Treasure Chest Thursday: Joe Wilson and Tillie Liebross Marriage Certificate

My maternal grandparents, Joseph Wilson and Tillie Liebross, married in New York City in 1917. It took a few tries to locate this record in the ItalianGen.org index because I initially queried on "Joseph Wilson." Since the clerk has abbreviated his first name, no one named Jos Wilson showed up in the results. Thankfully, the person who'd indexed this record spelled Tillie's last name correctly as "Liebross" (as Tillie had signed it) as opposed to "Lebross" (as the clerk had written it) and I was able to locate the record via my grandmother's name.

New York County, New York, Certificate and Record of Marriage no. 31607 (31 May 1917), Jos. Wilson and Tillie Liebross, Municipal Archives, New York.

Items in red are discussed further in this post.

 [1st page]
Groom: Jos. Wilson
Residence: 2086 Vyse Av
Age: 25
Color: White
Single, Widowed or Divorced: Single
Occupation: Salesman
Birthplace: Russia
Father's Name: Saul
Mother's Maiden Name: Hoda Epstein
Number of Groom's Marriage: 1st

Bride: Tillie Lebross
Residence: 171 Melrose Av
Age: 22
Color: White
Single, Widowed or Divorced: Single
Maiden Name, if a Widow: ---
Birthplace: Austria
Father's Name: Louis
Mother's Maiden Name: Bertha Weingart
Number of Bride's Marriage: 1st
I hearby certify that the above-named groom and bride were joined in marriage by me, in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, at MUNICIPAL BUILDING, in the borough of Manhattan, City of New York, this 31st of May, 1917.

Signature of person performing the ceremony:  
                              /s/ M. Junior
Official Station: CITY CLERK
Residence: 172 East 30th Street

Witness to the Marriage: B.M. Freedman

[2nd page]
WE hereby certify that we are the Groom and Bride named in this Certificate, and that the information given therein is correct, to the best of our knowledge and belief.
                              /s/Joseph Wilson Groom
                              /s/Tillie Liebross Bride  

Signed in the presence of  /s/B.M. Freedman
and [blank]

----------------------

I'm not quite sure why Joe's age is incorrect. In all records in which his birth date appeared, he very consistently reported that  he was born on 11 October 1889. That would have made him 27 years old on 31 May 1917. 

Tillie's age, on the other hand, like all the Liebross sisters' ages, was another matter. She was 10 years old when she emigrated with her family in 1898.[1] That would mean she had been born between 1887 and 1888 and she would have been about 28 or 29 years old on 31 May 1917. Based on comparisons of her age (she was the eldest sibling) with her brothers and sisters, 1887 would have been about right. My guess is that she didn't want to appear older than her husband.

I acquired this record fairly early on in my research and this was the first record with evidence of my great grandmother's maiden name: Weingart. It turns out that her name was actually Wenkert and I have records of relations that confirm it. I have some tantalizing clues, however, that some possible Wenkert relatives came to the United States and changed their name to Weingart (more on that another time). So, that could be where the "Weingart" in Tillie's marriage record comes from.

Notes:
1.  "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 13 May 2009), manifest, Britannic, Liverpool to New York, arriving 1 July 1898, page 2, lines 20-28, Libros, citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T715, Roll 25.