Kate Bergen 1863 to 19??

   
I am sitting in a cabin in Rangeley, Maine writing this post.  Not to worry, I'll be home before I post it, just in case any burglars follow my blog.  So I have been trying to think about a topic for this post, and I found a few things about my Bergen line.  So I settled on my great grandfather "Pop" Bergen's sister Kate.  I have found out a lot about her lately, so here we go.

Kate was born in Ireland in 1863, to Edward Bergin (that's not a typo - it was spelled with an "I" originally) and Mary Malone. She has a sister Mary (surprise) and three brothers: Patrick, Thomas, and William (Pop).  The family emigrates to the US, and is enumerated in Jersey City, NJ in the 1880 census.  Also living with them is her mother's brother Daniel Malone.

The next record that I find for her is her marriage.  She marries a man named Bernard Cavanagh, born in Ireland in 1869 to Charles Cavanagh and Bridget Fennelly.  They marry on 16 Aug 1896, and have three children.  The first child is a boy, born 28 May 1897, and name him Charles (apparently after Bernard's father).  I wrote previously in my post about the website rcancem.org that I located Charles' burial in Holy Cross cemetery in North Arlington, N J.  He was buried 13 Oct 1937. He was only 40 years old.

The next child born is another boy, whom they name Edward J. (Joseph), he is born 18 Apr 1899.  He was probably named after Kate's father (according to the old Irish naming tradition).  Edward will serve in the Army during WWI, and upon his return, he become a boilermaker in a foundry.  Sometime after that, he follows another Irish tradition and becomes a Police Officer in Jersey City.  He is enumerated in the 1930 and 1940 census records as being single, living with his mother and sister, and employed as a Jersey City Police officer.  I have no record of Edward's death, and I don't know where he is buried.  Better than that, I have no record of him receiving a pension, which is what everyone wants to know today.

The last child born to this union is a girl, born 27 Nov 1900.  She will be named - I know this will shock you - Mary.  She is baptized Mary Teresa in St. Michael's Church on 13 Dec 1900.  Now this is the interesting part.  I just found a death record in the Social Security Death Index for a Mary Teresa Cavanagh born in NJ on 27 Nov 1900.  Anyone care to guess when and where she died? Doesn't matter, you'll never guess.  She died 27 Dec 1989 in Rumson, NJ.  This is about 15 minutes from my house!  She would have been my mom's first cousin 1X removed, living 15 minutes from mom.  Mom never mentioned her, that I can remember.  Probably never knew she had a cousin that close.  This is all assuming that the woman who died in Rumson is my first cousin 2X removed.  As soon as I get home, it is time for a trip to the library to check the Asbury Park Press for an obit.  If this is her, it means she did not marry or was divorced and went back to her maiden name.  It also means that I need to return to the Monmouth County Courthouse to check property and probate records.

As I said, I wrote most of this in Maine, but we came back to New Jersey this Friday.  Guess where I was Saturday morning - you got it - I was at the Monmouth County Library checking the microfilm for the Asbury Park Press for the end of December 1989 and the first week of January 1990 for an obituary.  Guess what I found. Right again - Nothing.  So that means I will have to make a couple of phone calls this week to the Surrogates Office and the County Clerk's Office to check on probate and property records.  I'll keep you posted.

As for Kate's husband Bernard, there is very little that I know about him.  She is listed in the 1910 census as a widow, but I have not found a death certificate or an obit for him, so I do not know his fate (other than death).  Actually, as I am trying to finish this post, I went on Ancestry.com one more time to look specifically for Bernard and I found his death.  It appears that he died 3 Apr 1900.  It looks like a record that I can get either at the NJ State Archives or through the LDS Church, because it has a FHL (Family History Library) Film Number of 589072.  The record says that he was born about 1870 in Ireland and died 3 Apr 1900 in Jersey City.  He was 30 years old, married and a laborer.  If this is him, that means that his wife Kate was pregnant with her third child (Mary Teresa), who would be born in 8 months and never see her father.  That also means that both of her sons barely knew their father and probably looked to Kate's brother Thomas (who would be enumerated with them in the 1910, 1920, and 1930 census records) for advice and guidance.  But that's another story.

My Wife's Chapman Family

My father-in-law, Benjamin F. VanVliet, Jr.died on Friday night 11/15/2013 at his home in Vermont.  My wife, Katrina, is going to a memorial service in a few days and was asked to read a poem written by her great grandfather Chapman.  The poem was entitled "Thy Little Song".  Ben's wife, Barbara, asked her if Tom (me) could find out anything about him so that she could say a few words about him.  This is where being married to me comes in handy.

I checked my genealogy app and found that I had absolutely nothing entered about Ben's mother, Edith Chapman. I was always told to write down what you know and go backwards in time to do someone's genealogy, so I know she was born about 1898 in Pueblo Colorado to Joseph W. Chapman and Julia Prichard Chapman.  She married Ben's father, Benjamin VanVliet and they lived in Shrewsbury, where they had two children:  Edith and Ben.  Edith Chapman died in Florida in November 1978.

Edith's father was Joseph Warren Chapman and was born in Marblehead Mass. 26 Nov 1855 to Joseph Warren Chapman and Louisa Morse.  He lived in Franklin Mass in 1880 and was an assistant school teacher at the School Department of Dean Academy,  where he shows up in the 1880 census.  He married Julia Prichard on 24 Nov1885, in Marblehead.  Julia was born in on June 14, 1858 in Bradford, VT, according to her passport application, which also says that Joseph passed away on January 14, 1909.  In the fall of 1889, they moved to Pueblo, Colorado, where they were counted in the 1900 census.  Joseph is a librarian and owns the house that they live in without a mortgage.  He and Julia have four children, but only three are alive in 1900:  Edward P, Edith M (Ben's mother) and Janet.  A daughter, Katherine, passed away in 1896.  Also living in the house are a servant and a nurse.  Julia applied for the passport in 1925 and was quite the traveler.  She went to France, England, Switzerland, and Italy on board the Franci on February 28, 1925.  There is also a record of her returning to New York from Hamilton, Bermuda on on March 3, 1934, on the SS "Queen of Bermuda", where she must have vacationed with her sister Anna, who is listed right above her.

