Posts Tagged "White Plains New York"
Love Letters, Chapter 4
New here? Start from the beginning…
An introduction to Dr. John Van Duyn
I’m hunkered down at my parents’ house this weekend, waiting out a big Minnesota snowstorm. I’d driven in yesterday, with plans to make 25 pounds of Swedish meatballs today with my mom. The meatball extravaganza will start later this morning; then it’s anyone’s guess whether I’ll be able to make the two hour drive home again. Guess we’ll cross that snowdrift when we come to it.
A word to all the Minnesota Christmas tree farmers and retailers out there… we feel your pain! For those of you who don’t know me, my family has been growing and selling Christmas trees my entire life. In Minnesota, this is the third weekend in a row we’ve had a Friday-Saturday snow storm, and when you only have those three weekends each year to make a living… well, you see the dilemma. Make a tree farmer happy and go buy a real tree on Monday.
Now… a brief recap of my Love Letters story.
Last month, I purchased a lot of two love letters on ebay, postmarked 1949 from White Plains, New York. They were written by a woman named Ruth Ives, and addressed to a Dr. John Van Duyn who was living/practicing in Duluth, Minnesota. Being an avid genealogist myself, my hope was to find Ruth Ives, or her family, and return the letters. I’m still working on that.
In the meantime, I wanted to know more about Dr. John Van Duyn, and whether his family was still living in Duluth. I had previously done a quick search for John Van Duyn on Ancestry.com, using 1920 as an approximate birth date, and Minnesota as a birth location. I found some Van Duyns living in South Dakota, Indiana, and Ohio, but nothing looked promising. I restricted my search to U.S. census data only, and noticed there were no Van Duyns living in Duluth on the 1910, 1920, or 1930 census. That told me he’d probably been born somewhere else and moved to Duluth sometime after 1930.
** SIDEBAR **
You may be wondering why I didn’t bother checking the 1940 census, since these letters were postmarked in 1949. To protect the privacy of living U.S. residents, there is a 72 year privacy mandate on all U.S. census data, so it’s not yet possible to check the 1940 U.S. Census for John Van Duyn. Of course, if you’re a genealogist, the date April 2, 2012 is especially significant to you. That’s when the 1940 census is officially released to the public. (Hoo ahh.) I’m assuming Ancestry.com will be experiencing some serious server crashes on that day.
** END SIDEBAR **
However, now that I knew more about Ruth Ives, I was able to narrow down my search for John Van Duyn a bit more. First, I knew she’d been born in 1917, so instead of using a birth date of 1920, I tried 1915, plus or minus 5 years.
I scrolled past several records for Van Duyns living in South Dakota, Indiana, and Ohio, and then I recognized something… an odd word I’d seen somewhere before… “Onondaga.” It was the name of a county in Syracuse, New York. I clicked on the record, and it took me to a page from the 1920 U.S. Census, showing the Edward and Lucy Van Duyn family, with children Mary, age 16, John, age 14, and Constance, age 9. They also had a 51 year old servant living with them, and a 37 year old boarder named Alice David. Sounded like the Van Duyns were pretty well-off in 1920.
I went back to my original search results, and noticed something else that jumped out at me… a John Van Duyn from Syracuse, New York listed on the U.S. School Yearbooks Index. I clicked on the record, and there was that word again… Onondagan… I knew I’d seen it somewhere before. That’s the name of Syracuse University’s yearbook, the one where I’d found a photo of Ruth Ives from 1947.
This record took me to a page from the 1932 Onondagan Yearbook, showing the current members of Nu Sigma Nu, a medical fraternity. Though he wasn’t included in the photo, John Van Duyn was listed, along with his father, Edward Van Duyn, as “Members in Faculty” of Syracuse University. So, there you have it. Our Dr. John Van Duyn was a member of the faculty at Syracuse University… the same school where Ruth Ives (the author of the love letters) was also a faculty member.
I went back to my search results once more and found a 20 year old John Van Duyn listed in the 1929 volume of the Bric A Brac Yearbook from Princeton University. I knew it was the right John Van Duyn since his address matched that of the 1920 U.S. Census – 607 James Street, Syracuse, New York.
I still hadn’t found a photo yet, but I was building a timeline. John Van Duyn was born sometime around 1909. In 1929, he was attending Princeton University for his undergraduate work, and by 1932, he was a member of the medical faculty at Syracuse University.
I scrolled down a bit farther in my list of search results and found two more records for John Van Duyn. The first one was on the New York Passenger Lists. On June 13, 1922, John Van Duyn, age 16, arrived in New York City from Cherbourg, France. His birth date was listed as July 24, 1905, address 607 James Street in Syracuse. Interestingly, he was traveling with another John Van Duyn, presumably his grandfather, who shared the same birthday as young John Van Duyn, July 24, 1843. He was 78 years old, living at the same address as young John, and born in Kingston, New Jersey.
