Book of Common Prayer

It's Treasure Chest Thursday...

Among the family treasures I've inherited is this Book of Common Prayer. It belonged to my grandfather, Albert H. Pastoor and was printed in 1892. He inscribed the inside cover "To Helen From Albert May 19, 1913," and he included a couple of Bible verses, apparently his favorites.

Helen was his sister, but if he gave it to her, I don't know how it wound up in my father's possession. Sometime during the 1920s, Helen moved to California while Albert stayed in the New York/New Jersey area. My father doesn't remember ever meeting his Aunt Helen.

Happy Mother's Day 1914-2014

The first Mother's Day was celebrated in 1908 when Ann Jarvis organized the celebration to honor her mother's death and the "sacrifices mothers made for their children." It didn't become an official U.S. holiday until 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson officially signed a proclamation declaring "the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day 'as a public expression of love and reverence for the mothers of our country.'"
In honor of Mother's Day, I decided to search my family tree for all the women who might have been alive to celebrate that first official Mother's Day. There were 10 mothers between the ages of 18 and 80 in my family tree who were alive in 1914, four of whom were grandmothers as well.
Only four of those 10 mothers were in my ancestral line, and only one of them was a grandmother. My great-great-grandmother, Emily (Outhouse) Lamb, would have been a 74-year-old widow. She had four children who survived to adulthood to give her 13 grandchildren. She likely would have celebrated Mother's Day with her only daughter, my great-grandmother, Nettie (Lamb) Baisley, who gave birth to 7 of those grandchildren and would have been pregnant with her eighth child at age 41.
My great-grandmother, Anna (Kolb) Passtoor, was a German immigrant and would have been a widow at 41-years old. It was probably a bittersweet holiday for her since only two of her four children survived childhood. It would have been the only Mother's Day she would have celebrated; Anna died seven months later.
My great-grandmother, Stanislawa (Makowska) Chrzanowski, a Polish immigrant, would have been 26 years old and six months pregnant with her third child on that first Mother's Day.

So, on this 100th anniversary of Mother's Day, I honor those women of my past for the sacrifices they made for their children.



_________________
History.com staff. "Mother's Day," online article, History.com, (http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/mothers-day : 10 May 2014), First Mother's Day.
President Woodrow Wilson's Mother's Day Proclamation of May 9, 1914 (Presidential Proclamation 1268)., 9 May 1914; General Records of the United States Goverment, 1778-1992, Record Group 11; [Online version, www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/?dod-date=509, National Archives and Records Administration, 10 May 2014.]
ArLynn Leiber Presser, "The Pre-forgotten Mother's Day," Arlynnpresser, 16 Apr 2012 (arlynnpresser.com/tag/mothers : accessed 10 May 2014).
Christopher Fox Graham, "May 11 Marks the 100th Anniversay of Mother's Day," Journalaz.com, 7 May 2014 (www.journalaz.co/Opinion/may-11-marks-the-100th-anniversary-of-mothers-day.html : accessed 10 May 2014).

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A "Calculating" Post

How many times have you calculated a date of birth from a census record? If you’re like me, you’ve done it countless times. But have you ever considered how you do it and the importance of recording that in your research notes? A recent article in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly[1]

has shown me that my usual method is probably not “best practice.” Instead of simply subtracting the given age in a census from the census date and entering it into my database preceded by “calc,” I am now more likely to enter a date range and make a research note on how I calculated it.

The article describes four methods of date calculation and the reasoning behind them. I won’t go into the details of those methods here—you can read the article yourself—but it did get me thinking about dates and how they are calculated. Which method was used to calculate the dates?  Was the age simply subtracted from the year of the census? Or was the age subtracted from the official census date? Maybe it was subtracted from the enumeration date? If we clearly specify how we calculate our event dates, our research is deemed more credible and others can follow our reasoning process. We also advance our own research by narrowing or expanding the time frames in which we search for records.

After reading this article, I decided to try one of the methods to calculate a birth date from a death date and age at death in order to find a birth record. No surprise; but it helped me find a record I may have otherwise overlooked.

My grandfather’s little brother, Harry, died on 7 Sep 1901 when he was just 8 months old. It’s unlikely that he died at exactly 8 months; the number of days was probably just not recorded. Originally, I had counted back eight months and guessed he was born “abt Jan 1901.” The calculator feature in Legacy produced an exact date of 7 Jan 1901. Obviously, those unspecified number of days were not accounted for by either of the methods I chose.