I found a copy of Joseph's book, "Poems" edited and arranged by George Chinn 1913 on http://www.unz.org/Pub/ChapmanJoseph-1913, and the book contains this photo of Joseph Warren Chapman 1855 to 1909:

Joseph W Chapman 1855 - 1909

Not content with this info, I looked to Joseph's father and found this information:

Joseph Warren Chapman Sr was born in Marblehead, Mass on July 24, 1828 to Nathanial and Martha (Ogleby) Chapman.  Joseph marries Louisa Blackler on April 15, 1855. Remember that their son Joseph was born in November of that same year.  Now again, I am no mathematician, but I know that eleven minus four does not equal nine, but I would be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.  It was close (I have to admit it is kind of nice to see these math problems pop up in other families as well as mine). I found these records in Massachusetts Town and Vital Records 1620 to 1988 record group on Ancestry.com.  The record is handwritten into a ledger book (in excellent, readable handwriting) and says that Joseph Sr and Louisa were both born in Marblehead, and it gives Joseph's occupation as "cordwainer".  Any guesses, because I didn't know until I googled it.  It is a shoemaker.  In the 1860 census, his occupation is shoemaker, but I guess Mass. likes the old English term better.  Joseph dies 5 Oct 1863 in Marblehead, of consumption.

All of the information that I got on the Chapman family, I found on line.  Most of it on Ancestry.com and the book on the website that I listed.  Massachusetts towns apparently kept excellent records and the ones for Marblehead are all in excellent, very readable handwriting.  I actually wrote most of this post right after my father-in-law passed away, but never got around to posting it.

I found all of this information in one night - probably about 4 hours of research.  I found my wife's great great grandfather's birth record and his father's name and mother's name and maiden name. I found so much information that the first time Katrina read it, it did not make sense.  I actually had to leave some stuff out so that it sounded right.  That is something that will probably never happen again.

You Never Know What You're Gonna Find

I know it has been a few weeks, but I was waiting for today to blog because I thought that I would have some new material on Thomas J Bergen, the Deputy Fire Chief at Snake Hill.  I had a Hudson County Genealogy Meeting today in Secaucus (same as last post), but this time I was on a mission.  I had e mailed the author of the article on Snake Hill in the Secaucus newspaper.  He e mailed me back, saying that the library had the Secaucus Home News - all of the old issues.  So I originally went to the library to research them, only to discover that they only go back to 1969 - Major Bummer!  So I read some stuff in the research room to kill some time before my meeting.

Then the Meeting began and soon the speaker for the meeting was introduced and gave her presentation on "Research Problems that Made My eyes Cross".  Her name is Toni McKeen and she was very good.  She gave some research tips that I had not thought of, and could not wait to get home and try them.  The one tip she gave was for searching Ancestry.  She said that if you can't find a family in the census, it may be because the spelling is so wrong or the handwriting of the enumerator was so bad that it could not be read and indexed properly.  So search for the family without a last name.  Yes, you read it right.  Search for your person with all the information you know, but do not put a last name.  If that doesn't work - try searching for the children in the same way.  You are not required to search for the head of household.

I got home and tried this out on my elusive Keaveneys.  I recently did two posts on the wandering Keaveneys - well this is the same group.  If you remember - and I would not believe you if you said that you do - my great great grandmother Bridget Cremmins-Sullivan was widowed in 1867 and had a child, Johanna Sullivan.  I later discovered that she remarried to a man named Thomas Keaveney and had seven more children before she died in 1884.  Here is my problem - I cannot find Bridget or Johanna in the 1870 or 1880 census records, although I know that they are both alive and probably living in Jersey City.  By 1880 Bridget has married Thomas Keaveney.  I think that she had married him by 1870 because they have a daughter Mary in 1871.  So according to Toni McKeen I should search the 1880 census first for Bridget and Thomas no last names with dates and places of birth, as well as Johanna (I searched for Annie because that is the only name of record that I have seen for her - her death certificate and headstone say Annie).  I also put in Mary, Edward, John, and Thomas, who were all born to Bridget and Thomas before 1880  The first result I see for for Bridget and Thomas Kearny.  When I checked the copy of the original record, I can see how the spelling was confused.  There are all of the children, but Annie is listed as Hannah - which is what my mom always said.  There is also an additional child named Kate, born in 1873.  This is a sad reminder because I know from previous research that Kate will die in 1884 at age 11 - the same year as her mother.

Here is the record, Thomas is 38, laborer, born in Ireland and Bridget is 34, housekeeper, born in Ireland all of the children are born in New Jersey.

Then I tried the same method for 1870 and found this one:

This record is also from Jersey City, and gives Thomas Kearman as age 28 and occupation is glass blower, Bridget Kearman is 24 and a daughter is listed as Mary J. age 2.  The "J" could stand for Johanna like my mom always said, but I am not sure.  There is also a Jane Kearman age 70 - probably Thomas' mother.  So I also wonder if the "J" in Mary J stands for Jane.

So the bottom line is that I am sure the 1880 census is for the Keaveneys, and the 1870 census in certainly close, and the ages fit, and the handwriting on the record could actually say Keaveney, but was transcribed as Kearman.  The 1870 census may need a little more research to determine that it is them, but I am inclined to believe it is.

Roman Catholic Archdioses of Newark - Cemeteries (rcancem.org)

    On Saturday, George and I drove to the Secaucus Public Library to attend the monthly meeting of the Hudson County Genealogy Society.  As we were leaving (it was a very good meeting about naturalizations, by the way), George saw a local newspaper, The Hudson Reporter, in a rack in the lobby.  On the front page was a story about Laurel Hill a.k.a. Snake Hill.  The article was mostly about the asylum, but there were other institutions there: hospitals, prisons, etc… including the Fire Department.  This is where my Great Grand Uncle was the Deputy Fire Chief (remember when I found Thomas J Bergen’s death certificate?).  So when I got home I shot an e mail to the author of the article, asking for info about the Fire Department.  I later got a response telling me that all of that information is at the county, but there is a complete file of the Secaucus Home News past editions at the Library.  So next meeting you know where I am going.

