The Davis family in Schuylkill County

Okay, so it's been awhile since my last post.  I have actually done a lot of research in the past month, some on mom's side and some on dad's side.  So I have been trying to figure out which one to write about.  So Dad won the  coin toss.  I recently drove up to my sister's house in Scranton, so on the way I had to detour through Schuylkill County - Pottsville to be exact.

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but when my Bradys lived in Gordon, there was a family named Davis who lived right near them.  The Davis family was always listed right near the Brady family on each federal census.  In 1900 and 1910, my great grandfather James Brady is listed as a boarder living with the family - this is after the rest of the family moved to Scranton.  I also noticed that one of the witnesses at my Great Grandfather's wedding was a Davis, and I think one of my Grandfather's Godparents was a Davis. This got me to thinking that the Davis' are related somehow.

When the database of Pennsylvania Death Certificates became available on Ancestry.com, I located a death certificate for Patrick J Davis of Gordon.  He died on 14 May 1916 of apoplexy.  The Doctor was signed the death certificate is Thomas McCutcheon - the same doctor who signed my great grandfather's death certificate,.  The funeral home was Burke Brothers - also the same - and place of burial or removal is listed as Ashland - also the same as Great Grandpa.  The informant of the death certificate was listed as Mary Davis - not his wife, but probably a daughter.  This added to my curiosity.  So I went to Pottsville to look for the obituary for a dead neighbor of my dead ancestor.  Man I think I got it  bad now.  I checked for the obit and could not find one, so this is another similarity.

My next move was to go to the Courthouse and check for a will.  Again, I hit a dead end - please pardon the pun.  But then I thought "what about his wife Catherine? maybe she had a will"   Mind you, I never found a death certificate for her in Pennsylvania, but I figure it couldn't hurt to check - I even had time left on the parking meter.  There were three Catherine Davis' listed and I quickly ruled out two of them, and the third one was for a Catherine Davis who died in New York, but had property in Gordon.  This is when the bells started ringing, then I saw the executrix - Mary Davis.  This had to be her.  So I open the envelope, and the first line made me certain.  It said "I, Catherine Davis, widow of Patrick Davis".  So now I know why I couldn't find her in the Pennsylvania database - because she died in New York City - didn't see that coming.

She listed her three daughters: Mary Davis, Delia Davis and Rose Davis of the City of New York as the executerixes, as well as, Nellie Holleran of the Borough of Ashland, County of Schuylkill and State of Pennsylvania.  No I don't know who Nellie Holleran is.  Anyway it says that she leaves property in Gordon to be sold and the proceeds divided among her three daughters. One of the last lines in the will states "decedant died October 15, 1922, which is actually 92 years ago tomorrow, but the will was not probated until August 1930 - makes you wonder what the delay was.  I wonder if the daughters just came across the will one day and did not even realize that the property was in their mother's name.  One more thing before I move on, she signed will was "her mark", which was an "X", so she could not write

Next stop is the Recorder of Deeds, right here in the same building - but two floors up. I found the deed to Lot 12 in Gordon issued on 1 Jan 1869, describing the sale of the lot by David McKnight and his wife Elizabeth of the City of Reading, County of Berks, State of Pennsylvania, andJames McKnight of the same place, party of the first part, and Patrick Davis of the Town of Gordon, County of Schuylkill,party of the second part - no mention of his wife - for the sum of $125.00.  I may have mentioned this in a previous post about the Bradys, but in case I haven't, I previously found the deed for property in Gordon between Thomas A Brady and the same McKnights for Lot 11.  The kicker is that the sale took place on 1 Jan 1869.  Don't have to hit me with a brick, these two families bought lots next to each other on the same day and from the same people.  There has got to be a connection between these families - but what.  Looks like I opened a whole new can of worms and now I have some fishin' to do.

Dr. William F and Hannah Casey Brady, Scranton PA

So, remember a few posts back - okay maybe a few more than a few posts back - I was looking for the final resting place of William F Brady.  As I am sure you remember, Dr. Brady died 18 Sep 1917 at his home in Scranton PA.

