A funny thing happened over the Christmas holiday. Let me start off with my sister's annual Christmas party that used to be at her house in Scranton, PA. We all used to go up there for a party, usually on a Saturday close to the holiday. My brother Paul used to also host a party right around the holiday, so it was always a big family affair.
Recently my sister has been hosting the party at a local restaurant/bar (mostly bar) near my house, and everyone looks forward to getting together. It's not just our siblings and their families, we also have cousins and their families attend. So it's almost a family reunion type event, and always fun.
Well this year after the party, I got an e mail from ancestry.com saying that my DNA kit had been shipped. Then it said that my sister had ordered it for me. Well, the kit got to my house in a few days, and I followed the instructions, by spitting in the vial they supply, and sent it back the next day. Two days ago I got another e mail from ancestry.com saying that they had started processing my sample on Jan. 21, 2015. Just so you know, I had sent the kit back before I posted my last blog on Catherine Bergen Cavanagh.
The last e mail I got from ancestry.com says that I should get results from the DNA in six to eight weeks. They said that in the meantime, I should update my family tree on ancestry so that I can get the most out of process. So that's what I am going to do.
I recently realized that ever since I started this blog, I have been using it almost like a tree. I have been adding all of the info that I have gotten over the past few years to my blog, but very little of it has been put into my Family Tree Maker program. Uh oh, I have got a lot of work to do so that my tree is up to date.
I have never been organized, and I have death certificates, birth certificates, marriage records, and obituaries in folders, envelopes and notebooks all over the place. I have a couple of file drawers with files in them with the names of ancestors, but not all of the info I have has been placed in the appropriate folder. So I need to sort out a bunch of stuff. Unfortunately the only organized child I have is now married and out of the house. Man I miss that kid.
So I guess what I am trying to say is that over the next few weeks I am going to be doing more organizing than researching, and I really like researching more that organizing. But I guess the good news is that when I am organizing, I will (hopefully) find some good stuff that I forgot I had. It actually happens to me more often than not. If I find anything interesting I will write about it, but if I don't, I don't know when my next post will be.
I am sure that over the next few weeks I will dig up some blog fodder right here in my own Archives. When I do, you will be the first to know. Then when my DNA results come back, I hope to bury you in newly found ancestors and cousins.
Friday, January 23, 2015
Monday, January 5, 2015
Back to Kate Bergen Cavanagh's Family
I know it has been over a month since my last post, but I really haven't done much research lately, and we just came home from Preston Hollow, NY in the Catskill Mountains on New Years Day. If you remember last year, I blogged from Rangley, Maine, so this year was almost like going south for the Christmas vacation.
Just like the Maine trip blog post, I found out more about Kate Bergen-Cavanagh's decendants. Kate was my Great Grandfather William Bergen's sister, and she married Bernard Cavanagh, and had three children: Charles, Edward and Mary. I don't think Edward or Mary ever married, but Charles did. Charles married Ellen McDowell on 14 Feb 1917 (Valentine's Day) at Our Lady of Grace Church in Hoboken, NJ. Ellen's parents were listed as David McDowell and Margaret Coleman, and she is 22 years old. Charles is 23 years old, he was born on 28 May 1897, and his occupation is listed as machinist. The witnesses listed are difficult to read, but appear to be Thomas Broderick and Carrie Flanagan.
I just want you to know that the marriage certificate is the only document that I have seen that lists Ellen's first name as Ellen, the census records that I have found and Charles' death certificate list her as Nellie. Now that I look at it, Nellie is almost an anagram of Ellen, but it has an extra letter. Just thought I'd throw that in. Anyway, from what I can tell from Census records, Charles and Nellie have three children, Charles, Gerard, and (wait for it) Mary. It looks like Charles is born in 1918, Gerard in 1919 and Mary in about 1927. It appears that young Charles dies in 1928 at the age of 10. I haven't researched it a lot yet, but I know he is buried in Holy Name Cemetery. The elder Charles dies on 9 Oct 1937 of syncope due to cardiac disease, probably myocardial infarction. Now get this, I have had this death certificate for months and never read it completely. I just saw here that Charles' occupation is listed as Policeman - City of Hoboken. Remember that his brother Edward Cavanagh was a Policeman in Jersey City. The two cities are right next to each other, and I wonder if they ever met up with each other on calls when they were working. I know that when my brother Ed worked in Asbury Park for two years, we only met up once or twice while working.