    Well, all of this got me thinking about Thomas J Bergen and his wife Margaret.  I have the death certificate for each of them and I know (from Margaret’s obit) that they had no children.  I also know that both of them are buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington, which brings me to the title of this post.  I know from the headstone at Holy Cross that Margaret Bergen, Thomas J Bergen, and Mary V Cannon are buried in this plot, but who else is here?  I went to rcancem.org to do some research.  I know I mentioned this website before and the fact that you can search by name (either first and last names or just last name).  I previously found that Thomas’ brother Patrick and his wife, Mary, are both buried here by searching the Bergen surname.  The website identifies the plot as Block 1, Section B, Grave 356, and gives a specific plot number within this area, as well as, burial dates.  So I have three people that I know are there from the headstone, and two more that I found before.  Here is what I have:

Name            Date of Burial            Grave

Thomas J Bergen    9 Apr 1931            1B
Margaret Bergen    7 Mar 1930            1A
Mary V Cannon    12 Aug 1969            3A
Patrick Bergen        19 Apr 1931            1C
Mary Bergen        29 Dec 1943            2B

So then I entered Bergen in the surname search and chose Holy Cross Cemetery and hit search.  Here is what it looks like:

Let me tell you, there are a lot of Bergens buried in this cemetery.  I scrolled through the burials paying attention to the Plot number and I found the following:

Yes, another Mary Bergen in grave # 2C, and a burial date of 13 Dec 1957.  (I was two years old)  You may notice that the name directly above the highlighted one is the first Mary Bergen (Patrick's wife).  Now this new Mary Bergen could be Patrick and Mary's daughter, but I thought that Mary V Cannon was Patrick and Mary's daughter and Cannon was her married name.  Now I am a little confused.  Now the good news - it gives a date of burial, that means that I can now check newspapers for an obit for each of them and maybe clear up the confusion.

Thanks to finding Thomas J Bergen's will at the NJ State Archives, I know that he had two sisters (which I already knew - but now I have their married names from Thomas' obit) They were Catherine Cavanaugh and Mary Kennedy (there are even more Kennedys buried here than Bergens).  I haven't found any Kennedys here, but I did find a Charles Cavanaugh.

 This is Catherine's son, with a burial date of 13 Oct 1937- he died young - I think he was born in the late 1890's.  I have not yet found Catherine's son Edward (the Jersey City Police Officer), her husband Bernard, or Catherine herself, but I just checked my Family Tree App and remembered that she had a daughter named - you guessed it - Mary.  Perhaps Mary V Cannon is Catherine's daughter under a married name.  That would make sense, but now I need to find obituaries for these folks to see who is who.

In case you haven't noticed, this is Post # 50 in my blog.  Not bad for a guy who was not so sure that there was enough family history to write about.  I will say this though, since I have been blogging, I have been more conscientious about researching so that I would have something to write about.  It's like a vicious cycle, I research to have something new to write about and then I write about the research, it could drive you crazy if you are not careful.  Some people say that I have not been very careful.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Old Newspapers

Old newspaper articles are a great source of information on your family - if you can find them.  I have a subscription to Genealogybank.com, which has really helped me find some old articles.  I subscribed because one of the Newspapers that they have digitized is the Jersey Journal in Jersey City.  After searching through it for my father and his brothers, as well as, my mother's brothers all coming home after WWII.  I could not find anything.  Then I read the part where they tell you what newspapers are there and the dates that they cover.  It was then that I realized that they have only digitized up until 1922.  OOOPS, I should have read that before subscribing.  But as it turns out, that is where I found the small articles about George P Valleau in Omaha, NE.  There was one listing when he applied for a marriage license, and a second one about him leaving home and not returning.  I have located some recent obits also, one was for George's son:
Arthur Valleau.

But, I think I hit the mother lode with the Valleau-Metzger branch of the tree.  I recently found this article:

It was in the Trenton Sunday Times Advertiser, Sunday June 16, 1957 on the first page of section 2.  This is the son of Charles Metzger and Gertrude Valleau-Metzger, earning his degree from Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.  It tells you his address (which I knew) and that his degree was in psychology, and that he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon social Fraternity - Party!, the government club, the Young Democrat Club, the Eta Sigma Phi honorary society, and the basketball team.  I never knew anything about him, but now I know a little more.

The best was the pictures I found:

Here is Charles E Metzger getting name President of the Alumni Association for the State Model School and Teacher's College (Trenton State College - now the College of New Jersey)

How about this one?

This is the wedding of Susan Valleau Metzger - Baldwin to Joseph R Baldwin.  Pretty picture of her don't you think?  These pictures were in the Trenton Times also.

Now here's an oldie but a goodie:

This is from the Jersey Journal and it is short but contains a lot of info - obviously no pictures.  This is the marriage of Mary Marguerite O'Dea (Susan's maternal grandmother) and Charles Arthur Valleau.  It tells her sister's name - Gertrude (which will also be the name of her daughter), as a bridesmaid  and the groom's brother, Percy, is the best man.  It goes on to say that only a few people knew of the marriage, and they will live in Bayonne.  The wedding took place on 16 Feb 1904 in St Paul's Church in Jersey City.  It doesn't say that in the article, but I just thought I'd throw that in to impress you with my knowledge of the family.

Last, but certainly not least, I can't write a post about newspaper articles without an obit:

He died suddenly in Philadelphia, he was struck by a train at the Belmont station while working on the railroad.  But this gives names of his mother, father, and brother and where his brother Leo lives, and the church that they attend.  Now all I have to do is find an article in a Philadelphia newspaper about the train accident - but I have to go to Philly for that.

The Wandering Keaveneys Part II

So after locating the records for William Keaveney, and locating some blog fodder, I checked the shaky leafs next to his brother Richard F. Keaveney, 1923 to 1983.  The first records I saw were the 1930 and 1940 census records.  He was living with his parents in Jersey City, NJ in both of these records.

