NY NY - Marie Troper, 15, & Hannah Troper, 16, New York, 1919

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Can you please just sum up the case? It is impossible to see those old newspaper articles or to know what we should look for!
 
Here's the article in full for those having trouble finding it:

Two Girl Stenographers are Missing from Home
Charles Troper, a fish dealer, of 1820 Palmetto Avenue, Ridgewood, requested
the police search for his two daughters, Marie and Hannah, stenographers, employed by the railroad administration, who disappeared ten days ago. The girls are fifteen and sixteen, are described as remarkably pretty by the father, who says he knows of no reason they should leave home.
When they left home Marie was dressed in a light silk raincoat, tan shoes and wore a black straw hat. She is 5 feet 6 inches tall, has blue eyes, black hair and fine teeth. Hannah is 5 feet 6 ½ inches tal [sic], has blue eyes, brown hair and wore a dark blue suit and tan shoes.
 
BCS said:
Here's the article in full for those having trouble finding it:

Two Girl Stenographers are Missing from Home
Charles Troper, a fish dealer, of 1820 Palmetto Avenue, Ridgewood, requested
the police search for his two daughters, Marie and Hannah, ....
Click to expand...

Where was this? What date? Any further information or follow up stories?
 
I just noticed this thread and did a quick check. There are no mentions of this in Newspaperarchives or the NY Times. I e-mailed the local newspaper serving Ridgewood (a section of Queens, NY) to see if anyone there remembers this story.

My first question after reading this thread - why did the father wait 10 days before reporting them missing? Something doesn't sound right about that.:waitasec:
 
Richard said:
Where was this? What date? Any further information or follow up stories?
Click to expand...

The date on the article in link in post #1 (thanks PFF) was dated as:

New York Tribune August 26, 1919.

BCS translated the article for us.

It is my assumption given the surname of the father, that the missing girls names are:

Hannah Troper

Marie Troper

The girls are listed as 15 yrs, and 16 yrs however I do not know if the ages were listed respectively to their names being listed KWIM?
 
I did a search and approached it from the genealogical viewpoint.

I found NY death records uploaded and searched those. No hits.

I searched the Queens earlier death records. No hits. (the address provided in the above article is now a part of Queens).

I searched the Brooklyn earlier death records ~ nothing. However, once I looked into the surname itself I found hits that were Jewish.

I searched the Jewishgen.org and was able to go through several portals and find a search for this surname and for NY. Unfortunately I am not registered to access the info.

If someone is could they please check and see if these two young ladies are listed?

Thank you in advance.

(If not, I will revisit this thread later this summer and see about registration to the site. I am beginning an army move and this particular move will take my attention away from this website for approx. the next 4-6 weeks. Thank you).
 
I searched ProQuest archives and newspaperarchives.com and could not find any reference to these girls, either.

My last ditch effort will be to search Ancestry.com and see if I can find the father listed in a 1920 census report (we do have his address). That would list his daughters if they were living with him at that time.

I can also search Ancestry.com for death records on the two girls.

If I find anything, I'll post it here.
 
LOL at how subjective/biased old-time media was - i.e. the girls "are described as remarkably pretty by the father." I'm sure most parents feel that way about their kids, but it's really not something anyone can use in helping to help find them!

Did either girl have a boyfriend? Also, if they were teens already working, I'm guessing they traveled in an adult sphere. Was there anyone in their acquaintance at work that was suspicious for any reason, or that they didn't get along with?
 
CastlesBurning said:
LOL at how subjective/biased old-time media was - i.e. the girls "are described as remarkably pretty by the father." I'm sure most parents feel that way about their kids, but it's really not something anyone can use in helping to help find them!

Did either girl have a boyfriend? Also, if they were teens already working, I'm guessing they traveled in an adult sphere. Was there anyone in their acquaintance at work that was suspicious for any reason, or that they didn't get along with?
Click to expand...


I tend to agree with CastleBurning. I giggled a bit too at the description of the girls that the father gave. I think the father probably knew where the girls were or at least ha a pretty good idea. I'm sure the girls reappeared after a short time and nobody bothered to alert the news media.

If two "remarkably pretty" girls were really missing I think it would have been a much bigger story that the papers would have reported on much more.

Very curious though???
 
Did another search. Found nothing. Will revisit this thread at a later date.
 
CastlesBurning said:
LOL at how subjective/biased old-time media was - i.e. the girls "are described as remarkably pretty by the father." I'm sure most parents feel that way about their kids, but it's really not something anyone can use in helping to help find them!
Click to expand...

Such subjective references were commonplace in the press at a time when paper articles were written novella-style for the purpose of entertaining while informing. This was often the result of editorial license rather than actual quotes, especially when no photos were published.
 
From LDS 1910 Census- Edited to add it gives the father as Charles in the newspaper article, however the father here is William, could be the same girls, pretty close if not.

Name: Hannah A Troper
Birthplace: New York
Relationship to Head of Household: Daughter
Residence: Bronx Assembly District 30, New York, New York
Marital Status:
Race : White
Gender: Female
Immigration Year:
Father's Birthplace: Austria
Mother's Birthplace: Austria
Family Number: 636
Page Number: 23
Household Gender Age
Parent William Troper M 34y
Parent Sadie Troper F 33y
Irene M Troper F 8y
Hannah A Troper F 6y


Name: Irene M Troper ............What's the betting the middle name is 'Marie'
Birthplace: New York
Relationship to Head of Household: Daughter
Residence: Bronx Assembly District 30, New York, New York
Marital Status:
Race : White
Gender: Female
Immigration Year:
Father's Birthplace: Austria
Mother's Birthplace: Austria
Family Number: 636
Page Number: 23
Household Gender Age
Parent William Troper M 34y
Parent Sadie Troper F33y
Irene M Troper F 8y
Hannah A Troper F 6y
.
.
 
momtolil said:
I'm sure the girls reappeared after a short time and nobody bothered to alert the news media.
Click to expand...
I'm not. The police, even now, don't always put much effort in missing-person(s) cases. How many murdered teens have been written off as runaways?

This page about William Troper (d. 1937) mentions a daughter, "Irene M. Stern, born Troper." Irene apparently married Walter J. Stern no later than 1927, which is when their son Richard was born.

https://www.myheritage.com/names/william_troper

https://www.myheritage.com/names/richard_stern

Sadie Troper, nee Beck, died in 1957.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=15142321

This family is evidently the same one in the census record, but it isn't at all clear whether the census record matches the girls who were reported missing.

Even if the families are one and the same, I can't find any online record of Hannah being alive after 1919.
 
Ozoner said:
I'm not. The police, even now, don't always put much effort in missing-person(s) cases. How many murdered teens have been written off as runaways?

This page about William Troper (d. 1937) mentions a daughter, "Irene M. Stern, born Troper." Irene apparently married Walter J. Stern no later than 1927, which is when their son Richard was born.

https://www.myheritage.com/names/william_troper

https://www.myheritage.com/names/richard_stern

Sadie Troper, nee Beck, died in 1957.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=15142321

This family is evidently the same one in the census record, but it isn't at all clear whether the census record matches the girls who were reported missing.

Even if the families are one and the same, I can't find any online record of Hannah being alive after 1919.
Click to expand...


Is Irene's son, Richard Stern, still alive?
 
Bump.

There is a draft registration record on Ancestry for a Charles Troper, b1885 and a lift (elevator) operator at The Biltmore, living in Manhattan and married. Unfortunately the record does not give further detail and there do not seem to be any more records.
 
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