Sibling Saturday: Anna Missouri Springsteen and Her Brother John William Springsteen

Anna Missouri Springsteen as a young woman, possibly circa 1873? (age 18, when she married?)
Anna Missouri Springsteen as a young woman, possibly circa 1873 at age 18, when she married?)

Springsteen Family (Click for Family Tree)

The Jefferson Springsteen- Anna (Connor) Springsteen family provided quite a few siblings for their daughter Anna Missouri Springsteen, who was the sixth-born of ten children. She was also one of just two girls, so she and her older sister Mary Elizabeth Springsteen would have been busy taking care of all those brothers!

You can see the whole family- well, all but one- in the picture posted a few days ago in the post Treasure Chest Thursday: The Springsteen Family. Today we will tell a bit about Anna’s oldest sibling, and follow up later this week/month with information about the others. Of course, Anna will get her own post on another day too, since she was the beloved grandmother of Mary Theresa (Helbling) McMurray.

We also have an upcoming series of posts of our Springsteen Family Bible, and all these folks will be mentioned in there. In addition, Anna is the one who kept the Beerbower Family Bible, which has already been posted, starting with “Beerbower Family Bible- Dec. 31st, 1873.” The Beerbower Bible was presented to Anna Missouri at the end of 1873, the year she married Edgar Peter Beerbower on 12 February. She was carrying their first child, so the family bible was a very fitting gift.

John William Springsteen of Indianapolis, Indiana, c1863? Cropped from family portrait.
John William Springsteen of Indianapolis, Indiana, c1863? Cropped from family portrait.

John William Springsteen was the first-born of the children of Jefferson and Anna Springsteen. Their marriage date is unknown, but John was born on 26 November 1844. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, where they had been married.

John William was just nine when the family moved to Indianapolis, Marion, Indiana, about 1853. His four younger siblings, who had been born in Brooklyn, made the trip as well. Their father was the town marshall in Indianapolis and involved in local politics. By the 1870 US Federal Census, John was 25 and still living with the family, as many did until they married. He was working as a painter, as were his two brothers (Thomas) Jefferson and Charles; their father was a painter and his brother Abram was a brick mason.

In December of 1870, John married Jennie Taylor in Indianapolis, the ceremony performed by Rev. Mr. Mendenhall. (The ’70’ in ‘1870’ is crossed out and ’69’ written above in the Springsteen Bible, but the 1870 census lists John as a single person living with his parents so, ??) Their son Harry Arthur Springsteen was born 5 April 1871 per his headstone, but he is listed as being 4/12 years old and born in January in the 1870 US Federal Census. Harry married Ina Johnson and lived in Texas; he died 1 June 1934.

Sadly Jennie died young, at age 36, on 4 June 1887.

She and John William are buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Jennie (Taylor) Springsteen- headstone in Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, IN. Used with kind permission of the Find a Grave photographer.
Jennie (Taylor) Springsteen- headstone in Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, IN. Used with kind permission of the Find a Grave photographer.

John William SPRINGSTEEN Headstone in Crown HIll Cemetery, Indianapolis, IN. Used with kind permission of the Find A Grave photographer.
John William SPRINGSTEEN Headstone in Crown HIll Cemetery, Indianapolis, IN. Used with kind permission of the Find A Grave photographer.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1.  “Treasure Chest Thursday: The Springsteen Family”- http://heritageramblings.net/2015/12/10/treasure-chest-thursday-the-springsteen-family/

 

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images. Click to enlarge images.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
 

Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.
 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.
 
Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.



Matrilineal Monday: The Springsteen Family Origins

Springsteen Word Cloud

Springsteen Family, Beerbower Family (Click for Family Trees)

The Springsteen surname is one you may have heard all your life, but it has not really been used for least 3 generations in our line because it was a matrilineal name. Abram Springsteen, “the youngest drummer boy in the Civil War,” was famous in our family. (Actually, there were quite a few drummer boys just barely into the double digits of age, and you can read more about Abram in our many previous posts- just put “Springsteen” into the search box.) The name “Anna Missouri Springsteen” (1854-1939) was quite a favorite- she likely was named for her paternal aunt, Missouri E. (Springsteen) Scotten, and was the sister of our young drummer boy. Anna M. married Edgar Peter Beerbower (1849-1916) in 1873, ending the name in our line (though they did name their son “Edgar Springsteen Beerbower”). They finally moved to Missouri too- wonder if that had been a dream, thus they used the name ‘Missouri” for daughters? I am so lucky to have one of Anna M.’s rings to wear everyday, and honor her memory.

