Jane Keaveney 1879 -1880

Jane Keaveney was born 27 Jun 1879 in Jersey City, NJ.  Her father Thomas was 37 and her mother, Bridget Crimmins Keaveney was 33.  She was baptized in St. Michael's Church on 13 Jul 1879, also in Jersey City.  Unfortunately, less than a year later, Jane died of bronchitis in Jersey City on 24 Feb 1880.  She lived in Jersey City for her entire life of 243 days.

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking through my family tree and I noticed that there was a shaky leaf next to Jane's name in the tree.  I knew that she died very young and wondered what this hint could be. I clicked on the hint and found a that it was from Find A Grave.  When I opened it, I saw that she is buried in St. Peter's Catholic Cemetery in Jersey City.  Now I know that her mother, father, and several siblings are buried in Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City.  But I don't recall seeing anyone else in my tree being buried in St. Peters.

When I opened the memorial, there is a short bio (basically my first paragraph), it then goes on to say that there is no headstone and the plot is owned by Timothy Crimmins.  I know, from all of my research that Jane’s mother’s maiden name is Crimmins. So it makes sense that Timothy is part of her mother, Bridget’s family (about whom, I know very little).

While on this page, you can see family members with memorials on Find A Grave.  Then I checked Timothy Crimmins, the owner of the plot.  This informs that he was buried in the same plot: 53 South D at St. Peter’s.  On his page is a link to more Crimmins memorials in St Peter’s cemetery. When you go,to that link you get a list of 18 people with the last name Crimmins who are buried at St.Peter’s, and 14 of them are in the same plot as Jane Keaveney.

So, thanks to Jane Keaveney (who only lived for 243 days) I now have a whole lot of people to research and determine who they were and how we are related.  This should keep me busy for awhile.

Patrick Bergen and family

I wrote this post about a week ago, and when I read it before posting it, I almost fell asleep. I kind of figured that wasn’t a good sign.  Then I realized that I was trying to do it chronologically, going through each census, and it was very boring.  So we’re gonna try this again, and hopefully you won’t fall asleep before you get to the end.

Patrick was born in July 1859 in Borris-in-Ossary, County Laois, Ireland to Edward Bergen and Mary Malone.  He was the first born of five children, and the family emigrated to the US at some point in the 1870’s.  They were counted in the 1880 US census in Jersey City, NJ, where they would all marry and spend the rest of their lives.

Patrick would marry Mary Fitzgerald on 4 Feb 1886, and their daughter, Mary, was born 10 Aug 1888.  Patrick would work at several jobs in livestock during his lifetime, in 1900 he was a horse dealer, and moved on to cattleman, and eventually, a buyer in the slaughter house.  I was a little surprised because this is Jersey City, NJ, not out west in someplace like Kansas. But I suppose Jersey City may have been (the eastern equivalent of Chicago at that time.

This is what I found to be the interesting part of the story.  In 1900 the census lists, Patrick is working, his wife, Mary is keeping house, and young Mary is 11 years old at school.  I am unable to locate the family in the 1910 census, but in 1920 and 1930 they can be found on Eighth Street.

 In 1920 young Mary‘s relationship to Patrick and Mary says sister and she’s only 25 years old.   In 1930, Mary is back to daughter status, and her age is listed as 30 years old. That initially sounded kind of odd to me, but it all depends on who gave the census taker the information. So,  you never know if maybe a neighbor or the super of the building gave the information and it just never came out right.

On August 12, 1933 Patrick passes away at the age of 74.  At that point, he is a weighmaster at the Jersey City stockyards. He leaves his wife and daughter to survive him.  In the 1940s census we see that Mary and Mary are living in the same place and Mary, who is listed as 70 years old and widowed, is listed as giving the information.  Neither one of the two residents is working, and if you look at one of the columns in the census, it tells you that they are unable to work.

26 December 1943: Mary Fitzgerald Bergen dies of colon cancer. The informant on the death certificate is not her daughter Mary, but it is a woman named Margaret Henzey.  I have not come across Margaret Hanzey in any of the information that I’ve gathered and I am wondering who she is. My guess is that she is the daughter of one of Mary’s sisters.   

I cannot find Mary Bergen in the 1950 census, but I was looking on genealogybank.com and I found a notice in the Jersey Journal:

                                                             

There she is again, Margaret Henzey.  This time it is shortly before Mary Bergen, (the daughter) dies in 1957.  I actually went the the New Jersey State Archives to see her will, but they have no record of a will there.  Her death certificate states she died on 10 Dec 1957 at the Hudson County Hospital for Mental Diseases, in Secaucus, NJ.  She had been a patient at the hospital for 14 years, 4 months and 28 days.  That time frame bring us back to about 8 months after her mother passed away.  So I would assume that maybe Mary had Special Needs like autism or as they called it back in those days, mental retardation.  Maybe no one in the family knew how to care for her so she was placed in that hospital, which was understandable.

So, in the end, I’m still confused about something.  Margaret Henzey is either related to the family somehow, or she is a very close family friend.  She is the informant on the death certificate for both Mary Bergens, as well as the executrix and trustee for the estate of young Mary in 1957.  The main thing that I don’t understand is this: How can she put a notice in the paper in June 1957 about probating the estate, but Mary does not die until December of 1957?

The Dawsons

I’m back, and I dug up another story to tell.  Actually, I think I told part of it before, but I can’t find the post. So sit back and enjoy, I’ll try to be brief, but no guarantees.

You may remember that my mom’s paternal side are named McConville, and one of the McConville girls married a man named Milford.  The Dawson line stems from their daughter Elizabeth. Elizabeth Milford marries a man named William J Dawson and they have four children of their own: William M in 1913, James F in 1914, Robert Girard in 1922, and Olive E in 1923.  

