John Howard Schryver
was born on 4 November 1909.
He was the first child and son of John
Clinton and Elizabeth Mary Knutty Schryver.
Since he had the same first name as his father, John Howard was more commonly referred to as
Howard. The picture at the right shows Howard with his brother,
Donald. This picture was probably taken in late 1913.
Howard would have just turned 4 and Donald was just short of 2.
Howard lived in
Watertown, Jefferson County, New York his entire life. He graduated
from the Watertown High School in 1928, where he was active in
music. In fact, he was extremely talented musically. During the 30's and
40's, he worked as a professional musician with various orchestras and
dance bands including the Ray LaBounty Orchestra
in Watertown. He played the violin, saxophone and clarinet in this
capacity. He attended the GE Engineering School in
Schenectady. He was employed at Watertown radio stations WATN and
WOTT and, along with his brother,
Donald, did service
work in radio and television and for many years, maintained the
communications equipment for several municipal and emergency
services.
Howard
was always cracking jokes and expounding on his philosophies. As
this photograph taken in 1930 shows, Howard was one of the original
"bikers". He was 21 at the time.
He died just short of his 77th birthday on Monday, October 15, 1986
at his home at 729 Morrison Street. His obituary appeared in the
Watertown Daily Times in the Wednesday, October 17 edition. A
memorial service was conducted at 4 PM on Sunday, October 21 and he is buried in the North Watertown
Cemetery.
David came into
possession of Howard's death certificate, posted at the right,
because of an incident that occurred about 22 years after Howard's
death. Because he died intestate, the state divided his property
between his brother, Donald and his sister, Mary. Donald signed
the house over to Mary and we all assumed she filed the necessary
paperwork. Mary later sold the house. The new owner again
sold it and after 2000 a family who owned the house that bordered the
back of the lot bought the back half and combined it with their
property. In 2008, David was contacted by this family. They
were now selling their home and the day before the closing found that
they didn't have a clear title to the land. Real Property records
showed that it was owned by Emily Schryver, Donald's widow and David's
late mother. Despite much explanation on David's part that his
mother had died eight years prior and never owned the home, it turns out
that the title abstract was not updated after Donald signed it over to
Mary. In fact, it was not updated either of the times it was
subsequently sold. Legally, Donald's share went to Emily and upon
her death, to her sons David and Richard. David and his
half-brother were asked to sign a document attesting to the fact that
they had no interest in the property so that this family could sell
their home! Since this is America, lawyers were involved to make
sure that everything was on the up-and-up!
During this incident the couple told David that the
records showed the property as having been owned by Howard J.
Schryver. David was given a copy of the death certificate by the
funeral director who had it. It not only lists him as Howard
rather than John Howard, it lists his mother as Elizabeth J. Knutty when
in fact her middle name was Mary. In other official county
documents he found, his father, Donald Everett was named as Donald
J. It's no wonder that people trying to research their family
genealogy from back when records were poor run into so many
problems. These are modern day records!
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"Howard" married
Florence Fonda Ritton. Florence was born in Schenectady, New York
on June 17, 1917. She was the daughter of Earl and Alexandra
Stremel Fonda. Florence was a widower with five children.
She was married to Harry J. Ritton of Duanesburg, New York in
1936. He died in August of 1955. Florence
was a graduate of the Watertown School of Practical Nursing and was a
Licensed Practical Nurse. She had been employed at both the Mercy
and House of the Good Samaritan Hospitals in Watertown. Florence
died at the family home on Saturday night, March 4, 1972. Her
obituary appeared in the Watertown Daily Times edition of Monday, March
6. Her funeral was held at the Reed & Benoit Funeral Home in
Watertown at 1:30 PM on Tuesday, March 7. She is buried in the
Dexter Cemetery.
A small stone marks Howard and his sister Mary's graves
Many people who
knew him did not realize that Howard' name was John Howard. His
death certificate, now in the possession of his nephew David, lists him
simply as Howard Schryver. Many years after his death, David was
talking with a cousin. Although this cousin knew Howard quite
well, being much younger than him, even she didn't realize that his
first name was John. In fact, various documents found after his
death list him as Howard, John Howard, J. Howard and Howard J.
David still suspects it was his way of messing with the government!
Even his obituary in the Watertown Daily Times refers to him as Howard
J. Schryver.
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