Dipping into the Collection: Thall and Lopez family papers and photographs

For this month's blog post we thought we might take a peek into the collection, looking at the Thall and Lopez family papers and photographs. The collection consists of documents, ephemera, and photographs related to several generations of the Thall and Lopez families of Canarsie, Brooklyn. Included in the collection are letters, photographs, account ledgers, blue prints, wills, deeds, stock certificates, Civil War infantry manual, Civil War currency, notes, newspaper clippings, electrification contracts, and assorted legal documents. It’s an interesting look at a family that has lived in Brooklyn as far back as the 1860’s. 

Lt. Col. William Augustus Greene was born in Manhattan in 1840 and moved to Brooklyn at age 8, where he then resided for the rest of his life. He was a descendant of Robert Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He served in the United States Civil War as a member of the 173rd Regiment of New York Volunteers, during which he was wounded and captured multiple times. In 1872, he married Jane Williams (1847-1918), daughter of Charles Williams and Jane Vanderwenk. William and Jane Greene resided at 178 Clymer Street in South Williamsburg. William passed away in 1911.

Their daughter Jennie Greene (1873-1943) married Dr. Charles Sewell Thall (1872-1923) in 1901. Charles was the son of Richard Thall (1835-1905). The Thalls lived at 1122 East 92nd Street in Canarsie. Their son Sewell was born in 1906. Their daughter Muriel (1904-1979) married Hampton Nottage (1908-1961) in 1934. She worked at New York Bell. The Thalls' other daughter Lorraine (b. 1904) became pregnant by Puerto Rican shipwelder Carlos Santos Lopez, and their son Donald was born July 15, 1923.

Donald S. Lopez Sr. volunteered for the Army Air Forces Aviation Cadet Program in early 1942, after becoming interested in aviation in childhood partially because of his family home's proximity to Floyd Bennett Field on Jamaica Bay. He served as a United States Air Force fighter and test pilot and saw combat in both World War II and the Korean War. He retired from the Air Force in 1964. He spent eight years as an engineer on the Apollo and Skylab programs with Bellcomm, Inc., a subsidiary of Bell Labs. In 1972, he joined the staff of the National Air and Space Museum and served as a deputy director there until his death in 2008. He is buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.