| Notes |
- Note 8 Belle (Lena Isabelle) DeGraff was the fourth child of Belle and Matthew DeGraff. Until her marriage to Louis Alfred Otto she lived at the family home at 53 Greeley Ave. She attended the local elementary school, and then trained as a seamstress and dressmaker, living for a time in Brooklyn for this training. After her marriage in 1903 she and her husband moved to the stone front house farther up Greeley Avenue which had been built as Ike Greene's architecture office. A daughter Belle (Lucy Belle) and a son Louis Leslie were born there,and in 1911 the family moved to a new them at 79 Greeley Ave. Another son Charles was born in this house in 1914. During the early 1920s this home was rented to summer residents from N.Y. City, while the Otto family lived temporally at 22 Willett Ave. In 1930 she accepted her eight month old nephew home which had been built for Charles, was born in this house home was rented to XXXXXXXXXX ~ residents family lived temporarily at her eight-month old nephew, David DeGraff into her home after the unexpected death of his mother, and kept him until her death in 1937 (coronary thrombosis).Belle was relatively tall (5'-10") and erect, pink-cheekedand comely of face, with brown eyes and very long dark hair. She was a woman of great understanding and sympathy, to whom many persons came for comfort and guidance when troubled. She was active in the Sayville Congregational Church, serving a term as president of its womens society, the Needlecraft Club. She helped found the Sayville Library Association, and was a founding member of the Women's Village Improvement Society, serving a term as president but declining to be its candidate for member of the Sayville-School Beard of Education. For many years she was active in the Sayville Study Club, a group interested in literature. Best of all, she maintained a home to which four children looked with reverent memories, as they strove to provide the same atmosphere for their own children.
To Descendants of the OTTO and DEGRAFF Families.The accompanying family trees probably give you far more information about your ancestors than you cared to know.. Many of the strangers you see on the streets may be your shirt tail relatives. As with most family trees there must be some sap, and some black misshapen twigs. Fortunately this presentation gives them anonymity. Best leave them that way.The records contain many g?ps in information. Belle Otto workel on these gaps for several years, andLouis L. Otto has worked on them some. What is presented is the best information presently available. I hope it expands your knowledge of your "roots".Using Belle's recorded information and my limited memory I have tried to give some personality (color, as it is called on TV) to keyfigures among our direct 'ancestres.' • For the present generation -your many cousins -- I will let you gather your own information,you probably know it better than I.For my generation, I know of only five cousins left: 1) Louis L. Otto, a retired professor living in Brooksville, Fla.; 2) Dr.Bertram B. Otto, a retired dentist from Bayshore, Long Island, living in Daytona, Fla.; 3) Julia Otto Wallace, a retired realtor from Bellport, Long Island, living in Brookhaven, Long Island; 4)Betty DeGraff DeRool an housewife living in Moorestown, New Jersey; md 5) David DeGraff, a stock Inters agent living in Bayport, LongIsland. There may be a few others living in the Yonkers area of whom I am not aware. Your generation is spread from California toVermont, and possibly farther.The Otto and DeGraff families are long-lived. Check the records shown. Prepare yourselves for an extended retirement. As a caution, there are two hereditary defects which John Otto Sr. nas3ed llong to his descendants. He was deaf, and was afflicted with familial palsy. His son John and his daughter Anna were very deaf very early in life. His sons Then and Louis were partially deaf. In my generation Bertram Otto and Herbert Parkhill are partially deaf. Hopefully this trait will die out, but at present it is treatable by hearing aids.Severe incidence of familial palsy seems to have missed John Ottos children, but showed up in Belle and Louis L. Otto and Herbert Parkhill. Presently the condition is not cureable, and only Inderal (propranolol) and ethyl alcohol are effective drugs against it. Indegil is also a heart and blood pressure medicine, and should only be taken udder medical supervision. Ethyl alcohol is very effective, tho very teMporary„ but it is addictive, so beware. Hopefully this trait is recessive, and will also disappear.Unfortunately for the impact of this genealogical record my generation is the last one to have lived in the Sayville area, and to have more than an inkling of the mono-ethnic character of West Sayville from the 1850's to the 1950's. One more generation of separation from our roots in Holland makes the connection with the "old country" very tenuous also. For your information, West Sayville had only dutchmen (hollanders) in residence, northern East Islip had only Czechs, Waverly Ave. in Patchogue had only italians, Bohemia had only Czechs, Hagerman had only italians. There ,ere also many other small mono-ethnic pockets on Long Island. World war II andits influx of city dwellers ended all this isolation.There are several typing errors in this (per line that is).Anyone wishing to type themselves a perfect copy has my permission./s/ Lewis Leslie Otto
