Aug 2006
Ancestry of Betty Stankowitch
Generation
One
1. Betty1 Stankowitch
(Anthony,
#2)1
was born on 27 May 1901 at Chicago, Cook, IL.2
She died on 26 Jun 1978 at Altadena, Los Angeles, CA, at age 77.2
Betty, originally named Genevieve Virginia, spent the first four years of
her life in Chicago, then her parents moved to Meridian, Mississippi where they
had a five-year contract with the Women's College.
The Stankowitch family left just after Halley's Comet had appeared in
1910; Betty had just passed her ninth birthday. They went to Buffalo where they remained for a year, then to
Montgomery, Alabama, where Anthony taught at the Women's College.
Betty left here and moved to New York when she was 13 years old.
In 1920 she married Paul Bowman Popenoe and moved to California.
Betty
Generation
Two
2. Anthony2 Stankowitch
(Anton,
#4)3
was born on 26 Feb 1862 at Philadelphia, PA.
He married Genevieve Marie Lee
(see #3), daughter of James Curtis Lee
and Nellie Adelle Fox,
on 22 Jun 1892 at Gouverneur, St. Lawrence, NY.4
He died in 1934 at Buffalo, NY.
Anthony was born in Philadelphia at 12th and Market Streets, where the
Reading RR Station was later located, then lived at 1513 and 1534 Vine Street.
He went to public school on Cherry Street, then to grammar school, then
to a private school conducted by a Frenchman.
At the grammar school he played for the boys marching.
Anthony also went to a Lutheran seminary to study catechism, to be
confirmed, and at age ten or eleven he sang in the choir at an Episcopal church.
He first studied music with his aunt, Agnes Tegtmeier.
He also studied violin and harmony with a Prof. Heinemann.
Anthony Stankowitch
In 1877, when he was 16, his mother took him and
his sister Emily to Leipzig to study music.
His mother stayed 6 months, then returned home.
He took his violin to Leipzig but dropped it after a year as he was more
proficient on the piano and couldn't master both. Anthony had four lessons a week at the Leipzig Royal
Conservatory, graduating after three years in 1880. One summer he took a tour north, largely walking, to see his
great aunt, Tante Gretchen, near Rinteln. She
was engaged to a man for 15 years who couldn't marry her until his mother died;
then he died.
Extracts
from Anthony Stankowitch’s letters from Germany
Leipzig,
Nov 25, 1877, age 17
After
a couple of examinations by different Professors, Emmie and I were taken up as
scholars of the Conservatory; she played very well but I became confused and was
very nearly left behind. My time is
all occupied as you can imagine. I
am taking harmony, history and on the violin and piano, have also to sing along
in the chorus, my voice is second bass. The
only time I get to be in the fresh air is in my fifteen minute walk to the
Conservatory two or three times daily. There
are twenty teachers in the Conservatory of which I have four.
They are all very good teachers. The
one, Herr Lammers, especially is exceedingly strict….I have Czerny’s etudes
and a Mozart sonata by him and everything is played so differently from what I
practiced….It is beautiful to live in the midst of music; you get quite
different ideas. Leipzig is a very
nice city although nothing like Philadelphia.
Firstly it is exceedingly smaller; and secondly more like N. York, the
houses are very large, occupied by many families and the streets and sidewalks
mostly narrow so that the people walk more on cobblestones than pavements….
I
thought of you all on that Sunday, it was also the day that Felix Mendlessohn
Bartholy died; we had entertainment in the Conservatory and nothing but his
compositions were played….Last week we received tickets for a concert given by
the Jubilee Singers, emancipated slaves from N. America.
They were ten in number and have the most melodious music I ever heard;
it just went through me. Last night
we were in the Gewandhaus; it was Chamber music evening which the
Conservatorists have free; Saint Saens played on the piano.
You have heard of him, of course, he is a Frenchman, has a wonderful
technic and beautiful position at the piano, although he lacks that amount of
feeling that thrills the listener.
Leipzig,
Jan 4, 1878, age 17
Our
studies are in full circulation already. In
the last Gewandhaus Probe we heard Mr. Brahms; he played one of his own
Concertos. That is just the great
difference between here and America; the Gewandhaus orchestra is the first in
the world and none but the greatest artists perform, whereas in America their
compositions are played by others and consequently you have not the same effect
because the composer only can play his composition with the ideas he intended.
Schwalenberg,
Sep 14, 1879, age 18
Never,
when I have written to you, was I in the humor to pour out my feelings and home
yearnings of my soul. Whenever I
was asked if I were homesick I answered in the negative, although it was an
untruth. I could not leave any one
doubt that I was not man enough to overcome such childish whims, but sadly did I
repent when alone. The memories of
my home occupied and overflooded my thoughts….But now I feel quite different,
it seems as though I left you but yesterday, as though I still feel the
impression of our parting kiss, as though I had just recovered from the grief of
leaving my dear father behind, and seeing my dearly beloved mother whirled away
by the cars, both gone, and so very far away, an ocean separating us and oh when
should we meet again. Now my
thoughts are thusly occupied and I am in Schwalenberg, by very good people.
It is Sunday and I have just heard uncle preach a most beautiful sermon
comparing the love of our earthly parents to that of our heavenly Father.
I
have not been myself all along. I
felt desperately mad but it was really not my own fault, or rather leave me say
I was blind for you cannot imagine what it is to have ones hopes destroyed, to
give up a profession for which one was born and in which one could do something
great, for I feel that it is in me that if I have the time I can yet attain the
point which I can already see dimly in the far distance, with such hopes, oh
dear! I compare myself to the
Captain of a vessel of great value. His
whole fortune lines in this voyage. He
has already braved many storms. He
is overjoyous that his voyage may be crowned with success, nay he is sure of
succeeding for now he can already discern land on the distant horizon.
But alas, in all this glory, in all these hopes with land in view, his
success is foundered. A storm arises and his vessel becomes a leaky one but
nevertheless the storm is bravely overcome, but now he has lost sight of his
destination and with a leaky vessel what hope has he? I am this captain, the ocean on which I am is my path and the
ship on which I am sailing is my profession.
My profession became leaky through the misfortune with my arm.
But now I feel better and can hardly wait until I get back to Leipzig.
Emily left last week and is now studying diligently. I have not intended returning to Leipzig before Oct and will make several foot tours which will be healthy for me.
Anthony spent three more years in Vienna.
