Helbling Family, Beerbower Family (Click for Family Tree)

This has been a challenging year and sadly the blog has been one of the (many) things pushed to the bottom of the list- so sorry. Hopefully now there will be some time for writing and posting, as there are so many stories and wonderful artifacts to share!

The above images are on dark gray cardstock, likely ink and paint for the backgrounds and the images cut from photographs. Gerard William, or “G.W.” Helbling, was an accomplished artist, silk screen sign painter, and even an undertaker (that takes artistic and esthetic skills).

G.W. was born in 1882 in St. Louis, Missouri, most likely, and Ann May Beerbower, the love of his life, was born in 1881 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Since we do not have the 1890 census, it is more challenging to determine when GW and May might have met. Anna’s mother (Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower) was listed in the 1897 Indianapolis City Directory with her sons Edgar and Robert, and possibly daughter Anna May lived there as well- she likely would not have been listed, as she was only 16 at the time. Anna Missouri was listed as a widow, however she was actually divorced from her husband Edgar Peter Beerbower. (They would later remarry.) By 1900 Anna (Missouri) was living in St. Louis, where she was enumerated as living with her 23 year-old son Edgar S., and 18 year-old daughter “May.”

G.W. Helbling was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and his parents resided there between 1890-1900 per city directories and censuses. It is likely that the two met in St. Louis, after Anna moved there sometime between 1897 and 1900. They married on 24 November 1904, when Anna was 23, G.W. 22.

Their daughter, Mary Theresa (Helbling) McMurray, thought that G.W. had created this art sometime in their early years together. Using pictures from when they were young teens- or maybe younger?- he painted the backgrounds first, then cut out the photos and glued them on. He was the “wild man” and she his “queen.”

The couple had almost fifty years together of their love story, but Anna died on November 9, 1954; their 50th anniversary would have been on the 24th. Their love story lives on in the sweet artifacts they left behind, and in the legacy of their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren and …

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Family treasure chest of photos and artifacts.
2. City directories and censuses.

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

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

SaveSave

SaveSave

Helbling Family, Springsteen Family (Click for Family Tree)

The New York Public Library Digital Collections webpage is an unbelievable resource for those researching in New York City and beyond. They have so generously made a push to make their collections available freely on the internet, and they allow use of much of their collection without fees or even required citations. There is so much on the site, and they continually add to it- it will keep many a dedicated family historian from sleep tonight and long into the future.

We know that our Helbling ancestors, the Springsteens, lived in New York City at various times. Jefferson Springsteen (1820-1909), the great-grandfather of Mary Theresa (Helbling) McMurray, married the Irish immigrant Anna M. Connor (1824-1887) in Brooklyn in 1843, and they are found in the 1850 US Federal Census in Brooklyn with three of their children. By 1853 they had moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, but Jefferson’s father, John Springsteen (1782-1867), his grandfather, Abraham Springsteen (abt 1755-1844 or before), or his siblings, may have been in NYC in 1856, when the City Directory listed quite a number of Springsteens and associated names.

An upcoming project is to go through this directory’s listings above, and determine exactly who each of these persons are, and how they might be related. Thankfully this publication places these Springsteens between the 1850 and 1860 US Federal Censuses, so those enumerations may help to sort out family lines, as might the occupations and addresses listed in the city directory.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. New York City Directory for 1856–
   http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/8f502510-52b4-0134-dacd-00505686a51c/book#page/787/mode/2up
2. Thank you, New York Public Library, for your Digital Collections and making public information truly public and freely usable!

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

Original content copyright 2013-2016 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

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

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

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.

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.