Frank E Brady 1889 - 1961

I recently found that Newspapers.com has added a few new newspapers to their database.  The best part is the location:  Pottsville PA.  That's right! Right in the middle of the Brady spawning grounds in Schuylkill County PA.  As you may well imagine, I have been a researching fool lately, finding births, weddings, and obituaries of ancestors.  Or, as we like to call it, hatch, match and dispatch - always like to add a little genealogy humor.

I will get to the Pottsville Republican later, because it will come in handy while researching Frank Edward Brady, born in Gordon, Schuylkill County Pa in 1889 to John Brady and his wife, Annie Butler Brady.  Within a few years the family moved to Scranton, PA.  I had previously found the announcement of Frank's marriage to Mary Regan in Scranton on 15 Sep 1914.  Sometime in 1915, Mary gave birth to a daughter, Helen.  Tragedy struck in April of 1917 when an obituary for Mrs. Frank Brady (Mary) appeared in the Scranton paper.  It says that Mrs Frank died following a few weeks' illness, she was just 26 years old.  It goes on to mention her husband is Frank Brady, a well known insurance man.  After the death of his wife, Frank and Helen live on Ripple St with his parents, and in 1918 Frank registers for the draft for WWI, as do three of his brothers, Raymond, Paul, and Thomas.

On 27 Oct 1921,  31 year old Frank marries 17 year old Agnes Goff in Scranton, PA.  They will have two more children, William is born 4 Dec 1922 and Jean is born in May 1926.  This brings me to the Pottsville Republican.  I found an article saying that Frank is named Asst. Superintendent of the Pottsville office of the Prudential Insurance Co.  So, between children, they move back to Schuylkill County.  Shortly after the move, his brother, Raymond, becomes a widower when his wife dies.  Frank and Agnes have his daughter live with them in Minersville, and an interesting article appears  in the Pottsville Republican 8 Oct 1929 (weeks before the stock market crash).  The article is about a birthday party for Mary and it lists the decorations and guests, and says that Mary is visiting from Scranton.  I like the guest list, it may mention aunts, uncles, and cousins, and Mary's father is not among the listed guests. 

It's funny what they printed in the newspaper back then.  The newspapers published a list of local residents admitted to area hospitals.  This was slightly before HIPPA regulations.

I cannot locate Frank, Agnes, or his daughter, Helen, in the 1940 census, but I did find William and Jeanne (this is the spelling in the census record) living in Scranton with Agnes' parents on Stafford Ave.  According to the census, they both lived at this address in 1935 also.  On 4 Dec 1940 (his 18th birthday) William enlists in the US Navy.  He will be stationed at Pearl Harbor the following December, and survives the Japanese attack, and continues to serve through March of 1946.  William died 1 Dec 2005 in Ormond Beach, FL. The 1940 census is the last record that I can locate for Jean and I don't know what happened to her. 

Unfortunately, the next thing I found was Agnes getting married 17 Sep 1941 in Delaware.  The certificate of marriage says that she is divorced.  It also gives her residence as Scranton, PA.   My first thought was that the age difference may have been too much, but then you check and see what is going on the world at this time.  The Great Depression!  I wonder if work was not steady, or a paycheck was not steady.  There is no way of telling at this point, but it just seems sad.  Our ancestors lived through some tough times.  This is the last record that I can locate for Agnes also, so I don't know what happened to her either.

On 28 Apr 1945, Helen Brady, aged 29, dies of tuberculosis in Ransom Township, at the Lackawanna County TB Hospital  She had been employed as a stenographer for the Scranton School District and lived on Ripple St.  She is buried in Cathedral Cemetery in Scranton and Frank was the informant on her death certificate.  He was also living at the Brady compound at 522 Ripple St, Scranton.

Frank was living in Philadelphia, where he dies on 31 Jan 1961 at the age of 71.  His sister Agnes Sipple is the informant on the death certificate.  He is buried in Cathedral Cemetery.  That's the other thing that sticks out, is that no matter what happens, they always turn to family for help.  If you are widowed, family helps out with the children, if you are out of work, or just fall on hard times, there is usually a family member who will take you in and help you out for as long as it takes.  That's the good part about any sad times that I come across.