The family lived on E 53rd St in Brooklyn before moving to 124 Union Ave in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.  On 28 Jul 1920, their youngest son, 5 year old James, was crossing Union Ave at Driggs Ave, when he ran into the street when he was struck by a hearse automobile.  He was taken to St. Catherine's Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.  He was later buried in Holy Cross Cemetery on Tilden Ave in Brooklyn. Here is the newspaper article from the Brooklyn Citizen:

You may think that this is the end of a sad story, just like I did.  But I was on ancestry.com and I was looking at James F Dawson when I saw a shaky leaf.  I was not expecting that, so I clicked on the hint from NY Wills and Probate.  I REALLY wasn't expecting that, after all he was only five years old when he was killed.  I don't think there are many five-year-old children with a will.  I have two pages to show you:

The probate is for limited letters of administration for the goods, chattels, and credits of James F Dawson, deceased.  His mother, father and older brother, William, who was only seven years old are listed as next of kin. The papers also list the three men who are associated with ownership and operation of the hearse involved in the accident.  If you look at the news article, it also lists the driver and owner of the hearse, two of the same names listed in the probate papers.  I assume that this is to be sure that any proceeds from the lawsuit will go to the family for the funeral and burial expenses, etc...

So, as we close out this chapter, this is still a sad story with a twist at the end that I was never expecting.

James O’Dea 1822 - 1890

 Today I’m going to tell you about a new record that I found on ancestry.com for my 2nd Great Grandfather, James O’Dea in Broome County, New York.  Before I start, I have to tell you that I have searched for records about James O’Dea on numerous occasions over the years, and this is the first time that I have seen a record of his will.  The will is in the collection titled: New York, U.S.,  Wills and Probate Records 1659-1999.  This collection was last updated 8/23/2021.

I was quite surprised to see his name, so I searched that collection for other ancestors whom I know died in Broome County, NY during that time frame. I found no other probate records …. YET.

Here is the first page:

This is basically the cover page, there are two more pages on ancestry.com, but posting them would take too much space.  So I will tell you that it is probated on 26 Oct 1891, and is signed with an X (his mark) meaning that he was probably illiterate..  The will was written and witnessed on 8 Sep 1891. Honora O’Dea (his wife) and William O’Dea (his son) are the executors.

Without going too crazy, he gives his farm in Sandford, along with two tracts of state land that he owns, to his two sons: William and James, his wife will be the general manager during her life with use of the land and house.  His sons are to pay his daughter (their sister) Catherine $100.00 each over the next few years (I’m tguessing that this is buying her out ) she is married and living in Buffalo, NY. The other daughter, Mary (Sterling) and other two sons, Michael and Daniel are not mentioned in the will.  All three are married with families, and living in Jersey City, NJ.  I have no way of knowing for sure, but William and James stayed on the farm their whole lives, and Honora needed to be taken care of by her sons.  So that makes sense.  I still wonder why Michael, Daniel, and Mary were left out.  Maybe it was a family decision that they talked over beforehand, I guess I’ll never know.

 

Timothy Sullivan 1869 - 1909

Last time I wrote about my Sullivans in England, I was looking for my great grandmother’s siblings.  Hanna was in the US already living with family there (George and Ellen Wharton to be specific).  I told you that I found Mary Ann and Michael living with Maurice and Catherine O’Brien in Vauxhall, and Timothy living in St. Vincent’s Home in Paddington, London.

I started digging into Timothy’s life, and I found a marriage license application in Cleveland, Ohio, USA on 12 Jan 1904.  Timothy S Sullivan, age 34, born in England to Michael Sullivan and Mary Dunn, works as a bartender.  He is marrying Minnie Springer, age 21, born in Ohio, and works as a restaurant keeper.  Here is the document:

This certainly looks like my Timothy Sullivan, and it also looks like he just married his boss?  So now I had to resubscribe to genealogybank.com, so, I could check the Cleveland Plain Dealer for newspaper articles.  

The first one I found just listed recent marriages license applications, then I found this:

This was interesting.  I don’t know how long Tim had known MRS York, or why she was so enamored with him, but this is only six months after he was married.  About five years later, I found this article:

The last entry lists the death of Timothy Sullivan, on 8 Feb 1909.  A little more digging, finds an entry in findagrave.com.  Whoever created the memorial added Tim’s death certificate:

His date of birth is listed as 20 Dec 1869 in England, marital status is married, parents names are listed as Michael Sullivan and Mary Ann Dunn, cause of death is pulmonary phthisis, AKA tuberculosis, and the informant is listed as his wife, Minnie Sullivan.  He is buried in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland.

The reason I told you that the informant is listed as Minnie Sullivan, his wife, is because 17 days after he dies, Minnie remarries.  On 25 Feb 1909, Minnie marries a man named Charles Addis in Cleveland.  This marriage lasts about twice as long as her marriage to Tim, and ends with her death 10 Oct 1920.  I did not find an obit or a death certificate, but there is a memorial on Findagrave.com.  She is buried in the same cemetery as Tim.

The Mystery of my Sullivans in England

I have previously posted about my great grandmother, Hannah Sullivan McConville.  She was born in Lambeth, Surrey, England in 1866 to Michael Sullivan and Mary Dunn.  She is counted in the 1871 Census in Lambeth, and has a sister Mary Ann born in 1868, a brother Timothy born in 1870, and shortly after the census another brother, Michael is born in about 1872.  

Thanks to my Aunt Florence, I learned that both parents passed away sometime between 1872 and the next census in 1881.  Supposedly, Hannah and Mary Ann were sent to Brooklyn, NY to live with cousins George and Ellen Wharton to be nannies for their children.  My problem is that I only find Hannah living with the Whartons in Brooklyn in the US Federal Census for 1880.  So where are Mary Ann, and her two brothers.  

