Helbling Family (Click for Family Tree)

Collecting salt and pepper shakers was a big thing in the 1950s and even before and after. One collector written about has over 55,000! (And those are pairs, so 110,000 individual shakers!)

The above S&P shakers belonged to Mary Theresa (Helbling) McMurray, who thankfully did not have that large of a collection. These were always favorites, though.

Mary was the daughter of William Gerard Helbling and Anna May Beerbower.

These S&P shakers are called ‘lusterware,’ and one antique dealer stated they were from the 1940s.

The tray is about 2-1/2″ long and 1-1/2″ wide; the houses are each about 1-3/4″ high, 1″ deep, and 3/4″ wide. Each roof on this set is actually a soft gray-blue, and the tray is an iridescent white. These shakers came in other colors as well.

Their value on one website was only $11.50, so truly, it is sentimental value that is important here. These are objects Mary loved, and part of the treasure chest of items she left to those who loved her.

Little Dutch girls and boys and windmills were popular images at various points during the 20th century. These S&P shakers suggest a stylized bit of a Dutch influence, being tall, narrow, and having a steep roof. Mary liked the cute Dutch items available, including a pitcher and mug set she had. She would be SO amazed to learn that her Springsteen family was really Dutch, and lived in New Netherlands!

New Netherlands= Dutch New York City— Manhattan and Long Island! The first-born Springsteen of her line was born in Bushwhick, a neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, in 1664! (They would be amazed to know how much their land would be worth today.) We will have some of this exciting research coming up on the blog in the near future.

DNA and some wonderful sharing- including a post from this blog detailing an obituary shared by Mary’s brother, Edgar Helbling- broke open the whole mystery of the Springsteen family. So please share your family heirlooms, and get your DNA tested! The results can lead to wonderful family stories, and new cousins.

And sentimental feelings about salt & pepper shakers. Especially today, on the anniversary of Mary Theresa’s birth.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Family heirloom.
2. Mary apparently did not know that she was named for her German paternal great-grandmother, Mary Theresa (Knipshield) Helbling (1810-1891). Sure wish we had been able to learn about her heritage while she was still with us.

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Original content copyright 2013-2017 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

McMurray Family, Helbling Family (Click for Family Trees)

Sometimes it seems I am ‘wasting’ time by reading so much on the internet, but one can learn fantastic things. There are also fantastic people who share their fantastic ideas with the world via the internet, and for that I am so thankful- not only on Thankful Thursday.

Today, gratitude goes to J. Paul Hawthorne, who posted “A Little Thing That Went Viral… #MyColorfulAncestry” on his blog, “GeneaSpy.”  Of course, I am behind the times as it went viral last March, but that is what happens when one lives with one foot in the present, and the other back in the 1700s, 1800s, etc.

The above chart is for the children of Edward A. McMurray, Jr. and Mary Theresa (Helbling) McMurray.

Note how color-coding the Excel cells helps to show migration of a family.

Grayed cells are unknown birthplaces, although they most likely were in the same country as where the more recent generation was born, such as Germany or Ireland.

Follow the links on J. Paul’s blog for templates to use, as a number of other genealogy bloggers have added generations. I do recommend that one clear the cells of text, or use all caps when inputting your own ancestor’s birthplaces. When all the words are in the cells, then go back and change colors so that each state and country are different.

The chart also follows the genealogical convention of an Ahnentafel chart, with the father’s name on top, mother’s below. So the largest bright green box for Iowa is for Edward A. McMurray, Jr., and the largest rose-colored box for Missouri would be the birthplace of Mary (Helbling) McMurray. Mary’s father, William Gerard Helbling, was born in Missouri, so is represented to the right, with the lower box being for her mother, Anna May (Beerbower) Helbling, who was born in Indiana. Take a look at the associated family trees for names and details.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. “A Little Thing That Went Viral… #MyColorfulAncestry” by J. Paul Hawthorne in his blog, “GeneaSpy.” http://www.geneaspy.com/2016/03/a-little-thing-that-went-viral.html. Thanks to J. Paul for sharing such a cool idea!
2. There are many excellent versions of this chart found throughout genea-blogland.
3. Excel is an excellent tool for timelines, one-name or one-place study, data analysis, etc. Many videos and webinars are available online and information is available on FaceBook and genealogy blogs as to how to use Excel as more than just a numbers-cruncher.
4. Make sure that you note the problem with dates in Excel- it only recognizes those that go back to 1900! So all my dates are in three columns in Excel- one each for day, month, and four-digit year. The months can be listed as numbers for easy sorting, or Excel has a function that allows you to tell it to sort by month order. See Teresa Keogh’s Excel videos, especially, “Example 7 – The Date Issue in Excel” at   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hj6FS2QViI