He lived at the Weidener Freihaus. There
was a courtyard in the center with a little garden where Mozart was said to have
written the Magic Flute.
In the fall of 1883, Anthony returned to
Philadelphia where he taught privately and in the Philadelphia Conservatory and
gave recitals. He belonged to a musicians club, the Utopian Club, also the Fine
Arts Club. Before his marriage he
had a little house in Forked River, NJ, along the sea coast..
Emily and Anthony gave a joint recital at the 20th Century Club in
Philadelphia. She taught singing at
the Mt. Holly Seminary just outside Philadelphia in New Jersey and Anthony met
Genevieve Lee, his future wife, who was a student there.
After his marriage he taught for seven years at the Ogontz School, a
wealthy girls school. He also had a
studio in the Hazeltine Art Galleries with Frederick Peakes, the best vocal
teacher in Philadelphia.
Then he moved to New York City where for three
years he worked for the Virgil Piano School.
Then the company made him director of the Virgil Piano School in the
Auditorium Tower, Chicago with a five year contract. He followed this with an appointment at Northwestern
University, spending nine years altogether in Chicago.
Then he got a five year contract as director of music at the Womens
College, Meridian, Mississippi. Genevieve
taught art and needlework there. This was followed by a year in Buffalo where he taught at
D'youville College. Then he went to
the college in Montgomery, Alabama.
After four years, Genevieve left to get a position
in NYC, reflecting, no doubt, their difficulty in getting along with each other.
She never succeeded in finding what she was after.
She was living in Berkeley Heights, NJ and refused to pay the rent
because of a problem with the water. She
had tickets to go back to Alabama but the landlord brought suit and attached
everything she had. It took six
months for the suit to be decided in her favor.
Meanwhile Betty had gotten into the Noyes School and Emily was making
friends, so she decided to stay on and moved into 333 E. 31st St., NYC.
Anthony moved to the Tulsa School of Music, then to
Pittsburgh, Kansas, and finally back to Alabama, working there 13 years
altogether. He would visit NYC in
the summers to be with his family. Then
he spent two years at the Utica Conservatory of Music, followed by six years in
Buffalo, where he died. In 1930 he
was living there with Genevieve in the house jointly owned and occupied by her
mother, Nellie Lee, and her sister Eula House and her family.
Here are a few press notices:
The
Pianist, New York: Mr.
Anthony Stankowitch, although an American by birth, received his musical
education abroad. At an early age
he entered the Leipzig Conservatory. His
success at the conservatory concerts and elsewhere induced him, after three
years training in this celebrated institution, to continue his work still
further in Vienna. Here he studied
the higher art of piano playing for several years with the renowned pedagogue,
Prof. J. Dachs, master of De Pachman, and his theoretical studies were directed
by that great contrapuntist, Anton Bruckner.
During his sojurn in Vienna he appeared in public on various occasions,
and his playing was always well received, the critics being unanimous in
praising his beautiful touch and artistic interpretation.
Musical
America, New York:
Irreproachable technique and flashes of dramatic intensity, a musician
whose artistic standard is impressive. Ideal pianism as exemplified in the
suave, velvet tone, not small but rich and noble in its impressiveness.
His rendition of Grieg Ballade, Op. 24, was a revelation of the capacity
of the formal and romantic through the conception of the master pianist.
James Huneker in the New
York Musical Courier: His
playing is characterized by great delicacy, beauty of tone and admirable variety
of shading. He plays Brahms with
reverent understanding, but is also in sympathy with Chopin, Schumann, Bach and
Beethoven.
Philadelphia
Democrat:
An artistic concert draw a large and cultivated audience to the Academy
of Fine Arts last night. The
well-known and celebrated piano virtuoso, Anthony Stankowitch, gave a recital
that was highly appreciated, and in which every number received well-earned and
enthusiastic applause. He has
developed a great technique and his interpretation is genuinely artistic.5
Children of Anthony2 Stankowitch
and Genevieve Marie Lee
(see #3) were as follows:
i. Anita1
6
was born on 28 Sep 1894.7
She died on 18 Jan 1906 at age 11.7
ii. Harry
6
was born on 12 Jan 1896.7
He died in Jul 1896.7
iii. Phyllis
6
was born on 29 Mar 1898.7
She died in Jun 1899 at age 1.7
1.
iv. Betty.
v. Anthony
6
was born on 10 Jun 1902.7
He died on 1 Oct 1905 at age 3.7
vi. Emily
8
was born on 22 Dec 1903.9
She died on 11 Jan 2001 at St. Louis, MO, at age 97.9
vii. Anthony
10
was born on 22 Nov 1904.11
He died on 23 Nov 1927 in an auto accident, Indiio, CA, at age 23.11
viii. Anne
6
was born on 12 Aug 1905.7
She died in Sep 1905.7
ix. Brunnhilde
8
was born on 29 Feb 1912 at Alabama.9
She died on 23 Apr 1988 at Riverside, CA, at age 76.9
x. Louis
6
was born in May 1913.7
He died in Sep 1914 at age 1.7
3. Genevieve
Marie2
Lee
(James,
#6)12
was born on 9 Jan 1872 at Watertown, NY.9
She married Anthony Stankowitch
(see #2), son of Anton (Anthony) Stankowitch
and Anna Sophia Victoria Tegtmeier,
on 22 Jun 1892 at Gouverneur, St. Lawrence, NY.4
She died on 15 Jul 1966 at Altadena, Los Angeles, CA, at age 94.9
Genevieve was one of four daughters of James Curtis Lee, a merchant and
life insurance representative in northern NY State, near the Canadian border.
Born in Watertown, she went to school in Gouverneur, then to a convent
school in Montreal, then a private girls school, Mt. Holly Seminary, NJ. where
she met Anthony. During the later
years of their marriage, Anthony and Genevieve lived apart most of the time,
though they were together in Buffalo when he died.
Afterwards she moved to California where her three living daughters were
located. They set her up in various
apartments, not too close to them, as she was a cantankerous and complaining old
lady and a short visit once a week at most was all any of them could take.7
Genevieve
Stankowitch
Generation
Three
4. Anton
(Anthony)3
Stankowitch
3
was born on 5 Jun 1829 at Don (Croatia), Hungary.3
He married Anna Sophia Victoria Tegtmeier
(see #5), daughter of Carl Justus Tegtmeier
and Sophia Johanetta Rosetta Zeiss,
in 1856.3
He died in 1893 at Philadelphia, PA.3
He was born Anton Stankovic (changing his name in America to Anthony
Stankowitch) in Don, or Duna, or Thiersow (according to various accounts) in
Croatia, Hungary. His father is believed to have come from Russia.