"The following was done by Belle Otto with help from Lewis Leslie Otto"
Family Background in Holland Dinah DeGraff gave to Betty DeGraff DeRoo loose pages cut from two Dutch Bibles, carrying written records in Dutch. Since the paper was thin, the ink from one side bled through to the other side, and much of the ink has faded. Some of the script is difficult to read in itself, since the letters are in the forms used at that time and not used now.The older Bible was printed in 1802, its pages are larger than the second Bible. It has not been translated, but with the help of a Dutch dictionary I have gleaned what I could. The smaller Bible pages were translated for me by a friend from Holland.All the people involved (with the few exceptions noted) lived and died in Bruinisse (apparently an older spelling) or Brunisse (modern spelling),a community on the island of Duiveland in the delta of_Ihg-,Scheldt-Maas river system below RotterdamThe older BibleThere are three different handwritings, and I wild judge that they were written by (1)my great-great grandmother Ariejaantje Arijse Borsje *, who kept the records from her marriage in 1816 until her death in 1831, then (2) her husband Pieter de Koning, and finally (3) a third person, possiblyPieter's second wife.page 1 AnUg.Ariejaantje Arijse Borsje, aged 23, and PieterAde Koning, aged 21, were married by the law and by the church on December 8, 1816 in Brunisse.[The child-Pieternella de Koning wrote "Brunisse. PieternelladeKoning" on page 1 and scribbled on page 2.]page 2 [In a different handwriting]Johanna ..n.eerhat (?) was born on August 13, 1805 and baptized on August 18. She married Z (2) on August 15, 1832.[My question: Was she the second wife?]page .2 [In the handwriting of page 1]Lena de Koning was born on Tuesday morning, February 3, 1818 at Wijk A5.[Apparently Wijk A5 was the home address.]Anthonij de Koning was born on Wednesday morning, May 26, 1819. Arij de Koning was born on Friday morning June 16, 1820.Cornelia de Koning was born on Sunday morning October 21, 1821.Dina de Koning was born on Friday morning June 13, 1823 at our home. There seem to be several spellings of this first name. Ultimately my great aunt, Hannah Verspoor Hiddink, who was named Ariaantje, convertedit to Hannah.Family background in Holland3The older Dutch Bible, continuedpage 4 [In the handwriting of page 1]Pieternella de Koning was born on January 7, 1825 at 10 o'clock on Friday morning.Anthonija de Koning was born on Thursday morning, July 26, 1827.Anthonij de Koning was born on December 1, 1828, on Monday afternoon at 6 o'clock.Willemiena de Koning was born on March 3, 1830, Wednesday, and baptized on July 6, 1830.[At this point the handwriting changes, and I cannot read it. Apparently some one, perhaps named Leendert, died on June 7, 1884, aged 65 years, 7 months and 28 days.]page 5 [This page is in the handwriting I presume to be that of Pieterde Koning.]My child Anthonij de Koning died Monday, August 21, 1820, and was buried on Thursday, August 26, 1820.The child Anthonij de Koning died February 3, 1828 The child Anthonij de Koning died June 7, 1830, aged . .My wife, Arijaantje Borsje died Monday, August 8, 1831, aged 38 5 /12 years and was buried August 10. Wijk A5. page 6 [This page begins in the same handwriting as page 5, Pieter de Koning's] My child Cornelia de Koning died Sunday, February 11, 1838, aged 16 years 6 months, and was buried on February 15. Wijk A5My child Anthonij de Koning died at 5 o'clock on Monday, May 21, 1838 at three years, buried May 26. Wijk AS[At this point the third handwriting appears, for the rest ofthe page.] My mother Lena van den Busse died Thursday, March 16, 1844 and was buried March 18, 1844.My child Jan de Koning died58P51E6t 23, 1845, aged 8 months, 19 days, and was buried August 26.The child Jan de Koning died on November 26, 1846, aged 7 months, 12 days.END
Notes on the DeGraff and Verspoor Families
Ny Grandmother DeGraff (belle Verspoor DeGraff) told me (Belle Otto) about 1917 shout Cornelius DeGraff and his wife Lucy van Overhois DeGraff, Leendert Verspoor and Dihah deKoning Verspoor. They all came from the village of Bruinisse on the island of Duiveland in the mouth of the Maas-Scheldte river system in Holland. The spelling for the names varied. One branch of the DeGraffs used the DeG~aff spelling, a West Sayville branch used DeGraaf, which was probably the original dutch spelling. DeKonig and Wespoor are occassionally seen, although Dinah DIXonlng Verspoor used the additional n and r. This appears in her own handwriting in family bible records.
