The Jersey Journal

Funny thing happened after I wrote my post about newspapers from Scranton last night. I went back to genealogybank.com and I looked at the Jersey Journal. It seems that genealogybank.com has added more content, specifically to the Jersey Journal.  They now have the Jersey Journal from 1867 through June of 1977.  My wife and kids won't be seeing much of me for awhile.

I have been searching through the Jersey Journal looking for tidbits about my family, who have been in Jersey City since the early 1900s.  My dad's family, particularly his mom's side (O'Dea and Sterling) have been in Jersey City since about 1890 or so, and his father (Brady) came to Jersey City from Scranton shortly after 1910.  On my mom's side, both parent's families (Bergen and McConville) have been in Jersey City since the late 1800s.  So there is lots of blog fodder in the Jersey Journal

I found your standard obits and marriages, which will always give you information, but I found some things that I wasn't even looking for.  Like this:

I know that you can barely read this, but it is my mom's engagement announcement (to my dad, obviously).  Even though it is very poor quality, I had to add it.  It was published 6 Mar 1948, five days before mom's birthday, and exactly one year before the birth of my sister  Phew! That was close.

Then I found more articles about my dad and his brothers, Jim and Frank, returning home from WWII.  Jim and Frank were both in the Army Air Corps and were both shot down and taken prisoner, months apart.  They wound up in the same POW camp and escaped / were liberated together.  They spent time in a hospital in England before being shipped home.  Dad was in an anti aircraft battalion in Italy when my grandmother was notified that they were safe, dad was also a veteran of the North African invasion.  Can you imagine being my grandmother and sending three of your four sons to war in Europe.  They were overseas for years before coming home.  Six years later she would send her fourth son to fight in Korea, and there is an article about my Uncle Paul coming home that I found in the Jersey Journal.  So all four of her sons went off to war and made it home to live their lives.

That's enough for tonight, and I am sure I will find more interesting items as I keep searching.

Newspapers in Scranton

It has been a while since my last post - like about four months - but I have been busy with living relatives lately.  But enough excuses, lets get down to business.

I have had a subscription to genealogybank.com for a while now, and I liked it because it had the Jersey Journal from Jersey City, but only until about 1922. I found a few articles on this site, including marriages and obits, which have been very helpful.

I recently got a subscription to Newspapers.com, mainly because it had the Scranton Republican 1889 - 1936.   I found lots of great articles about my Scranton Bradys, including weddings, deaths, and just everyday life.  It is really quite fascinating to find articles about your family - especially since I never knew any of them.  Even the most mundane happenings appeared in the newspaper back in the day, not like today when everything is sensationalized.

I found articles connecting my Brady ancestors to my Conveys and Davis's.  It has really helped me make connections between families that help everything to make sense.

Some of the articles are odd, like those of John Brady's house collapsing into coal mines that run beneath the property.  This apparently happened several times to John, as well as to his neighbors. The people in the neighborhood had to fight the coal companies for compensation.  They got together and formed the Surface Protection Association.  The association got the mine owners to agree to move families to a safe place when their homes were on the verge of collapsing into mine tunnels.  The families were returned to their homes when the area was safe and repairs had been made - all at the expense of the mining companies.

Or articles about chicken thieves in the area getting into the henneries of John and his neighbors.  I never would have guessed the John Brady and his family raised chickens, but now I know.  It just gives you a little insight into their daily lives.

Then there are articles that are absolutely heartbreaking, for example:  The death of Joseph Convey age 19, of typhoid fever.  Joseph is the son of John Convey and Bridget Brown,  John Convey (I am pretty sure) is the brother of my great great grandmother Bridget Convey Brady.  The original article says that he died of typhoid fever, but the next day it turns out even more tragic.  He was making a recovery, when his mother mistakenly gave him a dose of carbolic acid, thinking it was citrate of magnesia ( both bottles were similar in appearance).

I have found deaths and marriages that have connected families that I always suspected were related, and then were were articles such as this one:

This is from the Scranton Republican in February 1904.  You may remember the Davis family of Gordon, Pa from when the Bradys lived in Gordon.  I have mentioned that there was probably a family connection between them.  Well here they are again, only now I already know that they are related, and how.  Mrs Patrick Davis and Mrs Thomas Brady are sisters: Catherine and Bridget Convey.

As you can see, newspapers can be a very big part of genealogy research.  Some of the things that you can learn really give you an idea of what life may have been like for your family.  Life was alot different back in the early 1900s.  Some things may have been better and some worse, but thanks to their perseverance, we are here today.

Scranton, PA

Last weekend, I went to Scranton, Pa to do some more research.  I went up early on Friday morning and one of my goals was to find more about when the Bradys arrived in the "Electric City"

Just in case you're wondering, the nickname "Electric City" was bestowed on Scranton because the nation's first successful continuously operating electrified streetcar "trolley" system was established in the city in 1886.  The line is no longer operating, but the nickname is.