You gotta love findagrave.com, because the next thing I see is an entry in Find A Grave for Richard F (probably Francis – that seems like a popular middle name with this family), born 5 Mar 1923 and died 28 Jul 1983.  And he is buried where?  No, not Holy Cross or Holy Name- he is buried in Oleander Memorial Gardens in Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina – Really?  Find A Grave also lists in the memorial that he was born 5 March 1923 in Hudson County, NJ and is the son of Elizabeth Mayhew and Edward Keaveney.  I have never seen this type of info listed before – it may be common but not with my family.  It also gives a family link to his wife’s Find A Grave memorial – Eleanor Carmela Torre Keaveney (1923-1989).  I am going out on a limb and I will guess that the creator of his memorial is related.  There is a photo of the grave marker and there is no indication of any parental information.  So I clicked on the link to his wife, Eleanor and I see that this memorial has the same type of info.  It says that she was born 9 Feb 1923 in Masontown, Fayette County, Pennsylvania and died 16 Dec 1989 in Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina.  It goes on to say that she is the daughter of Josephine Victoria DeMiere and Joseph Paul Torre, Sr.  So not only do I get her maiden name, but I get her mother’s maiden name.  I have sent a message to the creator of both memorials explaining that Richard is my first cousin 2X removed, and asking how the creator is related, but I have not received a response yet.

My next move was to search for Eleanor Torre with her birth date and parent’s names and I found that in 1940 she is living in Jersey City – go figure.  I didn’t think of this when I saw her maiden name, but in 1940 she has several siblings, including a brother Joseph and a brother Frank.  Now, if you are not a baseball fan, this may mean nothing to you.  But if you are a baseball fan and a NY Yankee fan, your heart – like mine – may have skipped a beat.  Yankee manager Joe Torre and his brother Frank, both played major league ball – with Joe managing the NY Yankees.  I immediately searched on line for Joe Torre, and found that he was older than this Joe Torre and lived in Brooklyn, not Jersey City.  Oh well, there goes my brush with fame.

So, how did they meet?  Did they live near each other in Jersey City? After all it is the 2nd most populous city in the state.  Back to the 1940 census, and here is what I found.  The Keaveneys lived at 171 (I think, it is hard to read) Summit Ave, and the Torres lived at 157 (again difficult to read) Summit Ave.  How close is that?  You gotta love Google Earth.  Check this out.  You can do alot with Google Earth, including labeling old homes and locations.

 They lived on the same block, they were the same age, probably went to the same public school in the same grade.  So maybe they met in the neighborhood, or went to the same school.  Either way, they met and married.  Funny thing is that when looking at the 1940 Census Richard has completed 1 year of high school, but so has his brother, Leonard - but Leonard is two years younger.  So you would think that Richard is working at 17 years old - but there is no employment info and it says that he went to school during the year.  As for Eleanor the census says that she attended school since 1 Mar 1940, but it does not list a last grade completed - nor does it give any employment info.  It does say that her father was born in Italy and is a barber by trade (as are two of her older brothers).  Maybe if they were born in Ireland they would all be cops.

At some point they moved to 2534 Birchtree Dr. Memphis, TN 38138-5704, because I found a record on Ancestry.com , which comes under US Public Records - I think it is usually telephone books that are the source.  And then on to Wilmington, NC, where they will spend eternity in Oleander Memorial Gardens, 306 Bradley Dr, Wilmington, NC.  By the way, do you know what famous person is buried in this cemetery? Major League Baseball Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Pirate, Willie Stargell, 1940 to 2001.  Just in case anybody ever asks. 

One more thing I noticed right before publishing this today.  I upgraded my Ancestry App on my Ipad, and it is very good.  It tells your ancestors facts as more of a story and adds historical facts about things going on in the world during their lifetime.  Like a timeline - I like it.

The Wandering Keaveneys - Part I

Okay, get a cup of coffee before you start reading this, ‘cause it may get confusing.  I am going to write about a cousin or two that I had never heard of on my mom’s side:  William and Richard Keaveney.  They are both sons of Edward L. Keaveney, who is the half brother of my great grandmother, Johanna Sullivan Bergin.  You may remember from a post last year (yeah right) that Johanna’s mother was Bridget Cremmins, who married Dennis Sullivan.  After Johanna was born, Dennis died, and Bridget remarried to Thomas Keaveney.  That is the Keaveney Connection.

So just the other day, I went on my Ancestry App and was looking through some names.  I came across William Keaveney and he had a few shaky leafs next to his name.  This means that the app has searched through Ancestry.com and found records that fit the information entered for your ancestor pretty closely.  Sometimes the records refers to your ancestor, sometimes it doesn’t.  You have to check it out.  So I clicked on the shaky leaf and saw a few records, one of which was the 1940 Census.

I checked the census record and found William age 35 and his wife Helen living with their two daughters, Joan and Patricia (sound familiar?).  I checked the address, but it did not sound like an area of Jersey City, so I scrolled to the top to see if they were in Bayonne or Hoboken or something.  When I got to the top of the page, I got a surprise – they lived in Chicago, Ill at 500 East 102 St, he is a foreman in retail window shades.  How did that happen?  Do I have the right guy?  So I checked the 1930 Census and found William and his wife Helen living on Summit Ave in Jersey City with his parents and siblings.  He is a foreman in a paper mill.  So they must have moved, but why?  As I looked at the dates 1930 to 1940, it dawned on me – the Great Depression was in full swing.  Maybe, like so many others during this time, he moved to find work.

So now I continue the Shaky Leaf Shuffle and find a listing in the Social Security Death Index which give his date of birth as 1 Feb 1905 and death as Apr 1985 in Oswego, New York.  I start to question again if this is my Keaveney, and I found a City Directory listing for William and one for Helen in Oswego, NY.  I guess that answers that.

While I was still in Chicago, I checked for marriage records with Cook County IL to see if Joan or Patricia were married there.  It just so happens that Ancestry.com has an index of Cook County Illinois marriages between 1930 and 1960 - Lucky me.  I checked the index and this is what I found:

Patricia S. Keaveney married Edward W. Hedstrom on 17 Mar 1954.  Now I don't know if this is my Keaveney, and I will not know for sure, unless I order a copy from the Cook County Clerk, but I think it is a good possibility.  It would make her 21 years old.  But we will have to check and see what exorbitant fee Cook County wants for a 60 year old marriage license before I order it.

