Tuesday's Tip - Inputting Data on the 1860 U.S. Census, Schedule 1

1860 U.S. Federal Census, Schedule 1

Sorry for the delay in the next census form, but I couldn't get it created before the long drive from Pennsylvania back to Texas!  So the last form I posted was the Schedule 2 for the 1850 census.  Onward to the 1860 census, Schedule 1 this week.

Very few changes in the 1860, Schedule 1.  In fact I only noticed 2.  The first being in the value of a person's estate.  This time it is broken down into both real estate and personal estate value.  The other difference was they finally did a little acknowledging of women holding jobs.  Instead of asking "Profession, Occupation, or Trade of each male person over 15 years of age" it's been altered slightly to "...each person, male or female, over 15 years of age."  Ah the subtle advancements.

As before the U.S. Census Bureau has some great information on their site for the census to include the instructions for U.S. Marshals and Assistants.

At 1930census.com we've again got the map of the U.S. at the time of the census, as well as a history of the decade to place your research in historic perspective.

As always, if you have any trouble viewing or downloading the spreadsheet, just comment or send me an email and I'll see what I can do to fix it.  So far there hasn't been any trouble since the very first sheet I posted.  I'll cross my fingers!

When you view the census through Google documents it does appear as if it were 3 pages, but rest assured that when downloaded it looks like the image at the top of the blog and in one simple page.

Let me know if there are any mistakes as well.  I'm sure you can imagine my eyes were starting to go crossed by the time I was done with this form!  Corrections and suggestions are always welcome!

Next week I'll post an inputtable Slave Schedule for 1860.  Until next time, have fun tending those roots!

Sunday's Obituary - Not Just Any Ol' Priest in the Family

I was always told that Aloysius McElwee was related to me (he's my 1st cousin twice removed).  I knew from his tombstone that he was a Brigadier General in the Army.  His obituary was still incredibly awe-inspiring.  It also helped connect one other link.  My sister's childhood friend was a Sherrock and we knew we were related to a Sherrock, but didn't know how.

I was very impressed when I read about his education as well as his military service.  He was obviously a very respected clergyman and I know looking back at other relatives' obituaries that having him preside at their funeral or a loved one's funeral must have been special indeed.  I wish I had a picture of him.

It's a bit sad.  I lived in Hazleton up until October 1990 and never knew him.  Never met him.  Wilkes-Barre is a neighboring town and I lived in his hometown. 

"Monsignor McElwee dies, served church for 50 years

Monsignor Aloysius J. McElwee, 76, pastor emeritus of St. Patrick's Church, in Wilkes-Barre, and a native of Hazleton, died Tuesday afternoon after being ill.

McElwee, son of the late Owen and Bridget (Brown) McElwee, was born in Hazleton on Oct. 26, 1913.  He attended St. Gabriel's grade school and Hazleton High School.

Msgr. McElwee was also a graduate of St. Bonaventure University, Olean, N.Y., and St. Mary's Seminary.  He did graduate work at George Washington University.

He took his preparation for the priesthood at the Collegio Brignole Sale Negroni, Genoa, Italy, and was ordained by the Most Rev. Francesco Canessa, D.D., in Genoa on May 18, 1940.

Hazleton Standard Speaker, 17OCT1990

Upon his return to the diocese, he was first assigned as assistant pastor at St. John the Evangelist, Susquehanna, and later assigned at St. Patrick's, Wilkes-Barre.

In August of 1944, Msgr. McElwee was released from the Diocese of Scranton by the late Bishop William J. Hafey for active service in the Chaplains Corps of the U.S. Army.  In December of that year went to the Pacific Theater with the 13th Tactical Division from Fort Jackson, S.C. He participated in invasions of Leyte in the Philippines, the Ryukyu Islands, Okinawa, and Ie Shima.

In 1947, he was assigned to Nanking, China, as chaplain of the Joint U.S. Military Advisory Group.  In 1949, he was assigned to the Eighth U.S. Army in Japan and late to the headquarters of the Yokohama Command.

