GREGOIRE: 1920 U.S. Census/Nellie Marries

On the 1920 U.S. Census, Maurice and his sister Nellie were enumerated two times, at two different addresses.

They appear living with Octave on Nott Avenue in Queens, when in fact Maurice was living on Burke Avenue with his wife Lillian and daughter Eleanor, and Nellie was living at 40 Gramercy Park in Manhattan.

A portion of the 1920 U.S. Census showing the Gregoire family, including Maurice
and Nellie, living at 172 Nott Ave., Long Island City, Queens NY, with Octave,

Charlotte, and Margo.

Here is the 1920 U.S. Census showing Maurice, Lillian and Eleanor at 654 Burke Ave. in the Bronx.  The last name was written incorrectly by the enumerator:  "Gregrre."  Just above Maurice, you can see that the Soldati's were living there also, although Victor's last name was recorded as "Gregrre" also.  

The Gregoire's and Soldati's (Victor and family with the wrong last name) on the
the 1920 U.S. Census, living at 654 Burke Ave., in the Bronx.

There must have been a misunderstanding on someone's part.  Octave or Charlotte didn't understand the question, or the enumerator didn't understand the answer.

Nellie Gregoire on the 1920 U.S. Census living at 40 Gramercy Park in Manhattan
working as a "Clerk" in "Cotton Goods."  She is listed as a "Lodger", on Line 24.

Nellie married this year, to Rudolph  Vincent Hirten.  The marriage license was granted on May 27 in New York City.  The information on it shows that Nellie's full name is Helen Marie, and that she was born in "Roux Hubes" Belgium.  I don't know what "Hubes" signifies, and research on-line hasn't revealed anything.

Marriage License abstract for Helen M. "Nellie" Gregoire and Rudolph Hirten from
ancestry.com.

Helen and Rudolph were married on June 23, 1920 in St. Ann's Church, which is shown on the marriage certificate.

Marriage Certificate for Helen M. "Nellie" Gregoire and
Rudolph Vincent Hirten from the New York City Municipal 
Archives.

Marriage Affidavit for Helen M. "Nellie" Gregoire and Rudolph
Vincent Hirten from New York City Minicipal Archives.

GREGOIRE: 1917 - 1918 - Eleanor and Margo are Born/Maurice Registers for Draft/Cammeyer Shoe Store Ad

 On May 31, 1917 Maurice and Lillian welcomed their first child, Eleanor.  I do not have a birth certificate yet, but Eleanor is shown in the New York City Birth Index.

Eleanor Gregoire in New York City Birth Index
found on ancestry.com.  Her first name was spelled 
incorrectly.

 And Octave and Charlotte welcomed their first and only child, Marguerite, known as "Margo."  I have not verified her birth date yet, but I think that she is listed on the New York City Birth Index also in 1917, with her first and last names misspelled.  The date of Oct.24, 1917 appears on later documents for Margo, which I'll post at a later date.                                                         

Margo Gregoire, possibly, in the New York City Birth
Index from ancestry.com.  If it is her, both names are
misspelled.

Also in 1917, Maurice registered for the draft.  He noted on the cards that he is "an alien" which sounds pretty funny, but of course it refers to his citizenship, since he has not yet been naturalized.  He is living at 328 W.25 St., working as a "Saleman" at Cammeyer on W. 34 St., he lists his dependents as his "Father, Wife, and 1Girl - 5dy."  Those labels would refer to Octave, Lillian, and Eleanor.  It's notable that he listed his father as a dependent, but further down on the form he claims an exemption because he has a wife and child (only.)  This form was completed on June 5, 1917.

World War I Draft Cards for Maurice G. Gregoire, completed on June 5, 1917.

The address on the card has been crossed out, and some numbers written above it to the left.  I am not sure if that means he moved after registering, or what happened there.  

A newspaper ad for Cammeyer Shoe Store on 34th St., where
Maurice G. Gregoire was working as a Salesman in 1917.  From
"The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, New York, September 22, 1918" found
on newspapers.com.

