Jane Isabella Knowles Memoirs

My Aunt came upon this special document while she was looking through old family documents.  It is the hand written memoirs of my second great grandmother, Jane Isabella Knowles.  It is a little difficult to read, but well worth the effort.  Click the link below and enjoy!

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Juicy Family Secrets Revealed

I've slowed down in my family tree quest a bit, but sometimes when I have a chunk of time, I log on and randomly pick a name to research.  This afternoon, I picked Alonzo Hatch (Grandpa Kennedy's maternal grandfather) again.  

Alonzo is a fun one to look for because there is SO much out there on him.  Today, I decided to look for proof of his being arrested.  He is sited in many places for his opera singing, and I had noticed that a few of these sites talked of his arrest and quoted the New York Times.  I figured this was the best place to start.  There are TONS of newspaper clippings about Alonzo.  Most are about his stage appearances.  However, I did find an arrest.  The crazy thing is, it's NOT the arrest I was looking for as the dates didn't match up.  It looks as though our great great grandfather was arrested TWICE!  I had to do some digging in different newspapers to find the one I was looking for to be sure.  Luckily I found the articles for both.  It seems that Alonzo was quite famous in his day and made a nice chunk of change for his talent.  Unfortunately, he didn't save well ;).  


Here is the transcription from the first arrest in April, 1906.  It is from the Brooklyn Standard Union Newspaper.  Alonzo's age is different than what I have, however, I have this arrest from several sources as being our Alonzo.  He approached the wrong person on this night:

Alonzo HATCH, 45 years old, a broken down actor who lives at 2222 
Fulton street, spoted [sic] a benevolent looking gray-haired man 
standing at the corner of Ralph avenue and Halsey street about 8 
o'clock last night. He approached the stranger and asked him for five 
cents to get a drink.
"Do you think you could get a drink on Sunday if you had a nickel?" 
asked the old man.
"It would be a cinch," replied HATCH. "The captain of this precinct, 
O'REILLY, is a dub and the saloons are wide open."
"Is that so," said the white-haired man. "Well, allow me to introduce 
myself. I am the dub you speak of . You're a panhandler and you're 
under arrest."
In court this morning HATCH admitted that he had been begging. 
Magistrate VOORHEES gave him two days in jail to sober up.

The second arrest occurred 2 months before his death.  The judge recognized him and let him off.  This is the transcription from the New York Times in October, 1909:

ONCE NOTED SINGER A BEGGER

Magistrate Recognizes Alonzo Hatch, Who once Received $1000 a Night.

In an old man whom Detective England had picked up in the Grand Central Station for begging and brought to the night court, Magistrate House last night recognized Alonzo Hatch, who, the Magistrate told the reporters later, had once been a great singer, appearing under Col. Mapelson in this city twenty years ago and receiving as much as $1000 a night for a concert.

"I was once a great man," said Hatch, after he had given his name and his address as 242 Third Avenue.

Magistrate House was deeply sympathetic, and permitted Hatch to go home, after telling the old man how sorry he was for him.

I wish I had started this research earlier.  I would have loved to talk to Grandpa about this.  I wonder if he knew, or if his mom even knew.  She was quite young, only 10 years old when he died.

Doller Family Tree

I am very fortunate to have been recently connected to a cousin in Germany on my Maternal Grandmother's side.  My Grandmother's Father's family (The Doller's) still reside on the family farm.  Most of them do not speak English, but after sending a letter to the farm I was lucky enough to hear from Angelika, a sweet 14 year old girl who also happens to be my 3rd cousin.  She and I have now connected via email and Facebook.  She has been kind enough to not only answer my many, many questions, but also go in search for the answers we both don't have.  A couple weeks ago, her mother graciously traveled to the Church Archive to find the proper names and dates of our mutual ancestors.  We discovered more family members than we were even aware of!  You can see the family tree she sent me on the Doller page of this blog.  I am hopeful that Angelika and I can remain in contact for many years to come.

My Never Ending Story

I've always been a sucker for a good story.  Over time, I've collected little bits of my family history here and there and have them displayed all over my home; A  sewing table that belonged to my great grandmother, a typewriter that was giving to my grandfather by his mother, the dining room table that was given to dad from a favorite cousin who was fondly called "Aunt", a Victorian lamp that my parents purchased with money given to them on their wedding, an old show poster with photographs of my very young great grandmother and her parents, and an antique quilt hand made by my great great grandmother and her sisters to name a few.  Recently, I decided that I needed to spend some time not only collecting the goodies, but also the stories.  I have researched my family tree a bit over the years, but in the last six months have delved into the nitty gritty of my ancestors - who they are, when they were alive, and where they are from.  I have come a long way in piecing this puzzle together and have learned many fascinating, funny, and quirky facts about where I come from.  Around every turn, a little mystery is solved.  Yet the more I dig, the more questions I have.  It's like a never ending story...