Julia Carnrike Is Definitely My Great-Great Grandmother

 I do not know why it took me so long to write this article. When I found out the news, I was so excited. There were a couple of people who helped me find this information. Also, I was given the name of a woman who was going to the very place to find records for people doing genealogy in N.J.

  The story goes like this; I have a great grandmother named Capitola Grinlinton, who, according to most of our records that I have, was born in New York. The only other information on Capitola was her father's name was Robert Grinlinton. Never could I find Capitola in any census records as a child. However, I did find her as a married adult. 

  On her death certificate, it stated she was born in Ill. I have no idea why this was listed there, but I kept it in the back of my mind. 

  There was a Grinlinton family that was listed in a few census records. Robert Grinlinton and Julia Carnrike were married around Albany in 1853, I think. We followed this family around and found them in New Jersey, then in Brooklyn. But there was a strange twist in this story. There were newspaper articles telling about a Robert Grinlinton who murdered another man. There were enough articles out there that gave information on what happened. I saved some of them to my computer. 

   The story goes like this; Robert and his friend stopped off at what would be the equivalent of a bar. Witnesses told what they heard about this case. Someone heard Robert saying that he would not be able to stay long as one of his children was scalded by hot water. (If I heard my child was scalded by hot water, I wouldn't have stopped off anywhere!). There were three guys, Robert, a friend, and someone new to the group. Witnesses said that the men seemed to be getting along well. Robert offered the new man a job in the boiler room, someone said. Well, a little while later, the three men got drunk. The new guy beat up Robert's friend. Apparently, the new guy was going after Robert, but Robert had a knife and stabbed the men in the chest. Robert was arrested and went to jail.

  The question I had all along was, is this the Robert Grinlinton who was my great great grandfather? This family ended up on Mulberry street in the slums of New York. Someone pointed out that there was a prison in that area at that time. (BTW, the final charge ended up being manslaughter in the third degree).

  I continued to follow this family, where they lived and when they moved, etc. They stayed in Mulberry Bend until the late 1880s. Robert must have died and Julia moved in with the daughter who lived in New Jersey, then moved to live with her son, also named Robert, who relocated to New Jersey as well.

  What I found fascinating was that the area where both the son and daughter lived in New Jersey, was very close to the place where my grandfather was christened. The name of that church was Bethel Presbyterian Church located in East Orange, New Jersey.

  But, the mystery still remained. I did a good job with the help of many researchers in finding and tracing this family. But was this the actual family Capitola came from? Why did her death certificate say she was from Illinois? 

  The whole key to this question would be answered if I could only find the name of Capitola Grinlinton's mother. There were a few Robert Grinlintons out there. But which one was my great-great grandfather? If there were only some way I could find Capitola's mom's name. Was it Julia Carnrike? If so, we have our family.

  So, the woman doing New Jersey research found the marriage certificate I desperately needed. Capitola Grinlinton was marrying George William Guth, and I believe the year was 1889. 

  I opened my email box one afternoon and found a reply from the woman doing research for me. I thought it was rather quick to get the answer to my question, but I opened up the email and there was the information on the marriage certificate. I looked through it slowly and gingerly. And I found what I was looking for. There it was, the name of Capitola Grinlinton's mom. It was listed as Julia Conright, which I know is just a variation of the spelling of that name. People wrote down words as they sounded.

   So yes, that meant that my great great grandfather murdered someone while drunk. No one in my family ever told me about that. I doubt if my dad knew about it. It was a well kept family secret, I guess. 

  Concerning my great grandmother living in Illinois; we figured out that she probably went on an orphan train to Illinois. What would happen in those days is that if a family couldn't afford to take care of their children, they would send them on an orphan train, and there were families who would take the children in, and sometimes adopt them. The children learned to work on farms, many times. Some children had bad experiences though with the families they were placed with. 

   On the census record with the name that looks very similar to my great grandmother's there were questions where the answers were filled in. It said she was born in New York. But it said that her parents came from France. This is interesting because her parents were both from New York, but, her future in laws came from Alsace-Lorraine, which was, at that time, part of France. So that begs the question, did she know her future in laws as a child? Maybe they sponsored her, and as she got to know the family, she became acquainted with her future husband, George William Guth? Only God knows the answer. Well, they knew the answer, but since they are not here with us today, it will remain a mystery. 

My Ancestor Went On An Orphan Train?

Two blog articles within 24 hours! It probably won't happen again, at least for a while.

More insight into this mystery. I have had the help of experienced genealogists working with me today, and here is what I have found:

(Remember, this is still theoretical).

