I had finally found the first real hint as to who Jennie Van Buren's adoptive father had been. In her scrapbook were those 2 newspaper clippings referring to his death. The only problem was, I had no idea where or when he had died! So what does every good genealogist do when she has only one, tiny clue? She casts a wide net and hopes for the best!
Late that night, I gathered my thoughts. From the obituary, I knew that James Van Buren died at the age of 76. The obituary mentioned that he had not been engaged in business for a long time. He had been an elected official as late as 1873. Jennie married Arthur in 1877. Assuming that James died after Jennie got married, and guessing that he had been in his fifties and sixties when he was an elected official, I estimated that he had been born between 1810 and 1820. That is the wide net I cast: I searched on www.ancestry.com for a James Van Buren, born in 1815, plus or minus 10 years.
The initial search results:
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| Search results for James Van Buren, born 1815 +/- 10 years www.ancestry.com |
The first result in New Jersey was interesting, but I decided to skip it as soon as I glanced at the second result. Buffalo, New York! This is where my mother thought Jennie and Arthur might have been married!
This is what came up when I clicked on the result:
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| 1880 US Federal Census result for James Van Buren in Buffalo, NY www.ancestry.com |
Now this was interesting! James was born in New York, and so was his wife, Sarah, on closer inspection. This was A LOT of New York! Oh, how I loved New York all of a sudden! This was one of the states where I had tried to find a birth record for Jennie. And the birth year for James was about 1811, close to what I had estimated. There was definite potential here!!!
In 1880, Jennie was already married and living in Ohio, so it didn't worry me that she wasn't listed with James Van Buren in Buffalo then. I started taking furious notes and was suddenly wide awake, despite the late hour. I decided the next step should be to look for James Van Buren in the 1870 census, to see if Jennie was with him then. But before I started a new search, I decided to look at the scan of the 1880 original, just to make sure I hadn't missing anything.
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| Year: 1880; Census Place: Buffalo, Erie, New York; Roll: 831; Family History Film: 1254831; Page: 32C; Enumeration District: 159; Image: 0066 Accessed on www.ancestry.com |
This was a really big household! And then I realized - this was a boarding house. A boarding house run by James and Sarah Van Buren. Immediately, the word "hostess" sprang to mind. Was is possible that Jennie had indeed been a hostess? Not for Martin Van Buren, but for James?
The address of this boarding house was 192 Franklin Street, Buffalo. This is what it looks like today:
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| Buffalo Academy of Science Charter School, Buffalo New York www.googlemaps.com |
The school's address is 190 Franklin Street. Number 192 was where part of the building and the parking lot now are. Too bad!
Finding this boarding house was exciting! I started counting all of the boarders who were living with the Van Burens in 1880. 14 boarders and 2 servants lived with them. It must have been a very large house! I was fascinated with this large household. And then.....I saw it. Why hadn't I noticed it right away? Right under Van Buren, Sarah J was:
Avery, George W, age 32, Boarder, born in New York
'' , George N, age 5, Boarder, born in New York
Avery. This was the potential maiden name of Jennie's mother. And here that name was, written right underneath James' and his wife's names....... my head was spinning. It was all starting to come together, and suddenly I had so many leads to track! Were these older and younger Georges related to James or Sarah? I suspected the answer, but didn't want to jump to conclusions. I knew the first thing I needed to do was look at the 1870 census.
This time, I had more parameters for my search. I had an approximate birth year and a city. I searched the 1870 US Federal Census for James Van Buren, born 1811 +/- 2 years in Buffalo, New York.
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| Search results for James Van Buren in the 1870 census. www.ancestry.com |
This was not result I had expected....but fear not! I remembered from my Martin Van Buren research that his last name was often spelled all in one, as in "Vanburen". A quick edit of the search, and Bingo!
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| Search results for James Vanburen in the 1870 census www.ancestry.com |
I could hardly stand it. This next click might be the breakthrough. I selected the first search result: James Vanburen in Buffalo Ward 9, Erie, New York. I was desperately hoping to find a girl named Jennie who was 13 years old. She was my 2nd great-grandmother. Part of me didn't want to click on the result, for fear of being disappointed. But that would have been silly. Momentary hesitation overcome, I clicked on the top result:
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| 1870 Census search result for James Vanburen www.ancestry.com |
I looked at the laptop screen and screamed. My cat who was sleeping next to me hissed and ran off. The dogs started barking. I jumped up from my chair. The kids were asleep upstairs, but I didn't really care if I woke them up. I needed to share this with someone, but it was 2 in the morning.
There, after James, Sarah, Libbie, Edward, Henrietta, and before George, was
Jenny.
Sly.
13 years old.
I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep at all that night. More than anything I wished my Grandpa Arthur could have been there to see it. I had just found his grandmother in the 1870 Federal Census.
Congrats! Good sleuthing.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'm in tears.
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