Note 1
Cprnelius DeGraff and his wife Leuntje )sometimes converted into the English equivalents of Lerna and Lucy) came to the United States in 1852 ~ith two children, Matthew and Hannah. They came in a small sailing vessel, and had almost reached their destination when they were driven back almost to Europe by a severe storm, hence thay were six weeks on the way. They went to western New York state for a while, then returned to Holland and in 1 862 came back to the states. They lived then first in Bayport, then in Oakdal~, and finally settled in West Sayville. Their two daughters, Hannah and Coby, lived in or near Grand Rapids, Mich. after they were married. The five sons, Matthew, Cornelius, John, Peter, and Garrett all settled in Sa~ville or West Sa~ville. Peter was shot and killed in a hunting accident. There is a photo of the four surviving brothers taken around 1915. Carol DeGraff (David's daughter) has large photos of Cornelius Sr. and Leuntje.
Note 2
Cornelius Jr. and Fannie DeGraff lived in an old house at the far west end of Montauk Highway in West Sayville, beyond the old Bientema Dairy. Charles Dickerson refers to this as the "DeGraff House" on page 14 in his book on the History of Ss~w-ille. Fanny was small, wiry, and eccentric, Cornelius was tall, portly, and stolid. Fannie Smith DeGraff was a sister of Mrs. Jacob Ockers, and an aunt to Miss Louise Ockers. To me (LLO) Cornelius was Great Uncle Case. I made many trips on my bicycle to his house ~ith messages from my Aunt Dinah. He had real estate interests in the beach colony ~ Ocean Beach (as did Aunt Dinah), and periodically he would load a sm~11 motor boat which he kept moored in Greene's River at Montauk Highway with garden produce and go to Ocean Beach to sell the produce and check on his properties. Often
Aunt Dinah would go olong --accompanied by me (never miss a chance for a boat ride and a soJour$ at the beach). His boat was a horrible example of ,'b~ling wire and rubber bands", but ~ always man~ ed to get to the beach and back.
Note 3
I can just remember and old lady, Aunt Coby. who sometimes came from Michigan to visit. The story is told that she commonly avoided the problem of too much luggage on this journey by ~earing most of her clothing, in layers. Of her children, Lerna and Aunt Dinah were good friends, and ~£ mother was a friend to her cousin "Harm", who sometimes c~me east to visit. Cornelius (Kale) lived in Massachusetts.
Matthew V~ ~ke may be in the wrong position, he may have been a son of Cornelius or Henry. He was probRhly born between 1~0-1905.
He worked for a number of years in Alaska, operating a fox farm on one cf the islands. He worked also in railroad construction. He returned to the states, coming as a young man to visit the West Ss~ville DeGraffs in the 192Os. He brought with him mar~ pieces of copper ore (green malachite and blue dmurite) which he had made into pendants (drop and heart shapes) with skilled craftsmanship. These he gave to the ladies of the family. I have the one he gave to Grandmother DeGraff. Betty DeRoohas another. There was a dark blue heart given to Aunt Dinah, which she had bound in gold.
4
~atthew and Belle Versoocr DeGraff. Matthew DeGraff (1848-1919) was the eldest child of Cornelius and Lucy DeGrmff. He came to the United States at the age of 4, but the family soon returned to Holland. They came again in 1862 when Matthew was 14. After living in Bayport, and then in Oakdale, they settled in West Sayville, where Matthew lived until his marriage to Belle Verspoor on Marsh 23, 1868 when each was 20 years old.