It looks like Capitola Grinlinton Guth may have gone on an orphan Train sometime after her birth but before she was 14. There is no logical reason that a person would start out in New York, and end up living with another family that doesn't even appear to be related, in a state far away. So, a couple of people have suggested that I look into the Orphan Train History.

Lots of children were sent on Orphan Trains during this time period. Life must have been very hard for families who lived in this time period. When we read about the History in America during the 1800s, we don't hear about Orphan Trains and the difficult life people had to live through each day.

Someone else also has access to the records in Essex County, NJ., and has found that according to a record, George William Guth had been married once prior to his marriage to Capitola. This is also a surprise to me. I will look into this tomorrow when I have some time.

If Capitola did indeed go on an Orphan Train, this explains a lot. It helps explain why we can't find her in any census records of New York or New Jersey until she gets married. It explains why, on her death certificate, it says she was born in Illinois. It helps us to understand that if she is truly the child of Robert Grinlinton and Julia Carnrike, then why her name never appears in the census records of this family, when they were taken.

Possible Guth-Grinlinton-Carnrike- and Now....Maybe, Just Maybe Clark Connection

I am looking for the connection between the family of George Clark and the family of Julia Carnrike Grinlinton, if there is one.

You might be asking, how does this tie in with the Guth family?

We have a lot of speculation, but there could be actual ties among all of these families.

The mystery starts with my great grandmother, Georgianna Capitola Grinlinton (whom I have never met) who was married to George William Guth in 1888, in Essex County, NJ.

You see, I have no idea, or documentation, at least, of who Capitola's mother was. We know her father was Robert Grinlinton, who was said to have been born in NY somewhere, although one census record indicated he was 'Scotch'.

There is some indication that this Robert Grinlinton may have married Julia Carnrike, in Troy, NY. This couple may have lived in NYC in 1867, when Capitola was born.

Robert and Julia Grinlinton ended up in Essex County sometime after that. They had a daughter named 'Emma', born around 1854, and for some unknown reason to me, while the family still lived in NY, Emma lived with a Richardson family in NJ.

The woman in the Richardson family, was actually the sister of Robert Grinlinton. Her name was Margaret. So, the plot thickens and more questions arise.

Whenever this Grinlinton family is listed, Capitola's name never appears. Yet, so many things fall in place that it seems like she would be part of this family.

As you may remember, on Capitola's death certificate, it states she was born in Illinois. I have no recollection of any of my relatives ever living in Illinois. But someone found something of interest relating to this possible data.

As I was posting in a Facebook group about this mystery, someone sent in a comment which had a link to a census in Illinois for the year 1880. A Cap Grinlinda was found in Illinois living with a family headed up by a David Quint. David Quint was widowed, and other members of his house hold were his daughter, Olive Quint Clark, who was also widowed, and her children. Everyone listed was born in Maine, except there was an interesting clue. Olive Clark's husband was born in New York. After doing some research, I found a little information on him. He was born in NY around 1843, and his name was George Clark. No information was given on where in NY he was born.

So, as the mystery continues, the next question to dig into is, Is George Clark in some way related to Julia Carnrike or Robert Grinlinton, and if so, what is the connection? Were Robert Grinlinton and Julia Carnrike too poor to take care of their children, and perhaps sent them to relatives to live with so they could survive?

Also, one more thought just came to mind. There are a lot of Robert Grinlintons who were involved in the military. Perhaps this is why it is hard to pinpoint the true Robert Grinlinton who was my ancestor and the father in law of George William Guth, my great grandfather. Maybe he was missing in census records during the Civil War? Maybe that is why Julia Carnrike Grinlinton did not bear any children during the early to mid 1860s?

So, the search is on to find out if there is a connection between this Grinlinton family and the George Clark family.

Possible Connection

I haven't been able to do much with genealogy lately because we were in the process (and I mean process) of moving. Now we are starting to settle in and get used to things, although I am still having a hard time finding things.

Last year, I sent off for my DNA test and got it back. What was interesting was that I have a person working with me ( a distant cousin on my Guth side) who helped explain to me how the DNA testing works. She found that, although we could never identify the grandmother of George Robert Guth, the DNA led to matches with a group of people from Lake Pleasant, New York, who had the last name of 'Carnrike'. Well, there is a Julia Carnrike who married a Robert Grinlinton. In case you are lost in who these people are and how they are related to the Guths, here it is:

George Robert Guth, born 1890 in NY, son of George William Guth and Capitola Grinlinton. We do know that Capitola Grinlinton's father was Robert Grinlinton, but nowhere are we given any information on who the mother was.

There was a Robert Grinlinton who seemed to be in trouble legally because of his violence, who lived in NYC. However, he was arrested just a couple of years before Capitola was born and was guilty of killing a man. As I study this one, it just doesn't seem likely that he would have been Capitola's father.