The page on which the Cammeyer ad is placed in The
Brooklyn Daily Eagle September 22, 1918, from 
newspapers.com.

GREGOIRE: Octave Reapplies for Citizenship 1916/Maurice G. and Lillian Marry

 For some reason that is not indicated in the available documentation, thus  far, Octave completed a second "Declaration of Intention", part of the process of obtaining citizenship at that time. This one is dated Jul. 10 1916, and contains the same basic information as the first one from 1908, except that his address is different, and he has stated that he arrived on the SS Finland on Oct.9, 1907 rather than the SS Zeeland on Oct. 8, 1907.  We've seen on the ship manifest for the Zeeland Oct.8 that he did arrive on that ship.

Declaration of Intent dated Jul.10 1916 for Octave Gregoire,
from ancestry.com.

Note that in the upper right hand corner of the document, a stamp says "DUPLICATE JUL 8 1921."  Not sure what that means exactly, but a later census shows that he became a citizen in 1921, so it had something to do with the final approval status most likely.

The biggest event of 1916 for the Gregoires was probably the marriage of Maurice G. to Lillian Soldati on June 4, 1916 in Manhattan.

Maurice and/or Lillian applied for their marriage license on May 9, 1916 in New York City.  Note that Lillian's names is spelled "Edelia P. Soldaty" - the name misspellings could be the clerk or Maurice if he went alone. 

Abstract of marriage license for Maurice G. Gregoire and Lillian Soldati, from
ancestry.com. 

The abstract of from the "Extracted Marriage Index" records the actual date of the marriage.

Abstract of marriage record for Maurice G. and Lillian Soldati, from ancestry.com.

Maurice Ghislain Gregoire and Ellelia Peregrina Soldati on 
their wedding day, June 4, 1916.  My grandmother used her 
"English" name Lilllian usually.  

Gregoire: 1915 New York State Census

In 1915, Octave was living at 336 E. 18th Street, in New York City.  This is near Gramercy Park, and may be part of it, but I'll need to research that more at a later date.  

On the New York State Census, his occupation is listed as "Electrician."

He is living with Charlotte, noted on the census as "Wife," as well as his son Maurice and daughter Nellie.  Maurice's age on the census is incorrect - he would have been 23 years old in 1915, not 33.  Maurice was working as "Salesman Shoes" and Nellie as "Clerk Emp. Agency."  That abbreviation "Emp." might stand for "Employment."

Portion of the New York State Census for 1915 showing Octave Gregoire and family
from ancestry.com.

I haven't found evidence on-line of a marriage for Octave and Charlotte.   Charlotte's birthplace is shown on this census as France, but in fact I believe that she was born in French Guiana, South America.  Her birthplace is noted in her obituary printed in the Asbury Park [NJ] Press on Jul.15, 1968.

My mother Eleanor didn't know her biological paternal grandmother because Laure died before she was born, but she did know Charlotte, and always spoke of her with fondness.  "We called her 'Grandma-MA,' because that's how she taught us to say it.  She was from Martinique - she had a beautiful French accent!"  

I believe that Charlotte was born in French Guiana about 1892.  She lived a portion of her life in Martinique, details unknown, based on family information.  I am pretty sure that she emigrated to the U.S. from Martinique in 1912, when she was 20 years old, based on information gleaned from some tentative research.   

I searched for all passengers coming into New York from French Guiana in 1912, the immigration year noted for Charlotte in her obituary, who had the first name "Charlotte."  There weren't many at all with that name.  The Parima came up, showing a departure from Martinique on Apr.10 1912.   The manifest  listed one Charlotte - "Lecossois, Charlotte."  The Parima arrived in New York on Apr. 19, 1912.

Passenger manifest of the SS Parima, sailing from Martinique on Aug. 10, 1892
showing Charlotte possibly with the last name Lecossois.  From ancestry.com.