You my also remember that ancestry.com now has a database of Pennsylvania Death Certificates from 1906 through 1944.  Well 1917 is in that time frame, so guess what I found:

Yes, this is him, died at at 55.  Did you notice the informant's signature?  Mrs. W.F.Brady, nice handwriting.  He died of 'Angina Pectoris' (I think that's a heart attack or a reasonable facsimile thereof), it also says the duration was "a few  hours", so at least he didn't suffer too long.  Anyway, the best part is place of burial or removal: St. Mary's Cemetery.  That's the one in Dunmore, where Hannah's father is buried.  It is also the cemetery that I walked through, but could not find any Caseys or Bradys.

I didn't find Hannah's death certificate - she actually died in 1958 (fourty years later).  It almost scares me to say this, but that means that she died after I was born - YIKES.  However, I knew her death date, so I was able to locate her obituary in the Scranton Times:

This was published in 1958, so at least they print her first name, but her husband - who has been dead for 41 years - still makes the headline and the entire second paragraph.  It even gives his exact date of death.  He must have been a pretty famous and well liked guy.  But it does tell you alot about her, born in the Bellvue section of Scranton, attended St Cecelia's Academy and Mount St. Vincent's School, New York City, where she specialized in vocal and instrumental music.  Pretty talented.  I think I read somewhere else that both of her daughters attended St. Vincent's on the Hudson also and became teachers.

The last thing I noticed is that all three of their children are still living at home in 1958.  They are all into their fifties.  John is married with three children, Regina and Hannah never married.  I don't know how big their house was, but it certainly sounds crowded.  But you know, it sound crowded in a nice kind of way - crowded with family. 

 I am from a big family, I have three brothers and three sisters.  Now my wife and I have five children, so I am used to having a lot of family under one roof - and I always liked it that way, still do.  So if nothing else, it was probably very interesting.

Scranton City Directory 1931 and Google Earth

While searching my Brady line in Scranton, I came across a Scranton City Directory from 1931.  The person I was searching for was Alberta (Wenis) Brady and her husband James Brady.  I knew they lived in Scranton, but I didn't know where or how James was employed.  So the Scranton City Directory for 1931 popped up and I opened it:

So there they are at the top of the right hand column.  It says: Brady Jas I (Alberta), waiter Wyo Lunch h 736 Washn av. You may able to see the yellow highlight.  Just a few things about this entry:

1. It says Brady Jas I - Jas is the abbreviation for James and I think the middle initial should be J, 
2. Alberta in parenthesis is his spouse's name
3. Waiter is his occupation
4. Wyo Lunch in the employer - Wyoming Ave Luncheonette?
5. 736 Washington Ave is his home address

Look how much you can learn from a City Directory.  The other thing that you can learn is to look through the rest of the page for other Bradys (cause it is done alphabetically - like a phone book).  I know it is tough to see here, but I found five more Bradys on this page who I know are related and others who may be related and I just don't know it yet. So here we go.

 Left hand column, seven up from the bottom, we have Brady, Hannah G, tchr r 613 Adams Ave.  This can be translated to Hannah G Brady, teacher, lives at 613 Adams Ave.  There is no name in parenthesis so she is not married.

Directly below her is another Hannah M Brady, (wid Wm) r 613 Adams Ave.  This Hannah's mother, and widow of Dr. William F Brady and they live in the same house.

In the right column two below James, is another Brady entry:
Brady, John F (Irene) adjuster r 613 Adams Ave.  This is William and Hannah's son John, who lives with his wife Irene (O'Hara) at the same address, and he is employed as an insurance adjuster.

Right below John F, is another Brady: John J (Anna L) h 522 Ripple St - notice there is no employer or occupation, he has retired from the International Correspondence School.