Matthew and Belle DeGraff lived in a house at the corner of Candee and Maple Avenues (NW) in Ss~wille until, in the late 187Os, they built the house still standing at 53 Greeley Ave. I remember this house from m~ (BOT) early childhood as a two story structure contaiulng a parlor and two bedrooms on the first floor and three tiny bedrooms on the second floor. There was a one story wing which held the dining room-sitting room and the kitchen. An attic over this wing held, for my interest, toysua cradle, a doll, and doll dishes with which I played. I still have the green glass sugar bowl. Beside the kitchen was s covered well, with a window opening into it from the kitchen. In the rear yard were a big grape arbor, many currant bushes, and a plum tree. The parlor had a lot of fancy shells, corals, etc., that Grandfather had acquired from sea captains.
Matthew was a t~ll bearded man. Captain DeGraff earned his living with his small coastwise schooner, the Marion L. Cummings, on which he carried oysters, clams, coal, etc. to or from New York City and Connecticut. Capt. DeGraff and his schooner appeared in one of
the very early movies, perhaps around 1907, ~ich may have had Alice Brady as its star. Because of bis occupation, Capt. DeGraff was away from home a great deal. Belle DeGraff was a very quiet, placid person, a good housewife who seldom ventured from her own home. After rearing her own family she raised her grandsons George and Burton DeGraff, who with their father Cornelius came to live with her after the death of their mother in 1912.
Matthew and Belle DeGraff had two sons, Cornelius ~d Leonard, and four daughters, Lena, who died in childhood, and ainah, Belle, and Lucy.
Note 5
Dinah DeGraff - Aunt Dinah, She was a milliner, and operated a millinery shop in S~yville until hats for women ceased to be popular and essential. She dabbled in real estate, owning two houses in Ocean Beach, one on lower Greene Ave, and two on Greeley Ave., all of which she rented. She was active in civic affairs, particularly in the votes for women campaigns, in the Study Club, in the Sayville Congregational Church, and in the S~yville Public Library, serving as treasurer of the latter for many years. After their mother's death in 1926, she and Lucy shared the house at 53 Greeley Ave. Cornelius DeGraff moved back here in 1928 with his daughter Betty after the death of his wife Dorothy. Betty lived ~th Aunt Dinah until 1948, when she
married Bob DeRoo. David DeGraff spent his summers with Aunt Dinah from 1940, and lived there with her and his sister from 1941.
(LID) Dinah's first millinery shop in Sayville was on Main St. directly opposite the old Post Office. H er younger sister Belle was an assistant in this shop. When it closed Dinah worked for, or with another woman in a women's dress shop at "The Point" (junction north and south Main Streets). Later on, for several summers, she operated a curio shop on the ferry slip in Ocean Beach.
~;ote 6
Cornelius DeGr:ff (1874-1931) was the third child and eldest son of Matthew and Belle Verspoor DeGraff. A tall man with abundant dark wavy hairS he was a carpenter and skilled craftsman. Many of his ~rking years were spent in building the houses in the then new development of Brightwaters. He was a skillful sailor, owning a succession of sail or power boats, and was active in sail boat and scooter racing on the Great South Bay.
His first wife was Mary Jane Rhodes, daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth Rhodes. They had two sons, and lived at the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Henry Street beside her parents. Jane died of tuberculosis in the sramher of 1912, and Cornelius moved with his sons to his mother's home.
He married Dorothy Archer (see Note 7) in 1922. They lived on upper Greene Avenue for a time, then in the house on Greeley Avenue in which Louis A. and Belle DeGraff Otto had lived in the first seven years of their marriage, and in which Lucy Belle and Louis Leslie Otto were born. Betty and David DeGraff were also born there. Cornelius and Dorothy DeGraff had purchased the house at 69 Greeley Avenue and were preparing to move into it at the time of her death. This house was later moved away to make room for the new school yard. This same school expansion demolished the Louis A. Otto house, the John Otto Sr. house, and the John Terry house.
Dorothy Archer DeGraff died of pneumonia in November 1928. Cornelius and his three year old daughter then returned to his old home, then occupied by his sisters Dinah and Lucy. His infant son David lived with Cornelius' sister, Belle DeG~aff Otto, and her family, two houses up the street. Cornelius died of pneumonia on December 2?, 1931, leaving four tall children as survivors.
