Person in this family
Michael Mayer
This entry is about Michael Mayer (17 April 1855 – 30 July 1902). For other family members with the same first and family name, see Michael Melvin Mayer (27 November 1904 – November 1971), Michael Stillwell Mayer (Born 25 October 1885; death not recorded).
17 April 1855 – 30 July 1902
Michael Mayer married Leah Adelaine Stillwell at Essex County, New Jersey, on 9 June 1875, and four children are recorded. He was a butcher. He died on 30 July 1902 at Fordham Hospital in the Bronx, of chronic nephritis and aortic stenosis, aged forty-seven, and was buried at Woodlawn two days later; he had been living at 2135 Prospect Avenue, in a tenement. His wife Leah had died in January 1889 and the certificate calls him married, so he had married again. His death certificate names his parents — Daniel Mayer and Emma, both born in Germany — and that is two new generations on Gina Cacace's line. Until 12 August 2026 this page held nothing but a marriage and two unverified tree dates. It also disagrees with the family tree about where he was born. The tree says N. Y.; the certificate says Germany, and adds that he had been twenty-seven years in the United States. Both readings are kept below.
Proved by a record
Michael Mayer married Leah Adelaine Stillwell at Essex County, New Jersey, on 9 June 1875, and four children are recorded. He was a butcher. He died on 30 July 1902 at Fordham Hospital in the Bronx, of chronic nephritis and aortic stenosis, aged forty-seven, and was buried at Woodlawn two days later; he had been living at 2135 Prospect Avenue, in a tenement. His wife Leah had died in January 1889 and the certificate calls him married, so he had married again. His death certificate names his parents — Daniel Mayer and Emma, both born in Germany — and that is two new generations on Gina Cacace's line. Until 12 August 2026 this page held nothing but a marriage and two unverified tree dates. It also disagrees with the family tree about where he was born. The tree says N. Y.; the certificate says Germany, and adds that he had been twenty-seven years in the United States. Both readings are kept below.
Born at New York Died at The Bronx, New York City, New York
Recorded as: 17 APR 1855, N. Y.
Birth: From our family tree - no record found yet
How is this person related?
Andrew John Leahey’s spouse's great-great-great-grandparent (by marriage)
Gina D. Cacace’s great-great-great-grandparent
Abigail Ann Leahey’s great-great-great-great-grandparent
Marie C. Fitzgerald’s no single word covers it — connected through Andrew John Leahey, who is a child
Kevin Leahey’s no single word covers it — connected through Andrew John Leahey, who is a child
Worked out from the recorded parents and marriages. No sex is recorded for anyone in this archive, so the wording stays neutral.
Life
A written life story has not been added for this person yet.
Family
Parents
Spouse
Children
See this family in the family treeWork and occupation
- Butcher — 1902
Occupation Butcher
Citation: New York City death certificate 3156, Bronx, 1902 — Michael Mayer [3]
Where they lived
Use the place list first. The map below is optional.
Places listed on this page
- New York
- New York City, New York
- New Jersey
- Germany
- United States
- The Bronx, New York City, New York
The map could not load. The complete place list is above it.
The pins show approximate places. The line only joins them in time order; it does not prove the route travelled. 4 of the places listed above are recorded only as a county or country, so they are not pinned. Cemetery and burial places have red pins.
Timeline
Born
The 1 August 2026 Geni export supplies this birth date; it has not been verified against a record.
From our family tree - no record found yet
Married at Essex County, New Jersey
New Jersey county marriage register, page 60. She is entered as L. Adeline Stillwell. The index gives no ages and no parents for either of them.
Proved by a record
Died
The 1 August 2026 Geni export supplies this death date; it has not been verified against a record.
From our family tree - no record found yet
Died at Fordham Hospital, aged 47
Certificate 3156. Cause: chronic nephritis and aortic stenosis. Last residence 2135 Prospect Avenue, a tenement; the undertaker was J. Phoenix of 711 Tremont Avenue. The identification rests on three matching points, and the record itself is not in doubt: the family tree gave 30 July 1902 and the Bronx, and this is the only Michael Mayer death certificate answering to both; the certificate's 47 years agrees with the tree's birth of 17 April 1855, on which he would have been forty-seven years and three months. [3]
Proved by a record
Buried at Woodlawn
The first burial place recorded for anyone in this branch of Gina Cacace's family. [3]
Proved by a record
[CONFLICT] The certificate says Germany; the family tree says New York
His page has carried a birthplace of N. Y. from the family tree, unsourced. The certificate says Germany, and that both his parents were German. Neither is overwritten. The certificate is a contemporary record and the tree entry is not, which favours Germany — and it would explain German parents. But there is a real difficulty: 27 years in the United States implies arrival about 1875, and he married in Essex County in June 1875, which leaves almost no interval. Either the twenty-seven is loose, or he married within months of landing, or the certificate's informant was mistaken about a man he may not have known well — he died in a hospital. [3]
Proved by a record
What the records say
3 records transcribed.
