Amanuensis Monday: Family matters in the estate of James and Mary Lou McCormick

SERIES NOTE: Amanuensis Monday is a genealogy blogging prompt used by many in the blogging community. The word, according to Google, means: "A literary or artistic assistant, in particular one who takes dictation or copies manuscripts."

My sister, her husband, and I are going through old family letters together. This is a wonderful sharing experience between our family. We hope anyone who is interested will benefit from our work and that there will be many more letters to come.

These letters are from a dialog about the settlement of the James Caldwell McCormick and Mary Louisa Haines McCormick farm in Burlington, New Jersey.

The letters were kept by my great grandfather Clifford Caldwell McCormick Senior, and include communication with his brothers about the matter. They are a good example of the typical family ups and downs, including some anger about the settlement, likely due to a lack of open communication.

                                                         Columbus M.d
                                                         4-10-46.
Dear Cliff:
    Well I guess I am finally over the sale, but was I
tired. I have been half sick ever sinse. Mostly cold.
The sale amounted to $1837. gross. It was after 8 oclock
when we finished. It was so late that Jim, Tein(?) + I all
went up to Merle’s for supper and then we were so
tired that no one was hungry. I think every one should
have a sale every 2 years so that there wouldn’t be so much
junk accumulate. The next one I have, I think I will
have a fire instead.
    Settlement has not yet been made on the Farm.
The man buying it has to get his money from another
who getting a G.I. Loan. And “Uncle Sam” sure takes
his time.
    The old photographs and other things, including
Ches’ (?) arrow heads I have taken care for you.
    I have not been in the House for over a week
now.

            Be seeing you
                    Char.

Letter includes:

From: Charlton Pearce McCormick Senior

To: Clifford Caldwell McCormick Senior 

Mentions: Jim (probably son James Caldwell McCormick)

(click to see relationships, photos etc. in FamilySearch Family Tree)

[another letter below] 

P.S.                                          208 Lore Ave.
He owes me                            Hillcrest.
$125.00 and I                          Wilmington 253.
have the cancelled                   Deleware.
checks.                                     Nov. 25, 1946

Dear Cliff:
    I agree with you. We should send a note
to Char requesting him to reimburse us for
the money we advanced towards mother’s
hospital expenses, and have been on the
verge of doing so a number of times.
    Month’s ago, I wrote myself some thoughts on
the whole matter and have been carrying them
around with me ever since. They are somewhat
as follows:
    The three of us were supposed to be paying
an equal share towards the hospital expense.
Whether they were equal doesn’t matter. The
fact is he wasn’t repaid for what he paid in
and we were not.
    That I should like to see a photographic
copy of both the wills so I could see the
signatures of mother and witnesses.  We would
also learn something about the erasure that
is mentioned on the typewritten copy of the
second will.
    That the will was rewritten after the sale
of the household goods and farm implements
to cover his actions and pre-empt any
attempt on our part to ask for an accounting.
[page break]
2
 Which was some small phraseology
inserted by his lawyer.
    That I think Char, as executor, should be
asked to produce the Elgin watch. Maybe the
hospital thought it wise to keep it in case
there was an unpaid balance. Who knows?
    About the will again – I think if we are
not permitted to see the originals (or photostats)
of the two wills, we could assume that there are
none and apply for letters of administration, but
I’m afraid its much too late for this action.  
    Denbo, the shyster, if he so desired, could
easily make us copies of “a will” without
there really being a signed original.
    You know mother was in no condition
to comprehend what was in the will (the 2d)
if she did read it and sign it. If she
questioned any part of it, Char would have
advised her that it had to be that way and
she would have trustingly believed him.
    Char always claimed he assumed fathers debts.
As far as I know we were never informed how
much these debts were. But we could have been
let in on the secret. Although I for one would
not have offered to help pay them, for as I see it,
they were incurred for him and perhaps in part
by him, as he was the one using the farm. At
one time Char said he was paying off the debts.
I think this was while working as guard.  Maybe
the debts were a couple of hundred maybe several
[page break]
3
thousand. But I would say that not
much of it was paid off by the toil of his
hands, as you know there was a tractor,
trucks, autos, and many, many farm imple-
ments that were not offered at the sale as
they were disposed of long before.
    At any rate he’ll end up far better off than
I am. By the way the farm settlement must
have been made by now. Do you know?
    I just had a new heater installed the
middle of October. It is a gas-fired boiler
and does a good job. Hope the fuel bills wont
be too high when the cold weather comes.
Cost me $515.00 installed. Had to cash a lot
of bonds to pay for it, but the cleanliness and
convenience are wonderful.
    Back to the other again. It all adds up to
this:   I have not enough bonds or bank
balance to take any kind of legal action.
Which would also mean many trips to Burlington
and Mt. Holly and time off from work and it
might take a long, long time.
    But I am still mad and shall not visit
them in Columbus nor invite them here.
If they come while I am at home, they’ll have
to settle up before they’re admitted. I’ll not even
send them a Christmas greeting. But I’ll tell you, I hope,
he has a merry Christmas with “that woman” I know
I couldn’t have. See how mad I am?
        Yours Ches
                (over)
[page break]

