Wow, that wasn't so tough

Last time we met, I was trying to find my uncle John's uncle John in census records. Turns out, all I had to do was start the search with Catherine McConville, his daughter, and I quickly saw the problem.  John's wife, Anna Dorothy, is listed by her nickname: "Dora", and I was searching for Dorothy Ann.  I guess the record would have shown up at some point, but searching through hundreds of thousands of records (literally) would be somewhat time consuming.

When I did that, I found them in the 1930 US Census, living at 1937 Greene Avenue, in Queens, NY. John is listed as 59 years old, a real estate broker, born in England, arrived in the US in 1878 (which is not correct, because he is listed in the 1870 Census record in Brooklyn, with his parents), and he is a naturalized citizen.  His wife, Dora, is listed at 42 years old, born in New York, her father was born in New York and her mother was born in Germany.  Catherine is listed as 12 years old, and Grace is listed as 4 10/12 (4 yrs 10 months), both born in New York.

Now that I have the ages of the girls, Catherine and Grace, I can figure out about when they were born.  Catherine is 12, so she was born around 1918, while Grace in almost 5, so she was probably born around 1925.  There is also a question in the census, which asks for the parent's age at first marriage.  This says that John was 35, and Dora was 29.  So based on their current age in the census, that would mean that they were married in about 1916, but they do not appear in the marriage index for NYC.

When I search Ancestry.com for Catherine McConville born 1918 in New York, I found a lot of info, including this little beauty:

Wow, A picture.  This is from a the 1936 Jamaica High School yearbook, I assume this is her senior picture, she would be about 18 here.

Through a variety of databases on ancestry.com, I was able to piece together a portion of Catherine's life.  I know that she was born in Ridgewood Queens, NY on 16 Nov 1917 (I was close), and she married a man named William J. Mahon, who was a WWII veteran.  As best as I can tell, they had no children.  Her husband died 25 Feb 1961 in Alameda, CA and was buried in Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, CA.  Catherine lived in California until her death 7 Oct 1991, and was buried next to her husband.

I was able to do the same thing for Grace Marie, but I got alot of help from her obituary.  It says that she died 10 Oct 2006 in Ranson, W. Va, born 7 Jun 1925 in Ridgewood, Queens, NY.  She was a secretary for Coca Cola.  She was apparently a dog trainer, as it mentions memberships in dog training clubs in Maine and W. Va.  She was survived by her husband of 57 years, William Peter Pankow, Sr, two sons: William Peter Jr, and Kenneth John Pankow, as well as a daughter, Kathy Ann Miller and seven grandchildren.

Then it says she was preceded in death by two sisters, Doris McConville and Catherine Mahon. WHAT?? Who is Doris McConville?  Where did that come from?  Well a quick check of the NYC death index reveals that Doris McConville was born in NYC in 1921, and died at the age of 3, on 12 May 1924.  She is buried in St. John's Cemetery in Queens.

A check with St. Johns Cemetery confirms that John J McConville, Doris McConville and Dorothy McConville, who died in 1963 are all buried in a plot there.  By the way, somebody owes about $8,000.00 for perpetual care before any more family can be buried there.  I told the woman on the phone at the cemetery that I was doing research for a friend.

My Uncle John's Uncle John

Confusing, ain't it?  My Uncle John is actually my great uncle John J McConville.  I have blogged about him before.  He is my grandmother's brother, served in the US Navy in WWI, died in 1963.  He is the uncle who is buried in Jersey City Cemetery with his wife's family.  I believe that this is because Aunt Gertie was Methodist, and the Catholic Church would not allow him to be buried in a Catholic Cemetery - all because he crossed the line and married a Methodist.

Turns out that Uncle John's father, (my great grandfather) Edward McConville also had a brother named John - who would be the aforementioned John's Uncle John.  The Uncle John that I am going to talk about tonight is my Great Grand Uncle.  He was born in Manchester, England in 1861. The family came to America in about 1869, and his younger brother Peter was born in Brooklyn.

I was hunting around the New York, New York Death Index, 1862 - 1948 database, for deceased family members.  I was searching on FamilySearch, because I found that you get more information on Familysearch.org than ancestry.com.  So I searched for the surname, McConville when I saw a John McConville died in 1936.  I clicked on the entry and saw that he had the same parents as my great grandfather and his siblings.  That is when I realized that he was related.  Quite honestly, I had him listed in my family tree, but I forgot all about him.  The entry said that he was born 6 Mar 1861 in England and died 4 Mar 1936, he was 74 years old at the time of his death.  It says that he lived at 84-26 Charlecote Ridge Rd, Queens, NY and his spouse's name was Anna D. McConville, and he was employed in Real Estate.  He was buried in St. John's Cemetery in Queens, NY. on 7 Mar 1936, the day after his 75th birthday.

With this information, I decided to check another website that I recently found.  The Brooklyn Public has Brooklyn Newspapers on line through their website.  You can sign up for a free account, search Brooklyn Newspapers and clip articles on line and save them.  When I did this, I found an obituary for John McConville from the Brooklyn Eagle 5 Mar 1936, Page 15.

BUT, there was another entry in the newspaper, a few days later on 18 Mar 1936, and this one floored me.

This is during the Great Depression!!  He has been able to put away a nice bit of money.  The article also mentions my great grandfather, Edward S. and his brother Peter (their sister, Mary Emma died in 1924).  It goes on to mention other family: his wife Anna D and two daughters, Catherine and Grace, who are apparently under the age of 25.  If you look at the obit, his wife is listed as Anna Dorothy.  I don't know if Dorothy is her middle name or her Maiden name.

Now here is the strange part, I cannot find John McConville and his wife Anna with daughters Grace and Catherine anywhere in the census records. In 1900 John is listed at 20 Devoe St, Brooklyn as the head of house, employed as a foreman at a cooper works.  He is living with his brother, Peter who is single, also a foreman at the cooper works, and his mother, Catherine, who is widowed.  The funny thing is that John is listed as Married for 5 years, but his wife is no where to be found.

So where is Anna Dorothy and his daughters: Catherine and Grace.  Well, now I have a new project.  It seems that every time I solve a mystery, another one is waiting around the corner.