Little York, Pine Island

The following came in an April 11, 2010 response to all the previous entries in this story entitled "Little York, Pine Island." My guess is that the author is actually a cousin of mine (my father's first cousin) [the response was sent anonymously], who I have likely never met, but this response identifies many of the people mentioned in the original inquiry regarding past owners of and relationships to a house located in Little York.

Because the "comment" was sent anonymously I have no way of responding, but if the person who sent the following sees this he/she can email me at: rpschmick1@aol.com. This past Tuesday I listened to a presentation about the history of the US Census. The fact is that the census results are only published some 70 years after the information is collected. The Church of the Latter Day Saints has taken on the task of digitilizing US Census information from 1880 on, so this is why this information can now be found on the Internet. I only learned this recently, so I plan on visiting some of the sources that this anonymous respondee has mentioned. I may add that the passage on the SS Bulgaria from Hamburg occurred in 1898. I had also believed, and perhaps wrongly, that "Conrad," brother of Johann had set out for the US many years before making his way to the Warwick area.

Hi,
I was reading your posting concerning the Schmick's of Pine Island. My grandfather was John (Johannes) and my grandmother was Catherine (Catherina).They went from Yagodnaya Polyana for Hamburg Germany. They left Germany on the SS Bulgaria with their four sons Alexander,Phillip, John, and Peter. Also traveling on the same ship was his brother Conrad his wife Maria (Mary) children Heinrich, Martin, Maria, their mother Maria, brothers Peter, Heinrich and sister Anna. On the Ellis Island web site their name is spelled SCHNICK. The written manifest from Hamburg looks like Schnick, but if you look closely it is Schmick.

They are buried in Little Brooklyn Cemetary. John died 1943, Catherine died 1956. Conrad died 1938 and Mary died 1945.

In 2002 my sister and I visited St. Paul's now Pine Island Bible Church, St. Peter's and the cemetery. I was not able to locate the farm my mother was raised on. I am surprised it is still in operation.

A lot information I found was on the Later Day of Saints web site. I went into the library and picked the films I wanted to view. Also Faith of Our Fathers by Susan M. Yungman is also on file. I was able to make a copy of it.

I would like to hear from you and maybe exchange some information.

Anonymous

Hello,

I was browsing the web tonight and came across your Warwick hometown blog after searching keywords "Little York". I own circa 1900 home on the road and have been diving into the local history of the house, Little York, & Pine Island. On your blog you have pictures of snowstorms on Little York and mentioned your grandfather owned a house there in the 1920's. I have old deeds to my home on Little York and were curious if they are also your relatives. Perhaps I have some information you would be interested in and you may have photos or information I would be interested in.

Here's what I have:

Deed from John W. Simpson to Conrod Schmick 1905
Deed from Conrod Schmick & Catherine Schmick to John Sirkable 1905
mentioning of John Schmick & Mary Schmick owning property in 1911
Deed from Peter Schmick & Elizabeth Schmick to Henry Gerlitz 1913

Are these also distant relatives? I have these deeds, then there is a gap and I have records from 1966 - 1980's. Is it possibly your grandfather lived in the house I own? Perhaps there are pictures or documents we could share?

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Dear …[Anonymous], Thanks very much for making the connection. I will have to work on tracking down the names and the connections but the Schmicks of Little York were all related in some way, and often related to the others of the area like the Schlagels, Paffenroths, Lufts,… etc. The fact is that they all immigrated from one of several small villages in the Volga River region of Russia ( around the city of Saratov, specifically) where there was a large settlement of ethnic Germans who actually immigrated to Russia as a group of some 60 families in 1763-4 from Germany near Frankfurt and many came from the town of Budingen, a medieval fortress town. Both sides of my family originated from this group. The pics I have of Little York are of my maternal grandmother's parents' farm---[Johann]Phillip and Katherine Schlagel Kiel. The farm and farmhouse looks the same as in the pics which date from the “Snowstorm of 1947 [ one that probably paled to Warwick’s latest snowstorm]; you probably recognize the farm because it is set back from the road. I recently saw that someone had arranged a quantity of glacial erratics near its roadside.
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I have many pics of that farm that I haven't posted. Among the names you include there is Conrad ( rather than “ Conrod” that appears on your document) Schmick. I believe he was one of the earliest to settle in the black dirt region. Often a family member came to the US, scouted out a region to settle, and eventual bought a small farm. Later, others from the same family, or extended family, followed them to the US and, ultimately, in this case, found their way to Little York in later decades. Conrad may have come as early as the 1870s. My great grandfather John ( or Johann) came to Little York in 1898 from Russia; he was not the Johann or “John” of your document; I know of another “John” in Little York of this time. But unlike Phillip Kiel, Johann Schmick came straight to Little York rather than worked elsewhere before finding his way to it. Schmick was in his 30s and Kiel was in his early teens when they made the journey to the US. Check the online records of St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Little York. I also remember reading that Conrad Schmick and Peter Miller ( there were many Peter Millers---one of my great grandfathers also had this name but not the same one paired with Conrad, were the first to take a loan from the Warwick Savings Bank in the 19th century. My great grandfather John [Johann] Schmick's wife's name was Katherine Schadt Schmick, as I recently learned. John had been a soldier in the Russian army in his youth; he immigrated in his early 30s with a large family which eventually grew to include 14 children, I believe. He had a farm in Edenville eventually, and that farm still is operating and is owned by the schlagels [ that circumstance may have changed?]. I have gotten much feedback from this blog, and the information is still evolving. I will send this on to a second cousin of mine whose father, I believe, was Peter Schmick ( maybe the same?), and the dates would match the time frame of his young adulthood.

