Black Friday 2014 = Fun at the State Archives

Whoever wrote this must be a real exiting guy. This is one happenin' dude.  The easy answer is that I was off and they were not, and I am not big on real crowded malls - or empty malls for that matter.  So off I went to the archives, under the guise of getting my own birth certificate at the nearby Dept. Of Vital Statistics, not the archives, thank you very much.  However, after trying to park near vital statistics, I decided to do it on line, and stay at the archives.

My goal at the archives was to find a death certificate for Daniel O'Dea, brother of my great grandfather Michael O'Dea.  I know he was in Jersey City in the 1900 census, and I found him in city directories in 1901, 1902, and 1903.  In the 1910 census, his wife Mary is listed as a widow.  So I was able to quickly ind his death certificate on the second roll of microfilm that I checked.  Turns out he died on 26 Feb 1905, at his home at 244 Suydam Ave, Jersey City.  Cause of death - cancer of the neck, perhaps it is throat cancer and he was a smoker? Or chewed tobacco? I don't know, but it says he was sick for two years.  Doesn't sound like a fun two years though.  You will never guess where he is buried - Holy Name Cemetery, Jersey City, another shocker.  The other thing that I wanted to see is his mother's name, and it is listed as Catherine O'Dea (not Honora) but did not give her maiden name, DANG.  But now I know that Michael and Daniel had the same mother, Catherine and the rest of the siblings were born to Honora McGuan O'Dea.

Here is the death certificate that I found:

The one thing I didn't mention was how I found the death certificate so easily.  I checked the spelling O'Day first, it's pretty much a crap shoot on how they spelled it.  The microfilm has them in alphabetical order, so I just checked O'Day first before scrolling to O'Dea - saves me some time.  Next I tried Jersey City newspapers for an obit, but I came up empty.  The I tried to see if there was a will - again no dice. So my goal was reached, so it was time to leave.  But I just couldn't do it.

So I decided to look for wills from other ancestors, namely the Sterlings.  I couldn't remember looking up their names in the card file.  No Sterlings, and I then I thought a moment and remembered Margaret Sterling, she had married Thomas Keogh, had a baby girl, Helen, and soon thereafter she died.  I found Helen living with her grandparents, John and Mary Sterling, but I could never find Margaret's husband Thomas Keogh again.  So I checked for Thomas A. Keogh, and I found a will.  In the Will, he bequeaths $250.00 to his daughter Helen, BINGO!!!

The executrix is his wife Annie Keogh, and the will was signed on 8 Mar 1935.  After finding the will, I checked for a death certificate.  I found it, Thomas died 5 April 1935, less than a month after making his will.  The death certificate says that he lived at 299 Halliday Ave, Jersey City, and was married to the former Annie Kennedy - another Kennedy branch in the family.  He was born in Jersey City on on 22 Feb 1875 to John Keogh and Kate Glynn.  These are the same parents that appear on his marriage return from his marriage to Margaret Sterling.  This confirms that I have found the elusive Thomas Keogh, who is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington.  He died of a carcinoma of the liver, so I guess he knew he was dying when he wrote out his will.  One last detail is occupation - he was a retired Jersey City Fireman at the time of his death.  If you remember, Mary Sterling married Michael Sheehan, a Jersey City Policeman.  That whole public service thing must be in the blood, it seems to have reached my brothers and I, and now my brother's son just got hired as a Policeman.

That's why I like finding cops and firemen in my research, it makes me feel more connected to them.

Cathedral Cemetery, Scranton, PA

   I know that I just told you about Calvary and Mt. Olivet Cemeteries in New York, so now the plan is to tell you about my Bradys, who are buried in the other big city - Scranton, PA, and my Bradley's from Schuylkill County.  Last weekend was Halloween, and I decided to get out of Dodge, and travel to Scranton via Pottsville (the county seat for Schuylkill County) and check for property records for my Bradley ancestors.  Turns out they must not have owned property, cause I could not find any.  

I did, however, find a will for my Great grandmother (Madge Bradley's) brother James.  The executor was his brother Joseph.  The estate consisted of money deposited in the bank and no property.  I thought he had a tidy sum put away, but by the time the bills were paid, the funeral was paid for, and the headstone, there was only a couple of hundred dollars left.  

Then I drove to Ashland to check out St. Joseph's cemetery where I think my Great grandfather James is buried.  But I found nothing of interest.  So I drove to the Ashland Area Historical Society, but it was closed.  There was a sign in the window that said they are open by appointment only, with a phone number.  I called the number, but no one answered.  So much for Ashland.

Then I was off to my sister's house for the night, and a gourmet meal prepared by my brother-in-law.  On my way out in the morning, my sister offered to go to Cathedral Cemetery in Scranton to look up two Brady plots that I recently found thanks to the Pennsylvania Death Certificates database on ancestry.com.  That's all I needed.  We called and a man was in the office and said he would be there until we got there.  When we got there, he gave us a map ,and direction to two plots.  He even copied the file card for us that lists who is buried there and the dates.  I have to say that the folks at Cathedral Cemetery have been consistently the most helpful people - as cemeteries go.

Anyway, we found this headstone first:

                              

This is for James Brady and his wife, Alberta Wenis, with DATES!!  Also buried here are Jacob and Elizabeth Wenis, parents of Alberta.  Alberta and James also had a son, Joseph, who died at 7 years old.  His death certificate says he is buried at Cathedral, but the cemetery has no record of him.  I bet he is also buried here with his parents.

The next plot we located had this headstone:

                               

How do you like this?  Names and dates, looks like these Bradys didn't get the memo either - you know, the one about secrecy and not giving up information so easily.  This is the grave of John Brady (my great grandfather James' brother) and his wife Annie Butler.  I posted their obits not too long ago.  Also here are their daughter Agnes Brady and her husband Edward Sipple.  If you look closely, there are two more names etched on the base beneath the headstone.  On the right is Mary Goetz, (daughter of Edward and Agnes) and on the left is her husband Darrel J. Goetz.  

I actually met Mary when I started this venture in about 2005.  I had written a letter to every Brady I could find in the Scranton phone book.  One day, I got a call from a woman named Peggy Brady, who lived in Scranton and had gotten my letter.  She said to me "I haven't figured out quite how, but I think we're cousins".  We arranged to meet in Long Branch, that August because she and her cousin Mary were going on a retreat with the church, and it was in Long Branch - about 15 minutes from my house.  We met and talked family, and took a picture.  They were both very nice and I have spoken to Peggy since then, but not too recently.  I did not know that Mary had passed away.  I enjoyed meeting my newly found cousins, and will talk with Peggy again.

