Hazel (Dixon) Sullivan : Death Certificate

One of my ongoing mysteries has involved my Grandfather's youngest sibling, Hazel. In the post "Hazel Dixon, Where Did You Go?" I summarized what I knew about Hazel and what clues I had to follow. Two months and a little luck has made a world of difference.

I recently received a copy of Hazel's death certificate, Number 27268, from the New Jersey Department of Health.(1) This is the bounty of information I gleaned from that document:

• Hazel died on 21 May 1957 at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
• At the time of her death she lived at 534 South Broad Street, Elizabeth.
• Her married name was Sullivan. [This has been confirmed by my Moore cousins]
• Her parents were William Dixon and Mary Klein.
• She was widowed at the time of her death.
• She was unemployed at the time of her death.
• She never served in the armed forces.
• Hazel was buried on 23 May 1957 at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Newark, New Jersey.
• On the document I received, the cause of death was redacted as per N.J.A.C. 8:2A-2.1. There was no autopsy.

Conflicting information

There is some information on the document that disagrees with other documents that I have. Hazel's birth certificate records 16 January 1909 as her birth date, making her 48 when she died. The death certificate claims that she was born on 19 February 1910.

The birth record was certainly made closer to the time of Hazel's birth, so one would expect it to have more accuracy. However, it was filled out by Therese M. Leyerer, Midwife. As we've seen in other birth documents, she wasn't always entirely accurate.

The informant on the death certificate was Mrs. Clara Greaves, who was in fact Clara Viola (Dixon O'Hare) Greaves, Hazel's older sister.(2) Clara was seventeen years older than her sister. It's possible that her memory was faulty, or that she was distraught at her younger sister's death.

I'm not going to worry too much about the conflicting birth dates right now. I will review the census documents to see if there's is any data there that leans one way or the other. Hopefully I will find a marriage record for Clara that will clear things up a bit.

Information still needed

• Marriage record
• Date of her husband's death
• City directory data 
• Marriage record for Clara (Dixon) O'Hare to Mr. Greaves

Citations

(1) Hazel Sullivan, death certificate 27268 (21 May 1957), State Department of Health of New Jersey, Office of Vital Statistics and Registry, Trenton, New Jersey.

(2) Facebook correspondence with cousins who descend from another Dixon sibling confirm that Clara "Toots" Dixon did marry twice. Once to Jack O'Hare, and then to a man with the surname Greaves.

Frank Klein : 1884 - 1889

Frank Klein, the son of John George Klein and Rachel Hawley Klein, died on 5 July 1889 at the age of 5 years and 10 days. He was born, and lived in, Elizabeth, NJ for all of his short life. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Hillside, NJ.

I won't transcribe Frank's death certificate here. It confirms the name and country of birth for both of his parents. John Klein, Germany. Reichel Klein, US. The place of death was No. 224 Geneva [St. or Ave.?], Elizabeth, NJ. The attending physician was W.H. Miller, M.D., 142 First St. He gives the cause of death as Bright's Disease and Dropsy. The undertaker was M. Durning of Elizabeth, place of burial Evergreen Cemetery.

Although I have not yet acquired Frank's birth record, he does appear in the 1885 New Jersey State Census in the household of John and Rachel Klein as a male child between the ages of 0 to 4 years. Siblings in  the home at that time included Kate, Ida, William, Clara, Effey, and Gertie. His oldest sister, Mary Elizabeth, had married William A. Dixon in 1883, and was no longer in the household.

The 1900 US Census record for John and Rachel Klein shows that Rachel was the mother of 13 children, with 7 children surviving. I have not yet confirmed those numbers.



Sources

Frank Klein, death certificate (5 July 1889), Union County, City of Elizabeth, New Jersey State Archives, Trenton, New Jersey. 

"New Jersey State Census, 1885," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6B6P-KW2 : accessed 16 April 2016), Frank Klein in household of John Klein, Elizabeth, Ward 01, Union, New Jersey; citing p. 175, Department of State, Trenton; FHL microfilm 888,640. 

1900 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004), Ancestry.com, Year: 1900; Census Place: Elizabeth Ward 2, Union, New Jersey; Roll: 995; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 0096; FHL microfilm: 1240995. Record for John Klein.