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Original content copyright 2013-2016 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Helbling Family, Beerbower Family, Springsteen Family (Click for Family Tree)

We complete our series on the Springsteen Family Bible records with a sad and sweet piece of “Memoranda.”

Transcription:

Inds 9-12-1891

Anna M. Beerbower

Divorced from E. P. Beerbower

Sept. 12-1891 by Judge Harks

================================

Anna M. Beerbower & E. P. Beerbower

Remarried Dec. 26-1908, St. Charles, Mo.

These entries reference Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower, daughter of Jefferson and Anna (Conner) Springsteen, and her husband Edgar Peter Beerbower.

The family story is that “E.P.” Beerbower worked for the railroad, and would be gone for long stretches of time because of his job on the train. The story is that he also came home frequently without a paycheck- possibly due to a drinking or gambling problem or ?? per their granddaughter, Mary Theresa (Helbling) McMurray. Anna would have been left alone frequently, and would have needed to find a way to feed her 3 children. (Anna had 2 other children, one who only lived one day after birth, the other only about two months.) She had family nearby when they were living in Indiana, but after they moved to Illinois- they were in Urbana, Champaign, Illinois before November of 1885, and Cairo, Alexander, Illinois by 17 April 1887- she would have had to care for the family herself.

Less than three years after the death of their last son on the day after his birth, Anna was granted a divorce on 12 September 1891 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Son Robert W. was about 17, Edgar S. about 15, and Anna May just 10 years old. Anna Missouri moved to Indianapolis- probably to be near family- and was living with her sons Robert Warson Beerbower and Edgar Springsteen Beerbower in 1897, when she was listed as a widow in the Indianapolis City Directory. (Anna May was probably there too, but daughters would not have been listed i the city directory.)

By 1900 Anna and her three children had moved to St. Louis, Missouri. Could the move have been to be closer to E.P.? We do not know, and know of no other family in St. Louis but it was a railroad hub. As per the entry above, the two were remarried in 1908. A marriage record has possibly been found for the couple, although it is a hard to read. A marriage record for 28 December 1908 (2 days later than the bible entry) with the husband as “E P Beerbower” and the wife’s name “Mrs. Mae Clore” is in Ancestry’s Missouri Marriage Records 1805-2002 database. Interestingly, the record states that EP Beerbower was from Indianapolis, and “Mrs. Mae Clore” from St. Louis. The wife’s name on this record my have been copied incorrectly, as their granddaughter, who was very close to her grandmother who lived with them, did state that they had remarried, and lived together until EP’s death in 1916.

Don’t you just love happy endings?

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Family treasure chest.
2. Missouri Marriage Record for EP Beerbowere and Mrs. Mae Clore: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=MOmarriages&h=100516

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Original content copyright 2013-2016 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Helbling Family, Springsteen Family (Click for Family Tree)

We continue our posts of the Springsteen Family Bible with the small piece of paper clipped to the “Memoranda” page:

It reads:

Baby Born 2/26/06

”      Baptized 4/22/06

Mary My then died 4/15/06

Jefferson Springsteen died 4/14/05

John           ”    died 5/2/06

Ed married 10/19/05

Mother           4/2/07

Baby died      6/12/07

The dear “Baby” who has a birth, baptism, and death listed was the first child of Anna May (Beerbower) Helbling (1881-1954) and William Gerard Helbling (1882-1971). Anna May was the daughter of Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower (1854-1939), probably the original owner of the bible. The baby’s name was William Francis Helbling. Anna Missouri had two of her own five children die young- one just a day old, the other only nine weeks- so she surely understood the pain that her daughter felt at losing a child. It was probably doubly painful to Anna Missouri because she had lost her first grandson (she did have a granddaughter at that date), but also to see her own baby in pain from losing a baby must have been almost unbearable.

