Newspapers.com

Two Great-Grand “Gamblers & Thieves”

Allegedly both of my paternal great-grandfathers were gamblers and thieves!

Lawrence Ambrose Reilly worked in the finance industry as a clerk as a young husband and father.  On 21 November 1925, two articles were published with the following headlines:

Brokers’ Clerk Held

Reilly Accused of $10,000 Theft

The first article is a short two sentence bit that states that Lawrence while working as a clerk at Carden, Green & Co., is accused of taking $10,000 from the firm to play the cotton market.  The second article provides a little bit more information, explaining that he was arraigned in the Tombs Court in New York City on a charge of grand larceny.  He had been arrested by Detective Jesse Upham, after a firm higher-up told the police that Lawrence had stolen the money through forged endorsements that looked like the funds had been given to the firm’s clients. (Full Newspaper Page – column 2 towards the bottom of the page & Full Newspaper Page – column 6 mid-page)

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I’ve been unable to locate any additional articles that follow up on these stories about Lawrence.  It worked later in life as an accountant, so it’s hard to imagine that he ended up being convicted of a crime, given he kept working in the financial industry, but without additional information, it’s hard to say how this story actually ended.

In 1928, my great-grandfather, Gerald Thomas, was a postman in Brooklyn, New York.  He was married with two young daughters at home – my grandmother Marion was only two years old at the time.  According to an article in the Brooklyn Standard Union on 8 September 1928, “Postum Under Arrest On Mail Theft Charge”.

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According to the article, he stole a “test” letter that was sent through the mail as part of an investigation into mail theft.  He also had another letter with $2 in it.  Allegedly, the thefts were a response to losses he suffered while betting on the ponies.  (Full newspaper page – the article is at the bottom of the 2nd column)

In follow-up articles in both the Brooklyn Union and The Daily News, it turns out that Gerald was a part of a ring of postal thieves.  According to the article, there were a total of five thieves arrested, one of whom was a woman.  Gerald was one of three out of the five who pled guilty, and was sentenced to one year in the Federal prison in Atlanta, Georgia.  (Full newspaper page – the article is at the bottom of the 4th column & Full Newspaper page – 1st column)

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After he was released from prison in Atlanta, Gerald moved the family from Brooklyn to Queens.

Isaiah Golden – Death Index and Obituary

Isaiah Golden - ObituaryIsaiah Golden died on July 21, 1911 at his home at 79 Somers Street in Brooklyn, at the age of 87.  In his obituary, his cause of death was noted as “complication of diseases”.  At the time of his death, he was retired, and had been a resident of the Eastern District of Brooklyn for 60 years.  His obituary confirmed his birth in West Farms, Westchester County, on March 4, 1824.  It details his long-time membership in the Old Bushwick Dutch Reformed Church on Humboldt Street in Brooklyn. At the time of his death, his wife Susanna, three daughters and three sons were still living (Harriet “Hattie” Travis, Emma Alden, Mary Dunn, Eugene, Alfred and Edward).  In addition to his wife and children, he was survived by fifteen grandchildren and sixteen great-grandchildren.[1]

Transcripts

New York, New York, Death Index

Isaiah Golden

Age: 87

Birth Year: about 1824

Death Date: 21 July 1911

Death Place: Kings, New York

Certificate Number: 14473

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, New York, 24 July 1911, Page 3, “Obituary”

Isaiah Golden

Isaiah Golden, a retired cooper, for many years in business on old Ewen street, and a resident of the Eastern District for sixty years, died on Friday at his residence, 79 Somers street, of a complication of diseases.  He was born at West Farms, Westchester County, N.Y., March 4, 1824, and was one of the oldest members of the Old Bushwick Dutch Reformed Church on Humboldt street.  He is survived by a widow, Susanna Grow; three daughters, Mrs. George Alden, Mrs. Cornelius Travis, and Mrs. Peter l. Dunn; three sons, Eugene, Alfred and Edward; fifteen grandchildren and sixteen great-grandchildren.

[1] “Isaiah Golden,” Index to New York City Deaths 1862-1948, New York: New York City Department of Records/Municipal Archives, New York, New York, Death Index, 1862-1948 [database online], Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.

“Obituary: Isaiah Golden,” The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, NY, Page 3, July 24, 1911, Newspapers.com, 2017.

Isaiah Golden – Old Bushwick Dutch Reformed Church Membership

Isaiah and Susanah Golden were members of the Old Bushwick Reformed Church, a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church.  They were received into the congregation on April 10, 1898 by method of confession.  According to the church record, they eventually left the church, but the date and circumstances of their departure was not noted.[1]

Isaiah Golden - Old Bushwick Reformed Church

Old Bushwick Dutch Reformed Church

The Church was located on the corner of Conselyea and Humboldt Streets in Brooklyn, with Old Woodpoint Road and Skillman Avenue bounding the church on the other sides of the building.  This was just two blocks from the family home and business. Originally founded in 1654 in the Dutch settlement of Bushwick (“Boswyck”), the church was remodeled and added on to in both 1711 and 1829.  The church was disbanded in 1919, with the building demolished. [2]  The land was eventually sold the Roman Catholic Church, and S. Francis of Paola Roman Catholic Church now stands on the site.  The records from the church were lost in part, when a city janitor used the papers to start fires in the furnace at Brooklyn City Hall.[3]

