Kate Bergen 1863 to 19??

   
I am sitting in a cabin in Rangeley, Maine writing this post.  Not to worry, I'll be home before I post it, just in case any burglars follow my blog.  So I have been trying to think about a topic for this post, and I found a few things about my Bergen line.  So I settled on my great grandfather "Pop" Bergen's sister Kate.  I have found out a lot about her lately, so here we go.

Kate was born in Ireland in 1863, to Edward Bergin (that's not a typo - it was spelled with an "I" originally) and Mary Malone. She has a sister Mary (surprise) and three brothers: Patrick, Thomas, and William (Pop).  The family emigrates to the US, and is enumerated in Jersey City, NJ in the 1880 census.  Also living with them is her mother's brother Daniel Malone.

The next record that I find for her is her marriage.  She marries a man named Bernard Cavanagh, born in Ireland in 1869 to Charles Cavanagh and Bridget Fennelly.  They marry on 16 Aug 1896, and have three children.  The first child is a boy, born 28 May 1897, and name him Charles (apparently after Bernard's father).  I wrote previously in my post about the website rcancem.org that I located Charles' burial in Holy Cross cemetery in North Arlington, N J.  He was buried 13 Oct 1937. He was only 40 years old.

The next child born is another boy, whom they name Edward J. (Joseph), he is born 18 Apr 1899.  He was probably named after Kate's father (according to the old Irish naming tradition).  Edward will serve in the Army during WWI, and upon his return, he become a boilermaker in a foundry.  Sometime after that, he follows another Irish tradition and becomes a Police Officer in Jersey City.  He is enumerated in the 1930 and 1940 census records as being single, living with his mother and sister, and employed as a Jersey City Police officer.  I have no record of Edward's death, and I don't know where he is buried.  Better than that, I have no record of him receiving a pension, which is what everyone wants to know today.

The last child born to this union is a girl, born 27 Nov 1900.  She will be named - I know this will shock you - Mary.  She is baptized Mary Teresa in St. Michael's Church on 13 Dec 1900.  Now this is the interesting part.  I just found a death record in the Social Security Death Index for a Mary Teresa Cavanagh born in NJ on 27 Nov 1900.  Anyone care to guess when and where she died? Doesn't matter, you'll never guess.  She died 27 Dec 1989 in Rumson, NJ.  This is about 15 minutes from my house!  She would have been my mom's first cousin 1X removed, living 15 minutes from mom.  Mom never mentioned her, that I can remember.  Probably never knew she had a cousin that close.  This is all assuming that the woman who died in Rumson is my first cousin 2X removed.  As soon as I get home, it is time for a trip to the library to check the Asbury Park Press for an obit.  If this is her, it means she did not marry or was divorced and went back to her maiden name.  It also means that I need to return to the Monmouth County Courthouse to check property and probate records.

As I said, I wrote most of this in Maine, but we came back to New Jersey this Friday.  Guess where I was Saturday morning - you got it - I was at the Monmouth County Library checking the microfilm for the Asbury Park Press for the end of December 1989 and the first week of January 1990 for an obituary.  Guess what I found. Right again - Nothing.  So that means I will have to make a couple of phone calls this week to the Surrogates Office and the County Clerk's Office to check on probate and property records.  I'll keep you posted.

As for Kate's husband Bernard, there is very little that I know about him.  She is listed in the 1910 census as a widow, but I have not found a death certificate or an obit for him, so I do not know his fate (other than death).  Actually, as I am trying to finish this post, I went on Ancestry.com one more time to look specifically for Bernard and I found his death.  It appears that he died 3 Apr 1900.  It looks like a record that I can get either at the NJ State Archives or through the LDS Church, because it has a FHL (Family History Library) Film Number of 589072.  The record says that he was born about 1870 in Ireland and died 3 Apr 1900 in Jersey City.  He was 30 years old, married and a laborer.  If this is him, that means that his wife Kate was pregnant with her third child (Mary Teresa), who would be born in 8 months and never see her father.  That also means that both of her sons barely knew their father and probably looked to Kate's brother Thomas (who would be enumerated with them in the 1910, 1920, and 1930 census records) for advice and guidance.  But that's another story.

