From Catherine Hornef Carman’s death certificate (1913)

I first discovered Jacob Hornef ¹ on his daughter’s death certificate. His name and his birth place were the only clues. Not even his daughter’s mother was named.

I went searching for census records. Complicating matters, there were other Horneffs in the area, mostly in New Jersey, including another Jacob. I kept asking myself, how could they not be related? Hornef(f) is not a common name. This would turn out to be a distraction.

I knew my great-great grandmother Catherine Hornef was born in Germany. The 1900 census said she immigrated in 1846. I found her with her husband Elon Carman from 1870 forward.

I could not find her or her father Jacob in 1850 or 1860.

This is where I encourage persistance and revisiting brick walls. ²

After wasting time pursuing Jacob and Wilhelmina Horneff in New Jersey, I found my Jacob. I had searched various spellings, of course, but I had started before the internet and somehow either I or the indexer of the print index had missed my Hornefs, or as they were recorded by the enumerator in 1860, Harnoff. I found that thanks to the advances in internet search technology. Believe me, I did not type that in. I entered something much closer to Hornef, I am sure, and Ancestry found it. Magic!

Jacob Hornef, his wife Catherine and their three daughters, Catherine, Amelia & Mary, and his mother-in-law Eva Farver (Faber) – 1860 Census

Finding my Hornefs in the 1850 census was more difficult, for reasons I will simply illustrate:

Jacob, Catherine and Catherine “Orneff” 1850 Census

Jacob and Catherin “Orneff” are on lines 25 and 26. Their daughter is on line 32. The household and family numbers are all mixed up as well. I am thinking there may have been language issues involved here.

I did not get much farther with Jacob for quite some time. I found a naturalization record, but could not be certain it was my Jacob and not the other one. Then familysearch.org began uploading their records databases. First, I found Jacob’s death certificate. Then, as discussed in an earlier post, I found his wife’s obituary on genealogybank.com and her death certificate, which gave me her parents’ names: Leonhard Faber and Eva Huber.

With this new information, I returned to familysearch and found indexes of Otterberg church records and a whole slew of information on my Hornefs including Jacob’s christening:

name: Jacob Horneff
gender: Male
baptism/christening date: 03 Jan 1819
baptism/christening place: EVANGELISCH, OTTERBERG, PFALZ, BAVARIA
birth date: 02 Jan 1819
father’s name: Georg Peter Horneff
mother’s name: Catharine Cherdron
indexing project (batch) number: C97881-1
system origin: Germany-VR
source film number: 193110
reference number: 2:1GJM5M2

I still have not looked at the microfilm of the original records³, so I consider this information provisional. (Indexing is difficult and it is easy to make mistakes with names and dates.)

So, provisionally, this week in my genealogy, one hundred ninety four years ago, my 3rd great grandfather Jacob Hornef was born in Otterberg, Germany.

From Jacob Hornef’s death certificate. I realized every record I used in this post had Horneff. This is to illustrate the Hornef spelling.

On September 20, 1907, my grandfather Orville Wilson Garrison was born in the city of Camden in New Jersey. He grew up in Bridgeton, and his parents were residing there in 1900 and in 1910, but his mother was from Camden. She was likely back in Camden to be with family after her mother passed away there on August 5.

I found two birth certificates for my grandfather in the files I inherited from my grandmother. The first is from the city of Camden and was issued in 1942. The second was from the state of New Jersey and was issued in 1963.

Orville Wilson Garrison Birth Certificate, issued 1942

Orville Wilson Garrison Birth Certificate, issued 1963

I never met my grandfather. He passed away about four months before I was born, just as his grandmother passed away a little over a month before he was born. He would have been 105 if he were alive today.

Have I finally found Olivia Rush MOORE in the 1880 census? I think so. There is an Olivia Moore, age 10, in the 1880 census in Philadelphia, PA. She is the daughter of Charles D. and Lucy H. MOORE. Her mother was born in Delaware and her father was born in PA. The children of Charles and Lucy are Olivia, Frank O., Susan L., Benjamin B., Lucy L. and Elsie A. My Olivia had children named Lucy H. (aka L. Honour), Susan L. and Frank. Later census returns for my Olivia state that her mother was born in DE and her father in PA and that she was born in 1869.

More evidence: There is an IGI entry for an “Olevia R. MOORE”, born Oct 8, 1869 to Charles D. and Lucy H. MOORE. This is from the Birth registers, 1860-1903, for the city of Philadelphia. The addition of the middle initial helps me to accept that I have found my Olivia and her parents.

Now, to hunt down her husband John Alexander TODD and his parents…

CRANER, George C.: Birth Certificate, 14 May 1879
Abstracted from photocopy included in Civil War Pension File for David M. Craner

State of New Jersey
Birth Return

1. Full name of Child (if any): Chester Crainer, Color: White
2. Date of Birth: May 14” 1879, Sex: male
3. Place of Birth: Glassboro, Glassboro Twp., Gloucester Co., NJ
4. Name of Father: David M. Crainer
5. Maiden name of Mother: Mary Brown
6. Country of Father’s Birth: Blackwoodtown, NJ, Age: 39, Occupation: Farmer
7. Country of Mother’s Birth: Turnerville, Glo. Co. NJ, Age: 37 yrs
8. Number of Children in all by this Marriage: Six. How many of them Living: Five
9. Name and P.O. address of Medical Attendant, in his own handwriting, with date,
Jacob Iszard, M.D., Glassboro, NJ

CRANER, Mary B.: Birth Certificate, 13 Dec 1887
Abstracted from photocopy included in Civil War Pension File for David M. Craner

State of New Jersey
Birth Return
1. Full name of Child (if any): (NR), Color: White
2. Date of Birth: Dec. 13” 1887, Sex: Female
3. Place of Birth: 244 Bank St., Bridgeton, New Jersey
4. Name of Father: David Crainer
5. Maiden name of Mother: (NR)
6. Country of Father’s Birth: U.S., Age: (NR), Occupation: Laborer
7. Country of Mother’s Birth: U.S., Age: (NR)
8. Number of Children in all by this Marriage: 6. How many of them Living: 6
9. Name and P.O. address of Medical Attendant, in his own handwriting, with date,
T.J. Smith, Bridgeton, Jan 1” 1888.