Bausert European Roots (Update)

The genealogy research on my ancestors that I completed in 2007 culminated with the publication of a booklet comprised of all of my findings to that date. Research can be an ongoing journey, however, so I’ve passed along updates to members of the families involved from time to time. The following information builds upon other data that I discovered previously.

The original Bausert family (my ancestors) that emigrated to the USA in 1866 was comprised of Johannes Joseph Bausert and wife Christine Barbara (nee: Schultz); they arrived in New York with six children (one having died during the voyage). According to German emigration papers and the ship’s registry, this family had lived in Wildbad.

Wildbad is located in the southwest corner of present day Germany in the Wüertternberg (or Baden-Württemberg) state. The town sits beside the Gr. Enz River, about 50 km (31 miles) west of Stuttgart, Germany, and 40 miles northeast of Strasbourg, France–just across the Rhine River (Rhein in German) which serves as the border between the two countries at that point. Wildbad Sprollenhaus is a few miles to the south, Wildbad Calmbach is a few miles to the north, and Neuenburg another 5 miles north of that. Freudenburg, Germany, is about 110-120 miles to the northwest of Wildbad in the Saarland state. At certain times, the entire Germany/Poland region was known as Prussia or Prussen.

All Bauserts (and Bausserts, where spelled differently but verified as the same families) I’ve researched that had a town affiliation in Germany were from the towns listed above; most others that only listed a region said they were from Baden, Wüertternberg, Saarland, or Prussen.

The only other Bauserts found outside of Germany in the 1700s were in France. Those families lived in Launstroff, Waldwiesse, Flastroff, or Creutzwald; all towns within the Lorraine province, in the northeastern Mosselle River Valley area. Creutzwald is about 45 miles north of Strasbourg; Flastroff is about 20 miles further north, Waldwiesse another 10 miles, and Launstroff an additional 5 miles.

(Click on map to enlarge it.)

The French towns where Bauserts lived are lined up
on the west side of the border with Germany.

The greatest distance between Bausert families living in the region of France and Germany/Prussia during the period of 1700 to 1900 was perhaps 110 miles as the crow flies (between Wildbad, Germany and Launstroff, France). However, it was only about 5 miles from the Bauserts in Launstroff, France, northeast across the Saar River (border) to Freudenburg, Germany, where other Bauserts lived.

(Click on map to enlarge it.)

The town of Wildbad (or Bad Wildbad) in Germany
(on right edge of map)
and Creutzwald, France (on the upper left edge)
about 120 miles apart.

The Alsace-Lorraine provinces have long been claimed–and fought over– by both Germany and France so it’s not hard to imagine all of the Bauserts within this immediate area being related. Unfortunately, it has been difficult finding the families that provide the crucial links to prove with certainty the relationships of all the French and German Bauserts.

Car Show at the Imperial Palace - Las Vegas

We visited Las Vegas (Nevada) and Albuquerque (New Mexico) this past June (2009). I was surprised to find an ongoing car show at the Imperial Palace Hotel/Casino, featuring lots of old/Antique/Collectible and Custom cars, of all Makes and models. There was an admission charge but some free tickets were available so, if you're planning on going, l0ok online for them. Most of the vehicles were for sale; many had their hood open so a full-image photo really didn't do it justice. Following are a sample of what was on display.

(Click on any image to enlarge it.)

This 1951 MG TD was on display on the casino floor,
offering a taste of what was in the larger show upstairs.

1954 Nash Metropolitan.

My personal pick for "Best In Show" was this
nicely customized 1940 Pontiac Convertible
featuring a chopped top
(no easy feat on a convert).

The paint job was totally AWESOME; looked like it was an inch thick!

In case you're wondering, the tail lights are
frenched into the vertical bumper guards
(making the rear look clean but a very dangerous location for street use).

Alfa-Romeo "Bat" prototypes from the mid-1950s.

A 1933 Pierce-Arrow.

A very rare 1953 Ford two-door hardtop with half glass roof.

The origin of the term, "Woody," from Ford in 1937.

Stock 1954 Chevy two-door sedan, same colors as
the '54 four-door Ro's dad had when I met her.

This 1949 Ford was mildly customized on the outside
but featured an Impala dashboard from the late 1950's inside
and eye-catching paint job with restrained scallops.

Under the hood was a late-model, large-block Chevy engine.

