(C) 2020 by Frederick Walton, Kroll-Herzke family historian
Recently, while climbing out on a branch of the Herzke family tree, I discovered a fork that was broken clean off about a third of the way out and I wondered, "what happened"?
I am a descendant of the Herkze and Kroll families through my maternal grandmother, Lydia (Kroll) Packhiser, the daughter of Julius Kroll and Ottilie Herzke. Ottilie Herzke Kroll’s older brother was Henry (Heinrich) Herzke and for some still undiscovered reason persuaded them during their immigration from Germany to relocate to Chester, New York near where he lived. Why? Simple loneliness for family? A good business opportunity? Who Knows? I have discovered no documentary evidence to answer this and anyone who might really know is LONG gone. I am therefore trying to research all paths hoping something might become evident, which led me to more closely investigate Henry and Augusta Herzke.
The break I mentioned is found along the branch of Henry's son Herman John Herzke (1896-1950).
Finding Herman John Herzke
I started searching for Herman's on-line records and right off the bat, I couldn't find his birth record. I manually searched the "New York State, Birth Index, 1881-1942" [1] and did not find an entry for Herzke, Hersky, or Herske, which I found odd, until I stumbled across a a record for Herman J. Hedski, born on 13 Sept 1896 in Warwick, N. Y. This was about the right date and the right place, could this be my cousin?
I searched for and discovered there are NO other records found anywhere for “Herman J. Hedski” or any Hedski for that matter (i.e. his parents or siblings), leading me to the reasonable conclusion that this must be our Herman J. Herzke with a misspelled name!
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| Birth index for Herman John "Hedski" a.k.a. Herske a.k.a. Herzke |
In the 1900 U. S. Federal Census he is listed as Herman "Hetzke", age 3. Note the phonetic spelling of Herzke and the similarity to the birth index name "Hedski". This census confirms his birthdate as September 1896 and the place as New York. He lives in the household of his parents, Henry (34), Augusta (34) and sister Julia (1). His father is a farm laborer living in Chester, New York. [2]
The 1905 New York State Census for Orange County is lost and unavailable.
In the 1910 Census he is listed as Herman Herske, age 13, living on his father's farm on Meadow Road in Chester, New York with his parents Henry and Gussie (Augusta), both 45, and sister Julia, age 11. [3]
By the 1915 New York State census, 19 year old Herman Herzke (back to a "Z") is listed as a "lodger" at Orange Farm in Goshen, New York with his parents and sister. He and Henry are listed as laborers. Orange farm is the county's "poorhouse" [4] but my interpretation is that they are some sort of staff, since other names listed alongside them have occupations like cook or baker. There is a separate list for residents of the poorhouse, listed as "inmates of the Almshouse", within the same census. A search of a different database labeled "All New York, U. S., Census of Inmates in Almshouses and Poorhouses, 1830-1920" in the New York State archives [5] for "Herzke" and its many variations resulted in zero results, leading me to conclude that they were workers, not residents.
In the 1920 [6] and 1930 [7] U. S. Federal Census, Henry, Augusta and Julia (1920 only) are still living at Orange farms where Henry is listed as a laborer, but again, they are not listed as "inmates".
In the United States, poorhouses were most common during the 19th and early 20th centuries. They were often situated on the grounds of a poor farm on which able-bodied residents were required to work. Poor farms were county or town run residences where paupers were supported at public expense. Most were working farms that produced at least some of the produce, grain, and livestock they consumed. Residents were expected to provide labor to the extent that their health would allow, both in the fields, in providing housekeeping and care for other residents. Rules were strict and accommodations minimal. The poor farms declined in the U.S. after the Social Security Act took effect in 1935, with most disappearing completely by about 1950. [8] What began as Orange County’s "Poorhouse" transitioned to "Orange Farm", then became the "County Infirmary" until it evolved to what it is known as today, Valley View Nursing home.
No other documents of his child hood survive.
World War One
On his World War One draft registration card, Herman lists his birth date as 14 December 1896, one day off from his N. Y. S. birth index record. He lists Florida, N. Y. as his birth place, which is right next to Warwick, as listed on his birth index record. He also slightly changes the spelling of his name from HerZke to HerSke, perhaps in an attempt to Americanize it due to the emerging hostile feelings against the Germans waging war in Europe. By this time he has left his parents household and found a job with Erie Railroad in Paterson, New Jersey, as a ticket agent. Herman lists his father, in Goshen, as his "nearest relative". [9]
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| 1918 Draft registration card for Herman J. Herske |
Herman John Herske honorably served in the U. S. Army during the first world war from 15 August 1918 to 10 Dec 1918 in Co A 76th Engineers. He did not serve overseas. [10]
When he returned to civilian life, he went back to his position as a ticket agent for the Erie railroad in Paterson, New Jersey as documented in the 1919 Paterson City Directory.
