Andrew Patrick Payne : Birth Record

A breakthrough in the Payne family tree

I've been trying to track down my grandfather's step-brothers and their descendants. It would be nice to know more about them. (If you're a member of the Payne family please get in touch. I have some photos that might be of your ancestors and I'd love for you to have them!)

Briefly, Thomas Payne, longtime boarder with the family of William and Mary (Klein) Dixon, was married and had at least two sons before he married my great-grandmother, Mary (Klein) Dixon. My grandfather told me some stories about his step-brothers, at least one of whom lived in the house with the Dixons. The stories may have involved the making of bathtub gin. Just saying.

You can read previous posts about Thomas Payne here:

• Thomas Payne : A Timeline
• Looking for the Payne Family
• Who are the Children of Thomas Payne

Birth Certificate for Andrew Patrick Payne, 1 March 1905
New Jersey State Archives, Trenton.

Andrew Patrick Payne

Thanks to my NJ reasearcher, Debbie Hadley, I now have a copy of Andrew's birth certificate, AND I now know the name of his mother, Thomas Payne's first wife. As I said, a breakthrough!

It looks like Thomas married Mary Margaret McCudden when she was quite young. As she was 17 when their first son was born, it looks like she may have been 16 or 17 when they married. This helps me narrow down the marriage date to some time in 1904.

This document also confirms Thomas Payne's birth place as Dover, NJ. That is the location that he gives on his marriage certificate to Mary E. (Klein) Dixon. So two bits of agreement on that fact. His age here is listed as 28. His birth date is all over the place on the variety of documents that I have. His WWI draft registration gives 22 March 1876 as his birth date, so this information adds a little weight to that source.

Now there are a few more clues to follow. Hopefully I'll be able to find those Paynes! Stay tuned...

An Odd Coincidence

So, here's a bit of a thing. My grandfather, Wallace B. Dixon, was born one day after his future step-brother Andrew Payne, on 2 March 1905. They were practically twins!

Transcript

State of New Jersey. Bureau of Vital Statistics.
Certificate and Record of Birth [stamped 939]
Name of Child: Andrew Patrick Payne
Sex: Male. Color: White. Date of Birth: March 1 4:33 PM, 1905
Place of Birth: 67 E. Jersey St., Elizabeth, N.J.
Name of Father: Thomas Payne. Father's Birthplace: Dover, N.J.
Maiden Name of Mother: Mary Margaret McCudden. Mother's Birthpalce: Albany, N.Y.
Age of Father: 28 yrs. Occupation of Father: Ship builder.
Age of Mother: 17 yrs. Occupation of Mother: Housewife.
Number of Children in all by this marriage: 1. Number of Children now living: 1.
Name and P.O. Address of Professional Attendant in own handwriting:
Dr. John Keough
Date of Report: March 12, 121 Livingston St. Elizabeth, N.J.

Sources

New Jersey Vital Records, May 1, 1848 to December 31, 1915. NJSA microfilm roll 265 (Birth Certificates 1905: Nist, E. - Pisa), organized alphabetically by surname. New Jersey State Archives, Trenton. Andrew Patrick Payne, b. 1 March 1905. Certificate 939.

"United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZJ6-D9V : 12 December 2014), Thomas Payne, 1917-1918; citing Elizabeth City no 3, New Jersey, United States, NARA microfilm publication M1509 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,712,099.  

Marriage record for Thomas Payne and Mary Eliz. Klein. No. 11913, 20 April 1927. New York City Department of Records and Information Services, Municipal Archives, 31 Chambers Street, New York, NY 10007.  

Ralph E. Moore : Birth Record

Minnie Dixon's Second Son

Ralph E. Moore c. 1945

Ralph E. Moore was born on 13 February 1909 at the home of his parents at 30 Barker Street, West New Brighton, Staten Island, New York. The house was a short distance from the north shore of the island. Across the narrow channel of the Arthur Kill is Bayonne, New Jersey. It appears that the original house at that address has been replaced with a more modern duplex, but if you look at the street view in Google Maps there are plenty of older homes on the block that can give some flavor of the neighborhood in the early 20th century.

