Albert Nyenhuis

My great grandfather was Albert Nyenhuis. He was born in Rochester, New York in 1875 to Gerrit and Derkje Nyenhuis. Albert married my great grandmother in 1899, and then left Rochester about 1905 — never to be heard from again.

My grandmother always wondered what had become of her father. She told a story about him when I was young that he and my great grandmother had been arguing and it escalated to a point where he held a knife to her throat — a story that, unfortunately, was confirmed by a local newspaper.

So, where did Albert go? I have found only a few pieces of information about Albert after 1905:

  1. 1913 - A summons requesting heirs of Derkje Nyenhuis to appear in court to claim their inheritance. This summons states that Albert was living in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
  2. 1913 - Acceptance of legacy inheritance, North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada.
  3. 1918 - Albert's WWI Civilian Draft Registration from Seattle, Washington (though the record indicates that Albert was "going to shipyards" in Astoria, Oregon).
  4. 1920 - Lastly, the Seattle Census where Albert was working as a steamfitter and living at 410 Fourth avenue (I later found this to be the Reynolds Hotel, thanks to a lookup from a 1920 directory). This is the last record I have located.

Based on these records, a map of Albert's travels would look something like this:

A search for a death record in Seattle has, so far, not turned anything up and this is where my leads run dry. Albert's wife lived until 1973 (age 97!), so I have often wondered what became of Albert and how long he lived. I wouldn't bet that living the life I imagine he must have led provided him with great longevity, but then again, who knows?