Admittedly, I had only really searched for Mary Ann because Aunt Florence said she had married and died young - in 1894.  Family legend has it that she married "poorly" and was buried in a potters field.  That is until Hannah and her husband, Edward McConville, raised enough  money to give her a proper burial in Holy Cross Cemetery, in Brooklyn.  I could never find a burial for her there, because I don't know her married name.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to search for Timothy and Michael.  It only took me about 20 years to come up with this plan of action, so here is what I found.  I started with the 1881 England Census and I found a family in the municipal ward of Vauxhall, in the Borough of Lambeth.  It is the family of Maurice O'Brien and his wife Catherine.  Maurice is a blacksmith age 50 born in Ireland and Catherine is 47 and born in Ireland.  They have three daughters, all born in Surrey: Mary A is 19 listed as an Ironer, Catherine is 16 with servant scratched out as occupation, and Johanna age 9 is a Scholar (in school).  Next on the list of household members is Mary A Sullivan, age 13 listed as niece, and a scholar, and lastly is Michael, age 9 listed as nephew, and also a scholar.  The ages fit, so if they are my Sullivans, that means that Catherine's maiden name is Sullivan or Dunn.  The other issue is this: if Mary A and Michael are my Sullivans, where is Timothy?  I may have the answer for that.

I started looking for Timothy in the 1881 England Census and came across a Timothy Sullivan, age 11, listed as "inmate" at St. Vincent's Home in Paddington, London.  I was surprised to find him in St. Vincent's Home, so I Googled it.  Turns out the name is St. Vincent's Home for Roman Catholic Boys and it was started in about 1859, and managed by some  members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.  Quoting from the website: "The Home received Roman Catholic boys who were orphans and who were either destitute or in danger to their faith or morals."  Initially the Home could accommodate 20 boys, but as demand grew this was increased to 30 and then a wing was added to bring the capacity to 40. The other question is if Mary Ann and Michael are with family, why is Timothy in a home for orphaned Catholic boys?  

So, I think there is a good chance that these are my great grandmother's siblings, but I can't be absolutely certain at this point.  I still have some work to do on this.

Michael Reilly 1864-1917

I am going back to Susquehanna, Pa for tonight’s story.  This is about Michael Reilly, brother of my great grandmother, Mary Jane Reilly O’Dea.  Michael was born 21 Sep 1864 in Susquehanna, Pa to Michael Reilly and Mary (AKA Bridget) Kelly. 

As I was researching him, I realized that I was collecting information without adding it to my tree, because I wasn’t certain that the info was for the right Michael Reilly.  This is due to the last name being spelled differently on different documents.  The other thing is that his mothers name in his sister’s death certificate is Bridget Kelly, but in all the census records (and his death certificates, as I would learn in the very end) she is listed as Mary Kelly. 

 

One certainty that I found was the 1870 Census finds 6 year old Michael living in Susquehanna Depot with his father, Michael, a farmer, his mother (listed as Mary) keeping house, his brother Thomas age 18, sister Mary, age 15, and brother James, age 11.

The only other certainty was the 1880 Census, the family lives in Oakland, and the family consists of Michael (father), Mary (wife), and three sons, Thomas, James, and Michael, all listed as farm labor.  In 1890, as we all know by now, there is no census record available. By 1900, Mary (wife) has passed away.  Thomas lives in Susquehanna Depot and he is listed as a Hotel Keeper on Front Street and lives with his wife Mary, and their five children, as well as, his widowed father Michael.  I cannot find James or Michael in the 1900 census.  Mary is married and living in Newark, NJ.

This is where things get interesting.  While hunting around on ancestry.com I came across two other family trees which have my Reilly family with more information.  On both trees, there are articles about a Michael Riley shooting his wife, Coloma, then shooting himself, in Binghamton, NY.  Coloma survives a serious wound after spending time in the hospital, but Michael is successful with his suicide.  He is buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Dickinson, NY.

There are different newspaper articles about how a week prior to the shooting, Michael gets a gun permit from a local Judge Hart, telling the Judge he intends to return to Susquehanna for a vacation and to "do some shooting".  This is one of the few things that makes me think that this is my Michael Reilly.  But who is Coloma?  I have still not found a marriage record. Plus, I still have that pesky spelling issue, which will not be resolved anytime soon.

When I go back and start looking again, I searched for Michael and Coloma Reilly.  This time I found them on W. Main St in Lanesboro.  It says they have been married for five years and he is a teamster, drawing coal (I assume for the railroad).  It also says they have a three year old son, Francis. Now we're getting somewhere.  Now I find a birth certificate for Francis from 6 Aug 1906.  Unfortunately, the next document I find is a death certificate for young Francis, who dies in Lanesboro 31 Dec 1911.   I cannot read the cause of death, it says "Chloroform ?????, due to weak heart".  Over to the side in blue pencil it has the word "Adenoids".  It looks like he was having surgery for his tonsils/adenoids and the chloroform was too much for his heart.  It is a sad time in the Reilly household this holiday season.  

That is about all of the official documents that I can find, and I still cannot be sure that this is my Michael Reilly.  Michael Reilly is a pretty common name and I'm pretty sure there is more than one in this area, heck, there are two in this family alone.

 On newspapers.com I found another article in the Press and Sun Bulletin in Binghamton.  

This article is 16 Mar 1916, and says that Michael lost his job as a butcher, because he drank too much the night before.  He pleads guilty to the intoxication charge and asked to Judge to free him so he can go to the job he just got as a butcher.  By the way, this is the same Judge who will issue his gun permit next year.  The Judge decides to call the butcher shop to verify his story.  He was told that Reilly was fired when he did not report to work early this morning, the butcher had already hired someone to take his place.  He was sentenced to a $5.00 fine or five days in jail.