If memory serves, Mary T. (Helbling) McMurray said that the handwriting was that of her grandmother, Anna Missouri, but the last 3 entries on this scrap were written by her own mother, Anna May.

Mary Mythen is Mary G. (Springsteen) Mythen (or Mithen), married to John Mythen. See next week’s “Mystery Monday: Mary G. (Springsteen) Mythen” for the little bit we know about Mary and John.

The Jefferson Springsteen who died 4/14/05 would be the younger family member, known as Thomas Jefferson Springsteen, born in 1848. He was the brother of Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower, the bible owner, thus son of Jefferson Springsteen (1820-1909) and Anna M. (Conner) Springsteen (1824-1887).

Anna Missouri’s other brother John William Springsteen is listed on the scrap with his death date. The rest of her siblings died in the 1930s, except baby Joseph Springsteen who only lived not quite two years, and Mary Elizabeth (Springsteen) Beckwith, who died in 1928.

The Ed who married in 1905 was Edgar Springsteen Beerbower (1876-1940, Anna May’s brother. His wife was Rosabel K. Hoppe (1885-1976), but sadly their marriage did not last, and they divorced sometime between 1920 and 1930.

The next entry for “Mother” likely means that Anna May’s mother married on 4/2/1907. Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower had divorced her husband years before, but had, as was common, been listed as ‘widowed’ on the census and even in an 1897 Indianapolis, Indiana city directory. This marriage entry is curious, as Anna Missouri was living in St. Louis in 1900, and she and Edgar Peter Beerbower (1849-1916) did remarry. A marriage record has been found for her husband dated either 26 or 28 December 1908- a very different date than what is in the bible. The marriage record is  for E. P. Beerbower (Edgar did use his initials) and a “Mrs. Mae Clore.”

This does not make sense with anything we know of the family, as in 1910 Anna Missouri and Edgar P. Beerbower were living together in Indianapolis. No re-marriage certificate has been found for them in Indiana (their 1873 first marriage is a record available on Ancestry.com), and none with Anna Missouri’s name on it. Clerical error, perhaps, with the marriage register? Anyone have other ideas?

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Family treasure chest.

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Original content copyright 2013-2016 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Springsteen Family (Click for Family Tree)

Edited 22 October 2020: 

Recent research and analysis suggests that the Springsteen Family bible was most likely owned by Anna (Conner) Springsteen (1824-1887) and Jefferson Springsteen (1820-1909), not their daughter Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower as originally believed. Because the Bible was printed in 1876, 33 years after the marriage of Anna and Jeff, it was originally thought that the bible might instead belong to one of their daughters. Their daughter Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower however had her own family bible, which was printed in 1873 and given to her by her father- please see the blog post about the Beerbower family bible for more information. (We do not know descendants of Mary Elizabeth (Springsteen) Beckwith, their other daughter, nor have any of her heirlooms.) So perhaps this bible was purchased around 1876 to replace an earlier Springsteen Family bible that may have been lost or damaged. Another possibility is that Anna and Jeff may not have had a bible previously, although that would not have been typical for such a family. Many of the entries in this bible look as if they were done at the same time, not contemporaneously with the event, and they mostly contain the children, spouses, and grandchildren of Anna and Jeff. Their children were born between 1844 and 1860, so could not have been written in a book that was published 16 years after their last child was born.

Original Post:

We believe the Springsteen Family Bible was owned by Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower (1854-1939), who married Edgar Peter Beerbower (1849-1916) on 12 February 1873 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Their first child was born in 1874, and the second in 1876. Perhaps the bible was a gift from Anna’s parents to celebrate, and record, the births, marriages, and deaths in the new family, since it was printed in 1876.

The bible was passed down to Anna’s daughter, Anna May (Beerbower) Helbling, and then to Mary Theresa (Helbling) McMurray.

This and upcoming posts on the Springsteen family bible are based on black and white copies of the pertinent family pages, copied probably back in the 1970s. Please excuse the poor quality of the images.

More to come this week and next with all the family record pages from the Springsteen Family Bible.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Family treasure chest.
2.  Added 22 Oct 2020: “Beerbower Family Bible-Dec. 31st, 1873,” Heritage Ramblings family history blog, 31 Dec 2014–
   https://heritageramblings.net/2014/12/31/beerbower-family-bible-dec-31st-1873/

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

Original content copyright 2013-2016 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.