Andrew Brady

Andrew Brady was another brother of my great grandfather, James E Brady.  Andrew was born to Thomas A Brady and Bridget Convey Brady in 1870, in Gordon, PA.  The best I can tell, he lived with his parents and is listed in the 1900 Census in their home in Scranton Pa.  That is pretty much all I knew about him until I found a record of his service in the Spanish American War.  A couple of weeks ago, I found an article in the Scranton Tribune from 13 Mar 1899.  I found it on Chronicling America, which is on the Library of Congress website.

In case you can't read it, the article talks about the First volunteer engineer corps who served in "Porto Rico" during the recent "unpleasantness" with Spain meeting to arrange for their part in the reception and parade to be tendered the Thirteenth regiment on March 22.  It goes on to list the men from Scranton who went to Porto Rico, and among them is Andrew T. Brady.

I never really knew much about him, besides his service in the Spanish American War, but I figured that he died before his father in October 1904.  I figured this because I found his father, Thomas A Brady's obit.  The obit lists family who survived him and Andrew is not among them.

Then I subscribed to Newspapers.com and hunted around old Scranton newspapers.  I located an article dated 19 Mar 1904 and it indicated that Thomas A Brady of Birch St was traveling to Boonton NJ to identify remains of man killed there.  It goes on to say that the man may be a brother of Dr W F Brady of Scranton.  In case you have not followed my blog closely, Dr W F Brady is my great grandfather's brother.  I called the Boonton Library and a woman there said that she would check the old newspapers there for me, but I have not heard back yet.  Apparently, patience really is a virtue, it must have passed me by when it comes to researching my family tree.

I then called the Morris County Historical Commission, I was referred to the Morristown - Morris Township Library, which has a genealogy center.  So instead of waiting, I decided to drive up there and see what they had.  Then my sister from Scranton called me.  So while I had her on the phone, I invited myself to her house for the night. (after checking the Scranton Library for material).  So off I went. to Morristown and Scranton.

Morristown - Morris Township Library was very nice, and the woman working there was very helpful, but alas, I found nothing of help.  So it was off to Scranton.

I got to the Scranton Library about 45 minutes before closing, thanks to some heavy traffic.  I was able to get microfilm of the Scranton Times for March of 1904 and was lucky enough to find two articles.  One from 18 Mar 1904 and a second one from the following day, 19 Mar 1904:

The first article talks about a Scranton man being killed on the Railroad in Boonton, NJ.  The second article is essentially the same article as the one I found in the Scranton Republican on Newspapers.com.  It says that Thomas A Brady left for Boonton to identify the remains as his brother.  The paper is mistaken, I think they were stuck on the fact that his brother was the famous Doctor W F Brady, and did not realize that Thomas is actually his father.  Apparently Andrew had left Scranton for New York about a year before, but I don't know why.  His occupation was listed as machinist in census records and a couple of Scranton City Directories, so maybe he left for a new job in the City.  The Scranton Library closed before I could find anything else.

So it looks like my first generation Irish American great grand uncle was killed on St Patrick's Day 1904 by a train in Boonton, NJ.  I hope I find out more at the Boonton Library.

Meanwhile back in Scranton

I know its been a while since my last post - almost two months, but I've been busy with some other stuff and have not had time for research. But before I got really busy, I was able to find an interesting story which involved the Davis branch of my tree.

When I discovered my family connection to the Davis family, I started checking ancestry.com for Pennsylvania Death Certificates for the children of Patrick Davis and Catherine Convey.   That is when I found two death certificates.

The first was for Delia Loretta Davis, born 12 Jan 1885 in Gordon, Pa and died 4 Jan 1954 at 1392 N. Washington Ave, Scranton, Pa.  The second one was for Mary Elizabeth Davis, born 5 Aug 1879 in Gordon, Pa, and died 9 Aug 1956 at 1392 N. Washington Ave, Scranton, Pa.  That's right they lived at the same address.  So the next thing I did was to look at Google Earth for 1392 N. Washington Ave, Scranton, Pa, expecting to find an old age home or something.  When I got to the address with the "walking man", I didn't find a nursing home - I found a tavern with rooms upstairs.  I don't think that they were 55 and over condos.  It was more like rooms for rent over a tavern.

The business is currently Andy Gavin's Eatery and Pub, so I did what anyone would do, I Googled it.  I found a bunch of different web sites with information about the business, including menu and reviews.  Apparently it is a good pub that has been around since about 1904 when it was first built by a man named George Calpin.  Then I found a couple of sites claiming that it is haunted.  I should tell you that the business has changed hands and names several times since Mr Calpin built it, so I do not know what it was called or who owned it when the Davis sisters lived there.

Then I went back to death certificates, first Delia's, to look at the informant.  This is the person who supplied the decedent's personal information to registrar.  This information would include birth date and place of birth, as well as father's name and mother's maiden name.  The informant is usually a relative.  The informant on Delia's death certificate is Mary Tierney.  Who is Mary Tierney?  I looked for her on Ancestry.com and I found her death certificate.  Turns out Mary Tierney's maiden name is Convey.  The same name as my great great grandmother, and the same as Delia and Mary Elizabeth Davis' mother.

Before I go into another long confusing story, suffice it to say that there is a Convey/Davis connection to an Irish Pub in Scranton, Pa, which may or may not be haunted.  What to do?  I drove to my sister's house just outside of Scranton.  My sister, her husband, and I then went to Andy Gavin's Eatery and Pub and ate dinner.  It was a good find and is directly across the street from the Lackawanna County Prison, which looks like an old fortified castle in the middle of a city block.

I am told that there is an old rumor that,back in the day, the Guards would let the prisoners out on their honor to walk across the street to the Pub to get lunch.  I don't know if the story is true or not, it sounds more like Andy Griffith than Andy Gavin.

Looks much friendlier.  We talked to several employees and the current owner of the Pub and  they all think it is haunted.  They told of lights turning off and on without throwing a switch, and water in the restrooms turning on when no one was in there.  It was a fun time researching my family tree, and I even bought a t-shirt.

So it would appear that the key to my Brady/Convey family roots may rest in a haunted Irish Pub in Scranton, Pa.  Who would have guessed. Maybe I should plan a Family Reunion there.