According to the Dictionary of American Family Names, the surname Springsteen comes from the Dutch or North German language. It is what is considered to be a ‘topographic’ name, which is a name based on a place or a landscape object, such as the surname, “Hill.”

A ‘springsteen’ is a specific type of stone that is used as a stepping stone between houses or on unpaved roads. That seems somewhat foreign to us today- why were such things common? For a moment, time travel and put yourself into the context of older times: muddy, unpaved and rutted roads; no lawn services to provide a lush lawn; horses both with riders and pulling wagons, herded animals coming to market through town, dogs and cats running free through town and the farm, and all those critters leaving their mark on the road in piles that get run over and splashed- yucch. Let’s add in human critters spitting tobacco and etc. everywhere. (They were generally of the male species but there were some interesting female ones doing this as well.) Don’t forget that chamber pots were often just dumped outside, slop buckets of leftover food thrown out for the rummaging dogs and pigs, and wash stand water thrown out the window as well and into the street. Children and even adults may have had chronic vomiting or diarrhea due to parasites, infections, etc., with no antibiotics to make their life easier and reduce the filth being put outside the house. Now pretend you are a genteel lady with a long skirt that drags in the dirt- heavens, you would be a hussy if you showed your ankles, even with laced up shoes- and there is no such thing as an electric washing machine…

Yes, easy to see how they needed those ‘springsteens’ to keep out of the filthy muck.

Not sure that I like the idea of our family being compared to a rock, but maybe it was because the members of our family were useful and tough?

Our oldest Springsteen ancestor documented thus far is John Springsteen, the father of Jefferson and thus grandfather of our Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower; she was the mother of Anna May (Beerbower) Helbling who was born in 1881 and died in 1954. (Click on the family tree link at the beginning of this post for more details.) We believe John was born about 1782 in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York, but do not know his wife Mary’s maiden name nor the names of either of their parents. New York is a tough state to research, so it has been hard to trace John and Mary. The family did migrate to to the new frontier called Ohio, and then to the newer frontier, Indiana, where their son Jefferson and his brother Abraham were living by about 1839.

Springsteen families in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1896. R. L. Polk & Co., via Ancestry.com.
Springsteen families in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1896. R. L. Polk & Co. Indianapolis, Indiana City Directory, via Ancestry.com. Note that siblings spell the name differently: John W. has changed the last ‘e’ to an ‘i’ and thus his son Harry spells his name the same way.

There are stories that Jeff had returned to New York (which he did) but also visited in New Jersey where possibly his grandfather lived. There are quite a lot of Springsteens in New Jersey and New York, so more research will need to be done to sort them out and find the ancestors of our Springsteen line.

Looking at early immigration records, there are very many Springsteens who came to New Netherlands, which was Dutch New York. The first and middle names definitely look to be Dutch, such as “Joost Casparse Springsteen” or “Geertje Jans Springsteen.” Later arrivals who could possibly be John Springsteen’s parents immigrated to Long Island, New York, or possibly Orange or Albany. Jefferson did live in Brooklyn, New York, for a time, where he married his wife Anna Connor, so they may have had family there- have not found any information yet, but NYC is a good place to start researching again.

Ancestry.com has an interesting page on the website where one can research a family name. Using census data, they state 10-18 Springsteen families in 1840 lived in New York, and 4-9 in New Jersey, but this surely does not take into account all the spelling variations of the name. (Springsteen, Springsted, Springston, etc.)

By the 1880 US Federal Census, Ancestry.com shows 85-167 Springsteens in New York state, 29-84 in New Jersey and Michigan, 1-28 in various other states including Indiana. In 1920, Ancestry.com lists just 36-69 Springsteen families in New York, 13-35 in New Jersey and Michigan, and 1-12 in Indiana, Ohio, and 21 other states.

