The Arabian Coffee House, was in business in the early 1920’s in East Quogue, it starts as a simple business endeavor, but ends in tragedy. 

The Arabian Coffee House was owned by a F. M Faddool. The earliest advertisement appears in 1922 and the last in 1923. It seems to be a popular spot with locals throwing parties there. 

F.M Faddool does not appear on any census as living in East Quogue. There is a Farah M. Faddool living in Brooklyn (Kings) in 1915 with a wife and two daughters. He is listed as being a jeweler and has one servant.  He was born in Syria about 1881 and immigrated to the Untied Stated about 1904. He married his wife, Amelia Saleeby, also an immigrant from Syria, in 1909.

In 1918 our East Quogue F.M Faddool sells land on Main Street (also known as Merrick Road, in the 1920’s and Montauk Highway today) to Ernest Tooker for $1200. In November 1923, he sells more land to E. Tooker. This land is adjacent to E.F Post’s land that is also on the Main Street. 

In going through the records, numerous correlations were occurring between Farah M. Faddool jeweler and watchmaker from Brooklyn and  F. M. Faddool owner of the Arabian Coffee house in East Quogue. This was further confirmed when I found the naturalization record from his wife Amelia from 1935. She lists Farah as her husband and three daughters, Najla, Alexandria and Sommia. These names match the names of the children on the census for the Brooklyn Farah. What ties it together is that Sommia is listed as being born in East Quogue, where as her sisters were born in Brooklyn. On the 1930 census Sommia is listed as being 13 years old, that means, depending on when the census was taken, that her birthday is around 1917/1918 which is the same time we have F. M Faddool selling land to Ernest in East Quogue.
The Advertisements for the Arabian Coffee house are plentiful in 1922 and 1923, none appear in 1924. That would coincide with more land being sold to Ernest. 

Though the local columns were plentiful with information regarding the on goings of the town, no mention of the coffee house closing or being sold could be found. No mention the next spring of the location being reopened as something else could be found. Research is still ongoing. 

Back to our friend Farah, it seems in 1928/1929 Mr. Faddool thought it a good idea to visit his sister, Mary, in New Mexico. His sister was married to a Kelly Eddy who, together with his wife, owned a store in Capulin, New Mexico. It is not said exactly when Farah arrived in New Mexico, but by July he had been there for about 8 months, which means he may have arrived in town around December 1928. Mr. Eddy says that he and his wife were housing, feeding and clothing Mr. Faddool who had abandoned his wife and children in New York. This would seem to indicate that Mr. Faddool was not doing well financially. According to Mr. Eddy on July 5, 1929 he was trying to get into his automobile to drive to an attorney to start the process to dissolve the business he owned with his wife and split the assets because, according to him, she was giving money to her brother and her and her brother were planning on ‘getting him out of the way” so they could have all the money from the business. His account of that morning, is that his wife and her brother would not let him into his car, he went back into the store to get his jacket, when he was trying to leave the store Faddool had a rifle pointed at him, he then went to the back of the store and retrieved his revolver, when he got to the front of the store again Faddol was still there with the rifle pointed at his head, at this time he felt his life was threatened and shot Faddool and “accidently” shot his wife. 

 Well, Mr. Eddy was a good shot, he killed Faddool and landed his wife in surgery fighting for her life, with gunshot wounds to her arm and chest. She survives and when she tells her story, she says that the men were in the store when the shooting happened, but she was in her garden and that when she heard the shots she went running toward the house, but tripped over the wheel scale and fell to the ground. It was at that time her husband finds her laying on the ground and points the gun at her, she says she pleaded for her life and he looked around and fired the gun directly at her as she “lay on her face on the ground”.  Mary filed for divorce while still recovering from her injuries. Eddy was not charged in the murder of Farah, the District Attorney believed the self defense claim, saying there was not sufficient evidence of a murder, however he was charged with assault with intent to kill his wife Mary.

The last mention of the case in the newspapers was from December 1929 where the outcome of a sanity trial has Mr. Eddy going to the asylum in Vegas to be observed to see if he is fit to stand trial.  Farah’s wife and children continued to live in Brooklyn. According to mentions in the newspaper they all seemed smart and popular in their community.

 Mr. Farah Mahfouz Faddool is buried in Raton, New Mexico, Amelia Saleeby Faddool, Farah’s widow, died in New Jersey in 1974 and is buried in Hamburg, NJ. 

A The Brief History of Yetter and Moore
 
Franklin G. Yetter was born on July 25, 1863 to Salome (Rothermel) and John Yetter, both of whom had immigrated from Wurttemberg, Germany. They had at least eight children, Henry (1858); Mary (1869); Franklin (Frank G. 1863); Charles ( 1865); Charles (1868); Francis (1871); Christine (1873); Edward (1875). The first Charles, Francis and Edward all died as infants or young, Christine died when she was 15 years old. It was customary in those days, when a family had a name they wanted to use, or, if it was a family name, to give it to more than one child if the first did not live past infant stage. There also could have been other pregnancies. Sometimes, when there are large families with gaps of years in between children, it could mean lost pregnancy or another infant that did not survive. Frank G. was married twice. His first wife was Vera Terry, daughter of Captain James Terry. They wed on December 16 1885. They had two sons. Frank Woodward who was born in April 1888 and their other son only lived a short time, he died as a infant on April 23, 1892. Vera, unfortunately, passed away only three days later on April 26, 1892. It is possible that since there was no name noted of the newborn, that maybe she and the baby died of complications of child birth. Frank remarried Imogene Taft in 1894 and they had two children, Claus and Theresa.
 