He was a tow-headed boy with brown eyes who sang in the choir at the
Catholic Church. He ran away from
home at the age of 14, and went to Budapest and later Prague and lost touch with
his family. He emigrated to New
York in 1848 on a sailing vessel named Anna.
Anton Stankowitch
Letter from his daughter Emily to her nephew Tom:
"Your grandfather spoke Hungarian and German and some English when
he arrived in America. He had learned piano making and organ building from A to Z,
even to the gilding of the organ pipes. In
those days they did not only learn one branch.
He had a wonderful ear for music and
because he did not have the capital to manufacture instruments, although
two organs of his are in two churches, one in Hartford, Conn. and one in Penna,
near Tamaqua, so he became an expert tuner.
He was sought for long after his passing on by old customers and he made
a fine living.
"But what I wanted to tell you about him was
this, on arriving in New York he found no work in his line as builder of organs
so he went to New England states and in Hartford, Conn. he was not too proud to
work on the street driving cobble stones. He
was a handsome man and two strangers accosted him and asked him why he was doing
laborer's work. They spoke German
and he told them that he was an organ builder, etc. and Alois Gemünder, who had
an organ factory, engaged him on the spot.
He had brought fine tools and patterns for pipe organs with him from
Prague where he had learned his trade but when he came to Philadelphia and
started for himself, he came to his shop [one day] at 12th and Market where the
Reading Terminal now is and found that the shop burned down during the night and
morning and he lost everything.
"Thus he started in tuning and repairing
pianos and organs. Just think of
the grit he had to work on the street and how wonderful he was fed. He was very painstaking to the minutest details and accurate
and never left a job until it was perfect and all the overtones could be heard,
no matter how much time it took. He
had a beautiful voice and sang tenor in the boy choir of the Catholic church in
which he was raised. He had an
uncle who was a priest and his father had him educated to become a priest also,
but he had a stepmother who was not very kind to him and as he did not want to
become a priest and did not like his home he ran away and learned his trade.
He was born in a town in Croatia, Hungary.
The Croatians are the temperamental class and excel in art, sculpture,
poetry and especially music, all the fine arts.
He was 63 years old Jan 26th 1894 when he passed on.
He was so good hearted and generous to a fault.
A jovial, genial nature but a hot temper which was fiery but over in a
minute or two and laughing and ending. He
did not believe in any creed and never went to church much less his own."
Anthony had a friend, a Hungarian nobleman who had
also come over in 1848, Charles Kisch (later spelled Kish). Charles went to work in Hartford for a gold chain
manufacturing company. Anthony also
had a cousin on his father's side, Louis Reimer, born in Kassel, Hesse, Germany
who induced the widow Sophia Tegtmeier to come to America with her two
daughters, Emily and Anna. Sophia
took a position as tutor in New Rochelle, NY, later in Springfield, Mass. and in
Connecticut. Her daughter Emily met
a language teacher, Karl Ludolph, and married him at 16.
He died a year and a half later, and she married Charles Kisch.
Charles introduced Anthony to her sister, Anna, and they were married,
probably around 1856.
Reimer was a piano tuner and he persuaded Anthony
to take up piano tuning, and also to go to Philadelphia, along with Charles
Kisch. In 1860 the Stankowitch and
Kisch families were living together there, Charles with one small daughter;
Anthony with two. Later, Charles
became a physician and had a successful practice in Chester, PA.
Anthony was listed as a piano maker in the 1860 Census and as a piano
tuner in later ones.
Anthony Junior described his father as a short,
fat, pudgy man, long beard, very genial and with strikingly brilliant and
beautiful eyes. Being under size,
he did not worry about being drafted into the Hungarian army. About three years before he died he was paralyzed by a stroke
and bedridden.13
Children of Anton (Anthony)3 Stankowitch
and Anna Sophia Victoria Tegtmeier
(see #5) all born at Philadelphia, PA, were as
follows:
i. Emily2
14
was born on 1 Feb 1857.3
She died after 1930.3
Emily went to Europe with her brother Anthony to study music. She graduated from the Royal Conservatorium, Leipzig and
later studied in Paris under Mme Le Grange and Fidele Koenig.
The Leipziger Tageblatt, in a very flattering article, predicted a
brilliant future and said "Miss Emily Stankowitch, of Philadelphia, sang at
Gewandhaus, 'Rode Variations' with string quartet accompaniment which showed her
excellent technique combinted with an artistic temperament."
After returning to Philadelphia, she set up a studio at 1520 Chestnut
Street where she advertised herself as a teacher of voice culture, artistic
singing and piano. Her brochure
said she "teaches the pure, old Italian method of voice development, which
preserves the voice so that it retains its beauty and youthful sound into old
age. Comprising correct breath
control, voice placing, resonance, pure diction, concentration and physical
development. Weak voices
strengthened, partial tone deafness and vocal defects overcome. Foundation to artistic finish.
Church, Concert, Oratorio and Opera Repertoire."
Emily Stankowitch
Emily became engaged to Louis H. Spellier, born in
Germany in 1841, who had moved to Philadelphia from Doylestown in Bucks County
where he had a watch, clock and jewelry store.
After closing hours he worked out the idea that clocks could be run by
electricity instead of winding. He
built the court house clock and received one of the earliest, if not the
earliest, patents for an electric clock. In
a paper read before the Franklin Institute in 1880 he concluded "providing
there is battery power enough to move them, we have reason to believe that they
may still come into general use in hotels and public buildings...They will
hardly ever come into general use and always be a costly novelty for those who
desire to have them." In 1887 he received a medal and a premium in money from the
City of Philadelphia for his electric clock.
In August, 1891, while vacationing at the seashore, he contracted
pneumonia and died before he and Emily could be married.
He left her $4,000 in his will.