The next record was a listing of Georgia Deaths from 1919-1998. John Van Duyn, age 80 years, died on January 10, 1986 in Muscogee County.
So, I now knew that both the author and the recipient of my love letters had passed away. In order to return the letters, I’d need to re-focus my search on living family members.
Well… it’s time to make the meatballs. I’d like to wish everyone who reads my blog a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season. I’ll try to blog again soon, though I’m hopelessly behind on “all things Christmas” this year. I’ll try to squeeze in a few lines in the next few days… in between shopping, baking, shipping… etc.
Next time… much more about Dr. Van Duyn (and I don’t just mean John!), and my progress on trying to track down Ruth Ives’ family.
Read MoreLove Letters, Chapter 2
Who’s “Poul”?
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Both of the letters I’d purchased were signed “Love, Poul” and I was curious to know who “Poul” was. The return address on the envelope said “R. Ives,” so I figured “Poul” must be some kind of nickname. I’d never heard it before, so I ran the word through Google Translator, and when I clicked “detect language,” it gave me Danish for the origin of the word. Unfortunately, the English translation was also “poul,” so I still have no idea what it means. However, it may stand to reason that it would be a Danish/Dutch term of endearment, since the recipient’s last name is Van Duyn… a Dutch name. (Incidentally, “mon poulet” is a French term of endearment and means “my chicken.” Probably similar to that.)
I assumed the recipient of the letters, “Dr. John Van Duyn” of Duluth, Minnesota, would be easy to find on Ancestry.com. Not so. I found a few Van Duyns living elsewhere in the state, but none in Duluth. So, I put that name on back burner for a while and concentrated instead on “R. Ives” living in White Plains, New York.
I tried looking for “R. Ives,” gender female, with a keyword of “White Plains,” but no luck. Too many hits, and none with a first name starting with “R”. I tried restricting my search to just Census records, but still no luck… too many hits, and no “R” first names. Then, I tried taking a stab at her birth date. This letter was sent in 1949, so I assumed she was about 25, give or take 5 years. Still nothing. Finally, I went back to my original search and checked the box that said “Exact” next to my keyword phrase “White Plains.”
Bingo.
I found 12 year old “Ruth Coes” on the 1930 census living in White Plains, New York with her father Warren, mother Millicent, and younger brother Edward, age 4. They had misspelled the family’s name. In brackets under the search results, it said [Ruth Ives].
I still didn’t know for sure that this was my “R. Ives,” so I opened up the file to look at the original census document.
Bingo!
As luck would have it, in 1930, the Ives family was living at the same address as the return address on the letter (sent nineteen years later): 107 Ralph Avenue, White Plains, New York.
I’d found my Poul. But… now the next question… was she still alive?
I went back and edited my search again. First name: Ruth. Last name: Ives. Birth: 1918 (plus or minus one year). Birth Location: New York.
I found a record on the U.S. Public Records index for a Ruth L. Ives living at 107 Ralph Avenue in White Plains, New York. Birth date: October 1, 1917.
I ran my search one more time, this time with the middle initial “L,” and the exact birth year of 1917. I found a record for Ruth Ives on the Social Security Death Index, born October 1, 1917. Died August 1975 in Maine.
Rats.
I took a look at her birth date again, and wondered how close in age she was to Elena Duke Benedict. I checked back through my Villa Am Meer blog posts and discovered the craziest thing. Elena Duke Benedict (originally Elena Amaducci) was born September 11, 1917, also in White Plains, New York. They were born 20 days apart.
Now really, what are the chances of that?
They were probably schoolmates; maybe even friends. Now that I had a name, Ruth L. Ives, I’d be able to track down a lot more information, and potentially some living family members. And of course, there was still the mysterious “Dr. John Van Duyn” I would need to track down.
Color me giddy. My “happy mystery” is starting to get fun.
Read MoreLove Letters, Chapter 1
My darling…
New here? Start from the beginning…
In my quest to find a “happy mystery” (hopefully with a happy ending) I happened upon a set of love letters on ebay that I bid on and won. There are two letters, postmarked September 30, 1949 and October 4, 1949. (If you missed my previous post with pictures of the letters, view them here.)
I chose this particular set of letters (remarkably, there are many more for sale on ebay) because they’re from a woman in White Plains, New York, addressed to a doctor in Duluth, Minnesota. If you followed my Villa am Meer story, you’ll recall that Elena Duke Benedict, the owner of the Villa Am Meer property, was also born and raised in White Plains, New York, just like the author of these letters. And because I myself live in Minnesota… well, it just seemed like these were the letters I was meant to buy. Hopefully I can return them to their rightful owners.