When I got to the city, I decided to check on property records.  John Brady, my great grandfather James' brother lived at 522 Ripple St in Scranton since somewhere around 1900.  I have found a Brady or two living at that address from the 1900 - 1940 census records that I have found on line. I know that there are still descendants of John Brady living in that house.   I met John's grand daughter Mary Getz in about 2007 in Long Branch, NJ.  She told me that she lived her entire life in that house, but that is a story for another day.

I went to the Recorder of Deeds on Jefferson Ave and asked one of the clerks for help tracing ownership of the property.  Instead of sending me off to a computer with a lot and block number, she asked what the address was and asked me to wait a few minutes while she did some checking.  Within a few minutes I was handed ownership changes of the property back to the date that John Brady purchased it from the Meadowbrook Land Company.  The date was 26 Dec 1897, and the price was $450.00 lawful money of the United States.  The property is described as being 40' X 130'.  On 7 Dec 1906, Annie Brady, his wife, is added to the deed.  In 1924, the property is sold to their daughter Agnes and her husband.  Years later, it is sold to Agnes' daughter and her husband, and so on, until it was purchased by the current owner.  So, John actually owned this property when the Chicago Cubs won the World Series in 1908, and the property is still in the family when the Cubbies finally broke their curse, and won the series again in 2016.

I was obviously very proud of myself for this discovery, even though the very helpful clerk did all of the work.  Then I realized that Dr William Brady married Hannah Casey in Scranton in 1893.  So they were probably in Scranton earlier than when John bought the property in 1897. Since there is no 1890 census, what do I do to find them between 1880 and 1900?  Then it dawned on me - City Directories!!

I'm pretty sure that I talked about City Directories before, but just in case I didn't, the main thing to know is that City Directories were like a telephone book when not many people had telephones.  Names of city residents were listed with their home address, occupation, and spouse's name (in parenthesis).  Sometimes is a woman is head of house and is widowed, it will have (wid and her husband's name).  The came out every year in some cities, and every other year in others.  Residents were listed in alphabetical order, like a telephone book.

I checked and found that ancestry.com had city directories for Scranton in1890-1892.  I found Thomas A. Brady living at 1033 Lackawanna Ave in 1890.  In 1891, he is listed at308 N Wyoming Ave, occupation is watchman.  Then in 1892, he is back at 1033 Lackawanna Ave.  None of these listings adds a wife, but in 1890 and 1892, I find William, Andrew, and Michael all living at 1033 Lackawanna.  I am thinking that the watchman may be his grandson (John's son).

I think that the bright lights of the "Electric City" must have drawn my ancestors away from Schuylkill County like a bug light.  The electric trolley was in full swing by the time they arrived and so was the railroad.  It looks like there were a lot more opportunities in the big city.  Scranton in the 1890s, was becoming a modern American city, with electric lights, paved streets and industry.  The iron and coal industry was booming and the city's population was pushing 100,000.  By 1900, the population was over 102,000.  Sounds like Scranton was the place to be and my great great grandfather had the same opinion, so he acted on it.

Susan Bradley Campbell 1863 - 1945

Susan Bradley was born on 24 Mar 1863 to James Bradley and Annie Pepper in Minersville, Pennsylvania, which was about three months before the Battle of Gettysburg raged about 95 miles from the family home.  She was the oldest child of the Bradleys seven children.  She was two years old when President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.

When Susan was about 19 years old, times zones were introduced the the US for the first time.  Prior to this, most local towns rendered time based on "high noon" - no, not the movie, but when the sun was actually at its highest point.  As railroads made faster travel and commerce between distant locations, a lack of standardized time zones led to confusion with regard to arrival and departure times for train service.  So Railroad Companies created times zones in 1883 to make travel and commerce more organized.  This was very successful and well received.  Within a year, international time zones were established and helped organized world navigation.

Susan married Charles Campbell in about 1884 in Gordon, Pa.  Her husband was born three months after Susan, on 24 May 1863 in Gordon, Pa, to John Campbell and Alice McEwen.   He would go on to become an engineer on the Reading Railroad, where he would be employed for 55 years.  By the time Susan and Charles married, views on marriage were changing.  Prior to to this time, most marriages were prearranged or negotiated ahead of time, but as America expanded and became more of a melting pot, views on marriage began to change.  Love became the guiding principle for most relationships. Previously marriage was more of a civic event, but as people brought their faiths to the states throughout the 19th century, religious ceremonies became more common.

