Elise Iber: Discovering Relationships

After discovering that Ricke most likely lacked any children of her own, rendering the repatriation of her photo to direct descendants an impossible task, I am excited to begin research on a new fresh face: Elise.

Although, of course, Elise isn't an entirely new face to this blog, as we discovered. 

So, I'd like to pause traditional genealogical research momentarily and investigate a more nuanced area of genealogy that people often overlook: non-familial relationships. 

This is a brand new area of research for me, but Ricke and Elise’s friendship (or, at the very least, acquaintanceship) seems to be a great place to start, and perhaps this could give us some insight into who these women were beyond the familial descriptors of ‘daughter’ ‘head’ ‘wife’ or ‘widowed’ listed on census data.

Let’s begin with the 1920 census in which we find Elise only 44 but widowed, living with her two children at 610 Magie Ave. See below.

I turn to Ricke’s 1920 census where she lives at 617 Elizabeth Ave with her father, brother, and brother's family.

Luckily, both of these addresses still exist today, and a quick Google search indicates that they are a 48 minute walk apart. Okay, Elizabeth New Jersey in the early 1900s was larger than I expected.

However, the two ladies move by the time the 1930 census is taken. Ricke now lives with her sister at 745 Murray Street, while Elise lives at 168 du Hart Place. I plug these addresses in on Google maps and am pleasantly surprised: only a 15 minute walk exists between the two. Going back even farther, in 1910, when Elise lived at 282 Marshall St, reveals the two women lived even closer: 12 minutes away.

I couldn't find any other similarities between the women that would explain their being in a photo together, other than the fact that they were both German nationals and, around the date of the photo in the 1920s, both were single. Nonetheless, it is interesting to trace intertwining lives of a century ago.

As for the Mr. Best written on the back of Elise's photograph, we also may never know his identity. Based on 1920 census records of Elizabeth, there were a handful of Mr. Bests living in the area. Mr. Best, whoever you are: you probably never realized the photo you took in 1923 would have survived this long! Anyway...let's back up a bit.

Census Research

I begin my research into Elise on FamilySearch. I know little about Elise, save for her name and a general time frame that she lived, so I search for an Elise Iber who lived between 1900 and 1930. I was met with United States census data that listed an Elise Iber living in Elizabeth, New Jersey. This definitely proves the theory that Elise was in the photo with Ricke. That is too much of a coincidence. So, I settle that this Elise, living in Elizabeth, is our Elise.

The earliest Census data I can see - 1900 -  says Elise was born in July 1874 in Germany, making her about the same age as Ricke. I was surprised to find this, because in Ricke’s photo I originally had taken Elise to be substantially older than Ricke: a small, thin woman with (in my opinion) better taste in fashion (perhaps this could be because Ricke was a dressmaker?) But now that I look at it closer, I can see how Ricke could have been much older than what I had originally taken her for.

Anyway, let's take a closer look at the censuses. 1900
Elise is listed as 'Lizzie' and lives with her husband Adam, who works as a machinist, and their three year old daughter 'Annie' at 282 Marshall St, Elizabeth, New Jersey.

1910 In 1910, Elise (listed as Eliza), Adam, daughter Annie (now listed as Anna), and a four year old son Arthur have moved to Garwood, New Jersey, where they live at 401 Center St. Adam works as a machine hand at a sewing machine company.

1915

Five years later, the Ibers have moved yet again! Now they're at 49 Walnut Street in Roselle Park, New Jersey. Adam continues to work as a machinist, while Elise is a housewife and the children are 'schoolers' in High School.

1920

Sometime between 1915 and 1920, Adam met an untimely death. In 1920, we find that Elise, now living at 610 Magie Ave in Elizabeth, is a widow.

Perhaps Adam was killed in the Great War: on September 12, 1918, he registered for the draft. On his draft registration, we discover some specifics about his occupation: he was a metal patternmaker at Singer Manufacturing Co., which in fact opened its first mass production factory in Elizabeth in 1863. We find that Adam also had an accident, most likely at work, where he lost part of his finger. Some digging into WWI records may reveal Adam's fate, but this blog, after all, is dedicated to Elise and Adam's offspring. So we'll leave Adam to rest for now.

Researching specifically for records related to Adam also revealed Adam and Elise's marriage certificate, and Elise's maiden name: Keim. They were married on June 18, 1896 in Elizabeth. Interestingly, Elise's occupation in the 1920 census is listed as "none", while daughter Anna works as a stenographer at a bank. I wonder how Elise sustained herself and two children on one salary. Also worth noting is that the photo of Elise is dated 1923, making Elise about 47 years old (she is listed as 44 in the 1920 census).


1930
We arrive at the 1930 census where Elise now lives at 168 du Hart Place, Elizabeth, New Jersey with Anna, who is 33 and working as a secretary at a banking office. Arthur has moved out of the house; to where? That is for the next blog post!

Note the changing place names: Germany is now specifically 'Hesse, Germany.' I am not sure if this has any political significance (if so, please let me know!) but other changing place names definitely do. Oftentimes you will witness 'Ireland' in a 1920 census change to 'Irish Free State' in a 1930 census - a nod to a long awaited Irish independence. 1940

The last available census to us lists Elise living at 325 Cherry Street in Elizabeth. I will spare you the picture, because it is quite blurry.


She is 64, not working, and lives alone. I notice quite a lot of single person households before and after her listing in this census, all living at 325 Cherry Street. A Google maps search reveals that it is an apartment building, which is actually something I have never come across before, surprisingly. Well, that's exciting.


Newspaper Clipping

Any genealogist will tell you exactly how exciting and what great sources of information newspapers can be. Not only can they provide you with obituaries (which oftentimes can confirm familial relationships when listing those the deceased are 'survived by') but also can give you a glimpse into every day life at a certain point in history. One of my pro-tips in genealogy research is to never underestimate the power of a simple Google search. I typed in 'Elise Iber Elizabeth New Jersey' and was immediately met by her obituary in the Bridgewater, New Jersey based newspaper, The Courier. On Saturday, February 17, 1951, The Courier reported Elise's death, and gave us a few more hints as to who her photo should belong to today. Not only did the obituary confirm that Elise indeed had two children, but it gave us the name of Anna's husband - Carl Goger - and two grandchildren! This is information that most likely would have been discovered through census-digging, but knowing Anna's husband's name saves a lot of time looking for marriage records on FamilySearch or Ancestry. With this information, now we can search directly for Anna and Carl Goger in censuses and other records, and also research the life of Elise's son, Arthur. Until next time!