~rothy Archer DeGraff Dorothy Archer was born in 1890 and
lived in the Newark area of New Jersey. She was a graduate of
Newark ? High School and of Goucher College, Class of 1913. She
was a popular student, active in class affairs. In her Freshman
year she was elected by her class as Chairman of Freshman Boat
Ride, an important position, and in her Sophomore year she served
as Class President. She was a member of Alpha Phi sorority, and active
in college dramatics. She majored in history ~/or ~hglish. Dor-
othy Archer had a happy cheerful disposition and was an easy con-
versationallst. She marne friends easily. She was about 5' ~" in
height, had dark hair with a tint of red and some tendency to curl.
Her daughter Betty DeRoo looks very much like her.
Dorothy's parents, Elliott a~M ELizabeth Lay Archer, had three
daughters, Elizabeth (later Mrs William ), Dmeothy, and Julia
(later Mrs. ). After Elliott and Elizabeth Archer were
divorced, Mrs. Archer mantled William Martin, U.S.Navy. He was sta-
tioned at the Wireless Station in West Sayville, and they lived for
several years in Sayville, where Dorothy Jained them. Elizabeth
continued to live in New Jersey, Julia lived with her mother and ~M.
Martin, taking the name Julia Martin. Dorothy worked for a time
for a Newark newspaper ?, then as a reporter for the Suffolk County News in Sayville, then became legal secretary to Joseph Wood, a lawyer in Sayville. She held this position until her maA~iage. She did a lot of tutoring in high school subjects along the way, and some substitute teaching in the Sayville High School.
/5
Note 8
$elle (Lena Isabelle) DeG~aff was the fourth child of Belle and Matthew DeGraff. Until her marriage to Louis Alfrdd Otto she lived at the family home at 53 Greeley Ave. She attended the local elementary school, and then trained as a seamstress and dressmaker, living for a time in Brooklyn for this training. After her marriage in 1903 she and her husband moved to the stone front house farther up Greeley Avenue which had been built as Ike Greene's architecture office. A daughter Belle (Lucy Belle) and a son Louis Leslie were born there, and in 1911 the f~mily moved to a new home which had been built for them at 79 Greeley Ave. Another sons Charles, was born in this house in 1914. During the early 192Os this home was rented to summer residents from N.Y. City, while the Otto family lived temporarily at 22 Willett Ave. In 1930 she accepted her eight-month old nephew, David DeGraff into her home after the unexpected death of his mother, and kept him until her death in 1937 (coronary thrombosis).
Belle was relatively tall (5'-10") and erect, pink-cheeked
and comely of face, with brown eyes and very long dark hair. She was a woman of great understanding and sympat~, to whom many persons came far comfort and guidance when troubled. She was active in the Sa~lle Congregational Church, serving a term as president of its womans society, the Needlecraft Club. She helped found the Sayville Library Association, and was a founding member of the Women's Village Improvement Society, serving a term as president but declining to be its candidate for member of the S~yvi!le-School Board of Education. For many years she was active in the S~yville Study Club, a group interested in literature. Best of all, she maintained a home to which four children looked with reverent memoried, as they strove to provide the same atmosphere for their own children.
Louis Alfred Otto was the fifth child of John and Cornelia Hage Otto, born on June 5, 1875, in a family of five boys and one sister. H is father was a "bayman", a~ as soon as the boys were physically able they accompanied their father on the bay to tong for clams or oysters, to dredge for scallops, to net for fish. Attendance at school was secondax~y to working, and only when the bay was iced over, or the weather was too mean to womk in exposed locations were the boys allowed to go to school. As a result Louis received only about 4 years of schooling ---1during Januaries and Februaries. Later he supplemented this meager formal training with extensive reading.
Father John Otto was a good Dutchman and believed in paying homage to his religion, requiring his family to sit through long prayers and devotions, a practice not understandable to young children ~shlng to get out and olay with their contemporaries. In spite of irksome prayer time at home, Louis and his brothers hung around local out-of-doors revival meetings enough to become well versed in the hy~.~ which were used, so he could teach them to his daughter later.
Apparently father John Otto was a strict disciplinarian while at work too. Per my father, one day he was berating John Jr. for loafing ~ile tonging. To escape the tirade John Jr. jumped overboard and swam to an oyster lot stake for support. The stake, weakened by toredo worms, broke off, and ~ohn Jr. had no choice but to come back to the boat and face his father, who was armed with a rope's end. As soon as they were able to support themselves ~11
|
1876 - 1937 (61 years)
