Holy Crap, Look What I Found

It usually takes a while for any advice to me to sink in.  Whether it is good or bad advice does not seem to have any bearing on my ability to listen to it.  I prove it all the time, and I have done it again.

In every genealogy podcast, lecture, class, etc..., almost every instructor will tell you to read every document that you find very carefully, because you never know what you may miss.  For instance, I just got done writing a blog about Family Search, the Family History Center, and the recent information that I found about the baptism of my grandmother, Catherine Mary McConville and her sister, Florence.  After writing the blog, I was looking at the entry for my grandmother's baptism in the ledger book of St Patrick's Catholic Church at 492 Bramhall Ave, Jersey City, when I saw another entry to the ledger written in.  Above my grandmother's name, I saw the name Edward Bergen written.  My first thought was that there was a Bergen baptized on the same day in the church, which would be odd because my grandmother would marry Edward Bergen in 1919.  Then I looked closer and this is what I saw:

My grandmother's name is on the bottom line, and written in above it says "Married Edward Bergen" then it says something I can't read.  Then I looked at the corresponding lines on the right hand page:

The line above my grandmother's godparents says: "J.C. (not THE J. C., it means Jersey City) Aug 27, 1919 by Rev. W. Costello.  Now you may not remember me telling the story about finding out when they married - but I discovered that Grandma was probably pregnant with my uncle at the time of the wedding.  Anyway, I have the marriage certificate from the State of NJ, signed by Rev. Costello with an address of 511 Pavonia Ave (Not St. Patricks Church)  511 Pavonia Ave is the address of St Joseph's Church.  I wonder if the change in Parishes had anything to do with the premature arrival of my Uncle Bill.  Or maybe they had simply moved and changed parishes.  Whatever the reason, the notation was entered in St Patrick's ledger book - I am pretty sure that this is supposed to happen.  BUT, if this is supposed to happen - how come there is no notation of Florence's marriage to Joseph Markey in the ledger by her baptism?  Maybe the notation was made somewhere else because the ledger books would be getting too tough to read.  Whatever the reason, I thought that this was an amazing find.

So the moral of the story, if there is one, is to read everything very carefully - you never know what you may come across.

Family Search and the Family History Center

I'm a big fan of the Mormon Church and their website: familysearch.org.  Here's how it works:  You go to the website:  https://www.familysearch.org and enter the name of the person you are searching for.  (The best part of this is that you can do all of this in the comfort of your home, dressed comfortably with a snack and/or a drink)  You can add extra info, such as date of birth, parents, place that they lived, etc...   Click on search and away we go.  You can get a variety of results from federal census records, state census records, NJ State Death  and Burial records,  and some Catholic Church Baptismal and Marriage records.  Along with the results, sometimes there is a digital image to view and/or save to your computer, and with each result you can get the microfilm roll number from the family history library in Salt Lake City, but you don't have to go to Salt Lake City to view the record.  You can order the microfilm from a local Family History Center near you (mine is in Eatontown)  It costs $5.50 to have the microfilm roll shipped to the FHC.   When the reel comes in, you can used their microfilm readers to view it.

So, having said all of that, I have previously had some good luck with Catholic Church Records from Jersey City, NJ. that I located on this site.  I found a bunch of records for my dad's O'Dea family baptisms and marriages.  The marriage records give you maiden names for the bride, and the parents of both the bride and groom - very helpful.  The baptism records give you birth dates and baptism dates, parents names (including the mother's maiden name) and Sponsors names - who usually turn out to be relatives.

All right, he is finally getting to the point.  I went  to the family search site and looked up Florence McConville.  I entered her parents names: Edward McConville and Hannah Sullivan, and BINGO.  One of the results is a baptismal record from 26 Nov 1899.  The entry says that she was baptized 26 Nov 1899 in Saint Patricks Catholic Church in Jersey City. It gives her parents names and a birth date of 11 Nov 1899.  When you click on her name, it gives you basically the same info in another format, which includes the microfilm number of 1403369 titled "New Jersey Births and Christenings 1660 - 1980".  As it turns out, when I called the FHC in Eatontown, they already have the film there.  So  I finally getting around to get driving up there to view the film.  The film is a group of ledger books of church records.  The first thing on the reel is an index.  In the index, I find a McConville - but not Florence - it is Catherine.  That is my grandmother's name (Florence is her sister).  I had run her through familysearch.org and did not get this result, she was born 10 Dec 1896 and baptized 3 Jan 1897 and her sponsors are listed as William (unreadable) and Mary Wharton.  Mary Wharton is probably the daughter of Willie and Annie Wharton who brought Hannah and Mary Ann Sullivan in the US after their father died, as nannies for their children.  The next index contains Florence McConville and the ledger lists her sponsors as Joseph A Findally (?) and Elizabeth Milford - another cousin.  Elizabeth is the daughter of Poppa Mac's sister Mary Emma McConville Milford.