George V. Moore was born in 1849 in Cutchogue to Silas and Mehitabel Moore, both of whom were born in New York. His father was a farmer and they had a large family. The children listed on the 1850 and 1860 census are Parker, Joseph, Joel, Deborah, William, Sarah E, George V and Maria. A brother, Sidney, was listed in his obituary so he must have been born after 1860. On the 1880 census George is listed as a farmer. He married Emma J. I also found a record where she was referred to as Emily. She was still alive at the time of his death in 1924. From what I found, they had two children, Harry and Jennie.
 
Frank’s father John is listed on the 1865 New York Census as a boot maker. By the 1880 federal census, he had become a saloon keeper with his son Henry who was still living at home working as a bartender. His name appears in the Civil War Registration draft record of 1863, but I did not see any record of service. He was arrested and pled guilty to selling liquor on a Sunday. In 1887, he had sold his land in Riverhead and was living in Greenport running the Saloon. Upon the death of his mother, ownership of this saloon went to Frank.
 
Frank and business partner, George V. Moore, started their brewing and bottling business Yetter & Moore in 1882. Business was booming and, in 1888, they announced an expansion of their plant on the corner of Griffing Avenue and Railroad Avenue (where the large parking lot is today). They hired George H. Skidmore to design and build it. The expansion was completed in 1889 and they held a grand opening for the public complete with free beer. By 1899, they had expanded to Center Moriches opening a bottling plant there.
 
Frank owned a lot of land in Riverhead. In addition to the property that the bottling and brewery  plant was situated on, he also owned land on West Main Street from the Peconic River to maybe as far north as Osborn Avenue. His property neighbored St. Isador’s church. Long Ireland Brewery sits on some of this land today. In 1904, he bought ten acres in Quogue. He also owned multiple plots of land in Jamesport. One he bought from James Elton on which he planned to open a road house. In 1903, he and Moore bought land on Griffin Avenue in their wives’ names from the trustees of the Diocese of Long Island. He bought, sold, and rented land throughout his life. He would buy saloons then rent them out to others to manage. He had storefronts that he rented to grocery store keepers. He rented with an option to buy land and buildings to the US Title and Indemnity Co.
 
He did seem to help out those he could in his own way.  Anela Victoria, wife of Joseph Victoria, owned a saloon on Peconic Avenue in Southold. Her land was being sold at auction. The implication in the papers was that the property, saloon, as well as another parcel with her home were to be sold. Yetter and Moore bought the land and saloon. They just so happened to overpay for that parcel by the exact amount she owed for her other bills and, therefore, she was able to pay the sheriff and he canceled he auction of the rest of her property. This was the second time he overpaid during an auction, in 1904 he bought 5 shares of the Suffolk County Bank, they were part of an estate that was in debt and had to be settled, maybe he was trying to help that family out also. It seems out of character for him to pay more than something was worth, that tells me it was probably done with purpose. 
 
Frank also sat on many professional boards and civic associations. In 1887, he was a trustee of the the Rough and Ready Engine Company. In 1896, he was the treasurer for the Peconic Bay Steamboat Company and was a member of the Commercial Travelers Association. He, like his father, was a well known horseman. They owned and raced horses. They kept a stable for both racing horses and work horses. Frank also liked to travel in addition to the usual going to Brooklyn for business. In 1904, he went to the St. Louis Worlds Fair.
 
Frank was no stranger to legal troubles and darkened the doorway of the court house more than once. According to news accounts, in February 1895, he had gotten into an altercation with a Polish person and his finger had been bit. He then suffered from a blood infection, and, ultimately, his finger had to be amputated. One of his employees was arrested at the Center Moriches plant in 1888 for selling a bottle of less than five wine gallons. From about 1901 to 1903 Riverhead was a dry town, meaning one could not sell liquor or beer. This presented many problems for Yetter and Moore. They could no longer legally sell their spirits at their saloon on Griffing Avenue. So, they ceased this part of their operation. They still had the bottling plant and bottled many drinks including: mineral water, soft drinks, cider, and ginger ale among others . In 1903, when Riverhead became “wet” again, they had to go to court over their license. They wanted to pick up where they left off and reopen the saloon. The fight was with the excise department which issued the liquor pouring licence. They said that any establishment that ceased operation could not get a new license. Their lawyer argued that their cease of business was not of their decision, but rather to remain in compliance with the new law and outside their control, so with the reversal of the law their license should remain valid. The first judge agreed with the county, the second went in their favor, and Justice Smith told Counselor Belford that he must compel County Treasurer Brush to give them a new licence.
 
