Category Archives: genealogy

Goods of the Dead

I always feel that Evangeline Adams introduced me to genealogy.  Her Pluto conjoined my Moon, and as I researched her life, I uncovered many government and church records that provided key information about her.  After that, I more easily researched other families as well as my own.  Pluto unearths things and can be relentless in its action.  It kept me focused on genealogy research for a long time.

The National Archives had their records center on Varick Street in downtown Manhattan in the 1990s, and I spent some time there.  It was a quiet, library-like setting with helpful clerks.  You’d first search for a name in Soundex listings, which phonetically accommodated different spellings.  That would lead you to particular Census records, all originals scanned onto microfilm.  As I scrolled through the wide microfilm rolls on the big old microfilm viewing machine, it was exciting to find Evangeline and her family in Andover in 1890 and Boston in 1900 Census records.

Chatting with an adopted woman who was searching for her birth parents, I realized that I could find my own family records, too.  I returned another day to find my father’s family in Manhattan and Brooklyn and my mother’s in central New York in the early 20th century.

With home-loving Cancer on my fourth house cusp and its ruler, the Moon, prominent in the first, I’ve always found family stories compelling.  But I think that Saturn in the 9th trine my Ascendant gives me the ability to find old records.  To my mind, Saturn, ruling old things and permanence, as well as the Moon, are key significators for genealogy.

I still remember an old astrology book describing Saturn careers having to do with “goods of the dead,” one of those ultra-specific key phrases that left me shaking my head.  It wasn’t until I was in my forties that I took a part-time job with an estate lawyer.  He had Saturn in Cancer and handled wills and court proceedings for heirs,  marshaled decedents’ assets and distributed them.  Goods of the dead, I realized one day with a start.

But the best part of the job for me was access to Ancestry.com, which helped us create family trees and prove family relationships in court.  I did much of the genealogical research for many estates over fifteen-plus years, regularly proving ancestry to first cousins of the decedents.

I was in the Kings County Surrogate’s Court record room one day waiting for the clerks to bring me another old file, when I realized that some of my own ancestors’ records might be there, too.  Transiting Pluto was close to conjoining my Saturn at the time, and it opened up an entirely new set of records to me.  I quickly looked in the old fashioned card catalog and found the index card that was created when my great-grandfather died in 1936, and the clerks pulled the file.  My grandfather had been the executor, and it was fascinating to see the will, so similar in language and format to that used today, with all of my grandfather’s siblings’ information and releases included.  Saturn also relates to consistency and tradition, which still exists in many court papers and proceedings.

Saturn rules our ancestors, and the Moon relates to our family connections.  Both also have to do with cemeteries, another wonderful place to dig up family history.  We found a photo of my great-grandmother on the family monument she had purchased 100 years ago in Holy Cross cemetery in Flatbush, just a few miles away.

These, too, are what they used to call “goods of the dead.”  Some of the old associations are still valid today.

Astro-Genealogy

My great-grandmother died in the 1918 pandemic, well before my father was even born.  We only have a few records of her life, though her original birth certificate actually has a time, so astrology can tell us more.

Mariantonia de Stasio was born in Montecalvo Irpino in Avellino, Italy in 1870.  The country was unified in 1861, but the south had a high tax burden, limited medical care, transportation problems and land shortages.  About a third of the town’s residents left for the U.S. between 1892 and 1924.

I’m not sure of the accuracy of the 11:00 a.m. birth time on Maria’s birth record.  But it gives her Leo rising, which seems appropriate, as her photo shows that she had good taste and presented a polished appearance.  She wore a beautiful lace collar and earrings, and her hair is perfectly swept up.

Maria’s Sun in Taurus conjunct Pluto, as well as her Moon-Venus-Saturn T-square, suggest some trauma and limitations in her life.  Her father died before she married at the age of 20.  Her husband, my great-grandfather Donato, travelled to New York City in 1895, and their second daughter died in Italy only a few months after he left.  But with Jupiter trine her Moon and conjunct her Sun, emigrating to the U.S. was probably a good choice for Maria.

Maria and Donato had six more children in New York, one of whom died in infancy.  Census records show that they lived in tenement apartments in Manhattan’s Little Italy on Mott Street and Hester Street.  By 1915 they had moved to Bridge Street in Brooklyn’s Vinegar Hill, on the other side of the Manhattan Bridge. 

Maria’s mutable Moon in Virgo square Saturn in Sagittarius could also indicate their less than ideal housing situations.  She had been trained as a tailor and must have been skilled, with a strong work ethic.  Her oldest daughter Rose was working as a coat finisher when she was only 13.  Like many women of the time, they probably sewed piecework in their home. 

The Moon rules Maria’s 12th house relating to the immune system, and Saturn rules her 6th of illness.  Saturn is then placed in her 5th of children.  It seems like her many responsibilities may have weakened her health.  She might have also suffered from anxiety or even depression. 

The flu pandemic hit NY in the spring of 1918, and became much worse that fall.  With transiting Jupiter and Pluto in Cancer and Saturn in Leo, both youthful signs, it was more dangerous to children (as opposed to the 2020 pandemic with Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn affecting seniors more strongly). 

Maria’s Sun helpfully conjoins Jupiter, but Jupiter in its detriment in Gemini makes it less benefic.  Mercury is dignified in Gemini and disposes the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn, so she probably overcome her limitations with common sense and the help of friends (since Mercury conjoins the 11th house).  But mutable signs can affect the lungs:  Saturn in Sagittarius might constrict her breathing, while Jupiter in Gemini presents potential lung congestion.  She contracted the flu and died of pneumonia less than two weeks later, on October 24, 1918.  Transiting Saturn conjoined her Ascendant, lowering her vitality, while transiting Uranus in the 7th opposed it.  The doctor visited but was unable to help her; she was only 48 years old.

At the same time, Maria’s progressed Midheaven at 25+ Gemini opposed natal Saturn, and her progressed Ascendant at 26 Virgo conjoined her Moon, both activating the natal Moon-Saturn square.  (It seems that her 11:00 birth time may not be that far off.)   

We often find close connections with the horoscopes of family members.  I never met my great-grandmother and we have only one photo to tell us what she looked like.  But her Pluto is only a few minutes from my Moon and the connection is both genetic and after her death!  

 

I wrote more about the 1918 pandemic in New York City here.

Medical astrology information in this post is from Diane Cramer’s book, Managing Your Health and Wellness. 

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