To respect the author’s privacy, I am not including the full content of the letters. Suffice it to say, it seems the game of love was the same in 1949 as it is today. He loves me? He loves me not? I love him? I love him not? The author of the letters, “R. Ives,” questions John Van Duyn’s love for her, and seeks his reassurance. She views their relationship from every angle, analyzes past conversations, considers their future together, reads into every single word John Van Duyn says, and plots how she can change him into the perfect man. (Like I said, the dating game hasn’t changed much.) He, on the other hand, just wants to end the “word vomit” and tell her what she wants to hear. If only he could figure it out. Poor, simple soul.
We learn some clues to their personalities from these letters. The woman, “R. Ives,” was a tennis player and had just started working in the cosmetics department of Altman’s Department Store in White Plains. She was also a new Sunday School teacher at her church and trying to learn how to play bridge. It seems John Van Duyn was an avid bridge player and, in hopes of improving her game, had even given Ms. Ives his “Culbertson” (an instruction book written by world famous bridge player Ely Culbertson). His love of the game and her general lack of skill seemed to be a running joke between them.
By the second letter, it’s obvious that John Van Duyn had grown impatient with his girlfriend’s constant doubts and analysis. The couple appears to be on the brink of a break-up. Ms. Ives ends her letter by saying, “I think I’m beginning to accept you as you are, and I couldn’t love you more.”
So, who are these two people? Why was one living in White Plains, New York, and the other living in Duluth, Minnesota? Do they ever resolve their differences and get married?
Stay tuned to find out.
Read MoreMy new “happy mystery”
After the last few months of writing about the Jacob Wetterling abduction, I’m ready to move on to a new, happier subject. So, for the last few weeks, I’ve been on a quest to find a “happy mystery.” I really want to focus on something that at least has the possibility of having a happy ending. I wasn’t sure I could find such a thing, but I knew right where to start… ebay.
Those of you who know me know that I’m an avid genealogist. I’ve done extensive research digging up the backstories of my own German, Swedish, and Norwegian ancestors. For me, finding names and dates isn’t good enough. The real meat is found in the stories of the people themselves… their dreams, their struggles, their tragedies, and their passions. The best finds are primary sources like letters, journals, and… the Holy Grail of all genealogy quests… a family Bible.
Edling Family Bible
So, imagine my surprise when, a few years ago, I happened-upon a family Bible for sale on ebay. I can’t remember how I ran across it exactly… it must have shown up in a random Google search that I was doing at the time. However, after a little more searching, I learned there are a LOT of family Bibles for sale on ebay. I couldn’t believe it. How did these historic family relics end up on the auction block? Surely the family members would want them back, wouldn’t they?
I decided my new “happy mystery” would be to purchase one of these Bibles and return it to its rightful owner. That all sounded very valiant and fun until I was outbid on every item I tried to purchase. It turns out that being a do-good-Bible-returner is an expensive franchise.
So, on a whim, I decided to do another ebay search… this time for “love letters.” Again, much to my surprise, it turns out ebay is full of antique love letters for sale. How exciting! These would be even more fun to return to their rightful owners!
I took some quick glances at a few of the descriptions, and immediately saw the letters I wanted to buy. They were written by a woman from White Plains, New York and sent to a doctor in Duluth, Minnesota. (Remember White Plains, New York? That’s where Elena Duke Benedict was from.) I decided it was a sign… so I hit the “Buy It Now” button and shelled out $12.49 for both letters.
Here’s the description included on ebay:
LOT OF 2 LETTERS AND ENVELOPES [I PAGE AND 2 PAGE LETTERS]
SOME TEARS FROM BEING OPENED, A LITTLE WRINKLING, SOME YELLOWING AND POST OFFICE WRITING
POSTAL STAMP: WHITE PLAINS NEW YORK
SEPTEMBER 60, 1949
OCTOBER 4, 1949
FROM: R. IVES, WHITE PLAINS NEW YORK
TO: DR. JOHN VAN DUYN, DULUTH MINNESOTA
CONTENTS: A MAN AND WOMAN [NOT YET MARRIED] TRYING TO WORK OUT THEIR DIFFERENCES.
Of course, I was curious about all kinds of things. Did they ever end up getting married? How did they know each other? Why were they living so far apart? What differences were they trying to work out? Sounded like a good, happy mystery to me… or so I hope.
I’ve already done some preliminary research and am busy piecing together the story of these two people who were in love in 1949. Much more to come in my next few posts… stay tuned!
About Me
Join me in my sporadic ramblings as I embrace the curious life. Wife of a turkey farmer. Mother of two teenage boys. Avid ponderer. Treasure seeker. Curator of the written word. I enjoy sparking interest in the mundane and uncovering a compelling backstory.
