this story sounds familiar,my g-grandfather was born we believe in germany. went back to find his bride there and brought her back to brookly. however the family story goes that he lived in nj for many years. would go out to the yard on sundays to kill a chicken in his finest white shirt with a dull axe unfortunately....i know this is not much help. one of his daughters names was mildred who was my grandmother. whe marrried a daniel lyons and had 3 sons of whom survived. my father is in his late 60's. might we be related???