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As early as 1909, citizens of Brooklyn were trying to save the church, stating “…we should remember that this church building is the only connecting link in the Eastern District between the dim past and the present.  Other cities carefully guard old landmarks, and try to preserve them for the benefit of later generations.  Why not spare this venerable structure and extend Bushwick Avenue through Woodpoint Road in a trifling curve around the church?”[4]  The church has been struggling in the years before it disbanded because the neighborhood had changed significantly, as mainly Italian Catholics had moved into the area.[5]

The first church built on the property was octagonal in shape with a high roof, characterized as “resembling a haystack”.  When initially built, it was an open enclosure, without pews for the congregation, who would bring their own seats to church.  In 1795, pews and a gallery were added.  Eventually the original church was replaced with a more modern building in 1829, and then further remodeled in 1876.  In 1878, a school building was added to the property.  At first the church has a squatter’s claim to the property, until a bill passed in Albany in 1800 gave them ten acres in the village of Bushwick.  The school building was the first to be sold off to the Polish Catholic Church.[6]

The_Brooklyn_Daily_Eagle_Sun__Apr_21__1918_

Transcript

Old Bushwick Reformed Church: 1 July 1909, Page 56

GOLDEN, ISAIAH, Received 10 April 1898 by Confession, Remarks Left

GOLDEN, SUSANAH S., Wife, Received 10 April 1898 by Confession, Remarks Left

 

[1] The Archives of the Reformed Church in America; New Brunswick, New Jersey, Bushwick Church, Church Register, 1789-1914, US Selected States Dutch Reformed Church Membership Records, 1701-1995, Provo, UT, Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2016.

[2] “Bushwick Dutch Reformed Church Records, 1713-1817,” http://brooklynhistory.org/library/wp/bushwick-dutch-reformed-church-records-1713-1817/.

“Brooklyn Reformed Dutch Church Records,” http://bklyn-genealogy-info.stevemorse.org/Worship/BklynReformedDutchRecords.html.

“Old Bushwick Dutch Reformed Church Remembered,” http://www.whowalkinbrooklyn.com/?p=1139.

[3] “Dutch Records of Old Bushwick Used to Light Fires in Brooklyn City Hall,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 21 April 1918, Page 9, Newspapers.com.

Google Map view of Conselya & Humbolt, Brooklyn, https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7154099,-73.9426813,3a,90y,1.24h,88.25t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sdChenISveKNuGko8yOgXQA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[4] Letter from Eugene Armbruster to the Editor of the Brooklyn Times, September 11, 1909, reprinted in “Old Bushwick Dutch Reformed Church Remembered,” http://www.whowalkinbrooklyn.com/?p=1139

[5] “Old Bushwick Church: Dutch Reformed Society There Will Soon Be 250 Years Old,” New York Tribune, 31 January 1904, Page 10, Newspapers.com.

[6] “Dutch Records of Old Bushwick Used to Light Fires in Brooklyn City Hall,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 21 April 1918, Page 9, Newspapers.com.

“Old Bushwick Church: Dutch Reformed Society There Will Soon Be 250 Years Old,” New York Tribune, 31 January 1904, Page 10, Newspapers.com.

Isaiah James Golden – Obituary

Isaiah James Golden - Obituary

Transcript from Isaiah James Golden’s Obituary

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, NY, 24 July 1911, Page 3 (Retrieved via Newspapers.com on 3 November 2017)

 

Isaiah Golden

Isaiah Golden, a retired cooper, for many years in business on old Ewen street, and a resident of the Eastern District for sixty years, died on Friday at his residence, 79 Somers street, of a complication of diseases.  He was born at West Farms, Westchester County, N.Y., March 4, 1824, and was one of the oldest members of the Old Bushwick Dutch Reformed Church on Humboldt street.  He is survived by a widow, Susanna Grow; three daughters, Mrs. George Alden, Mrs. Cornelius Travis, and Mrs. Peter l. Dunn; three sons, Eugene, Alfred and Edward; fifteen grandchildren and sixteen great-grandchildren.

The $75 Poodle Takes the Night Off

On 25 July 1893, the New York World published an article entitled “Where was the $75 poodle?”

The article is about a burglary that week at the saloon of Walter Noteboom, my 3rd great-grandfather.  The article states:

Burglars Robbed His Master in Park Row and He Did Not Object

When Walter Noteboom, who keeps a saloon at No. 143 Park Row, returned from Germany about four months agao he brought a poodle dog for which he had paid $75.  The poodle in Germany had enjoyed the reputation of being an excellent watch-dog.  Since his arrival in this country the poodle has slept at night in Mr. Noteboom’s saloon.

Somehow or other the poodle must have had a night off on Sunday, because burglars entered Mr. Noteboom’s place before midnight, or early Monday morning, and stole $5 in cash, seventeen boxes of cigars, some clothing and several bottle of brandy.  The burglars passed through the hallway of No. 265 William street and scaled a seven-feet fence.  Then they forced the door of the kitchen at No. 143 Park Row and cut a panel through the door leading into the barroom.

Now, one has to wonder how a burglary and a poodle made the news in 1893… At that time, Park Row was also known as Newspaper Row.  The New York World Building was located at 53-63 Park Row, just down the street from Walter Noteboom’s bar.  Maybe the editor or journalist who wrote this piece (there is no byline) was a regular patron of the bar.  Much of this area has been razed, with the New York World Building being demolished in 1955 to make way for a car onramp for the Brooklyn Bridge.  What is left of Park Row is closed to car traffic today, due to its proximity to One Police Plaza and New York’s City Hall.