The first record I found of Frank being arrested was in 1904. He was trying to unplug the sewer that was laid in front of his property and ran down the street. He decided that the backup was being caused by a blockage under his neighbor Hudson V. Griffin’s house and asked the Griffin to fix it. He refused and an altercation ensued. Frank landed a punch on him and, by all accounts, it sounded like he broke Griffin’s nose. For his defense, he stated in court that the punch was not for Griffin’s unwillingness to fix the problem, but for Griffin calling him a “Damned two faced Dutchman”. Griffin said that he just called him a “Two faced Dutchman”.
 
Frank also did not shy away from bringing legal trouble on others. In 1896, New York passed a law, Chapter 966 “The Bottling Act”, saying that a person could not refill a bottle. He suspected Harrison Rogers of Eastport of breaking this law with his bottles and send Detective Joseph Brand to investigate. Yetter was correct and Rogers was arrested. Since Yetter was just trying to make a point he asked the judge to fine him, but not jail him, even though under the law it was part of the punishment. The judge listened and only imposed a fine on Rogers. This law applied to anyone and this case was printed in the papers as part of the deal to inform everyone that it was illegal. It specifically says that even families cannot refill bottles for things like “root beer and catsup”.
 
 Every two years from at least 1901 to 1907 the towns, in addition to the usual election votes, held votes on if they should be dry or not. More often than not, in those years, the vote came back in favor of being dry. This brought more legal troubles for Mr. Yetter. In 1907, he was arrested for at least the second time. This time for selling alcohol in dry Westhampton. He was put on trial. It was revealed during the trial that he had been set up. The people of the Temperance movement that had kept the vote a yes all those years had a man they identified as Gordon approach him to buy alcohol. Yetter, never one to miss a chance to make a buck, sold him a flask of whisky. His defense furnished the court with a petition asking for leniency. However, when the signers of the petition for leniency were interviewed by the court it turned out that a good number signed it because he did them a favor at one point, but the majority did it because they feared losing their business. I think this shows how deep he had his hands in everything from Moriches to Greenport and into Southampton. The judge was not amused at this finding. It also stated that he had been caught the prior December selling in dry towns and, at that trial, he had promised not to do so anymore. The judge fined Yetter $1,200 and sentenced him to 30 days in jail. This was the only reference to jail time I found in all the newspapers spanning his life.
 
Yetter and Moore were definitely mover and shakers of their day. They had a hand in many towns and made many real estate deals. I won’t go into all the ones that I found, but a few of the most interest were in May 1900. He bought the east end of the Park Hotel in East Moriches and had it moved to adjoin Senix Hall in Center Moriches to be used as a liquor saloon. In 1909, they bought the old Grist Mill in Mattituck and converted it into a restaurant and added a saloon. This was the first time it was used for this and it continued to be a restaurant in some form until it was recently closed in 2017. There was some drama about this when Yetter and Moore owned it. The town wanted to put in a steel bridge and have the building moved at their expense. There was an ad saying that anyone interested in renting the building known as the Quogue Inn was to contact Yetter and Moore.
 
Frank also liked to be at the forefront of technology and, in February of 1919, he auctioned off all thirty of his horses which, since the start of his business, had pulled the wagons that moved their merchandise all over the island. He had moved on to the horsepower that came from engines. With this acquisition of new technology, he started offering services hauling loads long distance or local. Frank and George were never ones to miss an opportunity at making the most of everything they had and figuring out how it could make them money.
 
In 1911, it came out in the papers that they had sold to the Brooklyn brewers Welz and Zerwick for $100,000. However, they took out ads in the paper in 1913 saying that they were still in business, so this must have been a change in contract. According to their ad, they just changed some brands that they supplied. At that time, they supplied Pabst Famous Beer, mineral water, wines and other liquors.
 
Around this time, in the United States, there was a recession from January 1913 until the end of 1914. That may have played a part in what happened in early 1914. January started with Yetter and Moore filing foreclosure complaints against a lot of persons running businesses. Three of these were John and Sarah Loving and August Puchmuller. John and Sarah owned the land on Weesuck Avenue in East Quogue that they built their Pine View Inn on. They rented the inn and grounds to August Puckmuller on March 1, 1911. Loving had been running the Pine View as early as 1905, but he had his own troubles with the law and selling liquor, having been arrested at least once for selling without a license. With all the back and forth of Southampton Town being wet or dry, maybe he felt it better to let someone else worry about all that.
 