And last, but not least, Brady, Regina D tchr r 613 Adams Av.  She is listed ten names below John and Anna.  She is also a teacher and also living at home with her mother, sister and brother.

So I found all of this information from one page in the 1931 City Directory for Scranton PA.  Not too shabby.

This is my favorite part.  Using this page and all of the info that I found, I opened up Google Earth.  I told you once before about marking out specific addresses in Google earth, so this is what I did:

Now you gotta admit this is good.  I saved and marked each house with the address on the aerial shot from Google Earth, then I saved it as a PDF, and added the text to show who lives at each address with the info from the City Directory.  I mean it is not to scale or anything crazy like that, but it gives you an idea of where everyone lived in the city.

Just so you know, there are a total of 35 Bradys in the Scranton City Directory for 1931, and these are six of the one that I know are in my family.  I'm pretty sure that some of the other 29 are also related and  I would need a much larger printout to add the rest.

Before I go, I have to give credit where credit is due.  I learned how to do this by using some tips for a podcast by Lisa Louise Cooke called Genealogy Gems.  There is a whole webinar on how to get started with Google Earth on her website.  She also wrote a book on Genealogy and Google Earth - just in case you're interested.

Another trip to Scranton

My last post was about Pennsylvania Death Certificates and I showed you two of the many that I found online.  Well, I just returned from Scranton PA today, where I paid a visit to The Scranton Public Library and their microfilm reels of the Scranton Times.  I was in search of obituaries, and I found four of the ones that I was looking for.  Tonight I am going to talk about two of them.  They are for Anna Brady and her husband John J Brady (brother to my great grandfather).  The first one that I found was for Anna Brady:

Pretty lengthy obit, especially for a woman in 1932.  Apparently she was a very good woman, but if you read the article, they never mention that her first name is Anna.  Based on this obit, I think that her first name is Mrs. John.  I am always amazed by that.  There is also no mention of her maiden name, or if she had any siblings - from this I would have to assume that she was an only child.  Good thing they noted her maiden name on her death certificate or I would never have found it.  I does mention that she is survived by ten children, thirty one grandchildren and one great grandchild.  Pretty prolific bunch.

The other thing I found interesting is that it says she was born in Cool Castle, PA, I Googled it and found nothing.  But I do know that Girardville is in Schuylkill County and that she and John was married in Schuylkill County, because they are listed as married and living in Gordon in one of the Census records that I have.

My next find was the obit for her husband, John J Brady:

This obit was in the Scranton Times 18 Nov 1938.  Not as lengthy as his wife's obit, but it does mention that he retired from the International Correspondence School, and the fact that he was born in Little Falls NY.  It also mentions the large family that he and Anna left behind.  

They are both buried in Cathedral Cemetery, but I could not get anyone at the cemetery before I left today.  Cathedral Cemetery is huge and it would be almost impossible to find anyone there without having a clue where there grave is.

The last item that I have for John and Anna is a photo that was given to me by my cousin Peggy.  Peggy answered a letter that I sent to every Brady in Scranton several years ago and we met once about six years ago when she visited Long Branch.  Anyway, she mailed me a bunch of pictures and was kind enough to label them.  (she gave me a picture that I previously posted about Cecelia Brady - wife of Michael Brady).

So this is her photo credit and here is the photo:

Peggy labeled this one too as you can see.  I do not know when this was taken but it has to be before July 1932.  Pretty formal pose, and it looks like it was taken in their home.  

Now I'm gonna tell you why I always have my wife, Katrina, read my posts before I publish them.  She was reading this one and noticed that John's obit mentions twenty nine grand children (instead of Anna's thirty one).  What happened?  Did two grandchildren died between 1932 and 1938, or did someone just miscount?  I'll have to check Pa Death Certificates for any children named Brady, Sipple, or Mooney.  But I don't think it will be easy.

So I think that's enough for now, I don't want to overdo it.  I want to finish by saying thanks to Peggy.  I think that there are a lot of nice folks out there who are willing to help you out.  I have found a few, but I know there are more people out there waiting for me to find them. 