So it turned into a productive trip, thanks to some relatives who were willing to break the code of silence and list names and dates on headstones - not to mention very helpful employees at Cathedral Cemetery.

Brooklyn & Queens Cemeteries

  So today I took a trip that I have been looking forward to for over two years.  Let me back up to a blog I posted in June of 2013.  I had information that I had not followed up on.  That a family tree written by my mom's cousin says that a good number of my mom's family is buried in Brooklyn/Queens.  Specifically Calvary Cemetery and Mt. Olivet Cemetery.  In other words, this is a trip I've been dying to make.

Today is Election Day and I am off from work, and a couple of days ago I suggested to my wife that we take a ride and get some lunch, then come home.  We could make a day of it. She readily agreed -and it was a beautiful, sunny day with temperatures in the high 60's. I prepared for the trip by making phone calls to the cemeteries to make sure I knew where the plots were located.  That done, with my iPad for pictures and iPhone for Siri and directions, we were off.

First stop - Calvary Cemetery and the grave of my Great great grandparents, Peter and Catherine McConville as well as their son, Peter.

According to Wikipedia:

Calvary Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery in Queens,New York City, New York, United States. With about 3 million burials,^[1] it has the largest number of interments of any cemetery in the United States; it is also one of the oldest cemeteries in the United States.^[2] It is owned by theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and managed by the Trustees of St. Patrick's Cathedral.

The first Calvary Cemetery burial in occurred on July 31, 1848. The name of the deceased was Esther Ennis, having reportedly “died of a broken heart.” By 1852 there were 50 burials a day, half of them poor Irish under seven years of age.

So here amongst the three million burials lie my McConville ancestors, and I found their headstone with relative ease: 

                                            

Yup, right there in section 4B, Range 30, Plot D, Grave 6.  Now Peter and Catherine had four children: Edward (my great grandfather), John, Peter (who was buried here in 1948), and Mary Emma.  According to a 1900 census record, Catherine had 11 children and only these 4 survived to adulthood.  Mary Emma married a man named Robert Milford and had several children.  The Milford's final resting place was Part II of today's trip.  

Next stop: Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Maspeth, Queens, NY.

In order to find my McConville ancestors, I had gotten a map of the cemetery two years ago showing where the section that they are buried in is located.  For Mt. Olivet, I received an email message telling me where to find the headstone.  I was able to find it in about 10 minutes!!!

Mt. Olivet was established in 1850, and covers 71 acres.  I did not find any Wikipedia entry for it, but I can tell you this.  We were driving through city streets on Grand Ave, when I saw a traffic light and on the left side of the street was a clump of trees.  When you get to the light, and turn left through the gates, and enter the cemetery, you almost immediately forget that you are in New York City.  This is 71 acres of prime real estate, with no buildings.  It is actually like walking in a park, very scenic.  Although we found the headstone quickly, we walked around for another half hour just looking at unique headstones.  This headstone was located in Lot 4161, Section F:

                                             

Here lies Mary Emma McConville Milford and her Husband Robert J Milford and some of their children: Mary Emma Barth and her husband Frederick W. Barth;  Olive Milford Shields, and her daughter Elaine Marie Shields ; and Elizabeth Dawson and her husband William J Dawson.  It appears that the last burial here is their son William M Dawson, who was buried 14 Feb 1981.  So I may find some living cousins from this trip.  I also think there is a story with Olive Shields and her daughter Elaine.  I notice that there is no husband buried here, and I found Elaine listed in an index of deaths in New York.  She was born in 1929, so she was only five years old when she died - less than a year after her mother, who was only 30 years old herself.  I am gonna have to call Aunt Florence again.

Catherine McParlan 1837 to 1913

I remember that I mentioned in a previous post, that my great great grandmother was named Catherine McPartland and she married Peter McConville in England.  While doing this recent research, I was looking for census records for Catherine McPartland in Manchester, Lancashire, England and I could not find any - even though the 1861 census says that both Peter and Catherine were born in Lancashire.

See?  It says that they were both born Hulme, Lancashire.  So the next thing I did was to search for a marriage record for them.  I located an index of marriages from 1857:

Yeah, I know, it's hard to read, but she is listed towards the bottom of the page as Catherine McParlan, registration district is Manchester, then it lists the index volume and page as Volume 8d, page 561 and it is for the fourth quarter of 1857.  This means that it lists marriages for Oct, Nov, and Dec 1857.  There is a separate entry for Peter McConville with the same volume and page listed, but I did not show it here.  So I know they were married in Manchester in October 1857.  But the best part is that I now know that her last name is spelled McParlan, not the McPartland that I had been searching under.  Just so you know, I got the McPartland spelling from a family tree my mom's cousin did, quite awhile ago.  (Probably back before I cared).  But the point is that she gave me  a starting point - and a real close one - for my great great grandmother's maiden name.  If not for her effort, I wouldn't have had a "McClue".

So with the proper spelling of her last name, I now found a census listing in 1851 - before they were married.  The 1851 census lists the McParlan family living in Manchester:

The family consists of Edward McParlan, age 58, born in Ireland, and I think his occupation is "confectioner", which I think is a candy maker. His wife, Mary Ann is 40 years, born in Ireland, and is at home, then we have the children:  Ann is 14 and is employed in Waterproofing - she was born in Manchester, as were the rest of the children, Catherine is 11 and works as a bread maker, it looks like Catherine has a twin sister Mary, who is also a bread maker, Margaret is 5, and Emma is 9 months old.  So Edward is the only male in the household - he has a wife and 5 daughters.  So this looks like the second set of twins that I have found - one on Peter's side and one on Catherine's side.  Now that I think about it, my mom always said that twins ran in the family and she always wanted to have a set of twins in our bunch.  Now I know where the twins came in.  But in all my research, these two sets of twins are the only ones, so I guess twins did not run very far - just in that generation.  Interesting.

The other thing I find interesting is the occupations - a confectioner? Really? and his daughter at age 14 is in waterproofing.  Somehow that just sounds backwards - he should be in waterproofing and she should be the candy maker.  But the twin daughters are both bread makers (or bakers I guess).  Even on the McConville side  of this marriage you had weavers,  dyers, and packers of cotton.  I guess the area where the McConvilles llived may have been more rural and the confectioners, waterproofers, and bread makers may have lived in a more urban area.  This, of course, is all speculation on my part but I am thinking that employment opportunities depended on the area that you lived. in.  

The other thing that I noticed is that Peter's parents - Edward and Alice - were both born in England, but Catherine's parents - Edward and Mary Ann - were both born in Ireland.  So the McParlans are can be traced back to the old sod easier than the McConvilles.  I think I have some more research to do, but I'm not doin' bad so far.