Maybe this is a P.S.
Understand I’d like to do something too.
But I don’t believe we can recover
enough from the estate to pay us to
take legal action.
    As to the money we advanced,
maybe we can recover that, which would
be a help. Of course he isn’t entitled to it.
We paid for his divorce, so to speak.
Yes I was 52 on the 23d. Spent
most of the day cleaning and painting
the car.
Got a letter from Aunt Annie. She is in
Philadelphia for the winter. She wrote that
Jimmir Nieb(?) has closed his roadside stand
for the winter and that he and Char are
going into cement block business. Its not
clear to us whether its Char Sr. or Jr.
            Ches.

Letter includes:

From: Cheston Ridgway McCormick Senior

To: brother Clifford Caldwell McCormick Senior 

Mentions: brother Charlton Pearce McCormick Senior

Aunt Annie, there is an Aunt named Anna on both the McCormick and Haines side.
(click to see relationships, photos etc. in FamilySearch Family Tree)

Amanuensis Monday: Let us be cheerful In times like these

NOTE: Amanuensis Monday is a genealogy blogging prompt used by many in the blogging community. The word, according to Google, means: "A literary or artistic assistant, in particular one who takes dictation or copies manuscripts."

My sister, her husband, and I are going through old family letters together. This is a wonderful sharing experience between our family. We hope anyone who is interested will benefit from our work and that there will be many more letters to come.

                           Dec. 25, 1941

Dear Caldwell:

            We are living in very un-

certain times.  Times when we

know not from one day to

another whether we will

ever have an opportunity

of seeing each other again

after separating in the

morning for our regular

tasks. 

            Let us be cheerful

            In times like these it

behooves us all to make in the

memories of each other pleasant

and lasting

^impressions of friendly spirit—

impressions of

^paternal, maternal, and

filial endearments that

will carry us through any

[page break]

                        2

possible separations, long

or short, so long as we

all or any of us shall

       --finitely or eternally

live.^  Let us not allow our-

selves to lend our minds

                     words of

and voices to^ petty bicker-

ings or vituperations.  Let

us remember that the smallest

unit of our society—the

family—must be retained

intact (as nearly as possibly)

and on terms of good will,

good

^feeling, and good spirits,

if our cities, our states, our

nations to retain within

them the necessary cohesive-

                        Christlikeness

ness to endure.^ Remember

the old adage “A chain is

[page break]

                        3

no stronger than its weakest

link.”  If each individual

in our family respects

                                thinks of(?)

each other individual^ and

actively engages to deserve

that respect from the

others, we, as a family,

will succeed and en-

dure in the way that

we should.

            I pledge my self to

the above and ask

your cooperation.

            May the gift accom-

panying this missive

ever serve to remind

[page break]

                        4

you that your father

seeks not to criticise

your every action by

what he means as

^friendly interest in

your affairs; that he

would not take away

from you that inde-

pendence which every

young man should

have; but that he

expects you to use your

independence as freedom,

not as license.   ¶ Liberty

is such action as uses

one’s rights only so far

as they do not infringe

[page break]

                        5

upon the rights of

                     well

others.  It has^ been

said that “One

man’s rights stop where

                rights

another’s ^ begin.”

            Whatever happens,

wheresoever you may

be, may this watch

ever remind you that

your Dad wishes for

you only the BEST.

                        Love

                        Pop.

                        12-25-41

Select individuals included in this letter:  

Clifford Caldwell McCormick Junior "Caldwell" (his page in FamilySearch Family Tree)
Clifford Caldwell McCormick Senior "Pop" (his page in FamilySearch Family Tree)

Amanuensis Monday: Elers / Ehlers Civil Birth in Ober-Sickte

Thanks to the members of the "Germany/Prussia Genealogy Research" FamilySearch Community on Facebook for their generous help in providing this transcription.

Who is this record about?
My 4x great grandmother, Henrietta Ehlers, came to Baltimore, Maryland with her husband (Frederick Bewig) and 7 children. After years of researching Baltimore records, and the help of a friend, we found her place of origin as Obersickte, Braunschweig, Germany. This past week, with the help of FamilySearch's microfilm collection we now have the names of her parents.