Ralph, who came to be know as "Bucky," was the second son born to Minnie (Dixon) and Milton Moore. Minnie was the first child of Mary Elizabeth (Klein) and William A. Dixon, and was a native of Elizabeth, New Jersey. Milton, son of William and Sarah Moore, had been born in West New Brighton. He was employed as a "marine engineer."

Transcription of Birth Record

Birth Certificate for Ralph E. Moore,
born 13 February 1909
Municipal Archives, New York City

The City of New York.
Department of Health.
State of New York.
Certificate and Record of Birth.
No. of Certificate, 436.

Name of Child: Ralph E. Moore
Sex: Male
Color: White
Date of Birth: Feb 13, 1909
Place of Birth, Street and No. : 30 Barker St., West Brighton
Father's Name: Milton Moore
Father's Residence: 30 Barker St.
Father's Birthplace: West New Brighton
Father's Age: 24
Father's Occupation: Marine Engineer
Mother's Name: Minnie E. Moore
Mother's Name before Marriage: Minne E. Dickson [Dixon]
Mother's Residence: 30 Barker St.
Mother's Birthplace: Elizabeth, N.J.
Mother's Age: 24
Number of previous Children: One
How many now living (in all): Two
Name and address of person making this report: F. C[?]ley, WNB
Date of Report: [blank]
[stamped received ? 5 1909]

Sources

Ralph E. Moore, birth certificate 436 (1909), Municipal Archives, New York City Department of Records and Information Services, New York, New York. 
Google, Google Map showing 30 Barker St., West New Brighton, Staten Island, New York. Copyright Google 2016. (https://goo.gl/maps/X1dcyxyjxMz : accessed and linked 2 September 2016).

Clara Viola Dixon : Birth Registration

The Midwife Strikes Again!

We've seen the creative writing style of Therese M. Leyerer before. She is the midwife who writes with an Austrian accent, and who declared that my great-grandfather was a fish killer: a "Carp Ender." She appeared in that post on the birth registration for Hazel Dixon, the youngest child of William A. and Mary E. (Klein) Dixon. In this entry we see her delivering what she claims to be the couple's fifth child. *

Birth register entry for Clara Viola "Toots" Dixon, 1 November 1892. New Jersey State Archives: Trenton, N.J.

The Birth Record (1)

1 Full Name of Child (if any): [blank].  Color: [blank]
2. Date of Birth: November 1 1892.  Sex: Girl
3. Place of Birth: No. 63 Little Schmid Street
4. Name of Father: Willie Dixon
5. Maiden Name of Mother: Luisa Dixon
6. Country of Father's Birth: Elisabethport.   Age: 30.  Occupation: Oystermann
7. Country of Mother's Birth: Oho [Ohio].  Age: 26
8. Number of Children in all by this Marriage: 5.  How many living: 4
9. Name and P.O. address of Medical Attendant, in own handwriting, with date:
      T M Leyerer Midwife [no address or date given]

Comments

I am reasonably sure that this is the birth register entry for Clara Viola Dixon.

I have two other sources that support at least the month and year of birth. The 1900 U.S. Census records Viola Dixon's birth as November 1892. (2) In addition her marriage record from 1912 gives her age as 20 years, which infers a birth year of 1892.

Midwife Leyerer claims in this birth register that the unnamed child's parents were Willie Dixon and Luisa Dixon. I believe she was in error. As the registration forms were generally not filled out at the time of the birth errors are possible. We have seen this on other documents authored by this midwife. It is possible that she kept sketchy records and relied on memory to fill out the rest. She may have delivered so many babies that it was easy to loose track.

The 1900 census and her marriage record also list Clara Viola's parents as William A. and Mary E. Dixon, or William Dixon and Mary Kline [Klein]. Viola Dixon appears on the 1895 (4) and 1905 (5) NJ State Census with this couple as her parents. The parent's birthplace, age, and occupation also agree or come very close to the same items appearing in other sources related to William and Mary E. (Klein) Dixon as individuals and as a married couple.

As to "Little Schmid" Street, I have found William Dixon, laborer, at 63 Little Smith Street in the Elizabeth City Directory for 1895-96. (6) While the occupation doesn't match the birth record, it is possible that William had quit oystering for other work.