The McConvilles of Manchester England

Yeah, you read it right - England.  Mom always said that the McConvilles came from England - Manchester to be more precise - but, she said that they had moved there from Ireland because there was no work on the Emerald Isle.  So I figured that one generation back I would find them in Ireland, but apparently that is not the case.  I am pretty sure that I located the family in Manchester England back in about 1800.  So it looks like my mom's peeps (on her mother's side anyway) were limeys.

So I found the 1861 census for Manchester England on Ancestry.com, and there at the bottom of the page is Peter McConville - Boat Maker, age 25,and it says that he was born in Manchester:

Below him is his wife Catherine, age 24, weaver, also born in Manchester.  Last, but not least, is my great grandfather, Edward S. McConville, age 1, and born in Manchester - like he had a choice!  I was kinda surprised to see that Peter McConville was born in Manchester, I really thought he was my connection back to the old sod, but apparently not.

So next, I looked up Peter McConville to see where he lived before this, and I found another census from Manchester, England, this one from 1851:

So once again at the bottom of the page we see the McConvilles, starting with James, age 52 and his wife Alice, age 54.  James is a Lodge Porter, and looking to the right it says that he also was born in Manchester, as was his wife Alice.  So if this is the 1851 census - I am no math wizard, but - that means that both of them were born in Manchester somewhere around 1800.  I'm almost scared to go back any farther, I may have a relative who fought against the colonies in the American Revolution.  Any way it looks like Peter had a sister Elizabeth, age 20 in this census, who was a cotton spinner, and a brother Richard, age 17, who worked as a packer (of cotton - I guess), and then there is Peter, age 15, employed as a dyer (also of cotton - I guess).

Then I figured that I would push my luck and shoot for 1841, and Presto:

So ten years earlier, there are older children - at least four of them.  In 1841, James is working as a weaver, so it looks like the family works in the textile industry.  So, here is the rundown on the 1841 census:

We have James age 40, working as a weaver, and his wife Alice age 40, then we start with the children:  John is 20 and working as a  weaver, next in line appears to be fifteen year old twins - Mary and Alexander.  Mary has no occupation listed and Alexander is a weaver, next is James age 13, employed as a packer, then we get to the children listed in 1851 (only younger) Elizabeth is 10, Richard is 8, and Peter is 5.

So I'm really on the move now, but I don't want to get crazy here.  I'm not absolutely certain that these are my ancestors - but it sure looks like them.  The ages fit and even the names are  basically the same a few generations later.  You have Peter, James, John, Mary and even Alice.  But some of them are different too like Elizabeth, Richard, and Alexander.  I really believe that these are my McConvilles and I'm gonna work on proving it.

Next post is going to be some more English records that I found about Peter McConville's wife Catherine (McPartland).   So until then, Ta Ta.

The Davis family in Schuylkill County

Okay, so it's been awhile since my last post.  I have actually done a lot of research in the past month, some on mom's side and some on dad's side.  So I have been trying to figure out which one to write about.  So Dad won the  coin toss.  I recently drove up to my sister's house in Scranton, so on the way I had to detour through Schuylkill County - Pottsville to be exact.

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but when my Bradys lived in Gordon, there was a family named Davis who lived right near them.  The Davis family was always listed right near the Brady family on each federal census.  In 1900 and 1910, my great grandfather James Brady is listed as a boarder living with the family - this is after the rest of the family moved to Scranton.  I also noticed that one of the witnesses at my Great Grandfather's wedding was a Davis, and I think one of my Grandfather's Godparents was a Davis. This got me to thinking that the Davis' are related somehow.

When the database of Pennsylvania Death Certificates became available on Ancestry.com, I located a death certificate for Patrick J Davis of Gordon.  He died on 14 May 1916 of apoplexy.  The Doctor was signed the death certificate is Thomas McCutcheon - the same doctor who signed my great grandfather's death certificate,.  The funeral home was Burke Brothers - also the same - and place of burial or removal is listed as Ashland - also the same as Great Grandpa.  The informant of the death certificate was listed as Mary Davis - not his wife, but probably a daughter.  This added to my curiosity.  So I went to Pottsville to look for the obituary for a dead neighbor of my dead ancestor.  Man I think I got it  bad now.  I checked for the obit and could not find one, so this is another similarity.

My next move was to go to the Courthouse and check for a will.  Again, I hit a dead end - please pardon the pun.  But then I thought "what about his wife Catherine? maybe she had a will"   Mind you, I never found a death certificate for her in Pennsylvania, but I figure it couldn't hurt to check - I even had time left on the parking meter.  There were three Catherine Davis' listed and I quickly ruled out two of them, and the third one was for a Catherine Davis who died in New York, but had property in Gordon.  This is when the bells started ringing, then I saw the executrix - Mary Davis.  This had to be her.  So I open the envelope, and the first line made me certain.  It said "I, Catherine Davis, widow of Patrick Davis".  So now I know why I couldn't find her in the Pennsylvania database - because she died in New York City - didn't see that coming.

She listed her three daughters: Mary Davis, Delia Davis and Rose Davis of the City of New York as the executerixes, as well as, Nellie Holleran of the Borough of Ashland, County of Schuylkill and State of Pennsylvania.  No I don't know who Nellie Holleran is.  Anyway it says that she leaves property in Gordon to be sold and the proceeds divided among her three daughters. One of the last lines in the will states "decedant died October 15, 1922, which is actually 92 years ago tomorrow, but the will was not probated until August 1930 - makes you wonder what the delay was.  I wonder if the daughters just came across the will one day and did not even realize that the property was in their mother's name.  One more thing before I move on, she signed will was "her mark", which was an "X", so she could not write

Next stop is the Recorder of Deeds, right here in the same building - but two floors up. I found the deed to Lot 12 in Gordon issued on 1 Jan 1869, describing the sale of the lot by David McKnight and his wife Elizabeth of the City of Reading, County of Berks, State of Pennsylvania, andJames McKnight of the same place, party of the first part, and Patrick Davis of the Town of Gordon, County of Schuylkill,party of the second part - no mention of his wife - for the sum of $125.00.  I may have mentioned this in a previous post about the Bradys, but in case I haven't, I previously found the deed for property in Gordon between Thomas A Brady and the same McKnights for Lot 11.  The kicker is that the sale took place on 1 Jan 1869.  Don't have to hit me with a brick, these two families bought lots next to each other on the same day and from the same people.  There has got to be a connection between these families - but what.  Looks like I opened a whole new can of worms and now I have some fishin' to do.

Dr. William F and Hannah Casey Brady, Scranton PA

So, remember a few posts back - okay maybe a few more than a few posts back - I was looking for the final resting place of William F Brady.  As I am sure you remember, Dr. Brady died 18 Sep 1917 at his home in Scranton PA.

