1940 Census: Paternal Grandmother

My main goal for the 1940 census was to find all of my grandparents, as this is the first time any of them were listed on a census record.

Grandparent number 2 (according to my pedigree chart), and the first that I found yesterday is my paternal grandmother, Agnes Nuwer.  She was 2 years old and living in a house of Westwood Road, Alden, Erie Co., NY, with her parents Albert and Edna (Roll), siblings Richard, Marilyn and Albert, Jr., and cousin Henry.  According to my Uncle Al, Henry was actually living with them as a paid farmhand, which shows why the earlier you become a genealogist the better, as I would have never known this otherwise. 

Three families before them, Albert’s parents, my great-great-grandparents, John and Anna (Zeapfel) Nuwer, are listed with their daughter Charlotte.

Sources:

1940 U.S. census, Erie County, New York, population schedule, Alden, enumeration district (ED) 15-2, sheet 1A, p. 115 (stamped), dwelling (blank), family 2, John Nuwer household; digital images, National Archives and Records Administration, 1940 Census (http://1940census.archives.gov : accessed 3 Apr 2012); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T627, roll 02526. 

1940 U.S. census, Erie County, New York, population schedule, Alden, enumeration district (ED) 15-2, sheet 1A, p. 115 (stamped), dwelling (blank), family 5, Albert Nuwer household; digital images, National Archives and Records Administration, 1940 Census (http://1940census.archives.gov : accessed 3 Apr 2012); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T627, roll 02526. 

The Last Rebel Outpost

It's 1946.  A movie world premier.  A dog named Damn Yank.  The last remaining town still part of the Confederacy.  A vote to decide whether to re-join the Union after 85 years.  Where does this take place?  Virginia?  Alabama?

Nope.  A small hamlet in Western New York.  Town Line, to be precise, located on the border of Alden and Lancaster.  Also where I lived for all but the first year of my life prior to college.

(Even today the Town Line Volunteer Fire Dept. patch says "Last of the Rebels".) Photo Source.

Thursday I was able to attend a presentation in my home town on the secession of Town Line from the Union in 1861.  A random fact that I never knew about.  Reasons why they seceded are varied, Wikipedia writes "an article in The Buffalo News from 1945 cites discontent with President Lincoln, treatment of Confederate soldiers at a POW camp in Elmira, dissatisfaction of German immigrants with being subject to conscription or war, the interest of self rule or perhaps an incident by some runaway slaves at a local underground railroad stop."

No one really knows why, although the POW camp was actually not yet created in 1861, so that can be ruled out.  I am a fan of the theory that slave hunters had started looking into the Underground Railroad stops in Town Line a bit too closely, so by seceding they could continue to help slaves escape more easily.  The vote was 85 to 40, a pretty decent margin.

5 men from Town Line actually went to fight for the Confederacy, as did 20 for the North.  After the war, the town either forgot or just ignored the fact that they had left the Union, until a newspaper article came out in 1945 amidst the renewed patriotism of WWII.  The first vote to re-join the Union in 1945 failed, but a second vote on 26 January 1946, led by Cesar Ramaro, passed -.  Those against it?  One woman felt it shouldn't be unanimous, so she asked the ladies auxiliary members to vote "no" (she also owned the dog "Damn Yank".)

According the the lecture, the hamlet had a difficult time finding a Confederate flag to raise for the few minutes of the vote, as one had never actually been hung in the town.

I think this is a fantastic story and one that deserves to be more well know.  Who would have guessed that the last Confederate stronghold would be the only town north of the Mason-Dixon line to have seceded?  And that is my hometown.

Further Reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_Line,_New_York

http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article547531.ece

http://jamestown.wgrz.com/content/new-york-town-belonged-confederate-states-america

Amanuensis Monday - Election Day Edition

Alden

Robert A. Casell Victor In Race for Supervisor

Robert A. Casell, Democrat-Liberal, a locomotive engine man on the Penn Central Railroad for 17 years Tuesday, won the supervisor race in the Town of Alden after an unsuccessful attempt two years ago.  He captured 1,826 votes to 1,571 for Republican William L. Risher, a former mayor of the Village of Alden.

In the race for the four-year term as councilman, Republican Donald J. Donnelly, now completing his third term as superisor, and Democrat Gabriel P. Ciulla, won.  Donnelly who did not seek re-election as supervisor, had 1,798 votes, Ciulla, 1,809, Republican Everett J. Beyers, an incumbent, had 1,666, and Joseph Sank Jr., Democrat had 1,424.

Savage Is Victor

In the race for the two-year term as councilman, Republican Ronald L. Savage beat Democrat Robert Wojciechowski [next door neighbor to my grandfather, Robert Casell], 2,017 to 1,320.

Republican William S. Sivecz won the town justice post with 1,926 votes to 1,462 for Democrat Gerald J. Butler.

Democrat Louise E. Morris defeated the late incumbent Republican, Agnes R. Borden, for the post of reveiver of taxes.  Mrs. Borden died last Thursday but her name had to remain on the ballot.

On the proposition on whether the town supervisor post should be made a four-year term instead of two, the town voted against it with a vote of 1,575 against to 816 for.

With Alden's population growth, it has recently been upgraded to a first class town, requiring four councilmen instead of two.

Wordless Wednesday: Edna Roll Baptismal Certificate

The baptismal certificate of my great-grandmother, Edna Roll

Saturday Night Fun - Your Paternal Grandmother's Patrilineal Line

Since I was at the symphony for Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings Saturday Night Fun, we'll have a little Sunday morning fun instead:-)

* What was your father's mother's maiden name?  Nuwer (She is still living)

* What was your father's mother's father's name? Albert Emil Nuwer, born 24 Mar 1906 in Alden, Erie, NY and died 24 Dec 1989 in Alden, Erie, NY.  Buried at St. John's Cemetery, Alden, Erie, NY.

* What is your father's mother's father's patrilineal line? That is, his father's father's father's ... back to the most distant male ancestor in that line?  My grandmother's brother has done a lot of research on this part of the family.  Here is the information I have from him, with much thanks:

- John George Nuwer, 1869 - 1948

- Henry Nuwer, 1845 - 1911

- Jean Nuber, 1819 - 1897

- Antoine Nuber, 1796 - 1857

- Franciscus Antone Nuber, 1760 -1818

- George Fancis Nuber, Unknown - Unknown

- John George Nuber, 1698 - Before 1748

* Can you identify male sibling(s) of your father's mother, and any living male descendants from those male sibling(s)?  If so, you have a candidate to do a Y-DNA test on that patrilineal line. If not, you may have to find male siblings, and their descendants, of the next generation back, or even further. As mentioned earlier, my great-uncle is still alive.  I will have to email him to see if he is interested in DNA testing.

Tombstone Tuesday

Following the jumpstart your genealogy blog week #3. Participate in weekly blog themes: Tombstone Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday, etc. Many genealogy bloggers post photos of grave stones on Tombstone Tuesday or a photo worth 1,000 silent words on Wordless Wednesday. Participate in these informal events or invent your own.

This is the tombstone of my great-grandparents, Albert Emil Nuwer and Edna Agnes Roll, located at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church Cemetery, Alden, Erie County, New York.

The only great-grandparent I remember was my grandpa Nuwer.  I recall cleaning out his farmhouse after his death and being unable to go to his funeral as I was so young (I had just turned 8).