Twin antenni are recessed into the right-rear quarter panel
and the stock tail-light lenses are neatly frenched in.

The Marty Himes Museum

Marty Himes began his career in 1955 as a stock car race driver at the now defunct Freeport Raceway on Long Island. He went on to become one of the most successful guys in the sport of racing, eventually winning 3rd place in the Formula Libre, at Lime Rock Race Course in Connecticut in 1989.

He began an unorthodox hands-on museum in 1975 containing any and everything related to auto racing as well as the toys and artifacts of his life. It’s open to anyone, for free, who gives him a call and makes an appointment; the photos from my recent visit represent only a fraction of what you can experience yourself.

(Click on any photo to enlarge it.)

Marty with a yard full of his old stock cars.

The original ticket booth from Freeport Raceway

has been transplanted to Marty's place in Bay Shore.

Dexter Park not only held stock car races
but hosted minor-league baseball games during
the early part of the twentieth century. It closed in the 1950's.

Marty, with a home-made scooter from his youth.

Marty drives his 1938 Plymouth regularly.

You won't find gas at these prices any more.

Islip Speedway hosted stock car races
as well as 1/8 mile drag races; it closed in the 1980's.

An Irish Mail, hanging in one of Marty's garages:

popular in the 1940's, you moved the handle back & forth
with your arms to make it go and steered with your feet.
(I had one of those!)

I had one of these, too; a plastic toy ice cream truck from the 1950s.

(For more about Marty, visit http://www.thehimesmuseum.vze.com/).

Old Richmond Hill, Revisited

On a recent Monday in May, 2009, I had to judge a camera club competition in Manhattan at 7:30 PM. Rather than drive or take the train into the city during rush hours, I decided to make a day of it and pay another visit to the New York City Archives, on Chambers Street. The main attraction for me are the thousands of old file photos of buildings within the five boroughs, taken between 1939 and 1941, for property tax purposes and available to the public. (Please check out my earlier entry on this blog for more about the NYC Archives.)

I took the Long Island Rail Road out of Hicksville, then the "A" train to Chambers Street, a few blocks from the Surrogates Court Building where the archives are located. I planned on arriving in time for lunch so I ate a sandwich I had brought along while relaxing in the park across the street from the court building.

The last time I visited the archives, I had addresses from old homes in Brooklyn that various members of my family lived in during the early 1900s; luckily, I found most of what I was looking for. This time, I was searching for buildings and businesses I remember from the Richmond Hill, Queens, area that I remember from growing up there in the late 1940s and 1950s.

I figured if I could find a 1940 photo of a place that I remember from the 1950s, chances are it would look the same. I was fairly successful, although the quality of the photos is pretty poor to begin with and I had to print out a paper negative at the archives before turning it into a positive image on my computer. I thought about going back to Queens and photographing some of the sites the way they look today, to compare how certain scenes look compared to the 1940s. But, many of the buildings I sought to find are still standing; they're just not occupied by the former shops and proprietors so I didn't think it was worth the effort.

If you grew up in Richmond Hill, or the surrounding areas like Ozone Park or Jamaica, you'll probably recognize many of the following scenes. If you were not from the area, maybe you'll still appreciate a look back at the way Queens was in the early twentieth century.

Hattie & Nettie's "general store" was built at 127-10,
95th Avenue, before 1900 and
before any other houses were built on the block!
(Click on any photo to enlarge.)

Groulings (sp?) Bakery (on the left) was at the corner of 127th Street
& 101st Avenue (formerly Jerome Avenue and,
before that, Broadway!)
and the barber shop next door became
"Tony's" when I was growing up around there.

The Casino movie theater was located just west of
114th Street on Liberty Avenue under the "el."

The Lefferts movie theater was located at
122nd Street & Liberty Avenue.

The "Triple AAA Stores" auto store, circa 1940;
I worked in that store part time
from 1959 up to the late 1960s for the owner, Sid Ableson.

I remember a Times Square store on the corner of
Woodhaven & Rockaway B'lvds
but I don't think this is it (it's not on a corner).
If anyone remembers where this was, please let me know.

I also don't remember where Becklers candy store was
so, once again, if you remember it, let me know.