A search for Harry’s birth record produced a possible record dated in December 1900, but not the January 1901 date I was looking for. What follows is the detailed method of date calculation I used in order to expand the time frame of the date of birth for Harry using a reference date (his date of death) and an interval (his age at death).

First I started with the reference date written from largest to smallest units using Arabic numerals—1901-9-7. The year is 1901; September is the ninth month; Harry died on the seventh day. This date will be used to start my calculations for both the bottom date range and the top date range.

            Bottom Range                         Top Range                   Steps

1.         1901-9-7                                  1901-9-7                      reference date

I then entered my interval of 8 months; but first I needed to put it into the proper format. Using the letter x as the unknown, Harry’s interval of 8 months became 0 years, 8 months, x days, or 0-8-x. That interval is entered into the “Top Range” column.

Bottom Range                         Top Range

1.         1901-9-7                                  1901-9-7                      reference date

2.                                                              0-8-x                       interval

Then, one (1) is added to the interval to the number that is the farthest right, and placed in the column labeled “Bottom Range.” Since the number in the farthest right is 8, add 1 to get 9. This is the adjusted interval for the bottom range.

Bottom Range                         Top Range

1.         1901-9-7                                  1901-9-7                      reference date

2.                                                              0-8-x                       interval

3.               0-9-x                                                                      adjusted interval

Sometimes there is a need to “borrow” in order to complete the math calculation. This happens when the interval number is equal or greater than the number of months (or days) in the reference date. Notice that this is the case in the bottom range column. So borrowing one year from 1901 gives me 1900; adding the borrowed year as 12 months to the number of the month (9 for September) gives me 21 months. This becomes the adjusted reference date for both columns.

Bottom Range                         Top Range

1a.       1901-9-7                                  1901-9-7                      reference date

1b.       1900-21-7                                1900-21-7                    adjusted reference date

2.                                                                 0-8-x                    interval

3.                 0-9-x                                                                    adjusted interval

Next, subtract the interval and the adjusted interval from the adjusted reference date. For the bottom range: 9 months from 21 months gives me 12 months; for the top range: 8 months from 21 months gives me 13 months.

Bottom Range                         Top Range

1a.       1901-9-7                                  1901-9-7                      reference date

1b.       1900-21-7                                1900-21-7                    adjusted reference date for bottom range

2.                                                                 0-8-x                    interval

3.                 0-9-x                                                                    adjusted interval

4.         1900-12-7                                1900-13-7                    subtract

Now, add 1 day to the bottom range so the 7 days becomes 8 days.

Bottom Range                         Top Range       

1a.       1901-9-7                                  1901-9-7                      reference date

1b.       1900-21-7                                1900-21-7                    adjusted reference date for bottom range

2.                                                              0-8-x                       interval

3.               0-9-x                                                                      adjusted interval

4.         1900-12-7                                1900-13-7                    subtract

5.         1900-12-8                                1900-13-7                    add 1 day to bottom range

Finally, write out the newly calculated dates. Normalize the date in the top range (we don’t have a 13^th month), by giving back the 12 months to 1900, making it 1901-1-7.

Bottom Range                         Top Range       

1a.       1901-9-7                                  1901-9-7                      reference date

1b.       1900-21-7                                1900-21-7                    adjusted reference date for bottom range

2.                                                              0-8-x                       interval

3.               0-9-x                                                                      adjusted interval

4.         1900-12-7                                1900-13-7                    subtract

5.         1900-12-8                                1900-13-7                    add 1 day to bottom range

6.         8 Dec 1900                              7 Jan 1901                  write out dates and normalize

The newly calculated date range for Harry’s birth is now between 8 Dec 1900 and 7 Jan 1901. This has expanded on my estimated date of “abt Jan 1901” and Legacy’s calculated date of 7 Jan 1901. When I compare this date range to the birth index record search, the December 1900 birth date looks more promising. This method, with some slight adjustments, can also be used to calculate later event dates and ranges, such as using a tombstone inscription to calculate a death date from the date of birth and age of death in years, months and days.

Ms. Levergood suggests that we account for all possibilities by borrowing 31 days, calculating the results, and then subtract 3 days to create the bottom end of the date range. The 3 days account for the months with varying numbers of days, including leap year. One important point to remember is that these methods of calculation assume that all dates and intervals are based on the Gregorian calendar with the year beginning on January 1.