I was going to write about two brothers in this post, but I think I will save Richard F Keaveney for next time.

Where is William Brady Buried

I am certain that this burning question has been the topic of many heated debates, much like the Lincoln - Douglas debates of 1860, and Kennedy - Nixon of 1960.  Okay, so maybe I'm the only person on the planet who actually cares where he is buried.  It is a piece of the puzzle that I don't have yet, so I am compelled to find it.

With this in mind, I traveled to Scranton, Pa to investigate further, and visit living family members while I am at it.  This past Friday I drove to my sister and brother-in-laws home, and enjoyed their company for the night.  In the morning, I was off to the Scranton Public Library to research obituaries on microfilm.  I was able to find the one I was looking for:  John Casey.  WHO??  Yes, John Casey is the father of Hannah Casey Brady, wife of William F Brady.  If you remember, I had said that I thought that if I could find John Casey, I would find Hannah (his wife) and Hannah (his daughter) and her husband, William.  I have heard this called Sidestep Genealogy.  If you can't find someone, look for the people close to him/her and you may find him.

So here is the Obit that I found in the Scranton Times 7 Jan 1935:

Pretty cool, gives you alot of information: where he was born, when he emigrated to the USA, what he did for a living, where he lived, political affiliation, and the part that I was looking for: Where he is buried.  By the way, my sister Pat guessed that he would be buried in Dunmore and she was right.  It says that he is buried in St Mary's cemetery in Dunmore, PA (I think it may actually be a part of Scranton).  So I drove to St Mary's, and I found a Priest at the church, but he could not help me because he had a wedding party there.  Come on now, I can't believe he thought they were more important than a guy who has been buried for almost a hundred years.  Anyway, I walked through the cemetery for a while, but could not locate a headstone.  The Priest said if I called the church on Monday, his secretary may be able to help me.

Monday morning I called the church.  The woman I spoke with was very nice and took the information and my name and phone number, promising to call me back when she found the info.  Five minutes later she called me back with good news.  John Casey is buried there, he is listed as the owner of the plot.  The last person buried there was Hannah Casey Brady.  Hold onto your hat, she died 14 Sept 1958 at the age of 90.  Holy cow, that is some longevity in them genes.  Her father died at 92, and her daughter, Hannah, will die at age 94.  Unfortunately none of those genes crossed paths with me and my crew.  As I sit here thinking about, if Hannah died at 90 in 1958, that means she was born in about 1868.  That means she was born during the Reconstruction era after the Civil War, and died when I was two years old.  That's alot of livin'.

So it sounds like my next visit to Scranton will involve a visit to the library for Hannah's obit, and a very large cup of coffee to take for a walk through St. Mary's cemetery in search of William Brady.  Didn't find him this time, but I am  getting closer.  I am almost certain he is there, I just hope the grave is marked - 'cause as usual the cemetery records from that time are spotty at best.

International Correspondence School

Sorry it has been so long, almost a month and a half.  But I have been busy -  okay not that busy, but busy enough to keep me from doing much research and blogging.  If you remember back, I had talked about my great grand uncle Dr. William F Brady.  Well I forgot to mention one little detail that I had heard from my sister Pat and my cousin Linda.  Supposedly Dr Brady was one of the founders of the International School of Correspondence (ISC) in Scranton, Pa.  He allegedly wrote a textbook for the school on Electro Therapeutics.  No I don't know what that is, but apparently the good Doctor did.  It doesn't sound as interesting as my blog though.

So anyway I was looking up the school on google and it still exists and has been renamed Penn Foster Career School, but it still operates as ICS in the UK and Canada (according to wikipedia).  I called the University of Scranton Library because their website says that they have a collection of documents from the school.  I was told by a woman there that she would check through the collection and let me know if she finds anything about Dr. Brady.

Within a week, I received an email from one of the research librarians advising that there is no record of Dr. Brady being affiliated with the ICS, however, he was listed as a guest at the Fifteenth Anniversary of the ICS.  She also extended an invitation to make an appointment to examine a folder titled "The History of the ICS", and any other documents pertaining to the school.  I might take them up on it, because I have a copy of a document listing him at the Dean of the School of Electro Therapeutics.  So maybe no documents referring to him are still around, after all they are a hundred years old.  Just so you know there is a family connection to the ICS, William has an older brother John (who was the father of 11 children with his wife Anna, who all lived to adulthood).  In the 1930 Census, John is listed as 75 years old (as is Anna) and they were both 20 years old when they married.  That means that they were married 55 years at this point.  Sorry I went off on a tangent, John's occupation is listed as Repairman and his employer is listed as ICS.  I had heard that several family members were employed by the school.

My next email will be directed to Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA.  This is the Medical School that he graduated from in 1884.  I am really looking to locate a picture of him.  It would also be nice to find out anything else that I can about him.

Why I Blog

 Let me tell you how blogging has really helped me improve my research skills.  First, I have to pick a topic - a person or family group, or a cemetery, courthouse or archive.  Okay, you get the picture.  Next, I have to  check all of the stuff I have for the topic - this is the learning part.

When I check all of the documents that I have collected, I find that half of the time, I will find a name or a date that fits in with something else that I have been trying to figure out. I suddenly have a revelation or an "AHA!! moment".  It is usually something that I have been trying to figure out for awhile - and I had the answer all along, I just didn't know it.

I bring this up now because I have been working on Dr. William Brady - as you know, if you read my last post.  I said that he was the most documented Brady of that era.  While writing about him, I realized that I do know a few things about him - thanks to a lengthy article in the Scranton Times on the day of his death.  But there is one thing that I did not realize until I began to write this post.  I don't know if you remember, but when my great grandmother (Madge Bradley) died in Sep 1892, I wrote that my grandfather (Thomas) may have lived with his uncle William and his wife and children.  Now that I am writing this and looking at dates, I know that William did not marry Hannah Casey until 1 May 1893 and had no children until 1894 - he may not even have been back in the USA yet from his studies abroad.  So that "Family Lore" has been debunked- as they say on "Myth Busters".  Now that I think of it, that sounds like a good description of my family research - Myth Busters.  I have had his marriage license application and his will since November 2006.  So I have had this information for about 6 1/2 years and I never made the connection until I started blogging about William.