Pennsylvania Death Certificates

Do you remember when I told you about the death certificate index on the Pennsylvania State Archives website?  You could search by name BUT - you had to have the year of death.  When you found the one that you wanted, you would get a date of death and a certificate number.  With this info, you could send in a form, with the certificate number AND three dollars for each certificate.  It would then take 8 to 10 weeks to get the certificate.

Well, there's a new database in town, and it's on ancestry.com.  It's Pennsylvania Death Certificates, 1906 to 1944.  The best part is that this is not an index, it's images.  This is the mother lode for my Bradys and Bradleys in Schuylkill County and Scranton, PA.

So look what I found:

Yup, my great grandfather's brother John.  He lived to be 84 and outlived his wife Anna.  But the really interesting part is the date and place of birth: 5 Jul 1854.  That is one of the few death certificates that has an exact date of birth -  but again- that's not the interesting part to me.  Most interesting is the place of birth: Little Falls, NY.  Never saw that coming, I never heard of it and had no idea that the family had ever lived there.  So my next move was to check out Little Falls, NY on google.  It is located in Herkimer County about four hours from the Canadian border.

Next move is to call the Little Falls, NY Historical Society.  I learned a few things from them.  First, is that the Erie Canal is there.  It was opened in 1825, but it was enlarged between 1934 and 1862.  When I asked the woman at the historical society what my great great grandfather Thomas would have done for a living back then, she said that he may have worked on the enlargement of the canal - pretty cool.  Then I asked if the folks in that area of New York would have migrated from Ireland through New York or would they have come down from Canada?  She said that during that time, Canada was part of Great Britain, as was Ireland, so there may not have been any citizenship issues.  So it may have been easier for them to go to Canada first, then south into New York state.  She said the "Shanty Irish" seem to have come by that route.

So she is going to check for any records that they may have there, and get back to me in a couple of weeks.  There is a nominal fee, but it's cheaper than driving to Little Falls to do it myself.

The last thing about John J Brady is that he is also buried at Cathedral Cemetery in Scranton.  I have to call them too.

Next find was John's wife, Anna Butler:

This death certificate is where I learned her maiden name, she was the daughter of John Butler and Margaret Hobart, both born in Ireland.  This says that Anna was born in 1863 (but I don't know how accurate that is).  She died on 4 July 1932 (the day before her husband's birthday), from cancer of the gall bladder.  She is also buried in Cathedral Cemetery, Scranton, PA.

Well, I think that is enough for now, but don't worry, this database of death certificates has given me a big supply of blog fodder.  Including facts that confirm previous research for me, and new theories about other relatives.  Theories that may never be confirmed, but the research is the most fun part of this hobby.

Return to Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City

On Saturday June 14, the Hudson County Historical and Genealogical Society had a cemetery tour scheduled.  The tour included St. Peter's Cemetery and Holy Name Cemetery.  Unfortunately, due to bad timing and road work on Exit 14 C on the NJ Turnpike, I didn't get there in time for the St. Peter's portion of the show.  But I did get to Holy Name early to look for a few plots and headstones.

Let me back up for a minute.  Before going to the tour, I decided to do a little research to see if I could find out if my Cavanaghs are buried at Holy Name.  In case you don't remember, my great grandfather William "Pop" Bergen had two sisters: Catherine (Kate) who married Bernard Cavanagh, and Mary, who married Timothy Kennedy.  I had previously found that the Kennedys are buried at Holy Name, and I planned on looking for the headstone.  So now I called Holy Name to inquire about Bernard Cavanagh.  Just so you know, I have talked about the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark website before and how you can look up burials.  The Kennedys were not listed on the website, so I figured I would check Cavanagh.  When I called, I was told that he is buried in Block B, Section 12, grave D.  There are several others buried there with him, including Catherine Cavanagh in 1940, Charles Cavanagh, aged 10, buried in 1928 (I believe he is the son of Bernard and Catherine's son, Charles), Edward Cavanagh in 1954, and lastly, Mary Cavanagh in 1989.  So the night before the tour, I checked to get the plot number for Kennedy.  I realized that it was the same plot.  So the Kennedys buried there are Timothy Sr, Mary (Bergen), and Timothy Jr.

