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.