These methods of calculation will help me to more accurately search for records documenting the lives of my ancestors. Of course, I will remember to record the method used in my research notes. Who knows what new clues I may find?

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[1] Barbara Levergood, “Calculating Dates and Using Dates and Date Ranges,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 102 (March 2014):51-75

Ragu Challenge: 3-2-1 Cite

Dear Myrtle (http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/2014/04/the-ragu-challenge-3-2-1-cite.html) issued a challenge designed to encourage genealogists to realize that "we are bigger than our genealogy programs." Instead of habitually plugging data into our programs, the challenge encourages us to use put the concepts we've been learning in Mastering Genealogical Proofs into practice. She calls it the Ragu Challenge: 3-2-1 Cite. Use 3 documents, write 2 paragraphs (at minimum), and tell about 1 event, citing our sources. Ragu because "it's in there." What follows is my attempt at this challenge.
I never met my grandfather, who died when my father was a child. Family lore says he was an orphan born in Brooklyn who lied about his age to join the Navy, and had an older sister, Helen Carman, who lived in California, now deceased. My research challenges some of those assumptions, but supports the basic facts and answers the research question, When and where was the birth of Albert H. Pastoor, who was living in Peekskill, New York, in 1940? Who were his parents?
Although more documents and paragraphs will be required to fully answer my research question, to meet this challenge, I've decided to use the following three documents:
1. The U.S. Navy personnel records for Albert Herman Pastoor;

Compiled service record, Albert H. Pastoor personnel file, service no. 1521327, (discharged 1921); Official Military Personnel Files, World War I; Enlisted Personnel, 1885 - 1951, United States Navy; National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis; photocopies supplied by Center without citation. Above photo, from the service record, is the affidavit of Mrs. Helen Pastoor Carman, sister to Albert Herman Pastoor.

2. The marriage certificate of Albert Pastoor and Margaret Westerman;

New York Borough of Brooklyn, New York City Department of Health, marriage certificate 15863 (1920), Pastoor-Westerman; Municipal Archives, New York City.
3. The birth certificate of Andrew Pastor;

Borough of Brooklyn, New York, birth certificate no. 1312 (1898), Andrew Pastor [Albert Pastoor]; Municipal Archives, New York City.
All three documents are original records. The Navy personnel records contain Albert's original enlistment papers of 7 Jun 1915. His sister, Mrs. Helen Pastoor Carman, signed an affadavit stating she was his sister and guardian and that Albert H. Pastoor was born 30 Jan 1898 in Brooklyn, New York. Elsewhere in the document, the names of his parents were listed as unknown. Although the information here is primary, meaning it is eyewitness information, I use it guardedly; Helen was older and likely present at her brother's birth, but she would have been very young and her information would therefore be questionable. However, the fact that it is a notarized affidavit, sworn to before the United States Navy officer performing the oath, gives it a bit more weight. This document provides direct evidence of the birth of Albert Pastoor.
The second document, the marriage license and certificate, is dated 17 Nov 1920. Albert H. Pastoor and Margaret Westerman were married in Borough Hall in Brooklyn by the deputy city clerk. Although the clerk officiated the ceremony, Albert is likely the informant, making the marriage information primary; but his birth information is secondary since he couldn't have been an eyewitness at his own birth. However, the information agrees with that on the Navy records. This document also names his parents as Albert [the surname Pastoor is implied] and Anna Kolb. His sister, Mrs. Helen Carman, is a witness to the marriage. This document provides direct evidence of the birth of Albert Pastoor.
The third document, the birth record, at first glance appears to be unrelated because of the different given name of Andrew instead of Albert. However, Andrew "Pastor" is the third child born to Anna Kolb on 30 Jan 1898 in Brooklyn, NY. Albert "Pastor" is named as the father. The date and location of birth, as well as the names and ages of the parents agrees with that given on the marriage license. The physician who attended the birth signed the certificate as the informant, presumably with information given to him by the mother and/or the father, making it eyewitness information or primary information about the birth.
There is an obvious conflict with the given name of this child. Further research (beyond the scope of this challenge) has revealed that the parents, Albert "Passtoor" and Anna Kolb, had a daughter who was born and died in childhood. She was born before Helen, which is in agreement for Albert (aka Andrew) as the third child named on the birth certificate. The 1900 census information (see below) for the Albert Pastor household, living at the same address as that of the 1898 birth record, is also in agreement concerning the name and date of birth of Albert (son), the names of his parents, and the number of childen born to the mother. No other candidate for Andrew Pastor has been found. This birth record provides direct evidence of the birth of Albert Pastoor, aka Andrew Pastor. (The conflict in the 1900 census of the given name for Helen as Engalena has been resolved and is for another challenge.)

