Technology

Well, I know I'm a little tardy posting this, but I just have not gotten any new information.  Yeah I'm still waiting on the library to send me the obit, but I have slowed my driving down a bit.  I also sent out a couple of more letters that I am awaiting responses to.  The first was to St Joseph's Church in Ashland, Pa -  I asked for any old church records from the Bradys of Schuylkill County, PA and the second was to a group that manages Hoboken Cemetery.  I asked them about Mary Ann Sullivan who died and was buried in a potters field, only to be disinterred and buried in Holy Cross in Brooklyn.  So while I'm waiting, I decided to write about some technological advances in the Genealogy field.

Let's see, technology and a 56 year old retired Police Officer and father of five - This should be good.  Prior to my recent endeavors in technology, the closest thing I got to be technically savvy was using a cell phone and taking 15 minutes to answer one of my teenage children's texts with a simple "k".  But I have moved up in the world.  A couple of years ago, I got an iPod touch.  My kids set me up with an iTunes account, probably just to get my credit card number, but they were very helpful.  I found the world of Podcasts and found several genealogy podcasts on the web.  In case you are not familiar with podcasts, they are basically taped radio episodes where the hosts will talk about genealogy. Sometimes they interview guests, such as professional genealogists and authors among others.  So I could plug in my ear buds and get blissfully lost in a conversation that no one else in the house wanted to hear anyway.  So everyone else was also blissfully happy that they could not hear what the iPod was telling  me.  It was a win/win.  Just in case you are interested my two favorites are the Genealogy Guys Podcast and Genealogy Gems with Lisa Louise Cook.  In fact, Lisa Louise Cook is the one who kind of talked me into blogging - so you can blame this on her.

Then I would take my iPod on my cemetery jaunts and use the camera to photograph headstones, while strangers whispered to each other, stared, and pointed.  This was the new extent of my technological knowledge.  Now my son, Jack asked if he could use my iPod to download an app (short for application), much like a program on a computer.  Well the app he chose is an editing app which is very similar to the Power Point program.  You can use photos, music, and talking to narrate a series of pictures.  This will come in handy for pictures I have of headstones, documents, obits, etc (that is of course if Jack consents to help me through it).

I have recently found another app.  It is the Ancestry.com app.  I downloaded it awhile ago, but I had never uploaded my family tree to Ancestry.com, so it was pretty useless.  Fortunately for the iPod, but not so much for me, I have recently had problems with my laptop.  So I figured I should take the plunge and upload my family tree to Ancestry before I lose it all (eight years of research down the drain).  So I uploaded my info to Ancestry - Not to worry my living relatives, your information does not show up to the general public, besides I don't know that much anyway.  The result of this is that now my entire family tree is downloaded to my iPod, so if I come to visit you, I'll have a Family Tree in my pocket.  Anyone inadvertently mentions anything about family history and I will just blurt out "Excuse me while I whip this out!", of course while reaching into my pocket.

The other technological breakthrough that I have experienced is my recent purchase of the Wolverine - Next Generation Handheld Scanner.  This thing is cool.  I got it through Costco.com and it cost less that $100.00.  It is powered by two AA batteries and the images are saved in a JPEG format to a Micro SD card (my card is a 4 gig, so I can save a lot of documents).  You can carry it anywhere and it will plug in to the computer with a USB adapter.  I can scan photos, documents, pages in books or ledgers, scrapbooks, etc...  It can scan up to 8 1/2" wide and just about any length.  All you do is push the button and roll in over the document, when you reach the end of the paper, hit the button again and the scanning stops.  The image is then saved to the memory card.  So simple it makes me sound like a tekkie.