Puckmuller had experience in the field from helping his uncle with Canoe Place Inn in Good Ground (today Hampton Bays). By all accounts, Puckmuller seemed to be running a popular spot. The famous Author, Palmer Cox, stayed there. In June of 1913, over 200 people attended a summer kick off party starting the season. In September of that same year, the county Republicans held a large dinner there with over 220 attendees. Puckmuller was made a special deputy to Sheriff Adell to act as a peace officer. When Yetter and Moore named all three of them in their foreclosure complaints the lease seems to have terminated between Puckmuller and Loving. Yetter and Moore made F.J Corwin the receiver during this time and he made a new lease with Puckmuller to keep running his establishment. The Loving’s did not agree with this and said that, as part of the lease when it was terminated, the liquor license reverted back to Sarah Loving. In April of 1913, John went into Puchmuller Inn and removed the license. He was arrested for burglary and larceny. It doesn’t say if Puckmuller used his newly appointed position to arrest Loving himself. Either way, he ended up in court over it. At this time, Yetter and Moore held a Chattel mortgage on the furnishings of the building. This is what the foreclosure filed against them was for. The Loving’s retained possession of their land and building until January 1915 when a mortgage foreclosure was filed against the Loving’s by George M. Vail. It was sold under foreclosure of mortgage by Geo. H. Hildreth referee.   Frank bid in at $7225 . The expectation was, barring any unforeseen problems, Frank would take ownership. The relationship between Loving and Puckmuller soured and he moved to Riverhead where his sister ran a restaurant. The Loving's are on the 1920 Federal Census still living in East Quogue, renting a house on Old Country Road, and John is working as a carpenter. Interestingly enough, months after they filed the paperwork of foreclosure on numerous persons, in February of 1915, the Yetter and Moore bottling building in Center Moriches mysteriously burned down. It was a complete loss. Insurance covered the loss for $5000.
    
The United States of America lived under the laws of Prohibition which outlawed the production, sale, and importation of alcoholic beverages from 1920 until 1933. In 1924 Yetter and Moore and sons  took out an advertisement for their genuine cream of malt and hops, Now, I do not know much about beer, but I do know that malt and hops are two ingredients. So, why were brewers selling this during prohibition? Once more Frank and George were rolling with the changes around them. According to an article from 2005 written by Roger M. Grace that was published by the Metropolitan News Enterprise, during prohibition brewers sold cream of malt and hops legally as an ingredient for breads. However, one can of this could make up to 50 pints of beer. Judge Samuel Alschuler figured out that this was being used to make near beer which he responded was the same as the alcoholic beer that was outlawed. The federal and state authorities would conduct raids on places that made this extract. However, the courts were not interested in cases involving a product that was used for bread and being sold legally. Less than a year after this advertisement from Yetter and Moore saying that they were selling cream of malt and hops, they were raided by Prohibition Enforcement Agents. Perhaps they were after this ingredient.
 
In 1923, Frank brought his son Claus into the business and George brought in his son Harry. They renamed the business “Yetter and Moore and Sons”. Unfortunately, the foursome was short lived. George died at his home from complications of a disease on May 9, 1924, and was buried in the town of his birth, Cutchogue. At the time of his death, Yetter and Moore had been in business for 42 years. He was 75 at the time of his death. He left a sizeable estate. He left his part of the business to Harry. Frank continued to run the business with the boys.  After George’s death, they had more problems with prohibition (the aforementioned raid of 1925). In the evening of September 8, 1929 Frank was not feeling well. He had a history of heart problems. His wife went to call the doctor and, before the doctor could arrive, Frank succumbed to his final heart attack. He was 65 years old. At his death, it was reported that his estate was worth upward of $10,000 (approximately $150,860 today). Like George, he left his portion of the business to the son that had followed him into the business, Claus.
 
With both fathers passed on, Harry and Clause were now in complete control. Whether they didn’t have the business savvy of their fathers, the heart, the ambition, or just couldn’t keep up with the challenging times of the great depression, by the end of the 1930’s they were having their own foreclosure issues and, in 1939, the bank had foreclosed on their Riverhead plant on Griffing and Railroad among their other properties. In 1940, this property was sold to settle the debt.
 
The final blow to the memory of all that Frank and George had built came in the form of a wrecking ball to their buildings on the corner of Griffing and Railroad Avenues. On August 19, 1948 the new owner had the buildings torn down.
 
I found no mention of Yetter and Moore past that date.  

Sources used:
Ancestry.com
Live-brary.com
New York Historic Newspapers
Newspapers.com
​Findagrave.com

 
      Another person who is interred in the Cemetery behind the East Quogue Methodist Church is Reuben Vail. He was born about 1877 to Charles Griffing Vail and Frances Louisa (Ketchum) Vail. According to research using Ancestry.com he had two brothers and five sisters. The Vail children born to Charles and Frances are: Charles Griffin born abt 1875; Reuben Oscar abt 1877; Jenny Louisa abt 1878; Daisey Bethia abt 1882; Ethelyn Bethia aby 1885; Chester H. G. abt 1887, Helen Maritta abt 1890; Myrtle Rose 1895.

      His Great Grandfather was Captain Peter Vail who was an officer in the 7th Regiment Connecticut State Militia under Col. Worthington. Later he commanded a Coast Guard unit that was responsible for protecting the shores of Connecticut and Long Island. Family stories posted on  Ancestry.com say that Peter was at the battle of Fort Washington and taken prison on the British prison ships, he was one of 800 of the 2880 taken that survived the year until they were part of a Solider swap with the  English military. The battle of Fort Washington took place on November 17, 1776. Fort Washington was located on Riverside Dr on the Hudson River in Manhattan. There is a city park on the grounds today.