In 1950, he was stationed at Fort Jay, N.Y., and Fort Benning, Ga., with the Eighth Infantry Regiment, the Fourth Infantry Division, and accompanied this unit to West Germany.  After three years in West Germany, he was assigned to Fort Devens, Mass., where he remained from 1954 to 1958.  While at Fort Devens, he attended the Command and General Staff College.

After serving at Fort Devens, McElwee was appointed director of plans and operations at headquarters of the USAREUR.

In 1962, he was appointed Deputy Army Chaplain of the Second U.S. Army at Fort Meade, Md.  Later, he was appointed to the office of the chief of chaplains as director of plans, programs, and policies and remained there until 1966 when he was appointed command chaplain in Europe.  He also served as vicar delegate in Europe of the Military Ordinariate.  He was then appointed post chaplain at Fort Meade and command chaplain, in  1970, USARPAC.

In 1971, he was promoted to brigadier general and appointed deputy chief of Army chaplains and continued in this office until his retirement from Army service in 1974.

He was appointed pastor of St. Patrick's Church, in Wilkes-Barre, on Sept. 3, 1974.  He served in this capacity until his retirement in September 1982.

He was named Domestic Prelate (Monsignor) in 1964, by the late Pope Paul VI.

He received the Meritorious Service Medal, the Legion of Merit Medal (with two oak leaf clusters), and the Distinguished Service Medal.

He was preceded in death by two brothers, John and Eugene.

Surviving are two sisters, Mrs. Stanley J. Sutula, Kingston; Mrs. Robert Sherrock, Hazleton; one brother, Neil McElwee, Harrisburg, and several nieces and nephews.

The transferal [sic] of the body, followed by Mass, will be held on Thursday at 7 p.m., with the Monsignor Donald A. McAndrews, V.F., presiding.

A Pontifical Concelebrated Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated by the Most Reverend James C. Timlin, Bishop of Scranton, on Friday, at 11 a.m. in St. Patrick's  Church, Wilkes-Barre.  Interment will be in St. Gabriel's Cemetery, Hazleton.

Friends may call tonight at St. Patrick's Rectory, Wilkes-Barre, beginning at 7 p.m."

A Quick Update from FamilySearch

I wasn't planning on a post until this Sunday since I'm still traveling, but since I got to the hotel earlier than expected and saw an email from Paul Nauta at FamilySearch with some new and interesting news, I figured I'd pass it on!

To save my already travel-worn brain, I'll let you check out the release from Paul yourself.  I look forward to checking out the different channels at the FamilySearch YouTube page once I'm more coherent.

"FamilySearch Announces Updated YouTube Channel

4 August 2011

SALT LAKE CITY— FamilySearch has unveiled a newly updated YouTube channel giving viewers an informative, fun and fascinating look at several different aspects of genealogy through a growing number of videos in five playlists.

High-quality videos are available for the rookie genealogist and the seasoned veteran alike. The Genealogy in 5 Minutes playlistdemonstrates how, in just a few minutes, individuals with little or no genealogy experience can make some headway on their family’s history.

The Woven Generations playlist features powerful, personal experiences from those who have found success or inspiration through family history work.

Additionally, FamilySearch sent camera crews to Virginia, Ohio, California, Indiana and other locations for a closer look at how FamilySearch works with societies and archives to provide access to more records online and to further mutual interests in family history. These videos can be found in the Societies and Archives playlist.

These videos and others are available at YouTube.com/FamilySearch and can be powerful tools in introducing the excitement of family history to a friend or family member. They will also enrich the life of a veteran genealogist."

Wordless Wednesday - My Aunt is So Going to Kill Me!

  My super cool Aunt Cathy Ryan nee Brown.  The captain of the majorettes in her senior year (left picture).  I'm told that she twirled flaming batons. Absolutely 100% awesomely cool!