You my also remember that ancestry.com now has a database of Pennsylvania Death Certificates from 1906 through 1944.  Well 1917 is in that time frame, so guess what I found:

Yes, this is him, died at at 55.  Did you notice the informant's signature?  Mrs. W.F.Brady, nice handwriting.  He died of 'Angina Pectoris' (I think that's a heart attack or a reasonable facsimile thereof), it also says the duration was "a few  hours", so at least he didn't suffer too long.  Anyway, the best part is place of burial or removal: St. Mary's Cemetery.  That's the one in Dunmore, where Hannah's father is buried.  It is also the cemetery that I walked through, but could not find any Caseys or Bradys.

I didn't find Hannah's death certificate - she actually died in 1958 (fourty years later).  It almost scares me to say this, but that means that she died after I was born - YIKES.  However, I knew her death date, so I was able to locate her obituary in the Scranton Times:

This was published in 1958, so at least they print her first name, but her husband - who has been dead for 41 years - still makes the headline and the entire second paragraph.  It even gives his exact date of death.  He must have been a pretty famous and well liked guy.  But it does tell you alot about her, born in the Bellvue section of Scranton, attended St Cecelia's Academy and Mount St. Vincent's School, New York City, where she specialized in vocal and instrumental music.  Pretty talented.  I think I read somewhere else that both of her daughters attended St. Vincent's on the Hudson also and became teachers.

The last thing I noticed is that all three of their children are still living at home in 1958.  They are all into their fifties.  John is married with three children, Regina and Hannah never married.  I don't know how big their house was, but it certainly sounds crowded.  But you know, it sound crowded in a nice kind of way - crowded with family. 

 I am from a big family, I have three brothers and three sisters.  Now my wife and I have five children, so I am used to having a lot of family under one roof - and I always liked it that way, still do.  So if nothing else, it was probably very interesting.

Scranton City Directory 1931 and Google Earth

While searching my Brady line in Scranton, I came across a Scranton City Directory from 1931.  The person I was searching for was Alberta (Wenis) Brady and her husband James Brady.  I knew they lived in Scranton, but I didn't know where or how James was employed.  So the Scranton City Directory for 1931 popped up and I opened it:

So there they are at the top of the right hand column.  It says: Brady Jas I (Alberta), waiter Wyo Lunch h 736 Washn av. You may able to see the yellow highlight.  Just a few things about this entry:

1. It says Brady Jas I - Jas is the abbreviation for James and I think the middle initial should be J, 
2. Alberta in parenthesis is his spouse's name
3. Waiter is his occupation
4. Wyo Lunch in the employer - Wyoming Ave Luncheonette?
5. 736 Washington Ave is his home address

Look how much you can learn from a City Directory.  The other thing that you can learn is to look through the rest of the page for other Bradys (cause it is done alphabetically - like a phone book).  I know it is tough to see here, but I found five more Bradys on this page who I know are related and others who may be related and I just don't know it yet. So here we go.

 Left hand column, seven up from the bottom, we have Brady, Hannah G, tchr r 613 Adams Ave.  This can be translated to Hannah G Brady, teacher, lives at 613 Adams Ave.  There is no name in parenthesis so she is not married.

Directly below her is another Hannah M Brady, (wid Wm) r 613 Adams Ave.  This Hannah's mother, and widow of Dr. William F Brady and they live in the same house.

In the right column two below James, is another Brady entry:
Brady, John F (Irene) adjuster r 613 Adams Ave.  This is William and Hannah's son John, who lives with his wife Irene (O'Hara) at the same address, and he is employed as an insurance adjuster.

Right below John F, is another Brady: John J (Anna L) h 522 Ripple St - notice there is no employer or occupation, he has retired from the International Correspondence School.

And last, but not least, Brady, Regina D tchr r 613 Adams Av.  She is listed ten names below John and Anna.  She is also a teacher and also living at home with her mother, sister and brother.

So I found all of this information from one page in the 1931 City Directory for Scranton PA.  Not too shabby.

This is my favorite part.  Using this page and all of the info that I found, I opened up Google Earth.  I told you once before about marking out specific addresses in Google earth, so this is what I did:

Now you gotta admit this is good.  I saved and marked each house with the address on the aerial shot from Google Earth, then I saved it as a PDF, and added the text to show who lives at each address with the info from the City Directory.  I mean it is not to scale or anything crazy like that, but it gives you an idea of where everyone lived in the city.

Just so you know, there are a total of 35 Bradys in the Scranton City Directory for 1931, and these are six of the one that I know are in my family.  I'm pretty sure that some of the other 29 are also related and  I would need a much larger printout to add the rest.

Before I go, I have to give credit where credit is due.  I learned how to do this by using some tips for a podcast by Lisa Louise Cooke called Genealogy Gems.  There is a whole webinar on how to get started with Google Earth on her website.  She also wrote a book on Genealogy and Google Earth - just in case you're interested.

Another trip to Scranton

My last post was about Pennsylvania Death Certificates and I showed you two of the many that I found online.  Well, I just returned from Scranton PA today, where I paid a visit to The Scranton Public Library and their microfilm reels of the Scranton Times.  I was in search of obituaries, and I found four of the ones that I was looking for.  Tonight I am going to talk about two of them.  They are for Anna Brady and her husband John J Brady (brother to my great grandfather).  The first one that I found was for Anna Brady:

Pretty lengthy obit, especially for a woman in 1932.  Apparently she was a very good woman, but if you read the article, they never mention that her first name is Anna.  Based on this obit, I think that her first name is Mrs. John.  I am always amazed by that.  There is also no mention of her maiden name, or if she had any siblings - from this I would have to assume that she was an only child.  Good thing they noted her maiden name on her death certificate or I would never have found it.  I does mention that she is survived by ten children, thirty one grandchildren and one great grandchild.  Pretty prolific bunch.

The other thing I found interesting is that it says she was born in Cool Castle, PA, I Googled it and found nothing.  But I do know that Girardville is in Schuylkill County and that she and John was married in Schuylkill County, because they are listed as married and living in Gordon in one of the Census records that I have.

My next find was the obit for her husband, John J Brady:

This obit was in the Scranton Times 18 Nov 1938.  Not as lengthy as his wife's obit, but it does mention that he retired from the International Correspondence School, and the fact that he was born in Little Falls NY.  It also mentions the large family that he and Anna left behind.  

They are both buried in Cathedral Cemetery, but I could not get anyone at the cemetery before I left today.  Cathedral Cemetery is huge and it would be almost impossible to find anyone there without having a clue where there grave is.