Abstract of Charlotte Lecossois on the passenger manifest of the SS Parima, which
arrived in New York on Apr.19 1912 from Martinique.  The transcriber typed 
Charlotte's "Ethnicity/Nationality" as Italian, but on the original document, it's noted
as "French West Indian."

GREGOIRE: 1913 - BACK IN NEW YORK CITY

Sometime between the enumeration of the 1910 U.S. Census, which shows that the Gregoires were living in Point Marion, PA, and 1913, the family moved back to New York City.  I don't think we'll ever know why they moved.  The glass works laid off people, they missed their relatives - there are many possibilities.  One of those possibilities could be that Laure was ill.

She  passed away Jan. 8, 1913, as noted in the abstract of her death certificate found on FamilySearch.org.  On Jan.10 she was buried at Calvary Cemetery.  Hopefully soon I'll send away for her death certificate, and find out more details.  I am putting her name on my "Places to visit on Long Island" list for my next trip up there.  I have been to Calvary Cemetery, in Queens, before:  to visit my paternal grandmother's grave.  Having navigated the traffic and roads of that very congested area already, I am more confident of visiting!  

Abstract of Laure Jamain Gregoire's death certificate, from FamilySearch.org.

SEPIA SATURDAY: "CROWD..."

 This week's photo prompt at Sepia Saturday is "Crowd at a Football Match."  The closest I have to a public crowd  is this image of my parents, younger brother and myself in a bleacher crowd.  What the event was, I don't know.  I don't have any memory of sitting in the bleachers on that sunny day.  My brother who is two years older probably took the picture because I know he was with us. (He doesn't want to be on public media, so I won't mention his name or include him in any pictures.)

It might have been taken during our trip to Philadelphia PA in the summer of 1965, but wherever it was taken it is a wonderful example of the styles at the time, from my father's hat to my mother's cat-eye glasses and her scarf and hat combo.  The lady in back of us seems very interested in my brother taking the picture!

In this picture with my younger brother Jerry, I look very similar to my image in the bleacher picture, so I'm guessing it was taken on the same trip.  But still not sure where we are.  I thought this might be Mt. Vernon, but Wendy of Jollett etc. told me, "No."  And she lives in Virginia.  It must have been another historic site in Philly.

But this scene I remember very well, in a photo taken in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia.  I remember it because after we had toured the Hall, my father told me "Go stand by the guide.  I want to take a picture."  In my mind, I thought, "Noooo!"  I was ten years old, and very self-conscious about doing things out of the ordinary in public.  Nobody else was having pictures taken with her.  There was no arguing with my father however.  I dutifully stood in place, holding my ditty bag purse which was all the rage then in my neck of the woods, and barely managing a smile.  I'm laughing now at the position of my arm, contorted in angst, as I was thinking, "Oh please hurry up  Dad, everybody's LOOKING AT ME!!!  I'M DYIN' HERE!!"

Here again I think I look similar to the other two photos, and we have a date to clue us in:  the infamous "long after the actual date photo development stamp" which shows that the film was developed in Feb of 1966, during the winter, contrasting with the summer clothes.  And I have lots of photos of that year showing my hair at shoulder-length.

So there we are, amidst the crowds at Philadelphia, with me being mortified, Mt Vernon perhaps, and bleacher in an unknown place, which last phrase could be the title of an Outer Limits episode.

Gregoire: In Point Marion PA 1910

Sometime between July of 1908 and 2-3 May 1910,  when the U.S. Census was enumerated in Point Marion, Fayette County, PA, Octave and Laure, and their children had moved to this town at the junction of the Monongahela and Cheat Rivers.

A 1902 illustration of Point Marion, Fayette County PA from
the Library of Congress.

Here there were glass factories.  Octave or someone in the household tells the enumerator that he works at a "Glass Works" as a "Lehr Tender."  

