Barbara in Oxnard with a woman who looks like Florence and may be her mother, Annie. They are on the breakwater about 1916, and Ottilie looks to be around 8 years old. The woman could be Annie as she looks very much like Florence had looked at the same age.

So, did Annie travel to California in 1916 with or to visit her daughter, Florence? I am unable to find a death record in NY or a burial place for Annie. What happened to her? She does not appear in the 1910 NY Census. Peter is shown as a widower. They had a legal separation in the 1890s. Annie is my missing ancestor.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

It's The Wrong George Taylor!

Well, I did send for the pension file for this George Taylor who served in the 120th NY Infantry, Co. K. I really wanted this George as he was born in Ireland and would have been the Irish connection I had wanted to find This George had a wife, Ann Maria. They married in 1854 and lived in New York City. This George had enlisted in Roundout in Ulster Co., a village next to Kingston and Saugerties where my family lived. It was a long shot, but sometimes you have to kill off a lot of possibles to end up with the one that fits the bill.

It's back to the drawing board and another investment of funds to order just one more file. If George had deserted, he would not have qualified for a pension nor would have his wife and child qualified. If he was missing in action, I don't know how a wife's application would have been treated. I need to find the book in our Sahyun Library that lists denied pension applications. That's the next step I will take.

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 O tillie Audrey Lieberknecht. What a mouthful. Her New Jersey birth certificate said "Otille Lieb," born on September 20, 1908, i...