Can’t decipher crappy handwriting a new puzzle to solve circa 1899
drummerboy said:
by the way, can we agree that this handwriting is not "crappy"? We just can't read it - it's not the writer's fault.
Look at the F in Fits, T in Throat, and K in Killed.
I'd take the document to the Hall of Records in the basement of the Newark courthouse. I don't think the employees would be much help, but there are title searchers whose full-time job it is to dig through crumbling books of property records. I'll bet they can read anything, and they are thrilled to have human contact and share their knowledge. I learned about this when I spent an afternoon looking up the history of my house after being dismissed early from jury duty. They were incredibly helpful
"A copy of every deed and mortgage recorded since 1637 is on file in the Register’s Office. These documents are preserved in the Record Room, an area of the Office that is open to interested citizens, attorneys, title searchers, historians and genealogists for their research, reference and study."
drummerboy said:
by the way, can we agree that this handwriting is not "crappy"? We just can't read it - it's not the writer's fault.
Nope, I can't agree with that. It has some nice elements, the writer obviously went to school and did writing practice, but either didn't learn it properly, or just let their penmanship skills slide. As someone with very crappy handwriting I'd say probably the former 
Attached are handwriting samples from a census form from 1850 that I am also struggling to make out individual letters, but in this case the handwriting is absolutely beautiful.
My grandmother's first husband was killed in a carriage accident. Some relatives think she pushed him out - but I wont go there.
sarahzm said:
My grandmother's first husband was killed in a carriage accident. Some relatives think she pushed him out - but I wont go there.
Oooh! Scandalous!
I'll look for a capital G to compare it and see if that works. Though it will be hard, apparently the only four names the Irish had back in 1880 were Mary, Margaret, Bridget, or Catherine/Katherine.
spontaneous said:
I'll look for a capital G to compare it and see if that works. Though it will be hard, apparently the only four names the Irish had back in 1880 were Mary, Margaret, Bridget, or Catherine/Katherine.
) It is definitely a letter with a cross. That's why I guessed "G." Originally, I thought "P" but I think it's "G." I then thought the rest was "alena" but I think it does not have an "a" at the end, just poorly written.
It is interesting looking through all this stuff. For example, my great grandmother grew up very privileged. In 1900 she was one of nine children, yet even with that many children the census form still shows they had a live in servant.
She married by great grandfather in 1907. Her wedding was in the society page, in it they mention that she wore imported lace and gave gives of diamond lavalieres to the bridesmaids.
In 1910 she and her husband had a live in servant.
They go from being renters to being homeowners, I don't have the exact year, but the house was built in 1925, and my great grandfather died in 1929, so they purchased the house between 1925 and 1929. According to zillow it has eight bedrooms, and 2,300 sq feet of living space.
Her husband died in 1929.
The 1930 census shows no servants, but two boarders.
So between 1925 and 1930 she went from moving into a brand new, rather large home, to being a widow and taking in boarders in an attempt to not lose her home. I haven't found any records, but from family history I'm told her attempt to keep the home was not successful, it was lost to foreclosure. Records do show that in 1934 she had moved.
The double whammy of the stock market crash, and the loss of her husband, was more than she could overcome. Though I'm sure that for years she never imagined that she would never live anything but the life she grown up in.
A lot of this I had heard through family stories, but seeing it documented on paper makes it more real.
ska said:
I didn't know that Zillow existed in 1925
Um, the house is still standing, and I used zillow to look it up.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/125-S-Arlington-Ave-East-Orange-NJ-07018/38646833_zpid/
I'm sure the interior looked much better in the 1920's. The fireplace, and the wood floor in that room hint at what the house used to be before it fell into disrepair.
Family stories are fascinating. My mother's father, though a immigrant, had worked his way up to being a foreman in a hat factory (he moved from NY to Toronto for that job). He was prosperous and they owned a house in Toronto. Company closed in the depression and he and his family wound up back in NY, unemployed and in a cold water tenement. To make matters worse, soon after that his wife, my maternal grandmother, was shot and killed on the roof of the tenement. My grandfather was interviewed as a suspect by the police but it seems that someone was shooting at cans or something on another roof. He never remarried or had any money the rest of his life.
spontaneous said:
ska said:
I didn't know that Zillow existed in 1925
Um, the house is still standing, and I used zillow to look it up.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/125-S-Arlington-Ave-East-Orange-NJ-07018/38646833_zpid/
I'm sure the interior looked much better in the 1920's. The fireplace, and the wood floor in that room hint at what the house used to be before it fell into disrepair.
