Dick's Genealogy & History Corner

Many years ago I ordered the death certificate for my great grandfather, Melvin Halsey, who died in 1920 in a town about one mile south of the New York – Pennsylvania border. It had hardly any information except that he was buried in the Rosstown Cemetery about ¼ mile north of the border in Southport, NY. I wrote to the Town Historian to ask if she had any information. She had a list of tombstones but Melvin wasn’t listed. I wasn’t surprised as Melvin died in debt and his tiny farm was auctioned off and still didn’t pay off all his bills.

It was at least 10 years before I decided to go to the Rosstown Cemetery and see if I could find a tombstone. The cemetery is the woods and it isn’t mowed nor kept up at all. I did the best search possible but did not find his stone. Again, he died in debt, so he probably never had a tombstone.  Then the GenWeb site put online 65 tombstones in the cemetery and in 2000 added a list of 45 people buried in that cemetery without tombstones that came from old newspaper obits. That GenWeb is one of three counties run by Joyce Tice who now has 17,000 web pages online for Bradford County, PA, Tioga Co., PA and Chemung Co., NY.

Just recently, the Fulton History website added a couple of newspapers from Elmira, NY. In there I found an obit for Laura B. Halsey, she is my great grandfather third wife. Her obit said she was buried in the Rosstown Cemetery. Also on that website I found an obit Laura’s mother, Nina (Culver) Comfort. She too is buried in the Rosstown Cemetery. That means at least 45% of the burials in that tiny cemetery don’t have tombstones. I’m sure that there are other rural cemeteries that are similar. Is it any wonder that you may not find a tombstone for someone no matter how hard you search?

Did you miss the first episode of the PBS series Faces of America? Or do you want to see it again? Then you can see the whole episode by going to this link.  You can also just watch parts if you don’t want to watch the whole episode at once.

This is your last notice! This Wednesday is the first of a four part series, Faces of America hosted by Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates. He uses genealogy and DNA to explore the ancestors of 12 celebrities. Those profiled are:

• Professor and poet Elizabeth Alexander
• Chef Mario Batali
• Comedian Stephen Colbert
• Novelist Louise Erdrich
• Journalist Malcolm Gladwell
• Actress Eva Longoria
• Musician Yo-Yo Ma
• Director Mike Nichols
• Her Majesty Queen Noor
• Television host/heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz
• Actress Meryl Streep
• Figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi

The programs airs in Rochester on WXXI at 8p.m. on Wednesday; elsewhere check your local schedule.

While doing a recent research project I ended up at the Rush Rhees Library at the University of Rochester. I tried to find the book in the stacks but it wasn’t there. I went for assistance to the reference librarian. She figured out that the book wasn’t in the library but was in their new annex. The annex is off campus in Henrietta. I had to make a phone call to make an appointment as the annex doesn’t allow walk-ins. It is in an old warehouse on West Henrietta Road and is stacked floor to a 16 foot ceiling with the overflow of books. It was apparent that they don’t get many visitors. The Rush Rhees Library has been running out of space for years. Creating the annex and placing books that are very old and don’t get much use will help make more space available for the always increasing collection at Rush Rhees.

As I mentioned in the previous post, the first law in New York State that dealt with adoptions was passed until 1873. The entire law is over here on Bastard Nation an adoptee rights website. Important parts of the law are that both adopting spouses must agree to adopt a child. If a birth parent is living, they must agree to the adoption. If the child is over age 12 then the child must agree to be adopted. Also, the adopted child did NOT have the right to inherit from their adopted parents. The adopted child did get the right to inherit at some time before 1900 but I can’t find any reference to the exact date.