My Wife's Chapman Family

My father-in-law, Benjamin F. VanVliet, Jr.died on Friday night 11/15/2013 at his home in Vermont.  My wife, Katrina, is going to a memorial service in a few days and was asked to read a poem written by her great grandfather Chapman.  The poem was entitled "Thy Little Song".  Ben's wife, Barbara, asked her if Tom (me) could find out anything about him so that she could say a few words about him.  This is where being married to me comes in handy.

I checked my genealogy app and found that I had absolutely nothing entered about Ben's mother, Edith Chapman. I was always told to write down what you know and go backwards in time to do someone's genealogy, so I know she was born about 1898 in Pueblo Colorado to Joseph W. Chapman and Julia Prichard Chapman.  She married Ben's father, Benjamin VanVliet and they lived in Shrewsbury, where they had two children:  Edith and Ben.  Edith Chapman died in Florida in November 1978.

Edith's father was Joseph Warren Chapman and was born in Marblehead Mass. 26 Nov 1855 to Joseph Warren Chapman and Louisa Morse.  He lived in Franklin Mass in 1880 and was an assistant school teacher at the School Department of Dean Academy,  where he shows up in the 1880 census.  He married Julia Prichard on 24 Nov1885, in Marblehead.  Julia was born in on June 14, 1858 in Bradford, VT, according to her passport application, which also says that Joseph passed away on January 14, 1909.  In the fall of 1889, they moved to Pueblo, Colorado, where they were counted in the 1900 census.  Joseph is a librarian and owns the house that they live in without a mortgage.  He and Julia have four children, but only three are alive in 1900:  Edward P, Edith M (Ben's mother) and Janet.  A daughter, Katherine, passed away in 1896.  Also living in the house are a servant and a nurse.  Julia applied for the passport in 1925 and was quite the traveler.  She went to France, England, Switzerland, and Italy on board the Franci on February 28, 1925.  There is also a record of her returning to New York from Hamilton, Bermuda on on March 3, 1934, on the SS "Queen of Bermuda", where she must have vacationed with her sister Anna, who is listed right above her.

I found a copy of Joseph's book, "Poems" edited and arranged by George Chinn 1913 on http://www.unz.org/Pub/ChapmanJoseph-1913, and the book contains this photo of Joseph Warren Chapman 1855 to 1909:

Joseph W Chapman 1855 - 1909

Not content with this info, I looked to Joseph's father and found this information:

Joseph Warren Chapman Sr was born in Marblehead, Mass on July 24, 1828 to Nathanial and Martha (Ogleby) Chapman.  Joseph marries Louisa Blackler on April 15, 1855. Remember that their son Joseph was born in November of that same year.  Now again, I am no mathematician, but I know that eleven minus four does not equal nine, but I would be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.  It was close (I have to admit it is kind of nice to see these math problems pop up in other families as well as mine). I found these records in Massachusetts Town and Vital Records 1620 to 1988 record group on Ancestry.com.  The record is handwritten into a ledger book (in excellent, readable handwriting) and says that Joseph Sr and Louisa were both born in Marblehead, and it gives Joseph's occupation as "cordwainer".  Any guesses, because I didn't know until I googled it.  It is a shoemaker.  In the 1860 census, his occupation is shoemaker, but I guess Mass. likes the old English term better.  Joseph dies 5 Oct 1863 in Marblehead, of consumption.

All of the information that I got on the Chapman family, I found on line.  Most of it on Ancestry.com and the book on the website that I listed.  Massachusetts towns apparently kept excellent records and the ones for Marblehead are all in excellent, very readable handwriting.  I actually wrote most of this post right after my father-in-law passed away, but never got around to posting it.

I found all of this information in one night - probably about 4 hours of research.  I found my wife's great great grandfather's birth record and his father's name and mother's name and maiden name. I found so much information that the first time Katrina read it, it did not make sense.  I actually had to leave some stuff out so that it sounded right.  That is something that will probably never happen again.