Capitola was born in New York, somewhere, we aren't told where though. Her death record says that she was born in Illinois. That must have been some kind of error, but I will keep it in the back of my mind.

Even though Grinlinton is a rare last name, there are several Robert Grinlintons who lived in or around New York during the 1800s. There was one who was married to Julia Carnrike, and their children are listed here and there, but no Capitola. (Capitola's first name was Georgianna). There is a little information listed about the children in this family. There was a daughter named Emma. Perhaps Emma was one who worked at the hat factory. There were a few sons, and it looks like when one passed away, Julia moved to Essex County. Perhaps Julia and Capitola were estranged from each other. Whatever the case may have been, this looks like the possibility of the genuine mother of Capitola.

More to come as I find more info.

Is Capitola Grinlinton Guth Really Italian?

The mysteries of my ancestors is getting more exciting and intense as I learn new information. I just received the results of my DNA test from Ancestry.com, and most of those results I could confirm already. There were a few that were interesting, like I am 98% European, and 2% Asian. I never imagined that and would have thought of myself as 100% European.

But it did not answer entirely the question of whether Capitola Grinlinton Guth was Italian or not. There are a few reasons why I think Capitola was Italian, but, that is not proof. First of all, it would seem like Capitola is an Italian name, or at least that is what it sounds like to me. Second, Grinlinton is not a common name and the ones I found in New York married into Italian families. Many of them ended up living in the Bronx. Third, my dad had black hair, as did his father, who was Capitola's son.

The DNA tests did show that there is probably Italian blood in me. But it could also be French blood as well, because the French in the area of Alsace-Lorraine, which is where Jean George Guth originally came from, was included in the area under Italy/Greece.

So, the theory is that Georgianna Capitola Grinlinton Guth may be Italian. Maybe or maybe not, at least not known to us yet.

I did a word search on Google using the name 'Capitola' and found something interesting. There was a book written during the time of Capitola's birth/childhood. The original was written a couple of years before she would have been born. The book is called, 'The Hidden Hand' and is a novel about a girl named Capitola Black. She was an orphan who lived on the streets of New York. Here is the url for this novel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hidden_Hand_novel

Perhaps there is a connection between the person in the book (Capitola Black) and Capitola Grinlinton Guth, or, more likely, maybe her mom named her Capitola because the book/story was out and it was a nice name to name a daughter.

So, the mystery remains for now concerning whether Capitola's mom was Italian or not. Who was she? Where was she born? Did she die giving birth? Was Capitola an orphan? Why does Capitola's death certificate state that she was born in Illinois? Maybe her biological parents died and she was sent to live with other relatives?

Lots and Lots of New Guth Ancestry Information - Updated

The last blog I wrote on my Guth ancestors was about 10 months ago. I will always try to have this information available for anyone who might be related to our family, or, if someone wants to see if they are related to us, they then can connect with us.

   About 4 months ago, through the internet, more specifically through Ancestry.com, I met a distant cousin. We compared notes and found that we were definitely related through the Guths. We have the same ancestor who came over here in 1854, with her son and a couple of daughters, one of which was the ancestor of my newly found distant cousin. On top of that, we found another distant cousin who is related through my ancestor, Jean George Guth, who is the father of my great grandfather, George William Guth (formerly Georg Wilhelm Guth). This newly found distant cousin is related to the daughter of Jean George Guth, who was Amelia Guth Wallace, George William's older sister.

   So, I will not overwhelm this post, but suffice it to say that I will put a little basic information that I have, and in future blogs, I will include more detailed information. It is easier to grasp information when it is given in small amounts.

Let's start with my dad, George Frederick Guth.

George Frederick Guth - mother, Margaret Markwith Guth. Father - George Robert Guth (b. 1890)
George Robert Guth - Mother, Capitola Grinlinton. Father - George William Guth (b. 1862 NYC)
George William Guth - Mother, Catherina Gitz. Father - J. George Guth (b. 1826, Gumbrechthoffen)
Gumbrechtshoffen is in Alsace-Lorraine. Alsace-Lorraine has been owned on and off by Germany and France. At this time, Germany owned Alsace-Lorraine.
J. George Guth - Mother, Elizabeth Schweitzer. Father - Diebold Guth (b. 1797? Uhrwiller?).

So there you have it in a nutshell. Other families who married into the Guth family were Merdingers, Wallace, Ringer.

We also found where J. George Guth and Catherina Gitz Guth are buried. We found them at Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery in New York. I have pictures of their grave stones, but they are covered with snow and plants right now.

Here is a pic of the house/apartment where the Guth family originally lived at 5 S. Center Street in Orange, N.J.

