James O'Dea is the father of my Great Grandfather Michael O'Dea and his sister, Mary (O'Dea) Sterling, as well as other children. They lived in Sanford, Broome County, NY, which is located just across the Susquehanna River from - Yes you guessed it - Susquehanna PA.
At the time, I was trying to find information on my O'Dea family in Sanford, so I called Town Hall and spoke with a very nice lady, whose name escapes me, and I asked her if there was any information at Town Hall about my ancestors James and Honorah O'Dea. She asked me to hold on while she checked. Then she came back to the phone and says to me "I'm sorry, but the only thing I have here is their death certificates." I was shocked - I never expected that answer. She said that Honorah died 31 Mar 1900, and that James died 24 Jun 1920. James living until 1920 astonished me, cause I was figuring that he was born somewhere around 1830, which would mean that he lived until he was about 90.
So I sent the required fee, and received two death certificates in the mail. The first was for Honorah, and listed her date of birth as unknown (however, where it says age, the listing is very specific by stating 67 yrs. 10 mos. and 4 days ) born in Ireland, born to Peter McGuan and Mary McGuan, and died 31 Mar 1900 from apoplexy softening of the brain (which I think means that she died of a stroke). It also indicates that she is buried in Susquehanna PA. The question I have is this: If they can tell me her age right down to the day, how come they do not know her date of birth? Go figure.
The second death certificate was for James P. O'Dea born 29 Aug 1862 to James O'Dea and Honorah McGuan, and died 24 Jun 1920 in Sanford. His occupation is listed as farmer, and cause of death was arterial sclerosis (Cerebral Hemmorage). He is also buried in Susquehanna PA. So this James P. O'Dea is not my Great Great Grandfather, he is actually the son of my Great Great Grandparents James and Honorah O'Dea.
Then I called Susquehanna PA and asked Town Hall about cemeteries and if there was a way to determine which cemetery they may be buried in. I was told to call the Susquehanna Historical Society because they have a computer database of most burials in the cemeteries of Susquehanna. I contacted them and inquired about their database. Once again the checkbook had to be consulted for a genealogy fee, and $10.00 later I received a copy of the O'Deas in their database. The list said that they were buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Susquehanna. (Man, that is a long word to have to keep spelling out). My next step, which is my Standard Operating Procedure in all leads that send me to PA, was to call my sister Teesh in Scranton and ask her when a good time to visit her would be. I received her standard answer "anytime you want". Teesh and her husband Gary have an open door policy, and are always willing to have me (and my wife, five children and 120 lb. golden retreiver) stay with them. God love them. Genealogy trips are usually solo. (At the insistence of my wife, five children, and 120 lb. golden retriever.)
So in early October 2011, I drove to Scranton and dragged my sister Teesh (it is short for Patricia, and would take another blog to explain) north on 81 to Susquehanna PA and Sanford NY. When we get to Susquehanna, we began asking where Laurel Hill Cemetery was located (nothing like preparing for your trip) and everyone we spoke with said there was a cemetery near Laurel Hill Rd, but it was not named Laurel Hill, it was St. John's and was maintained by - wow, you're getting good at this - St. John's Church. There were also other small cemeteries in the area, but we decided to concentrate on St. John's. We drove to St. John's cemetery and started walking through the rows of headstones, looking for a small stone, probably worn by acid rain to the point of being illegible, and found nothing. We looked for a good hour and a half, and this is not a huge cemetery like Holy Name in Jersey City or Holy Sepulcher in East Orange. I was near the point of surrender and actually wondering if we had the right cemetery, when Teesh found a foot stone with an O'Dea name on it (I'm not sure if we are related or not, but it was on the list from the historical society and listed as being in Laurel Hill) So my energy was renewed when I realized that we were in the right cemetery, and I decided to press on. Within a half hour I found what we were looking for, but it was not what I had been looking for. Instead of a worn out headstone that read "O'DEA" in letters that I could barely read, I stood staring at a twelve foot high monument with a lot of information.
No wonder I didn't see it, I was looking down for a smaller stone the whole time. In case you can't read it, the stone tells when and where he was born and died, and that he is buried with his first wife, Catherine, and his second wife, Honorah. I had no idea that he was married twice. When I checked that date of Catherine's death, it coincides pretty much with the birth of my Great Grandfather Michael's brother Daniel. So once again I will guess that she died from complications of childbirth, but remember I have been wrong before.
Before I go, I have one more thing to say. On Sunday January 1 2012, I was speaking with a friend who is very interested in tracing her family tree. She is also from Jersey City, NJ and has relatives buried in Holy Name Cemetery. She told me that she took a ride to Jersey City with her husband and they went to Holy Name to check her family plot. She found that there are more people buried there than she thought. Some of whom she is not familiar with. So she went to the office to ask for further information on the residents of the plot and dates of burial. She was told that they could not release any information without payment of a genealogy fee of $25.00 for the first person inquired about, and $15.00 for each additional person. Apparently a large company has taken over management of the cemetery and has put these fees in place.
So, be warned. Get your cemetery information from your ancestors' burial places before this practice catches on.
No comments:
Post a Comment