Still unable to verify my relationship, I returned to Susquehanna Historical Society to see if they had anything there.  They did not, but did have a suggestion that I go to Binghamton, NY and get the death certificate.

The ride to Binghamton was another 30-40 minutes but it was worth it.  The staff was very helpful and I was able to get a death certificate for Michael Reilly and he is MY Michael Reilly.  The parents names and his birthdate are correct, and the informant is listed as Thomas J Reilly, who I know to be his brother.

It also lists his occupation as butcher, says his place of death is on way to city Hospital, lists cause of death as gun shot wound to the head, and - wait for it - spells the last name right.

I was was happy to be able to get the proof that I needed, but it was also a sad story.  Unfortunately, we see stories like this in the news today far too often.  It goes to show that this is, unfortunately, not a new phenomenon.  It has been happening for years, but it wasn’t talked about like it is today.

Just so you know, Coloma survived her wound, and went on to live in Binghamton as a shoe worker.  On 30 June 1934 she married Albert F. Duren, Sr in New Milford, Pa.  On 23 Sep 1936 she dies in Montour, PA and is buried in Lanesboro Cemetery, Lanesboro PA with her son Francis.

The 1950 Federal Census

Yes, the 1950 U.S. Census has been released to the public.  There’s just one slight problem, it isn’t indexed yet, which means the you can’t search it by name yet.  According to a podcast that I heard today, the indexing should be complete by mid-June.  Until then, you need to know where your ancestor lived in 1950, and get the Enumeration District number.  When you search by E.D., you will have to browse through the entire district to find the house number and street that you are looking for.  It’s not as difficult as it sounds, so give it a try.

I have been looking forward to this census, because my parents married in 1948, and my oldest sibling was born in 1949, so they should be enumerated.  I also know the address in Brooklyn is 470 Rugby Rd.  They lived with my dad’s sister, Aunt Margie and her husband Merritt Whitman, and their daughter - my cousin Linda.

I entered the Brooklyn address to get the Enumeration District number, which turns out to be 24-1688.  Then I searched this E. D., which consists of about 50-60 pages. Their address is listed on page 15:

That is the page and below is the address that I’m looking for:

 Can you read what it says for 470 Rugby Rd?  It has two family numbers because is is a two family house. One family upstairs and one downstairs.  NO ONE HOME, I never saw that before on a census record, but it does say “see sheet 80 Line 1 and Line 3.  Only problem is that I don’t know where Sheet 80 is, not to mention line 1 and line 3.

Looks like I’m going to have to wait for the indexing to be complete.  Story of my genealogical life.

New York City Municipal Archives

I recently saw a few posts on Facebook from different genealogy groups, that the New York City Municipal Archives is digitizing their birth, marriage, and death records, from 1855 - 1949, to put their website.  The collection is searchable and FREE!  Yes, you read it right, free.

The thing that you need for now is the certificate number.  When you search on Ancestry or Family Search and find the record, you will find a certificate number for the birth, marriage, or death.  You will need to put the type of event (BMD), the year, and the certificate number to search to enter into the search.  You will get a good digitized (and downloadable) copy of the certificate.  The documents are in PDF format.  According to their website, the digitizing process is 70% complete as of this date.

So in the last few days, I have downloaded sixteen documents.  Most are on my mom’s side, because they stayed in Brooklyn after sailing across the pond.  I’ve found some interesting things too.  I found out that my great grandfather, Edward McConville and his sister, Mary Emma, were both married in the same church, by the same Priest, in Brooklyn about three years apart.  I was also able to get Edward’s father, Peter’s death certificate from 1874, which has his parents listed (with his mother’s maiden name).  This told me that my research was good, because these are the same names I had gotten by tracking the family back through British census records.

The last thing I’ll mention is that my great grandfather, Edward McConville died 30 Dec 1941 in Brooklyn, although he lived in Jersey City.  My mom told me that he he had some senility issues and he would always try to leave the house, but he wouldn’t go out without his hat.  So her grandmother would get her to hide his hat so that he would not wander off.  Apparently he found his hat and wandered off one night.  Mom said he would try to get back “home” to Brooklyn, and this time he made his escape and made it to his old neighborhood in Brooklyn.  I was told by Aunt Florence that he was found on the street by the church where he and Hanna were married.  The death certificate is not specific about whether he was found on the street or inside a building, or what time he was found, but it mentions 371 Union Ave and it is described as “Bar and Grill”.  I’m not sure what was at that location at the time, but looking at Google Earth for the location of the church where he was married, it looks to be within a few blocks of where the church was located.  So I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

More about my Bradley family from Minersville

 I recently received a message through Newspapers.com from a second cousin in my Bradley line.  She let me know that I had a photo posted in my blog, who was not who I thought it was.  After messaging back and forth several times, I finally got it right.  Then we kept messaging back and forth, and I learned more about my family - not dates and places, but stories.  They make you feel like part of the family.

James Bradley was my great great grandfather, married Ann Pepper and together they had 8 children, including my great grandmother Madge (Marcella).  Most news clippings that I found about him say that he was “of the Delaware” near Minersville.  I never knew what that meant, was it the Delaware River? The Delaware Indians? I had no idea, until I asked my new found cousin.  Apparently it is a little area near Minersville, where the Irish lived. Probably an unincorporated area, possibly in Cass Township.

I found an obit for James that I had never seen before and it illustrates the whole “of the Delaware” thing:

now I know what they are talking about.  But this little article tells me that he was a pioneer of the area, and that he died in Pottsville Hospital.  The other thing about his death is the cross on his grave.  I had posted a picture of it before.  

Here it is again,  just metal pipes with a small plaque with J Bradley on it.  I now know that James’ two sons, Joseph and James, were both blacksmiths and they made this cross for their father’s grave.

