Joseph Mohr of Brooklyn

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Childhood in Laubenheim

Joseph Mohr was born 04.09.1854 in Laubenheim. He was baptised the following day in the Catholic Church. Joseph was the son of Barbara Schembs (*1818) and Johannes M. Mohr II (*1815) and the last born of their six children.

Marriage to Helena Kiefer

Joseph and Helena Kiefer (*23.05.1849 Laubenheim, +29.12.1912 Brooklyn) were married on 27 February 1878 in Laubenheim. Helena was the daughter of Johannes and Magdalena Müller Kiefer. She was five years older than Joseph.

Emigration and Naturalization

At this time Joseph is the only child of Barbara and Johannes known to have emigrated. He arrived in New York aboard the SS Amsterdam on 22 November 1883. There were 225 passengers on the ship, about 25 of whom were under the age of 8 years. He was entered in the passenger list as a 29 year old butcher.

Nine years later Joseph became a naturalized citizen of the United States. The date was 19 October 1892 (fifty years to the day before I was born). It is interesting to look at the form. Presumably this was completed at the time of the naturalization. But there is no address, occupation, age or port or date of arrival entered. Not much information collected by the U.S. Government! On the other hand this must have been just a transcription and they did not bother to copy other information which must have been collected initially. But when the information was transcribed it did indicate that the location was Brooklyn (Kings County, New York).

Helena did not accompany Joseph on the SS Amsterdam but rather emigrated the following year, arriving in New York City on 19 May 1884. The record shown is for their six year old son Philipp (or "Filp" as spelled in the records). The ship "W.A. Scholten" (incorrectly given as the Wascholle in the transcription) arrived in New York from Rotterdam. The passenger list says the ship was carrying 578 passengers, two of whom died in transit. Helena emigrated with two of their children, Philipp and Katharina Margaretha.

Census Information

The next U.S. Census taken after the Mohrs immigrated into the United States was in 1890. But the records of almost all the states for 1890 were destroyed in a fire in Washington D.C. Fortunately New York City also conducted a periodic "Police Census". There was such a Police Census in 1892. The Mohrs lived in the 20th Election District of the 17th Ward in Brooklyn. The Census did not record specific street addresses. Living next to them was a Bernard Keifer (Kiefer), undoubtedly a sibling of Helena. Joseph was enumerated as a "laborer".

Residences from 1892 until 1940 Click the image to enlarge

In 1900 the Mohrs lived at 174 Norman Avenue in Brooklyn. They lived in a boarding house with seven other families. By 1910 Joseph and Helen had moved to 120 Norman Avenue, another boarding house. Living with them was a 30 year old single Hungarian male, Emil Bodenholz, as a lodger. Emil had just immigrated and was a cook in a restaurant. Joseph was 56 years old and continuing to work as a laborer. Their children had moved out.

The map to the left shows the various places that Joseph and Helena lived in Brooklyn. It also shows those in Queens for their son Philipp after 1910.

Deaths of Joseph and Helena

We have a death record for a "Helen Mohr". Given that this woman was born in about 1850 and died in 1912 in Brooklyn (after the 1910 Census and before the death of Joseph), this must be Helena Kiefer Mohr..

Joseph died on 21 May 1915 at the age of 61. His address was given as 1818 Norman Avenue in Brooklyn. On 24 May he was buried in the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Queens.

The End of the Joseph Mohr Family?

One of the items of information collected in the 1900 U.S. Census was the number of children a woman had borne and how many were still living. The numbers for Helen were eight children, four of whom were living in 1900. We are aware of six children as shown below, four of whom were enumerated in the 1900 Census. Assuming the eight total was correct, we know nothing of the other two births which would have been before 1900.

Of the six below, we know that two married (Philip and Elizabeth). We are unsure of Mary (*1887). Of the two, Elizabeth (*1889) had only one child who died before her first birthday. Philip had four children. Of Philip's children it is possible that Dorothy Mohr (*1910) married and, if so, might have had children. But there is no evidence of this presently. In otherwords, it is not clear that there are any descendants of Joseph and Emma living today.

Descendants of Joseph Mohr

Children: (6, but perhaps 8)

6.1.....Philipp Mohr (*11.06.1878 Laubenheim)

In 1900 Phillip was enumerated as a "metal polisher. He was 22 years old and single. Phillip married Emma Jane Harrison (*1875 New York). The year of Emma's birth comes from the birth record of their daughter Helen and is not necessarily correct. The 1930 Census indicates Phillip was 25 at the time of their marriage, in other words they were married in 1903. It further gives Emma's age as 26 at marriage. However, since their first daughter was born in June of 1900, a 1900 date for their marriage is probably correct.

