Anybody know anything about NYFD fire records?

I learned from a 1910 census that my husband's great uncle John Francis Reilly (Mar 21, 1880 New York)  was a fire fighter for the New York Fire Department so I wrote to Human Resources to see if they had any records on him.  Well I got a letter back and they sent a copy of his record card they had on file.  This is it.

I know the what the basic stuff means but their are some things on here I do not.  I don't know what the 4th, 3rd, 2nd grade etc means.  I also don't know under transfers if the E. stands for engine.  Anybody who runs across this and knows what it means please let me know. 

The lady from Human Resources also sent me a couple of other numbers of places to try to find information on John F. 

United Retired Firefighter's Association  (718) 761-2299
George Mand Library  (212) 360-4413
NYC  Fire Museum curator@nycfiremuseum.org    

Samuel Almasi death record 1858-1923

 

Samuel Almasi's death record came in today.  Samuel is Chris's great great grandpa.  I was surprised how fast this record came in.  I had just ordered it a couple of weeks ago. 

 

I was able to order this record all because of www.italiangen.org     This website has helped me out so much.  They have vital record indexes for all 5 boroughs of New York City and have the certificate numbers listed.  Then they give you the website to go and order the records online.   This record took just 3 weeks to come in but I do have to say that I have one that I ordered last month that still hasn't come in and 2 more ordered this month that aren't in yet.   Love italiangenweb!!

 

 

Jefferson Davis Sitler and Minnie Biehayn

    One thing I read over and over in genealogy books is about blogs and blogging your findings so that's what I'm gonna do.

     Since I started doing genealogy I have been mostly researching my husband's family.  Not a lot is known about his father's side so it's been the most exciting of the research I have done.  I had been trying to find any information about my husband's great great grandpa Jefferson Davis Sitler and was hitting brick wall after brick wall.  I finally after going through everything I could on Ancestry went over to another website I use and typed in his name.   Bingo!!! The first record that popped up was a birth record for a Emma Herietta Sitler born April 29, 1886 in Manhattan to parents Jefferson Davis Sitler and Minnie Maria Biehayn.  I knew from a 1900 census that Minnie had 3 children who died so I knew this had to be one of the children.  I then searched  for a death record and sure enough found Emma's death record.  She died the the next day on April 30, 1886.  How sad.

     I found another record for a Louis Harry Sitler born May 30, 1891 in Manhattan to Jefferson and Minnie.  What is interesting about this record is Louis's birth date.  It is the same birth date that I have for Chris's great grandpa Stephen R. Sitler!!   This would make Louis and Stephen twins but I haven't found any records for verify this. 

     Another thing these records gave me was Minnie's maiden name Biehayn which then led me to her and Jefferson's marriage record.  They were married in Manhattan on June 18, 1885. 

     I also was able to then pull up her marriage record to her second husband Alfred Hoppe in Manhattan on March 14, 1908.  This record was the best because it gave me her parents names. 

    Minnie Maria Biehayn's parents were Louis Biehayn and Helena Asschoff.  They were both born in Germany.  Louis in about 1820 and Helena in about 1833.  Louis was naturalized on Oct 20, 1856 in Connecticut.

    This led me to all of their childrens names and birth years. 

 Helena Justina Maria Biehayn born on Nov 20, 1857 in Connecticut
Minnie Maria Biehayn May 1863 Connecticut    Died  Aug 13, 1935  Bronx
Emma  1866 New York
Theodore  1869 New York  Died  Aug 26, 1903
Louis Jr.   1872  New York

This was a big day for me!!!  These ancestors of my husbands have been hard to find.

I found almost all of the records on www.familysearch.org,    www.italiangen.org 
These are 2 of my favorite sites to use besides of course ancestry.com  

Happy hunting!!

Hello blog I forgot about you!

     I almost forgot I even had this blog.  I haven't written a post since 2010.  A lot has happened since then.  Lauren started Pre-K and is 5 years old!!!   That is unbelievable!   I didn't post a lot when I was posting on here partly because I am a very private person and don't like telling anybody anything, but I have for the last 3 almost 4 months I have started doing genealogy and researching both mine and Chris's family trees.  One thing about genealogy is if you find something you should share it with everybody else who is researching their family tree.  So I'm gonna start using this blog to report on any records or brick walls I come across.  Hopefully the info I put on here will help someone else who is searching for that elusive family member.