1900 U.S. census, Kings, New York, population schedule, New York City, Borough of Brooklyn, enumeration district (ED) 166, sheet 15A, p. 190 (recto), dwelling 89, family 289, Albert Pastor household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 6 Nov 2013); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T623, roll 1,050.

All documents are in agreement with the birth date and location of Albert Pastoor. Although his enlistment papers state that the parents are unknown, the other two documents naming the parents are in agreement. It may be that in the enlistment papers, Albert and Helen omitted the names of their parents for personal reasons. Reseach has revealed that their mother had died six months before Albert joined the Navy, and their father had died four years earlier in an institution, under what would be considered shameful circumstances at the time. They likely did not want to reveal such personal information so soon. Since they obviously knew the names of their parents (as shown on the 1920 marriage certificate), it calls into question the reliability of the Navy affadavit despite the agreement of its information.
The conflict regarding Albert's given name is more of a mystery. It is possible that the name was recorded incorrectly on the birth record because of a misunderstanding (German was their native language) or it is just as likely that they decided to call him after his father and neglected to change the name on the birth record. I think the fact that my grandfather used the same given name as the father named on the birth record and marriage record lends credibility to the idea that he was named after his father.

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Edna Marie (Outhouse) Schwarz (1915-1992)

It’s Thanksgiving Day and I can’t help but think back to those family holiday dinners of the past. It isn’t the preparations, the decorations or even the turkey that I remember the most. I'm thinking about my Aunt Edna.

 I can hear her cheerful greeting, her laughter, and her asking me to get her a cup of tea; I remember the walks into town and feel her arms giving me a hug. She was ever-present in my childhood. When I was a baby, she lived upstairs; then later, she lived with our family for a few years until I was a young teen; then she got an apartment nearby. She was always there.

Holidays were special because of all the preparations for visiting relatives and the big dinners. Aunt Edna made the best coleslaw I’ve ever tasted. I would stand on a chair next to her at the kitchen sink and watch

Thanksgiving   c. 1977     Edna (front far right) at kid's table   

her chop the cabbage. I didn’t really help; I think I just wanted to be near her to listen to her talk. Our dining room table wasn’t large enough for everyone, so additions were made to make a big L-shaped table. All of us children sat together at the far end away from the adults. Aunt Edna always sat at the kids’ table with us. After dinner, she and I would help clear the tables and then we would wash all the dishes, chatting, sharing news, and telling stories. Even on New Year’s Eve, all the kids were at her apartment, playing games and listening to music, while the adults went to their parties. She taught me how to play pinochle, let me taste her blackberry brandy, and listened to my childish woes.

Aunt Edna always had gray hair for as long as I’ve known her. She was more like a grandma than an aunt—she had hard candies in her pockets, Melba toast in her cupboard, and talcum powder in her bathroom. She had a caregiver’s heart, and an infectious laugh. She rarely got angry, and when she did, it wasn’t for long. One time, my brother and I crawled up beside her in bed when she was sleeping. Aunt Edna snored very loudly. We found a downy feather from the pillow and tried to float it over her mouth, just like in the cartoons. When she inhaled it, we laughed hysterically, waking her up. She didn’t even get mad; she saw the humor in it and laughed right along with us.

Another time, we were getting ready to go somewhere, and I remember her franticly looking all over for her glasses only to discover they were on her head. We laughed about that for a long time. When my brother and I asked her to take our shortcut “over the river and through the woods” to her apartment complex, she hesitated, but only a little. She followed us on that crazy shortcut, brushing brambles aside, crossing over a log, and laughing all the way. We spent many hours going for walks to the store, to the library and around the neighborhood. Aunt Edna had never learned to drive; she never learned to ride a bicycle; and she never learned to swim. But she had a big heart and a great capacity for love.

My memories of her are mostly the memories of a child. Having moved away as a teen, I never really got to know her as an adult. It’s only when I look back, seeing her life through a genealogist’s eyes that I can appreciate what she’s been through. It’s then that I realize just what a remarkable person she was.