I know. Just trying to be funny. Interesting that is seem currently to be in some phase of default or foreclosure. Walking distance to the train in an area where there is a lot of construction going on. Could be a good investment.
ska said:
spontaneous said:
ska said:
I didn't know that Zillow existed in 1925
Um, the house is still standing, and I used zillow to look it up.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/125-S-Arlington-Ave-East-Orange-NJ-07018/38646833_zpid/
I'm sure the interior looked much better in the 1920's. The fireplace, and the wood floor in that room hint at what the house used to be before it fell into disrepair.
I know. Just trying to be funny. Interesting that is seem currently to be in some phase of default or foreclosure. Walking distance to the train in an area where there is a lot of construction going on. Could be a good investment.
Looking at it, it has suffered a lot of neglect. How much is cosmetic, and how much is more serious than that, is anyone's guess. I'm just glad that it is still standing, as many of the homes family members lived in are now gone.
spontaneous said:
Her husband died in 1929.
The 1930 census shows no servants, but two boarders.
Do you have documentation of how he died? Just wondering ... a lot of wealthy people who lost it all took their own lives.
shoshannah said:
spontaneous said:
Her husband died in 1929.
The 1930 census shows no servants, but two boarders.
Do you have documentation of how he died? Just wondering ... a lot of wealthy people who lost it all took their own lives.
I'll have to look, but I do know he couldn't get life insurance due to poor health.
ETA: I do have his death certificate here, but it is one of those reverse copies, where the paper is black, and the words are white. It isn't easy to read. He died in April, so it was before the crash of 1929. The notes I have from my uncle states that my great grandfather was sick for a couple of years with heart disease before he died.
Believe it or not the quality of the image is actually better in this picture than it is in person
Those earlier occupations are such a capture of the times: I giggled when I read Fancy Man. The Pumpmaker now sounds like an exotic profession but back then would have been so necessary. There was a lot of time unemployed.
Also, that name you're after, is it a family name (surname) or a first/baptismal name? If a family name, what about Galea? It's an Irish family name. It looks as if the final 'a' was obscured or blotted, maybe to hide some Irish background (or maybe to change luck)?
We forget that writing with dip-pens and scratchy nibs that we're in need of constant trimming was quite an art. In many ways writing the modern way didn't become as easy as we think of it until maybe 100-odd years ago. (Even then the inks still were thinned a lot and subject to fading in strong sunlight)
I’m told that my great-great grandmother’s birth name was Phalen. The transcript of this document says the name is Palen. If it is Palen, then it is close enough for me to be pretty confident in it being a close match and this being a family member. If it is Galen, or some other name, then the chances of them being a relative goes down tremendously. The name given on the form was the mother-in-law. The names of the husband and wife match, as well as the name and year of birth of their son.
Of course, on my husband’s side there was one relative who between 1910 and 1940 gave four different first names (Heinrich, Henry, Edwardy, Edward), and two spellings of the last name, Ladewig and Ludwig.If it just happened once I’d say it was a census taker marketing a mistake, but this happened on multiple occasions
spontaneous said:
I’m told that my great-great grandmother’s birth name was Phalen. The transcript of this document says the name is Palen. If it is Palen, then it is close enough for me to be pretty confident in it being a close match and this being a family member. If it is Galen, or some other name, then the chances of them being a relative goes down tremendously. The name given on the form was the mother-in-law. The names of the husband and wife match, as well as the name and year of birth of their son.
Of course, on my husband’s side there was one relative who between 1910 and 1940 gave four different first names (Heinrich, Henry, Edwardy, Edward), and two spellings of the last name, Ladewig and Ludwig.If it just happened once I’d say it was a census taker marketing a mistake, but this happened on multiple occasions
I said I thought it might be a "P" so it probably is.
Yes, I just didn't want to influence anyone into an answer that I wanted. I figured presenting it without saying what I thought/wanted it to be was the best bet
My birth certificate is white on black. Is that the definition of old?
Well, I'm not saying you're old, but I am saying that my great grandmother's birth certificate from 1897 is black print on white paper. 
The process is called photostat. I doubt it is used anywhere anymore.
More crappy handwriting, this time circa 1901. The first word is "cousin." After that, anyone's guess. I'm taking an educated guess that the name will be Lithuanian since the immigrant in question is arriving from Lithuania. I'm assuming that "Mm Lonohouse" isn't a Lithuanian name, so obviously my chicken scratch deciphering skills aren't up to this task. Any school teachers or pharmacists want to put their handwriting deciphering skills to test and see if you can solve this mystery?
I'm going to guess the first name is William which is often abbreviated Wm. Does the first letter in the last name resemble the C in cousin?
by the way, can we agree that this handwriting is not "crappy"? We just can't read it - it's not the writer's fault.