But Everyone's Tree Uses That Date!

Since I only rely on the various family trees on Ancestry and other sites as potential clues I often come across "challenges" where the information that I uncover in my research when reviewing the records conflicts with those trees. Such is the case for Theresa Schoenberger.

My own connection to the Schoenberger line is via a marriage to a 1st cousin once removed. I'm researching this branch for two reasons. The first is that my cousin asked me to look into the line of her father, and second, to expand my own research knowledge and skills. This means I really don't have any information on the family so I really need to rely on the records to guide me in my research. I also don't have a large budget (OK, any budget) to work from since it is my personal research. This means that I will have to depend on indexes¹ for information when I can't locate digitized records online.

This is an example of one of the more comprehensive tree hints from Ancestry for the family of Theresa Schoenberger.

Screen capture of an Ancestry.com tree hint for Theresa Schoenberger.

This hint looks OK. The use of "Bohemia, Czeckoslovakia" is not quite right since in 1850 there was no Czechoslovakia but instead Bohemia was a kingdom within the Austria-Hungarian empire.

However, as I started looking at this person and the family I came across some very interesting discrepancies all due to reviewing the digitized records from New York City that are available for viewing at your local Family History Center.

The first difference that threw me for a loop was found in the marriage registration for Nathan Weil and Theresa Schoenberger.

Manhatten, New York County, Manhattan (New York City) marriage records, 1866-1937; index to all boroughs, 1866-1937, Certificates no. 3607-4600 1872: 3630, extract from Nathan L. Weil-Theresia Schönberger marriage registration; FHL microfilm 1,561,851.

As you can see, Theresa didn't believe that her mother was Pauline Pessel but Kotreuya Schok. This is a very similar name to the one that her brother Emil stated on his marriage registration. Could this mean that Moshe's first wife died and he remarried? That is a mystery I'm currently working on.

As for her father's forename, I was able to find his Connecticut probate file on Ancestry and there he wrote his name as "Moshe" and witnesses state his name was "Moses". Plus in census and city directories I've seen it written as "Morris" and "Moritz" So this variation of his forename on the marriage registration for Nathan Weil and Theresa Schoenberger is not unexpected.

Of course, just to make things interesting, she doesn't appear to sign her name as "Theresa". But since my expertise is not great in deciphering handwriting I'm not quite sure what she wrote.

Manhatten, New York County, Manhattan (New York City) marriage records, 1866-1937; index to all boroughs, 1866-1937, Certificates no. 3607-4600 1872: 3630, extract from Nathan L. Weil-Theresia Schönberger marriage registration, signature of the bride; FHL microfilm 1,561,851.

The next bit of confusion is the date of death for Theresa. In all the trees shown as hints on Ancestry they all state 27 Aug 1931. If all the trees say that then they must be right, correct?

Well, no. And the clue can be found in the picture used for the profile image for Theresa. It is a grave marker for Theresa Weil and it states that she died "Dec. 9, 1927". So either everyone's tree is wrong or the grave marker used as a profile image is for the wrong person.

Ancestry.com, digital images (www.ancestry.com  : accessed 28 Mar 2019), image of grave marker for Theresa Weil, died 9 Dec 1927, originally shared by JeffB on 11 Nov 2018.

We need to dig a bit deeper into this mystery of the discrepancy between the death dates.

It seems that the trees given as hints on Ancestry all point to each other or they point to the "New York, New York, Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948" for a Theresa H Weil that died 27 Aug 1931.

"New York, New York, Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948," database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 Mar 2019), entry for Theresa H Weil, died 27 Aug 1931; citing the Index to New York City Deaths 1862-1948. Indices prepared by the Italian Genealogical Group and the German Genealogy Group.

However, if you search that same database on Ancestry for a death of a Theresa Weil that happened in 1927 you will come across this record.

"New York, New York, Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948," database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 Mar 2019), entry for Theresa Weil, died 9 Dec 1927; citing the Index to New York City Deaths 1862-1948. Indices prepared by the Italian Genealogical Group and the German Genealogy Group.

Do you think that this might be the right index record for our Theresa Weil?

A search on FamilySearch for a "Theresa Weil" that died in 1927 doesn't bring up anyone that seems to match the information but a search for "Theresa W??l"

"New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2W1T-1FG : 10 February 2018), Theresa Woil, 09 Dec 1927; citing Death, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 2,056,150.

Hmmm, this mother's and father's names look kind of similar to that recorded on the marriage registration. Even better, the GS film number, 2056150, is provided. I can use that number to search the FamilySearch catalogue to determine if I can view the image from which this index entry was created.

Screen capture from FamilySearch,org for GS Film Number 2056150 in the catalogue.

We are fortunately that a number of the death records for New York City have been digitized and made available through FamilySearch. Unfortunately, as you can see from the screen capture above with the key above the camera icon, you can't access those images from home. However, if you have a Family History Center nearby like I do then you can see and download those images from there. Here is part of the death record for the Theresa Weil that died on 9 Dec 1927:

New York, New York County, New York,  "Death certificates (Manhattan, New York), 1919-1948," (Municipal Archives, New York), [Vol. 55-56], cert. no. 27001, Maria Cannon, Dec. 3, 1927 - cert. no. 28000, Anna Markowitz, Dec. 17, 1927, Theresa Weil, cert no. 27474; FHL microfilm 2,056,150.

But how do we know that this is our Theresa? Keep in mind that Theresa didn't provide the details but one of her children probably gave the information to the registrar. From my perspective the father's name looks right, same with the mother's name. Her age is wrong based on census and marriage records but that isn't too unusual. Without looking up my own mother's record in my database, I don't know how old she is! As for the address of 242 East 69th Street, her son Theodore was living there in the 1920 census so it is not unlikely that she might have been living with her son at that place in 1927 since her husband had died in 1893 and she was a widow.

I did check the other death registration for the Theresa H Weil that died in 1931 and that person didn't match the details I had for my Theresa (nee Schoenberger) Weil.

After all that here are today's lessons:

1. Don't ignore what is on an image of a grave marker since it may provide a valuable clue².
2. Always make an effort to view the document pointed to by an index.
3. Online trees are a source of clues but not gospel when it comes to accuracy. Always verify what is stated.

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1. I know, I know. Indexes are only pointers to records so I really should be purchasing the records or visiting the town record halls and archives but with no budget the index information gets added to an ever lengthening to-do list. When I can afford it, I can use the to-do list to determine which records I need to purchase to verify the details recorded in the indexes.
2. See my post "Zombies in the census?" for why you can't necessarily trust grave markers either.