Louis H. Spellier
Emily later moved to Atlantic City where her mother
lived with her until her death in 1918 and her sister Rosalie spent some time
with her before her death in 1925. In
1930 Emily was living alone in Atlantic City in her own home, valued at $15,000.
She received income from several houses she owned as well as a mortgage
on the former house of Charles Kisch in Chester.15
ii. Rosalie
14
was born on 4 Nov 1858.3
She died on 4 Jun 1925 at age 66.3
Rosalie was a very attractive girl--pretty--petite, dark but highly
colored, rosy cheeks, black hair, vivacious. She was also described as short and
swarthy like her father. In 1880
she was a music teacher. Her mother
wanted her to be a physician. In 1900 she was still living with her mother and
two sisters, and was a doctor. She
had received a Master of Homeopathy in 1894 from the Post Graduate School of
Homeopathy at Dunham Medical College, Chicago.
However, she became more timid and shy as she got older and was not
fitted to be a doctor. She
married John Pierson, said to be in real estate.
The 1910 Census for Philadelphia shows a John L. Pierson, 35, born PA,
clerk in real estate, married ca 1907 to Rosalie, 35, born PA (as were both her
parents), occupation none. If this
is our Rosalie, she dropped about 14 years off her age to match that of her
younger husband and gave up doctoring for being a housewife.
(It may be, however, that the census was answered by a neighbor who did
not know her age or that her parents were immigrants.)
According to family information, John Pierson's father was a physician
who claimed to have invented celluloid but a British company stole it from him.
Rosalie finally refused to live with him and he committed suicide by
drowning.
Rosalie Stankowitch Pierson
Despite the above, her obituary (newspaper
unknown--maybe written by Bruce Reid) was as follows:
Pleasantville, June 10, 1925. Dr.
Rosalie S. Pierson, retired physician, died last night at the home of her
sister, Mrs. W. Bruce Reid, California Ave. and New Road, in her 65th year,
after six month's illness. Her
husband, John Pierson, died in Washington several years ago and Dr. Pierson has
since made her home partly with her sister, Miss Emily Stankowitch, North
Providence Avenue, Atlantic City, and partly with Mrs. Reid.
Dr. Pierson was an accomplished and talented woman and vocalist.
She was of great personal charm and lovable qualities, which made her a
host of friends. Dr. Pierson was
well educated and a graduate of the Women's Medical College of Philadelphia as
well as of the Homeopathic School of Medicine of that city.
She was a successful practicioner for twenty years and was well-known in
medical circles. Her sole ambition
in life was to serve humanity, to help the weak and the needy, as well as her
own relatives. Her whole life was
practically in such service, ready always with purse, or hand, or kindly,
skilled advice, to help others. Many
there are who will miss the "little, nameless unremembered acts of kindness
and of love" which were as natural to her as flowers to the spring
sunshine. Her illness was
accompanied by severe suffering, borne with a quiet endurance, amounting to
heroism.16
2. iii. Anthony.
iv. Adelaide 17 was born on 1 Dec 1869.18 She married William Bruce Reid circa 1902; In 1910 they were living in New Harford, near Utica, NY, where Bruce was a reporter for the daily paper. In 1920 Bruce was listed as a farmer on a chicken and truck farm in Atlantic .County, NJ. In 1930 he was again a newswriter for a newspaper. In 1933 it was reported that Mr. Reid, 72, a veteran member of the Press Club of Atlantic City, was having difficulty refinancing the $3,000 mortgage on his $10,000 house due to bureaucratic difficulties between two Federal agencies. She died after 1934.18
Adelaide Stankowitch at 25
5. Anna
Sophia Victoria3
Tegtmeier
(Carl,
#10)20
was born on 27 Jan 1834 at Rinteln an der Wesser, Germany.3
She married Anton (Anthony) Stankowitch
(see #4) in 1856.3
She died in Jan 1918 at Atlantic City, NJ.3
Anna was about 17 when she came to the US in 1851; about 22 when she
married. In later censuses she was
called Annie. Beside the children
listed here, she had two others Minna and Anna who died in infancy.
She lost the sight of one eye in her youth and had a bad cataract on the
other during most of her life.21
Anna
Tegtmeier
6. James
Curtis3
Lee
(John,
#12)22
was born in Sep 1845 at Clayton, Jefferson, NY.23
He married Nellie Adelle Fox
(see #7), daughter of Alfred Fox
and Olive Bent,
in 1870 at Clayton, Jefferson, NY.24
He died on 6 Mar 1919 at Buffalo, Erie, NY, at age 73.25
James grew up on a farm in Clayton next to the farms of Alfred and Elisha
Fox, Nellie's father and grandfather. So
James and Nellie doubtless visited together as children and it was a natural
thing for them to marry, even though they waited until she was nineteen and he
twenty-five. Clayton is on the St.
Lawrence River and their farm was at the southwestern corner of the town, below
the village of Depauville. After
their marriage they moved to Omar, a dozen miles away, where James had a store.
Lydia Fox, a niece, wrote: "I used to love to visit Aunt Nellie at
Omar. The Lees were near the St.
Lawrence River and one feature of a visit there was usually a day of fishing on
the river...We would fish all morning, then land on an island, make a fire and
cook the fish. Aunt Nellie would
have potatoes ready to cook and green corn or some vegetables in season, and if
it was berry time, a can prepared ready to eat, and with the blue sky above and
the beautiful river and the appetite we had acquired, those meals were truly
memorable."
James Curtis Lee
Star Lake Inn
Sometime in the 1880s, James moved east to
Gouverneur in St. Lawrence County, where he had a jewelry store.
Around 1895 he traded it for the Star Lake Inn, one of the largest hotels
in the western Adirondacks and he ran it for three years. In 1900 he was an
insurance agent in Buffalo and in 1910 he was in Syracuse where he described
himself as a concrete builder. Then
he moved back to Buffalo where he sold life insurance. When he died in 1919 the funeral was held in the family
residence, 68 Dewey Avenue. He was
a member of Washington Lodge #240, F. and A.M. and a life member of Central City
Consistory, S.P.R.S.
It is curious that James Curtis Lee appeared to be
successful in a variety of businesses throughout his life while neither of his
brothers showed any evidence of initiative or independence.26
Children of James Curtis3 Lee
and Nellie Adelle Fox
(see #7) were as follows:
3.
i. Genevieve
Marie2.
ii. Eula
Hope
27
was born in Jul 1876.24
She married Roscoe House
circa 1901. She
died after 1950.28
Lydia Fox: "That summer
[1876] Aunt Nellie's second child was born and Grandmother [Olive Bent] went out
to Omar to attend her. Genevieve
had been a difficult child and Grandmother said that she hoped the next baby
would make up for it. And she got
her wish. Eula Hope was an answer
to Grandmother's prayer and had the sweetness of dear Aunt Nellie. [And in 1950:] Eula has much of her mother's sweetness but
has struggled always against poor health."29
iii. Mollie
Elaine
30
was born in Apr 1880.31
She married Mark D. Leonard
in 1901. She
died after 1950.31
iv. Josephine
Carol
8
was born on 1 Jun 1895 at Gouverneur, St. Lawrence, NY.9
She married Leon Fisher.