You Never Know What You're Gonna Find

I know it has been a few weeks, but I was waiting for today to blog because I thought that I would have some new material on Thomas J Bergen, the Deputy Fire Chief at Snake Hill.  I had a Hudson County Genealogy Meeting today in Secaucus (same as last post), but this time I was on a mission.  I had e mailed the author of the article on Snake Hill in the Secaucus newspaper.  He e mailed me back, saying that the library had the Secaucus Home News - all of the old issues.  So I originally went to the library to research them, only to discover that they only go back to 1969 - Major Bummer!  So I read some stuff in the research room to kill some time before my meeting.

Then the Meeting began and soon the speaker for the meeting was introduced and gave her presentation on "Research Problems that Made My eyes Cross".  Her name is Toni McKeen and she was very good.  She gave some research tips that I had not thought of, and could not wait to get home and try them.  The one tip she gave was for searching Ancestry.  She said that if you can't find a family in the census, it may be because the spelling is so wrong or the handwriting of the enumerator was so bad that it could not be read and indexed properly.  So search for the family without a last name.  Yes, you read it right.  Search for your person with all the information you know, but do not put a last name.  If that doesn't work - try searching for the children in the same way.  You are not required to search for the head of household.

I got home and tried this out on my elusive Keaveneys.  I recently did two posts on the wandering Keaveneys - well this is the same group.  If you remember - and I would not believe you if you said that you do - my great great grandmother Bridget Cremmins-Sullivan was widowed in 1867 and had a child, Johanna Sullivan.  I later discovered that she remarried to a man named Thomas Keaveney and had seven more children before she died in 1884.  Here is my problem - I cannot find Bridget or Johanna in the 1870 or 1880 census records, although I know that they are both alive and probably living in Jersey City.  By 1880 Bridget has married Thomas Keaveney.  I think that she had married him by 1870 because they have a daughter Mary in 1871.  So according to Toni McKeen I should search the 1880 census first for Bridget and Thomas no last names with dates and places of birth, as well as Johanna (I searched for Annie because that is the only name of record that I have seen for her - her death certificate and headstone say Annie).  I also put in Mary, Edward, John, and Thomas, who were all born to Bridget and Thomas before 1880  The first result I see for for Bridget and Thomas Kearny.  When I checked the copy of the original record, I can see how the spelling was confused.  There are all of the children, but Annie is listed as Hannah - which is what my mom always said.  There is also an additional child named Kate, born in 1873.  This is a sad reminder because I know from previous research that Kate will die in 1884 at age 11 - the same year as her mother.

Here is the record, Thomas is 38, laborer, born in Ireland and Bridget is 34, housekeeper, born in Ireland all of the children are born in New Jersey.

Then I tried the same method for 1870 and found this one:

This record is also from Jersey City, and gives Thomas Kearman as age 28 and occupation is glass blower, Bridget Kearman is 24 and a daughter is listed as Mary J. age 2.  The "J" could stand for Johanna like my mom always said, but I am not sure.  There is also a Jane Kearman age 70 - probably Thomas' mother.  So I also wonder if the "J" in Mary J stands for Jane.

So the bottom line is that I am sure the 1880 census is for the Keaveneys, and the 1870 census in certainly close, and the ages fit, and the handwriting on the record could actually say Keaveney, but was transcribed as Kearman.  The 1870 census may need a little more research to determine that it is them, but I am inclined to believe it is.

Roman Catholic Archdioses of Newark - Cemeteries (rcancem.org)

    On Saturday, George and I drove to the Secaucus Public Library to attend the monthly meeting of the Hudson County Genealogy Society.  As we were leaving (it was a very good meeting about naturalizations, by the way), George saw a local newspaper, The Hudson Reporter, in a rack in the lobby.  On the front page was a story about Laurel Hill a.k.a. Snake Hill.  The article was mostly about the asylum, but there were other institutions there: hospitals, prisons, etc… including the Fire Department.  This is where my Great Grand Uncle was the Deputy Fire Chief (remember when I found Thomas J Bergen’s death certificate?).  So when I got home I shot an e mail to the author of the article, asking for info about the Fire Department.  I later got a response telling me that all of that information is at the county, but there is a complete file of the Secaucus Home News past editions at the Library.  So next meeting you know where I am going.