The last item that I have for John and Anna is a photo that was given to me by my cousin Peggy.  Peggy answered a letter that I sent to every Brady in Scranton several years ago and we met once about six years ago when she visited Long Branch.  Anyway, she mailed me a bunch of pictures and was kind enough to label them.  (she gave me a picture that I previously posted about Cecelia Brady - wife of Michael Brady).

So this is her photo credit and here is the photo:

Peggy labeled this one too as you can see.  I do not know when this was taken but it has to be before July 1932.  Pretty formal pose, and it looks like it was taken in their home.  

Now I'm gonna tell you why I always have my wife, Katrina, read my posts before I publish them.  She was reading this one and noticed that John's obit mentions twenty nine grand children (instead of Anna's thirty one).  What happened?  Did two grandchildren died between 1932 and 1938, or did someone just miscount?  I'll have to check Pa Death Certificates for any children named Brady, Sipple, or Mooney.  But I don't think it will be easy.

So I think that's enough for now, I don't want to overdo it.  I want to finish by saying thanks to Peggy.  I think that there are a lot of nice folks out there who are willing to help you out.  I have found a few, but I know there are more people out there waiting for me to find them. 

Pennsylvania Death Certificates

Do you remember when I told you about the death certificate index on the Pennsylvania State Archives website?  You could search by name BUT - you had to have the year of death.  When you found the one that you wanted, you would get a date of death and a certificate number.  With this info, you could send in a form, with the certificate number AND three dollars for each certificate.  It would then take 8 to 10 weeks to get the certificate.

Well, there's a new database in town, and it's on ancestry.com.  It's Pennsylvania Death Certificates, 1906 to 1944.  The best part is that this is not an index, it's images.  This is the mother lode for my Bradys and Bradleys in Schuylkill County and Scranton, PA.

So look what I found:

Yup, my great grandfather's brother John.  He lived to be 84 and outlived his wife Anna.  But the really interesting part is the date and place of birth: 5 Jul 1854.  That is one of the few death certificates that has an exact date of birth -  but again- that's not the interesting part to me.  Most interesting is the place of birth: Little Falls, NY.  Never saw that coming, I never heard of it and had no idea that the family had ever lived there.  So my next move was to check out Little Falls, NY on google.  It is located in Herkimer County about four hours from the Canadian border.

Next move is to call the Little Falls, NY Historical Society.  I learned a few things from them.  First, is that the Erie Canal is there.  It was opened in 1825, but it was enlarged between 1934 and 1862.  When I asked the woman at the historical society what my great great grandfather Thomas would have done for a living back then, she said that he may have worked on the enlargement of the canal - pretty cool.  Then I asked if the folks in that area of New York would have migrated from Ireland through New York or would they have come down from Canada?  She said that during that time, Canada was part of Great Britain, as was Ireland, so there may not have been any citizenship issues.  So it may have been easier for them to go to Canada first, then south into New York state.  She said the "Shanty Irish" seem to have come by that route.

So she is going to check for any records that they may have there, and get back to me in a couple of weeks.  There is a nominal fee, but it's cheaper than driving to Little Falls to do it myself.

The last thing about John J Brady is that he is also buried at Cathedral Cemetery in Scranton.  I have to call them too.

Next find was John's wife, Anna Butler:

This death certificate is where I learned her maiden name, she was the daughter of John Butler and Margaret Hobart, both born in Ireland.  This says that Anna was born in 1863 (but I don't know how accurate that is).  She died on 4 July 1932 (the day before her husband's birthday), from cancer of the gall bladder.  She is also buried in Cathedral Cemetery, Scranton, PA.

Well, I think that is enough for now, but don't worry, this database of death certificates has given me a big supply of blog fodder.  Including facts that confirm previous research for me, and new theories about other relatives.  Theories that may never be confirmed, but the research is the most fun part of this hobby.

Return to Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City

On Saturday June 14, the Hudson County Historical and Genealogical Society had a cemetery tour scheduled.  The tour included St. Peter's Cemetery and Holy Name Cemetery.  Unfortunately, due to bad timing and road work on Exit 14 C on the NJ Turnpike, I didn't get there in time for the St. Peter's portion of the show.  But I did get to Holy Name early to look for a few plots and headstones.

Let me back up for a minute.  Before going to the tour, I decided to do a little research to see if I could find out if my Cavanaghs are buried at Holy Name.  In case you don't remember, my great grandfather William "Pop" Bergen had two sisters: Catherine (Kate) who married Bernard Cavanagh, and Mary, who married Timothy Kennedy.  I had previously found that the Kennedys are buried at Holy Name, and I planned on looking for the headstone.  So now I called Holy Name to inquire about Bernard Cavanagh.  Just so you know, I have talked about the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark website before and how you can look up burials.  The Kennedys were not listed on the website, so I figured I would check Cavanagh.  When I called, I was told that he is buried in Block B, Section 12, grave D.  There are several others buried there with him, including Catherine Cavanagh in 1940, Charles Cavanagh, aged 10, buried in 1928 (I believe he is the son of Bernard and Catherine's son, Charles), Edward Cavanagh in 1954, and lastly, Mary Cavanagh in 1989.  So the night before the tour, I checked to get the plot number for Kennedy.  I realized that it was the same plot.  So the Kennedys buried there are Timothy Sr, Mary (Bergen), and Timothy Jr.

Fast forward to Saturday, and I get the the cemetery office and ask where the plot is located.  The woman gives me a little map and off I go.  Within about 15 minutes I came across this headstone:

Typical one word epitaph, story of my life (or at least my research).  No list of occupants with dates of birth and death.  There is not even a mention of Kennedy - Oh well.

So what do I do while waiting for the tour?  You probably don't remember, but I had found someone on my dad's side who is buried here too.  My great grandfather "Big Mike "O'Dea had a sister Mary, who I wrote about before.  She married John Sterling and had several children, one of them was Margaret (Maggie), born in May of 1872 in Sanford, NY.  In 1899, she married a man named Thomas Keogh, and they had a child, Ellen.  They lived with John and Mary in Jersey City, but in June of 1900, Margaret died and I found her buried in Holy Name cemetery.  I discovered this about 2 and a Half years ago.  At the time, I was told that there was no marker on the grave.  We'll since I'm here and have the time I decided to check.  The office told me where she is buried and off I went in search of disappointment at finding no marker.  That's when a funny thing happened.

                                  

Would ya look at that.  A flat marker with names and dates listed, go figure.  And how about those dates, quite a time frame between the first and second burials - like 104 years YIKES.  So who are the Zarembas?  Not a clue, but you can bet that I am going to try to find out.