The 1900 census was taken on 11 June. Their first daughter was born on 20 June. Hmmm. A 1900 date for their marriage is still reasonable.

In 1910 Philip and Emma were renting at 346 Bragaw Street in Queens. Bragaw Street in Bayside/Blissville has been renamed 39th Place. The Census says they had been married eleven years, or in 1899. Given that their first child was born in 1901, perhaps this is the correct information. Philip's vocation was a furniture varnisher. He had been out of work one week the prior year.

At the time Philip registered for the Draft for World War I in 1918, they were living at 114 Corona Avenue in the Corona District of Queens. He indicated he was a U.S. citizen due to his father's naturalization. It is from this document that we confirm both his date of birth and his wife's middle name.

Lurting Street today Click the image to enlarge

Two years later they were renting at #38 Lurting Street in Corona/Queens. Similarly Lurting Street was renamed to 46th Avenue. A few doors down at #32 Lurting was the Kiefer family -- Rudolph, age 31, his wife Mary and their son Adolph, age 5. It is likely that Rudolph and Philip were related, perhaps cousins. Their four children, ages 8 to 19, were living in the home.

In the New York State Census of 1925 the family was living on E. Hayes Street in Queens.

By 1930 Philip had bought a house for the family. The address was 6936 Laubet Street in the Forest Hills district of Queens. The street does not exist any longer. The home was valued at $8,000 in the Census. Then ten years later the value was only $4,300. In 1930 all four children were still living at home. Edna and Helen were both single and ages 29 and 27 respectively. The Census page is quite faint. But if one zooms in it is legible.

Then in 1940 only Edna was living with Philip and Emma. They were stilll in the home on Laubet Street. Philip's occupation continued to be furniture polisher. But he did not work at all in 1939. He was out of work for 52 weeks!

While he was 63 years old at the time, Philipp was required to register for the World War II Draft. It is actually from this document that we can see he used the spelling "Philip" for his name. And he indicated he worked in Manhattan on lower Broadway for Fred Lumpp.

Children: (4)

4.1.....Edna M. Mohr (*20.06.1900 New York City)

In 1920 Emma was 19 years old, working at a shoe company and living at home. In the 1930 Census Edna is 29 years old, single and living at home. Ten years later in 1940 she is enumerated as married with the last name Anselmo (it is difficult to read and therefore might be something somewhat different). There is no husband enumerated with Edna. Edna was employed as an operator at the rubber company, the same position she held ten years earlier.

4.2.....Helen E. Mohr (*05.06.1902 Brooklyn NY, +04.02.1959 Queens NY)

In 1920 Helen was 17 years old and working at the same shoe company as her sister Emma. In 1930 Helen was still living at home. She was working as a seamstress for a hosiery company. We have a death record for Helen Mohr in 1959 in Queens. She is the correct age. It appears since her name was Mohr at death that she did not marry.

4.3.....Dorothy Mohr (*June 1909 NY)

The 1910 Census gives Dorothy's age as 10/12 or 10 months. Given the Census was taken in April, Dorothy was born in June 1909. Perhaps this is reliable information, plus or minus a month.

In 1930 Dorothy, like her sister Edna, was an operator at the rubber company. We have not found a record for Dorothy in 1940.

There were two marriages of Dorothy Mohrs in Queens between 1930 and 1940. The first was on 8 August 1936 in which Dorothy Mohr married a Harold K. Bragg. The second was in October 1936. Here Dorothy Mohr married a Philip Schneider.

If one then looks at the 1940 Census to find these two Dorothys, you find Harold and Dorothy Bragg and Philip and Dorothy Schneider. Both couples are in Queens. Dorothy Schneider was enumerated as 36 years old, the same as her husband, and therefore born about 1904. However, Dorothy Bragg was enumerated as having been living at the same address in 1930. It is not known whether either of these two Dorothy Mohrs are the Dorothy of interest. The data for each has problems. But then it is census data.

4.4.....Joseph P. Mohr (*1912 NY)

In 1930 Joseph too was employed by the rubber company with two of his sisters. While there are later records for Joseph Mohrs in Queens, we have no way of knowing if they are the same person. There were multiple Mohr families in the New York area.