She
died in Jul 1977 at Riverside, CA, at age 82.9
. Nellie
Adelle3
Fox
(Alfred,
#14)32
was born in Nov 1851 at Clayton, Jefferson, NY.24
She married James Curtis Lee
(see #6), son of John Shaw Lee
and Minerva Fisher,
in 1870 at Clayton, Jefferson, NY.24
She died in 1938 at Buffalo, Erie, NY.24
Nellie Fox Lee (and Anita Stankowitch)
She was named Ella Adell Fox but early on called
herself Nellie and went by that name thereafter.
Comments by her niece, Lydia Fox:
"I went as often as I could to visit Aunt
Nellie. Dear Aunt Nellie. I always think of Adelaide Proctor's lovely poem when I think
of her. 'A sweeter woman ne'er drew
breath.' She was a tiny creature,
blonde and with abundant light brown hair.
She was possessed of endless energy and always moved like a flash and was
always serving everybody. Aunt Mary
[Mary Jane Fox 1834 - >1930, unm.] lived with her from the death of her
father until her own death at nearly one hundred. Aunt Mary was never well and Aunt Nellie's patience and
tender care were beyond description.
"Aunt Nellie was like her mother, Olive Bent,
sweet, gentle, good and absolutely unselfish but she had none of the mental
alertness which Aunt Mary inherited from her father. How well I remember her
puzzled look at some whimsey which delighted Aunt Mary and me, she would say,
'what does that mean?'
"Aunt Nellie was quite the best cook I ever
knew. I often thought of
Grandmother's dictum, that she did not consider a good cook one who could make
good things with everything to do with. She
thought a good cook was one who could make good things of a little.
And Aunt Nellie could do that and out of seemingly nothing could concoct
a masterpiece."
After James died, Nellie kept the home in Buffalo
and there Mary Jane died and Nellie died after her.33
Generation
Four
10. Carl
Justus4
Tegtmeier
; He
came from a peasant family but became a lawyer and Supreme Court Judge21
married Sophia Johanetta Rosetta Zeiss
(see #11), daughter of Adam Georgon Zeiss,
in 1825. He
died on 11 Jul 1839 at Rinteln an der Weser, Hannover, Germany.21
Children of Carl Justus4 Tegtmeier
and Sophia Johanetta Rosetta Zeiss
(see #11) were as follows:
5.
i. Anna
Sophia Victoria3.
ii. Emily
34
was born on 27 Jan 1834 at Rinteln an der Weser, Hesse, Germany.21
She married Charles Kish
circa 1854 at Hartford, CT.21
iii. Agnes
34
was born in 1839 at Rinteln an der Weser, Hesse, Germany.21
She died circa 1900 at Philadelphia, PA.21
Agnes Tegtmeier
Agnes came over from Germany after her mother and
sisters, having studied music in Hamburg. Trained
as a musician, she was young Anthony's first teacher, and was a music teacher
throughout her life. She was an
excellent musician but was temperamentally unstable.
As a child she had tantrums and was very hard to handle.
At about 60 she committed suicide by inhaling illuminating gas.21
11. Sophia
Johanetta Rosetta4
Zeiss
(Adam,
#22)35
was born on 9 Feb 1810 at Marburg im Kurhessen, Germany.
She married Carl Justus Tegtmeier
(see #10) in 1825.
She died circa 1872 at Philadelphia, PA.
Sophia had three daughters in the seven years of her marriage before she
was widowed at 29. She came to
America in 1851, when she was about 41, with two of her daughters, Emily and
Anna. She took a position as tutor in New Rochelle, then in Western
Massachusetts and Hartford, CT. Her
younger daughter, Emily first married Karl Ludolph and after he died, married
Charles Kisch. Charles introduced
Anthony Stankowitch to her older daughter, Anna, and they married around 1856.
Her youngest daughter, Agnes, studied music in Hamburg and came over in
1860. In 1870, Sophia and Agnes were living with the Anthony
Stankowitch family in Philadelphia.21
12. John
Shaw4 Lee
36
was born circa 1820.36
He married Minerva Fisher
(see #13).37
He died after 1870.36
John Shaw Lee, born in Vermont, was probably the son of Richard Lee who
moved to Clayton from Vermont in the 1830s.
I have seen no evidence that he descended from the 1634 immigrant, John
Lee, who lived in Farmington, CT. The
1840 Census showed Richard with two sons, 15-20, and a daughter, no wife.
In 1850, William and John S. Lee, evidently brothers, were living
together on the same farm with their wives and families.
By 1860 they were living apart. An
1864 map showed the J. Lee farm adjoining that of A. Fox.
William A Lee died between 1880 and 1890; his sons were Charles, Milo and
Oren, farmers; and William F. who became a mail carrier and proprietor of the
stage line between Chaumont and Depauville.
John Shaw Lee probably married Minerva Fisher about
1844 since James, their first child was 5 in 1850.38
Children of John Shaw4 Lee
and Minerva Fisher
(see #13) all born at Clayton, Jefferson, NY, were
as follows:
6.
i. James
Curtis3.
ii. Cynthia
39
was born circa 1848.23
She died circa 1872 at Clayton, Jefferson, NY.23
Cynthia, known as Tinney, married
Charles Alfred Fox, Nellie's brother. He
was a farmer in Clayton, then moved to the village of Depauville where he had a
grocery store. Cynthia had three
children in quick succession, Hubbel who died in infancy from a fall; Herman,
born in 1870; and Nellie, born Aug 1872. Then
she died either in childbirth or shortly thereafter. Herman married Maude Southwell and they had a daughter,
Doris. Nellie married a neighbor,
Albert Schryver, a veteran of the Spanish American War.
They had two sons, Charles and Allen.40
iii. Delmer
41
was born circa 1853.42
He died in 1917.42
Delmer never married. In
1880, age 27, he was working as a
clerk, living with James and Nellie. In
1910 he was again living with them, age 57, occupation none, suggesting that he
was physically disabled.43
iv. Jay
F.