     On April 14, 1893, fifteen year old Reuben went out on his boat duck hunting.  When he was finished, he headed for shore, he docked and went ashore, at that time he started to clean out his boat. He grabbed his gun by the muzzle with his armed curved, the firearm discharged, the shot destroyed the palm of his hand and hit him in the arm just below the shoulder.

      They had to send for Dr. H.H Young from Riverhead, this trip would have taken much longer then today, since they would have been traveling on dirt roads in horse and buggies. After the doctor arrived he sent for more tools and Dr. J.H Benjamin, who was also in Riverhead. By the time they all arrived, assessed the situation and decided to amputate Reuben’s arm, he had lost a lot of blood due to the gun shot severing the main artery in his arm. They did perform the surgery; however, his body was unable to recover from the loss of blood and shock. At 3am the following morning Reuben passed away.

        According the article in the Port Jefferson Echo on April 22, a similar thing had happened to his brother a year prior, but his wounds were only to his hand and he was able to make a full recovery. 
 
      For those researching this Vail family, on the 1900 census for the Charles G. Vail family, it lists a Reuben Vail being 13 years old at that time. Since Reuben had been deceased for seven years, it is more likely a mistake and should say Chester H.G. Vail, this would be Reuben’s younger brother who was born in 1887 making him 13 in 1900, Reuben, had he lived, would have been twenty three in 1900. The birth year of Chester can be found on the paperwork filled out by his son for the US Sons of the American Revolution Membership.

       Also on the 1900 census it says that Frances Louisa is mother to eight children, and that two of them are living. This must be a mix up by the person taking the census I have found eight children, however six would have been living at the time and two deceased, Daisy in 1884 and Reuben in 1893.

Sources

Ancestry.com
Live-brary.com Historic Newspapers
https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/fort-washington-park

     I will be doing a series on some of those interred in the East Quogue Cemetery (New York) located behind the East Quogue United Methodist Church. From the research I have done so far, there are not many veterans buried here.  One of them is a sad tale of Henry Spicer Raynor. Family trees on Ancestry.com have this Raynor Family being descended from the immigrant Thursten Raynor. He came over from England on the Elizabeth of Ispwich to Boston in 1634. This means that I am related to Henry through Thurston, we come off the line from his first wife, and according the research I have conducted thus far, Henry comes off the line from his second wife.
 
     Henry Spicer Raynor was born about 1846 to Elisha and Nancy (Griffing) Raynor. According to ages from the censuses and her headstone, his mother, Nancy would have been between sixteen and nineteen years old when she had him. His parents lost three children between his birth and 1863. They were Richard, Milly and George; they all died as infants or as toddlers. He did have one brothernamed Benjamin,seven years younger,who lived and is listed on the 1860 census.

     Unfortunately our sad tale of the Atlanticville ( as East Quogue was known in their life time) Raynor family does not end there. In September 1863, Nancy also passed away. In the research I have done so far it has not been noted the cause of death, one possibility is child birth,since there is also a grave site for an infant Raynor. Her headstone says she was thirty six,six months and six days at the time of her death.

      After her death, Henry signed up for the Civil War. The enlistment information says he was 19, but there is a discrepancy with the military paper work and the census, he could have been as young as 17. It is possible that he added a year or two so they would take him, or the ages on the census were not correct.

      His father Elisha is listed as a farmer in 1860, on the paperwork from the military has Henry also working in this occupation. Henry enlisted in the US Military on December 30, 1863. Who knows his reason for joining, moved by the cause or a young man looking for adventure and glory? A Sergeant from the same Regiment was also from Atlanticville, so he could have been hearing firsthand accounts of the action or been urged to go by the Sergeant himself. His mother had only been gone about three months, so maybe he was motivated in part by grief.

       The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861. Seven states, including South Carolina, seceded from the Union after the election of Abraham Lincoln. After they had created the Confederate States, with their own leader, Lincoln tried to get supplies to Fort Sumter located off the coast of South Carolina. The Confederates wanted this for themselves. So, on April 12 the Confederates fired upon the fort.The Federal Troops that were there surrendered and the fort became Confederate, the Union would not reclaim the fort until February 1865 when Sherman took control of Charleston, SC. The war ended on May 9, 1865 when Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court house to Ulysses S. Grant.

        Henry enlisted in Scotts 900 Calvary, Company E in the Union Army on December 30, 1863 for a period of three years. Scotts 900 was started in New York in 1861 by Colonel James B. Swain when he was granted the authority from the United States War Department. It wasn’t until February 20, 1864 that it was turned over to the War Department to become the 11 Calvary Regiment.

