The Missing Rowan Children–Who Were They

Several years ago I was trying to determine where one of my paternal great-great grandmother’s, Sarah Hughes Rowan, was buried. There was a lead that she was buried in a Roman Catholic Cemetery on Long Island. I knew, after finding Sarah’s death certificate at the New York City Municipal Archives, that she died on 17 August 1885 at Presbyterian Hospital in New York City and her address was listed as 2007-2^nd Avenue in New York City. The deed holder for the grave is listed as John W. Rowan (Sarah’s husband). In 2009 I was able to obtain a copy of the grave register for Calvary Cemetery, grave #13 that proved Sarah was indeed buried there as I had guessed.

One puzzle solved. What I did not expect to find was six other children buried there with Sarah. Wait, I only knew of the four children who lived to adulthood- Joseph, William, Mary (Mamie), and Sarah (Sadie), my great-grandmother. Who were these children and were they all related? I began to search death records for New York City and found some more pieces of the puzzle. Then recently while searching Roman Catholic Church records in New York City on Find My Past I was able to put several more of the pieces together and determine who five of the other children were. I started with the children, surname Rowan, thinking they might be children of John and Sarah Rowan.

Hiram Rowan:
In searching Death Records for New York City, I was able to find a death certificate for Hiram A. Rowan:

      (click on images to enlarge)

• Hiram was the son of John W. Rowan and Sarah A. Rowan. He was 1 year, 7 months and 12 days old when he died on 31 August 1885. He was living at 42 Samuel Street, 7^th Ward, 2nd floor. His cause of death was listed as Gastro=Entero=Colitis- [inflammation of the stomach, small intestine and colon] and Exhaustion. He had been ill for 16 days. His birth date would be calculated to be 19 January 1884. Hiram died a mere 14 days after his mother.
• A Roman Catholic Baptismal record shows that Hiram was Baptized at St. Paul’s in Manhattan on 10 February 1884.

Susan Rowan:

• No death certificate was found.  She was buried on 4 February 1875 at three months of age.
• Susan Ann was Baptized on 18 October 1874 at St. Bernard’s Roman Catholic Church in Manhattan. Her birth date was reported to be 14 October 1874. I wonder if Susan was named after her mother Sarah’s mother-Susan McKenna Hughes?

John Rowan:

• No death certificate was found.  He was buried on 7 May 1882.
• I was unable to find a Baptismal record for John which is not surprising since he died at 4 days old. His birth date would be 3 May 1882. I am guessing that he was named after his father John W. Rowan.

Elizabeth Rowan:

• No death certificate was found.  She was buried on 30 July 1882 at age one year.
• Elizabeth was baptized on 16 January 1881 at Nativity Church in Manhattan. Her birth is listed as 7 January 1881.

These four children are now known as children of John W. and Sarah Rowan. So, now I have a revised list of Sarah and John’s children:

Joseph (1870-1940)

William (1872-1901)

Susan (1874-1875)

Mary (1878-?)

Sarah (1879-1957)

Elizabeth (1881-1882)

John (1882-1882)

Hiram (1884-1885)

That tells me about the four Rowan children on the list at Grave #13. I know they were John and Sarah’s children. That doesn’t answer the question of who are the other two children: Mary Duggan and Sarah Meehan. John’s mother was a Meehan so was she a relative? John’s only known brother died as an infant. Definitely more research to do on these two girls.

I am also curious about the different locations of the baptisms of the children. Did the family move around New York City a lot? Are these still functioning parishes? Who were their sponsors and what were their relations to John and Sarah.

Always remember to get cemetery records and search to find the connections of others buried in the same grave.  If I hadn't gotten a copy of the grave record I would never have known about these children.

If you have any corrections or additions or stories to share I look forward to hearing them.
Enjoy the journey,
Debby

Visiting the Warner Homestead

 (picture of the house today) 

west side of house 

In my previous post entitled The History of the Warner Homestead I researched the history of the land and possibly the house that stands on Sound Avenue in Baiting Hollow, New York.  Now that we have the history, it's time to go inside the house where my grandfather was born.

In going back and rereading Carrie’s Letters (written by my paternal great grandmother) I know that after Carrie and John married on 2 October 1885 she is telling her father on 14 October 1885 “Got the mattress. Was at Riverhead today and got the stove. Shall go to house keeping first of the week if possible.” They seemed to have not moved in to the house until somewhere after the end of October. There was no talk of building a house prior to this, so, I am guessing the house was one that was built before that.