    Well, all of this got me thinking about Thomas J Bergen and his wife Margaret.  I have the death certificate for each of them and I know (from Margaret’s obit) that they had no children.  I also know that both of them are buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington, which brings me to the title of this post.  I know from the headstone at Holy Cross that Margaret Bergen, Thomas J Bergen, and Mary V Cannon are buried in this plot, but who else is here?  I went to rcancem.org to do some research.  I know I mentioned this website before and the fact that you can search by name (either first and last names or just last name).  I previously found that Thomas’ brother Patrick and his wife, Mary, are both buried here by searching the Bergen surname.  The website identifies the plot as Block 1, Section B, Grave 356, and gives a specific plot number within this area, as well as, burial dates.  So I have three people that I know are there from the headstone, and two more that I found before.  Here is what I have:

Name            Date of Burial            Grave

Thomas J Bergen    9 Apr 1931            1B
Margaret Bergen    7 Mar 1930            1A
Mary V Cannon    12 Aug 1969            3A
Patrick Bergen        19 Apr 1931            1C
Mary Bergen        29 Dec 1943            2B

So then I entered Bergen in the surname search and chose Holy Cross Cemetery and hit search.  Here is what it looks like:

Let me tell you, there are a lot of Bergens buried in this cemetery.  I scrolled through the burials paying attention to the Plot number and I found the following:

Yes, another Mary Bergen in grave # 2C, and a burial date of 13 Dec 1957.  (I was two years old)  You may notice that the name directly above the highlighted one is the first Mary Bergen (Patrick's wife).  Now this new Mary Bergen could be Patrick and Mary's daughter, but I thought that Mary V Cannon was Patrick and Mary's daughter and Cannon was her married name.  Now I am a little confused.  Now the good news - it gives a date of burial, that means that I can now check newspapers for an obit for each of them and maybe clear up the confusion.

Thanks to finding Thomas J Bergen's will at the NJ State Archives, I know that he had two sisters (which I already knew - but now I have their married names from Thomas' obit) They were Catherine Cavanaugh and Mary Kennedy (there are even more Kennedys buried here than Bergens).  I haven't found any Kennedys here, but I did find a Charles Cavanaugh.

 This is Catherine's son, with a burial date of 13 Oct 1937- he died young - I think he was born in the late 1890's.  I have not yet found Catherine's son Edward (the Jersey City Police Officer), her husband Bernard, or Catherine herself, but I just checked my Family Tree App and remembered that she had a daughter named - you guessed it - Mary.  Perhaps Mary V Cannon is Catherine's daughter under a married name.  That would make sense, but now I need to find obituaries for these folks to see who is who.

In case you haven't noticed, this is Post # 50 in my blog.  Not bad for a guy who was not so sure that there was enough family history to write about.  I will say this though, since I have been blogging, I have been more conscientious about researching so that I would have something to write about.  It's like a vicious cycle, I research to have something new to write about and then I write about the research, it could drive you crazy if you are not careful.  Some people say that I have not been very careful.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Old Newspapers

Old newspaper articles are a great source of information on your family - if you can find them.  I have a subscription to Genealogybank.com, which has really helped me find some old articles.  I subscribed because one of the Newspapers that they have digitized is the Jersey Journal in Jersey City.  After searching through it for my father and his brothers, as well as, my mother's brothers all coming home after WWII.  I could not find anything.  Then I read the part where they tell you what newspapers are there and the dates that they cover.  It was then that I realized that they have only digitized up until 1922.  OOOPS, I should have read that before subscribing.  But as it turns out, that is where I found the small articles about George P Valleau in Omaha, NE.  There was one listing when he applied for a marriage license, and a second one about him leaving home and not returning.  I have located some recent obits also, one was for George's son:
Arthur Valleau.

But, I think I hit the mother lode with the Valleau-Metzger branch of the tree.  I recently found this article:

It was in the Trenton Sunday Times Advertiser, Sunday June 16, 1957 on the first page of section 2.  This is the son of Charles Metzger and Gertrude Valleau-Metzger, earning his degree from Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.  It tells you his address (which I knew) and that his degree was in psychology, and that he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon social Fraternity - Party!, the government club, the Young Democrat Club, the Eta Sigma Phi honorary society, and the basketball team.  I never knew anything about him, but now I know a little more.