          Company E was recruited for in Southampton, New York City, Bridgehampton, Tompkinsville, Quogue and Coram.They fought valiantly in many battles across the South and to the Gulf of Mexico. Upon enlistment, Henry would have gone into basic training. Unfortunately for our hero this is when our story takes another sad turn. It was not long into his military career that he was transferred to Davis Island. This island is situated off the coast of New Rochelle, NY, it named for Thaddeus Davis who bought the island in 1865. In 1862 he leased it to the US Government who setup De Camp General Hospital. It is here our hero Henry succumbed to congestion of the brain and lungs; this is defined as any collection of fluid in an organ,in Henry’s case it was his brain and lungs. It could have been from a disease caught at boot camp, or injury of some kind.

        The accepted total of US Civil War dead according to the Civil War Trust are 620,000, they also say that for every three soldiers killed in battle, another five died of disease. Our hero never got to see a Civil War battle, our Private came home to rest in his hometown of Atlanticville with his mother and siblings.

         His father Elisha, sometime prior to 1870, remarried a local widow named Urana (Lane) who had been married to and had ten children with Johannes Rockefeller. Elisha, Urana, Benjamin and her son George are all listed on the 1870 census. The census has Elisha listed as fishing and the boys are listed as laborers. In 1880 Elisha, Urana and Benjamin are all still living in Atlanticville, the men are listed as being farm hands.  Elisha died on September 1, 1892,Urana died on May 15, 1893. Benjamin married Anne Griffin Raynor they had a child Frank Griffin Raynor born 1884 who died 1947.

            Elisha, Nancy, Urana, Richard, Milly, George, Henry, Benjamin, Ann, George Rockefeller and infant Raynor, are all buried in this Cemetery with headstones still intact.

        For anyone interested there will be a Burying Ground Stones Repair Workshop on June 2 and 3 at this cemetery. I have participated in similar workshops it is always an educational experiences. It is a hands on workshop so wear comfortable clothing. For more information you can contact the Southampton Town Historian.

                                     "Sleep on, Valiant Soldier, Sleep
                               The Waves at Eve shall Sing They Dirge
                                They grateful Country still shall Weep
                              When Wars fierce Billows cease to Surge"
 
Sources
Ancestry.com
Findagrave.com
History.com
USHistory.org
Civilwar.org

      Memorial Day was set aside by the United States of America as a day to honor and pay respect to the fallen hero’s that proudly served our country. Originally called Decoration Day it was thought into being by General John A. Logan, who, on May 5, 1868 stated “The 30th of May, is designated for the purpose of strewing flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land”. It became the official national holiday as we know it in 1971.

       Many Americans may not have a personal connection to a service man or woman who gave their life in defense of this great country so they may not feel an emotional connection to the day.  However, it is amazing what a little research into your families past will uncover. By reconnecting with these stories, which are part of your story, it can make you more feel connected with history and grateful for the ways things did turn out. Remembering, that if even one event of your families pasts went differently, there is a great probability that you would not be here today.

     Many people may think that they have no one in their family that served in the military, and perhaps that is true, or perhaps the stories have been lost to time. Just like in our era of military personal not wanting or not being able to talk about what took place during their time served, perhaps a relative was the same and just never talked about it. Or maybe they just saw it as something they did when they had to and moved on with their life after the fact. Either way their service gets lost to time. It is easier than you might think to reconnect with these stories of your families past.

     While I was researching one branch of my family tree I learned about my great grandmother’s brother, Cpl. George Lemmon. He was a Technician Fifth Class in the 44th Engineer Combat Battalion in World War II. This was news to me; I did not think I had any relatives who saw combat in World War II. He was captured by the Nazi’s on December 22, 1944 in Luxemburg and sent to a work/concentration camp, Stalag IVB and then he was moved to Stalag VIIIA, where he ultimately succumbed to disease.
 
     I obviously never met him. Although potentially could have, he would have been about 69 when I was born. It is not outside the realm of possibility that he could have lived a much longer life and we could have met. When you realize that part of the blood running through your relative’s veins is the same genetically as yours, it has a very different impact. I had read about the German work/concentration camps. I have seen documentaries and it always elicits a feeling of heartbreak for those who were put in that position. There is something that changes when you realize your blood was shed there too. Because his life events took the order they did he died leaving behind a wife, but no direct ancestors, no sons to carry on his name, no daughters to walk down the aisle.

      Cpl. Lemmon died in a horrific work camp far from home and is buried in the Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, Netherlands. I do not know if my Great Great Grandmother was able to see her son’s grave. When I make it over the big pond, it is absolutely on my list of places to go, maybe other family members have gone. I do not know, but it is on my bucket list to get there and pay my respects.
 
     This Memorial Day, I truly hope that you will make it a goal to look into your families past and see if there are any hero’s lost to time that you can bring back to life. You can start with beginning your tree on a site like Ancestry.com, then using sites like Fold3, and Newspapers.com or the free newspaper service in New York through Live-brary.com, Historic Newspapers. The Daughters of the American Revolution, historical societies, the US Military and some battlefields have archives that may have details of your family members’ service. You may have to collect a piece here and a piece there and put it back together like a puzzle but in the end you may just be amazed at what you find. As always you can contact me if you need some help getting started or if you are hitting a brick wall.