So as I said, William marries Hannah M. Casey, daughter of John Casey and Hannah Gorman, in May of 1893.  The Caseys are a prominent family in Scranton, John is a grocer in Scranton, and the newlyweds live with her parents at 613 Adams St in Scranton. William practiced medicine on Wyoming Ave, and he and his wife had three children:  Hannah Brady on 20 March 1894, Regina on 20 Sept 1895, and John on 18 Oct 1897.  Like I said, the family lives with John and Hannah Casey at 613 Adams Ave, apparently it is more lucrative to be a grocer that a Doctor in the early 1900s.  According to the 1920 Federal Census, Hannah and Regina both become school teachers in Scranton and John is in school for Civil engineering.  I believe that both Hannah and Regina go on to become principals in the Scranton School District.  Neither of them marries and both retire to Miami, Florida where both die, Hannah on 3 May 1990 (at age 94!!!) and Regina on 14 Dec 1971.  John marries Irene O'Hara and they have at least two children: Noreen and John Casey Brady.  John is widowed in 1963 when Irene dies, and he dies in Scranton in 1967.  According to the 1940 Census, Hannah, Regina, John and his family all reside with their mother, Hannah Brady at 613 Adams St, in Scranton.  John's education says that he is a high school graduate, and is employed as an insurance adjuster.  Apparently the whole college thing did not work out.  But you never know -  we all know it took me much longer than that to graduate college.

A lot of  this information I picked up as I prepared for this blog post.  The last thing I found was by accident.  I started with my Ancestry App, and started looking up stuff about William's children: Hannah, Regina, and John.  The one thing I did find was Hannah, on 'Find A Grave'.  She is buried in St. Catherine's Cemetery in Moscow PA (thank God it's in PA, cause I would have had the big one if it was Russia)  As if turns out, all three of them are buried in a plot there, as well as John's wife Irene, children and some of his grandchildren.  I never expected to find them all in Moscow, PA, After all Hannah and Regina died in Miami, so they had to be transported from sunny Florida back to Lackawanna County PA to spend eternity.

I know that William died of a heart attack 18 Sep 1917 in Scranton, but I don't know where he is buried.  I can't find his wife Hannah or her parents either. I thought they would be in St. Catherine's in Moscow or in Cathedral in Scranton - but so far, no luck.   I think if I find one of them, I will  find them all.  That's the other thing that I learned by looking through my stuff.  The long article I found in the Scranton Times about Dr Brady and I thought was an obit, is not.  It looks like a long article about him on the day of his death (still no picture), and I will have to return to the paper to find the obit, that should tell me about his burial place.

Here is a photo of the grave marker from 'Find A Grave' for the Brady's in St Catherine's Cemetery in Moscow, PA:

Dr. William F. Brady M.D.

This is my Great Grand Uncle, brother of my Great Grandfather - James Brady.  William is one of my better documented Brady family members from this era.  I actually have a date of birth from a Passport Application and a physical description - but no photograph.  These Bradys were very good at avoiding cameras - come to think of it my father never liked having his picture taken either - maybe there is something in the DNA.  Anyway, William was born 6 Sep 1862 in Gordon, Pa.  I know all you Civil War buffs out there are saying "Wow that's eleven days before the Battle of Antietam"  That's right, the bloodiest single day of the Civil War and happened in Sharpsburg, MD, about 600 miles away.  In another ten months (July 1863), the Civil War will be knocking on their back door at the Battle of Gettysburg- only 80 miles away.  Good thing Billy Yank turned them away or I'd be eating corn pone and hominy grits today - actually I kinda like grits sometimes.  With the war that close, you would think that I would find a Brady fighting in the war somewhere.  Actually I think I can hear my great great grandmother saying something sweet to my great great grandfather - "where the hell do you think you're going?  You want a war, I'll give you your bloodiest day if you try to leave me here alone with these kids."  (Okay, that conversation is fictional, but I never realized how close the war came to their home until now).

Sorry, I digress.  Let's get back to the story.  William was the fifth of the eight children born to Thomas and Bridget Brady in Gordon.  According to a biography in an old book I found on line (and never bookmarked - so I can't find it) he attended school in Gordon and Ashland, graduating from high school in Ashland at age fifteen (showoff).  He received a B.A. from LaSalle College in Philadelphia in 1882 (BIG showoff).  Then he took a course in Villenova Seminary, stayed for a year and decided, at that time, to study medicine - I guess a year in the seminary will do that to a guy.  So then he entered Jefferson Medical College in 1882 and two years later, he graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine.  Unless my math is off - which happens with guys like me who don't like showoffs and take 27 years to graduate from college - he became a Doctor at age 22.  I told my brother-in-law, who is a doctor, about this accomplishment and his reply was that there was not as much to learn then. Excellent point.

So, now he is a doctor.  He spends a year working at the State Miners Hospital at Fountain Springs near Ashland, Schuylkill County.  When he finished his time there, he traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to continue to study abroad (no, I don't know her name - HA, just kidding).  First he goes to Dublin, Ireland and graduates from the Maternity Hospital.  I guess if you want to learn about maternity, Ireland is the place to go.  Then it is on to Paris, France for two and a half years, and Berlin, Germany, and Vienna, Austria for a year each.  He spent five years studying abroad and meeting the leading medical men of "the old country",   while becoming fluent in French and German during his visit. Germany is where this document comes from (okay so it was on Ancestry.com):

This is one of my favorite finds, it gives dates, a physical description, and his signature.  So this document says that he is in Berlin 25 Jul 1888, applying for a passport  for Identification purposes - probably so he could go back home.  It gives his date of birth as 6 Sep 1862, and that he left the US on 7 Sep 1888 (it also disputes the biography I found that says he went to Ireland for a year first - oops).  But it gives a physical description saying that he is 25 years 10 months old, 5' 8" tall, high forehead, grey eyes and a medium nose. (what is a medium nose?)  He has an oval face, fair complexion, brown hair, and a beard and moustache.
Well, I think that is enough for now.  Stay tuned for part two.

By the way, I just realized that the biographical sketch that I found is actually all in his obituary in the Scranton Times 18 Sep 1917.