Tombstone Tuesday - I'm a Bit Disappointed and Angry

Nancy O'Donoghue nee Brown (middle)

I'm traveling back to Texas while this posts so no 1860 census form this week, so I decided to post one of the many tombstones that I visited while on my trip home.

One of the gravestones I very much wanted to visit was for my cousin, Nancy O'Donoghue nee Brown.  She was killed last October.  I never met the rest of the family.  Nancy and I corresponded because we were both researching our Brown line and realized that it was the same line.  We met once and exchanged information.  We corresponded occasionally on Facebook and would email each other from time to time with life events or if either of us discovered something new in our research.  She was an incredibly warm, sweet lady.  I wanted to visit her grave and get a picture of the tombstone.


There was no tombstone.  There was only the metal marker that the funeral home puts out after burial.  The temporary marker.  I spoke with the caretaker and the rectory and was told that many friends had stopped by looking for Nancy's grave to pay their respects, but that the temporary metal marker wasn't even placed by the funeral home until recently.  She was buried in October and nothing had marked her grave until very recently.  Unacceptable.

A bit harsh perhaps.  I never met her immediate family as I mentioned, but I don't understand the hold up.  I know that the family no longer lives in Hazleton, PA where Nancy was laid to rest in our old parish cemetery, but wouldn't someone have checked to see if the marker had been placed?  Wouldn't someone at least have insisted on the temporary marker after the funeral?

I know they are going through hard times right now.  Money may be tight.  I won't go into the circumstances surrounding Nancy's death in this post.  It is truly horrific and is undoubtedly tearing the family apart, but with so many people wanting to visit Nancy's gravesite could a memorial fund not have been created?  I would have given money for a marker.

I'm going to have to bite the bullet though.  I've got the funeral home's telephone number and I intend on calling and asking if the stone was purchased through them or if other arrangements have been made.  If I have to I will raise money for a marker for my cousin.  I will not let this sweet lady's memory fade away. 

Military Monday - The Cousin I Never Met Was Closer Than I Ever Expected!

Hazleton Standard Speaker, 30NOV1967, pg1

I posted information on Michael Paul Brown previously.  I had his tombstone but no obituary.  During my trip home I made sure to get a copy of his obituary.  I made some very interesting discoveries upon reading it as well.  More on that in a bit.  First his obit:

"Local Soldier War Casualty In S. Vietnam

A 22-year-old Hazleton man died from a gunshot wound in South Vietnam on Sunday after his military vehicle had been hit by a hostile rocket, according to word received yesterday by his parents.

Specialist Five Michael P. Brown, son of Mr and Mrs. Neil Brown of 644 N. Wyoming St., thus became the area's fourth casualty of the war in Southeast Asia.

The 1964 graduate of Hazleton High School was killed by a bullet when the vehicle in which he was returning from a forward base camp was hit by rocket fire, a telegram from Washington related to his parents.  Earlier in the day, an Army sergeant broke the news to the Browns.

The telegram did not specify where in Vietnam the action took place.  Brown was a linguist with the 335th R.R.C.

No ward has been received yet on when the body will be shipped here.

He enlisted in the Army on Oct. 26, 1965, took basic training at Fort Dix, N.J., completed language training as a specialist in Vietnamese at the U.S. Army Language School in the Presidio of Monterey, Calif., and arrived in Vietnam in February 1967.

Before his enlistment, Brown worked for Home Delivery Pizzeria.

Born in Hazleton, he was the son of Neil and Dorothy (Gillespie) Brown.  His father is employed at Hazleton Brick Co.

Brown was a member of St. Gabriel's R. C. Church.

Surviving are his parents; three brothers, Neil Jr., Dennis, and Timothy and a sister, Patricia, all at home; and his maternal grandfather, Frank Gillespie, Hazleton.

Three other area young men have died in action in Vietnam."