On my way out, after this great success, I decided to check for one more stone.  My mom's parents: Edward L and Catherine L Bergen.  I found them right where I had found them before.  So I will wrap this up with another success:

                                 

So all in all it was a good day.  By the way, I did meet up with the tour and it was given by a very knowledgable member of the society.  He talked about the history of the cemetery and of some of the famous burials there.  One of the biggies was Mayor Frank "I am the law" Hague, who ruled the city for decades.  It was very interesting, and I am sorry that I missed St. Peter's.

Now I can start looking for the Zarembas and their family connection.  I also have some more stuff to get from the Archives.

Happy Anniversary - June 12, 1948

Yes, this is when it all started for my generation of Bradys.  This date may not live in infamy for the rest of the world, but it's a biggie for us, this is my parent's wedding day.  They were married on this day at OLV. Every self-respecting Irish Catholic resident of Jersey City knows what these initials stand for - Our Lady of Victories!!

Here is the marriage certificate:

                                                  

Witnesses were dad's brother Frank and mom's cousin Florence Markey AKA my Aunt Florence and resident McConville and Bergen expert.  Speaking of Aunt Florence, she identified a number of people in a picture from my parents' wedding.  The reception was held at the Swiss Town House, 3312 Hudson Ave, Union City, NJ at 12:00 noon on the same day.

I also found a picture of some of the guests at the wedding in an old photo album.  I got Aunt Florence to identify some of the folks in the picture - because I had no clue.  Luckily this particular table was a group of mom's family.  So I labeled the people who Aunt Florence identified and here is the picture:

Wow, how's that?  Not too shabby.  So, let's start from left to right in the front row.  The man at the far left is Vinnie Fox.  I am told that he used to date Florence at one time - matter of fact, his sister Kathy married my mom's brother Ed.  Next is the lady to his right, who I do not know.  Then we have the Riedenger brothers -  Arthur, Jackie and Eddie.  You may remember that I did a blog post about Arthur Riedenger when I found his burial in Ocean County - surprisingly close to my home.  Next is Ferdie Parrot - I gotta admit that I remember him and his wife "Queenie" - but I'm a little foggy on Queenie's real name.  I also know that she is somehow related to "Cookie" - Queenie and Cookie always confused me for some reason. 

I have to interrupt with a quick story.  I recall the family going to Uncle Ferdie and Queenie's home for a party.  We were in canoes on the lake (Lake Hopatcong?), and Aunt Ruth tipped her canoe.  My brother Jimmy, who was just a kid at the time, jumped out of his boat and swam over to rescue Aunt Ruth from drowning (in the waist deep water).  In all fairness, he had no idea that the water was shallow and he still swam to her rescue.  His bravery was rewarded by Aunt Ruth with a crisp $100.00 bill.  We almost had to revive him.  That is my main memory of Uncle Ferdie and Queenie.  Back to the photo.

Next is Arthur Riedenger, Sr - Yes father to the Riedenger brothers (he looks like another brother), unfortunately I don't know much about the Riedengers.  Next in line is Peter McConville.  He is the brother to my great grandfather Edward McConville, unfortunately Peter would die in 48 days on July 30, 1948.  I remember talking to mom about him at one time and she said that he used to manage an apartment building in Brooklyn.  She also said that he used to have this concoction that he used to snort up his nose to clean his sinuses - no not cocaine - more like a saline rinse or netty pot.  She said he was never sick a day in his life (until July 30, 1948 I guess), he made his own toothpaste and had all his own teeth!!!  Sounds like quite a catch.  But seriously she said they all used the saline solution and were very rarely sick.  The other thing about Peter McConville is that he was the first McConville of this clan to be born on American soil, in 1869.  His siblings were all born in Manchester, England.  Next is mom's brother Bill, he had walked mom down the aisle that day.  Uncle Bill would later live in Cranford, NJ and he was the entertainer in the group.  He would sing in a Barbershop Quartet.  Matter of fact, when I was a cop, I was working outside the Ocean Grove Auditorium in Ocean Grove, NJ and they were having a big Barbershop Quartet concert.  As I was patrolling outside - who walked up and said hello but my Uncle Bill.  I don't know which one of us was more surprised - but it was probably me, cause I had no idea that he was singing there that night.

Now we will take the back row from right to left, starting with Alice McConville, who is kinda hidden behind Peter McConville (her uncle).  I think I told you about Alice in previous posts so we will move on to Florence McConville Markey, Alice's sister.  Florence - or Aunt Florrie, as we called her - is mother to Florence Armstrong.  Next to her is another sister, Edna, who is the mother of the Riedenger boys.  I remember Alice, Florence and Edna from when I was a kid. We saw them occasionally when they would visit us or we would take the drive up north to visit them.  Next is Aunt Gertie (Gertrude Rothchild) who married Uncle John McConville (who is next in line).  I was only 8 when Uncle John passed away, but I remember Aunt Gertie, cause she lived in Ocean Grove for awhile - I think on Franklin Ave, and she died in 1976.  Uncle John served in WWI (I think) and returned home.  He was Catholic and Gertie was Methodist - so the Catholic Church said he could not marry her.  But I am told that they married anyway shortly before he passed away - but I wish I knew the whole story.  Next are two more women who I don't know, and then we come to Lucy McConville.  She married James "Matt" McConville, (brother to John, Florence, Edna, and Alice).  The little girl next to her is their daughter (Alice, maybe), and Matt is not in the picture. 

That about wraps it up, we made it around the table with assistance from Aunt Florence and only a few unidentified guests.  I think there is a picture of dad's side of the family in the album somewhere - but the Bradys were not real big photo takers.  Besides I don't have anyone around from Dad's side to ID the Brady guests.

I enjoyed that, I remember some of these folks and have fond memories of them.  Most of them - as usual - are funny ones.  If it wasn't for this wedding, my siblings and I would not be here, neither would our children or their children, etc..  My daughter was married this past September, my brother's daughter is getting married this July, and my sister's son is getting married in October.  So there are going to be plenty more wedding photos soon, with new generations at the receptions.  So hopefully someone will still be around and do what Aunt Florence did for me, and identify old family members for some future genealogist in the family.  I hope so. 

Happy Memorial Day

I know its been quite a while since my last post, but I have been very busy opening a pool that is too cold to swim in.  Anyway, I felt it necessary to post today and just mention a few of the veterans in the family.  I realize that Memorial Day is to remember those who gave their lives, but I figure that being a veteran means that you were willing to make the sacrifice - but were fortunate enough to not have to.  The more I think about it, there was one veteran who was killed in battle and he was in my wife's family.  He was Major Jacob Brown, who was the commanding Officer  at Fort Texas during the Mexican War.  He was killed 6 May 1848 defending the fort.  When the commanding General Zachary Taylor (yes the future president) came to the fort, he renamed it Fort Brown in his honor, and the town that grew up around the fort became Brownsville, TX.  So, Brownsville, Texas is named after my wife's 3rd  Great Grandfather.  I actually found a drawing of his death (this was before cameras) and here it is:

Pretty cool, huh.

