Veterans - Lost and Found

Sorry, I know it has been a few weeks since my last post, but I just got back from vacation.  Not a good excuse, but it's the best I can do.  Before I get started with the recent veterans that I picked from my family tree, I have to show you something that I found, and thought it was humorous.

I was in Glendola Cemetery in Wall, NJ on a Find-A-Grave mission. and I came across this military headstone in the cemetery:

There is nothing humerous about this man or his service to our country, and I mean no disrespect to him, however, look at this stone and read it fast.  It took me a minute, but at first I was unsure if his last name was Greenlaw or Cook.   But I then I realized when I saw 8 CAV that he was a cook in Troop E of the 8th Cavalry.  Then I saw the abbreviation for the war SP. AM. War and that's when I had to chuckle.  It looks like he was a cook in the SPAM War (not the Spanish American War).  Perhaps the men tired of the same menu of spam every day - maybe he started the war.

When I was in Pottsville and Minersville in my last post, I mentioned that I had been in the St Vincent de Paul Cemetery and could not find a headstone for James Bradley.  I was in that cemetery before and had seen a headstone for a James Bradley and I thought that there was a military marker with it, but I could not find it that day.  When I got home later, I entered James' date of death into my computer program and made sure that the on line tree was in sync.  Within a few minutes, I got a shaky leaf on James Bradley, when I checked the hint from Ancestry.com, it was an entry from a data base from the Pennsylvania Department of Military Affairs and was a Record of Burial Place of Veteran.  I opened the entry and found the following card:

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to where James is buried?  You got it - St Vincent's, Minersville, PA.  So he was a veteran of the World War (if you note the date on the card of 7-10-35, you notice it was before WWII).  The military wasn't very exact on dates either - date of birth 1876, date of death 1928, Homeland Security might not let him get buried today without proper ID.  I did a little bit of research on Co B 103 Reg. Engrs and found a book in Google Books about Pennsylvania in the World War and it says that the 103rd Engineers were formed in August 1917 as the Pioneer Engineer Regiment, it says that Co. B was formed in Philadelphia, and Co. C was formed in Pottsville, apparently he signed up before the recruitment in Pottsville.  Company B was also the first unit of the regiment to be mobilized for service in the World War, it became part of the 28th Division on 3 Sept 1917.  18 May 1918 the unit embarked on H.M.S. Metagama and crossed the Atlantic in a convoy of thirteen ships under guard of a battleship.  So he went on to see service in England and France.  It is an interesting story, but I don't think I could do it justice.  If you would like to read it, just google: An illustrated history of the Twenty-eighth Division, Volume 2 (Google eBook).

After this find, I decided to check the Pennsylvania State Archives for any more info, and I found a place to check file cards for Pennsylvania Militia Units in various conflicts.  I looked for James Bradley, but had no luck.  Then I saw a link for file cards for Pennsylvania veterans of the Spanish American War - yes the famous SPAM war.  I check through a list of cards alphabetically.  In case you didn't think of it Bradley and Brady are very close, so after striking out with Bradleys, I continued and checked the Bradys.  This is what I found:

I know that my great great grandparents Thomas and Bridget Brady had a son Andrew, and the first thing that caught my eye was the place of birth - Gordon PA - that's where they lived early on.  Then the current residence - Scranton PA - which also is where they lived in 1900.  I thought they lived on Riffle St in Scranton, so I checked the 1900 census and much to my surprise they were living at 641 Birch St, Scranton, PA. - the same address as the card.  Holy cow!!  I knew nothing of Andrew and now this.  He apparently served in Porto Rico - love the spelling -and was mustered out with his company and honorably discharged 24 Jan 1899.  He promptly went home and was counted in the 1900 census.  Andrew is not in the 1910 census.

I checked a little further and found that I have his father's obit from 5 Oct 1904 and it listed his survivors - his widow (no name, just widow Brady) and children - Andrew is not listed among the survivors.  So I put my detective skills  to the test - they are a little rusty - and surmised that he died sometime between 1900 and 1904.  A few years back I visited Thomas' place of burial in Cathedral Cemetery, Scranton, PA.  Also buried there are his widow Bridget - yes she had a name all her own - and daughter, Mary.  I remember the staff there telling me that there was another grave there and there was probably someone buried there, but they had no record of who it was.  Then I remembered - now I'm really scraping the rust off those old detective skills - at the grave was a VFW marker with a flag and I wondered who that was for.  I called the cemetery today and checked on Andrew.  The woman said that records prior to 1905 were spotty at best, but they had no record of Andrew.  Then I called the Scranton public library - which is where I found my Great Great Grandfather's death certificate - and asked if they had death certificates for the city between 1900 and 1904.  I was told that they do, but death certificates were not required prior to 1906, so if may not be there.  I then asked if they had info on local Spanish American War Vets and, after checking her list, she said he was not on it.  So at least I can check for a death certificate in the Scranton Public Library for him.

Before I started writing this post, I did some research on line on the Spanish American War and I found that the VFW was organized around 1899to 1900, after the war, as an organization for veterans of foreign wars.  So I am now going to check with the local VFWs in Scranton to see if he is listed on any of their roles - maybe they know where he is buried.  I think it is probably Cathedral Cemetery, which would explain the VFW marker.

Before I found any of this information, I knew of several veterans in the family.  Starting with my father in WWII, his two brothers Jim and Frank in WWII, his brother Paul in Korea, my mother's two brothers Ed and Bill in WWII, and my mother's father served in WWI.  I could go on about my wife's family's military history - which includes several West Pointers, a Civil War General, and various other Generals, Colonels, and Majors, and no less than three burials in Arlington, but I would need alot more time and room.  

So it was nice to uncover the service of these two veterans that I did not know I had.  The thing that I wonder about is why did they die so young?  Andrew died about five years after his return at about 30 years old and James died at 51 years of age, only 10 years after his return from the service.  Did they suffer wounds or the effects of stress, disease or mustard gas?  Clearly more research is need to answer these questions.  I will research them more and hopefully get some more information about their service. 

One more thing I noticed - right after my wife asked about it.  Katrina reads my posts while they are still drafts - mainly for spelling errors and to make sure it makes sense.  After reading this post, she asked "So how are they related?"  My first answer was "they're not", but after thinking for a moment I said "James' sister Madge/Maggie/Marcella married Andrew's brother James, so I guess they are brothers-in-law".  Sometimes when you write these stories, you just don't think about basic questions.   So after reading this if you have any questions - ask.  It also helps me to figure this all out.