44
was born in Apr 1862.45
He died after 1930.45
Jay F. married Della Windmill, ca 1889 and in 1900 they were living with
her parents; he was a farm laborer. They
had a daughter, Nina, b Jun 1890. She
married Fred Gurnsey, a Clayton farmer, and they had a daughter Rowina, born in
1920. In 1910, Jay Lee was living
apart from his family, perhaps for economic reasons.
He was living with James and Nellie Lee in Syracuse where he was listed
as a concrete maker while James was a concrete builder.
In 1920 he was a laborer; he and Della were living with their daughter
and son-in-law back in Clayton. In
1930 they were still with the Gurnseys in Clayton but now, age 67, his
occupation was none.46
13. Minerva4 Fisher
37
was born circa 1826.37
She married John Shaw Lee
(see #12).37
She died after 1870.37
14. Alfred4 Fox
(Elisha,
#28)47
was born on 30 Jan 1807 at Pompey Hill, Onondaga, NY.48
He married Lucy Harris
in 1830 at Cortland, NY; Lucy was the daughter of James Harris, who had gone out
to Cortland from Glastonbury with Elisha Fox.49
He married Olive Bent
(see #15) in 1842 at Jefferson, NY.50
He died on 13 Mar 1880 at Clayton, Jefferson, NY, at age 73.48
Alfred Fox was born January 30, 1807, at Pompey
Hill, Onondaga county, NY, which became Cortland County the next year.
He received his education at a common school and moved to Jefferson
county with his father in 1832. He
was always in public affairs. He
was a Democrat in a stronghold of Republicanism. He was for years town school
commissioner, or "inspector," as it was then called; was supervisor of
the town for several years; was in the Legislature from the old third district
of Jefferson county in 1850; was a delegate to the Democratic National
Convention at Baltimore in 1852 that nominated Franklin Pierce. His son Frank was named for Pierce. He was also Justice of the Peace and used to hold trials in
his living room. Alfred was
appointed custom house collector at Cape Vincent, and held the office from 1863
to 1867.
He was twice married; first in Cortland, 1830 to
Lucy Harris, of Fabius, Onondaga county, N. Y., by whom he had six children. She
died in May, 1841. For his second wife he married Olive C. Bent, of Watertown in
1842, by whom he had five children. Alfred died March 13, 1880, of pneumonia,
and was followed two weeks later by his wife, who died of the same disease.
Alfred Fox seemed to have not too high an opinion
of women; he agreed with St. Paul, "Let the women keep silence."
His second wife, Olive Bent, was a gentle, kindly woman.
She always addressed him as Mr. Fox and he usually addressed her as
Woman. He quoted poetry by the volume, knowing every line in an old
English reader. He would quote
Pope, Dryden, Milton and many others by the hour.
His boys were all a disappointment to him because he was so
uncompromising with them and everyone was abashed before him.
His house was white, clapboarded, rambling over a lot of ground.
Next to the vegetable garden was the yard where they made soap and where
the cow livied. Alfred milked the
cow. The house was heated by
stoves. In the living room was a
big base burner coal stove with a visable fire that warmed that room and several
bedrooms. The coal fire in
the kitchen did not go out all winter and the tank at the back furnished hot
water for all uses. The house had a
big cistern and rain water from the eaves served the year round for laundry,
baths, and the house work, and water from the well served for cooking and
drinking.
Alfred was tall and straight with black hair,
lightly streaked with gray and a black beard.
His upper lip was shaven. In
those days a smooth face was unusual. He
was always well dressed and never wore a colored shirt which was unusual in
those days. He was a successful
businessman and owned several large farms. Lydia remembered how he would shuffle the sheaf of notes that
represented the loans he had made and then would calculate the interest due.
When his boys were of age, Alfred gave each one $2,000 to start out on
their own. They didn't do too well.51
Children of Alfred4 Fox
and Olive Bent
(see #15) were as follows:
i. Charles
Alfred3
52
was born in 1845 at Clayton, Jefferson, NY.53
He died on 20 Jun 1930 at Black River, Jefferson, NY.53
Charles spent his early life in Depauville and was graduated from
the Belleville academy. He then taught school for two years at Reynolds Corner.
He was first married to Cynthia (Tinnie) Lee of
Depauville, sister of James C. Lee (q.v.) They had three children, Hubbell,
Herman and Nellie. Then Tinnie
died. Charles farmed for about 20
years after his marriage, then he purchased a store in Depauville after he
stopped farming, retiring from active work about 1924.
In 1876 he married Alice Meyer and they had two children Ross Earl and
Elsie Anna.40
ii. Harriet
54
was born in 1847.55 She
died in 1866 at stricken by the typhoid epidemic that killed her brother George.55
7.
iii. Nellie
Adelle.
iv. Frank
C.
56
was born on 29 Jun 1853 at Cape Vincent, Jefferson, NY; In April, 1878, he went
to Watertown and clerked for two or three years, and in 1881 opened a clothing
store at 14 Court street, which he continued about five years, when he bought an
interest in a ranch in Idaho. September 17, 1887, he was thrown from his horse
and killed. He married Rose Walrath and they had two children, Hattie and
Winfield.57 He
died on 17 Sep 1887 at Idaho at age 34.57
v. Alfred
56
was born in 1857; Called "Fred" he married Lois Macomber in 1880 and
they had three children. In 1891 he
was a county committeeman from Depauville.57
He died after 1930.57
15. Olive4 Bent
50
was born circa 1817 at NY.50
She married Alfred Fox
(see #14), son of Elisha Fox
and Mary (Polly) Loomis,
in 1842 at Jefferson, NY.50
She died in 1880 at Jefferson, NY.50
Generation
Five
22. Adam
Georgon5
Zeiss
35
was born on 9 Sep 1779 in Germany.35
He married Anna Sabina Ilsabein Rohde
in Aug 1800 at Cassel, Germany.35
He died on 18 Feb 1870 in Germany at age 90.35
Adam's family can be traced back to the Burgvogt (steward or bailiff of
the castle) of the Graf von Henneberg in Thuringia who died in 1490. His grandfather, Andreas Zeiss, b 1675, d 14 Dec 1758, held
office for 55 years as the first reformed Kantor and schoolmaster in
Rauschenberg. One of his sons was
ennobled as Secretary to Czar Peter III; another was a general.