One more thing and I’ll call it a night.  I also found a small snippet in the Pottsville Republican”, it tells me that James became a U.S. citizen in December 1889:

I thought this was great.  Next time I go through Pottsville, I’m going to stop at the courthouse and see if I can get his citizenship papers. 

Old Maps

 I have read articles in genealogy magazines about old maps and how they can be helpful in finding the area where ancestors lived, especially in rural, farming areas. There were several companies that produced them.  One of the more well known companies was Sanborn, and these were detailed maps of U.S. cities in the 1800s and 1900s.  Sanborn maps were created to allow fire insurance companies to assess their total liability in urbanized areas of the U.S, according to Wikipedia.  Honestly, I have never used these before, mainly because most of my family (both sides) wound up living in larger cities with actual street addresses, like Jersey City NJ, Scranton PA, and Brooklyn NY.  I didn’t need a map to find a street address  in a large city, but when it comes to rural area like Sandford, NY and Susquehanna, PA, I need more help than a GPS program can give me.

One of the other companies that created maps was F. W. Beers.  These maps show the general topography of the area, with roads, town names, bodies of water, railways, etc....  These maps can also have property owners/residents names on them, which is the part I like.  

I was actually asking about the Beers maps while at the court house, but they did not have any.  I didn't think of Google until I got home - I guess I really am getting old.  When I got home to New Jersey I thought of Googling old maps of Susquehanna County PA, and I found a map from 1872.

If you look in the blue area of the map you can see M. Reilly in the top left corner, and down to the right, you can see E Stack.

Now you can see the resident's names located on the map.  The reason that I used these two names is that Michael Reilly (my great great grandfather) has a son Thomas, and in 1892 he will marry Edward Stack's daughter, Mary Ann.  I guess that single men and single women were far and few between and this visual aid shows that to some degree.  This scenario has repeated itself  several times in my previous generations with co-workers and boarders, and has since mutated into computer dating and such. 

But back in the day it was a realtor’s dream: location, location, location.

Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania

In my last post, I told you that I recently found an obit for my great grandmother, Mary Jane Reilly, and that I found out that she was born in Susquehanna, PA. Last week, I drove up to Scranton, PA and drug my sister, Pat, with me to Susquehanna County, to look for some Reilly relics and fossils in the county courthouse in Montrose.  It was only about a 40 minute drive from Pat’s house to Montrose.  The courthouse was almost empty, I guess everyone was doing some Christmas shopping – so was I. We were able to park right out in front where there was metered parking. I brought a fist full of quarters with me because I figured that’s what would happen. When I went to the parking meter I found that I could park for two hours for a quarter. This place is like Mayberry, at the Jersey Shore you need an app that’s connected to a credit card to use the parking meters; and it’ll cost you a little more than a quarter for two hours, hence the credit card.

Everyone there was very nice and helpful, but we really didn’t find anything. I was hoping to find property records for the farm that they lived on in Great Bend, but there were no deeds to be found. The last office that we visited was historical records, and the woman had nothing there either. She did tell us that we might want to visit the Susquehanna historical society, which was right across the street from the courthouse. We walked across the street, and on the way, I put another quarter in the meter just in case.

When we went into the historical society, very nice lady showed us the file card system for births, deaths, marriages, and ODDS – which was a little articles about various people in the area.  If you found something that you were interested in, you would tell the woman and she would get the article from the other room for you and make copies.

The first thing that I found was an obituary for Mary Jane’s father, Michael Reilly.  He died on 30 June 1903 at the home of his son, T. J. Reilly in Susquehanna Boro.  I know this is her father because she is listed as one of the survivors as Mrs. M. T. O’Day of Jersey City.  Here is the obit:

Since I was in the area, and my O’Dea ancestors lived across the river in Broome County New York, I thought I would look for any deaths under the O’Dea name.  I was looking for Catherine O’Dea, mother of  Michael O’Dea (who would marry Mary Jane).  Apparently spelling really doesn’t matter much with O’Dea / O’Day or Reilly / Riley, they are pretty much interchangeable, so you have to check both spellings. I came across this file card under O’Day:

My first thought was that there must be a mistake, Catherine had recently had a baby (Mike’s little brother, Daniel) I always thought that she must’ve died in childbirth, because Daniel was born in June 1853, wrong again. There was a long article about this railroad accident, downright gruesome in it’s detail. Suffice it to say, that five people were killed instantly, one of whom was our great great grandmother Catherine. The article says the train was leaving Susquehanna Depot on its way to Gulf Summit in New York when, apparently, the boiler exploded, killing five instantly and injuring many others.

Here is a snippet from article that I found in the paper:

Catherine had two small children at home, our great grandfather, Michael, who was two years old, and Daniel, who was two weeks old at most. Why was she out on the train by herself? Was she going to see a doctor maybe? I don’t know, but I’m glad she didn’t take the children with her - or I wouldn’t be here to tell you about it.

My Great Grandmother Mary Jane Reilly O’Dea

 I recently subscribed to genealogy bank.com.  I had a subscription before - mainly because one of the newspapers included is the Jersey Journal (from Jersey City).  I allowed it to lapse, mostly for cost savings.  But they emailed me with an offer I couldn’t refuse - two months free.  Okay, so I saved ten bucks.

At one point, I realized that I had never seen my great grandmother’s obituary, which probably would have been in the aforementioned Jersey Journal. I know this because my cousin Linda had told me she died in Jersey City, and I had gotten her death certificate from the NJ State Archives. 

I searched on genealogybank.com for her obit and found this:

Pretty good.  Now mind you, her death certificate gives her place of birth as Pennsylvania, but I never knew where.  Now I know she was born in Susquehanna, Pa.  I was aggravated that I didn’t think of Susquehanna in the first place.  After all, I knew that her future husband (and my great grandfather, Michael O’Dea) was born just across the river in Sandford, NY, but his father, mother, and step mother are all buried in Susquehanna Pa.  it makes perfect sense, but I never even thought of it.

