I know it's been awhile, but this is worth the wait. I have been tying to figure out what happened to Patrick Brady for the past 16 years or so; which is when I first found him in the 1870 Federal Census in Butler, PA. OKay, so maybe I wasn't looking all that hard, I should say that I was wondering what happened to him, and how he was related. In case you don't know, the 1870 census lists everyone in the household, age, race, marital status, place of birth, and a few other things. What it doesn't tell you is each person's relationship to the head of the household. In 1870, the census listed Thomas A Brady and his wife Bridget, next is Patrick age 17, then John 16, Michael 14, James 11, William 9, Mary 4, and Bridget 11 months, and a domestic servant. It also says that Thomas, Bridget, and Patrick were born in Ireland, John in York State, and the rest in PA. This is the only record that I had ever found for Patrick. Although he was 7 hears old in 1860, he is not listed in the census of that year, but John, Michael, and James are listed. Patrick is also not listed in the 1880 census; John is living nearby with his wife and two children. 1880 is also the year where ‘relationship to head of household’ becomes a category in the census. Oh well, better late than never. So, all of this made me wonder if Patrick was the son of Thomas and Bridget, or if he was an orphaned child of a cousin or nephew, whom they were caring for at the time.
This is where my search stalled until I got a message through Ancestry.com from a woman who said her maiden name was Brady and that she had been researching his father's family and could not find any information. (Welcome Aboard) She said that my name was the only Brady on her DNA match list and when she checked my tree, she noticed that my great grandfather, James, and her grandfather, William were boarding in the same house in Gordon PA in 1900. I looked at her tree and saw that her grandfather was William and his parents were Patrick and Margaret Cushing. William was born in 1881 in Perth Amboy, NJ. I check the Pottsville Republican on Newspapers.com for William Brady from 1902 to 1908, figuring that if he lived in Gordon in that time, something may show up in the newspaper for him. What I found was a lengthy obit for a young woman named Lizzie Brady. The article says that her father, Patrick, died about 30 years ago, and she is survived by a brother William and her mother, who lives in New York. The part that got my attention was that she died on Plane St. in Gordon at the home of her aunt, Mrs. Patrick Davis. LIGHTBULB!!! Mrs. Patrick Davis is Catherine Convey, sister of Bridge Convey Brady, my great great grandmother. That is the the connection, Catherine is actually Lizzie's father's aunt. BINGO.
I checked the 1880 census in Perth Amboy, NJ and found Patrick Brady, his wife Margaret, living at 223 Washington St, Perth Amboy with their daughter Elizabeth, who is a year old, (William is not born yet). Patrick is a conductor on the railroad.
Two more things and I will call it a night. When looking at Lizzie's obit it says her father died "some thirty years ago". Well that would have been about 1876, which is impossible because that is before both of his children are born. Secondly, I also found her death certificate, and it lists her birth date as 23 Oct 1881, which is also impossible because she is listed in the 1880 census as being one year old. Then I checked documents that I found for her brother, William (who happens to be the informant on her death certificate) and his birth date is 23 Oct 1881. I think he was doing the paperwork for his sister and saw birth date, and automatically put his own.
The moral of the story is don't believe everything that you read, just because it is on an official document doesn't make it true.