I have another web page that I originally listed as private vital records that I now can tell that it is an index to other extracted adoption records from 1860 to 1917. I still am not able to say where these records came from under an agreement with the record holder. I will also send all the information I have from these records upon email request (except to tell where they came from). These approximately 1000 records show that were other organizations in the Rochester area that placed out children. There is a famous organization in New York City called the Children’s Aid Society. They are famous as the organization that had “Orphan Trains” that sent orphans from NYC on trains to the west. There was also a Children’s Aid Society of Rochester that was organized in 1895. I am not sure if they were affiliated with organization in NYC but I don’t think so. I have approx. 150 adoption records for this organization although these records usually don’t list birth parents names. This organization existed until after 1930.

Church Home of the Protestant Episcopal Church on Mt. Hope Ave. was organized in 1868. They were usually referred to as a place for older women. I have a few records mentioning that they did do a few adoptions in the early 1900s but the number was probably never more than a handful of adoptions. The organization still exists on Mt. Hope as Episcopal SeniorLife Communities.

Finally the Rochester Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was formed in 1875 and worked to improve the life of children. In some cases, when they found a child in a terrible condition, they would end up with a child to care for. The number of adoptions done by the organization was probably less than a dozen. More probable is that they sent children to other larger organizations.

Child labor laws in the early 1900s finally put an end to the indenturing children. In the early 1920s New York State passed laws stating that organizations doing adoptions had to be licensed. That put an end to smaller organizations doing adoptions.

After I extracted adoption records, the question came up if the children were listed in the New York State Vital Record Index under their birth name or their adopted name. I just picked 8 children to look up and found 5 under their birth name and couldn’t find the other 3 under either name. Other sources including the NY State Department of Health website would make you believe that all birth records of adoptees have been been amended so that the indexed births would be listed under the adopted name. Further research on the web helped to understand how changes in laws effected adopted children. In 1924 a law was passed that said a judge COULD seal adoption records at his own discretion but it was 1935 when New York State sealed all adoption records. Then in 1936 the State passed a law that would amend birth certificates after an adoption.

New York State does offer an adoption registry and adoptees can get “non-identifying information about your birth parents even if they do not register with the Adoption Registry or consent to sharing.” If the adoptee and the birth parents are both registered, they can get current names and addresses. Otherwise, getting information from the State is currently impossible.

I have been working on extracting Rochester, NY area adoption records from the 19th century since last August. In the process, I have learned a lot about adoptions in New York State and how orphans were treated. Plus, I have found that there were more organizations out placing orphans in the Rochester area than thought.

Orphans are defined as children that have lost both parents. I found very few children that don’t have any living parents. Instead, more common was that one parent has died or left the home and the remaining parent was unable to care for the child.

New York State didn’t pass a law dealing with adoptions until 1873. Before then adoptions were often more casual. If a parent could not longer take care of a child they would give the child to a relative or neighbor. If no provisions were made for a child, the child became the responsibility of the Overseer of the Poor for the Town that they lived in. His responsibility was to make sure that the child was not a public charge so it was important to place a child with a family even if temporarily.

As the number of orphaned children increased, it became more difficult to place all the children. At a meeting of women in Rochester on 28 February 1837 (the same Rochester became a City) they formed “The Rochester Female Association for the Relief of Orphan and Destitute Children.” They decided to incorporate and settled on calling the organization the “Rochester Orphan Asylum.” When the Asylum opened on 2 April 1837, it housed nine children in a small two-story cottage with a garden, on South Sophia Street. The Asylum moved to a new building in Hubbell Park on 9 April 1844. I have had records of the Asylum for 1837 – 1839 online for about 8 years. The number of children in the Asylum grew rapidly and by 1850 the census shows about 75 children in residence. But those numbers only tell part of the story. The records of the Asylum were given to the University of Rochester and they are in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Department of the Rush Rhees Library (see a description of the collection). The early Admission Records show many children being left at the Asylum and being picked up at a later time by a parent. Those Admission Records also indicate that whoever left the child at the Asylum was expected to pay board. After a time when no board had been paid the Asylum could place out the child. Also some parents when leaving their children would sign them over to the Asylum. They too could be placed out. There are some Admission Records stating that the Overseer of the Poor had brought a child to the Asylum but they are rare.

