I don't know that it's crucial, or even vaguely important, that I determine exactly where on Marshall Street my great-grandparents lived with their family. It is vexing that I can't find them in the 1910 U.S. Census, and I keep hoping that getting an address for them might lead me to a census record.
In two posts I wrote in May of 2016, I started to explore this problem. You can read them here:
54 Marshall Street
54 Marshall Street : A Room With a View?
Since then, I've found more information about the Dixon family during that time period. They moved quite often, and I'll write more about that in another blog post. Suffice it to say that William wasn't an ideal husband, and the family was often forced to move due to lack of rent money. (1)
Today I'm going to summarize the three pieces of conflicting information that I have regarding the family's address on Marshall Street in Elizabeth between the years 1909 and 1911.
City Directories
Both the 1909 and 1911 Elizabeth city directories list William A. Dixon, carp[enter] at 54 Marshall Street. (2,3)
There are actually two William A. Dixons listed in the directory, the other boards at 57 Butler. At that same address we find "boarding" Frank and Alexander Dixon, Jr. Also listed is Alexander Dixon, presumably the senior. Both Alexanders are oystermen, Frank and William are leatherworkers. This is clearly a different Dixon family.
Since my great-grandfather is known to have worked as a carpenter from around 1900, I believe that the Marshall Street William is mine. Additionally, there is another William Dixon, William H., boarding at 54 Marshall. My grandparents had a son named William, born in 1885. His middle initial was J according to his birth record, but I've also seen it recorded as C.
In the 1911 directory it appears that Alexander senior has died. His widow, Mary, is boarding at 161 Elizabeth Avenue. William the leatherworker and the junior Alexander are also now at this address.
Frank Dixon is not among the Dixon listings for this year.
Carpenter William A. and laborer William H. Dixon continue to be listed at 54 Marshall in 1911. And so I conclude that this is "my" William A. Dixon. One might also infer from this that they lived at 54 Marshall Street between at least the years 1909 and 1911.
Hazel Dixon's Birth Record
William & Mary (Klein) Dixon's youngest daughter, Hazel, was born 16 January 1909. You can read about her birth record in detail in an earlier post from February 2016. In that document the midwife, Therese M. Leyerer, records the place of birth as 65 "Marchal" Street. (4)
Neither the 1909 or 1911 directories have any listings in the street directory for a "Marchal" Street, leading me to conclude that she was spelling "Marshall" the way she pronounced it. Remember, this is the same document where William's occupation is "Carp Endor," actually "carpenter."
Additionally, the 1903 Sanborn Map for Marshall Street (5) shows that number 65 would have been located in the Pattern Storage building of the ship building company that occupied most of that side of the street. The ship building facility only increased in size over the years, by 1918 (6) it occupied nearly the entire block, so it seems unlikely that some time between 1903 and 1909 that a residence would have been located on that spot. Only those lots with even-numbered addresses on that block were residential. The same is true today. A comparison of the Sanborn maps and Google Maps for that street show that the numbering hasn't changed.
Given the whimsical nature of the information in this document, or at least Mrs. Leyerer's interpretation of the information, I take the address with a grain of salt. Hazel may have been born on Marshall Street, but it seems unlikely that the address was number 65.
The Divorce Deposition
So, here we arrive at the heart of the matter. In 1924 Mary Elizabeth (Klein) Dixon petitioned for a divorce from her husband, William A. Dixon on the grounds of desertion. She claims that he left the family in September of 1912 and for the next twelve years provided no support for her or her children.
In Mary's deposition, she states:
For two years before the desertion [in September 1912], I lived on Livingston Street, between First and Second Streets; Second Street, between Jersey Street and Fulton Street, from there to Marshall Street, between Second and Third Streets, and then to South Second Street, and from there to Elizabeth Avenue between Fifth and Sixth Streets.
Please take a moment to process this. The family lived in at least five different locations in the two years between 1910 and 1912. Additionally, if they were living on the block between Second and Third Streets, the house numbers ran from 200 to 255 on the 1903 Sanborn Map.(7) This is neither the 54 from the city directories or the 65 from the birth record.
So it seems that, at some point roughly between 1910 and 1912, the family did live on Marshall Street. Had they lived on Marshall Street more than once?
Conclusion...Confusion
I'm willing to accept as true that the family of William A. and Mary E. (Klein) Dixon did, at some point, live on Marshall Street in Elizabeth, New Jersey. I have three separate and unrelated documents that support that.
It is possible that they occupied a residence with the address of 54 Marshall Street, given the fact that it appears in both the 1909 and 1911 city directories. Supporting this is the listing in two city directories, and the fact that it was a residential address as indicated on both the 1903 and 1918 Sanborn insurance maps. However, they do not appear at that address in the 1910 U.S. Census, and given William's reported inability to come up with regular rent payments it seems a little bit unlikely that they lived at the same address for three consecutive years.
It is highly improbable that they resided at 65 Marshall Street, given the industrial nature of that side of the street. I don't consider Mrs. Leyerer to be a highly reliable source for any information other than the actual birth of the child. However, number 65 would have been in the same block as number 54. So there's that.
It is possible, given the nature of the testimony of Mary E. (Klein) Dixon under oath that the family did live in the 200 block of Marshall Street sometime around 1911-1912. One does have to keep in mind that the testimony was given about twelve years after the fact, and it is possible that with all of the moving the family apparently did Mary may have confused the exact location.
My conclusion is that the family did probably, at some point, live on Marshall Street. It is possible that they lived on Marshall Street two different times, once at number 54, and once in the 200 block. Is it vitally important that I know exactly when and where? At this point, I think not. It seems more important to acknowledge this as an exercise in examining conflicting evidence, and as a reminder that you can't always believe what you read.
Sources
(1) Dixon, Mary E. vs. Dixon, William A., 25 July 1923, Chancery Court Records; Superior Court Records Management Center, Trenton, New Jersey; NJSA microfilm 2-23, file number C64-517, New Jersey State Archives, Trenton, New Jersey.
(2) Elizabeth Directory 1909, Volume III. Newark, New Jersey: Price and Lee Company, p. 193. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line: accessed 14 May 2016]. Image 101 of 417. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Entry for William A. Dixon.
(3) Elizabeth Directory 1911, Volume IV. Newark, New Jersey: Price and Lee Company, p. 201. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line: accessed 14 May 2016]. Image 102 of 418. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Entry for William A. Dixon.
(4) Hazel Dorothy L. Dixon, birth certificate 79 (16 January 1909), Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey New Jersey State Archives, Trenton, New Jersey.
(5) Insurance Maps of Elizabeth, New Jersey. New York: Sanborn Map Company, 1903. Sheet 75.
Princeton University Library: Sanborn Maps of New Jersey: Elizabeth.
(6) Insurance Maps of Elizabeth, New Jersey. New York: Sanborn Map Company, 1918. Sheet 75.
Princeton University Library: Sanborn Maps of New Jersey: Elizabeth.
(7) Insurance Maps of Elizabeth, New Jersey. New York: Sanborn Map Company, 1903. Sheet 73.
Princeton University Library: Sanborn Maps of New Jersey: Elizabeth.
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