Now on to what may be a lead to living cousins. In the Social Security Death Index, I found a Gerard B. Cavanagh, who passed away 23 Jun 1983 in Rumson, NJ. I googled "Gerard Cavanagh 1919 - 1983" and I got a hit on distantcousin.com, and it gave me a picture of his headstone in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Middletown, NJ, also on the stone is his wife Florence W. Cavanagh. A little more research on ancestry.com gives some public record hits with an address at 26 Maplewood Dr. Middletown. Then I hit the mother lode. I went to the library and checked microfilm for the Asbury Park Press for June of 1983 to look for an obit. (By the way, Middletown is about 15 minutes from my house) and there it was. The Asbury Park Press24 June 1983 page A21, column 3. Gerard B Cavanagh, age 63, manager of the Lobsterman's Restaurant, Route36 Middletown died at Riverview Hospital Red Bank. He had lived on Lafayette Street, Rumson. Born in Hoboken, moved to Middletown 18 years ago. Veteran of the US Army Air Corps of WWII, communicant of Holy Cross Church in Rumson, member of the VFW Waterfront Post, Hoboken. He is survived by his wife, Florence Walker Cavanagh, three daughters: Mary Ellen Cotter, Rumson, Kathleen Maccagnano, Union City, and Janice Cavanagh, Rumson, and one grandson. The funniest part is that the John E. Day Funeral Home Red Bank is in charge of the arrangements. I used to work there as a pall bearer, but that was not until about 1994.
Just like the Maine trip blog post, I found out more about Kate Bergen-Cavanagh's decendants. Kate was my Great Grandfather William Bergen's sister, and she married Bernard Cavanagh, and had three children: Charles, Edward and Mary. I don't think Edward or Mary ever married, but Charles did. Charles married Ellen McDowell on 14 Feb 1917 (Valentine's Day) at Our Lady of Grace Church in Hoboken, NJ. Ellen's parents were listed as David McDowell and Margaret Coleman, and she is 22 years old. Charles is 23 years old, he was born on 28 May 1897, and his occupation is listed as machinist. The witnesses listed are difficult to read, but appear to be Thomas Broderick and Carrie Flanagan.
I just want you to know that the marriage certificate is the only document that I have seen that lists Ellen's first name as Ellen, the census records that I have found and Charles' death certificate list her as Nellie. Now that I look at it, Nellie is almost an anagram of Ellen, but it has an extra letter. Just thought I'd throw that in. Anyway, from what I can tell from Census records, Charles and Nellie have three children, Charles, Gerard, and (wait for it) Mary. It looks like Charles is born in 1918, Gerard in 1919 and Mary in about 1927. It appears that young Charles dies in 1928 at the age of 10. I haven't researched it a lot yet, but I know he is buried in Holy Name Cemetery. The elder Charles dies on 9 Oct 1937 of syncope due to cardiac disease, probably myocardial infarction. Now get this, I have had this death certificate for months and never read it completely. I just saw here that Charles' occupation is listed as Policeman - City of Hoboken. Remember that his brother Edward Cavanagh was a Policeman in Jersey City. The two cities are right next to each other, and I wonder if they ever met up with each other on calls when they were working. I know that when my brother Ed worked in Asbury Park for two years, we only met up once or twice while working.
Now on to what may be a lead to living cousins. In the Social Security Death Index, I found a Gerard B. Cavanagh, who passed away 23 Jun 1983 in Rumson, NJ. I googled "Gerard Cavanagh 1919 - 1983" and I got a hit on distantcousin.com, and it gave me a picture of his headstone in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Middletown, NJ, also on the stone is his wife Florence W. Cavanagh. A little more research on ancestry.com gives some public record hits with an address at 26 Maplewood Dr. Middletown. Then I hit the mother lode. I went to the library and checked microfilm for the Asbury Park Press for June of 1983 to look for an obit. (By the way, Middletown is about 15 minutes from my house) and there it was. The Asbury Park Press24 June 1983 page A21, column 3. Gerard B Cavanagh, age 63, manager of the Lobsterman's Restaurant, Route36 Middletown died at Riverview Hospital Red Bank. He had lived on Lafayette Street, Rumson. Born in Hoboken, moved to Middletown 18 years ago. Veteran of the US Army Air Corps of WWII, communicant of Holy Cross Church in Rumson, member of the VFW Waterfront Post, Hoboken. He is survived by his wife, Florence Walker Cavanagh, three daughters: Mary Ellen Cotter, Rumson, Kathleen Maccagnano, Union City, and Janice Cavanagh, Rumson, and one grandson. The funniest part is that the John E. Day Funeral Home Red Bank is in charge of the arrangements. I used to work there as a pall bearer, but that was not until about 1994.
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