Jean (Cowan) Antoni (1914 - 2002)

Born 24 Dec 1914 in Stockbridge, Berkshire, Massachusetts, United States

Wife of Ernest Antoni — married 19 Jan 1945 in Brighton, New York, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Carolyn Comings [send private message]

Biography

Jean was born in 1914. She passed away in 2002. Her parents' names are listed as John Cowan and Jeanie Story Limond. Her first marriage was to Robert Irving Van Zandt, and her second marriage was to Ernest Antoni.

Research Notes

An Ancestry profile offers a few clues.

The Massachusetts, U.S., Birth Index, 1860-1970 lists Jeanie Limond Cowan born in 1914 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. [1]

A marriage announcement appears in the Boston Globe, 27 Oct 1934, page 5, announcing the marriage of Jean Cowan and Robert I Van Zandt and that the couple would live in Newton Center. [2]

An Ancestry profile lists a divorce between Robert I Van Zandt and Jean Cowan in "about 1938," in Belmont, Middlesex, Massachusetts. There is no source offered to back this up.

An item in the 18 Sep 1938 Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY) describes the tragic drowning death of Bobby Van Zandt, age 2, son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Van Zandt of Brighton. Survivors included sister Marilyn, age 4, grandmother Jennie Cowan and grandparents Mr. and Mrs. Walter F Wolf (in whose home the Van Zands were living). [3]

The United States Census, 1940, lists Jean Van Zandt, age 26, divorced, living in Somerville, Massachusetts, in the household of widowed her mother, along with her 5-year-old daughter.

The New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 [4] lists Jean Cowan Van Zandt, married, age 29, arriving on Pan American Airways on 19 Dec 1944, from Lisbon, Portugal, in New York, New York, final destination Rochester.

The Puerto Rico, U.S, Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists, 1901-1962 [5] lists Jean C Van Zandt, age 29, arriving in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in December 1944 via Pan American Airways.

The U.S., Newspapers.com Obituary Index, 1800s-current lists an obituary in the Boston Globe for 15 Oct 2002, maiden name Jean Cowan, age 87, residence Fall River, spouse Ernest Antoni, children Marilyn J Devlin and Bobby Van Zandt, and sibling Betsy Cowan. [6] The actual obituary refers to her as the wife of the late Ernest Antoni and the former wife of the late Robert Van Zandt, mother of Marilyn J Devlin and the late Bobby Van Zandt. [7]

Jean's Findagrave memorial includes an obituary. In part, it states she was born in Stockbridge and grew up in Belmont. She lived in Rochester, NY, Needham, Dover, and Watertown, as well as 20 years in Clinton, Connecticut. She moved to Swansea eight years before her death to live with her daughter. She worked as a bookkeeper in Watertown, at Shawmut Bank, and during WWII worked for Harvard University in Malvern, England.

Sources

• United States Census, 1920 [8]
• United States Census, 1930 [9]
• United States Census, 1940 [10]
• U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 [11]
• Findagrave memorial