Ancestry DNA is finding me cousins

So a couple of days ago I went on ancestry.com and clicked on my DNA.  When I checked my matches, I see that there is a new match and it is right at the top of the list.  The match also gives a possible range of 1st -2nd cousins, which is the closest relation I have seen so far.  I think it is at the top of the list, because it appears that the closer the relationship, the higher the hit is on the list.  When I tried to view the match, there is no family tree connected to this account.  So I was able to contact this person through ancestry.com, and I requested that he either contact me or put his tree on line so that I can figure out how we are related.  The match also tells you when this person last logged on to his ancestry account, which was June 21, 2015.  So far, I have not received a response.

So tonight, I went on ancestry.com to  see if there is a response from my first e mail and I found that there is none.  That's when I noticed that one of the matches, that I have seen before, has a shared ancestor hint, which I did not know the meaning of before.  I had some time and decided to click on this match, then I saw the shaky leaf next to the match.  When I clicked on the match, our shared ancestor is revealed.  Her name is Bridget Kelly - Who?  Then it shows how Bridget is related to each of us.  Bridget had two daughters Mary Jane Reilly and Anna Forkin.  Mary Jane is my great grandmother on my dad's side, and I recall seeing the name Bridget Kelly on her death certificate, listed as mother.  So Bridget is my 2nd great grandmother.  I am not quite sure, but it looks like Anna Forkin is the grandmother of the person whose DNA had certain matches to mine.  The match says that this person last logged onto ancestry.com today.  So I sent him a message through ancestry and I will be awaiting a response and hopefully some more info on my dad's side, which I could always use.

You know, the more I look at the tree attached to this match, the more questions I have.  This does not look like a match to me, at least not through Bridget Kelly.  Maybe there is someone else in the tree who is a distant common relative.  If the match is through Bridget Kelly, I think we are 2nd cousins, but the initial match says we are distant cousins, like 6th to 8th cousins.  So we shall see what we shall see, but I am starting to think that Bridget Kelly is more of a common name than a common relative - but I have been wrong before.  So let's hope I am wrong again.

Waiting for an answer, as usual.

John McConville 1895-1963

I told you I would find something interesting right here in my own little "Archives", and it didn't really take that long.  I was checking through my old blog posts starting with my great great grandmother Bridget Crimmens Sullivan Keaveney.  Then I moved on to a post about the McConvilles, and I located them in the 1940 census.  The census record is attached to John McConville, who will be my main subject.  Here is the 1940 census in Jersey City:

    

As you can see, it lists Edward McConville (Poppa Mac) and his occupation is roadman, employed by the city.  This is what Aunt Florence had told me a few years ago. Next is Hanna (Momma Mac), then comes John, born  14 Jan 1895, in New York, he is listed as iron worker and the employer is WPA.  Next is Peter, born in 1898, and he is employed as a barrel maker,  (his father was a cooper, before this census, and he would make the bands that went around the barrel), and last is Alice, born in 1909, she is a typist for a packaging company.  The interesting part is that I know she was divorced by this time, and is listed as single - not divorced.  Being divorced was frowned upon in those times.

Anyway, let me get back to John the iron worker.  I found a few things about him.  First I talked to Aunt Florence, and asked if he had served in WWI, because I remember that from somewhere.  She said that he served in the Navy during WWI, and actually stayed in the Navy for awhile after the war. This could explain why I couldn't find him in the 1920 census.  But it was actually his name in the 1940 census which sparked a memory for me. First off, I kinda remember Uncle John, although he died on 15 Jul 1963 and I was only 7 years old,  but I do remember his wife, aunt Gertie.  I remember her living in Ocean Grove, which was owned by the Camp Meeting Association, which was affiliated with the Methodist Church.  I remember that there was a problem with John marrying Gertie, because she wasn't Catholic.  He could not marry her in the church, but they married shortly before he died.  I think this is why they are buried in Jersey City Harsimis Cemetery - because the church would not allow him to be buried in a Catholic cemetery.  Aunt Florence concurs that I am correct in my assumption. 

Then he had to register for the draft for WWII:

This is in the 1940s and he is living with his parents on Ege Ave in Jersey City.  If you look at the employer, I think it says Vander Heide Contracting Co. in Union City.  I looked it up in Google and the only one I find is a G. Peter Vander Heide, who is an AIA Architect and Testifying Expert, I don't know if he is related to the company that Uncle John worked for, but I thought it was interesting.

Last, but not least, I contacted Jersey City Harsimis Cemetery and found that the cemetery was abandoned for many years, after the board of directors either died or moved away.  But a new group has since taken it over and have cleaned it up considerably.  I e mailed them about locating John's records and plot.  I have been awaiting a reply, but we have had a considerable amount of snow over the past few weeks, so I don't think much work has been done.  I did drive up there two weeks ago with my son, to see if I could find the headstone, but there was a good amount of snow, and one of the workers on the site advised against walking any where that was not shoveled.  He said there are gopher holes all over and you could get hurt.

So in the meantime, I will wait for a reply from the cemetery and continue combing my home archives for more stuff.