In my last post, I wrote that my Civil War and 19th Century base ball interests had intersected when Bob MacAvoy (compiler of New Jersey Civil War graves) had kindly pointed me towards what promised to be the death date for Charles E. Thomas of the Eureka base ball club of Newark. Thomas was a founding member of the Eureka who played with the club from 1860 through 1868. He was profiled in one of a series of "Frank Leslie's Weekly Illustrated Newspaper" as one of the prominent shortstops of the day.
An important part of the Pioneer Project research is biographical information about the famous players especially their careers after base ball. The first complication in such research is that 19th century newspaper accounts tend only to give last names, a real problem with relatively common names like Thomas. Fortunately I did find Thomas' first name which led to the next step looking through the censuses on http://www.ancestry.com/. I found Thomas on every census through 1920, but not on the 1930 census - a clear indication that he was dead by then. Since he was born in 1841 that didn't come as real surprise.
As noted in my last post, Bob MacAvoy was able to use sources to find the death date of what appeared to be my Charles Thomas. The next step on Saturday was to go to Alexander Library at Rutgers in New Brunswick to look at the Newark Evening News on microfilm. That can be hit or miss especially the further back one goes - obituaries appear to be pretty much a 20th century innovation. As a result only those deaths that were noteworthy tend to make the paper. By 1926, however, this had changed, but was still not a sure thing.
When I began scrolling through the relevant film, I was disappointed not to find any kind of article about Charles' death. I did find a public service type notice that listed his spouse's name which, if necessary, could have been a key means to connect Thomas through other sources. One thing I have learned, however, is to go a few days on either side of the date you are looking for. I pressed on and, sure enough, found an article about Charles' funeral that confirmed his career with the Eureka plus his long banking career.
Thomas apparently began working for a Newark bank in 1859 before moving to a New York institution in 1865. Among others he worked for a bank incredibly or implausibly named the Ninth National Bank. Fortunately for every one's sanity that bank was apparently taken over by Chemical National Bank - a bank that lasted past the end of my own banking career in 1983. When Thomas retired in 1915, he had worked for 50 years for New York banks reportedly all that time as a teller.
This article as well as the contemporary article mentioned earlier suggest a higher status for the teller's position than it has today or had during my time in banking. I would like know more about the position in those days, if it was indeed more prestigious, it would be further evidence of the prominent off the field careers led by the members of the Eureka. If I do expand this pioneer project section into a book about New Jersey base ball in the amateur era further research of that nature would be the kind of thing I would want to do. For the moment though thanks to Bob MacAvoy for making a difficult problem immeasurably easier and to Rutgers Library for its collections of newspaper on microfilm.
An important part of the Pioneer Project research is biographical information about the famous players especially their careers after base ball. The first complication in such research is that 19th century newspaper accounts tend only to give last names, a real problem with relatively common names like Thomas. Fortunately I did find Thomas' first name which led to the next step looking through the censuses on http://www.ancestry.com/. I found Thomas on every census through 1920, but not on the 1930 census - a clear indication that he was dead by then. Since he was born in 1841 that didn't come as real surprise.
As noted in my last post, Bob MacAvoy was able to use sources to find the death date of what appeared to be my Charles Thomas. The next step on Saturday was to go to Alexander Library at Rutgers in New Brunswick to look at the Newark Evening News on microfilm. That can be hit or miss especially the further back one goes - obituaries appear to be pretty much a 20th century innovation. As a result only those deaths that were noteworthy tend to make the paper. By 1926, however, this had changed, but was still not a sure thing.
When I began scrolling through the relevant film, I was disappointed not to find any kind of article about Charles' death. I did find a public service type notice that listed his spouse's name which, if necessary, could have been a key means to connect Thomas through other sources. One thing I have learned, however, is to go a few days on either side of the date you are looking for. I pressed on and, sure enough, found an article about Charles' funeral that confirmed his career with the Eureka plus his long banking career.
Thomas apparently began working for a Newark bank in 1859 before moving to a New York institution in 1865. Among others he worked for a bank incredibly or implausibly named the Ninth National Bank. Fortunately for every one's sanity that bank was apparently taken over by Chemical National Bank - a bank that lasted past the end of my own banking career in 1983. When Thomas retired in 1915, he had worked for 50 years for New York banks reportedly all that time as a teller.
This article as well as the contemporary article mentioned earlier suggest a higher status for the teller's position than it has today or had during my time in banking. I would like know more about the position in those days, if it was indeed more prestigious, it would be further evidence of the prominent off the field careers led by the members of the Eureka. If I do expand this pioneer project section into a book about New Jersey base ball in the amateur era further research of that nature would be the kind of thing I would want to do. For the moment though thanks to Bob MacAvoy for making a difficult problem immeasurably easier and to Rutgers Library for its collections of newspaper on microfilm.
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