Notas |
- ID: I002
Name: Helena \ Helen Catherine (again) MEYER
Sex: F
Birth: 13 DEC 1893 in At home, 711 Amsterdam Ave, New York City, NY 1 2
Death: 3 JUL 1964 in at home, Clifton , NJ, bur Cedar Lawn, Paterson Sec 4 Lot 216 3 of Perforated peritonitis of descending colon from colon cancer. 4
Fact 1: 1900 Living on 5th Ave., Brooklyn, in what may have been a tenement.
Fact 2: Her mother dies when Helena is abt. 10-12. 5 6
Fact 3: Helena had to leave school, maybe grade 8, to raise sibs. 7
Fact 4: Worked as change maker- Meyer Brothers' department store, Paterson, NJ 8
Fact 5: Entered Drake Business School to learn typing and bookkeeping skills. 9
Fact 6: Working as stenographer at Atcheson Hardin Handkercheif Co. when she meets future husband 10
Fact 7: Leaves paid work to marry Art, Superintendent of Manufacturing. 10
Fact 8: Living with parents at 24 Burgess Pl, Passaic at time of marriage. 11
Fact 9: During Depression- known for willingness to help men who knock at door for food. The railroad tracks were not far away, and destitute men often hitched rides on trains looking for places with work. 10
Fact 10: At death, $12,707 in state and fed. estate taxes pd. - equiv. to 4 years college 12
Fact 11: Afraid Olive & Ralph would die, so fed them oatmeal and cod liver oil, which Olive hated. 13
Fact 12: Never cut her hair. Wore as french twist or braided in a crown.on top of her head. 14
Fact 13: Helped pay for granddaughter's college education. 15
Reference Number: 2
Note:
Helena would periodically take the train into New York City for a day trip. Sometimes this involved a ferry across the Hudson River for the final leg. She would often call her daughter, Olive, to say she was going and to invite her grandaughter to go along and miss school for the day. Susan remembers there being steam engines initially. "Nana" always carried a small box of Chiclet chewing gum. These were not in foil wrapped sticks, but rather were white candy coated squares or perhaps rectangles, so they crunched. It was fun to ride the train through the towns, into the Meadowlands of tidal grasses, and to take the ferry. Once there, the day included shopping, a meal at either Horn and Hardart's or at a deli where the ritual was to have a hot pastrami sandwich. The other aspect, was going to the show at Radio City Music Hall, where the Rockettes performed in a chorus line before the movie.
She often spoke about her mother having taught her to say the Hail Mary. Also, that her mother was from "Rathorn Rathaspie, County Meath, Ireland." She didn't tell her granddaughter about Helena's own childhood. But she had told her daughter. She mentioned tenements, Brooklyn, that her mother died of tuberculosis and had lost two baby boys of "bloody dysentery." She also reported having to leave school to care for her younger sibs after her mother died. While her mother was ill, Helena's job was to fool her father by taking her mother's shoes outside and rubbing them on the pavement so her father would think that the mother had been outside for fresh air.
Father: Rudolph Rudolf Frederich Christiansmeyer \ MEYER b: BET. SEP 1861 - 20 FEB 1863 in of Bremen / Hannover or Midlum bf Dorum, Hannover / Prussia, Germany
Mother: Anna \ Annie Managhan \ MONAHAN b: OCT 1863 in Rathowen, Rathaspick Parish, Westmeath, or County Longford, Ireland
Marriage 1 Arthur Percy BREWSTER b: BET. 8 MAY 1878 - 6 MAY 1879 in Newburgh or Coldenham, NY
Married: 9 JUN 1915 in Manse of First Presbyterian Church, Passaic, N.J. 16
Marriage fact: in Witness: Florence Buchanan, J. Carl Warhurst - 316 Gregory Ave.
Children
Alfred S. BREWSTER b: ABT. 2 AUG 1917 in Passaic, N.J.
Living BREWSTER
Ralph Arthur BREWSTER b: 17 MAR 1924 in Passaic, N.J.
Marriage 2 William Leroy WHITE b: 6 AUG 1891 in Bloomsburg, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, USA
Married: 24 OCT 1959 in First Presby. Ch, George Talbott, pastor, Passaic, N.J. 17
Marriage fact: in Witness: Olive Cocker & John D. White, 224 Long Hill Rd, Littel Falls
Sources:
Title: Meyer, Helena: birth certificate
Text: Certificate # 50168
Official Mar 19, 1952 photocopy.
Title: New York City Births 1891 - 1902
Note: Found
Meyer: Hellina, Wilmina, William H., Anna R. C
Repository:
Note: Ancestry.com
Media: Electronic
Text: "Hellina Meyer . birth date 13 Dec 1893, certificate 50168, Births reported in Dec 1893"
Title: White, Helena C. (Meyer) Brewster,: estate tax form
Photocopy of Internment Card from Cedar Lawn in poss.of Susan C. Hopkins - indicates peritonitis which was likely the immediate cause of death. However, colon cancer was the overarching cause as per Olive Brewster.
Title: Brewster, Ralph: letter to Susan Hopkins 4 Jan 1997
Repository:
Media: Book
Text: ..."my mother (Nana) was 10 years old whn her mother died, and she took over the household duties I assume until Susie moved in. My mother stopped her schooling."
Title: Clark, Olive Brewster: as told to Susan Hopkins
Text: Olive's various communications have placed her mother's age at 12 or 14 when Annie Monahan Meyer died.
Both Olive and Ralph agree that their mother had to drop out of school. Olive suggests Grade 8. Don't know if this is a memory or a calculation based on how old she thinks Helen was at her mother's death. (8 Jan 1997 note by Susan Hopkins]
Jan. 4, 1997 letter from Ralph Brewster to Susan Hopkins
4 Jan 1997 letter from Ralph Brewster to Susan Hopkins.
Daughter Olive as told to grandaughter Susan.
Title: Meyer, Helena: report of marriage to Arthur Brewster from First Presbyterian Church, Passaic, N.J.
Text: Report is dated June 20, 1962 and notarized.
Estate TAx form in posession of Susan Cocker Hopkins. College equivalent quote is from Olive
Olive Brewster Clark
Daughter Olive and grandaughter Susan.
Susan Cocker Hopkins
Family records once in posession of Florence Buchanan
Title: Brewster, Helena (Meyer): report of marriage to William LeRoy White
Note: Marriage was 24 October 1959. This report of this marriage is dated June 20, 1962. It may have been requested in order for Helena to obtain a passport. Helena's daughter, Olive, also recalls that Helena began requesting other documents and was on a family history kick.
Repository:
Note: copy in possession of Susan Hopkins, Urbana, IL
Media: Church Record
Note: June 20 1962 First Pres Ch.of Passaic report of info on marriage license. Posess. of Susan Cocker Hopkins
|