More confirmation that Aunt Florence's recollections of family relations is right on the money once again.  Each baptism has a sponsor who is a cousin whom I never would have known about were it not for Aunt Florence.  So I had a good day at the Family History Center, only 15 minutes from my house - and that is important with the price of gas these days.  I got the record for Florence McConville Markey that I came for, plus I got a bonus and found my grandmother's baptism to boot.  Not too shabby. 

Granddpa Brady

I know it has been a while, but this time I have a great excuse -  Hurricane Sandy.  On Monday October 29, 2012 (just two days after my last post) the Jersey Shore was hit by a hurricane - actually it was not classified as a hurricane when it hit, but it did incredible damage.  My family and I were spared any permanent damage, just some trees down and no electrical power.  We lost power on October 29 and got it restored on November 10, twelve days without electricity.  It wasn't that bad because the day before the storm hit, I got a generator - so we could use lights and refrigeration - so it wasn't that bad.  But I did not have cable, computer, or internet - so no blogging.  Now that I have power, I have been trying to think of what I can write about.  I thought about Hurricane Donna which hit the Jersey Shore in 1960 when I was a kid, but that seemed kind of lame for a genealogy topic.  I have been thinking about writing about my grandfather, Thomas James Brady.  I had created a timeline in Excel for him to help me keep track of where he was in each event in his life, but now I can't find it.  So I will just tell all of the places and dates that I know about.

Thomas James Brady was born 27 Aug 1891 in Gordon, PA to James Edward Brady and Madge Bradley He was baptized in St Joseph's Catholic Church in Ashland PA on 30 Aug 1891 and his sponsors were listed in a letter from the church as Joannis Davis and Lilly Bradley.  I checked on line and it seems that Joannis is Latin for John, and I think that Lilly is misspelled.  I know from census records that Madge had a sister Lizzie who is probably the sponsor.  1891 is also the year that Carnegie Hall, then known as Music Hall,  opens its doors in New York with its first public performance under guest conductor, Tchaikovsky.
Benjamin Harrison is the 23rd President of the United States and alternating current is transmitted for the first time by the Ames Power Plant near Telluride, Colorado.

Thomas still lives in Gordon when his mother Madge or Maggie dies in September 1892, the year of the opening of Ellis Island.  The next time I find him is in the 1900 census, living with his grandparents (Brady) in Scranton, PA (his father still lives in Gordon and works on the Railroad).  In 1910, he lives with his grandmother - Bridget Brady - in Scranton and is working for the railroad as a clerk.  During his time in Scranton, President William McKinley is assassinated in Buffalo, NY and Theodore Roosevelt becomes the 26th President of the US.

Next stop is Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey.  He marries my grandmother - Marguerite O'Dea on 18 Nov 1914.  He was living at 359 Whiton St, Jersey City, and she lived at 361 Pacific Ave, Jersey City.  The witnesses were Marguerite's brother William O'Dea and her sister Mary Valleau.  1914 sees basic wages raised at the Ford Motor Company.  Workers now would receive $5 per day for eight hours of work versus $2.40 per day for nine hours previously, Babe Ruth makes his major league debut, and the big news: President Woodrow Wilson announces that the United States will stay officially neutral in the European conflict that would become World War I.  World War I hostilities had begun on June 28 when the Archduke of Austria and his wife, Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were killed by Serb nationalists in Sarajevo.  Hostilities would begin on July 28 when Austro-Hungary declared war on Serbia for failing to meet conditions set after the assassinations.

He lives at 9 1/2 Grant Ave Jersey City when their first child (my uncle Jim) is born 18 Sep 1915, and he still lives here on 5 Jun 1917, when he registers for the Draft for World War I.   (the same conflict that President Wilson announced the US would not enter) He listed his occupation as Brakeman for the Central Railroad of NJ.  I do not think that he served in WWI.  During 1915, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson conduct the first telephone conversation between New York and San Francisco.