Now that I know where she was born, I can check the 1860 census in Susquehanna County for Mary Jane and her family.  I found them in a town called Great Bend in Susquehanna County. Mary lives there with her parents, Michael and Bridget, and her seven siblings: James age 11, Daniel age 10, Michael age 8, Martin age 6, John age 5, Susan age 3, and Bridget age 1.  Her father is a farmer, so I guess they’ll have plenty of help on the farm.  I tried to locate the family in 1870, but no luck yet. 

The next time I find Mary Jane is the. 1880 census, but she is no longer in Susquehanna, has moved to the big city and changed her name.  She has married Michael O’Dea and they now live at 284 Bowery St. in Newark, NJ.  Yes, I was surprised too, I thought they went right to Jersey City from Pa - probably because that was where the train went.  By the way the census also says that they were married during the census year.

I think that’s enough for now.  I’ pretty sure we just witnessed the start of the great O’Dea migration to New Jersey, which will settle in Jersey City for for about 70 years before moving to the shore area.

The Whartons

You’re right, the name doesn’t sound familiar.  But I did mention them quite awhile ago when I was talking about my great grandmother, Hannah Sullivan McConville.  I had interviewed my mom’s cousin Florence (we called her Aunt Florence).  Florence told me that Hannah lived in London, and she and her sister were sent to America in the 1870’s to be nannies for the children of Willie and Annie Wharton, who were their cousins.  I think their parents had passed away and that was why they went across the pond.

Well, I went searching records to verify this story and I finally found an 1880 US Census record for Brooklyn, NY. and although her sister Mary Ann is not with her, Hannah is living with George and Ellen Wharton, and their two daughters:  Kate, who is 3 and Maggie, 1 year old. I found that instead of Willie and Annie,  their names are actually George and Ellen...Well, Aunt Florence was close.

That was all I could find, until started looking into George and Ellen.  George works in a segar store (cigar) and Ellen is keeping house.  After digging around, I found that George died in May 1903 and was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn. I found a memorial in Find A Grave, but no photo of the headstone.  I decided to put in a photo request through Find A Grave in March of 2018, and that is where I was stuck until a week ago when I got an email from Find A Grave saying that my request had be fulfilled.

I check the website and found this photo:

Kinda dark and hard to see, so I lightened it up a bit and got this:

Still hard to see, but I can read most of it:

George Wharton

Also his wife

Ellen Wharton

& her sister

Bridget Sullivan

SULLIVAN!  That's it, that's the connection, Ellen is a Sullivan.  Then I searched Ellen Sullivan Wharton and found her marriage to George Wharton in the NY Index - 28 May 1876.  Using Family Search, I was able to get a marriage record and place of birth for her and George - Carlow, County Kerry, Ireland. 

After digging around and getting more info, I searched Ancestry again, this time I entered all of the information that I had, and found Ellen in another tree on Ancestry. Not only that, but this person is also a DNA match.  She is listed as 5th to 8th cousin of mine.  

My thought is that Ellen (and Bridget) are not cousins, but they are Hanna's aunts.  Sisters to her father, Michael.  The only problem with this theory is that the marriage record for Ellen lists her parents as Timothy and Margaret Lyons.  My tree lists them as Timothy and Margaret Devin.  My only source for Margaret's last name is a tree done by another of my mom's cousins before I started my research, and I don't know where she found Devin as the surname.  Actually they could both be somewhat accurate, she may have had a previous marriage in there somewhere, I don't know.

What I do know is that DNA doesn't lie, so I am on the right track

My Grandmother - Catherine Mary McConville Bergen 1896-1939

I have to start by saying that my wife, Katrina, has been gently prodding me to get back into my family tree stuff.  I don't know any friend of mine whose wife prods him to do things that he enjoys, but anyway, she has also been telling me to blog more.  Man, I have it pretty rough.  So she suggested that I write about my grandmother Catherine McConville Bergen.  Great idea! That is until I started looking in my files for her folder.  I have folders for second cousins twice removed, but I can't find one for my maternal grandmother.  I am at a loss to explain this lapse.  So I will try to make amends with a blog post.

Catherine was born 10 Dec 1896 in Jersey City, NJ to Edward McConville and Hannah Sullivan.  She was the third child born to Edward and Hannah.  She will have four brothers and three sisters.  I was able to find a baptism record on FamilySearch.org, which is the website for the Church of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church).  Actually I found the record for Florence McConville, Catherine's younger sister born in 1899.  I ordered the microfilm from the church and it came to the Family History Center in Eatontown.  When the center was open, you could go view the microfilm on readers at the center.  So I found the baptism for Florence on 26 Nov 1899 at St Patrick's Catholic Church in Jersey City, NJ and I decided to check to see if the ledger went back to 1896.  I found it!!  She was on the same reel of film as her sister two years earlier.  Catherine was baptized 3 Jan 1897, her sponsors/Godparents were William (I can't read it) and Mary Wharton.  Here are the two images:

If you can see right above her entry is written  "Married Edward Bergen Aug 27, 1919 by Rev Costello".  Two records for the price of one.  I think she was married at St Joseph's Church at 511 Pavonia Ave, Jersey City.

Catherine and Edward Bergen would have three children: my Uncle Bill in December 1919, Uncle Ed in January 1922 and my mom in March 1926.  They all lived on Armstrong Ave in Jersey City in the 1930 census.  Edward's father - William "Pop" Bergen lived with them.