~Happy Searching

     A very helpful tool on the quest to find ancestors is, of course, the census.  Starting with 1790, the congress of this new country made lawful the act of a census of the population to be conducted every ten years. The early censuses can be frustrating.  They do not have a lot of information and list only heads of households which are, typically, if not always, male.  It is generally harder to follow back the matriarchal lines.  It is not impossible, but you have to have the maiden name.  This is when marriage, birth, and death certificates become important.

   What can a census tell us? Well, in the later ones, they list everyone in the household, even telling us the relation to the head of the household. They also list ages (when looking at children if you see a fraction, as in: 9/12, it means that the child was nine months old at the time of the census).  Keep in mind with the age of an individual that it reflects the age they were the time the census was taken.  It was not based on their birthday and what age they were going to be.  It also may list their occupation.  It is always fun and interesting to see how they made their living and it could help in your research.  It may list a company they worked for.  You can then search that company and find out more information or, if you’re really lucky, job titles, pictures, or at the very least a little more about the location and what they did which can add context to your research.

    When looking at a page of the census, keep in mind that, 100-200 hundred years ago, families did not necessarily move frequently like we do now.  I always look on the whole page to see if any other names are relatives or could be relatives.  I have had luck finding relatives in this way. One time I found one branch of the family tree I was researching living in an apartment building.  I had a maiden name, but I wasn’t sure if it was definitely hers.  So, I looked at the rest of the names on the page and their neighbors had the same name as the potential maiden name I was looking into.  I then searched those names going back one census and found that it was indeed her family.  She was living with her husband and children two doors down from her father and his new wife. It was a wonderful find.

     They perform the census by town and street so you can look it up and see if the house is still standing.  I have done this using a site like Google Maps in situations when driving to the location is not immediately feasible.  The census also gives you a geographic area to start looking for newspaper articles, cemeteries, historical societies, and research libraries that may have information, and town halls that might have the birth/marriage/ death certificates on file.  Location is definitely a huge key to unlocking many secrets.

     There are also state censuses.  For example, New York also performs one every ten years, but it is on the off years of the Federal Census. The Federal Census happens on the 0’s, the New York State Census occurs on the 5’s.  For example, The Federal Census was taken in the years 1900, 1910, and 1920 while the New York one was taken in 1905, 1915, 1925.  This gives you information every five years instead of every ten, it can answer many questions but also may contain lost children.  For example, if a family has a child in 1901 and that child passes away in 1906, that child would not be listed on the Federal Census.  Some, but not all of the censuses taken in the past, asked how many children you had vs. how many living.  With this example, the child would be listed on the 1905 New York State Census.  I have also found deceased children by investigating further.  If a family has a larger number of children and at regular intervals, say every 18-24 months, but there is a gap of maybe four years between siblings, I always look for a lost child.  Reference newspaper obituaries and local cemeteries using the last name or the name of the parents as a search term and you may turn up something.  Of course, these children would not have any direct descendants, however, they are still part of the tree and the story of your direct descendants.  Personally, I think it to be a very important aspect of my research to find out about their existence and put them in their proper place on the tree.  Since they have no direct ancestors, you may be the only one to find and know of their existence.
 
Happy Searching!!   

 
 
Family research can have you jumping for joy, fill you with pride, and give you a sense of accomplishment. However, it can also make you tear your hair out, driving you crazy when you hit a brick wall. Everyone at some point in their research will hit a brick wall. For some this stops all their research. Some keep banging their head against this wall, with little result. Some walk away from that line, but return when more records become available or they have an idea of other resources to use.
 
One roadblock can be names, of places, people or things. We may use different terms or names for things than our ancestors’ did, so reading a letter can be confusing.  Another source that can be both helpful and create problems is the census.  The census takers were not always one hundred percent accurate. One example in my recent research was a last name. The family I was looking up, a father, a mother and three daughters, all lived in one house, sounds easy. Well, the eldest daughter was already married, so her last name was different. That was ok, I knew that, however, when the census taker wrote down her married name they also wrote it as the last name of her younger and very much unmarried sisters. Luckily, they are all listed because they live in the same house, and I am very familiar with the family so I did not mistake it for her children, or sibling’s from another family living with this one. I knew the eldest daughters married name, so it didn’t create a road block. This example shows how easily mistakes could be made, had I not been familiar with the family, I could have drawn many other conclusions.  My online tree gave me a bit of a problem when trying to attach the census with the wrong last name,  it was trying to tell me they were new additions, but luckily with was an easy fix and I was able to attach them to the correct people, with the correct last name. 
 
Spelling mistakes of last names are the most common although sometimes a middle or nick name was written down as the persons’ legal first name. Census are a great resource, don’t get hung up in the name spelling, if location, dates, and first names match then chances are you can accept that the census taker just got it wrong. Realize that our ancestors, especially ones who immigrated, may have had a thick accent, or maybe the census taker did, there is also the possibility some of our ancestors could not read and write well or at all.
 
