52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is a series of weekly prompts to get you to think about an ancestor and share something about them. The weekly prompt is provided by www.amyjohnsoncrow.com. The prompt this week (2026-17) is "Working for a Living" and I'm covering the early work of my great-grandmother Caroline "Lena" Schmitz who was born December 18, 1888, to Peter Schmitz and Catharine Pirron in New York City. For this week's blog post, I am focusing on a "Year of Change" for Lena, covering a pivotal window in her young adult life.
On April 24, 1904 (122 years ago), Lena was confirmed at St. Augustine’s Chapel, located at 107 East Houston Street in Manhattan. At sixteen years old, Lena had reached a milestone that often marked the transition from formal schooling to the full-time world of "working for a living."
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| Lena's Prayer Book, received at her confirmation on April 24, 1904. This cherished heirloom remains in family hands today. |
The inside cover of her Prayer Book serves as a beautiful certificate of this milestone. It records that she was confirmed by the Rt. Rev. David H. Greer, the Bishop Coadjutor of New York, a prominent figure in the Episcopal Church who would later become Bishop of the entire Diocese. And signed by the Rev. George Deyo, the priest-in-charge at St. Augustine’s Chapel
To Lena SchmitzConfirmed in St. Augustine’s Chapel Trinity Parish on the Third Sunday after Easter April 24th A.D. 1904 by the Rt. Rev. D. Greer Bishop Coadjutor of New York
George Deyo
The Prayer Book includes the confirmation verse from Matthew 11:28: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." This message of rest stands in stark contrast to the grueling schedule Lena was about to embark upon as she entered the New York workforce.
St. Augustine’s was a massive Victorian Gothic building featuring a tall tower and a prominent steeple. Part of the wealthy Trinity Wall Street parish, it served as a "free church" for the working class, meaning no pew rents were charged. It included a "Mission House" and provided vital social services to the community, which likely explains the Schmitz family's involvement there. To a sixteen-year-old girl, this grand, imposing structure must have felt incredibly sacred. Sadly, the building was demolished in the 1960s.
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| See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
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Just one year later, the 1905 New York State Census finds Lena living in a tenement at 138 Forsyth Street in the Lower East Side. She was residing in the household of her mother, Katie, and her stepfather, Alfred Conde. In 1905, this block was a hive of activity; unlike the quieter streets of today, Forsyth was lined with crowded tenements and situated just steps away from bustling open-air markets.
The census confirms that Lena was no longer a student, but was working as a milliner. In the early 1900s, millinery was a highly skilled trade. Lena would have likely worked long hours with felt, straw, ribbons, and "feathers" to create the elaborate, ornate hats of the Edwardian era. Living on Forsyth Street, she was in the heart of the city's manufacturing pulse, potentially working in a local neighborhood shop.
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| The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. "Covering hat bodies with silk plush ; Cutting out plush hat covers" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1907. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/bb86f640-c552-012f-508d-58d385a7bc34. |
The census page offers a vivid glimpse into her world. Lena lived in a building full of people in the garment and fashion trades—surrounded by neighbors listed as tailors, dressmakers, and garment workers. It was a vibrant immigrant community; while many on her page had arrived from Russia and Romania, Lena’s household represented the German-American experience in the heart of the city.
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| 1905 New York Census for the Conde/Schmitz Family. Click on image to view fullscreen. |
By stitching together Sanborn Fire Insurance maps from 1903–1905, we can see the literal path of Lena’s daily life. Her home at 138 Forsyth Street sat just a few blocks south of the Chapel. Neither the tenement nor the Chapel exists today, but the maps reveal another neighborhood fixture: Public School 20, located at the top of the very block where the family lived (brown color).
While Lena was already working as a milliner by 1905, it is easy to imagine her younger brother Peter, then 12, walking to Public School 20 each morning. This school acted as a primary educational hub for the children of the Lower East Side, and it’s highly likely the Schmitz children spent their earlier years within its walls before transitioning into the trades.
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| Stitched Sanborn Maps (1903-1905). Upper sections via Library of Congress; lower sections via Wikipedia. |
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