Wedding Bells
On October 14, 1919 “Mr. Herske” married Mabel Seymour:
"A quiet wedding was celebrated In St. Joseph's R. C. church yesterday afternoon at 4 o'clock when Mabel M. Seymour, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Seymour, of 186 Park Avenue, and John H. Herske, of Goshen, N. Y., were united in marriage by the Rev. Father Gardner. Mr. Herske has lived only three years in Paterson, but is well and favorably known. He is associated with Mr. Doherty in the ticket offices of the Paterson station of the Erie. The young couple were attended by Miss Ruth Brohal, of Belleville, as bridesmaid and Ronald Sutherland of this city, as best man. Mr. and Mrs. Herske left on an extended trip, and upon their return will make their home in Park Avenue, this city." [11]
In the 1920 U. S. Federal Census we find newlywed John Herske (23) and his wife Mabel (23) living at 186 Park Place. Although the census enumerator has listed them as a separate "household", they reside at the same address as William J. (56) and "Suzanne" (real name Eugenia, age 54) Seymour, Mabel's parents, and her younger brother William Junior. William senior, a saleman, owns this house mortgage free, and John pays rent. John's occupation is Railroad Ticket Clerk. [12] The 1920 Paterson City directory confirms that John's employer is the ERR, Erie Rail Road, as mentioned in the wedding announcement.
Vanishing Act
And then he diasappears! Vanishes from the records. There is NO Herman J. Herzke, Herske or Hedski found in the 1930 census. No Mable Herske. NOTHING beyond 1920. What happened? Did they both perish?
In the days of my youth, the phone company had a slogan- "Let your fingers do the walking". Being Covid isolated in North Carolina means that I will not be visiting archives in Patterson, N. J. anytime soon. So I turned to the on-line Patterson city directory and started walking...figuratively that is. 1921- missing directory, 1922- "Herski, John H". Still living at the in-laws. Still working for the railroad.
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John H. Herske entry in Paterson 1922 city directory |
1923, 1924, 1925 I find a Hersinger, but no Herske. I find a Herz, Herzinger and Herzog, but no Herzke! It seems like they disappeared around 1922-23, at least from Patterson. What about the Seymours? Are they still at 186 Park Avenue? I searched the "Patterson, New Jersey, City Directory", manually, starting in 1922 - William H Seymour, Salesman is still at 186 Park Avenue. No mention of the Herskes.
One of the cool things about City Directories is the ability to cross reference. In addition to the alphabetical name index, many directories have a street index. So I manually paged to the back of the directory and found 186 Park Avenue with the names of the residents listed as: Herske, John H. (notice the spelling variation from Herski in the Alphabetical listing of the same directory!) Also listed is “*William Seymour”, the "*" indicating a telephone at the residence. So in 1922, it still looks like Status Quo from the time of the 1920 census.
Moving on to 1923 William Seymour, Salesman now resides at 456 Ellison, where his son William Jr. also lives. (They share the same last name, so are listed together.) Since there was no alphabetical entry for Herske, I decide to look at the street directory for both Park Ave and Ellison to see if they are listed in either place. The name at 186 Park Ave is Wolfe, Abraham, a tailor. The solitary name at 456 Ellison is William Seymour. Same in 1924 & 1925 (but now with "*", a telephone). The name at 186 Park Ave in 1924 & 1925 is still Wolfe, Abraham, tailor & others but no Herske. Where can they be? Searching the variations of the name Herzke in "U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995" in the time period 1923-1925 yeilds a handful of names in various places, but not our John Herman.
I decided to push on to the 1930 U. S. Federal census and after many unsuccessful attempts to find them directly using various Herzke name spellings, I pulled up the census for William Seymour thinking it may provide more information about who is living in the household than the single name typically listed in the City directory. I found the Seymours, still living at the address: 456 Ellison Street. Daughter Mabel IS living with them...under a new name "Mabel Harding". Did she get remarried? There is a husband listed- John Harding, and a son and daughter are also listed. It seemed an odd coincidence that Mabel’s second husband’s name was John, like her previous husband and his age 33 (b. 1896/97), matches the age of John Herske. So does this age at marriage- 24. Like her previous husband, John's occupation is a railroad ticket clerk. Very suspicious! Could it be that the census people have once again mispelled the name? But Harding is not anything like Herzke.
Going back to the 1923 "Patterson, New Jersey, City Directory", where John Herske first disappears, I decided to look up "John Harding".
