Amanuensis Monday - Always Searching for Bessie

Saint Gabriel's Roman Catholic Cemetery, Hazleton, PA

I always come back to Bessie.  She's more than just a brick wall she's an obsession at times.  Bessie isn't a direct line ancestor.  She's my 2nd great aunt, but of all the children that her parents had, she and my great grandfather (Edward Quirk) were the only ones to marry and the only ones to have children.  It's like the Quirks were dying out...


Edward had 2 children.  The first was my grandmother and the second child died...along with his wife/my great grandmother Alice Quirk nee Blanchfield.

Bessie's one child (that she died shortly after giving birth to) disappeared.  She most likely died.  I've posted previously about my efforts to track down Bessie's child (turns out her name is Betty...another Elizabeth.  I suppose her husband, Dennis, name the child after her when she died).  I want to know what happened to her.  To be certain of what happened to her and if she has died, where is she?  Her story needs to be told.

I've got a couple leads, but I think that I'll be trying to track her grave down in Bethlehem when I head home to Pennsylvania someday.  See if she's buried in the same cemetery as her father.  It may be a long shot, but it also may be the only shot I've got.

"Mrs. Dennis Dugan.

Unk Hazleton newspaper

Mr. (sic) Dennis Dugan of Bethlehem, died at the state hospital, this city, on Saturday at 11:25 o'clock, following a Caesarian operation for the birth of a daughter who is alive and well.

The deceased, prior to her marriage a year ago last September, was Miss Bessie Quirk, of Jeanesville.  She held the position of postmistress of that town for several years and was one of the Hazleton region's most estimable young women.  After her marriage, the deceased located at Bethlehem, where her husband has been located for some time.  Besides her husband, the deceased is survived by the following brothers and sisters:  Edward, William, Ella, a Hazle township school teacher, Catherine and Mary, all of Jeanesville.

The funeral will take place from the family home in Jeanesville on Tuesday afternoon at 2 o'clock, with interment private in St. Gabriel's cemetery."

[There are two dates hand-written in on the obituary, December 17 and December 14, 1918.  The 17th would be the date of burial and the 14th the date of death]