Arthur Riedinger

I know it has been almost three weeks since my last post, in case you haven't noticed I try to post something every other Sunday, but sometimes it just doesn't work out that way.  Well, I am late again, but I have some new information.  A couple of posts ago, I told you about my mom's cousin, Arthur E Riedinger, who died in 1970 and I found him via a shaky leaf in Find A Grave.  On a side note, they might want to find a new name for that website, because every time I tell someone about Find A Grave, they look at me like I am some kind of vampire who is up all night waiting for the full moon. ( by the way, please don't look at the time that this was posted).

Headstone for Arthur and Mary Riedinger

 Well, I drove to St Joseph's Cemetery in Toms River and found his grave, as well as, the grave of his wife Mary.  I checked nearby graves for names that I might recognize, but saw none.  Then I wondered if he and his wife had children, that wondering lasted until I  saw a small shell on the base of the headstone that said Grandmother.  So now I know that they had children.  The next step for me is to call the Bergen - McConville authority Aunt Florence, but I found out that she is in Georgia, but I did talk to Regina.  Later in the week I spoke with Aunt Florence and asked about Arthur Riedinger.  She said that he died young in a accident.  He used to drive one of those big yellow trucks like a tractor  and had some kind of accident and was killed.  Well, the ghoul in me could not resist.  I recruited my sister Joan, who happens to be a best selling author, to accompany me to the Ocean County Library to look for any articles on the death of my cousin, Arthur Riedinger.

So Joan read in the library, while I checked the microfilm.  I found two articles in the Asbury Park Press from 25 Feb 1970 and the next day 26 Feb 1970.  There was also an article in the Ocean County Observer from 25 Feb 1970.  The Press article says that Arthur Ritchenger (bad spelling) of 129 Tennant Ave, Beachwood, NJ , age 48 was killed in a construction accident.  He worked for  Sambol Construction Co. and was crushed beneath a payloader, when the earth moving rig - about the size of a bulldozer - toppled at 3:40 PM.  He was taken to Pt Pleasant Hospital where he was pronounced dead.  The NJ State Police investigated.  I am not sure if Brick Township - where the accident happened -  had their own Police Department at the time.

Asbury Park Press 25 Feb 1970

The article in the next day's paper was better.  They spelled his name right this time, and it said that he died of a broken neck and that he was working to clear land for Greenbriar, a senior citizen's complex to be built.  My mom would move to Greenbriar Woodlands in 2006, which is another complex by the same owners.  The last part of the article  gives alot of genealogical information.  It says that he was born in Jersey City and lived in the Bayville area for 21 years.  He was a veteran of WWII,  and he attended St. Barnabas Roman Catholic Church in Bayville.  It goes on to list survivors:  his widow Mary Totomasi Riedinger, his mother, Mrs Edna Riedinger, three daughters: Mrs. Jo-Ann Armino, Bayville: Mary Edna and Rose Marie, both at home: two brothers, John and Edward, both of Jersey City: and a sister, Mrs Lenore Parrott, Hasbrouck Heights.  The Funeral Home is also listed as Anderson and Campbell, Toms River.  That's alot of information.

Asbury Park Press 26 Feb 1970

I did not find an obituary in the Press, and the information in the Observer was not very revealing.  A month ago, I could not have told you anything about this man, but after doing the Shaky Leaf Shuffle and locating him in Find A Grave, I know alot more.  He was a veteran of WWII, in the artillery, survived the war to return home and marry Mary Tortomasi, had three daughters, one of whom was married.  He apparently never got to see his grandchildren, and he worked for a construction company and died while trying to support his wife and children.  It appears that he was a good man who served his country and was working to raise his family and had his life cut short by a tragic accident

Jersey City, NJ

Just yesterday, I went to Jersey City with Katrina, to attend a walking tour of Bergen Square given by the Hudson County Genealogy Society.  The tour was to include a tour of the inside and outside of Old Bergen Church ( built around 1660) and St Aeden's Church, built around 1912 (they are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the church this year).  We also walked through Old Bergen Cemetery, and walked past Speer Cemetery, as well as a few other historical areas of Bergen Square.

St. Aeden's Roman Catholic Church

This interested me because just recently I found (and promptly lost) my mother's baptismal certificate.  It says that she was baptized at St Aeden's Church on 28 Mar 1926.  Her sponsors were Florence Markey (who was her mother's sister) and Harry Belton.  I have no clue who Harry Belton is, I have never heard the name before.  I did put in a call to my McConville-Bergen expert, Aunt Florence (who is actually Florence Markey's daughter) to find out who Mr. Belton is, but no one was home.

St. Aeden's was actually the last stop on the tour, and it was just huge.  The communion rail is about 96' across, and the large dome in the picture above is 108' from floor to ceiling and 60' in diameter.  Very impressive.  The floor and pillars inside are marble and the website says that it cost a million dollars to construct.  (Dad always said that the Catholic Church is the best run business in the world, apparently he was right again).

Although the corner stone says 1912 and after taking pictures inside of the Baptismal Font and where mom would have been baptized, I read on their website that the church was not built in 1912.  Apparently the Priest felt that they needed a school more than a church, so they built the school first and while they were building the church, they used the first floor of the school as the church until the church opened in 1931.  Ergo, my mother was not baptized in this cathedral, but in a temporary church on the first floor of St Aeden's School.

Before getting to St Aeden's, we walked around Bergen Square and came across Newkirk St.  I have a copy of my mother's birth certificate (I made several copies and have not lost it yet), and it says that she was born at 131 Newkirk St.  Well, half a block north of Bergen Ave I found three row houses, and the last one before coming to a large commercial building with a Bergen Ave address was number 129, then there is an alley before the commercial building.  Apparently I was too late to get a picture of her house, but I got a picture of the houses next door.  While on Newkirk St, I saw a sign for Dick St.  I remember seeing that name on a McConville death Certificate.  It was Edward McConville, born 7 Jan 1902 and died 24 Dec 1925, Merry Christmas... again.  But the death certificate said that they lived at 25 Dick St.  Dick St today is just an alley, and it doesn't appear to have any houses on it.  Going on this tour now tells me that the McConvilles lived only a few houses away from my mom.  Actually, he died only three months before my mom was born.  So my grandmother was six months pregnant when her brother died, that's gotta suck.

123 through 129 Newkirk St Jersey City

After the tour, Katrina and I decided to take a tour of our own, and we drove to the address where we lived in Jersey City when I was born: 422 Bergen Ave.  We took a picture of the current house, and I say that because I don't think it is the same building we lived in.  I seem to recall old pictures of a large house with a big front porch.

422 Bergen Ave Jersey City

Last,  but not least, we continued down Bergen Ave, mainly because I couldn't figure out where we were and how to get to the turnpike, and we came upon Armstrong Ave.  We hung a right and drove past 343 Armstrong Ave, the house where my mom lived for a while after her mother died.   There was a group of people on the porch so we decided not to take a picture.  So I guess this was actually alot about my mother's days in Jersey City.

When we got home, I remembered that on my Dad's discharge papers after WWII, his address was 159 Bergen Ave.  I have to go back and photo that one, as well as All Saints Church, where he was baptized and later married my mom.