Ancestry.com also looked at the 1880 US Federal Census for Springsteen occupations, and compared the percentage to that of the general public. Slightly over one-third of Springsteens were farmers in 1880, similar to the general population. Springsteen’s also had a similar number of laborers (9%), 1% less farm laborers at 2%, 1% more working as blacksmiths, at 2% of Springsteens, and 5% working as painters when the general public was just 1%. (Both Jefferson, his brother Abraham, and his father John worked as painters at various times in their lives.)

Keeping house (6%) as an occupation was the same as in the general public, but this makes me wonder how these statistics were generated- they are probably only counting ‘head of household’ Springsteens, as theoretically there would be about the same number of wives named Springsteen as husbands.

Ancestry.com has 54 Civil War service records for Springsteens, and all fought on the Union side. (Not really a surprise since all lived in northern states.)

The inevitable question? Are we related to Bruce Springsteen? Possibly, since there is that New Jersey connection, but no link found as yet. We’ll keep you posted.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Ancestry.com

 

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images. Click to enlarge images.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
 

Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.
 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.
 
Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.



Friday Funny or Friday Fright? Medicine in 1857

1857 Medical Electrician advertisement, appendix- no page, in Smiths Brooklyn Directory for yr ending May 1 1857, via InternetArchive. (Click to enlarge.)
1857 Medical Electrician advertisement, appendix- no page, in “Smiths Brooklyn Directory for year ending May 1 1857,” via InternetArchive. (Click to enlarge.)

Springsteen Family (Click for Family Tree)

I hate today’s cooky cutter medical care and insurance desk jockeys telling a doctor what they can prescribe, operate on, etc., but we really have it good today despite all that. So many terrible diseases have been eradicated (though some are coming back, distressingly) and with all the wonderful tests and medications available, especially antibiotics, our lives and longer and more comfortable than those of our ancestors.

The above ad was found in an 1857 Brooklyn, New York City Directory, when I was searching for our Springsteen family. They were not there, as expected, since they had moved to Indianapolis about 1853, but there were interesting ads that I have been sharing. I don’t know if this therapy was available when they were in Brooklyn, or if it was available in Indianapolis, but I hope they did not partake of this cure!

A few notes to help understand the ad:

N. B. stands for “nota bene,” Latin for ‘note well.’ It was used to point out very important aspects. (Still used today in some circles. The medieval form was a hand with finger pointing, and we have that today in emojis!)

Electricity in various forms was a new ‘toy’ in 1857 and they weren’t sure how to use it. Many a diabolical-liking apparatus was used to shock people into sanity, reduce ‘nervous’ diseases, etc.

“Sulfur baths” at “Sulfur Springs” were used to cure diseases for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years. Having an “Electro-Medicated and Sulfur Vapor Bath” (were they combined, or two separate treatments?) available prevented sick persons from having to travel, often far, to partake of the natural cure.

“Dropsy” is a swelling we call ‘edema’ today, especially that caused by congestive heart failure. A big shock to the heart could definitely make it beat differently.

1857 Medications for sale, page 241, in Smiths Brooklyn Directory for yr ending May 1 1857, via InternetArchive. (Click to enlarge.)
1857 Medications for sale, page 241, in “Smiths Brooklyn Directory for year ending May 1 1857,” via InternetArchive. (Click to enlarge.)

If one was afraid of the Medical Electrician, one could always go to the local druggist or apothecary to get something to cure whatever ailment was a problem. Drugs, of course, were made from plant extracts (before Big Pharma), and pharmacy textbooks even into the 1950s taught how to gather and process plants to make effective medicines, and compounding them was a part of a druggist’s training. Homeopathic medicines today still use some remedies such as these- cloves in a toothache medicine is one example- but thankfully our drug ads cannot guarantee a complete cure as these did in 1857.

 

Can you imagine what Jeff and Ann Connor Springsteen would think of our tv ads for Cialis today??

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. See citations with images.

 

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images. Click to enlarge images.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
 

Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.
 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.
 
Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.



Funny Friday: Did the Springsteens use a ‘mangle’?

1857 Ad for an improved mangle, page 112, in Smiths Brooklyn Directory for yr ending May 1 1857, via InternetArchive. (Click to enlarge.)
1857 Ad for an improved mangle, page 112, in “Smiths Brooklyn Directory for year ending May 1 1857,” via InternetArchive. (Click to enlarge.)

