Month: February 2014

Louis F. Schillinger in the New York Times

Louis F. Schillinger, my 2nd great grandfather, was an architect in New York City during the late 1800s and early 1900s.  He designed many of the buildings and residences that make up the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn.  I happened to “Google” his name this morning trying to find more information about him, and I came across this article written in the New York Times on 6 Sep 1987.

New York Times – “Mixing Restoration and Homesteading”

The critical paragraph that mentions my ancestor reads:

At 306 Bradford Street, a three-family brownstone sits on a block of generally well-maintained buildings all designed by Louis F. Schillinger, one of the most active architects in East New York around the turn of the century.

Here’s a picture of the row of brownstones mentioned in that paragraph:

306 Bradford

306 Bradford

I’ve emailed the New York Landmarks Conservancy, which is the organization that worked on the projects mentioned in the article.  I’m hoping they will be able to tell me more about the projects, the buildings and potentially my great-great-grandfather’s legacy as an architect.

 

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Xaver Schillinger’s Last Will and Testament, Along with the Probate Records

In researching Xaver Schillinger, I came across the probate records filed after his death, along with his Last Will and Testament, on the FamilySearch website.

The file is 12 pages long, with the will comprising the last two pages of the document.  I’m including images of the file here, along with the transcript below.

Some interesting information about the file:

  • Xaver Schillinger died on 6 October 1923 in Kings County, New York.
  • The petition was filed by his son Louis Schillinger in October, and probate was finalized in December 1923.
  • At the time of his death, Xaver Schillinger owned no real property, and had no more than $3200 in personal property.
    • For those who are not familiar with the difference between real and personal property: Real property refers to real estate holdings (buildings, land, farms, etc.).  Personal property refers to belongings (cash, jewelry, electronics, etc.).
  • The value of his personal property was to be distributed equally amongst his four children, or if a child was deceased, their portion would be distributed to their child(ren).
  • His daughters are married at the time of his Last Will & Testament, and their married names are given as Mary Altenburg and Catharine Fausner.  On page 5 of the file, Catherine is misidentified as Frances Fausner.
  • His daughter Mary and his son Charles live in the same house at 234 Jerome Street.
  • His son Louis lives at 169 Van Siclen Avenue, and his daughter Catherine lives at 148 Logan Street.
Schillinger Siblings Homes in Brooklyn

Schillinger Siblings Homes in Brooklyn

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The Music that Defined My Childhood

I was recently going through an old box of books and came across something I had bought many, many years ago and barely used.  It’s The Autobiography Box by Brian Bouldrey.  It comes with a little “Owner’s Manual” and a stack of cards designed to prompt you to help write your autobiography.  It’s cute, it’s fun, it’s a little kitschy – but as I was going through the box, I can across one card that immediately jumped out at me.

Is there a piece of music that reminds you of a particular time and place in your life?

It’s funny because my family is not a particularly musically inclined family, but there are certain songs, albums, bands that defined my childhood.  It’s also a rather odd collection of artists, which may account for my rather wide-ranging taste in music today.

John Denver

An Evening with John Denver


1.  John Denver 

I can still sing every word of Take Me Home, Country Roads by heart.  My mother loved John Denver and she played his music all the time.  In fact she even had an album of duets by John Denver and Placido Domingo that met a very untimely death on a California freeway.  My father swears to this day it was an accident, but my mother always maintained that it was music homicide…  Hearing a John Denver song on the radio, or in a store, brings back such strong emotional memories of my mother that it will stop me in my tracks and bring me to tears.  Perhaps my personal favorite of John Denver’s songs was Grandma’s Feather Bed, because the image of a bed “nine feet high and six feet wide” filled with “eight kids, four hound dogs and a piggy we stole from the shed” made me giggle.

It was nine feet high and six feet wide
Soft as a downy chick
It was made from the feathers of forty’leven geese
Took a whole bolt of cloth for the tick
It’d hold eight kids, four hound dogs
And a piggy we stole from the shed
We didn’t get much sleep but we had a lot of fun
On Grandma’s feather bed

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Schillinger House on Jerome Street

This is the house that Franz Xaver Schillinger bought in 1900 in on Jerome Street in New Lots, Brooklyn. For the next 20 years 10 – 11 members of his family would live there with him, including his daughter Mary, her husband and 3 children, and his son Charles, his sister-in-law and his three children. It is a 2000 square foot house, located a block off Atlantic Avenue. Within blocks of this home, his son Louis and his family lived on Schenck Avenue and his daughter Catherine lived on Logan Street. St. Michael and St. Malachy Catholic Church is located across the street.

Jerome Street - Schillinger Home

Jerome Street – Schillinger Home

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More about Franz Xaver Schillinger

So to continue to the story of the Schillingers….  Franz Xaver Schillinger, my 3rd great-grandfather, seems to primarily have gone by the name Xaver.  Every record I’ve been able to locate for him in the United States has Xaver listed as his first name (the spelling varies from time to time).

One of my first finds was his naturalization records – a great find indeed!  He came to the United States in 1860 from Baden, Germany (near the boarder with France).  He immigrated to New York, finding himself a little ways upstate in West Point, Orange County.  In 1861 the US Civil War was underway, and many recent immigrants were finding themselves enlisted in the US Army.  Here is an interesting article about German immigrants who served in the war. (more…)