Zivilstandsregister, 1808-1811

author:	Sickte (Obersickte, Braunschweig). Bürgermeisterei

Transcription:
Am vierundzwanzigsten September 
Morgens acht Uhr im Jahre Eintau-
sendachthundertundzehn zeigte mir 
dem Superintendenten, Prediger und Civil-
Beamten der Gemeinde Sickte im Canton
[page break] 
Cremlingen des Oker? Departements Johann 
Friedrich Conrad Gille, der Schuster und 
Brinksitzer v. Obere Sickte Johann 
Heinrich Elers, fünfunddreissig Jahr 
alt, ein Kind weiblichen Geschlechtes an, 
welches am zweiundzwanzigsten diesen 
Monats Morgens zwischen acht und neun
Uhr geboren war. Er erklärte, daß 
er Dasselbe mit seiner Ehefrau Johan-
ne Elisabeth geborene Rüscher, fünf-
undzwanzig Jahr alt, erzeugt habe 
und ihm die Namen Anne Dorothee 
Henriette geben wolle. Diese Erklä-
rung und Vorzeigung geschah in Gegen-
wart des Ackermanns und Meiers 
aus Obere Sickte Johann Heinrich 
Pape, neununddreißig Jahr alt 
und der Kothsasse in Niedern Sickt 
Johann Heinrich Borneike, 
dreiunddreißig Jahr alt. Ich nahm 
hierüber diese Urkunde auf, die 
ich vorlas, unterschrieb und von den 
Zeugen unterschreiben ließ. (signatures)
Johann Friedrich Conrad Gille
Johann Heinrich Pape
Johann Heinrich Borneike

Direct translation:
On September twenty-fourth 
eight o'clock in the morning one thou-
sand-eight-hundred-and-ten showed me,
Superintendent, preacher and civil
Officials of the municipality Sickte in Canton
[page break]  
Cremlingen the Oker? Department Johann
Friedrich Conrad Gillespie, the shoemaker and
Brinksitzer from Upper Sickte Johann
Heinrich Elers, thirty-five years
old, a child of female sex,
which on this twenty-second
Month, morning between eight and nine
o'clock was born. He explained that
The same, he and his wife Johan-
ne Elisabeth born Rüscher, twenty-
five years old have produced,
and his name Anne Dorothee
Henriette would give. These declara-
tion and presentation happened in counter-
presence of the farmer and Meier
from Upper Sickte Johann Heinrich
Pape, thirty nine year old
and Kothsasse in Niedern Sickt
Johann Heinrich Born Eike,
thirty-three years old. I took
here on this document, which
I read, signed, and the
Witnesses had to sign.
 
Readability translation:
At the twenty-fourth of September of the year One-thousand-eight-hundred-and-ten in the morning at eight o´clock reported to me, the superintendent, priest and civil-servant of the community Sickte in the county of Cremlingen of the Oker? of the Departement Johann Friedrich Conrad Gille, the shoemaker and farmer (brinksitter) of Obersickte Johann Heinrich Elers, thirty-five years old, and reported the birth of a child of female sex, which was born the twenty-second of this month, in the morning between 8 and 9 o'clock. He declared, that he fathered this child with his wife Johanne Elisabeth nee Rüscher (Ruescher), twenty-five years old, and that he wants to give the child the names Anne Dorothee Henriette. This declaration and explanation happened in presence of the farmer from Obersickte Johann Heinrich Pape, thirty-nine years old and the farmer (cottager) in Niedersickte Johann Heinrich Borneike(?), thirty-three years old. I wrote this certificate which I read, signed and let sign by the witnesses.
Johann Friedrich Conrad Gille
Johann Heinrich Pape
Johann Heinrich Borneike 

Extract:
person born: Anne Dorothee Henriette
birth date: 22 September 1810
father: Johann Heinrich Elers
age: 35
residence: Obersickte
occupation: shoemaker and farmer (brinksitter)
mother: Johanne Elisabeth Rüscher
age: 25

Notes:  
The word "Brinksitter" is difficult to translate. It is somebody sitting on the Brink. But what is the Brink. The Brink is the border of a field or the protective wall of the village or the land outside the protective wall or unused land somewhere. Of course, these people are not really sitting on that wall… Especially craftsman were Blinksitter. Their main job was, what they do as craftsman and additionally they had a small land where they do work as a farmer. - Jürgen Niebecker

Read about Germany Civil Registration on the FamilySearch Wiki.