Before I start, let me just say that there are too many veterans on my wife's  side of the family to count.  If I were to include them, it would take me days to complete it.  But, I will add one other person - my father-in-law, Benjamin F VanVliet, who served in the US Air Force.  I believe he served during peace time - but he served.  Okay, two people, my brother-in-law, Benjamin F VanVliet, who served in the US Coast  Guard, also during peace time - but again he served.

But now on to the many veterans in the family.  I have to start with my dad, Tom Brady, who served in WWII in the 34th Div of the 5th Army.  He served in North Africa and Italy.  The battle that he talked about the most was Monte Cassino.  He didn't talk about the war much, but when he did the topic was usually Monte Cassino.  His two brothers: Jim and Frank, who both served in the US Army Air Corps.  They were both shot down over Germany (at different times) and were captured.  They were POWs  and wound up in the same POW camp, and (legend has it) they escaped together.  Yes, they were quite a story.  My dad's younger brother Paul also served in Korea in the early fifties. Matter of fact, he was in Korea when my brother Paul was born.  Quite a coincidence they have the same name huh?

Now my mom's two brothers also served in WWII.  My Uncle Ed Bergen served in the US Navy.  He served on the USS Monssen DD436 and was serving on board when the ship was sunk during the opening actions of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in November 1942.   Three quarters of her Officers and men were killed or wounded in the battle, but Uncle Ed survived, after spending a night in the water.  Uncle Bill, was a second Lt in the Army.  I don't know much about his service, but I think he was in the Phillipines for a time.  I also know that my mom's father, Edward L Bergen, Sr. served in the US Navy during WWI.  He was assigned to the USS Frieda from 10-14-18 to 11 -11-18 (Armistice Day).  I don't know anything about his service, and I found a State of New Jersey Service Record for him at the NJ State Archives.  That's where I learned the ship that he was assigned to.

I know that there were numerous other cousins and uncles (aunts?) who served our country in various military actions, but the last two I will mention were unknown to me before I started this never ending hobby. The first is Andrew Brady.  Andrew is the brother of my great grandfather James E Brady.  I found his service almost by mistake - because I was looking for something else.  I came across a file card for service in the Spanish-American War for Andrew Brady of Scranton, PA.  The card says that he served in Porto Rico (that's how they spelled it).  This is all I have for him.

Next is James Bradley.  James is the brother of mygreat grandmother Madge Bradley Brady.  James (1876 - 1928) served in WWI, and is buried in St Vincent de Paul Cemetery in Minersville.  I did find a copy of his burial card:

Well, that's all I have for tonight.  I know I left out a lot of veterans, but maybe I'll make a list for Veteran's Day of all of those that I can find and what conflict they served in.  But for now, thank you all for your service.

Patrick Bergen and Mary Fitzgerald

The last sibling of my Great Grandfather William "Pop" Bergen that I will talk about, is his older brother Patrick.  Patrick was born in July of 1859 to Edward Bergen and Mary Malone in Ireland - nothing  specific- just Ireland.  The only way I found a date was the 1900 census, which asked for the month and year of birth of everyone counted.  So I think that is as close as I will get to a birth date for him.

Patrick married Mary Fitzgerald 4 Feb 1886 (hey they just had an anniversary this month) in St Mary's Church in Jersey City:

. 

I found this on familysearch.org.  This one does not say that they are married at St Mary's, but a little birdie told me that's where it was.  I'm not sure where they lived at this point, but in the 1900 census they live at 280 Sixth St in Jersey City.  But before we get to 1900, we have another blessed event (the wedding was the first):

Yup, they had a little girl and you will never in a million years guess what they named her.  Okay, so they weren't very creative.  They named her Mary, born 10 Aug 1888 and baptized two days later on 12 Aug 1888 at St. Mary's church.  The same place that they were married two years earlier.

Now let's move on to 1900 and the aforementioned census.  The 1900 census was a good one, they asked a lot of good questions.  Such as month and year of birth, number of years in present marriage, place of birth, year of immigration, number of years in US and if naturalized, and the ever popular occupation.  There is one more interesting piece of information, it asks "mother of how many children" and "number of these (children) living".

Okay, let's get to the 1900 census.  This census has Patrick and family living at 280 6th St in Jersey City, which looks like an apartment building because there are eight families with the same address.  Patrick is listed as 40 years old, born in July 1859 and married for 14 years.  It says that he came to the US in 1861 (which I think should be 1871), he is a naturalized citizen (I gotta look for his papers in the archives) and his occupation is horse dealer (in Jersey City - who would have guessed that).  His wife Mary, is listed as 35 years old, born in September 1864 in New Jersey, married for 14 years.  She is the mother of one child, who is still living and listed next on the census.  Next is their daughter Mary, she is 11 years old born in Aug 1888 (we knew that from familysearch.org) and she attends school.  Next is Catherine Fitzgerald, age 60, born in Ireland in April 1840, came to the US in 1860.  She widowed and the mother of three children, who are all still living.  Next in the household are the remaining two living children of Catherine: James age 25, born December 1875 in New Jersey, his occupation is listed as Rail Road Laborer Freight, and last on the list is Thomas, age 22, born October 1877 in New Jersey and he is a plumber journeyman.  Tells alot about the family and how they all tended to stay together.  I just realized that I never found them in the 1910 census, but I found them in 1920.

In 1920 it is just Patrick, his wife Mary, and their daughter Mary living at 199 Eighth St. in Jersey City.  This census adds a year of naturalization for Patrick - 1894, and his occupation is now a commercial cattleman - like his brothers William and Thomas, and his brother in law Timothy Kennedy.

One more find before I finish up this post.  I know I've said it before, but the best part of blogging is the research I do before I post a blog.  This time, I was researching Mary Fitzgerald and I realized that she was born in New Jersey, so I was checking FamilySearch.org and I found this:

Yup, I think it's her.  True to form, no one seems to notice her mother.  It makes sense, according to the 1900 census she was born in September 1864, and this fits.  But I wouldn't have found it if I wasn't blogging.

So, in the end Patrick dies at St. Francis Hospital 13 Aug 1933 from what looks like heart disease and prostate hemorage.  He is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery with his brother Thomas.  Mary dies 10 years later at Jersey City Medical Center from cancer of the sigmoid (colon, I think), on 26 Dec 1943.  She is buried with her husband in Holy Cross.

The last thing I noticed is that the informant on her death certificate is Margaret Henzey, who is living at the same address 272 9th St. Jersey City.  Who is she?

