COMPLETED ** fettel & steains from New Jersey and New York

[dentony1]

looking for further information or descendants of Cecelia Regina Fettel born 26 Jan 1888 Newark, New Jersey, daughter of Heinrich (Henry) Fettel & Minnie Richter.  Cecelia married Claud John Steains (born UK) and had a son Allyn Fettel Steains who died July 1916 in NY.    Cecelia had a sister Anna born 1890 at Newark, New Jersey.

Claud's father was John Phillips Steains, born UK and place & date of death unknown but between the late 1880s and 1900. Claud's mother was Mary Louise Green born New York.  Claud had brothers Harold & Edgar, Harold married May.  All Steains were born UK but immigrated to NY in 1888.

Cecelia died 1967, Claud in 1980.  Henry Fettel in 1940, Minnie in 1930.  Edgar in 1942, Harold in 1961, May in 1972 and Mary Louise in 1940.
All these people are buried at Greenwood Cemetery.

In 1940 Claud was living at 43 Ashleigh Road, Great Neck, Long Island.

the family are shown in records as being in Queens, Brooklyn & Long Island.  Claud & Edgar both served in World War One.

Any help greatly appreciated.

regards
Debra

[KathMc]

Have you tried to get obits for these people? That could give you names of living relatives. If you contact local libraries, they can help.

Kath

[dentony1]

that's a good idea.  Not being in the USA, would they do look ups or would a researcher be required?
Still learning how to search in the US but getting there.

thanks for your help.

[KathMc]

Debra,

What I usually do is find the library online (I G**gle, in quotes, "[name of town] public library"), get an email address, and send an email requesting the obit. I give the name and death date and ask what the policy is. Nine times of out ten, they send me the obit within a couple days, especially if I am only asking for one or two. Especially if they know you are out of the country, they might waive any fee if they have one. It's worth a shot, and the worst case scenario is hey say you need to hire someone. That has actually only happened to me once, and that was in Tampa, FL. I was able to provide everything, right down to microfilm number. Geez.

Another option, which is then where I went, is to contact www.raogk.org and find a volunteer to look it up.

Let me know if I can help in any way.

Kath

[dentony1]

Hi Kath,

thank you for that.  I did google the NYC Library and followed some prompts and ended up with Obits that lead back to ancestry, of which I am a member but no Steains.  Also ended up at NY Times but no luck there either.  did find a newspaper article on Henry Fettel, seems he was a real estate agent who suffered a home invasion one morning whilst he was eating his breakfast!! 


I guess all you need on the day is the nicest person in the office to open your email and you have struck gold.  Guess the Florida one wasn't feeling so generous on the day you asked.

I have plenty of dates & places so hopefully I am lucky too.
Kind Regards
Debra

[shellyesq]

I found an article in the Bridgeport (CT) Telegram about Henry being a victim of a robbery.  It gave an address in Brooklyn for him, so if you need that, let me know.

If any of your people died in NY City, you can check italiangen.org for their death index through 1948.

If you're not sure exactly when/where they died, you might want to try asking for a look-up here, for the people who died 1960 and beyond:  http://citydirectorylookup.com/searches.html

Not sure if you've seen this already, but I found Claud's passport application, which has a picture of him and Cecilia (although Cecilia's face is pretty washed out).  If you don't have the info yet, let me know.  They are also on passenger lists from 1925 and 1930.  There's also draft registration cards for Harold & Edgar.

[dentony1]

Hi Shelly,

I have the passport application for Claud found at Ancestry but I don't have his picture.  I'd be very interested in obtaining a copy of Claud & Cecelia's photos, washed out is fine. Claud died 1980, his wife in 1967 and his mother in 1940.  I sent for her death certificate which arrived just last week.
I have shipping for Claud in 1925 & 1932, censi for 1900 (with his mother & brothers) 1920 & 1930.
Edgar - I have shipping for 1909, WW1 application 1918 & 1930 censi.  He died 1942.
Harold -  I have WW1 1919 and a probably marriage in the UK in 1912 to May L. Parker.  He died 1960. I have a death & social security number for May Steains and she is buried in the same Plot as Harold at Greenwood Cemetery, having died 1972.
All the Steains for whom I have names in USA and can link to the tree are buried at Greenwood, as are Henry Fettel and his wife Minnie.  Also Allyn Fettel Steains who died 1916 NYC and whom I assume is Claud's son.

I too have the newspaper article for Henry which has his address on it.  I have censi & immigration and nationalisation for Henry too found at Ancestry. 

I suppose what I need now are children or grandchildren of these Steains people to read these postings and to discover that during either World Wars the family, as did one UK member, hadn't change the spelling of the name to Stains/Staines so as not be thought to be German.  This would totally change the ease of linking this family as the original spelling is very uncommon.  Unfortunately the USA death certificates don't show children of the deceased as our Australian ones do, this can be very helpful when piecing together the families.


Thanks again for your help and I shall look up the sites you have suggested.

bye for now
Debra

[KathMc]

Debra,

If you have access to Ancestry, the photos are usually on the next page of passport applications.

And in regards to US descendants, have you checked on genforum or rootsweb for posts? Or for a tree on Ancestry? they can be great ways to connect to other people researching.

Kath

[shellyesq]

Kath is right - the picture was on the next page. 

I agree with trying to post on rootsweb or Ancestry's message board in the location where the person lived and, if possible, a board covering their surnames.  It may take years to get a response, so make sure you keep your e-mail current with them.

You might have more luck with trying to contact a library in a town on Long Island, as it isn't as massive as NY City.  There is an obituary index for a local Great Neck newspaper here:  http://www.greatnecklibrary.org/refdb/obitind/search.php  I didn't see anything that matched your names, but maybe it will help.  Trying to look in city directories for anyone with your surnames might be another way to go.  I think sometimes libraries will check that for a small fee.  Sometimes, you can find directories online or through the local Family History Center, as well.