As I mentioned before, Michael was my 2nd cousin once removed.  I knew from his military gravestone that he was a member of a Radio Research Company (R.R.C.) which I assumed to be some kind of signals and intelligence unit.  I was a military intelligence Soldier so I always felt drawn to Michael because I believed his military occupation would have been reasonably similar to mine.  Holy cow, did I underestimate the similarity!

He wasn't just an intel Soldier, but a linguist like I was.  He graduated from the "U.S. Army Language School in the Presidio of Monterey, Calif", which is the language school I graduated from although the name had changed when I went through to the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center.  Granted he studied Vietnamese and I studied Russian, but different times call for different languages and I came in as the Cold War was winding down.

Even though Michael was born a generation before me, we were from the same hometown so there were many similarities.  He graduated from Hazleton High School.  I moved during my senior year so while I didn't graduate from Hazleton High School, I did go there for 2 of 3 years.  Saint Gabriel's was his church.  It's a family church for us.  Our ancestors were there from the beginning and were active members.  For me, I was the last person in my line baptized there.  Then my mom moved to a different part of town and we went to another Catholic church a couple blocks away.

I hate the fact that my cousin died so young, but I'm incredibly proud of his military service.  Michael was not the only Soldier that died that day in Vietnam.  I looked up a webpage for his old unit, the 335th Radio Research Company, Army Security Agency, 9th Infantry Division.  One of the pages gave a history of the 335th and part of it mentions that day in November 1967:

"While in Vietnam, the 335th Radio Research Company suffered the loss of four men killed in action, all during the first year in country. SFC John F. Stirling was killed on 8 March 1967 during a mortar attach at the detachment at Tan An.  On 26 November 1967, SFC Robert D. Taylor, SGT Diego Ramierez, Jr., and SP5 Michael P. Brown were killed on Highway 4 in the vicinity of Xom Dua when the 1/4 ton vehicle in which they were traveling was hit by an enemy B40 recoilless round at close range."

It was the first year the unit and Michael were in country and three in one day.  I still have to request that military record for Michael.  I never noticed it before, but on his military marker it has "Vietnam PH"  I'm assuming that means he was awarded the Purple Heart.  I should hope he was. Hopefully I can find out more about his time at DLI.  Was there anywhere on post that they remembered former students that were killed in action?  You'd think I'd know this having been stationed there as a trainee and as a Drill Sergeant, but nope...I'm clueless there.  Fortunately, I've got friends that still float in and out of there.  I'm sure I can find someone to help discover more about Michael and preserve his memory.

Sunday's Obituary - The Inexhaustable Marian Brown

Janus yearbook 1948

I always knew when my great Aunt Marian Veronica Brown died.  I've visited and placed flowers at her grave over the years.  I've heard many stories about Aunt Marian, but I've never read her obituary and all I can say is WOW!

"Marian Brown, HHS Teacher, Dies

Miss Marian V. Brown, director of dramatics at Hazleton High School and well known throughout the region for her readings and direction of the local Thespian troupe, died at 5:45 o'clock this morning at the St. Joseph Hospital.  She had been admitted as a medical patient a week ago.  A lifelong resident of this city, she resided at 505 West Broad street.

She was a daughter of the late Thomas and Mary Barrett Brown.

A graduate of Bloomsburg State Teachers College, she received a bachelor of arts degree from Marywood College and her masters from New York University.

Miss Brown taught English at the H. F. Grebey Memorial Junior High School before being transferred to Hazleton High School about 1935.  She was named director of dramatics and public speaking instructor at HHS about 1939.  For the past two years she also taught Latin.  She has always taken charge of the high school's commencement activities, play and program, and directed numerous faculty plays.

The Plain Speaker, 09AUG1956, pg 12

Sponsored Thespian Troupe

She was sponsor of National Thespian Troupe No. 257 at HHS and this past June chaperoned a group from the local troupe to a summer dramatic workshop at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.

For the past several years, she aided the scholarship fund of Hazleton branch, American Association of University Women, by producing a benefit play.  Last year the branch named its scholarship the Marian V. Brown Scholarship.