Fast forward to Saturday, and I get the the cemetery office and ask where the plot is located.  The woman gives me a little map and off I go.  Within about 15 minutes I came across this headstone:

Typical one word epitaph, story of my life (or at least my research).  No list of occupants with dates of birth and death.  There is not even a mention of Kennedy - Oh well.

So what do I do while waiting for the tour?  You probably don't remember, but I had found someone on my dad's side who is buried here too.  My great grandfather "Big Mike "O'Dea had a sister Mary, who I wrote about before.  She married John Sterling and had several children, one of them was Margaret (Maggie), born in May of 1872 in Sanford, NY.  In 1899, she married a man named Thomas Keogh, and they had a child, Ellen.  They lived with John and Mary in Jersey City, but in June of 1900, Margaret died and I found her buried in Holy Name cemetery.  I discovered this about 2 and a Half years ago.  At the time, I was told that there was no marker on the grave.  We'll since I'm here and have the time I decided to check.  The office told me where she is buried and off I went in search of disappointment at finding no marker.  That's when a funny thing happened.

                                  

Would ya look at that.  A flat marker with names and dates listed, go figure.  And how about those dates, quite a time frame between the first and second burials - like 104 years YIKES.  So who are the Zarembas?  Not a clue, but you can bet that I am going to try to find out.

On my way out, after this great success, I decided to check for one more stone.  My mom's parents: Edward L and Catherine L Bergen.  I found them right where I had found them before.  So I will wrap this up with another success:

                                 

So all in all it was a good day.  By the way, I did meet up with the tour and it was given by a very knowledgable member of the society.  He talked about the history of the cemetery and of some of the famous burials there.  One of the biggies was Mayor Frank "I am the law" Hague, who ruled the city for decades.  It was very interesting, and I am sorry that I missed St. Peter's.

Now I can start looking for the Zarembas and their family connection.  I also have some more stuff to get from the Archives.

Happy Anniversary - June 12, 1948

Yes, this is when it all started for my generation of Bradys.  This date may not live in infamy for the rest of the world, but it's a biggie for us, this is my parent's wedding day.  They were married on this day at OLV. Every self-respecting Irish Catholic resident of Jersey City knows what these initials stand for - Our Lady of Victories!!

Here is the marriage certificate:

                                                  

Witnesses were dad's brother Frank and mom's cousin Florence Markey AKA my Aunt Florence and resident McConville and Bergen expert.  Speaking of Aunt Florence, she identified a number of people in a picture from my parents' wedding.  The reception was held at the Swiss Town House, 3312 Hudson Ave, Union City, NJ at 12:00 noon on the same day.

I also found a picture of some of the guests at the wedding in an old photo album.  I got Aunt Florence to identify some of the folks in the picture - because I had no clue.  Luckily this particular table was a group of mom's family.  So I labeled the people who Aunt Florence identified and here is the picture:

Wow, how's that?  Not too shabby.  So, let's start from left to right in the front row.  The man at the far left is Vinnie Fox.  I am told that he used to date Florence at one time - matter of fact, his sister Kathy married my mom's brother Ed.  Next is the lady to his right, who I do not know.  Then we have the Riedenger brothers -  Arthur, Jackie and Eddie.  You may remember that I did a blog post about Arthur Riedenger when I found his burial in Ocean County - surprisingly close to my home.  Next is Ferdie Parrot - I gotta admit that I remember him and his wife "Queenie" - but I'm a little foggy on Queenie's real name.  I also know that she is somehow related to "Cookie" - Queenie and Cookie always confused me for some reason. 