Here is a pic of the place where Merdinger's Market was. It was in the place where Epstein's is in this picture. You can see the back of the apartment or house that the Guth family lived in as it was right around the corner from this market.

Merdinger's Meat Market was where the yellow
building is in this picture. It is now a hardware store. It
is located on Main Street in Orange, N..J.

The brick building on the left is the same building as the top picture, but from another angle. You can see how close the place of living was to the place of work. Both George Guth and Jacob Merdinger worked at Merdinger's Market. Jacob Merdinger was married to J. George Guth's sister, Magdalena.

UPDATE: J. George Guth came over to America with his sisters and a future brother in law. Marguerite Schweitzer Guth did not come over on the ship with her son, Jean George. She had passed away along with her husband Diebold Guth, in Alsace-Lorraine. The future brother in law was not Jacob Merdinger, but, Michael Merdinger. J. George Guth's sisters were; Magdalena, Elizabeth, Catherine, and Margaret. They all immigrated to NYC, but a brother named Diebold was left behind.

Guth Research

  I hope that any of my followers would have figured out by now that yesterday's post was an April Fool's joke. Anyway, on a more serious note, I haven't given up researching my Guth ancestors. I just wish I had more leads and places to look for them.
  What I really would like to find, is where Georg Guth and Catherina Gitz Guth are buried. From the information I gathered on them, they came from Alsace-Lorraine in the 1850s and landed or settled in Manhattan, living on Willett. They appeared to have three children, Amelie, Maria Louise, and Georg Wilhelm, who later was called, George William. The original spelling of the last name was Gut. The 'h' was an addition sometime when they moved here.
   George William was christened, it looks like, right after he was born. They were part of "The First German Presbyterian Church of Rivington Street, in NYC. Around the 1890s, this family moved to Orange (or perhaps East Orange) NJ, and lived on Cone Street (which is probably Day Street today). After that, I have no idea where George and Catherina lived or died. I have no idea what happened to Amelie, except that she married a Wallace (I think William Wallace). Maria Louise became 'Aunt Mary' and lived on a farm in Califon, NJ. She married Herman Ringer (or Henry Ringer) who came from a German family. She and Herman/Henry are buried in a cemetery in West Orange, NJ., in the Ringer family plot, I believe. I can't think of the name of the cemetery, but it was off Eagle Rock Avenue, I believe. In fact, the pictures on this page were taken from that cemetery plot.
  George William and Mary joined a church in East Orange, NJ, when George was around 19 or so. He only stayed for a short while, and we find him back in NY, living in Brooklyn as a hat maker around the 1890s, when my grandfather, George Guth, was born. He live in a couple of different places in Brooklyn but finally made the move to NJ in the early 1900s, and settled in East Orange as well. He was married to Capitola Grinlinton, who supposedly is from NY. Her father was Robert Grinlinton, and the only information I have on him is that he was a mechanic, and he may have been involved in fighting and murdering a couple of people in NYC. After I read the newspaper articles on those events, I decided that he might not be the ancestor I am looking for! Nevertheless, I have no other information on him or his wife, except that he may have been Scotch.
   If anyone interested in this family has the time to research them, I would love to find where George Guth and Catherina Gitz Guth are buried, as well as Robert Grinlinton and his wife, whoever she may have been. I speculate that Capitola's mother's family may have been from the Bronx. The reason I think this could be is because some Grinlintons are found in the Bronx, and they married into Italian families. As you can tell, Capitola seems to be an Italian name, so, there must have been a reason for her being called that. Capitola's first name though, was Georgianna, I believe. She probably called herself 'Capitola' (possibly a middle name?) because of the fact that she married George Guth and didn't want to be called Georgianna if her husband was George. But there are others with the last name of Grinlinton in the Bronx, although they are dying off. Also though, my grandfather, George Guth (probably the 3rd?) was really into baseball, and for the NY teams. Seems like there was some kind of connection with the Bronx there too. I was in contact with a man who was from the Bronx, whose last name was Grinlinton, who was into baseball. I wrote back some questions, but never heard back from him. Possibly, he passed away. I will never know if he was related or not.
If you are interested in joining a Guth/Gutt/Good newsletter, here is the email:

GuthGuttGood@goldrush.com Did you know the meaning of the German word 'Gut' is good? It could mean good, in the sense of value, but it more probably has to do with occupation, like a dealer in goods, for example, a store clerk.  George and Margaret (Markwith) Guth's house on Walsh Street in Orange, NJ. In the 1960s there was gravel where the place for the driveways. The place where the car is parked was raised,  and covered with grass. One day, my grandmother went out to the back and found a full grown water melon in the grass!