Another trip to Schuylkill County

As promised, I went to Ashland, Pa on Friday and searched for my great grandfather's final resting place, which I thought would be St. Joseph's cemetery.  Once again, I came up empty.  But the good news is that at least this time I found the right cemetery.  Apparently the first time I went there with my sister we were actually in the wrong cemetery.  This time - after searching for a while - I actually had the sense to ask someone.  I recently heard a talk and the speaker was talking about searching cemeteries and how she found the grave she was looking for.  Checking at the office was not the answer - her secret was to look for the guy with the shovel.  In this case there was no office, and no guy with a shovel - so I had to rely on a lady walking her dog - and she pointed me in the right direction.  She told me "there are a lot of Catholics buried beyond those trees.  We drove over and found a cemetery.  Then I found an older man walking a dog (apparently cemeteries are like dog parks in PA), who said that there were two different cemeteries.  There was St Josephs, which was for the Irish Catholics and there was St Mauritius to the far west, which was for German Catholics.  There was no physical separation like a fence, just a dirt path.  He told me that back in the day, the churches were very ethnic, so you had German Catholics, Irish Catholics, Italian Catholics,etc... So after searching for a while and not finding what I was looking for, the man saw me again and told me to check with the Ashland Public Library, because they had some funeral home records.

Next stop, Ashland Public Library.  I checked in the library and found that they did not have the year I was looking for, but they suggested that I call Mt Carmel Public Library and the Schuylkill County Historical Society, whom I have called before for this and other reasons, without much success.  Just in case you're curious - here is James E Brady's death certificate from the PA Dept of Health

Even the folks who buried him were secretive, all it says for place of removal or burial is Ashland, PA.  I called Mt Carmel and Schuylkill County Historical Society for Funeral Home records, with no success, but Mt Carmel Library called me back and said that they will mail me a list of burials for Bradys and Bradleys in the time frame I am looking for.  They were very helpful and sent me a large manila envelope of burials in the Tri-County area, but so far I have been unable to locate James.

I know that I did a whole post on my Great Grandfather James E Brady with a wanted poster and everything, but I never included his death certificate.  If you read it, you can see that the informant is Mary G Brady of Scranton - his sister.  She is the one who let the secret birth place of her parents out of the bag - Swinford, Ireland.  It also says that he was 54 years, 9 months, and 19 days of age - YIKES - that's younger than me.  He died of Cardiac Failure and myocardial degeneration.  All the papers I have seen for him list his occupation as Fireman on the railroad, but this just says laborer.  Maybe that was just a generic term for railroad worker.

The thing that I always wondered about (and I know I have mentioned it before) is the name of the doctor who signed the death certificate: Thomas McCutcheon of Gordon, PA.  Not his brother William, who was a doctor in Scranton.  Now that I am thinking about it, and after driving from Gordon to Scranton last week it took me an hour and change.  So back in 1914 it must have been a long trip - even if you had a car.  So anyway I looked up Dr. McCutcheon in the 1910 census, and I couldn't find him - until I used a wildcard search in Ancestry.com.  I searched McCu* for a last name and found his name spelled McCutecheon, living on Biddle St in Gordon, he was 31 years old, born in Canada (Eng), single and came to the US in 1902, and was still a Canadian citizen at the time.  Funny thing is that the next family in the census is Guy Hubler, his occupation is listed as Druggist.  Just thought that was interesting - Birds of a Feather and all that.

So after my trip, I still don't know any more about the Bradys in Schuylkill County, but not because of a lack of trying or helpful librarians and historians.  I just think that they don't want to give up any secrets yet.
                                                                                                    

Thomas A. Brady - My Great Great Grandfather

Okay, it's time to return to the elusive Bradys in the tree.  So I figured I would write about the oldest Brady I have found information on - my great great grandfather: Thomas A. Brady.  No, I don't know what the "A" stands for, but I know he had a son named Andrew - so that's where my money is.  I know a few things about him, but his date of birth and/or age seems to change from record to record, and I can't seem to find him on any passenger ship manifests to tell me when he came here, where he landed, and who he came with.  His death certificate doesn't even tell his parents names and lists his place of birth as - you guessed it - Ireland.  No town, not even a county.  But the best part of it is that his son William is the doctor who filled out and signed the death certificate.  William does list a date of birth as 11 Apr 1832 and he died of pneumonia on 5 Oct 1904 and is buried in Cathedral Cemetery in Scranton, PA.  You would think that his son would be able to fill out a death certificate with a plethora of information - NOT.  So I was on my own to piece together as much as I could.

The earliest census record that I found with Thomas and his family was 1860.  The family was enumerated on 13 Jul 1860 in Butler Township, Schuylkill County. The census lists the Post Office as Gordon.  The record says that he is 30 years old and a laborer born in Ireland.  He is married to Bridget, age 28, and they have three sons: John age 6, Michael age 3 and James age 9/12 ( he is nine months old - and he is my great grandfather).  This enumeration took place a year before the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln would be elected President for his first term in four months.

 Thomas applied for and was granted citizenship in the Schuylkill County Court of Common Pleas on 5 Sep 1864.  The application says that he is 32 years old or there abouts.  Yea right, Homeland Security would be all over him today.  I wonder who he voted for, when he was able to. 

1870 finds him still living in Butler Township, but the post office is Ashland, and we have added some children.  The first thing I notice is that there is a Patrick Brady, listed as 17 years old and born in Ireland, John is 16, Michael is 14, James is 11, William (the doctor) is 9, Mary is 4, and Bridget is 11/12, off to the right it says that she was born in June.  The funny part is that Thomas is listed as 45 years old, and Bridget, his wife, is 40.  Somehow in the ten years between federal censuses, he aged 15 years and she aged 12 years - go figure.

1880 finds him living in South Butler Township (it also says Village of Gordon).  The family listed right before him is that of his son John, who is married to Annie and two sons, Thomas and John Jr.  Our hero is listed in the next family as being 56 years old - man it must be a tough life in coal country - he has aged 26 years in 20 years.  Bridget is listed as 49, so the aging process is slowing for her.  We also have a new child - Andrew, who is 10, but was not listed in the census 10 years ago.  The interesting thing about this census is that there is a catagory that says:  if a person is sick or temporarily disabled and unable to attend to his/her business on the day of the enumerator's visit - what is the disease or disability.  Bridget (his wife) is listed as "decaying".  Quite honestly I don't want to know what is going on with her that day, but I thought it was interesting.