In 2017 following one of our Warner Cousin Christmas (see photo) get togethers my cousin Kallie was able to get us an invitation to visit the Warner Homestead. So Marie, Kallie, Hollie, Suzanne and I went to the Warner Homestead. My paternal second cousin once removed, Dewitt Young Warner, at the age of 94 very graciously welcomed us to the home he referred to as The Warner Homestead.

Dewitt Young Warner (1923-2020) 

As Dewitt walked us through the house and talked about the house my mind went back to Carrie’s letters and comments she had made about the house over the years.

• On 18 December 1887 Carrie tells her sister Ella Terry Billard, “ I expected as soon as we got home from Peconic John was crazy to move so that afternoon he blocked the stove while I put down the carpet and we have lived in the house since then. Have an old stove up in the kitchen also to wash by, etc. Last week we closed up the passage way between the two buildings. ‘Tis a great improvement in this rough windy weather.”

As I look at the first photo above of the house today, I wonder if I can see where there were two buildings that were connected to become a bigger house? I also tried to imagine my grandfather and his brothers in the house running, playing, eating and sleeping. In the unfinished attic I felt closest to them since this area may not have been changed much since they lived there. It was December and it was cold and back then with only a stove to heat the house I wonder how cold it got upstairs in the Winter?

Rafters-are those cuts by an axe on some of the beams?

(click on images to enlarge)

outside walls

In one of Carrie’s letters dated 2 May 1897 she tells her sister Ella, “We have had a painter here since last Tuesday morning.” “He is painting and trimming the house and out buildings, milk house, closet, and smoke house. John is talking of having him trim the barn, etc.”

• 28 February 1892 Carrie tells her sister, “I cleaned here a little while Monday morning. I cleaned the Dining room out Monday. You may recollect how badly gone the carpet was. Took if all up and by turning & twisting & changing made out to cover the floor. Washed the floor & paint & windows.”
• Before 14 December 1893 John’s bachelor uncle Goldsmith Warner in declining health had moved in with them. Carrie tells Ella, “We have a coal stove up in Goldsmith’s room this winter, and it is a success. He sits in there a good deal, and besides it keeps our rooms quite comfortable. The thermometer in the north room has been nearly sixty all day today, warm enough for all purposes except a sitting room, and the I don’t want of ti.”
• 1 December 1896 in Carrie’s letter to Ella, “ Have been very busy. Am all cleaned but the dining room and sweeping the halls. The heater is not going yet. Wish it was, it is such cold weather.”
• On 21 March 1897 Carrie informs Ella, “Have been very busy this week. Have the front room washed all over and painting done. The carpet is ready, paper bought and paper hanger engaged. We have new windows and I have some cleaning to do on those yet.”
• Carrie tells Ella on 7 June 1898, “I am too tired to do anything tonight. Have cleaned the room upstairs today. All thought the upstairs but the hall. Tomorrow I have to help clean the church. Would like to finish the parlor and halls this week if possible.”
• On 29 May 1899 Carrie tells Ella “Am all through house cleaning but the sitting room and part of the kitchen. Have the paper all off in the sitting room and that is a big job done. Have painted and papered Terry’s room and the boy’s bedroom and they look real neat and nice.”
• On 29 April 1900 Carrie tells Ella, Commenced house cleaning last week. Have the garret, clothes room and room cleaned. John put his wind mill together again yesterday. It was the general opinion that the well would be so filled with sand that the pump would not work. It did work all right and the water was as good as ever. John has bought one hundred and thirty feet of hose, so I look forward to having water at a distance this summer without ‘totin’.”
• Carrie tells Ella on 3 November 1904, a mere three weeks before my Grandfather’s birth, “Have taken down the heater chimney entirely, so think we will not be troubled with any more leak from that. Put up a chimney for the heater out doors on the back side of the big house just west pf the dining room window. The kitchen chimney was built over and carried higher, and that stove works better now.”

While I have transcribed all of about 150 of Carrie’s letters. It was interesting to just go back and pull out information about the house. Focusing just on the house and surroundings over time I found to be very interesting. From the letters I know more about the types of rooms in their house, how the rooms were painted or papered and how my Great-Grandfather John used a windmill to get water from the ground to get it to the house.

I owe so much to Dewitt for opening up his home to show us through it and see where our grandfathers had been born and lived. He was so generous about sharing what he knew about the house. Dewitt, unfortunately, passed away several weeks ago at the age of 96. So many more stories will now be lost. I am so grateful to have been in the house. I have connected with one of his three daughters and hope she will share her experiences and stories about growing up in the Warner Homestead. Special thanks to cousin Kallie for making this visit possible.