6.2.....Katharina Margaretha Mohr (*08.01.1880 Laubenheim, +after 1892 but perhaps before 1900)

"Maggie" was enumerated in the 1892 Census. She was not in the 1900 Census, or at least not living with the rest of the family. She would have been twenty years old in 1900, so perhaps she was married and living apart from her family. But, if only four of their children were living per 1900 Census, Katharina Margaretha must have died before 1900. We know of four of her siblings (Philipp, Henry George, Mary and Elizabeth) who were living in 1900.

6.3.....Martin Mohr (*12.01.1882 Laubenheim, +before 1884)

As commented in the above Note, four of Joseph and Helena's children were deceased before 1900. Martin had apparently died before Helena emigrated. Otherwise he should have been named in the ship's passenger list with the other children.

6.4.....Henry Georg Bernhard Mohr (*09.04.1885 Manhattan NY, +07.02.1907 Brooklyn NY)

In 1900 Henry was enumerated as a "roofer". He was 15 years old.

6.5.....Mary Mohr (*about March 1887, +after 1900)

While we do not have a birth record for Mary, she does appear in both the 1892 and 1900 Censuses. Nothing more is known of her. While her name is clearly "Mary" in 1892, it is much less clear in 1900. It was transcribed as "Mamie".

6.6.....Elizabeth Mohr (*03.02.1889 Brooklyn NY, +15.07.1910 Brooklyn NY)

Elizabeth married Alfred Schutzbach (*27.06.1884 Switzerland, +01.05.1918 Brooklyn NY), son of Dominic Schutzbach and Anna Gut, both Germans. The wedding was on 25 November 1908 in Brooklyn.

Alfred Schutzbach had emigrated together with his parents in 1886 via Le Havre to New York on board of "La Champagne" nach New York. In 1900 the Schutzbachs were living at 184 Greene Street in Brooklyn. It was a boarding house with four other families.

Elizabeth and Alfred had one child, a daughter Theresa. There must be more to the story of which we are not aware. Five days after Theresa passed away, Elizabeth died at the age of 21. Eight years later Alfred died at the age of 33. Per the death record Elizabeth is buried at the Most Holy Trinity Cemetery in Brooklyn with their daughter. Interestingly, according to his death record Alfred is buried in the Calvary Cemetery in Queens. In 2017 there were more than 1,750,000 interred at the Calvary Cemetery. It is unlikely Alfred had remarried as he is indicated as "widowed". Another possibility is that the death record is wrong and they are all buried together -- somewhere.

Children: (1)

1.1.....Theresa Mary Schutzbach (*18.09.1909 Brooklyn NY +10.07.1910 Brooklyn NY)

Theresa died at the age of 10 months in Brooklyn.

FOOTNOTES:

Other Research Steps

• Search more for Joseph P. Mohr (*1912) in all the databases.
• When in NYC go to the last neighborhoods and find old-timers.

Live Links

Because sometimes Links to public websites (e.g. Ancestry) no longer are active or charge for access, screenshots and images are usually used in the Stories. However, for additional research, assuming they are still active, these Links may be helpful:

Mohr Dorothy (*1910), marriage to Harold Bragg 1940 Census  FamilySearch.com
Mohr Dorothy (*1910), marriage to Philip Schneider 1940 Census  FamilySearch.com
Mohr Joseph (*1854), 1892 Census  FamilySearch.com
Mohr Joseph (*1854), 1900 Census  FamilySearch.com
Mohr Joseph (*1854), 1905 Census  FamilySearch.com
Mohr Joseph (*1854), 1910 Census  FamilySearch.com
Mohr Philip (*1878), 1910 Census  FamilySearch.com
Mohr Philip (*1878), 1920 Census  FamilySearch.com
Mohr Philip (*1878), 1930 Census  FamilySearch.com
Mohr Philip (*1878), 1940 Census  FamilySearch.com
Schutzbach Dominic, 1900 Census  FamilySearch.com

Databases:

A database of NYC Vital Statistics has been a sometimes helpful resource. One use is to find the spouse in the grooms/brides index by using the Link in the right column. Unfortunately it does not give the parents names for births, marriages or deaths. This would be extremely valuable. Be sure to use the wildcard (*), for example Sch*mbs. If you find new information, please send it back via the Contact Us Link. Thanks.