Week 9: "At the Courthouse" #52Ancestors
This week’s prompt from Amy Johnson Crow (the guiding light for the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” project) had me a little stumped. Amy asked: “What neat discoveries have you made at the courthouse? Or, do you have an ancestor who spent a lot of time at the courthouse, either as an official or as someone who ran afoul of the law?”
As a recovering lawyer, I have spent more than my fair share of time at courthouses in my past life. Not super interested in going back to one ever again. Except I know that much genealogy research can only be done by going to the repository itself, especially courthouses. While a lot of material is online (more and more each day), not everything is. So, if I have to go to a courthouse to get that document I need, I will go despite my distaste.
From what I have learned of my family tree, no one ran too afoul of the law or was a courthouse official, except for my father-in-law. John Richard Baty was the first generation of lawyers in our family and our first judge. Since then, we have become thick with lawyers, including my husband, brother-in-law, and numerous Baty cousins. I am the first lawyer in the Glacy family and I am truly grateful for my legal training as it really helps me in my genealogy work.
I mentioned in a January blogpost that my family’s original name was “Glaeschen” and that they immigrated to the U.S. in 1845. The family settled originally in Reading, PA, presumably to be close to my 3rd great-grandfather who came to Reading about 4 years earlier. One thing to know about family migrations is that rarely did the family or person migrate alone and, if they did, they usually did so to prepare the way for others. That seems to have been the case with John Michael Rebholz (my 3rd great) who came to the US from Germany by himself and was ultimately joined by all but two of his ten children. Interestingly enough, his wife did not join him and she died less than 10 years after he immigrated.
Anyway, back to courthouses: I recently discovered that the Recorder of Deeds from Berks County, PA, has published online every document EVER RECORDED in their office since 1752. Wow, what a find! What fun! [Yes, I know, I need to get out more.]
For the hefty sum of $3.50 I was able to obtain a digital copy of an 1852 mortgage obtained by Joseph Glaschen for his home in Reading.[1] In July of 1852, Joseph signed a mortgage for a brick building sold to him by Christopher Shearer, a large Reading property owner. It appears that the sale price was $960, but the mortgage was for “only” $430. Could this mean that Joseph was able to put down $530 for this house, only six years after arriving from Germany? Hmmm. More mysteries for me to investigate.
The Reading Recorder of Deeds office does not have the actual deed conveying the property to Joseph, indicating that he likely never paid off the mortgage. Nevertheless, this mortgage describes the property as being on a “newly laid off street” between 9thand 10th, north of “Button.” Well, I’ll be darned if that isn’t the exact same description given for his residence in the city directory four years later. In the 1856 Reading City directory, Joseph GLACY, a mason, is living in the “alley” north of “Buttonwood” between 9thand 10thstreets. I had found that city directory at the Reading city library many years ago and am glad I did as it is NOT available online.
That “alley” is really Moss Street and from what I can tell, the brick house that Joseph lived in is no longer there as a recent search on Zillow.com shows most of the houses now standing on that block of Moss are 1920s vintage.
No picture of a smiling/not smiling ancestor this week. Sadly, I don’t have one of Joseph or his wife, Eva Elizabeth. Nevertheless, I’ve attached a copy of a page from the 1884 Atlas of the City of Reading showing Moss Street. Joseph had long since moved to New York City. Yet, I can’t help wondering if the lot noted as belonging to Shearer was where Joseph lived?
[1] Mortgage, Glaisgen to Shearer, 7 July 1852; City of Reading, Pennsylvania, Mortgage Book U:23; digital image, Berks County, Pennsylvania, Recorder of Deeds Office (http://www.co.berks.pa.us/dept/deeds: accessed 2 February 2019).
A.H. Mueller, Property and Insurance Atlas of the City of Reading, Berks County, Penna., From Official Records and Actual Surveys(Reading, Pa.: Forsey Breou & Co., 1884), a section of Plate 36; digital image, the Library of Congress (http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3824rm.gla00187: accessed 2 March 2019).