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.