Kallie and Dewitt

Dewitt took great pride in showing me the sign he had placed on the door to recognize the lengthy history of this house in the Warner family.

photo taken from the north side of the property looking back toward the house across the farm fields

I had the amazing opportunity when I was about 12 to ride a horse in the fields behind the house on several occasions. I knew the farm had been in the family and it felt amazing to be riding where my grandfather would have once been. Today that time roaming the fields on horseback seems an even more significant experience. Now I know that generations, back to the late 1700s, were living and farming in that area.  

What an incredible experience this was to walk in my ancestors steps!

If you have any corrections or additions or stories to share I look forward to hearing them.
Enjoy the journey,
Debby

The History of the Warner Homestead

Do you enjoy going to places where your ancestors lived? Walking in their footsteps, so to speak. I always enjoy doing this when I can whether it is visiting the Alden homestead in Duxbury, Massachusetts, walking through a church in lower Manhattan where my ancestors were married or going through a home they once lived in. I try to stop and imagine them being there whether it was working in the fields, sitting at a table or walking down an aisle. Unfortunately, there are no videos or even pictures for me look at so it is all imagining in my mind. What does the space feel like, how close does it look today to what it did back then?

A few years ago I had the amazing privilege of walking through the house where my paternal grandfather, Olin Warner, Sr., was born and lived for about the first 10 years of his life. The home has remained in the Warner family since my great-grandfather John Benjamin Warner acquired it until now. The home was a mere three or four miles from where I grew up. I knew it was there, I knew my grandfather had lived there but somehow I just never made it inside the house until recently. What year was the original structure built? How much of the current house is still the same?

First, some history of the land and the house:
Nathaniel Warner, my paternal 6^th great grandfather, was the first of this line to live on Long Island. Nathaniel and his son Daniel lived in Southold town.

James Warner, Daniel’s son and my 4^th great grandfather is the first to have settled in the area of Baiting Hollow, New York on Long Island in the later 1700s moving about 20 miles west of Southold, New York. I believe James’ father Daniel Warner and his mother (Hannah Petty) may have been living closer in the Aquebogue area, at the time. I have searched for hours and hours and have been unable to find land records for James’ purchase of land in Baiting Hollow but I do find his property referenced in neighbors’ land deeds for the area. I believe that James and Gloriana (Edwards) were in the area by 1784 when my 3^rd great grandfather Daniel was born.

Daniel stayed in the area, married Jemima Benjamin and raised their family there. Many of their children and grandchildren also lived in the area. Unfortunately, it is difficult to tell from numerous land records and wills when this particular house was built. Land records of this time period only mark the boundaries and the acreage and do not list specific dwellings on the property. Daniel and Jemima had 3 sons: Daniel, Lewis and Goldsmith. When Daniel Sr. died in 1857 his will states “I give and devise to my son Lewis all the rest of my said farm lying both sides of the North road a highway.”

Then, according to the 1858 map Daniel has two pieces of land and his brother Lewis has one piece. (I used School District #3 as a reference point in the maps.)

According to the 1873 map of the area all 3 sons appear to live right next door to each other. I wonder if Goldsmith bought Lewis’ land at some point? The land on the 1858 map seems to have been where Lewis previously lived.

I believe that the house, that I am referring to as the Warner Homestead house, that my grandfather was born in, was owned at some point by Daniel Sr.’s son Goldsmith Warner. According to an 1874 Assessment Role I know that Goldsmith owned 90 acres of land, Daniel owned 150 acres and Lewis owned 136 acres. Goldsmith left property to his nephew, my great grandfather John, and I believe the house was on this property.

After the sudden death of my great grandmother, Carrie Terry Warner, in 1910 John moved to Aquebogue, New York with several of his sons, including my grandfather Olin. In January 1915, John sold this piece of his Baiting Hollow property, which I believe contains the Warner Homestead, to his brother Eugene.

(click on image to enlarge)

Transcription:
The Indenture, made the Twenty first day of January, in the year One thousand nine hundred and fifteen. Between John B. Warner, widower of Aquebogue, Town of Riverhead, County of Suffolk and State of New York, party of the first part and Eugene G. Warner, of Baiting Hollow, Town of Riverhead, County of Suffolk and State of New York, party of the second part. Witnesseth. That the said party of the first part, inconsideration of the sum of One dollar, lawful money of the United States, paid by the party of the second part, his heirs and assigns forever. All that certain piece, parcel or tract of land, with the buildings and improvements theron situate, lying and being at Baiting Hollow, Town of Riverhead, County of Suffolk and State of New York, bounded and described as follows: On the south by the North Country Road: on the west by land belonging to School District No. 3 of the Town of Riverhead, land of Allan M. Warner, land of John J. Wicks, and land formerly of D. Lewis Downs, now of Harry W. Clody, on the north by Long Island Sound; east by land of party of the second part, containing by estimation seventy acres be the same more or less. (etc.)

