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:

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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???