The Legend of "Baby Jack"

This is about as big a mystery that I have tried to solve in my capacity of "Family Detective".  The Legend of "Baby Jack" is a mysterious story, and some people believe that he never existed - or at least have their doubts.  Legend has it that my dad had a brother named Jack, who was born in Jersey City on December first, but no one seems to know the year.  Some say that he was born sometime between my Uncle Frank and Uncle Paul.  That would put his birth between May 1924 and June 1929.  The story goes that at the time the family lived in a cold water flat in Jersey City.  According to Wikipedia, a cold water flat is an apartment without hot running water, apparently they were fairly common through the mid twentieth century in large cities. Typically they did not have built in showers or heat.  Water for bathing would have to be warmed in a pot on the stove and put in a tub.  They typically did not have central heating either, so people would have to use space heaters, hot water bottles or electric blankets for warmth.

So much for the history lesson.  Apparently Jack was sickly and in the cold apartment he became sicker and died within a couple of months.  He was supposedly buried in a potters field somewhere in an unmarked grave.  Most of this information was passed on to me by my cousin Linda, who heard the story from her mom - who is my father's sister and my Aunt Margie.  Linda says that every year on December first, her mother would tell her to say a prayer for "Baby Jack" because it was his birthday.

I have been to the NJ State Archives looking for a birth certificate - but they only have birth until the end of 1923.  I have checked 1921 to 1923 with no luck.  Today I checked 1921 to 1930 for a death certificate, with the same result.  I have also called all of the cemeteries in Jersey City that have sections set aside for a Potters Field - but none have a John Brady buried there.

I saw an article about Hart's Island in New York, which is an island used as a Potter's field in New York. The cemetery is actually cared for by inmates from New York City Corrections - Riker's Island specifically. The Mormons have a microfilm list of burials there, and I ordered it through the local Family History Center.  "Baby Jack" was nowhere to be found.

I also saw a presentation about Snake Hill in Secaucus (the same place that Thomas Bergen was the Deputy Fire Chief) and I found a website that had a list of the burials there.  This is probably as close as I will get to a complete list, and still no "Baby Jack".  I have a feeling that a lot of infant burials may not have been recorded - especially in a potters field, but I will keep looking.

When I recently attended Ancestry Day in Philadelphia and heard about the New York City indices for births, deaths, and marriages - as I wrote in my last post - I had a great idea.  I would check their databases for "Baby Jack".  Brilliant!!! Except for one detail - it is only an index.  Care to guess how many John Bradys died in New York City in the 1920s.  At 15 bucks a pop to figure out which one is mine - if he was born or died in New York City - this would not be a cost effective method.

But I'm not through yet.  I tend to believe that "Baby Jack" did exist and that he was born and died in Jersey City.  Even if I cannot find a birth or death certificate for him, I would be willing to bet that he was baptized.  So my next move is Seton Hall University, which is my alma mater - I spent, what was then, the best 6 years of my life.  They have an archive for the the Arch Diocese of Newark and it should have all of the baptismal certificates for that time frame.  I may need to narrow down my search to the Parish where I think he would have been baptized.  I think it would have been All Saints Church - same place as my dad.  So with any luck, the myth of "Baby Jack" will soon be a fact.

Ancestry Day in Philadelphia

Yesterday, March 15th, my friend George and I spent the day in Philadelphia at the Convention Center for Ancestry Day.  It was hosted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and was an entire day (about 8:00 AM to 4:15PM) of speakers from Ancestry.com.  The speakers were very good and spoke on a variety of topics.  They included: Getting the most from Ancestry.com (this was in 2 parts), Using AncestryDNA to further your research, Mid-Atlantic Records on the website, and last was Sharing your Family Story - which I am doing right now.  It was a very good day.

One speaker was Crista Cowan. She  was very good and gave plenty of tips for using Ancestry, which I could really use.  They also talked about what new records are available on the website and it just so happens that they now have some indices of Births, Deaths and Marriages in New York City.  These include:

• An index of New York marriages 1866 to 1937
• An Index of Deaths in New York City 1862 to 1948
• An Index of New York births 1891 to 1902

Today I started a more informed foray into ancestry.com with good results.  So In the search mode on ancestry, I first chose the set of records that I wanted to search. This will make it a more productive search. If I search all of the records, I will get literally hundreds of thousands of hits, but by narrowing the record set, I get results from that record set only.  I decided to do an easier search first so I searched the marriage records for my mother's grandfather McConville.  Edward S McConville and Hannah Sullivan were married in Brooklyn in the 1880's.  I entered Edward S McConville in the search box and my first result was his marriage to Hannah on 24 Jun 1888 in Kings County (Brooklyn).  Certificate  number 2398.

     

                                         

When the list of results appears, it has a link to order a copy of the certificate.  It will cost $15.00.  The site say to order a "certified" copy, but when I go to the order form it asks your relationship and what purpose you want the certificate for.  I chose "historical or genealogical", and the cost of $15.00 was in my shopping cart.  I am going to have to check into this before ordering.

One more thing, at the bottom of my results list for my query of Edward S McConville was another McConville - Mary E. McConville and Robert J Milford.  Sound familiar?  You remember!  Yes, Mary Emma is Edward's sister and Aunt Florence told me about her marriage to a Milford.  Well, they were married 3 Sep 1885, certificate number 3003.  I definitely have to check before ordering this one.

                                            

                                           

Then, I decided to go for the gusto. I know that Edward McConville's parents lived in Brooklyn - and died there, as best I can tell.  So I entered his father's name - Peter McConville.  I used him because I have an old "family tree" that one of mom's cousins did, and it does not give a date of death or a place of burial   If you remember one of my previous posts, I found Peter in the 1870 Census in Brooklyn, occupation was Boat Builder.  In 1880 Catherine is listed as a widow - so Peter must have died in the 1870's.  When I entered Peter McConville this is what popped up:

Not only does it give me a date of death for Peter McConville as 18 Jul 1874, but it also gives Catherine's death (third result below Peter) as 22 Nov 1913.  I knew she died in 1913 from a "family tree" that my mom had given to me that one of her cousins had sent her and it says she is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Brooklyn.  So why stop here.

Just for laughs, I searched Peter McConville (son of Peter and Catherine and brother to my great grandfather Edward McConville) in the marriage index and I was suprised to see this pop up:

I was surprised because as far as I know, Peter never married.  This record says that Peter McConville married Ann Beaumont on 18 Oct 1898 in Manhattan, NY.  This calls for another telephone call to my mom's cousin Florence Armstrong.  I hope she can shed some light on this.  If that doesn't work, I may have to spend fifteen bucks to unlock the answer to my latest burning question: Who is Ann Beaumont???