Edna Marie Outhouse was born in Peekskill, New York, on 27 January 1915, the only child of Lester [i]

Edna (Baisley) Outhouse with daughter, Edna Marie c. 1918

Outhouse and Edna Baisley. Woodrow Wilson was president of the United States and Congress had just rejected an amendment to give women the right to vote.

In September 1918, when she was almost 4 years old, the Spanish Influenza hit Peekskill. Between the months of September and November, there were over 3000 cases. The local newspapers reported over 30 deaths each week. [ii]  My Aunt Edna lost both her father and her uncle, Franklin Baisley, in the same week—both just young men in their early twenties.

A widow with a young daughter, Edna’s mother moved in with her in-laws, Ralph and Annie Outhouse.[iii] She lived with them until the early 1920s, when she met and married a young sailor, Albert Pastoor, with whom she made a home in Peekskill.[iv] In the years that followed, three more children, all sons, were born. The family managed to make a living during the depression. Edna, being the oldest and the only daughter, had many household chores and helped raise her young brothers. She told me of a time she killed a neighbor’s rooster because it attacked her every day as she walked to school. One day she got tired of being harassed by it and killed it with an ax. She got in trouble for killing the neighbor’s prize rooster and had to work to pay off its cost.

In 1949, Edna again lost a father, and in another six years, her mother was gone as well. By that time, Edna was married and pregnant with her only child. Five years later, she was a single mother trying to raise a daughter in Jersey City, New Jersey, the handsome US Marine she married having deserted them. She never remarried.

I never once thought about the hardships she had faced in her life. Maybe it was just because we never saw

Aunt Edna   c. 1978

that side of her. She was never bitter but always happy. She never had much money, but she was a generous person, especially with her time. She devoted her life to her family, to being a foster grandparent, and to volunteering for 15 years at a Home for Battered Women. She never knew a stranger and would talk to everyone.

She’s been gone 21 years now, and I miss her dearly. I think about her often and wish she could see her family now. She would love watching her grown grandchildren, nieces and nephews with their own children. I know if she were here this Thanksgiving, she’d be sitting with the kids, playing games, teaching them how to play cards, handing out hard candies from her pockets, and asking me to get her a cup of tea.

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[i] The New York Times, "Jan. 12, 1915 - Congress Votes Against Women's Suffrage Amendment," The Learning Network, 12 Jan 2012 (http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/12/jan-12-1915-congress-votes-against-womens-suffrage-amendment/?_r=0 : accessed 23 Nov 2013).

[ii] "Influenza on the Wane," The Highland Democrat, 2 Nov 1918, p. 2, col. 4; digital images, Old Fulton NY Post Cards (http://www.fultonhistory.com : accessed 22 Nov 2013).

[iii] 1920 U.S. census, Westchester, New York, population schedule, Peekskill, enumeration district (ED) 18, sheet 6-B (penned), p. 220-B (stamped), dwelling 106, family 151, Edna Outhouse in Ralph Outhouse household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 Jan 2010); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T625, roll 1,275.

[iv] "U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989," database and images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 Apr 2013), entry for "Pasteur, Albert (Edna)"; citing Richmond's Peekskill New York Directory, 1927, p. 160; Ancestry.com image 86.

Albert H. Pastoor (1898-1949)

On this Veteran’s Day 2013, I am thinking about my grandfather, Albert Herman Pastoor who served during World War I in the U.S. Navy. Sadly, I never got the chance to meet him; he died long before I was born.

Albert H. Pastoor was born on January 30, 1898, in South Brooklyn, New York, the third child of his German immigrant parents, Albert and Anna (Kolb) Pastoor. The family was not wealthy, as evidenced by their moving frequently from one tenement house to another. As a cook, Albert senior probably did not make much money. Since he worked in the transportation business, it seems likely he worked along the Brooklyn docks, maybe working in a kitchen to help feed the longshoremen. My grandfather had two siblings who died in early childhood. A sister died just months after his mother gave birth to another sister, and a brother died as an infant from pneumonia. I imagine the living conditions were crowded and unhealthy and life at home was a struggle.

In contrast, during the time he lived there, industry in Brooklyn was booming. Brooklyn was one of the nation’s leading producers of manufactured goods. It also had sugar refineries which produced more than half the nation’s sugar. The Williamsburg Bridge, the world’s largest suspension bridge at the time, was built, as was the city’s first subway, and Ebbets Field, the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Work was plentiful, but it wasn’t always safe or healthy. Chances are good that Albert worked at odd jobs when a boy to help make ends meet at home.