Record exhibit
Michael Mayer and L. Adeline Stillwell marriage, Essex County, New Jersey, 9 June 1875
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
Michael Mayer and L Adeline Stillwell, married 9 June 1875, Essex County, New Jersey; page 60.
Record exhibit
New Jersey Death Index 1902 — no Michael Mayer (a gap, not a negative)
An index is a list that points to where the full record can be found.
Proved by a record
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
Mayer Anthony 31476 | Mayer Carrie S. 5077 | Mayer Edward O. 6264 | Mayer Frank C. 31475 | Mayer George 13758 | Mayer Josephine 10386 | Mayhew Catherine P. 11221
Record exhibit
New York City death certificate 3156, Bronx, 1902 — Michael Mayer
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Proved by a record
Full verbatim transcription — reproduced in full.
Read from the certificate image on 12 August 2026. The mother's given name is written in a looped hand and reads Emma; no other reading fits well, but it is not certain. The two 'how long' columns both appear to read 27 years.
Historical context
These background articles explain the places, work, and events in this entry.
Sgt. Peter Cooney and the Fighting 69th
The Peter Cooney buried in France was a sergeant in Company M, 165th Infantry—the wartime number of New York’s celebrated 69th Regiment. His unit belonged to the 42nd “Rainbow” Division, assembled from National…
How to Read the Evidence on This Site
Family history is full of statements that look equally certain on a screen but are not equally supported. This site keeps the difference visible. The confidence badge tells you how firmly a life or relationship…
What we still don't know
- [A DNA TEST IN THE DIRECT FAMILY BEARS ON THIS] An autosomal test taken by a living descendant shows a small but unambiguous Ashkenazi Jewish component, reported as eastern European. No such ancestry is documented anywhere in this archive. Until August 2026 the archive believed its Jewish line ran through Samuel Selig and Gussie Nathanson — and finding 117 removed that family entirely, having shown they were attached through the wrong Florence. The Jewish ancestry is real; the paper trail for it is missing. This page is one of a small number that could carry it. Percentages and the test itself are deliberately not published here. Mayer is another name common among Ashkenazi families. Against it, he married Leah Adeline Stillwell of a Dutch Reformed family in New Jersey. He is a weaker candidate than the Meyer line but not one to strike off.
- Dates, places, occupations and relationships imported from the 1 August 2026 Geni export require verification against original records.
- His parents and his own birth are unrecorded, and the 1855–1902 dates carried in the FamilySearch tree are not verified by any record held here.
- [CONTROLLED NEGATIVE] His own parents cannot be found. Every record that names him — his 1875 Essex County marriage, his children's New York births, his sons' marriages — names him as a husband or a father and never as a son. Searched under Mayer and Meyer for a birth about 1855. Nothing. He is the end of that line until a death record or a baptism turns up, and he is the other Mayer in this family, unrelated so far as anything shows to the Mayers on the Noga side.
- [NOT IN THE NEW JERSEY DEATH INDEX — AND THAT MEANS NOTHING] Searched 12 August 2026. The 1902 New Jersey index runs Mayer Anthony, Carrie S., Edward O., Frank C., George, Josephine, then Mayhew — an unbroken alphabetical run, and Michael would sort between Josephine and Mayhew. He is absent. This is a gap, not a negative. He is recorded as dying in the Bronx, which is New York City; New Jersey would have no reason to hold him. He was searched here only because he married in Essex County and so trips a New-Jersey filter. The right source is the New York City Municipal Archives, whose death certificates run to 1948 and are free — and a 1902 New York City death certificate names the deceased's parents. He is Gina Cacace's 3x-great-grandfather with no parents recorded, so that certificate would push her line back a generation.
- [HE REMARRIED, AND SHE IS NOT HERE] Leah Adelaine Stillwell died on 30 January 1889; the certificate of 1902 calls him married, not widowed. No second wife is recorded in this archive and the certificate does not name her. A New York marriage record between 1889 and 1902 would.
References
- [1] Michael Mayer and L. Adeline Stillwell marriage, Essex County, New Jersey, 9 June 1875Back to citation 1
- [2] New Jersey Death Index 1902 — no Michael Mayer (a gap, not a negative)Back to citation 2
- [3] New York City death certificate 3156, Bronx, 1902 — Michael MayerBack to citation 3a Back to citation 3b Back to citation 3c Back to citation 3d Back to citation 3e