Portion of the 1910 U.S. Census for Point Marion, Fayette County, PA found on
ancestry.com, showing the Gregoires.  

A lehr tender, as I understand from my research thus far, watches over the lehr oven, in which the newly blown glass is placed to anneal, or strengthen.  The temperature must be maintained for heat and cold during the annealing process.  

The abstract of the above census information for the Gregoires shows that Octave worked as a "Bar Tender," which I believe is a transcription error.  I was able to look closely at and compare the way that the enumerator wrote "B's" and "L's" on the rest of the page, and am satisfied that he wrote "Lehr" not "Bar" Tender.  I submitted a correction to ancestry.com but they haven't corrected it yet.  Lehr is certainly an unusual word if you are not working in the glass industry.

  He was responsible for maintaining the temperature in the lehr oven, to ensure that the glass cooled evenly.  

Maurice was also working at the glass works as a "snapper."

Laura was keeping house for the family, and Nellie was attending school.  On this census, Nellie is recorded as "Nitaly."

Octave hasn't become a citizen yet - "papers" noted on the census probably refers to the fact that he has submitted them, and is waiting to hear.

Gregoire: Octave's First Declaration of Intent

 To begin the process of becoming a U.S. citizen, Octave completed a "Declaration of Intention," signing it in the presence of the Clerk of the Southern District Court in New York City.  Laure would not have submitted this form for herself.  Until 1922, women became citizens through their husband's citizenship.

Octave Gregoire's Declaration of
Intent, dated Jul.21, 1908, from 
ancestry.com.

The document shows that his address was "150 - 6- 21st St., New York City."  This is near to Gramercy Park, but I don't think it's part of it.  It gets a bit confusing because some of the Gramercy Park addresses are actually on the numbered streets surrounding the park.  So I need to do some more research on the area of New York.

Octave has listed his occupation as "Engineer."  His arrival date shows as Oct.7, not Oct. 8.  We  go with the customs form on that date, which was the eighth.  As you go through the documents for the ancestors, you  find that the dates vary often, as well as spellings for names of places and people.  Memory, hearing, spelling ability all affected how this information was recorded.  

GREGOIRE: 40 Gramercy Park Purchased by Leon Jamain

Leon Jamain, Laure Jamain Gregoire's brother, purchased 40 Gramercy Park in 1909, as reported in the New York Sun on Dec. 8 1909:

List of New York City real estate transactions in the

New York Sun Dec.8 1909 showing the purchase of

40 Gramercy Park by Leon Jamain.  From the Library

of Congress.

                                                 

Gregoire: In New York City

 Finding Emile Godissart listed as Octave’s brother-in-law, his contact, on the U.S. Customs form for Oct.8, 1907, opened up the Jamain family line as well as the Godissart.  I hadn’t planned on researching collateral lines yet, but here they were.  How could I resist?

Octave Gregoire’s wife, Laure Jamain, was already known to me, from their marriage record [link here], and from the same source, her parents, Lucien Jamain and Marie Josephine Marchelart.   But the name Godissart was new to me. I found that Laure's sister Jean married Emile. More about that later.  

For now, I will explain Leon, because he at one time owned 40 Gramercy Park in New York City, where Octave and his family probably stayed when they first arrived.

I first found him in the State and Federal Naturalization Records held at the National Archives, and published on ancestry.com.  This was his  “Declaration” to become a citizen, as noted in the abstract.  It shows that he was born in 1872 in Belgium and that he arrived in the U.S. on Mar.15 1901.  This form, filed in the Southern District Court of New York, is dated June 17 1902.  He was living at 47 E. 9th St., with no city recorded, but it probably was New York. As luck would have it, Emile Godissart's Declaration is directly above it, dated the same day.

Declarations of Emile Godissart (top) and Leon Jamain in the

                                            U.S. District Court, New York, showing the same address for both men.

