Brooklyn on Fire

Levy, Lawrence H. Brooklyn on Fire. New York: Broadway Books, 2016.

Mary Handley is a female private investigator. When her brother is arrested for the murder of his girlfriend, an actress, she sets out to prove his innocence. The plot quickly weakens as the author begins dropping names of New York's upper crust, even engaging Mary to George Vanderbilt. It simply is not believable even though some of the novel is based on real events, and those characters are included, including the investigative team of Mary Handley and Superintendent Campbell. With the exception of the believability factor, the mystery itself is plotted well enough. The final few chapters leave an opening that many of the characters will make repeat appearances in future installments, once again being interviewed by Mary in her investigations. This review is based on an Advance Review Copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley for review purposes.

An Interesting Family

I stumbled across a rather interesting family (at least according to the online family trees which are in various states of documentation ranging from none to mediocre). I had copied various Harris and Davis marriages from the Lincoln County index in Mrs. Harry Kennett McAdams' book Kentucky Pioneer and Court Records: Abstracts of Early Wills, Deeds and Marriages from Court Houses and Records of Old Bibles, Churches, Grave Yards and Cemeteries (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1961). One of the marriages was for a Samuel Harris to an Elizabeth Van Cleve on 25 October 1784. (p. 112) I will admit that this Samuel Harris is in Kentucky earlier than my family appears to have been.

I decided to see if I could find anyone researching this couple in an effort to discover how these families might or might not be related to my Harris and Davis families. As I inserted the couple in a search in WorldConnect (http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/), I came up with something quite interesting just from the locations mentioned for Samuel's birth and death. Samuel was said to have been born 20 Nov 1763 in Bechman Twp., Dutchess Co., N.Y. I recognized that immediately as the area where the Beekman Patent was. At least one tree stated that he was born in neighboring Nine Partners rather than Bechman Twp., but it was still in the area. There is a note in one tree that states he was a member of the Reformed Dutch Church. His death location was listed as Pleasant Hill, Mercer Co., Ky. I immediately recognized this as what we call "Shakertown." In fact, some of the trees elaborated a bit more on this connection. It appears that Samuel and his wife Elizabeth, said to have been a North Carolina native, became Shakers in 1806. Seven children were listed in one of the trees, and it was noted that all of their sons eventually left the Shakers, but that the daughters remained. Samuel and his wife Elizabeth are said to be buried in unmarked graves at Shakertown.

I found this connection between the Beekman Patent and Shakertown to be very interesting. I'd love to do further research on this family to try to prove or disprove the claims made in the online trees.

Murder on Marble Row & the Andrus Murder Case

Last night, I told you all that I couldn't wait to get back to finishing up Victoria Thompson's Murder on Marble Row. It was a very engaging mystery in an historical setting. At the end of the book was a note on the author's inspiration for the book. It was an article in the New York Times from 1896 describing the bombing death of a wealthy man in his office. (I found the original article and linked to it.) Further articles reported the decision it was murder, the proposed inquest date, a report that there were no developments and lack of agreement between officials, an interim coroner's report stating he had not solved the case, and a report that the coroner's jury did not solve the mysterious death. The articles are about as fascinating as the book itself. In his will, he left an estate valued at about $200,000 to his wife. His brother John E. Andrus, died at age 93 in December 1934, leaving his estate to a charity he founded and to 10 family members. He was worth several million dollars at the time of his death. He had been president of Arlington Chemical Works where his brother Hamlin worked. They manufactured "peptonized foods." This appears to have been a method of making proteins more digestable for persons with who were ill or had "weak stomachs."

I located Hamlin's family in the 1880 Yonkers, Westchester Co., New York census. According to it, H. J. was a lawyer (age 31). This is a bit of a discrepancy if he was age 42 at the time of his death in 1896. I could not read the street name as it was very light, but he was residing at #64 on that street. According to the article describing his unfortunate demise, he resided at 68 Palisade Avenue in Yonkers. His wife in 1880 was Stella, age 25. He had a son Hiram, age 7; daughter Bonnie, age 2; and daughter Hattie, age 1. Two Irish servants, Catherine Jordan (age 28) and Mary Blye (age 19) were also residing in the household.

I located the family of John E. Andrus in the 1900 Yonkers, Westchester Co., New York census. John E. was born February 1841 in New York. His wife Mary was born in April 1847. Daughter Mary was born September 1871; son John E., Jr. in March 1883; son Hamilton F (other sources show his name as Hamlin F.) was born in March 1885; son Idea B. was born June 1887; daughter Helen W. was born August 1888. His mother Katherine was born in June 1821. Three servants were in the household--Cellia Butler who was born in New York to Irish parents in September 1867; Mary Mooney, an Irish woman who was born in May 1875; and Sina Nelson, a Norwegian woman born in July 1850.

This is an intriguing story, and I may have to spend a little more time tracking them down when I have time. There are a couple of things that don't initially appear to agree with the story regarding the relationship of Hamlin to John E. In the 1880 census, Hamlin lists his parents as having been born in Vermont. As nearly as I can tell in the 1900 census (it is quite light), it appears that John E. says his were born in Switzerland. Katherine (the mother) is listed though as having been born in New York, but she'd only been married for 18 years. Again, there are some discrepancies here that need further investigation.

I invite others to join me tracking down the Andrus family.

Sources consulted. (My apologies for possibly butchering the citations, but I don't have my copy of Evidence Explained with me at the moment. I think I'll get most of the correct info there.):

1880 U.S. Federal Census, population schedule, Yonkers, Westchester Co., New York, H. J. Andrus family, dwelling 270, family 470, sd 3, ed 134, p. 459A; NARA microfilm T9, roll 947; Ancestry.com, accessed 25 February 2008.

1900 U.S. Federal Census, population schedule, Yonkers Ward 3, Westchester Co., New York, John E. Andrus family, dwelling 125, family 155, sd 3, ed 129, p. 10A (written) or p. 279A (stamped); NARA microfilm T623, roll 1177; Ancestry.com, accessed 25 February 2008.

"The Andrus Inquest: Coroner's Jury Does Not Solve the Yonkers Bomb Mystery," New York Times, 14 November 1896, p. 6; New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/, accessed 25 Feburary 2008.

"Andrus Inquest To-Day: There Is a Possibility, However, of Its Postponement," New York Times, 26 October 1896, p. 1; New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/, accessed 25 Feburary 2008.

"Andrus Will Aids Charity He Began: 45 Per Cent of Estate Left to Surdna Foundation and Rest to 10 Relatives," New York Times, 5 January 1935, p. 13; New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/, accessed 25 Feburary 2008.

"Coroner Miles at Sea: Admits That He Has Not Cleared Up the Andrus Mystery," New York Times, 28 October 1896, p. 2; New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/, accessed 25 Feburary 2008.

"Man Shattered by a Bomb: Hamlin J. Andrus Killed in His Private Office," New York Times, 22 October 1896, p. 1; New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/, accessed 25 Feburary 2008.

"Officials Still at Odds: Strong Feeling in Yonkers; No Arrests and Few Developments," New York Times, 27 October 1896, p. 1; New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/, accessed 25 Feburary 2008.

"Was Deliberate Murder: Assassin of Mr. Andrus Carefully Laid His Plan," New York Times, 23 October 1896, p. 3; New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/, accessed 25 Feburary 2008.

"Will of Hamlin J. Andrus," New York Times, 8 November 1896, p. 2; New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/, accessed 25 Feburary 2008.