Signatures of the Mother and Nine Children

My uncle, Henry Goldenstein, died in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1921. A single man, he left no children and, based upon what I was lead to believe, there was little estate to probate. 

I almost didn't even bother to look for a record of his probate, but came upon an index entry to it while attempting to review estate information on his parents. On a whim I decided to view the file from Adams County, Illinois.

As I suspected, there was not really too much in the estate packet.

However, there was this little gem which was signed as a part of the record:

The signature of my great-great-grandmother and her nine children who survived after Henry's death. My great-grandmother, Tjode Habben, also signed the document.

Not earthshattering, but a neat discovery from the estate files of Adams County, Illinois, in 1921.

Henry Goldenstein in 1910

In an attempt to locate a little more about Henry Goldenstein who died under unusual circumstances in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1921, I came across his 1910 census entry in Arkansas. I'm thankful  Ancestry.com indexed it correctly as it is not easy to read. Kudos to them for indexing this item correctly.

Year: 1910; Census Place:  Stuttgart Ward 1, Arkansas,  Arkansas; NARA series T624--roll 43; Page: 6A; Enumeration District:  0006;

The individuals are listed as John L. and Henry Goldenstein, aged 22 and 18 years old respectively.  The Nebraska natives are living in Stuttgart, Arkansas. John is listed as a driller on the irrigation wells and Henry is listed as working as a laborer on the wells. I'm not certain how long the Goldensteins stayed in Arkansas as this is the only census that locates them in this state. I'm not going to bother with any type of employment records as I doubt there are any, I don't know who they worked for, and these two are fairly well-documented already. They are both in Adams County, Illinois, in the 1920 census having returned to where their family was from and where their mother was still living.

The Arkansas connection was not really a surprise for this family, but I was not expecting to find these two sons living there in 1910. In all honesty I had never bothered to locate the brothers in 1910. I had found their parents, Frank/Foche and Anna Goldenstein in Adams County, Illinois (with the brothers not listed), and had just assumed they were working as farm hands or something in immediate area. Frank Goldenstein did own "rice land" in the Stuttgart area and another son, Bernard, farmed the Arkansas land and died there during the 1918 flu epidemic. I am not certain when Foche purchased the land near Stuttgart, but he did own it at his death in 1913. I'll have to conduct more comprehensive searches for Bernard--but when this was located, I was trying to get a little more background on Henry.

The Arkansas connection must have been a little bit stronger than I thought. Something else to pursue when I am stuck on Henry's murder in Kansas City.

Henry Goldenstein Makes Little Ones Out Of Big Ones

This article was obtained digitally today on http://archive.quincylibrary.org--the website of the Quincy, Illinois, Public Library

I have been blogging about Henry Goldenstein who died in 1921 in Kansas City, Missouri, in questionable circumstances. A search for Henry Goldenstein on the digital archive of newspapers at the Quincy Library website revealed the article that appears as a part of this post.

Basically this Henry Goldenstein got a little liquored up, got out of control, and got arrested. Unable to pay his fine, he served time in the Adams County, Illinois, jail. One has to love the phrase "strenuous art of making little ones out of big ones."

The image in this post is slightly altered from the original. The original newspaper clipping was one column only and included the headline. The image in this blog post was created by splitting the column in half and putting the bottom half on the right hand side. The original headline was moved to center it. This was done to create a nicer image for this blog post. The original image on the library's website does have some "issues." Those "issues" can be seen on the left hand side of the right hand column of the image used for this blog post.

Which Henry Is It?

One does not want to immediately conclude that this Henry Goldenstein is the one for whom I am looking. My Henry had first many first cousins in the Adams and Hancock County, Illinois, area. In the interest of establishing identity as concretely as possible, only the children of his father's brothers are a concern (children of the sisters have a different last name). Henry's one uncle lived in south-central Hancock County and given the location, this Henry likely is not any son of that brother. Henry's father had another brother who lived in Adams County, Illinois, not all that far from my Henry's family. I need to determine that there was not a Henry in that family.

Part of the problem is that no other members of Henry's family are named in this article (although it may be clear why). The families of all the Goldensteins should be located in the 1910 and 1920 census in order to determine just where all these people were.

The article mentions a court case and those records may provide additional information on the other family members.

Local newspapers closer to Camp Point may mention names.

I'm thinking this is my Henry and we'll have the reasons why in a future blog post--but one cannot just conclude this is the Henry I am looking for because the name matches--despite how unusual it is.

What Source Is This?

This image, if anyone should choose to use it is a derivative. Not only is it a digital copy of the newspaper, it's an altered digital copy which is clearly admitted in this post. If I choose to include this image in my records, I need to indicate that it has been altered.

I'm still thinking about how to cite the image correctly--the altered one. We'll have an update on that too.

Why Wasn't the Murder or Suicide Located?

A careful reading of the library's website indicates that the digital materials do not go as late as 1921. Always helps to read those things.

Stay tuned.

Missouri Death Certificate Says 1921 Death a Suicide

This is the top part of the death certificate for Henry Goldenstein who was found dead in a Kansas City hotel room in July of 1921. The cause of death is listed on the death certificate as "suicide-Fire Arm." 

There was no autopsy in Kansas City, according to the death certificate which was completed by the deputy coroner, H. E. Moss. Goldenstein's body was taken back to Golden, Illinois, where he was from, for burial. The date of burial was (according to the death certificate) 9 July 1921. Our earlier blog post indicated that an autopsy had been performed on Goldenstein back in Adams County, Illinois--where Golden is located. A newspaper account of 30 July references that autopsy. 

Which brings about the question-when was the burial in relationship to the Adams County, Illinois, autopsy? I've used newspapers  on  Genealogybank to find some material on Goldenstein, but I'm needing local papers for the Adams County area which may shed additional details--particularly those for Quincy (the county seat) or Golden.

Murder or Suicide in Kansas City

Date: Sunday, July 31, 1921  

Paper: Morning Star (Rockford, IL)

  obtained on  Genealogybank  

My great-grandmother's brother Henry Goldenstein died in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1921. Whether it was a murder or a suicide depends upon whom you believe. The family believed he was murdered as evidenced by this newspaper article from the Rockford, Illinois, Morning Star. Some years ago I had a researcher attempt to find the coroner's files from Adams County, Illinois, but they could not be located. 

I've done some preliminary research on Henry before but never really completed it. His death certificate indicates he died of suicide. 

There is one more item on Henry on  Genealogybank and I'll also see if Ancestry.com has any papers that might help. This is a good situation where answers to my questions may be in records that are not available online.