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John H. Harding entry in Paterson 1923 city directory
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It looks like I have my choice of John Hardings! Two work for ERR, but only one, John H. (Herman?) Harding, lives at the expected address- 456 Ellison. Same in 1924 and 1925. Oddly enough, the other employee of the Erie Railroad, named John Harding, first appears in 1914 as John T. Harding and continues to be listed for many years at the same time as our John H. Harding, confirming that these are two separate individuals with a similar name. Searching the Patterson City Directory for employees of ERR yields many results and many different jobs such a brakeman, yard worker, etc. There is not enough information to determine if John H. ever met, worked closely with or even knew his namesake. [13]
I feel like I found the Herke’s, “hiding” in plain sight! But what happened? People don't just suddenly change their name for no reason, do they? Like the T. V. detectives are fond of saying "I don't like coincidences!" If he made such a drastic name change, I really want to know when, where and why! I don't like to make this big an assumption without good evidence.
Since I'm in the city directory I continue searching, and continue finding John H. Harding, with the Erie Railroad on through the years, but that really doesn't answer my question. I turn to the last available census, 1940, and find No John Herzke, but John H. Harding pops right up, living now, on their own, with their two children John (19) and Margaret (16), at 240 Park Ave. William Seymour died in 1933 and his wife "Eugenia" disappears from the Patterson City directory in 1938 and is not found in the 1940 census, but her 1949 death certificate is from Philidelphia...I'll leave this for the Seymour family historian to work out!
Sherlock Holmes once said: "when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?" Can it be true that John Herske is now John Harding? It must be!
The Smoking Gun
Using "John H. Harding" as a search name, I finally found the conclusive answer. He legally changed his name in 1921:
"To whom it may concern:
Pursuant to the provisions of an act of legislature of the state of New Jersey, entitled "an act to authorize persons to change their names." Approved February 24, 1876, and the supplements thereto, notice is nearby given that I shall apply to the court of common pleas of the county of Passaic, on THURSDAY, THE 27TH DAY OF OCTOBER next, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, or as soon thereafter as I can be heard, for an order to authorize me to assume another name, to wit, the name of John Herman Harding.
Dated Sept. 27, 1921
JOHN HERMAN HERSKE
186 Park Ave,., Paterson, N. J." [14]
This was followed by a legal notice published in the Paterson Morning Call Newspaper a few weeks later stating that:
"...It is, on this TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY OF OCTOBER, 1921, ordered that John Herman Herske be and he hereby is authorized to assume the name of John Herman Harding from and after the Thirtieth day of Novemer, 1921. " [15]
This answers the how and where but not the why. I am not sure any documents even exist at this late date that will reveal his intentions. Using standard available genealogical sources like the census and city directories allow us to follow John Harding and his family for the second half of his life, which seemed quite ordinary. He had a long career with the railroad, he raised two "Harding" kids, became a grandfather and, according to his obituary, he even belonged to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His son served as a Marine Corporal during WWII. He seems like a well known and respected member of the Paterson community.
John died suddenly of a heart attack on August 11, 1950 and was buried in the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Totowa, Passaic County, New Jersey, leaving behind his wife, children and his father's name... Herzke.
While his eternal resting place may be marked with the name Hardy and his descendants come from the Hardy family their DNA continues to be passed down through the generations as matching that of the Herzke's. I wonder if they have an unexplainable love of Sauerkraut?
Notes:
Unless otherwise noted, the online databases used were found using my paid subscription on Ancestry.com
[1] New York State, Birth Index, 1881-1942; New York State Department of Health; Albany, NY, USA; New York State Birth Index; year 1896, page 396, Hedski
[2] 1900 United States Federal Census; Year: 1900; Census Place: Chester, Orange, New York; Page: 14; Enumeration District: 0002; FHL microfilm: 1241139; Hetske line 58-61
[3] 1910 United States Federal Census; Year: 1910; Census Place: Chester, Orange, New York; Roll: T624_1059; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 0003; FHL microfilm: 1375072; Herske line 44-47
[4] 1915 New York, State Census, Ancestry.com, New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1915; Election District: 02; Assembly District: 02; City: Goshen; County: Orange; Page: 15
[5] http://www.archives.nysed.gov/research/res_tips_019_almshouse_poorhouse.shtml
[6] Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. Year: 1920; Census Place: Goshen, Orange, New York; Roll: T625_1251; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 100
[7] Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930.; Census Place: Goshen, Orange, New York; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 0017; FHL microfilm: 2341366
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poorhouse
[9] U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918; Paterson, N. J.; H
[10] Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917 - 9/16/1940. NAI 76193916. Record Group 15: Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 1773 - 2007. National Archives at St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.
[11] The Morning Call ; Paterson, New Jersey; 15 Oct 1919, Wed; Page 13
[12] 1920 United States Federal Census; Year: 1920; Census Place: Paterson Ward 5, Passaic, New Jersey; Roll: T625_1064; Page: 14B; Enumeration District: 108; Herske Line 80-81; Seymour Line 82-84
[13] U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989; Patterson, N. J. 1914-1940
[14] Newspapers.com - The Morning Call (Paterson, N. J.); 19 Oct 1921 - Page 6
[15] Newspapers.com - The Morning Call (Paterson, N. J.); 28 Oct 1921 - Page 6