Springsteen Family (Click for Family Tree)

It must have been one of those days, or I had been researching waaaaay too long (probably the latter). Seeing this ad while I was searching page by page for Springsteen ancestors in the 1857 Brooklyn City Directory, it just hit me funny. A ‘mangle’??

Even though I read old books and history and love archaic terms, I had never heard of a mangle before. This certainly looked like one could get a hand or long hair ‘mangled’ in it, and I knew that was true because my grandmother had a wringer washer and we kids played with it when she wasn’t looking. I had long hair and, well, we won’t go there…

I had never seen a wringer with a table attached though, nor one so large, so time for some research.

Wikipedia to the rescue, which is hard for me to say, but I have found it is more accurate than I used to give it credit. Wikipedia says the machines are called ‘mangles’ in the UK, but ‘wringers’ here in the US. Looks like they were called ‘mangles’ here for some time too- the British influence on our country was strong.

The earliest and most simple mangle was a cylinder that was wrapped with a wet cloth that had just been laundered, like a tablecloth or sheet, and rolled with a flat board pressed along the top to get the excess water out before line drying, or to remove wrinkles. (Our colonial ancestors probably used one.) The wringer for a washer was invented in the 1840s, , which would have saved women a lot of time. A wringer would have really helped in the winter, too, when clothing and household items had to be hung indoors because of inclement weather- getting most of the water out before hanging meant your head would not be dripped on while eating dinner, sewing, etc.

Heat was later added to the cylinders to help dry and press cloth. My mother and grandmother both had mangles, though we called them ‘ironers.’ They are large machines that put off a lot of steam and heat. A foot pedal or knee lift raised or lowered one of the rollers so that you could put a piece of cloth in, then lower the cylinder and iron away. My mother was SO good at using hers- she could iron a man’s shirt or pants with it! Really fast, too.

Mangles are not really used anymore except in commercial applications, such as hotels that dry and press their long tablecloths on them. Smaller mangles, such as those of my mother and grandmother, can be seen today in smaller laundries like the neighborhood dry cleaners.

Sure seems like the above mangle would have taken up a lot of room, even the smaller one. The table likely folded up, but that would still be a lot of space required. I wonder if Jefferson and Anna (Connor) Springsteen had a ‘mangle’ in their house in 1850s Brooklyn?

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Wikipedia: Mangle- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangle_(machine)

 

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images. Click to enlarge images.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
 

Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.
 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.
 
Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.



Friday Funny: Ale for the Springsteens?

1857 Home Brewed Ale advertisement, appendix-no page, in Smiths Brooklyn Directory for yr ending May 1 1857, via InternetArchive. (Click to enlarge.)
1857 Home Brewed Ale advertisement, appendix-no page number, in “Smiths Brooklyn Directory for year ending May 1 1857,” via InternetArchive. (Click to enlarge.)

Springsteen Family (Click for Family Tree)

Although the Jefferson and Anna Connor Springsteen family had moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, before the date of this ad, there were likely other brewers in Brooklyn, New York that offered the same beverage when they resided in Brooklyn. Jefferson ran a restaurant at the Fulton Market as well, so he may have stocked this or other ales.

Water was not always safe to drink, even that coming out of city pipes. Children were given beer from very early on to reduce their risk of parasites and infections from local water. “Family ales” would have had a lower alcohol content, but the alcohol and the heating during the brewing process would have killed off much of the disease-inducing microorganisms found in drinking water. Even Puritan children drank beer!

Benjamin Franklin loved beer. In fact, his quote that, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” can be found on t-shirts in pubs today. The advertisement notes that the ale listed is “…strongly recommended by Medical men…” and “…calculated to strengthen and invigorate the system…” This ad is persuasion as to what a smart purchase this would be for a family in 1857.

Since the Springsteen family probably was originally from Germany, and Anna Connor from Ireland, plus Jeff had lived in frontier areas, the chances were high that ales/beer were a part of their larder.

 

See? What’s old is new again- “Craft Brews” in 1857!

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. See reference with image.

 

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images. Click to enlarge images.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
 

Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.
 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.
 
Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.