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.