A couple of months earlier, I had paid a visit to the Queensborough Public Library Archives on Merrick Boulevard, in Jamaica, Queens. There, too, I was able to browse through old photos of Richmond Hill but the quality of most of them is much better since I was able to re-photograph the actual old prints with my camera. There are also old photos available there for viewing on computers but the quality of the prints resulting from those files is not nearly as good; there are also "copyright" notices watermarked across the images.

This is the Woodhaven Junction station
(Woodhaven B'lvd & Atlantic Avenue),
around 1900, when the LIRR tracks were still above ground.

The Clarenceville station, around 1900, at
111th Street & Atlantic Avenue.
(That part of present day Richmond Hill
was originally called Clarenceville.)

The Morris Park LIRR station,
at Lefferts B'lvd & Atlantic Avenue, 1900.
(Yes, that section was originally called Morris Park.)

A rare photo of a rare LIRR station: Dunton!
The part of present day Richmond Hill,
from 126th Street to Van Wyck B'lvd
(today, the Van Wyck Expressway)
was originally called Dunton.
This was at Atlantic Avenue & Van Wyck B'lvd, circa 1922.
(Please see my earlier blog entry
for more on Dunton, Morris Park & Clarenceville.)

Sheffield's Milk Company (Atlantic Ave., from 130th Street to
about 134th Street, in 1935- shortly after it was built

Another view of Sheffield's, this time looking east, in 1936.

The Parish House for St. Benedict Joseph, Labre,
Catholic church in 1938.

The "annex" for P.S. 57, at 101-23, 124th Street, in 1938.
The main school building can be seen
on the left edge of the photo.

On this portion of a 1900 map (above)
of the Dunton/Morris Park area,
you can see the engineer's blue lines at the top
outlining where the widened Atlantic Avenue would be
(drawn in around 1930, before the work was performed)
with its familiar "S" turn by 129th & 130th Street (Maure Ave.)
I've indicated in red type the current avenues,
drawn a large square around what became
Smokey Park, and a small rectangle around the block
which housed a body shop and the Atlantic Auto Parts store
during the 1950s. Wickes was to become 127th Street;
Villa, 126th; and Cochran, 125th Street.
I've drawn a thin black oval with an arrow pointing to
the location of Hattie & Netties store
(store seen in first photo, near top of this post).

One of the blocks that comprised Smokey Park,
also built in the 1930s, is enlarged below.
There were very few homes in the area at the time
as evidenced by the lack of yellow boxes on the lots.

(Map photographed from archival book
at Queensborough Library.)

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Westhampton Drag Strip, Yesterday & Today

Billy Stein and Ed Talerine in my '50 Merc
at the entrance to Westhampton Drag Strip, in 1961.

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, anyone with a hot rod or custom car on Long Island headed to a drag strip at Westhampton most Sundays.
This was a 1/4 mile track where cars raced in classes outlined by
the type and weight of the car, size of engine, and
extent of modifications overall.
Two cars at a time started from a standing stop
and those with the lowest elapsed time won each "run".
By a process of elimination, one car in each class
would emerge the final winner.
I shot the following photos during the early to mid 1960s.
(Click on any photo to enlarge it.)

The Dodge above ran with a 471 cubic inch engine and
turned 112 M.P.H. during its run for "Street Eliminator" trophy.

The white '59 Chevy was a constant winner at 'Hampton
as evidenced by the numerous "kill" decals on the rear quarter glass.

'47 Ford convert (above) had a late model Buick OHV 8 engine;
belonged to one of my friends from the 116th Street garages.

1955 Ford from another of the guys at 116th Street,
photographed on Sunrise Highway along the way to the strip.

I recently ventured back to the site of the Westhampton Drag Strip on a rainy weekday and found that Timber Ridge Homes has built a housing development on the site.


A gated community portal replaces the old entrance to the drag strip.

The homes on the left are about where the pit area and stands used to be;

the street in the middle is about where the drag strip once was.

The area on the left being cleared for more homes is
about where the spectators' parking lot and stands once stood;
the new road is about where the drivers once returned after a race
on the "return road."

(Any comments on the old drag strip?
...Or its replacement?)

A Visit To The NYC Archives

I’ve heard a lot about the New York City Archives (NYCA) from other people tracing their genealogy but never had the need to visit since much of what I was looking for was available on-line. Sites like Ancestry.com have much of the information that you would normally need to search for in the archives, like birth, marriage, and death records.