She was a member of St. Gabriel's church and of the Altar and Rosary Society of the parish.  Other memberships included the Hazleton Teachers Association, Pennsylvania State Education Association and the National Education Association.

Taught Many Adults

She participated in the adult education program of the city by conducting speaking classes.

Surviving are three brothers, Edward, vice principal of H. F. Grebey Memorial Junior High School; Walter, teacher in Philadelphia; and Thomas, of Elmira, N.Y.

The funeral will be held from the Boyle funeral home Monday at 9 a. m. with solemn requiem high mass in St. Gabriel's church at 9:30.  Interment will be in the parish cemetery."

The Plain Speaker, 13AUG1956, pg 20

"Miss Marian V. Brown, Hazleton High School teacher who died Thursday, was buried this morning from the Boyle funeral home.  Solemn requiem high mass was celebrated in St. Gabriel's Church by Msgr. Dennis J. Kane, with Rev. Edward Haggerty as deacon and Rev. Eugene Moran as subdeacon.  Seated in the sanctuary were Rev. William Ward, chaplain at the St. Joseph Hospital, Rev. Frank and Rev. Cane, both of the Lady of Victory Church, Harvey's Lake.  Msgr. Kane gave the blessing in the parish cemetery.  Pallbearers were James Malatack, William McLaughlin, John Senko, Robbert Sacco, Frank Serany, Jr., and Herbert Skuba."

Aunt Marian was one of those people that my mom, aunt and uncle always talked about.  I can understand why when I see the obituary.  She did so much.  She was so active and obviously loved.  I mean to have the priests from the Harvey's Lake church and the hospital come to her funeral is really saying something.  The family took trips to Harvey's Lake in the summer.  It's not like they were there year-round!  And the pallbearers...they weren't family.  I can only imagine they were educators and friends that wanted to take part in remembering this great lady.  There were certainly family members that could have been pallbearers.

She attended and graduated from three colleges/universities!?!?  She had a scholarship named after her!?!?!  I find this amazing!  I also found out from my mom she paid her own way through school.  No help from her parents.  Her father, Thomas Brown, was a very loving man but he didn't believe that college was for women.  She was determined and obviously succeeded.  I don't know if she got any grants, scholarships, or worked her way through, but she did it.

Janus yearbook.  Year unknown.

She is also responsible for my grandfather, Edward Brown Sr, and great Uncle, Walter Brown Sr, going to college.  She paid their way!

She supported those organizations that she was apart of and she bought special presents for her nieces and nephews.  My mom tells me that Aunt Marian had great taste and bought the most beautiful presents.  When she died, she had no money left.  This wasn't due to frivolous spending on her part, but she believed in enjoying her life and used her money appropriately.  She wasn't married, had no kids, and knew that you can't take it with you!  She lived her life well and spent her money accordingly.

As for why Aunt Marian never married.  My mom tells me that there was talk of a man that she was in love with that was killed in World War II (name unknown).  There are also rumors of an affair with the novelist John O'Hara.  Frankly if you read about John O'Hara's life, affairs and him go hand in hand.  Does that make it true.  No...still a family legend.  But he was from the region and did reside in New York (one of the places Marian went to school).  Possible, but not confirmed.  Allegedly in one of his novels a character he created...a drama teacher...is based on Aunt Marian.  Since John O'Hara would change the names of people and cities, I'll most likely never know.  I just got one of his books and hope to see if anything sounds close to Aunt Marian as I read through it!  I'll keep you posted!

Sadly, I can find no mention of Marian's scholarship still being in existence.  Additionally the webpage for the Hazleton AAUW is pathetic...it's blank.  I'm not hopeful, but won't give up.

She obviously was a magnificent woman.  She achieved so much.  I wish I could have known her personally.  I wish I could have the opportunity to hear people she taught speak of her and find out what they thought of this obviously wonderful lady.