Fortunately, my cousin Peggy from Scranton gave me a photo of Frank, which I will end with:

Raymond Aloysius Brady 1886 - 1953

Remember in one of my last posts, I spoke about the Bradys in the Iron and Steel business.  I said that I had not really done much research on Raymond A Brady, who was in Buffalo for a short time in 1907. I decided to do some work on him for this post.  I have to say, for some reason I get Raymond mixed up with his brother Frank.  I don't know why, it's not like I knew either one of them, although maybe that is why.

Raymond was born to John J Brady and Annie Butler in Gordon, PA and moved to Scranton with his family.  I found this article in the Scranton Truth from Fri 18 Mar 1910:

In the 1900 Census, Bessie Heffron is identified as Bridget Haffron born Aug 1887 to John Heffron and Ellen Walsh, and depending on the document, she was born in  either Ireland or Scranton.  Although sometimes I think Scranton is a county in Ireland. 

Raymond and Bessie marry and have six children: John, Raymond, Mary, Robert, Paul, and the last child is listed in the 1920 census as "Dustum", a male child born in May of 1919.  I have never heard this name, so I don't know if the census is correct.  After some more research, I accidentally found Augustus J Brady born 27 May 1919.  This is the mystery child formerly known as "Dustum".  After looking at the census, I think the enumerator had some poor handwriting.

As for Raymond, in 1910, his occupation is listed as Round House, in the Locomotive industry, 1920 he is a laborer for a contractor, in the 1926 Scranton City Directory his occupation is "painter", and it remains that way until his death in 1953.  I have not located him in the 1930 or 1940 census records. 

I did find a newspaper article which may somewhat explain the change.

This is from the Scranton Republican Wed. 9 Mar 1927.  Her death certificate says that she died from complication during child birth on 7 Mar 1927 at age 32.

After the death of Bessie, a lot of changes take place.  Changes that would not happen today because of all of the social agencies that have been put in place.  Back in the 20's there was no welfare, food stamps, or Division of Youth and Family, or anything of the sort.  When you are a single parent due to a death, you depend on the generosity of family, friends, and maybe your church or other charitable organization. Raymond was a single parent now, not by choice, but through death.  He has six children and the oldest is 17.  So now the children get split up with other family members.

In the 1930 census, I cannot locate John, the 17 year old.  I assume he may be on his own and working.  Mary is living in Minersville, PA with her uncle Frank Brady and his wife and their three children.  Augustus is living with Bessie's sister, Ellen Farrell with her husband and children in Scranton.  Robert and Paul (the two youngest) are together with Bessie's other sister Mary and her husband Martin McDonough in Scranton. But what has become of Raymond, Jr.?

In the 1930 census, I did find a Raymond Brady, age 16, which is about right, living in Newton Township, Lackawanna County at the Hillside Home (Insane).  That is how the census record lists it.  I cannot be certain that this is him or why he is living there at age 16, but I do know that he is still there in the 1940 Census.  The record says Newton Township, but it is actually on the border with Clark Summit, near my sister's home. I drove over there, but I was too late to talk to anyone but Security.  He gave me a phone number for a social worker, but when I called him, he said that the records are no longer available and had been destroyed.  At this point I am at a dead end, but I may try the Pennsylvania State Archives. 

I wrote this last night, but did not post it, I wanted to read it over before posting it.  I thought about it when I went to bed, and it dawned on me.  Maybe (just maybe) Raymond had Special Needs and no one else in the family had the time or knowledge to care for him.  So he went to this institution where he could be cared for.  Remember, this was not the most politically correct era in our history.  If you were not "normal", you may end up in an Insane Asylum because no one knew what to do for you.  I can't believe it took me so long to think of this, since I have a son with Special Needs.  I don't know how I am going to prove this, but I am pretty confident that this is the answer.

I also happened to find out that Raymond passed away in September of 1984 and is buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery.  His sister Mary took care of the arrangements.