Any chance of sending a scan of these documents with the names on them? FYI There is a cemetery next to the Pine Island Elementary School that has many of the Schmicks buried in it, and this, I believe, to have been a second parish of evangelical Lutherans in Little York, St.Paul’s. There is another cemetery, I believe, connected with St. Peter's in Little York village, but I have never visited it.You might find some of these names in your document in these two places. I will get back to you with what info. I can drum up. Sincerely, Bob
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Thanks for the information. I have never been to the cemetery next to Pine Island Elem, but have seen the one right on Little York. I would be very interested to see pictures of the Kiel farm/house... I'm not sure which one it is on the road, perhaps the house we are currently living in. I've checked the 1903 maps of Little York and saw that "C. Schmick" is listed as owned of multiple properties.

I'll see what I can do about scanning those deeds... it might take a week or so but I'll send them over to you. Can you e-mail a photo of the Kiel house? Thanks, hope to hear from you.

---[anonymous]
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Dear [anonymous],
Attached are some pics of the brick house and the barn without the later silo in front [ and i may add that there were many dairy farms at one time in this area, although it is known for produce. On the uplands of Little York, there were dairy farmers including Phillip Kiel, my great grandfather and my great uncle Henry ["Huck"] Miller whose farm burned and was located across from the location of the Kiel farm on County Rt. 1 . These [photos] may be in the late 1930s. The ……….. owned this house in the 70s right up until I left Warwick in the early 80s after graduating. …….was in my class. I have a hand crank door bell to the house some place and more pics, if this is your house. Bob
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Robert,

Thank you for sending those GREAT pictures so quickly!! I believe that house is on the corner of County Rt. 1 and Horseshoe Lane... my house is on Little York near the Lutheran Church. The house certainly is still there though there is quite a bit of foliage in front of it. I'll work on getting the deeds scanned for you and I would be curious if the former Schmick owners of my home are indeed your relatives.

---[anonymous]
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The C. Shimck that Ryan is refering to might be Clarence Schmick who always lived in the Little York area. Helen Ernhaut might be able to put some insight into this ." Schmickie" as we called him , if still alive , would be 85 years old , or there abouts . Just a tidbit ! [ anonymous two ]
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Dear [anonymous]: I read back through our emails. I have shared these emails with other relations who have connected with me as a result of the blog. The Kiels ( Johann Phillip Kiel and wife Katherine Schlagel Kiel (1896-1965) who lived in that house were my great grandparents not my grandparents as you state in one email. I was only 2 or 3 when both of them passed away. And by the way I got those pics and many others from my great aunt … who still lives in Warwick and is 86 years old. She grew up in that brick house in Little York. Her father, Phillip Kiel lived from 1889-1966. He and his wife came to the US from Saratov, Russia both around the same time---1901--1902. I have copies of their Russian passports. They were ethnic Germans whose first language was German but Phillip spoke and wrote some Russian, I believe. I have his "Die Bibel" that he carried with him to the US, and he wrote his name in Cyrillic in this book. I have recorded all this family history in blank pages I had sewed into it when I had it rebound so getting more info. is my incentive and your inquiry and others often motivates me to learn and find out just a little bit more.

Phillip came to the US by himself in 1901-2; Katherine came with her parents and siblings; Phillip's older brother Heinrich or "Henry" had come to the US a few years before him. They left a sister, and perhaps other siblings?, back in Russia who were never heard from again when the 2nd World War broke out ( before that Phillip would send them care packages and received correspondence from them), so they were likely sent to Siberia and died there or were shot as many ethnic Germans in Russia were at this time. The ethnic Germans weren't very popular with the Russians during the war of course and whole villages with ethnic Germans were wiped out. Initially, when Phillip came to the US he worked delivering ice in Coney Island, Brooklyn, ( there's a pic of the ice wagon he worked on in the blog with him standing next to it, circa 1907) and eventually found his way to Little York with other Volga-Germans like himself.
I would guess the two brothers knew about this "Little York" enclave before they left Russia because most of the people of Little York came from Saratov and its environs.The older brother Henry Kiel bought a farm in Kinderhook, NY eventually, and Phillip eventually bought this farm in the pictures, but he was in his 30s or older by the time he could afford to buy it. He had worked at many jobs including a long stint with the Lehigh and Hudson Railroad / or the Central Railroad of New Jersey that used to run through Warwick. He sold the Little York farm sometime around the end of the 40s and moved to the village of Warwick and later built a new house on West Street Extension near the later middle school.

One of my relatives weighed in that "C. Schmick" might be Clarence Schmick, but I think that's not right. You have written "Conrod," and it was definitely "Conrad" because he was a prominent member of the community. There are records from St. Peter's Church in Little York online. You can find Conrad Schmick, the year he came to the US, how old he was, and his children etc. I believe. If you can't find it let me know.I have the url address recorded but it should come up in a google search. There have been history articles in past years in The Warwick Dispatch that mentioned “Conrad Schmick.” I will find something eventually for you. FYI there is a new historical society formed for your community, and they might have some information to share with you. I have some email addresses to connect with them as they have also found my blog out and contacted me. Sincerely, Bob