The Otterberg Abbey Church (center) where the Hornefs were baptized and married. (image source)

On this day in 1754, my 5th great grandfather Johann David Hornef was born in Otterberg, Bayern (Bavaria), now of the Rhineland-Palatinate state of Germany.

He was the son of Wendel Gottlieb Hornef and Maria Louis. He married Susanne Weber in Otterberg and they had at least seven children there.

His grandson, Jacob Hornef, emigrated to Philadelphia in 1846 with his wife Katherina (née Faber) and infant daughter Catherine who would later marry Elon Carman.

On this day in 1873, my third great-grandfather Uriah Ware passed away in Gloucester township, New Jersey.

Uriah Ware obituary from the Camden Democrat 12 Apr 1873

He was the husband of Mary V. Coleman and they had nine children who lived into adulthood. Uriah was a farmer near Turnersville, New Jersey. As best as I can tell from comparing an old atlas to current maps, the Atlantic City Expressway now goes through the old Ware farmstead. The banner image on this site is of this area, described on the back of the original photo as “near Ware home.”

He was buried in St. John’s Methodist Church Cemetery in Turnersville.

Gravestone of Uriah Ware by Find A Grave user Horace Reven

On this day in 1815, my fifth great grandparents Addi Ayars and Mary Severs were married in Burlington County, New Jersey by Amos Pearce, Justice of the Peace.

Image from New Jersey, County Marriages, 1682-1956 on FamilySearch

Addi Ayars was the great-great grandson of Robert Ayars who settled in New Jersey by way of Rhode Island around 1705 and who was likely a Seventh Day Baptist, by far the most interesting religion I have found in my family tree to date.

I finally found evidence of a story my grandmother told me. When she told me how her grandfather Joseph Funston died, she said that the newspaper reported it as a suicide and that his sons were so incensed by this false reporting that they stormed down to the newspaper office to demand a retraction.
All of the newspaper articles I have found up until now never mentioned one way or another whether his death was an accident or suicide. Today I found a small item on the bottom of page 16 of the January 1, 1921 Night Extra issue of the Evening Public Ledger:

Joseph Funston, sixty years old, 2089 East Somerset street, was found dead in his room, early today. Gas was flowing from an open jet, with the door and windows tightly closed. Police say it is a case of suicide. In one of the pockets of Funston’s coat, the police found more than $50.

It’s worth noting that the death certificate differs in both the cause of death and his age:

Age: 70 years 1 month 3 days.
Cause of death: … Gas Poisoning probably accidental

We’ll never know the true story of what happened that New Year’s Eve night. Despite the response of my grandmother’s uncles it could very well have been a suicide, or perhaps after a little too much celebration he accidentally left the gas jet on. Whatever the case, I am wondering why he had $50 in his pocket, which is about $665 in today’s dollars, and more than I would expect my elderly boxmaker great-grandfather to be carrying around.

When my grandmother passed away I inherited a collection of funeral cards. Most were for family members, a few were for friends. I thought I would post them here on Fridays.

In Loving Memory of Catherine E. Carman, Died September 24, 1981.  (Robert B. Rowland, Funeral Home, 7013-15 Torresdale Ave., Phila., Pa.)

Jake- (Cass) [Written in by my grandmother]

Let us Pray
Almighty God, through the death of Your Son on the cross, you have overcome death for us. Through his burial and resurrection from the dead you have made the grave a holy place and restored to us eternal life. We pray for those who died believing in Jesus and are buried with him in the hope of rising again. God of the living and the dead, may those who faithfully believed in you on earth praise you for ever in the joy of heaven. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

[text on reverse]: And while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.

 

Catherine Elizabeth “Cass” Carman née Wettlaufer was the wife of my grandmother Naomi Carman’s brother Jacob Carman (1907-1991). Born 28 August 1906 in Phillipsburg, New Jersey,¹Â she was the daughter of Hugh William Wettlaufer & Catherine Elizabeth Anderson.¹ She died 24 September 1981.²

Sources

1. Catherine Elizabeth Wettlaufer Carman, 163-10-0052, 1936, Application for Account Numbers (Form SS-5), Social Security Administration, Baltimore, Maryland.
2. Social Security Administration, “U.S. Social Security Death Index,” database, FamilySearch, FamilySearch U.S. Social Security Death Index (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1202535 : accessed 10 December 2015), Catherine Carman, 163-10-0052.