I have to interrupt with a quick story.  I recall the family going to Uncle Ferdie and Queenie's home for a party.  We were in canoes on the lake (Lake Hopatcong?), and Aunt Ruth tipped her canoe.  My brother Jimmy, who was just a kid at the time, jumped out of his boat and swam over to rescue Aunt Ruth from drowning (in the waist deep water).  In all fairness, he had no idea that the water was shallow and he still swam to her rescue.  His bravery was rewarded by Aunt Ruth with a crisp $100.00 bill.  We almost had to revive him.  That is my main memory of Uncle Ferdie and Queenie.  Back to the photo.

Next is Arthur Riedenger, Sr - Yes father to the Riedenger brothers (he looks like another brother), unfortunately I don't know much about the Riedengers.  Next in line is Peter McConville.  He is the brother to my great grandfather Edward McConville, unfortunately Peter would die in 48 days on July 30, 1948.  I remember talking to mom about him at one time and she said that he used to manage an apartment building in Brooklyn.  She also said that he used to have this concoction that he used to snort up his nose to clean his sinuses - no not cocaine - more like a saline rinse or netty pot.  She said he was never sick a day in his life (until July 30, 1948 I guess), he made his own toothpaste and had all his own teeth!!!  Sounds like quite a catch.  But seriously she said they all used the saline solution and were very rarely sick.  The other thing about Peter McConville is that he was the first McConville of this clan to be born on American soil, in 1869.  His siblings were all born in Manchester, England.  Next is mom's brother Bill, he had walked mom down the aisle that day.  Uncle Bill would later live in Cranford, NJ and he was the entertainer in the group.  He would sing in a Barbershop Quartet.  Matter of fact, when I was a cop, I was working outside the Ocean Grove Auditorium in Ocean Grove, NJ and they were having a big Barbershop Quartet concert.  As I was patrolling outside - who walked up and said hello but my Uncle Bill.  I don't know which one of us was more surprised - but it was probably me, cause I had no idea that he was singing there that night.

Now we will take the back row from right to left, starting with Alice McConville, who is kinda hidden behind Peter McConville (her uncle).  I think I told you about Alice in previous posts so we will move on to Florence McConville Markey, Alice's sister.  Florence - or Aunt Florrie, as we called her - is mother to Florence Armstrong.  Next to her is another sister, Edna, who is the mother of the Riedenger boys.  I remember Alice, Florence and Edna from when I was a kid. We saw them occasionally when they would visit us or we would take the drive up north to visit them.  Next is Aunt Gertie (Gertrude Rothchild) who married Uncle John McConville (who is next in line).  I was only 8 when Uncle John passed away, but I remember Aunt Gertie, cause she lived in Ocean Grove for awhile - I think on Franklin Ave, and she died in 1976.  Uncle John served in WWI (I think) and returned home.  He was Catholic and Gertie was Methodist - so the Catholic Church said he could not marry her.  But I am told that they married anyway shortly before he passed away - but I wish I knew the whole story.  Next are two more women who I don't know, and then we come to Lucy McConville.  She married James "Matt" McConville, (brother to John, Florence, Edna, and Alice).  The little girl next to her is their daughter (Alice, maybe), and Matt is not in the picture. 

That about wraps it up, we made it around the table with assistance from Aunt Florence and only a few unidentified guests.  I think there is a picture of dad's side of the family in the album somewhere - but the Bradys were not real big photo takers.  Besides I don't have anyone around from Dad's side to ID the Brady guests.

I enjoyed that, I remember some of these folks and have fond memories of them.  Most of them - as usual - are funny ones.  If it wasn't for this wedding, my siblings and I would not be here, neither would our children or their children, etc..  My daughter was married this past September, my brother's daughter is getting married this July, and my sister's son is getting married in October.  So there are going to be plenty more wedding photos soon, with new generations at the receptions.  So hopefully someone will still be around and do what Aunt Florence did for me, and identify old family members for some future genealogist in the family.  I hope so.