I’m not exactly sure, yet, how the property and house transferred from Eugene to his grandson and current owner Dewitt Young Warner.  I would still like to trace the land within the family from, I believe, Lewis to Goldsmith and Eugene to Dewitt. I wonder when Goldsmith came in to possession of the property? There is definitely more searching to be done.

Putting together the history of the land, and probably the house, took hours of reviewing and the piecing together of research that I had already done for individual members of my family. Since houses were not specifically mentioned in land deeds Wills and Tax records added valuable information. The search is rarely a straight line with an easy trail to follow.

Now that I know the general history of the land since the late 1700s it’s time to see the inside of the house as it is today.  Next time…

If you have any corrections or additions or stories to share I look forward to hearing them.
Enjoy the journey,
Debby

San Diego Genealogical Society Presents Nancy Loe

We have been on hold for several months with our Genealogical Society’s monthly Meetings. Enough is enough…we need our Genealogy Speakers! For our April 25th meeting the San Diego Genealogical Society decided to try doing a presentation via a Zoom Meeting. 

We registered in advance to hear Nancy Loe present two topics.  The Society sent us a Zoom meeting notice with a link to click on as the meeting approached and we were ready to go. Our head of programs Cindy Ehrlich welcomed us to our Zoom Meeting and gave the mic to our President Diane McClure Lott. Diane welcomed us and updated us on the Society’s current happenings followed by Cindy introducing our speaker, Nancy Loe. Nancy is a Genealogist, a Professional Archivist and an author. Nancy’s website is entitled Sassy Jane Genealogy.

Nancy’s first presentation was entitled Organize Like an Archivist.

Nancy discussed using a consistent data entry and file naming system. She advised us that no matter what system you decide to use for your files (digital or paper) you must remember to be consistent in your naming of the files as well as in your source citations. This will make retrieving information from your files so much easier.

• I have a large percentage of my files saved digitally but I also keep paper files. When I am working on a particular ancestor I like using paper files. Sometimes I ‘see’ something on a paper copy that I didn’t ‘see’ on a digital copy of the same record. For my digital files I keep a list of my naming system so I can be consistent. After Nancy’s presentation I decided to go in to my Family Tree software and standardize the names of places in my data base so I would have consistency there.

Nancy shared the setup she uses for the naming of her digital Master Genealogy File with us. She has them arranged in 6 Subfolders labeled Administrative Files, Family Tree Software Files, Family Photographs, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources and Surnames. She strongly recommended keeping a copy of how you want to name your files for easy reference.

• When I began years ago collecting digital information, I set up and used a system I heard about after listening to a speaker at a conference. As I began collecting my digital files I kept the same system. Years later I now definitely feel I need to review this system and reorganize my digital files. Hopefully, I will have the time when I retire to do this and make the system fit my current needs a little better. Nancy’s words “You don’t own it if you can’t find it” are definitely ringing in my head. I will also need to go back and review the organization of my digital files.

Cloud Storage and Automated Backups was also a topic Nancy shared her suggestions about. Whatever you choose to use, be sure that you have backed up your digital data in several ways so you will always have a copy of it.

If you’d like to learn more about organizing your research you can purchase Nancy’s book Organizing Genealogy Research Using Archival Principals at www.sassyjanegenealogy.com/shop .


Nancy’s second presentation was entitled Picture This: Cataloging Digital Family Photographs.

Nancy discussed several technical terms we needed to know and understand in reference to photos. She gave us suggestions on scanning and downloading images such as scanning at a high resolution and saving the photo in a TIFF format in a Master file before copying it to use elsewhere. Nancy explained the importance of adding information in the Metadata of the photo, organizing your photos and how to name your files.
Nancy also talked about data security and reminded us the best thing to do is set up a system and have it regularly back up our files so you can “Set it to Forget it” and it’s done automatically.

To learn more about working with photos you can purchase Nancy’s ebook entitled Cataloging Digital Family Photos & Records at https://www.sassyjanegenealogy.com/shop/.

Nancy gave me so many things to review with my own files! Now to get started… What great reminders to get and keep us organized!  I applaud the San Diego Genealogical Society for trying something new and using this format for our meeting so we can stay in touch and so we can continue our research.  I also applaud Nancy Loe for being willing to try this.  Great job by all!  We are all learning new things during this very unique Covid-19 time in our lives.


If you have any corrections or additions or stories to share I look forward to hearing them.
Enjoy the journey,
Debby