The Marriage Certificate of Garner Mayes and Judith Morris in Amelia County, Virginia, 1789.
Translating Handwriting
There comes a time in every genealogy case in which a researcher will need to translate, or decipher some unrecognizable handwriting on a document. The first time is a shock – you go through all the trouble and the time it takes to track down that marriage certificate, or that death certificate that you desperately need. When it shows up in the mail after a long wait, you open the envelope and when you finally lay eyes on the document, it appears to be written in hieroglyphics.
Closing in on 10,000 followers to our @BklynAncestry twitter account gives us a lot of help when we have a problem like this. 10,000 sets of eyes are better than 1. This document needs some of those eyes to decipher it. I am going to fill in the words I believe the document says. Garner Mayes and Judith Morris are definitely the names of those involved. unfortunately the right side of the document is not part of the photo.
Know all men by these presents that — Garner Mayes
John Gill Craddock______– — ————
—– —– Beverly ——- Governor of Virginia
the sum of fifty pounds —– money of Virginia
the which payment will and —- to be ———
our ————————————————–
then ——— sealed with our seal and dated this 5 day
July_____1789
Whereas a marriage is shortly intended to be ——–
—– between Garner Mayes and Judith
Morris
The condition of the above obligation is such that if
—- ——- —- to obstruct the —- Marriage then
the above obligation to be void otherwise to remain in —
— and —-
Sealed and Delivered__________________Garner Mayes
In Presence of _______________________ John Craddock
At this time the mystery has been solved in the comments.
1917 Marriage Certificate from NY
In the next document is an example of the exact opposite. In this certificate I know everything except for the names or the grooms Parents. I know the groom is a Toy Maker from Cadiz, Spain. The name of his father and mother are not so clear cut. What do you all think?
Anybody with a Brooklyn Genealogy in the 1800’s stands a good chance of having a family member connection to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Ship builders, Iron Workers and other tradesmen found work in high numbers all the way up to its closing in 1966, employing upwards of 70,000 during it’s peak period of production during WWII. My own Great Great Grandfather was listed as an Iron Worker, Engineer, and Ship Builder in both the New York and US Federal Census reports throughout his entire adult life. His Son in law (my great grandfather) was listed as an Iron worker at the age of 16 on the 1900 census, until his death certificate in 1937 lists him as lifetime Iron Worker in the Navy Yard. My 2x Great Grandfather lived to be 84 years old, and outlived both of my Great Grandparents, and at least one of his Grandchildren, killed in Normandy. To illustrate how unique this was for the time, my other 2x Great Grandfather died in 1890, over 54 years earlier, leaving behind 5 children under the age of 10. I mentioned earlier my Great Grandfather was an Iron Worker by age 16, (as was his 17 year old brother) and knowing that he grew up right next door to the woman he would marry, it is entirely possible that my 2x Great Grandfather took a fatherly roll in the neighbors life and helped them acquire a job that would support them both until their deaths many years later. By all accounts the
My Great Grandfather was a lifelong employee at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, sometimes called the New York Navy Yard
Brooklyn Navy Yard plays a tremendous roll in my own family history, so I think it important to mention a few points for anybody interested in their family history, the history of Brooklyn, or America in general.
Brief History of the Brooklyn Navy Yard
The Brooklyn Navy Yard opened in 1801 on Wallabout Bay, part of New Yorks East River. It is on the site of the first European inhabited land on Long Island. Joris Jansen Rapelje first purchased over
300 acre’s of land at this location from the Canarsee Indians in 1637.
The site encountered it’s most disturbing period during the time of the America Revolutionary War when the British docked several ships in Wallabout Bay that housed many thousands of prisoners between the years of 1776 – 1781. The conditions the continental soldiers were kept in on board these ships led to the death of over 10,000 soldiers. While combat casualty numbers for the Revolutionary War are only estimates, it is generally thought that the 10,000 soldiers killed on these prison ships is more then the 8,000 total Continental Army combat fatalities.
Following the war the location was used for new ship construction. The land was purchased by the federal government in 1801 and soon after became an active Navy Shipyard as a result of President John Adams push for a strong Navy.