Notes:
* At the time of Clara Viola's birth, my records indicate that William and Mary had four children: Minerva "Minnie" b. 1884; William b. 1885; Harry, b. 1887; followed by Clara Viola in 1892. Given the five year gap between Harry and Clara Viola, it is possible that another child was born and died young. Indeed, Harry would die in 1894 at the age of six. I only found him by chance in a birth index.


Sources

(1) [Clara Viola Dixon], birth certificate D13 (1 November 1892), Elizabeth New Jersey State Archives, Trenton.

(2) 1900 Federal Census, Union County, New Jersey, population schedule, Elizabeth Ward 5, Union, New Jersey; Roll: 996; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 0102; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 March 2015 ); FHL microfilm: 1240996.

(3) New Jersey, Certificate and Record of Marriage, 478, O'Hare and Dixon, 21 November 1912; New Jersey State Archives, Trenton.

(4) Ancestry.com. New Jersey, State Census, 1895 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Family number 220, page 38, line 11. Original data: New Jersey Department of State. 1895 State Census of New Jersey. Trenton, NJ, USA: New Jersey State Archives. 54 reels. Roll V227_105.

(5) "New Jersey State Census, 1905," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KMHK-VXD : accessed 15 February 2016), William A Dixon, , Union, New Jersey, United States; citing p. 6, line 44, Department of State, Trenton; FHL microfilm 1,688,625.

(6) Cook & Hall's Elizabeth City Directory for 1895-96 (Elizabeth, N. J.: Cook & Halln.d.), 127, Dixon William, laborer, h 63 Little Smith; digital image, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : downloaded 3 July 2016).

Harry Dixon

The missing children of William A. and Mary E. (Klein) Dixon

From the 1909 Birth Certificate of Hazel Dixon

According to the 1900 United States Census (1)  my great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth (Klein) Dixon had given birth to seven children, with five surviving. By 1909, when her last child, Hazel, was born the birth certificate (2) indicates that she had given birth to ten children, with seven surviving.

This leaves three children unaccounted for.

A recent visit to the FamilySearch web site brought up a birth record for Harry Dixon, born 29 December 1887 in Union County, New Jersey. His parents are listed as "Wm. Dixon" and "Eliz. Kline." (3)

Harry Dixon is not a name that I have come across before.

The 1890 U.S. Census, which was destroyed, would have been the next likely place to find him. He is absent from the 1895 New Jersey State Census. That census lists Minnie, William C., Clara Viola, and John Frank as the children in the family.

So Harry Dixon died sometime between his birth on 29 December 1887 and the date the 1895 NJ State Census was taken.

He is not listed in a search of NJ death records through the New Jersey State Archives web search. (But I do come up with a Walter Dixon, who died on 11 September 1891 at just 7 hours old. He might belong to another Dixon family. A subject of another search.)

 It's probable that Harry is one of the two Dixon children who died prior to 1900.

At some point between 1900 and 1909 another child was born and died, if the information on Hazel Dixon's birth certificate is correct.


To-Do List

• Find death record for Harry Dixon
• Order death record for Walter Dixon to see if he is from this family
• Keep looking for the other missing children

Citations

1. 1900 U.S. Census, Union County, New Jersey, population schedule, 5th Ward, enumeration district (ED) 102, Sheet Number 7, dwelling 83, family 180, William A. Dixon; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : downloaded 5 March 2015); United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 1854 rolls.

2. Hazel Dorothy L. Dixon, birth certificate 79 (16 January 1909), Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey New Jersey State Archives, Trenton, New Jersey.

3. "New Jersey Births and Christenings, 1660-1980," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FZCZ-MJD : accessed 14 February 2016), Harry Dixon, 29 Dec 1887; citing Union County, New Jersey, reference ; FHL microfilm 494,209.

Hazel Dorothy L. Dixon : Birth Certificate

The Midwife Wrote With an Austrian Accent

Please enjoy this quirky document that records the birth of the youngest child of William A. Dixon and Mary Elizabeth (Klein) Dixon. Hazel was born four years after my grandfather, her brother, Wallace B. Dixon.

The midwife, Therese M. Layerer, was born in Austria according to census records. She had lovely penmanship and wrote with an accent. Take a look at the document and see if you can tell what I mean.

Birth Certificate for Hazel Dorothy L. Dixon, b. 16 Jan 1927

Here's my transcription of the document, with comments [in brackets].