The best was the pictures I found:

Here is Charles E Metzger getting name President of the Alumni Association for the State Model School and Teacher's College (Trenton State College - now the College of New Jersey)

How about this one?

This is the wedding of Susan Valleau Metzger - Baldwin to Joseph R Baldwin.  Pretty picture of her don't you think?  These pictures were in the Trenton Times also.

Now here's an oldie but a goodie:

This is from the Jersey Journal and it is short but contains a lot of info - obviously no pictures.  This is the marriage of Mary Marguerite O'Dea (Susan's maternal grandmother) and Charles Arthur Valleau.  It tells her sister's name - Gertrude (which will also be the name of her daughter), as a bridesmaid  and the groom's brother, Percy, is the best man.  It goes on to say that only a few people knew of the marriage, and they will live in Bayonne.  The wedding took place on 16 Feb 1904 in St Paul's Church in Jersey City.  It doesn't say that in the article, but I just thought I'd throw that in to impress you with my knowledge of the family.

Last, but certainly not least, I can't write a post about newspaper articles without an obit:

He died suddenly in Philadelphia, he was struck by a train at the Belmont station while working on the railroad.  But this gives names of his mother, father, and brother and where his brother Leo lives, and the church that they attend.  Now all I have to do is find an article in a Philadelphia newspaper about the train accident - but I have to go to Philly for that.

The Wandering Keaveneys Part II

So after locating the records for William Keaveney, and locating some blog fodder, I checked the shaky leafs next to his brother Richard F. Keaveney, 1923 to 1983.  The first records I saw were the 1930 and 1940 census records.  He was living with his parents in Jersey City, NJ in both of these records.

You gotta love findagrave.com, because the next thing I see is an entry in Find A Grave for Richard F (probably Francis – that seems like a popular middle name with this family), born 5 Mar 1923 and died 28 Jul 1983.  And he is buried where?  No, not Holy Cross or Holy Name- he is buried in Oleander Memorial Gardens in Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina – Really?  Find A Grave also lists in the memorial that he was born 5 March 1923 in Hudson County, NJ and is the son of Elizabeth Mayhew and Edward Keaveney.  I have never seen this type of info listed before – it may be common but not with my family.  It also gives a family link to his wife’s Find A Grave memorial – Eleanor Carmela Torre Keaveney (1923-1989).  I am going out on a limb and I will guess that the creator of his memorial is related.  There is a photo of the grave marker and there is no indication of any parental information.  So I clicked on the link to his wife, Eleanor and I see that this memorial has the same type of info.  It says that she was born 9 Feb 1923 in Masontown, Fayette County, Pennsylvania and died 16 Dec 1989 in Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina.  It goes on to say that she is the daughter of Josephine Victoria DeMiere and Joseph Paul Torre, Sr.  So not only do I get her maiden name, but I get her mother’s maiden name.  I have sent a message to the creator of both memorials explaining that Richard is my first cousin 2X removed, and asking how the creator is related, but I have not received a response yet.

My next move was to search for Eleanor Torre with her birth date and parent’s names and I found that in 1940 she is living in Jersey City – go figure.  I didn’t think of this when I saw her maiden name, but in 1940 she has several siblings, including a brother Joseph and a brother Frank.  Now, if you are not a baseball fan, this may mean nothing to you.  But if you are a baseball fan and a NY Yankee fan, your heart – like mine – may have skipped a beat.  Yankee manager Joe Torre and his brother Frank, both played major league ball – with Joe managing the NY Yankees.  I immediately searched on line for Joe Torre, and found that he was older than this Joe Torre and lived in Brooklyn, not Jersey City.  Oh well, there goes my brush with fame.

So, how did they meet?  Did they live near each other in Jersey City? After all it is the 2nd most populous city in the state.  Back to the 1940 census, and here is what I found.  The Keaveneys lived at 171 (I think, it is hard to read) Summit Ave, and the Torres lived at 157 (again difficult to read) Summit Ave.  How close is that?  You gotta love Google Earth.  Check this out.  You can do alot with Google Earth, including labeling old homes and locations.

 They lived on the same block, they were the same age, probably went to the same public school in the same grade.  So maybe they met in the neighborhood, or went to the same school.  Either way, they met and married.  Funny thing is that when looking at the 1940 Census Richard has completed 1 year of high school, but so has his brother, Leonard - but Leonard is two years younger.  So you would think that Richard is working at 17 years old - but there is no employment info and it says that he went to school during the year.  As for Eleanor the census says that she attended school since 1 Mar 1940, but it does not list a last grade completed - nor does it give any employment info.  It does say that her father was born in Italy and is a barber by trade (as are two of her older brothers).  Maybe if they were born in Ireland they would all be cops.

At some point they moved to 2534 Birchtree Dr. Memphis, TN 38138-5704, because I found a record on Ancestry.com , which comes under US Public Records - I think it is usually telephone books that are the source.  And then on to Wilmington, NC, where they will spend eternity in Oleander Memorial Gardens, 306 Bradley Dr, Wilmington, NC.  By the way, do you know what famous person is buried in this cemetery? Major League Baseball Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Pirate, Willie Stargell, 1940 to 2001.  Just in case anybody ever asks. 

One more thing I noticed right before publishing this today.  I upgraded my Ancestry App on my Ipad, and it is very good.  It tells your ancestors facts as more of a story and adds historical facts about things going on in the world during their lifetime.  Like a timeline - I like it.

The Wandering Keaveneys - Part I

Okay, get a cup of coffee before you start reading this, ‘cause it may get confusing.  I am going to write about a cousin or two that I had never heard of on my mom’s side:  William and Richard Keaveney.  They are both sons of Edward L. Keaveney, who is the half brother of my great grandmother, Johanna Sullivan Bergin.  You may remember from a post last year (yeah right) that Johanna’s mother was Bridget Cremmins, who married Dennis Sullivan.  After Johanna was born, Dennis died, and Bridget remarried to Thomas Keaveney.  That is the Keaveney Connection.

So just the other day, I went on my Ancestry App and was looking through some names.  I came across William Keaveney and he had a few shaky leafs next to his name.  This means that the app has searched through Ancestry.com and found records that fit the information entered for your ancestor pretty closely.  Sometimes the records refers to your ancestor, sometimes it doesn’t.  You have to check it out.  So I clicked on the shaky leaf and saw a few records, one of which was the 1940 Census.

I checked the census record and found William age 35 and his wife Helen living with their two daughters, Joan and Patricia (sound familiar?).  I checked the address, but it did not sound like an area of Jersey City, so I scrolled to the top to see if they were in Bayonne or Hoboken or something.  When I got to the top of the page, I got a surprise – they lived in Chicago, Ill at 500 East 102 St, he is a foreman in retail window shades.  How did that happen?  Do I have the right guy?  So I checked the 1930 Census and found William and his wife Helen living on Summit Ave in Jersey City with his parents and siblings.  He is a foreman in a paper mill.  So they must have moved, but why?  As I looked at the dates 1930 to 1940, it dawned on me – the Great Depression was in full swing.  Maybe, like so many others during this time, he moved to find work.

So now I continue the Shaky Leaf Shuffle and find a listing in the Social Security Death Index which give his date of birth as 1 Feb 1905 and death as Apr 1985 in Oswego, New York.  I start to question again if this is my Keaveney, and I found a City Directory listing for William and one for Helen in Oswego, NY.  I guess that answers that.

While I was still in Chicago, I checked for marriage records with Cook County IL to see if Joan or Patricia were married there.  It just so happens that Ancestry.com has an index of Cook County Illinois marriages between 1930 and 1960 - Lucky me.  I checked the index and this is what I found:

Patricia S. Keaveney married Edward W. Hedstrom on 17 Mar 1954.  Now I don't know if this is my Keaveney, and I will not know for sure, unless I order a copy from the Cook County Clerk, but I think it is a good possibility.  It would make her 21 years old.  But we will have to check and see what exorbitant fee Cook County wants for a 60 year old marriage license before I order it.

I was going to write about two brothers in this post, but I think I will save Richard F Keaveney for next time.