Another bump on my research road involved a town name. I was looking up a different part of my tree, when I came across the name: “St. George’s Manor”. I had no known relative in that part of the family named George, and I couldn’t understand what made him a Saint. So, I put St. George’s Manor into an internet search engine and up popped the history of a town where later members of the family resided: Manorville, NY. Turns out, Manorville was called St. George’s Manor around the time when the original land grant was given. According to the Manorville Chamber of Commerce website the story goes that there was a sign that read “St. George’s Manor” at the train station in 1844, a Patriot, Seth Raynor,  who had supported the newly formed United States in the Revolution, painted over the words “St. George” as they were apparently pro England, Saint George is the patron saint of England and a symbol of the English monarchy.  After he was done with the paint brush all that was left was “Manor”, in 1907 or so the post office officially called it “Manorville”. At another point in its history it was also known as Punk’s Hole named for a Revolutionary war Captain who used a geological hole to hide his troops from the British. That’s when the light bulb went off, St. George was not a long lost relative, but rather a place name that actually fit quite nicely with the rest of the research I had done.
 
Sometimes a name might be a clue, in the picture of the envelope with this post it says Merrick Road. The envelope happens to be date stamped, but if it was not, the road name would tell me that the letter was from sometime prior to 1930 when the names were changed.

The moral of the story is, don’t get hung up on names, there are many factors that show you are on the right path. Just because one does not quite line up does not mean it all should be completely discounted.

Happy searching!!

           While I am searching through the digital copies of the historical newspapers looking for news articles relating to family members, other articles will sometimes catch my attention.  This was the case of one from the December 29, 1944 edition of the Suffolk County News. So, for Veterans Day I thought I would share some local military history.

          On December 27, 1944 a squadron flying a B-24 Army Liberator Bomber left Westover Field, Massachusetts for a training mission. Unfortunately, they were met with a snow storm that was covering Mattituck, Long Island and were unable to successfully navigate a landing either at their target at the Suffolk County Army Air Field, known now as the 106th Air Rescue Wing in Westhampton Beach, or make an emergency landing on a field. Instead, at 6:20pm, they slammed into the farm fields of J. Dwight Reeves on the south side of North Country Road, West Mattituck.  North Country Road is now called Sound Avenue. It was also reported as being on the fields of John Kujawski in Northville, NY.
 
        Eleven men lost their lives that night. It was said at the time to be the most tragic air accident over Long Island. The farm fields were described as looking like a battle field with plane debris and body parts strewn over a two acre area.

         The men were young, their ages ranging from 18-36. They were also four to eight months away from seeing the end of World War ll, first with Germany in May 1945 and then on the Pacific Front in August of 1945.

        The aircraft was piloted by Flight Officer Victor Belotti, 21 from Somerville, MA, his co-pilot was Flight Officer William D. Sanders, 23, from Troupe, TX.  Flight officer, Clifford J. McElwee, Gary, Ind. was the navigator. Their Gunnery Instructor was Staff Sergeant Nicholas M Carusone, 26, Providence, RI, There were four gunners; Corporal Vito D. Ferraro, 18, Rochester, NY, Corporal Joseph H. Martorana, 24, South Norwalk, Connecticut, Roger Westervelt, 19, Buda, Illinois and Corporal John H. Benner, 36, Lewiston, PA. Corporal Benner is the only one I found, so far, that had a child, a little girl named Donna. She was ten when her father died, she later grew up to be a fourth grade teacher and had three children.  George H Reis, 19, South Dartmouth, MA, was the radioman, their engineer was Lawrence L. Tench from West Wyoming, PA. The bombardier was Lewis P. Pernala, 22, from Duluth, Minnesota.
        
        One thing that has not changed from 1944, the first ones on the tragic scene were the unpaid heroes of our area, the Mattituck, Riverhead and Southold volunteer firefighters. They were joined by state troopers in the area and finally Lieutenant Colonel George Logan, who was the commanding officer at the Suffolk County Army Air Force Base who took over command of the scene.

        It must have been a life changing experience, a few days after Christmas, in a snowstorm in the bitter cold facing down the daunting task of trying to recover as much as possible before it was buried under more snow.  I don’t know if any of the first responders were also Veterans, but it could not have been an easy call for them emotionally and physically.
        
        I found cemetery locations for nine of men. The other two may exists just not be online yet. I do not know of any memorial in Northville for these men. In my lifetime, we have seen TWA Flight 800 and September 11, but this one, the first worst, from 1944, I had never heard of, and that seems a shame. If we are going to discuss the worst air tragedies on Long Island, then the first worst should be part of the conversation.  Eleven of our young servicemen training to defend our nation died in an accident. Their lives a blip on the radar, then like the snow come spring, gone. Who knows what they would have accomplished or become as part of the greatest generation.  Their willingness to serve their county during World War ll, speaks volumes of their character.

         I know Veterans Day is supposed to be about the living, while Memorial Day is about those that did not make it home, but I say let’s remember them all, always.