DIXON [written across the top]
State of New Jersey. Bureau of Vital Statistics.
Certificate and Record of Birth. #79
Name of Child: Hazel Dorothy L. Dixon [note the odd shape of the "x."]
Sex: Girl. Color: White. Date of Birth: 16 January 1909
Place of Birth: No. [or "At?"] 65 Marchal St. [possibly Marshall St.]
Name of Father: William Dixon [that funny "x" again]. Father's Birthplace: Elizabeth.
Maiden Name of Mother: Lissie Kleine [They may have called her Lizzie.] Mother's Birthplace: Oho [Ohio]
Age of Father: 46. Occupation of Father: Carp Ender [He killed fish for a living. Or he was a Carpenter.]
Age of Mother: 42. Occupation of Mother: ----
Number of Children in all by this marriage: 10. Number of Children now living: 7.
Name and P.O. Address of Professional Attendant in own handwriting:
Therese M. Leyerer, Midwife
73 E. Jersey St. Eliz NJ.
Date of this Report: [none given]

Many thanks to the good folks at the NJ State Archives for digging this up for me.

Citation
Hazel Dorothy L. Dixon, birth certificate 79 (16 January 1909), Elizabeth, Union county, New Jersey. New Jersey State Archives, Trenton, New Jersey.

Wallace B. Dixon : Name Changer, Part 2

Where Did "Theodore" Come From?

You may (or may not) recall that last month I was puzzling over the family story of my Grandfather's name change. Family legend says that he was given the name Bernard Wallace when he was born, but later "legally changed it" to Wallace Bernard.

Wishing to settle the matter once and for all, I sent away to the New Jersey State Archives in Trenton for a copy of Wallace Bernard Dixon's birth certificate. (You can order these things on line now, which is the height of convenience when you live a full day's drive from the Archives.)

A few short weeks later, I received not only the original birth certificate, but a copy of a form "For Correcting or Amending a Certificate of Birth, Marriage, or Death." Two for the price of one!

Here, then, is my grandfather's original birth certificate.

Birth certificate for Theodore Wallace [a.k.a. Wallace Bernard] Dixon

 So, where the heck did the name Theodore come from? It is amusing to imagine that it went something like this:

The Naming : A play in one very short act.

Midwife: Congratulations on your new son, Mr. Dixon. What are you going to name him?
Mr. Dixon: Why, I believe we'll name him Theodore, after our president, and give him the middle name of Wallace.
Midwife: Theodore Wallace it is!
Some time later...
Mr. Dixon to Mrs. Dixon: Isn't our little boy Theodore Wallace just grand?
Mrs. Dixon: Theodore? Like heck we're calling the boy Theodore! His name is Bernard. Bernard Wallace! And that's final!

And then they forget to let the know about the name change, or just don't even give it a thought.

In the 1905 and 1915 NJ State Census, my grandfather is listed as Bernard. By the time 1920 rolls around, the Federal Census has him going by Wallace.

Another possible theory is that by the time the midwife got around to filing out the certificate, eight days after the fact, she got a little confused about the name.  We'll probably never know.

The Official Name Change

On 30 March 1942, Wally's brother, John Dixon, filled out the form changing my grandfather's name, officially, from Theodore Wallace to Wallace Bernard.

Correcting the Name on a Birth Certificate. One short form, signed by Grandpa's brother, John.

Affidavit signed by brother, John Dixon, on 30 March 1942.

The change form was filled out on 30 March 1942. The following day, this transcribed Birth Record was issued. And just like that, my grandfather was officially Wallace Bernard Dixon!

Delayed Birth Record for Wallace Bernard Dixon
issued the day after the name "correction" paperwork was signed.

I'm guessing that this flurry of paperwork was instigated by the Draft for World War II. The only draft registration records that are currently available are from the Fourth Registration, conducted on 27 April 1942, and including only those men between 45 and 65 years old. My grandfather would have been 37 at the time, so he is not included in that record set. He may well be one of the 10 million men who registered between 1941 and 1946. As far as I know, he never served in the military. When those other records become available I'll be looking for him!

Wallace B. Dixon : Name Changer

You Can Call Me Wally

In a previous post regarding a birth record for my grandfather, Wallace B. Dixon, I raised the question of his name change. I had been told many times by  a variety of people that he had been given the name Bernard Wallace when he was born, but legally changed it to Wallace Bernard when he became an adult.