When Albert was ten years old, his father became so gravely ill that he was sent away to a state hospital, never to come home again, and died three years later. Shortly after, his mother started to display signs of illness, eventually dying when Albert was 16 years old.

From a young age, my grandfather’s parents were negligent or absent, not from choice, but because of poverty, sickness and death. Between the ages of 10 and 16, Albert had to deal with both parents being ill and probably struggled to make ends meet, especially after his father fell sick and could not work. I imagine my young grandfather roaming the streets of South Brooklyn and winding up on the waterfront. By the time he joined the Navy, he had numerous tattoos. I imagine tough streets and wonder if he knew Al Capone, who lived there at the same time as my grandfather. I wonder if Albert watched the freighters sail into the busiest freight port in the world or stood looking at the Statue of Liberty across the Bay. I wonder if he ever visited the U.S. Navy Yard, where the USS Arizona was being built, or if he ever crossed the Brooklyn Bridge.

In 1915, Woodrow Wilson was president and Europe was engaged in World War I. Earlier that year, the Lusitania was sunk by the Germans. By that time, Albert was 17 years old and living with his married sister in Annapolis, Maryland, and it was there that Helen signed his consent to join the U.S. Navy. When the United States became involved in the war in April 1917, Albert was a seaman serving aboard the battleship USS Texas.  

Victory Medal w/Transport Clasp

On December 6, 1917, my grandfather was in Halifax, Nova Scotia, aboard the USS Old Colony which was dry docked for boiler repairs.  That was the day two ships collided near Halifax harbor. One of them, a French freighter, the SS Mont-Blanc, was carrying wartime explosives. Shortly after the collision, a fire broke out on the Mont-Blanc causing a “cataclysmic explosion” that was deemed to be the largest man-made explosion prior to the development of nuclear weapons. The USS Old Colony had received little damage and was converted to a hospital ship to care for the estimated 9000 wounded.  My grandfather received a commendation for his work during the Halifax disaster.

Albert also served aboard the USS Wachusetts, a cargo ship sailing to Brest, France, to bring supplies to the US Army in 1918.  For his service aboard both the USS Old Colony and the USS Wachusetts, Albert Herman Pastoor was awarded the Victory Medal and Transport Clasp.

My grandfather reenlisted two more times, serving out the rest of his military career at the Naval Ammunitions Depot on Iona Island, New York. He was honorably discharged on December 17, 1922 with a rank of Boatswain's Mate Second Class. 

He left a legacy of which he could be proud. All three of his sons joined the military, his oldest serving during WWII.  Of his three grandsons, two have made careers in the military, both serving during peace and wartime.  

So this Veterans’ Day, I salute and honor my grandfather, Albert Herman Pastoor. I don’t know much about him, but what I do know makes me proud to be his granddaughter.

Bibliography

Compiled service record, Albert H. Pastoor personnel file, service no. 1521327, (discharged 1921); Official Military Personnel Files, World War I; Enlisted Personnel, 1885 - 1951, United States Navy; National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis; photocopies supplied by Center without citation.

Ebay. US WWI Victory medal with "TRANSPORT" clasp. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EXC-US-WWI-Victory-medal-with-TRANSPORT-clasp-hand-engraved-rim-/111032568835 : accessed 10 Nov 2013

Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. Ships of the Halifax Explosion. https://maritimemuseum.novascotia.ca/research/ships-halifax-explosion: accessed 10 Nov 2013

Reilly, Michael. Life in Brooklyn: 150 years in History. http://www.oocities.org/thereillyfamily/history.htm : 2006.

Thirteen WNET New York Public Media. History of Brooklyn - Early 20th Century. http://www.thirteen.org/brooklyn/history/history4.html : 2012.

Time: Disasters that Shook the World. New York City: Time Home Entertainment. 2012. p. 56.

New York. City of New York. Death Certificates. New York City Municipal Archives, New York City.

New York. Kings. 1900 U.S. census, population schedule. Digital images. Ancestry.com. http://www.ancestry.com : 2004.

New York. Kings. 1905 New York State Census, population schedule. Digital images. FamilySearch. http://familysearch.org : n.d.

New York. Kings, Brooklyn. Birth Certificates. New York City Municipal Archives, New York City.

New York. Kings Park State Hospital. Death Certificates. Town of Smithtown, Smithtown.