I had the opportunity to try my scanner out last week.  My friend George and I took a class about researching property records - titles, deeds and mortgages in the county Clerks office.  Everyone else in the group had scanner envy because George and I each had our scanners and were not afraid to use them.  A member of our genealogy society who does Title Searches for a living gave the class and showed us how to look up deeds and such.  I found some stuff, but the best find was the deed to 22 Evergreen Ave, Neptune City.  I never knew when we emigrated to the Shore, but now I know.  Mom and Dad bought the house on 31 July 1958, from Mrs. Margaret Slater, a widow, for $12,900.00.  I always remember mom and dad saying what a nice lady she was, and that if it weren't for her, they never could have bought the house, because I think she held the mortgage.  Anyway they were always grateful to her.  I personally don't think she had much of a choice, she met mom and dad with four small children (me being the youngest at  2 1/2) and one more on the way.  How could she do anything else but help them out.  Just kidding, they could have been forced to live in the garage and dressed me in swaddling clothes.  After all, I have heard of it happening at least once before.

Annie Bradley - My Great Great Grandmother

Just this past weekend, I was thinking of my next "Most Wanted Ancestor" poster and I thought I would use my Great Grandmother Maggie Bradley AKA Madge Bradley AKA Marcella Bradley, wife of James Brady.  She was born to James and Annie Bradley in 1867 in Schuylkill County, PA.  According to the 1880 US  Census, Maggie was 15 years old and lived in Cass Twp, Schuylkill County, PA with her parents James and Annie and the following siblings: Susan, age 17, Lizzie age 11, Joseph age 9, James age 6, Mary age 4, and Ellen age 2.

I checked on Ancestry.com to see if there was any additional information available that I hadn't found before.  I found a Bradley Family Tree, which was about the Bradley family that I have been looking into.  The only mention of my Great Grandmother Maggie, is that she is listed in the 1880 Census, it does not list a husband or children - ergo no me.  Apparently the author knows less about Maggie than I do and the author is in for one heck of a surprise when he/she gets my message.  The author is in for a whole lot of new relatives.

I checked into the other info posted in the tree for the rest of Maggie's immediate family, especially Maggie's mom - Annie Bradley.  The post says that her maiden name is Pepper, born in 1840 in New York to Patrick Pepper and Magdeline Reilly, it also says that she died in PA, but no date is given.  The information also listed her living in Pottsville, PA in 1920.  For those of you who do not know, Pottsville is the home to the oldest Brewery in the USA, The Yeungling Brewery.  I click on the link for the 1920 Census in Pottsville, and find that Anna (as she is named in this listing) lives at 549 East Market St, Pottsville with the following family members: Nickolas Murtha, age 45 and Mary Murtha age 37, listed as Heads of Household, their children are Martha age 11, Mary age 9, Anna age 8, Dorothy age 5, and Anna is listed last as 78 years old and her relationship to head of household is Mother-in-Law.  So Mary Murtha age 37 is Anna's daughter.  You may notice that the ages may be off by a few years, not unusual.  You would think that over a ten year period and person would age 10 years - NOT.

I then checked the 1930 Census and find the Murtha family, but no Anna, so I am gonna guess that she has died sometime between 1920 and 1930.  My next stop is the Pottsville Free Public Library website.  There is a genealogy section of the site which includes some obits indexes.  This is where I found the obit for Anna's daughter Maggie.  There are large gaps in the indexes, every newspaper is not included, and every year is not included.  The only obits listed is most indexes are obits that people have requested from the library, and the library will list it.  I checked the Pottsville Republican - no luck, then I found the Shenandoah Evening Herald and BINGO, I find an obit listed for Anna Bradley, 14 Mar 1929 on page 3.  I called the Library and they will send me a copy of the obit, they will also check the Pottsville Republican for me.  Along with the obit, a bill for $10.00.  Actually quite reasonable, I couldn't get out of Monmouth County on ten dollars worth of gas these days.

So for the past week, I have been like little Ralphie Parker on "A Christmas Story", rushing home everyday to the mailbox to check for my Little Orphan Annie decoder ring, but my package is much more valuable, not a stupid ring.

So if this turns out to be my Great Great Grandmother, that would mean that my father, who was born in 1920, had a living great grandmother until he was 9 years old.  WOW. If true, he never mentioned her, there's a shock.  I also wonder if she attended my Grandfather Thomas' wedding in Jersey City in on 18 Nov 1914, after all she was his grandmother.  If this is my Great Great Grandmother, I am wondering if my father will be listed as her surviving great grandson.  Hopefully I will find out this week without getting a speeding ticket driving home to check the mail.

To be continued........