Next up is the 1920 US Census and he is listed at 9 1/2 Grant Ave.  He lives here with his wife, son James, daughter Marguerite (my Aunt Margie), his mother-in-law Mary O'Dea, his sister-in-law Gertrude Tully and his niece Mary Tully (my Godmother).  Now this is just an observation - but I am guessing that 9 1/2 Grant Ave is an apartment because there are at least four other families living at this address.  So he is living with his wife, two children, widowed mother-in-law, widowed sister-in-law and niece.  That's seven people in an apartment, sounds pretty crowded.  Thomas is still a brakeman on the railroad and his sister-in-law is the only other person in the apartment employed.  She is a Floor Lady in an electrical shop.  I know that Gertrude will remarry a man named William Rickert, so she and Mary Tully will move out to live with him.  But his mother-in-law's widowed brother will move in and is listed in the 1930 census.  Just sounds to me like he is a pretty good sport.

1920 is a big year in US History.On August 18 women are given the right to vote when the 19th Amendment to the United States constitution grants universal women's suffrage. The next presidential election was in 1922 and Warren G Harding became the 29th president.  Makes you wonder who your ancestors voted for, the women especially.  It also makes you wonder who ran against Harding.  It is also in 1920 that for the first time, the 1920 census indicated a population in the United States over 100 million people.  The other big events of the 1920's were the start of Prohibition on January 17, 1920 and the 1929 Stock Market crash happened on October 29, 1929  . The Great Depression begins.

The 1930 Census takes us to 1859 19th Avenue, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, NY where we find Thomas and Marguerite, living with five children (including my dad), his mother-in-law, Mary O'Dea, and her brother James.  This residence seems to be a single family dwelling and Thomas is employed as a restaurant manager, and he is now the only one employed.  My sister Pat seems to think that the restaurant was the Automat - but we don't know for sure.

Somewhere in the 30's, he leaves the family (supposedly with another woman).  He has become an alcoholic and will come and go occasionally.  I have seen newspaper articles when my dad and his two brothers came home from the War, and he is described as the "late" Thomas Brady. I have also seen where Marguerite was widowed in 1932.  I guess that is when he left for good.

The next record that I find for him is his application for a Social Security Number.  His application is dated 21 Jul 1937, and gives his address as 350 W. 85th St. New York City, NY.  He is employed by Silvers Standard Corp. 1 Willoughby St, Brooklyn, NY and his is issued Social Security # 119-12-2933.  The Social Security Act was passed by Congress as part of the New Deal legislation and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 14, 1935.  It would begin payouts to retirees within two years.  Workers began contributing into the system during the same year, at a rate of 2% of the first $3,000 in earnings, half paid by the employee and half paid by the employer.  Prohibition is also repealed on December 5, 1933 with the passage of the 21rst Amendment.

I have not yet found him in the 1940 US Census, but he does register for the Draft for World War II on 27 Apr 1942.  He is 50 years old and resides at 242 Pacific Ave. Jersey City, NJ.  The form asks for the name and address of a person who will always know your address.  He writes Frank Nappie - Same Address.  Really sounds kind of sad that he comes from such a big family and the person who will always know his address is Frank Nappie.  I don't know who this man is, but I guess that Thomas is a boarder in his home (maybe a friend from work).  Okay we're winding down now.

Next address is 173 Boulevard Ave, Throop PA, which is a suburb of Scranton, then on to the Carbondale Nursing Home where he dies on 21 Aug 1974.  No one claims his body and he is buried in an unmarked grave in Mother of Sorrows Cemetery Finch Hill, Greenfield Township in Lackawanna County PA. 

The year of his death includes some noteworthy events:
7 Feb  - "Blazing Saddles" opens in theaters
27 Feb - "People" magazine begins sales
4 Apr - Hank Aaron ties Babe Ruth's Home Run record of 714 career home runs
8 Aug - Richard Nixon resigns the Presidency in the midst of the Watergate Scandal and Gerald Ford is sworn in as the 38th President of the US
Also in August 1974 a monsoon flood ravages Bangladesh killing 2,500 people
The last major event was my graduation from high school and in September I would start my 27 year quest for my college degree.  Pretty historic.