                                                  

Then Leon is enumerated on the 1905 New York State Census, living at 40 Gramercy Park.  On the line for “Occupation” there is a firm “X” written in, indicating something, but I’m not sure what.  Living with him are his sister “_____ Jodissart”, that must be Jean; a “Mistress” Rossana Ester (as the transcriber typed it for the abstract,) originally from Sweden; his mother Josephine Machelart, a brother Grude Jamain, also 30 years old.  Then follows a list of boarders interspersed with two maids.  The "X" might be there to signify that he is the superintendent of the building. More research needed here; I am interested to find out why the term "Mistress" was used to identify Ester Rossana, among other interesting tidbits.

    

   Leon Jamain on the New York State Census 1905, living at 40 Gramercy Park, New York City.  From     ancestry.com.

SEPIA SATURDAY: "Three [Little] Men"

 On Sepia Saturday today, the posted prompt suggests the theme of  "Three Men," and I have that, but they're "Little Men."  

Here they are, my three oldest brothers, sitting on an old wheelbarrow, and as the caption describes, they are Dennis, Dan, and Mike (L-R.)  I would know that yard anywhere:  it was the backyard of my great-aunt and uncle's house, on the south shore of Long Island, NY.  The road that they lived on led down to the Great South Bay, and the house was on a canal dug in from the Bay.  In 1947, my parents were living in the Bronx, and often visited Tante and Uncle Peter.  In the 1950's, the family moved to within a mile of them, and three more children were born (including me) so I visited too.  

The house was a cottage style, with one story.  Behind the boys are the windows of the back closed-in porch.  On the left is the door to the garage.  We usually ate on the back porch, at a table set under the windows.

Uncle Peter kept his cabin cruiser moored in the canal.  He also had wooden killi traps in the water, tied to the deck, and my younger brothers and I checked them the first thing when we arrived for a visit, hauling them up from the water to see how many had been caught.  The little fish were used as bait for fishing.

 We had many happy visits there until Tante and Uncle Peter sold the house and moved to Florida in the 1970's.  

GREGOIRE 1900's: Arrival at Ellis Island 1907

 So, here are Octave and Laure, and their two children, arrived at Ellis Island in New York on Oct.8 1907.  (They couldn't imagine that exactly 50 years later, on that date, their great-grandson Gerard would be born on Long Island!)  They had sailed from Antwerp, Belgium on Sep.28 on the SS Zeeland of the Red Star Line.  The ship actually arrived in New York on Oct.7, but was detained for quarantine inspection in the harbor, a normal procedure at that time.  Customs officials recorded their arrival as Oct.8.

                                             Red Star Line's SS Zeeland.  Photo: Ancestry.com

                                            A 4 1/8 x 2 1/4" card, part of a series about ports 

                                            around the world, undated, in the author's collect-

                                            ion.  Anvers is the French word for Antwerp.

                                            

                                            "Marine Intelligence" from the New York Times,

                                            showing that the Zeeland arrived at New York on

                                            Monday, Oct.7.

Now here they were, standing before the customs official, and answering questions.  A couple of those answers are surprising.

One of the family has told the official that Maurice is a "musician."  I know that my grandfather Maurice worked as a salesman and a window dresser in a shoe store, and then he worked for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company for many years.  I never knew him to work as a musician, or heard anyone talk about it.  He was only 14 years old when he arrived in New York, so it's curious that he was designated as a musician on the customs form.

The other outstanding fact is the address that Octave has provided, to fulfill the requirement of showing that they did have somewhere to go, so would not just be hanging out on the streets:  "40 Gramercy Park, New York City."  Gramercy Park was and still is a very toney neighborhood.  There has never been any story or even a suggestion that someone in the family was wealthy enough to live in Gramercy Park, so I was very surprised to see that address.