On January 1st, 1808 the United State made the importation of slaves Illegal, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard provided no fewer then 10 ships that patroled the waters off the coast of Africa starting in
1820 and ending with the U.S. Civil War.
In later years the Navy Yard saw it’s greatest boom during WWII, and finally closed in 1966.
Ships Built in the Brooklyn Navy Yard
There are many ships built in the Brooklyn Navy Yard worth mentioning, and this list is certainly not going to cover all of them, but instead will include just a few of the more notable and historic vessels built there.
Launched in February 1855, the USS Niagara was used to lay the Transatlantic telegraph cable over the years of 1857 & 1858
The USS Monitor constructed in just 3 months during the winter of 1861 – 1862, was the first Ironclad Warship commisioned by the US Navy. It is most famous for surving several key battles during the civil war. It’s new design however, was not perfected and the ship sunk during a storm in the waters off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina on December 31st, 1862
The USS Maine was launched from the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1890. An exposion aboard the Maine caused it’s sinking in Havana Harbor on February 15th 1898. This event led to the U.S. entering what would become the Spanish American War, even though the explosion was, and is still widely believed an have been an accident
Taken aboard the USS Missouri in 2001. The USS Arizona memorial is visible in the background. Both Vessels were built at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
The USS Missouri, currently a museum in Pearl Harbor, was constructed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard between the years 1941 – 1944. It became the site of the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender in Tokyo Bay on September 2nd, 1945. Signed by then Japanese General Yoshijirō Umezu, as well as represenatives of at least 9 Allied Nations.
The USS Arizona launched from the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1916 and was sunk on December 7th, 1941 during the attack on Pearl Harbor Hawaii.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard Museum
Today, you can visit the museum located in Building 92. Check for a schedule of bike and walking tours, and for museum hours. From the Bldg 92 website:
BLDG 92 is located at the intersection of Carlton and Flushing Avenue at 63 Flushing Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205
The Brooklyn Navy Yard is located on Brooklyn’s waterfront between the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges and surrounded by DUMBO/Vinegar Hill, Fort Greene and Williamsburg sections of Brooklyn.
John Murray's Death record from 1910. The document includes his location of death, in this case, the Webbs Academy for Ship Builders, and the names of both parents , which is information not to be found anywhere else as of yet.
New York Death Certificate
It is important for anybody building their family tree to understand the importance of the information contained on the typical New York Death Certificate, as pictured above. In so many cases it is necessary to order the Death certificate to take that generational leap back further into history. We have already talked about ordering Marriage Certificates, but in cases like the one above we have a man who died in 1910, and Married some 55 years earlier, making his marriage certificate inifately more difficult to locate. Not to mention that the older a document is, the more likely it is to be unreadable, and it is less likely to include specific details like a mothers maiden, or the city of birth in a foreign country. Not shown in the image above is the flip side of the document, which lists the Cemetery of burial, which can be the greatest source for a breakthrough of all.
Cemetery Records
Online searches can only get you so far in some cases. Once you have a grave site, you have the potential to solve a whole lot of family mysteries in a few minutes. Using our John Murray example above, if he had daughters that you could locate, there may well be someone with an unfamiliar last name in the grave, with a matching first name and the correct age of that daughter. When you find a lady about his age you may have found his wife, and maybe you will find his parents. It is not too uncommon to have up to 3 generations and 10 different people buried in a plot over the course of 100 years.
Ordering NY Vital Records
As I have mentioned in other blog posts, we at BrooklynAncestry.com can provide you with the death certificate number (located top right corner of document) and place the order for you, risk free. Provide us with the information you have, and we will ensure we can locate the record and place an order with the New York Department of Vital Records before asking you for payment.
We can order Marriage certificates up until the year 1929, Birth certificates prior to 1910, and Death certificates prior to 1949. Contact us now with your families details to get started.
Green-wood Cemetery hours:
Main Entrance – 7:45am to 5pm
Other Entrances – 8am – 4pm
500 25th Street
Brooklyn, New York 11232
You can locate the cemetery your ancestor is buried in from their Death Certificate. Contact our genealogist if you have decided you need our help, or if you just don’t want to waste time trying to put all the pieces together.
