Schuylkill County Courthouse

I returned to Schuylkill County on Thursday and I spent the better part of two hours in the Schuylkill County Courthouse.  (I know how long I was there by the number of quarters I put in the parking meter) I went downstairs first to the county archives, where I got copies of some Bradley records.  I got marriage records for Joseph Bradley, who is the brother of my Great Grandmother Maggie (or Madge) Bradley.  Joseph was married twice - the second marriage was after the death of his first wife.  His first marriage is recorded in a ledger book with three marriages on a page.  It gives some information about both parties.  It says that Joseph was born 12 Jul 1873 in Cass Township and that he is a blacksmith by trade.  Katie Deegan was born 4 Jul 1873 in Cass Township and her occupation is listed as "at home".  The license was issued 7 May 1896 and returned 1 Jun 1896.

His second marriage is on a whole page in the ledger and has a whole lot of information.  It separates the form into Statement of Male and Statement of Female.  It asks where the male was born but not the date. It asks for parents names (and mother"s maiden name), residences, and place of birth.   Residence of father is "dead" - short and sweet with the same answer for occupation of father, man they don't mince words.  It also asks if this is the first marriage and it says that he was married once before.  Then it asks for date of divorce (which has a line through it) or death of wife or wives - July 8 1913. So now I know when Katie Deegan died.  Then we go to the Statement of Female ( only male and female statements, no male-male or female-female) and her name is listed as Mrs. Jennie Kessler, born in Gilberton, PA, age 43, lives in Minersville and works as a domestic.  She was also married once previously (just in case you didn't catch the Mrs. in her name) and her first husband died 16 Oct 1918.  Her father is listed as Thomas King, dead, but gives an occupation as miner, born in England.  Her mother is listed as Margaret Delaney (King) living in Minersville, domestic, born in Forestville PA.  Lots of genealogical information to follow up on.  The license was issued 13 Feb 1924 and returned on 20 Feb 1924.  Neither form gives the actual date of the marriage.

Then I found a marriage for Joseph's niece, Anna Murtha (his sister's daughter).  Anna married a man named John Conway, age 31 of Pottsville.  His parents Thomas Conway and Mary Barron are both deceased, and his occupation is listed as Clerk.  Anna has parents listed as Nicholas Murtha, deceased, and Mary Bradley, who lives in Pottsville.  The license is issued 21 Oct 1940 and returned on 6 Nov 1940.  This says that they were married at St Patrick's Church on 26 Oct 1940 by R.P. Campbell, Minister of the Gospel.  A quick Google search indicates that the Church of St Patrick is located in Pottsville.

That courthouse visit of about fifteen minutes reveals a lot of information and clues to follow up on, but I know what you are thinking.  Here we go again -  these are not direct ancestors of mine so why put in all of the effort?  My answer is that I could find some real live cousins who might have some info that I missed.  That would be interesting to find some cousins living in Pottsville or Minersville and find out more about how they lived in the area back in the day.

The other thing I did while I was in the court house was go to the Recorder of Deeds and search for the deed to the property  where my great great grandfather Thomas A Brady lived in Gordon - and with some help from the staff - I was able to locate the deed.  It says that he purchased the property on 1 Jan 1869 from David McKnight and his wife Elizabeth, of Reading PA for $250.00.  He purchased lots 12 & 13, located in the Town of Gordon, in Butler Township between Birch Alley and East Plane St and the property measures 100' X 164'  Pretty good size.  I couldn't find the selling of the property, but a nice gentleman helped me to see that although he purchased the property in 1869, the deed was not recorded to until 1903.  He said that back in the day, it may have just been to much trouble to go to the County Courthouse just to record the deed, so they waited until it was convenient.  The problem is that Thomas was living in Scranton in 1903 and died in 1904.  This stymied me until Katrina suggested that he may have given it to a family member who did not record it until 1903.  Perhaps he knew that his father was ill and decided to record the deed in case he passed away and he may somehow lose the property that was unrecorded.  It just so happens that his son (and my great grandfather James Brady) lived in Gordon until his death in 1914.  This would also explain why I could not find the sale of the property - I was looking for Thomas Brady in the Grantor index, but it may have been James' property to sell by then. Sometimes you just don't think about it like that, but it is very possible - I think Katrina should have been the Detective in this outfit. 

I checked further on usgwarchives.net and found a history of Gordon, PA.  A line in this history states that in 1775 three tracts of land were patented to David and James McKnight - the same men that my great great grandfather bought the property from.  I thought that was pretty cool.

The other thing that I think is great about all of these documents is that they all have signatures of the people involved in the events recorded.  To be continued...........