Adam's father, Johann Furtus Zeiss, b 16 Aug 1714, d 12 Nov 1789, was
from 1742 co-rector and from 1762, rector in Treysa.
He was an organist, very musical. He
married on 7 May 1764, Marie Judith Frey, daughter of the Burgomeister of Treysa.
Adam
was a teacher and seminarinspektor in Marburg; and pastor and superintendant in
Silixen, in office 71 years. Adam
was bald and wore a little black velvet skull cap.
He and Marie had twelve children, of whom Sophia was the youngest.
Most of his other surviving children became pastors or married pastors.35
Adam Georgon Zeiss
Children of Adam Georgon5
Zeiss
include:
11.
i. Sophia
Johanetta Rosetta4.
28. Elisha5 Fox
49
was born circa 1769 at Glastonbury, CT.49
He married Mary (Polly) Loomis
(see #29) circa 1790 at Glastonbury, CT.
He married Clarinda Gurley
in 1816 at Cortland, NY.49
He died in 1854 at Clayton, Jefferson, NY.49
Elisha Fox descended from the immigrant Christopher Fox as follows:
1. Christopher
Fox, born in England, d 1650, Wethersfield, CT
2. Richard
Fox, born about 1645, died in Glastonbury, CT.
He m ca 1675, Beriah Smith
3. Abraham
Fox, born 1692 in Glastonbury, m 3 Jan 1716/17 in Glastonbury, Dorothy Hollister
4. Abraham
Fox II, born 1717, m Eunice Rollo
5. Abraham
Fox III, born 1748, died 1777, m Martha Couch.
He was from Glastonbury, served in the Revolution, and died in Boston of
smallpox leaving a large family.
6. Elisha
Fox, with a group of other families from Glastonbury, moved to Onondaga County,
NY (the part which became Cortland County in 1808) near the end of the century
in the Military Tract where land had been given to war veterans.
There were no roads and they blazed the trees to mark their path.
In 1832, he moved, with his sons Hubbell and Alfred and their families,
to farms in Clayton, Jefferson County, NY.
Now there were roads but tradition has it that there were no bridges and
they had to ford streams all the way. This
area had been settled by the French, many of them having fled their after the
French Revolution. Clayton had
originally been called French Creek and many of the villages had French names,
including Depauville near which the Foxes settled.58
Children of Elisha5 Fox
and Mary (Polly) Loomis
(see #29) were as follows:
i. Polly4
59
was born in 1792 at Glastonbury, CT; She married Seabury Brown, 1809, in Truxton,
Cortland, NY.49
ii. Phila
59
was born in 1795 at Glastonbury, CT; She married Perry Babcock, 1814, in
Cortland.49
iii. Hubbell
59
was born in 1799 at Glastonbury, CT; He married Lucinda Whitcomb Heston in 1829
in Solon, Cortland, NY. Hubbell was
educated as an M.D. and began practicing in Cortland County.
In 1832 he moved to Clayton. He
was elected the first supervisor of Clayton.
In 1835 he moved to Jackson, Mississippi and practiced there until 1840
when he returned to Jefferson County, NY. In
later life, Lucinda, his widow,
went to California. On her
hundretth birthday, there was a big celebration in the little town in which she
lived. Born at the end of 1799, she lived in three centuries.60
He died in 1841 at Jefferson, NY.49
iv. Sophia
59
was born in 1805 at Truxton, Cortland, NY; In 1825 she married Ephraim Griswald
in Truxton.49
14.
v. Alfred.
vi. Perry
59
was born in 1809 at Truxton, Cortland, NY.49
vii. Emily
59
was born in 1810 at Truxton, Cortland, NY; In 1831 she married William Bogardus
in Truxton.49
29. Mary
(Polly)5
Loomis
married Elisha Fox
(see #28) circa 1790 at Glastonbury, CT.
She died circa 1812 at Cortland, NY.49
Endnotes
1. Popenoe, Betty, Death Cert; Paul B. Popenoe, "Stankovitch, Anthony Family Group Sheet", 1927
2. Popenoe, Betty, Death Cert.
3. Paul B. Popenoe, "Stankowitch, Anton Family
Group Sheet", 1924.
4. Social Security Death Index, Ancestry.com, Internet; Paul B. Popenoe, "Stankovitch, Anthony Family Group Sheet", 1927 .
5. Interview with Anthony Stankowitch (Buffalo), by
Paul Popenoe, 25 Jun 1934; Census 1930, Internet, Ancestry.com, NY, Erie,
Buffalo, Dist 241, #18.
6. Paul B. Popenoe, "Stankovitch, Anthony Family Group Sheet", 1927 .
7. Paul B. Popenoe, "Stankovitch, Anthony Family Group Sheet", 1927 .
8. Social Security Death Index, Ancestry.com, Internet;
9. Social Security Death Index, Ancestry.com,
Internet.
10. Local Youth Victim of Accident, Stankowitch, Tom death notice, Pasadena, 25 Nov 1927.
11. Local Youth Victim of Accident, Stankowitch, Tom death notice, Pasadena, 25 Nov 1927.
12. Social Security Death Index, Ancestry.com,
Internet; Census 1850, Internet, Ancestry.com, NY, Jefferson, Clayton, #694.
13. Letter from Emily Stankowitch to Tom
Stankowitch, 24 Dec 1923; Popenoe files (Rye Brook, NY); Emily Stankowitch notes
& interviews by PBP., Popenoe files, Rye Brook, NY.
14. Paul B. Popenoe, "Stankowitch, Anton Family Group Sheet", 1924.
15. Census 1930, Internet; Emily Stankowitch notes
& interviews by PBP., Popenoe files, Rye Brook, NY.
16. Emily Stankowitch notes & interviews by PBP.,
Popenoe files, Rye Brook, NY; Census 1900, Internet, Ancestry.com, PA,
Philadelphia, Ward 10, Dist 183; Census 1910, Internet, Ancestry.com, PA,
Philadelphia, 34th Ward, Dist 834, #227; Retired Prominent Physician Dies, Unknown
Newspaper, Atlantic City, 10 Jun 1925.
17. Census 1930, Internet, NJ, Atlantic, Longport, Dist 56,#53;
18. Census 1930, Internet, NJ, Atlantic, Longport,
Dist 56,#53.