On Christmas Eve 1925, while she was about 7 months pregnant with my mom, her younger brother, Edward S. McConville Jr. died of Mitral Regurgitation.  I didn't know what that was either, so I googled it.  It is a leaky heart valve.  His death certificate also says that a contributory (secondary) cause was "La Grippe", which I believe was the Flu.

The other great event to effect her occurred after my mom was born and that was the Great Depression in Oct 1929 and lasted until about 1939 or so with the outbreak of World War II.  I'm not really sure how much effect this had on her life, because the 1940 census says that her husband, Edward, was a proprietor in the Stock Yards in Jersey City. "Pop" Bergen worked there also during that time.

December 22, 1939 Catherine Mary McConville Bergen passed away. I think she died from malignant hypertension, (I have her death certificate, but I can't find it).  Mom said it was basically high blood pressure, which is very treatable today.  Back then family members were waked in their home, not a funeral home.  So she was in a casket in her own living room for a few days before the funeral mass and burial.  Not fun for her husband, not to mention the three children.

Unfortunately I didn't know that much about her, but after my mom passed away, I had the opportunity to talk to her cousin Florence about the family.  She told me that Catherine was a very pretty woman and the everyone called her Kate.  She also said that she was a very good piano player. 

I do have pictures of her.  This one is undated, but appears to be from 1926 to 1928:

I have another picture of her holding my mother when mom was a toddler, and she appears about the same age.  The second one is from 1939, the year she passed away, she would have be about 42 years old:

These pictures are the main reason that I suspect the depression did not effect her that much.  These look to be taken by a Professional Photographer.  I'm not sure that the average person could afford to have portraits taken during this time.

I'm sorry that I never got to meet her, I'm sure she would have been a fun grandmother.  She passed on her musical talent to her children. My Uncle Bill sang in a Barbershop Quartet and I can remember growing up with my mom singing and dancing around the house. Whether she was sweeping the floor or doing the dishes, she was usually singing and dancing her way around.  She told me that when her mom passed away, her dad was so distraught that he drank himself to death and died in 1943 at age 43.

More Bergins living in Borris- in-Ossary, Laois, Ireland

I started hunting around Borris in Ossary, County Laois in search of more ancestors.  I figured that the Irish are famous for producing children so the odds of my great great grandfather, Edward, having only one sibling, Dan, was a longshot.  I searched in Irish Catholic Parish Records and I think I found another brother of my great great grandfather, Edward Bergin.  This brother is Joseph, baptized in the same place as Edward and his younger brother, Dan.  He is listed in Ireland Catholic Parish Records, 1655 - 1915, baptized on 23 Feb 1858 in Borris-in Ossary, Laois, Ireland, to Tim Bergin and Margaret Kavanagh.  Sponsors are listed as Ned Kavanagh and Judith Hyland.  I am guessing that Ned is Margaret's brother, and I don't know how Judith Hyland fits into the picture, but the name Hyland was listed as a sponsor for one or two of Edward and Mary Malone's children.  

Not satisfied with that find, I continued looking through that same set of records.  Lo and behold, I found another son of Tim Bergin and Margaret Kavanagh.  This one is John Bergin, baptized 13 Feb 1852 in the same place as the rest in County Laois.  His sponsors are listed as John McEvoy and Mary Bergin.  I wonder if Mary Bergin is Tim's sister?

I started going a little crazy and checked census records in Jersey City for Dan, John, and Joseph.  I figured that they may have also emigrated to the US like their brother Edward (Ned).  Any idea how  many Bergins named Dan, John and Joe lived in Jersey City in the 1870 or 1880 census?  Lots.  So I tried burial records from the Archdiocese on Newark. Lots more.  I abandoned the US search for the time being, in an attempt to save my sanity.  I'm not so sure I'm succeeding.

Patrick Brady

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.

August Brady 1884-1907

A few years ago, I wrote a post about Raymond Brady, son of John Brady and Ann Butler.  While I was writing and checking Newspapers.com for more information, I came across an article about August Brady dying in Buffalo, NY.  So I quickly looked for him in my tree, and found that he would have been 23 years old.  I thought it was odd that a young man would die of heart failure and so far from home.  It also said he left behind a wife and two children.  The last record I had for him was the 1900 census, and he was 16, living at home with his family.  That would mean that in seven years he moved to Buffalo, NY, married, and had two children.  That's a busy seven years for a young guy.  Here's what I found out in the last two days during my Covid19 self quarentine.

I was searching August Brady on Ancestry.com and came across a family tree published by someone else that had my August Brady and his new family.  This is what I pieced together.

August Brady was born in Gordon, Pa in 1884, fourth child born to John Brady and Ann Butler.  I'm not exactly sure of the entire story, but I am guessing that he worked in the steel mill in Scranton, and when it closed and moved to Buffalo, Augustus followed to work in the mill.

Apparently, a young lady from Scranton, Margaret Finnegan also moved to the Buffalo area with her family (Father, Mother, and five siblings).  Augustus and Margaret marry on 20 Feb 1902 in W Seneca, NY and on 24 Jun 1903, Margaret gives birth to a son, Allen.  Gus, Margaret and Allen are listed in the 1905 NY State Census at 229 First St, W. Seneca, NY with Margaret's family on 1 June 1905.  Eight days later, Margaret gives birth to a little girl, Eleanor Margaret, on 9 Jun 1905.

On Saturday August 10,1907, tragedy strikes.  August goes to work at the Lackawanna Steel Plant and dies of heart failure.  He leaves behind his wife and two small children, but there is more.  Margaret is pregnant and eleven days later, she delivers a son, Augustine C Brady, Jr.

Margaret marries a second time in 1911, to a man named Gustave Lawrence Stoehr and together they have six more children.