Octave indicated that his brother-in-law, "E. Godissart" lived there.  Laure Jamain Gregoire's sister, Jeanne Jamain, married Emile Godissart.  So Emile, at least, was living in Gramercy Park when the Gregoires arrived.  After some research I discovered that in 1907, while Gramercy Park did have a reputation for wealthy residents, there were still within it more modest residences, and it was in a such a boarding house at 40 Gramercy Park that Emile was living.  Octave and his family probably stayed there while they found a place for themselves.  There is more to the story of Gramercy Park:  Laure's brother Leon owned the boarding house at some point.  I'll be telling that story soon.

I didn't see that second page of the ship manifest for a long time after I'd researched the Gregoire's immigration, because I didn't realize that there was a second page of the manifest.  Ancestry doesn't show an abstract of it and I only found it when I pressed the arrow by mistake on the image viewer.  Good mistake!

One passenger on board the Zeeland was detained for questioning in the matter of embezzlement.  His name is not noted in the newspaper article, but there is no indication that it was my great-grandfather.  

                                        

So that's good...for now!

The Gregoire Story: 19th Century

 In the hamlet of Roux, province of Hainaut, Belgium, Octave Gregoire was born on July 7, at four o'clock in the morning.  His parents were Henri and Flore (Moreau) Grégoire.  They were 35 and 36 years old respectively.  (Note that the Belgian record shows an accent mark used in the surname;  this was dropped in the U.S. documents, and sporadically used in later Belgian records.)

Unbeknownst to Octave at this time, of course, on December 1 of this year his future wife would be born, about an hour south of Roux in Saint-Remy, Hainaut:  Laura Célinie Jamain.  

On June 6, 1891 Octave and Laure were married in Roux.  The civil record shows that at seven o'clock in the evening they appeared before the Alderman of the hamlet to be married.  (Church records in Belgium are not available as far as I understand at this time.  They are considered "private.")

Witnessing the marriage were his father Henri (his mother Flore had passed away on January 20th of that year;) Laure's mother Marie Josephine Machelart (Laure's father Lucien had died August 17 1890;)  Octave's brother Arthur, 31 years old, and Laure's two uncles Louis Machelart, 44 years old, and Alphonse Machelart, 41 years old, and Eudore Jacob, 51 years old, "friend of the groom."

      The hamlet of Roux, Hainaut, Belgium in an undated stereo-
scopic photo found on gettyimages.com.

Octave's military record was checked as part of his application to marry.  It is noted in the marriage record that he "...has complied with the laws on the national militia according to a certificate delivered by Mr. Governor of the province of Hainaut...the  twenty-second of the past month." 

The English translation of the certificate says that Octave had been "subject to the draft of 1888," and had drawn "number 101," and that this means that he fulfilled his military obligation.  I think it is saying that his number was not called up; just being in the draft was sufficient to fulfill the military obligation.

On Christmas Eve of 1892, Octave and Laure received a wonderful gift:  their son Maurice Henri Joseph Ghislain was born.  

It is interesting to note that Octave actually brought the newborn babe to the Mayor's office, as he himself had been carried there by his father.  This was common practice, a very tangible way of proving a birth.

Octave and Laure had a daughter also. Her birth record has yet to be found.  The folks at belgianancestry.weebly.com, a genealogy service in Antwerp, Belgium, did a search of the state archives for me, but found nothing.  She first shows up on the ship manifest of the SS Zeeland, when the family departed for the U.S. on Sept.28, 1907 from Antwerp.  In that record, her names is recorded as "Nelly", but in later documents such as U.S. census records, her name is usually spelled as "Nellie." And as an adult, she used the name "Helen."  

SEPIA SATURDAY: "Two Boys"

 "Two boys", my oldest brothers Mike (top) and Dennis, en route to the lake via slide.  One of my parents, probably, said, "Wait!  Let me take a picture," so they froze for a moment, and then proceeded on their gleeful way.

What lake they were sliding into is a mystery, but this photo is from a collection some of which are marked "Mt Lodge."  It was probably in upstate New York, perhaps in the Catskills, or the Adirondacks.  

Check out more photos of "Two Boys" at sepiasaturday.com.