19. Census 1920, Internet, Ancestry.com, NJ,
Atlantic, Pleasantville, Ward 11, Dist 54, #652; Census 1910, Internet, NY,
Oneida, New Hartford, Dist 68, #246; Census 1930, Internet, NJ, Atlantic,
Longport, Dist 56, #53; "RFC Won't Accept Bonds," Christian Science Monitor (16 Nov 1933).
20. Paul B. Popenoe, "Stankowitch, Anton Family
Group Sheet", 1924. Emily Stankowitch notes & interviews by PBP., Popenoe files, Rye
Brook, NY.
21. Emily Stankowitch notes & interviews by PBP.,
Popenoe files, Rye Brook, NY.
22. Census 1850, Internet, Ancestry.com, NY,
Jefferson, Clayton, #694; Census 1870, Internet, Ancestry.com, NY, Jefferson,
Clayton, #7. This is the last
census found for John Shaw and Minerva Lee. In
1880 two of his boys were living with James C. Lee and family.
23. Census 1850, Internet, Ancestry.com, NY,
Jefferson, Clayton, #694.
24. Census 1900, Internet, NY, Erie, Buffalo, Ward
24, Dist 205, #406.
25. Lee, James Curtis Obituary, newspaper unknown, Buffalo, 7 Mar 1919.
26. Lydia Mantle Fox, Eighty
Plus (Boston: Christopher Publishing House, 1950), pp 59-60. Hereinafter
cited as Eighty Plus; Lee, James
Curtis Obituary, newspaper unknown,
Buffalo, 7 Mar 1919; Census 1880, Internet, Ancestry.com, NY, Jefferson,
Orleans, Dist. 136, #154; Census 1900, Internet, NY, Erie, Buffalo Ward 24,
Dist. 205, #406; Census 1910, Internet, NY, Onondaga, Syracuse 14th Ward, Dist.
194, #5.
27. Census 1900, Internet, NY, Erie, Buffalo, Ward 24, Dist 205, #406;
28. Lydia Mantle Fox, Eighty
Plus.
29. Lydia Mantle Fox, Eighty
Plus, pp 43, 316.
30. Lydia Mantle Fox, Eighty Plus, p 316.
31. Lydia Mantle Fox, Eighty
Plus, p 316.
32. Census 1900, Internet, NY, Erie, Buffalo, Ward
24, Dist 205, #406; John A Haddock, The
Growth of A Century 1895).
33. Lydia Mantle Fox, Eighty
Plus, pp 152-53.
34. Emily Stankowitch notes & interviews by PBP.,
Popenoe files, Rye Brook, NY..
35. Alexander Zeiss, Stammbaum der Familie Zeiss (notes by PB Popenoe in 1929), 1914).
36. Census 1870, Internet, Ancestry.com, NY,
Jefferson, Clayton, #7. This is the
last census found for John Shaw and Minerva Lee.
In 1880 two of his boys were living with James C. Lee and family.
37. Census 1870, Internet, NY, Jefferson, Clayton
#7.
38. Child's
Business Directory of Jefferson County Childs, ca 1890). Hereinafter cited
as Child's Business Directory; Lydia
Mantle Fox, Eighty Plus, pp 313-14;
Census 1840, Internet, Ancestry.com, NY, Jefferson, Clayton, Richard Lee; Census
1850, Internet, Ancestry.com, NY, Jefferson, Clayton, #694; Census 1860,
Internet, Ancestry.com, NY, Jefferson, Clayton, #659; Census 1870, Internet, NY,
Jefferson, Clayton, #s 5 and 7.
39. Census 1850, Internet, Ancestry.com, NY,
Jefferson, Clayton, #694.
40. Lydia Mantle Fox, Eighty
Plus, p 313.
41. Census 1860, Internet, Ancestry.com, NY, Jefferson, Clayton, #659.
42. Census 1860, Internet, Ancestry.com, NY,
Jefferson, Clayton, #659.
43. Census 1880, Internet, Ancestry.com, NY,
Jefferson, Orleans, Dist. 136, #154; Census 1910, Internet, NY, Onondaga,
Syracuse, 14th Ward, Dist. 194, #5.
44. Census 1900, Internet, NY, Jefferson, Clayton,
#190 Wm. Windmill; Census 1900, Internet, NY, Jefferson, Clayton, #190 Wm.
Windmill; Census 1900, Internet, NY, Jefferson, Clayton, #190 Wm. Windmill.
45. Census 1900, Internet, NY, Jefferson, Clayton,
#190 Wm. Windmill.
46. Census 1900, Internet, NY, Jefferson, Clayton,
#190; Census 1910, Internet, NY, Onondaga, Syracuse 14th Ward, Dist 194, #5;
Census 1920, Internet, NY, Jefferson, Clayton, Dist. 17, Gurnsey, Frank; Census
1930, Internet, NY, Jefferson, Clayton, Dist. 19, #104.
47. John A Haddock, The
Growth of A Century 1895); George Fox, online Ancestry.com, (World Tree),
downloaded 2006.
48. John A Haddock, The
Growth of A Century 1895).
49. George Fox, online Ancestry.com, (World Tree),
downloaded 2006.
50. Census 1850, Internet, NY Jefferson, Clayton,
#692.
51. Child's
Gazetteer of Jefferson County , 1890); George Fox, online Ancestry.com,
(World Tree), downloaded 2006; Lydia Mantle Fox, Eighty
Plus, pp 11-18, 37-42, 52, 305-320; Census 1850, Internet, NY, Jefferson,
Clayton, #s 692, 693.
52. Sonia Yaco, Fox, Elisha on Ancestry World Tree, 2006, Internet. Obituary from unknown newspaper.
53. Sonia Yaco, Fox, Elisha on Ancestry World Tree,
2006, Internet. Obituary from unknown newspaper.
54. Lydia Mantle Fox, Eighty Plus, p 314.
55. Lydia Mantle Fox, Eighty
Plus, p 314.
56. Sonia Yaco, Fox, Elisha on Ancestry World Tree.
57. Sonia Yaco, Fox, Elisha on Ancestry World Tree.
58. George Fox, online Ancestry.com, (World Tree),
downloaded 2006; Lydia Mantle Fox, Eighty
Plus, p 12.
59. George Fox, online Ancestry.com, (World Tree), downloaded 2006.
60. George Fox, online Ancestry.com, (World Tree),
downloaded 2006; Lydia Mantle Fox, Eighty
Plus, p 13.