While Susan and Charles were married and living in Gordon, they had 11 children, yeah you read it right, 11 children: Charles S, Raymond, Leah F, Mary M, Vincent J, Paul A, Rosella, Catherine, Marie, Alice, and Marcella.   Two of their sons, Raymond and Vincent, went on to become Catholic Priests and two of their daughters, became Catholic Nuns.  The funny part is that I am trying to figure out which daughters are nuns, but its tough since they change their names when they enter the Order. I can rule out Rosella, because I found her obituary, and she was a bookkeeper for the Vallish Furniture Company in Mount Carmel. I can also rule out Alice, because the same obit says that she is an RN in Gordon.  That's as close as I can get to figuring it out, so far. Here is Susan's obit from the Mount Carmel Item 9 Mar 1945.

If you can figure out who Sister Miriam Delora, from St. Joseph's Convent and Sister Mary Narcissa are from the list of children I gave, let me know.  I am not being sarcastic, I would really like to know.

The last thing I would say about Susan is that her life spanned from the American Civil War to nearly the end of WWII.  Not to mention travel changes: from horseback and trains to cars and Airplanes.  Quite an amazing time to be alive and so many changes and advances in science to witness.  The other thing thing that I noticed is that she spent this whole time is Schuylkill County PA, namely Gordon and Minersville.  Two small towns about 11 miles apart, about 17 minutes travel time today by car.  I wonder what she thought about all of these scientific advances, if they affected her at all in this small town.  I know that today, we take all of these things for granted.  We fly across the country because it is faster and more convenient than driving.  Then we complain about how long it took or how much it cost us.  I just wonder what those who came before us would have thought while all of these advances were being made.

More About Andrew Brady

After writing my last post about Andrew Brady, the Boonton Holmes Public Library got back to me and e-mailed this article:

This article apeared in the Boonton Weekly Bulletin dated 17 Mar 1904.  So apparently Andrew may have had a "wee bit too much" and was killed by a train.  He was disemboweled and found on the east bound track near the Boonton station.  My next stop is the New Jersey State Archives for a death certificate.

Then I came across another death notice in the Scranton Republican from September 1918.  This one was for Miss Mary A Brady, who is the sister of Andrew and Dr. William F Brady:

You probably can'tread this, but is from the Scranton Republican 23 Sep 1918 on page 4.  It says that Miss Mary A Brady, a well known resident of Scranton for years, died in New York City on Friday (20 Sep 1918).  Then it goes on to say that a year ago yesterday, her brother, W. F. Brady died in his home on Adams Ave.  Seems like if it weren't for W. F. Brady, the deaths of Mary and Andrew would not have made the paper.  The article then goes on to give the funeral arrangements and survivors.

When I found the article about Mary it made sense.  I knew when she died, when and where she was buried, but I could not find a death certificate for her.  Now it makes sense, she died in New York City.

I have one more article to show you before I end tonight:

No trouble reading this one.  In the 1900 census, his lives with his parents on Ripple St in Scranton and it says that he was born in June 1884 and his occupation at age 14 is Laborer (day). This was published in the Scranton Republican 14 Aug 1907 on page 5.  He was only 23 years old when he died about 250 miles from his family in Scranton, PA.  I wonder what he was doing in Buffalo, where he lived and with whom?  When did he go there?

It is very sad, not to mention odd, for a 23 year old man to die of an attack of heart failure.  It's also a strange way to put it, but this deserves some more research.  I'll be making some phone calls to Buffalo cemeteries this week.

Andrew Brady

Andrew Brady was another brother of my great grandfather, James E Brady.  Andrew was born to Thomas A Brady and Bridget Convey Brady in 1870, in Gordon, PA.  The best I can tell, he lived with his parents and is listed in the 1900 Census in their home in Scranton Pa.  That is pretty much all I knew about him until I found a record of his service in the Spanish American War.  A couple of weeks ago, I found an article in the Scranton Tribune from 13 Mar 1899.  I found it on Chronicling America, which is on the Library of Congress website.

In case you can't read it, the article talks about the First volunteer engineer corps who served in "Porto Rico" during the recent "unpleasantness" with Spain meeting to arrange for their part in the reception and parade to be tendered the Thirteenth regiment on March 22.  It goes on to list the men from Scranton who went to Porto Rico, and among them is Andrew T. Brady.

I never really knew much about him, besides his service in the Spanish American War, but I figured that he died before his father in October 1904.  I figured this because I found his father, Thomas A Brady's obit.  The obit lists family who survived him and Andrew is not among them.

Then I subscribed to Newspapers.com and hunted around old Scranton newspapers.  I located an article dated 19 Mar 1904 and it indicated that Thomas A Brady of Birch St was traveling to Boonton NJ to identify remains of man killed there.  It goes on to say that the man may be a brother of Dr W F Brady of Scranton.  In case you have not followed my blog closely, Dr W F Brady is my great grandfather's brother.  I called the Boonton Library and a woman there said that she would check the old newspapers there for me, but I have not heard back yet.  Apparently, patience really is a virtue, it must have passed me by when it comes to researching my family tree.

I then called the Morris County Historical Commission, I was referred to the Morristown - Morris Township Library, which has a genealogy center.  So instead of waiting, I decided to drive up there and see what they had.  Then my sister from Scranton called me.  So while I had her on the phone, I invited myself to her house for the night. (after checking the Scranton Library for material).  So off I went. to Morristown and Scranton.

Morristown - Morris Township Library was very nice, and the woman working there was very helpful, but alas, I found nothing of help.  So it was off to Scranton.

I got to the Scranton Library about 45 minutes before closing, thanks to some heavy traffic.  I was able to get microfilm of the Scranton Times for March of 1904 and was lucky enough to find two articles.  One from 18 Mar 1904 and a second one from the following day, 19 Mar 1904:

The first article talks about a Scranton man being killed on the Railroad in Boonton, NJ.  The second article is essentially the same article as the one I found in the Scranton Republican on Newspapers.com.  It says that Thomas A Brady left for Boonton to identify the remains as his brother.  The paper is mistaken, I think they were stuck on the fact that his brother was the famous Doctor W F Brady, and did not realize that Thomas is actually his father.  Apparently Andrew had left Scranton for New York about a year before, but I don't know why.  His occupation was listed as machinist in census records and a couple of Scranton City Directories, so maybe he left for a new job in the City.  The Scranton Library closed before I could find anything else.

So it looks like my first generation Irish American great grand uncle was killed on St Patrick's Day 1904 by a train in Boonton, NJ.  I hope I find out more at the Boonton Library.

Meanwhile back in Scranton

I know its been a while since my last post - almost two months, but I've been busy with some other stuff and have not had time for research. But before I got really busy, I was able to find an interesting story which involved the Davis branch of my tree.

When I discovered my family connection to the Davis family, I started checking ancestry.com for Pennsylvania Death Certificates for the children of Patrick Davis and Catherine Convey.   That is when I found two death certificates.

The first was for Delia Loretta Davis, born 12 Jan 1885 in Gordon, Pa and died 4 Jan 1954 at 1392 N. Washington Ave, Scranton, Pa.  The second one was for Mary Elizabeth Davis, born 5 Aug 1879 in Gordon, Pa, and died 9 Aug 1956 at 1392 N. Washington Ave, Scranton, Pa.  That's right they lived at the same address.  So the next thing I did was to look at Google Earth for 1392 N. Washington Ave, Scranton, Pa, expecting to find an old age home or something.  When I got to the address with the "walking man", I didn't find a nursing home - I found a tavern with rooms upstairs.  I don't think that they were 55 and over condos.  It was more like rooms for rent over a tavern.

The business is currently Andy Gavin's Eatery and Pub, so I did what anyone would do, I Googled it.  I found a bunch of different web sites with information about the business, including menu and reviews.  Apparently it is a good pub that has been around since about 1904 when it was first built by a man named George Calpin.  Then I found a couple of sites claiming that it is haunted.  I should tell you that the business has changed hands and names several times since Mr Calpin built it, so I do not know what it was called or who owned it when the Davis sisters lived there.

Then I went back to death certificates, first Delia's, to look at the informant.  This is the person who supplied the decedent's personal information to registrar.  This information would include birth date and place of birth, as well as father's name and mother's maiden name.  The informant is usually a relative.  The informant on Delia's death certificate is Mary Tierney.  Who is Mary Tierney?  I looked for her on Ancestry.com and I found her death certificate.  Turns out Mary Tierney's maiden name is Convey.  The same name as my great great grandmother, and the same as Delia and Mary Elizabeth Davis' mother.

Before I go into another long confusing story, suffice it to say that there is a Convey/Davis connection to an Irish Pub in Scranton, Pa, which may or may not be haunted.  What to do?  I drove to my sister's house just outside of Scranton.  My sister, her husband, and I then went to Andy Gavin's Eatery and Pub and ate dinner.  It was a good find and is directly across the street from the Lackawanna County Prison, which looks like an old fortified castle in the middle of a city block.

I am told that there is an old rumor that,back in the day, the Guards would let the prisoners out on their honor to walk across the street to the Pub to get lunch.  I don't know if the story is true or not, it sounds more like Andy Griffith than Andy Gavin.

Looks much friendlier.  We talked to several employees and the current owner of the Pub and  they all think it is haunted.  They told of lights turning off and on without throwing a switch, and water in the restrooms turning on when no one was in there.  It was a fun time researching my family tree, and I even bought a t-shirt.

So it would appear that the key to my Brady/Convey family roots may rest in a haunted Irish Pub in Scranton, Pa.  Who would have guessed. Maybe I should plan a Family Reunion there.