The Asylum would place out children as either an adopted child or as a servant (or later as an apprentice). Some children were placed out on trial and returned later and then placed out again. After a while, the Asylum and the new parent(s) (or Master) would enter into an Indenture of the child. The Indenture said that the child was expected to be honest, obedient and behave. In turn, the parent had to give the child room, board and clothing. The child was also supposed to be given an education and also some training if indentured as a servant. When the child was of age, which was normally 18 for girls and 21 for boys, they were to receive a Bible and sometimes a new set of clothing. There are a few records of children being returned to the Asylum for being mistreated. I have indexed the indentures from a record book for the years 1837 to 1906 and created a new web page with that index.  A restriction from the University of Rochester (the current holder of the records) wouldn’t allow me to post the records but I will sent via email the record from the indenture book. One thing that amazed me was children that were adopted out of state even at an early date. For example, two children were adopted (as servants) by a man from Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1840. It makes me wonder how and why he got the children from Rochester and not someplace closer to his home.

I did post the entire records of burials from the Asylum from 1838 to 1905. Those records show that only a very small percentage of children died at the Asylum. The Asylum surely took good care of the children in their care.

The Asylum moved to their present site on Monroe Avenue in the early 1900s and they changed the name of the organization to Hillside Home for Children in 1921 and Hillside Children’s Center in 1940. I know that someone will ask about later records. Yes, there are registers of children admitted up to Feb. 1945 in the collection at the University of Rochester. And you can see those records by appointment with the Rare Books Department of the Rush Rhees Library at U. of R.

The Catholics had three small orphanages. St. Joseph’s German Orphan Asylum, near St. Joseph’s Church, was formed in 1863; St. Mary’s Boys’ Orphan Asylum was formed in 1864 and had a home at or near St. Mary’s Hospital; and, St. Patrick’s Orphan Girls Asylum was incorporated about 1900. All three merged in 1942 to form St. Joseph’s Villa, which is located on Dewey Avenue in the Town of Greece. The records of St. Patrick’s and St. Mary’s Asylum are at St. Joseph’s Villa, 3300 Dewey Ave., Rochester, NY 14616. The records for St. Joseph’s Asylum ended up at Catholic Family Center, 87 N. Clinton Ave., Rochester, NY 14604. I haven’t heard of anyone getting any data from either organization. If I am wrong please tell me by adding a comment. Another organization; Sisters of Mercy, Industrial School (AKA Rochester Benevolent and Scientific and Industrial School of the Sister of Mercy) was in existence by 1897 to at least 1907 and was primarily a school. They did do a very few adoptions.

For Jewish orphans there were two orphanages. The Jewish Orphan Asylum of Western NY was organized in 1877 and located on North St. Paul Street. It closed in 1928. It is not known what happen to the records of this organization. The second Jewish orphanage was the Jewish Children’s Home. It opened its doors in 1914 for Orthodox Jewish children. It closed in 1947. The admission records are at the Rare Books, Manuscripts and Archives Department of the Rush-Rhees Library at the University of Rochester. Supposedly for the entire existence of the organization there were only 341 admissions.

Continued in next post.

A lot of other blogs are carrying news of an official website for the NBC series “Who Do You Think You Are?” I can also add that I saw a promo for the series this morning during the Today Show. That means that NBC has some confidence in the series.

Rochester Historical Society re-opens their museum in the Rundel building in downtown Rochester on Feb. 16th. Formerly the Society had been located in “Woodside,” their home on East Avenue. Woodside was sold in 2008 and the Society has been setting up space for their vast museum collection in the Rochester Public Library’s Rundel building.  There is a good article on the Democrat & Chronicle website about the collection and a couple of pictures.

Admission price will be $3 ($5 for families or for archive use). They are open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday.