By Jack Lane
My mother was born in South Jersey July 25, 1917. I know very little of her childhood as she never discussed anything about that part of her life. She went to high school at Collingwood High and was graduated from there.
She had been named for her mother Althea but never liked that name. She always signed A. Elizabeth but everyone knew her as Beth. As I mentioned earlier her parents were divorced at some point and she lived with friends. I have no idea why because as a grown woman she maintained a relationship with both parents.
Earl Bartling--her father--was a successful businessman who owned a lumber yard. We visited there several times and I was told it was the largest yard in South Jersey. Of course that may have come about years after the divorce.
After high school my mother went to work for a bookbinding company, The Haddon Press. It may have been there that she met my father [John Mathias Lane] as Haddon Press could have been a customer of Potomac. At any rate they were married on August 2, 1939.
Mom converted from Presbyterian to Catholic when they were married. She became a good Catholic with special devotion to the Blessed Mother.
…………….
Jack writes, “It is hard to imagine a more caring and loving mother than mine. My brother (Edward) and I always came first for her, possibly to a fault. My father would always ask her to attend his annual business convention but she would rarely go. The first time I remember them going away was in 1952 when they went to Bermuda. Apparently there had been friction about it because my grandmother (Nana) had stayed with my brother and me. She foolishly said some things to me that indicated there might be marital trouble. I did not understand it and it made me upset. Presumably it was just a typical marriage bump in the road as no one ever mentioned anything again.
“Mom loved to putter in her back yard and always had flowers in bloom. She was also very good with animals. Several times we adopted stray cats and one summer she had a squirrel that would come to the back door and eat out of her hand. Once or twice she nursed injured birds back to health. She also had an artistic talent and once took an art class. She liked to draw and was good at it but never developed her talent. We have one very nice pastel of an Indian boy that she did. My brother has one oil and unfortunately I do not know of any other pieces that exist."
“In the mid 1960’s mom developed breast cancer and had an operation and chemo. Although it successfully destroyed the cancer she was left mentally scarred. After that she was always afraid of doctors.
“Everyone who knew her loved her but in many respects she was a very inward, private person. She died at the age of 57 on March 19th, 1975 of a cardiovascular problem that was never explained to my satisfaction. It had something to do with the blood vessels in the lungs becoming clogged.
“Shortly after she died Dad developed Hodgkin’s Disease and for a time lived with Barbara and me. He went into remission and a year later remarried [to Dorothy] and moved from Merrick to Port Washington. His recovery was short lived as the cancer returned and he died June 27th, 1981. Dad always had a strong faith in God and the Catholic Church. I am sure he is resting peacefully in heaven.”
Jack’s info [LFDJACKSRECOLLECTIONS1:1] gives us his paternal grandmother as Mary Frances (nee McGown) Lane and his paternal grandfather as John Mathias Lane born in Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1889. “His trade was as an Electrotyper.”
His paternal great grandmother as Catharine Kelly and his paternal great grandfather as John M. Lane [possibly Jerimia]. He knows nothing of Catharine and lists John/Jerimia as probably being born in Massachusetts, perhaps around 1849. He writes, “Some of the old records give his name as Jerimia.”
His maternal grandmother is listed as Mary Frances McGown.
Jack refers to Mary Frances as Grandmom. And tells us she was born in Philadelphia in 1886. She died in Merrick, Long Island in 1967. “For the last years of her life she lived with my parents [Nana Beth and John Lane]. She had at least one brother, Joe. Before she and my grandfather moved to Laurel Springs, NJ they lived at 2947 North Taney Street in Philadelphia.”
Mary Frances was actually Jack’s paternal grandmother, married to John Mathias Lane (born 1889).
His maternal great grandmother was listed as Mary Agnes Molloy who was married to James McGown. Jack says James McGown was probably born in or near Philadelphia. And Mary Agnes (nee Molloy) McGown, Jack was told, had been born in Ireland.
So, Mary Agnes and James were the parents of Mary Frances who married John Mathias Lane (1889-1934).
Of Jack’s maternal side of the family tree, he writes, “Unlike the sparse Lane genealogy, the Bartling family information goes back a long way. In 1979 I asked my father what he knew of the family tree. Although he had little information on the Lanes, McGowns, Hoveys or Bartlings he tried to find out. The only one that he had success with was the Bartlings. He got a letter from Raymond H. Bartling who was living in Florida. Apparently he was a cousin of my mother and had compiled a pretty complete Bartling family tree. I would like to quote a few sentences from his letter…
Even though we lost contact with you and Beth, we often think of you two, and I dearly love Beth. Had she not been my cousin I would have wanted to marry her. I believe that she was one of the sweetest and prettiest girls I ever knew.
The Bartling tree goes way back to Johann Bartling and his wife Anna Margaret Grave who were my great great great great great great great grandparents. Their son Johann Toemies was born in 1694. The first Bartling born in this country was my great grandfather August John Henry Bartling in 1868.”
Jack’s information then gives us the following tree…
Johann Toemies Bartling (born 1694, died 1772) married Anna Sidonia Rishmoeller (born 1697, died 1772)
Johann Hermann Bartling (born 1736, died 1800) married Catharine Elisabeth Rese (born 1730, died 1768)
Johann Conrad Bartling (born 1764, died 1828) married Anna Maria Elisabeth Meyer (born 1754, died 1824)
Conrad Fredrich Wilhelm Bartling (born 1796, died 1868) married Henriette Catherine Leiss.
Conrad was born in Prussia like his predecessors, but Conrad died in Greenville Park, Ohio.
Heinrich Conrad Bartling (born 1820 in Friedrichsburg, Prussia) married Caroline C. Eggers.
George Duffield married Beulah A. Cooper
August John Henry Bartling (born 1868 in Philadelphia, PA, died 1916 in Collingswood, NJ) married Hannah Elizabeth Duffield (born 1869 Blackwood, NJ, died 1896 in Oaklyn, NJ)
Earl F. Bartling (born 1896 in Oaklyn, NJ, died 1954 Oaklyn, NJ)
Jack: “As I wrote earlier my grandfather had remarried and had two boys by his new wife whom we call ‘Aunt’ Edith. We visited them only occasionally and usually I would play outside with the boys who were only a little older than me. They had a large yard and lived a few miles from Nana and Gov.”
Jack explains of Earl Francis, “My most vivid image of him was when he was in the hospital that last summer. He had a tracheotomy because of throat cancer and had a hole in his throat. I was 13 and found it amazing. My father’s mother never liked Earl and felt he was a very hard man. He must have been a good businessman because his lumber yard in Oaklyn was very successful.”
Jack’s info [Lane family document--Jack’s Recollections 1:1] also tells us a little bit more about Nana Beth’s mother Althea Ruth Hovey who became a Bartling when she married Earl. Althea Ruth’s birthday was July 9th and she was born about 1897. She married Earl Bartling in 1915 or 1916. As mentioned, Althea Ruth and Earl got a divorce and afterwards Althea Ruth married to Howard Reed. Althea and Howard lived in Oaklyn, NJ and would visit Jack and his wife, Barbra, on Long Island. Althea Ruth died of stomach cancer in 1954.
Jack writes, “Although Howard Reed was not my blood relative I always thought of him as my grandfather. I called him ‘Gov.’ I don’t know how he came to be called that. He had been a home builder but lost out during the depression. By the time I knew him he had gone into local politics and was the tax assessor in Oaklyn. He was a Democrat as was my Nana (Althea Ruth) and also my father’s mother (Grandmom, Mary Lane). When they would all visit and I was in my bedroom upstairs they would have heated political discussions with my father who had become a Republican.
“When I was a young boy, Gov and I would take long walks around Merrick, and he would comment on design and aesthetics of all the homes. At the time I did not understand why he was interested but I did enjoy walking with him.
“I know nothing of any other relatives he may have had, nor do I know if my Nana had brothers or sisters. Howard Reed lived for more than 10 years after Nana died. We continued to visit with him. When he died he left his house and everything else to my mother (Nana Beth).”
Althea Ruth Hovey Bartling’s parents were Harry J. Hovey who married Ida Steel.
Ida’s parents were William and Sara (Ault) Steel.
Harry’s parents were Harry and Amanda (Hoff) Hovey.