At some point he moves to Scranton - to the big city, where they are listed in the 1900 census.  John and his family have also moved to Scranton.  William (the doctor) is also married and living in Scranton, married to Hannah Casey.  Living with Thomas and Bridget are two of their children: Mary aged 24, and Andrew aged 22 (Andrew has just returned home from the Spanish-American War - where he fought in Porto Rico - that's how it is spelled in his service record), and their grandson, Thomas aged 8.  As you all know Thomas is my elusive grandfather, who continued in the family tradition of leaving behind very little evidence of his life.

Just to keep you on the edge of your seat (where I am sure you have been for the past three and a half weeks just waiting for my next post) I will tell you that tomorrow I am going to my sister and brother-in-law's house in Penn.  On my way, I am stopping in Ashland, Penn to look in St Joseph's cemetery to see if I can find my great grandfather James's final resting place.  (My sons will be beside themselves with excitement - it's not every day that you drive three hours to look for a grave that may or may not be marked - if he is even there.) James, as it turns out, is even more elusive than his son, leaving even less evidence of his existence.  So I will let you know how I make out.

Where in the World is George P Valleau?

Turns out this pond was just stocked, so I gonna do a little more fishing here.  Right after I published my last post about Arthur J Valleau, I figured I would check George P Valleau, his father, on Ancestry.com using a birth year of 1883 and birth place of Jersey City, NJ.  Where else?

Surprise, Surprise - I found a few items.  Probably should have done this a while ago, but I'm a busy man.  Here's what I found:

1)  1915 Westfield NJ city directory lists George P Valleau, plumber living at 537 North Ave E, listed next, at the same address, is Susie Valleau, wid. of Charles - this would be his mother.

2) 1920 Federal Census, George P Valleau and two lines below him is Tessie Valleau, both listed as married, he is 37 and she is 27.  They are both borders in the home of John Keenan 368 W 27th St in Manhattan, NY.  I think that Tessie is his wife - Bessie, they live in the same house, they are the only two Valleaus there, and they are listed as married - probably to each other.  Their son, Arthur, is living in Tenafly with George's brother, Charles and his wife Mary O'Dea Valleau.  Confusing ain't it?

But this could explain why their son is living in Tenafly with family.  His parents fell on hard times and did not want him living in a boarding house with them in Manhattan.  Arthur is listed in the 1920 census in Tenafly as Nephew to the head of house (as I am sure you remember from several posts back)  Yeah right.  Anyway it sounds right.

3) 1942? World War II Draft Registration for George Percy Valleau, DOB/ 24Jan1883 in Jersey City, NJ.  He is living at 3002 1/2 Washington Ave. Newport News, NJ with his wife Sally P Valleau.

So, I return to the title of this post - Where in the world is George P. Valleau?  Did he remarry and lived into the forties?  There are still some missing pieces to this puzzle.  I have to write to his son's daughter, whom I found in the obit for Arthur. To be continued...

A little more about Stewart VanVliet

In my last post, I told you about an ancestor on my wife's side.  Well, I couldn't just let it end there, I had to find more.  The man was intriguing to me.  So I went to the Monmouth County Library and looked for an obituary in the Asbury Park Press on microfilm.  Sure enough, I found one:

It's a little blurry, but microfilm is tough.  I believe his father was a newspaper man, wrote some kind of fishing column for a local paper, but the Asbury Park Press can't spell his name right.  The proper spelling is VanVliet.  The obituary was found among  several pages of obits, for local people killed in the same crash.  I can see that he was married to Dorothy Smith VanVliet and has two children, Stewart and Lida.  He remained involved with the Boy Scouts, which is how I came upon him in the first place, and was active in the YMCA.  I also see that he was a veteran of World War II, and a communicant of Christ Church in Shrewsbury.  I found these headstones in the church cemetery:

Top left is his headstone, middle left is his father, and the bottom is his mother.  The one on the right is the stone for the family plot.  His sister and her husband are both buried here too, but I don't see a stone for his wife.  She may be with him, but there is no stone for her.  The picture is an experiment of an app that my kids showed me.  I could never do this myself.  Interesting to note is that both his sister, Ortrude and her husband were WWII veterans - the whole family got into the act.  In case you are wondering the round disk in front of his headstone is a flag holder and the disk is from the Shrewsbury Volunteer Fire Department, I found that a lot of the VanVliets served on the Fire Department.  Pretty community minded group

Anyway, after entering the correct date of death in my database, I checked Ancestry.com for any final info.  I got the census records for 1930 and 1940 (before he married) but then I got another military form:

It is an application for a military headstone or marker.  His widow, her signature is at the bottom right, chose the upright marble headstone.  The application gives some good information: rank 1rst Lt, his unit and company, date of birth and date of death.  I found it interesting that the only address I found anywhere is Sycamore Ave, Shrewsbury - no house number.  Maybe it was the only house on the street back then, I don't know.  I do know that the family was very prominent in the Shrewsbury area.  My wife's 2nd great grandfather was a Major General in the Union Army (he was also Stewart VanVliet - I guess it wasn't just my family that recycled first names).  One day I went into the Shrewsbury Historical Society to see what they had there, and I was met by an older man who volunteered there.  I told him that I was doing a family tree and my wife's family was from Shrewsbury.  He asked what her maiden name was and when I told him VanVliet, I thought he was gonna die. He asked if she was related to the general and when I said yes, I reached some sort of celebrity status.  He showed me a book shelf dedicated to Gen. VanVliet, which included old ledgers and papers.  In a box there were assorted birth and marriage certificates, as well as, old letters.  He let me copy whatever I wanted and was extremely helpful.  So I have to be careful writing about my wife's VanVliet family, cause once I start - I'll have to quit my job and just blog to dedicate the time needed for all the info I can find quickly.  I'm gonna keep looking for a Brady Museum, but I just don't think it's in the cards.