Since this whole genealogy thing revolves around Proof, I've been looking for sources that confirm that he did, indeed, change his name.

Here's the birth record that I have for him

1942 document recording Wallace Bernard Dixon's birth in 1905.

While this is a certified copy of birth information recorded in official documents, it was created nearly 40 years after the event, and is a derivative document. On a scale of 1-4 for reliability, I'd give it a 2-3.

In the 1905 New Jersey State Census he is recorded as Bernard. The same is true in the 1915 New Jersey State Census. (Sorry, no images yet. These were index only records.)

We can see here that in the 1920 Federal Census, he was being called Wallace.

The Census Enumerator spelled the last name wrong, but this is Wally's family. Note the absence of his father, William A. His mother is claiming that she is widowed, but William was still very much alive in 1920. Another mystery.

Of course, it is entirely possible that he was named Wallace Bernard when he was born, and the family just used his middle name. Perhaps, somewhere between the ages of 10 and 15, he decided that he much preferred to be called Wallace or Wally.

Next Steps

In order to prove my grandfather's birth name and possible name change I will need to do a few things.

• See if I can get a photocopy of the original birth record.
  Where can I find that? How do I procure a copy?
• If the original birth record shows that he was named Bernard Wallace at birth, then I will have to find a source for records of legal name changes in NJ. Is that information even available?

Citations

"New Jersey State Census, 1905," database, FamilySearch (https://beta.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KMHK-VXD : accessed 23 November 2015), William A Dixon, , Union, New Jersey, United States; citing p. 6, line 44, Department of State, Trenton; FHL microfilm 1,688,625.

"New Jersey State Census, 1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV9W-WW8H : accessed 23 November 2015), William Dixon, 1915.

1920 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010), Ancestry.com, Year: 1920; Census Place: Elizabeth City Ward 10, Union, New Jersey; Roll: T625_1070; Page: 10A; Enumeration District: 97; Image: 823. Record for Wallace Dickson.

Wallace Bernard Dixon - Birth Record

Wallace B. Dixon
Born in 1905 in
Elizabeth, NJ

This is where it starts

My search for the ancestors I don't know begins with the ones that I do know. First we'll start with my Grandpa Dixon.

My maternal grandfather, Wallace Bernard Dixon, was born on 2 March 1905 in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

His parents were William A. Dixon and Mary Elizabeth Klein. If you take a closer look at this birth record, you'll notice that Mary Elizabeth was 38 years old when Wallace was born. She had already given birth to five children that I know of. She would have one more child after Wallace was born, a daughter named Hazel, born in 1909.

Birth Record for Wallace B. Dixon

Just the facts

Information from this document:

• Wallace Bernard Dixon was born on 2 March 1905 in Elizabeth, NJ.
• His parents are William A. Dixon and Mary E. Klein.
• William A. Dixon was working as a carpenter. 
• William A. Dixon was born in the USA in about 1863 [inferred based on his age in 1905].
• Mary E. Klein was born in the USA in about 1867 [inferred based on her age in 1905].
• Attending the birth was L. F.[?] Terrill.
• This document was issued on 31 March 1942 as a transcript from the City of Elizabeth, NJ Records of Birth in the office of the City Clerk, Patrick F. Keelan.

Questions for further research

• William A. Dixon was working as a carpenter. The family were traditionally oystermen. Was he ever an oysterman, and if so, when and why did he switch to carpentry?

• The document lists my grandfather's name as "Wallace Bernard." Family lore has it that he was born "Bernard Wallace" and later changed it to Wallace Bernard. Look for the original birth record from 1905 and see how his name was recorded.
  
  [Update 8Jan2016 : see post "Wallace B. Dixon : Name Changer" for additional information.]
   
• What was happening in 1942 that caused my grandfather to get this delayed birth record?

My grandfather's generation spanned 25 years. He had at least six siblings about whom I know virtually nothing. These are people I want to learn about. Their descendants are cousins I'd like to meet. Theirs are the stories I'm looking for.

Citation
Birth Certificate [delayed] for Wallace Bernard Dixon, 31 March 1942, Certificate No. 2636, City Clerk, City of Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey. Transcript from official Records of Birth. Certified copy in possession of author.