But I’ve always wondered about the old houses my deceased relatives lived in when they first came into this country, or in the years before I was born; I had no chance to see or visit some of the sites that no longer exist. I also have old photos of people, like my parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents, standing by certain old houses or buildings, and would really like to identify them so I’d know where the photos were taken and in what time frame.

I recently learned that the NYCA, located in the Surrogates’ Court building at 31 Chambers Street, in Manhattan, had hundreds of thousands of old photos on file. These were pictures that were taken of every property in the five boroughs for tax assessment purposes between 1939 and 1941. I finally decided to visit on Wednesday, January 14th, with Ro’s cousin, Anthony. He was curious to see if he could find photos in the archives of the building where he lived as a very young child, over a store in Brooklyn, to show his grandchildren. He was also searching for images of his uncle’s Italian Bakery and other scenes from the past.

Easily accessible by the Long Island Railroad into Penn Station, and the A,C,E, 1,2,3, or 4,5,6 trains to the Chambers Street or Brooklyn Bridge Stations, the old court building is a fascinating destination by itself. Quite imposing from the outside, with massive stone columns and façades, the inside is a treasure of marble and granite floors, walls and staircases. The woodwork and doors are all quite bold and ornate as well, and handmade mosaic tile designs adorn many of the hallways

Upon entering the structure, you must check in with two security guards at a table where you show photo identification, are photographed, and issued a self-adhesive photo ID badge that you must wear until you leave the building. From there, you pass through an airport screening-type area, complete with a conveyor belt x-ray machine to check for weapons or bombs, I suppose.

Fortunately, the archives are located on the first floor but we got a chance to check out other parts of the building, and the fourth floor, when we decided to visit the men’s room; that’s accessible with a key from the agency you’re dealing with (in this case, the archives), after leaving your original photo ID (driver’s license) and retrieving it upon your return. You can see that they’re quite paranoid about losing their key to the rest rooms.

Once inside the large Archives room, you can see dozens of computers and microfilm reading machines available to folks. There’s a charge to utilize the computers and databases for birth records and the like, and charges for copies of same. But, if you’re simply looking up old photos, there’s only a fifty-cent charge for each photo you decide to print through a computer printer beneath your station.

I didn’t look close at the reels but I think the images are “negatives” on film. In any case, the projected photos on the screen are “positives” although the photos I printed out were “negatives.” If you have a computer and scanner, these can easily be converted back into “positives” after returning home and scanning the images, then opening up the .jpg’s in PhotoShop Elements, and clicking on “Image>Adjustments>Invert.” At that point, you may also want to make a photo lighter, darker, or improve the contrast, as some of the old pictures in the Archives are pretty bad. Some are downright unusable due to deterioration over time and others may have been taken during adverse conditions (low light, harsh shadows, etc.)

Note: I've since discovered during a second visit that you can print out either a "positive" or "negative" image by selection the appropriate setting on the computer terminal at the archives. Whoever used that station before me during my first visit had it set to print out "negative" images and I think they give better detail than the "positive" image prints do.

If you’re looking for an old photo of a house your grandmother lived in, for example, you need the block and lot number to find it. Since most people don’t have that, you can go to an area of books in the room to look them up; there are four books on Brooklyn. The books are quite worn and contain what are probably copies of the original 1940’s maps, but they look to be very old and may be the same books in use for decades.

In my case, I took 84 Starr Street–where my mother and her parents lived around 1902–and found Starr Street in the index of book 2. I located number 84, and then was directed to page 76, which contained a map with several blocks of properties and their corresponding streets. After locating 84 Starr Street, I discovered the block number to be 3186 and lot number 47. Next, I had to go to a file cabinet, find the microfilm index roll that contained that block & lot, insert it into a machine and scan until I found that block number and lot number; I was then given the microfilm reel number (Q-4875) that contains the images of that block and lot. Then, I took the index reel out of the machine, went back to the file cabinet, found the proper reel number (Q-4875), brought it back to the machine and inserted it, and scanned that reel until I found the block and lot in question.

84 Starr Street (around 1940). Click on image to enlarge.

There’s only one little hitch: the block numbers are mixed and not in any order on the reel. For example, you might start with block 3124, which may have the images of the properties/homes on lot numbers 1 through 35, and then find a black space followed by block 6120, lots 20 through 45. After another black space, you could find block 251, lots 1 through 7; ironically, block 251, lots 8 through 30 could be on an entirely different reel . Granted, you would learn this when you searched the index but it gives you an idea how confusing it can be. The bottom line is, you may have to look through an entire reel before finding the one you’re looking for even when you have the correct reel.