As for August's three children, here is what happened to them:

Augustine C. Brady, Jr married Adele Schmatz on 13 Apr 1937 in Boston, NY and worked at the Bethlehem Steel Plant in Lackawanna, NY.  In 1945 he moved to Trenton, NJ and became a restaurant manager.  On 1 Dec 1945, he had a heart attack and died at age 38.

Eleanor Margaret Brady married William Murphy on 8 Dec 1923 in Buffalo, NY.  William is a salesman of medical supplies, and as far as I can tell, they had three children, Thomas, William, and Judith. Eleanor dies on 3 Dec 1940, and is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Lackawanna, NY.  She was 35 years old.

Last, but certainly not least, Allen Brady.  As best as I can tell, Allen did not marry and have children.  He did join the US Navy, and according to his obituary, he died in Vladivostok, Siberia on 4 Jun 1922.  He and seven other sailors  disappeared when their boat capsized, and a two day search of Amoor Bay failed to uncover any trace of the men.  The seven men were in a motor launch from the gunboat USS New Orleans, and it is believed that the boat capsized in a sudden squall.  He was 19 years old.

Pretty depressing story, first August dies at age 23 of a heart attack, and his three children all die before their mother.

So maybe this pandemic isn't so bad, look at what I found out with the extra time on my hands.

McConville-Sullivan

When I first started this venture in about 2004, my mom gave me a family tree that her cousin, Lenore had given her.  She had titled it "The Sullivan's and McConville's Ancestral Chart - Five Generations".  It was more of a spread sheet than a tree, but it was actually very clever.  She had different columns, titled Name, Relationship. Date of Birth, Date of Death, Age at Death, Birth Place, and Final Resting Place.  All on one sheet of legal size paper, very informative and compact.  It took me a computer program and a few banker boxes full of censuses, death and marriage certificates, etc... to get to the same info that she has listed on one page.  But because of her, I had a head start.

So I've had this sheet for about 15-16 years, you would think that I would have gone over it with a fine tooth comb, but I didn't.  For example, I learned from her chart that my great grandmother, Johanna Sullivan, was born in London, 6 Sep 1866 to Michael Sullivan and Mary Dunn.  But I never knew that she had a sister Mary Ann and two brothers Timothy and Michael Jr.  Then for some reason I think I heard that the boys came to the US and lived in the midwest.  Her chart lists Timothy dying at age 39 in London, where he is buried, and Michael Jr also died in London, but I don't know when.  Her sister, Mary Ann, apparently came to the US, but died in 1894 at age 26, and is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY.  But while she was here, she married (poorly - according to another of my mom's cousins), so I cannot verify where she is buried because I don't know her married name. (Another difficulty encountered when researching female ancestors.)

One more recent discovery and I won't bore you further.  I think I mentioned that I had found an 1871 Census record from England which lists Michael age 30, Mary age 30, (both listed occupation at Tailor and both born in Ireland) Johannah age 4, Mary age 3, and Timothy age 1.  The children were all born in Lambeth.  Now for the interesting part: their place of residence.

The census says that they live in the Parish of Lambeth, Ward of Princes, Parlimentary Borough of Lambeth, and handwritten in the top right corner is "St Peters Vauxhall". In the box titles Ecclesiastical District St Marys is crossed out.  Here is the good part.  in the column for Road, Street and number or Name of House are ditto marks.  So you have to scroll back about five pages to the the info. It says 1 Vauxhall Row and as you move through the pages it gives a model house number.  The last number I see is Model House 3.

So, with this in mind I was talking a a person at work who is doing her tree and she has people still in England.  Within about five minutes she emailed me this photo:

She texted her friend in England and within a few minutes I had this picture.  When you read all of the small print, the photo is from 1876, five years after the census.  It also says that this was constructed for the Duchy of Cornwall.  The current Duchy of Cornwall is Charles, Prince of Wales (widower of Princess Diana).  This also leads me to believe that family lore may be correct.  Family lore has that Michael Sullivan was a tailor to the Ladies of the Court.  My co-worker's friend said that Buckingham Palace is a 30 minute walk from these houses.   

It also says that there were shops on the first floor and residences above, so maybe they had a tailor shop on the first floor and lived up stairs with the rest of "the help".  Just a theory, but it makes sense.

I Just Found another Ancestor on the Old Sod

I have been sitting at home for the past couple of weeks recovering from a surgical procedure and getting a little stir crazy.  So I decided to start going through all of my old papers and either file them or throw them out (God forbid). I was already sitting, and I started reading through boxes of birth, death, marriage and census records trying to figure out how to organize them.  Organization is the bane of my existence.  As always happens, I started reading papers and came across ancestors that I had put aside before, and starting thinking about other ways to find more about them.  This is why I can never get organized.

I was looking at a record for Edward Bergin and his wife Mary Malone.  They are my great great grandparents, born in County Laois, Ireland.  There they had five children, 3 boys and 2 girls.  The thing that I focused on was Edward's parents: Timothy Bergin and Margaret Kavanagh.  So I decided to search Timothy Bergin on ancestry.com and I used a birth year of about 1820.  Well, lo and behold, I found a baptismal record for Dan Bergin, dated 9 Jan 1846.  The record lists his parents as Tim Bergin and Margaret Kavanagh, it also lists sponsors (Godparents) as Pierce Dowling and Mary Costello.  It appears that the place is Clonlahy (I think).

This record is 173 years old, handwritten in a ledger book and you can read it like it was written yesterday.  The place of baptism is listed as Borris-in-Ossory, Laois, Ireland and the Diocese is Ossory.  This is the same place that I found the record for the baptism of Edward, as well as, his marriage to Margaret Kavanagh.  I also found baptismal records for all five of their children in the same place.  So, I am confident that Dan is the younger brother of Edward (my 2X great grandfather).  If I'm wrong, I can always blame it on lingering effects of anesthesia, so this is a win-win.