If all you were looking for is one house, it’s really not a big deal; a little time-consuming, but pretty straightforward. In my case, I was looking for over a dozen old locations including 84 Starr Street (see above); 516 Central Avenue, where my mom and her parents lived after Starr Street (book 2, map on page 96, block 3389, lot 33, on reel M-3656); 494 Lincoln Avenue, where my father’s family lived until 1914 (book 2, map on page 114, block 4201, lot 33, on reel S-5658); and 738 Madison Street, where the Bauserts moved after Lincoln Avenue (book 1, map on page 180, block 1647, lot 25, on reel T-5953). The photo of 738 Madison was of really bad quality but, fortunately, this house is still standing and I’ve already visited it and photographed it (published in previous issues of my printed/paper version Ken Chronicles).

516 Central Avenue (around 1940). Click on image to enlarge.

494 Lincoln Avenue (around 1940). Click on image to enlarge.

2007 view of (driveway space) where 494 Lincoln Avenue used to be.
Click on image to enlarge.

I was also looking for 754 Bergan Street, where my father’s mother’s family lived around 1880 (book 1, map on page 114, block 1147) but, I couldn’t find a lot number. The lots on each map are only about a quarter-inch by one-half inch in size, and there’s so much writing on the page (lot numbers, dimensions, house numbers, distances from lots to streets, etc.) that it’s often hard to find the number you’re looking for. In addition, to save space, they start the house numbers on a block with 110, for example, and after that just list 12, 14, 16, etc., skipping every-other number; similarly, the lot numbers are sometimes alternately eliminated as well, so by one lot, you may find both an “8” and a “10” and have to figure which is which. Let’s just say it’s not the easiest task you’ll undertake.

When I tried to locate 254 and 262 Forbell Street, where the Bauserts moved after Madison Street, I was reminded that in 1940, it was called Forbell Avenue... no big deal, right? But while I found the block and lot with no problem, there was a blank space next to each on the index reel.

I asked the clerk at the desk about that and she replied, “Oh, that means no one knows for sure which reel those photos are on... they could be anywhere.” Once again, these houses still stand and I’ve already visited and photographed them so I wasn’t too upset.

It’s obvious to feel frustration when you run into problems during these searches but you have to keep things in proper perspective. The original photos were taken over the course of three years and their negatives and positives must have taken up a massive amount of space when originally produced. The mere fact that these hundreds of thousands of photos were scanned or catalogued at all, and exist in a searchable form after seventy years, is pretty amazing so some problems are bound to pop up and must be discounted.

I don’t imagine too many people will have a desire to go through what’s involved just to look at some old photos but, if you’ve got the urge, it can be a very enlightening experience. Besides, just seeing some of the old stores and cars depicted in many of the old photos can be lots of fun.

The Jamaica Swimming Pool

In yet another example of how the “good ol’ days” really were better, allow me to present a page torn from an advertising booklet of some sort that I found in my parents’ papers after they passed away. It’s obviously from 1938, judging by the text of the 50¢ coupon, and depicts a very lively scene where the local residents enjoyed the pleasures of the Jamaica Swimming Pool (which was actually in Richmond Hill, formerly Dunton, as Jamaica begins on the eastern side of the Van Wyck Expressway–correctly pronounced Van Wyke).

(Click on image to enlarge)

My brother Harold used to frequent that pool and, from what I’d been told, won prizes there for his swimming and diving skills. I remember the pool still being at its location, at the southwest corner of 101st Avenue and the Van Wyck Expressway (formally Jerome Avenue and Van Wyck Boulevard, and before that, Broadway and Van Wyck Boulevard) when I was growing up there in the late 1940’s and throughout the 1950’s. It was closed and looked abandoned for most of the years that I lived in the area.

At some point in time when I wasn’t looking, they tore it all down and erected the building seen below (view of the southeast corner from the southbound service road of the Van Wyck; 101st Avenue is at the upper right).


I never really knew what it was used for; it was probably some light manufacturing business or maybe the home base for a construction company. Whatever it was, it isn’t that anymore and has become another boarded-up, graffiti-emblazoned eyesore. What someone should do is tear it all down and put up another swimming pool for the local residents to use!