Sunday's Obituary - Rita Dermott nee Brown

The Standard Speaker,  26JUL1965 pg22

Continuing the posts on my Zombie-Brown line with Neal and Bridget Brown nee Brown's sixth child, Rita. This article brings me no revelations although I know know where Rita is buried and that we had some of her siblings spreading out past the confines of Hazleton. I had created a FindAGrave memorial for her last year so everything is updated and looking good.

I was a bit cautious when I first came across this obituary and started reading. Starting out calling her "Mrs. William R. Dermott" made me cringe a little because far too frequently in women's obituaries would that be the end of it. No other information would be important because her identity was lost at marriage and she became one with the identity of her husband (apparently). Luckily, that wasn't the case and not only was it a proper obituary, but they included a nice chunk of family data.

"Mrs. William R. Dermott

Mrs. William R. Dermott, 47, of 112 West Broadway, Jim Thorpe, the former Rita Brown, this city, died at 3:10 a.m. Sunday in Allentown General Hospital where she had been a patient for the past two weeks.

Born in this city, she was a daughter of the late Neal and Bridget (Brown) Brown. She lived in Jim Thorpe for the past 20 years.

She was a member of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Jim Thorpe.

Surviving are her husband, William; two daughters, Mary and Rita, and a son, William, all at home; four sisters, Mrs. John (Nancy) Harkins, Newark, Del.; Mrs. Eleanor Prosser, Mrs. Clyde (Mary) Barth, and Mrs. Charles (Joan) Cann, all of this city.

Also surviving are six brothers, Neal, James and Charles Brown, all of this city; Paul Brown, Leadville; Eugene Brown, Levittown,  and John Brown, Philadelphia.

Funeral services will be held at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday from the Ring Funeral Home, 218 Centre street, Jim Thorpe. A high mass of requiem will be celebrated at 10 o'clock in Immaculate Conception Church. Interment will be in the parish cemetery.

Friends may call from 4 p.m. Tuesday until time of the funeral."

So another obituary down. Neal/Neil and Bridget had 11 children and Rita was only number six. I don't have obituaries for all of them, and some I've already shared, but the end of this search is near. Nothing is out of place so I'm really beginning to believe that the 1940 Census was just an erroneous fluke.

Sunday's Obituary - James Brown...No Not That One

The Standard Speaker,
28NOV1994, pg2

Last Sunday I shared the obituary of Mary Barth nee Brown as I tried to make sense of this line and its zombie progenitor, Neil Brown Jr. For the backstory on my undead 2nd great uncle please refer to my April 9th post.

So far as I've made my way through the children of Neil and Bridget Brown nee Brown I haven't turned up anything unusual. It's been a typical scenario of transcribing on the blog, updating records in my tree and FindAGrave and there doesn't appear to be anything that would break up what I currently have in my tree. Everything just solidifies the connections. This week the next in line of the children would have been Neil Brown III, but I've transcribed his obituary previously. I'll move on to the next child of the group which is James Brown.

"James Brown

James P. Brown, 140 S. Laurel St., Hazleton, died Saturday at the Mountain City Convalescent Center, Hazleton, after a lengthy illness.

Born in Hazleton, he was the son of the late Neil and Bridget Brown.

He was a 1932 graduate of St. Gabriel's High School, where he was a standout basketball player. Brown later excelled in the Catholic basketball league.

Brown was employed as a business agent for the Boilermakers' Union Local 13, before retiring in 1966.

He was an Army veteran of World War II and served in Italy.

He was preceded in death, in addition to his parents, by his wife, Martha (Thompson) Brown, in 1979; sisters, Rita Dermott, Nancy Harkins, and Eleanor Prosser; brothers, Neil, John and Eugene (Cy) Brown; and a grandson, Patrick O'Donoghue, in 1985.

Surviving are children, William C. Brown, St. Augustine, Fla.; Nancy L. O'Donoghue, Hocessin, Del.; and James P. Brown Jr., Hazleton; sisters, Joan Cann and Mary Barth, both of Hazleton; brothers, Paul, Erie; Charles, Hazleton; six grandchildren and a great-grandchild. Several nieces and nephews also survive.

The funeral will be held Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. from the Boyle Funeral Home, 100 S. Wyoming St., Hazleton, with a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. in St. Gabriel's Roman Catholic Church. Interment will be in the parish cemetery.

Friends may call today at the funeral home from 6 to 9 p.m."

My cousin, Nancy O'Donoghue nee Brown, had initially given me a lot of the information on this line and as you can see from the obituary, she would know...James was her father. Zombie-Neil was her grandfather. I wish I could talk to her now and ask her more questions, but I wish that frequently.

This obituary is pretty good since it shows where the family was spreading out to which will help with later research. Still nothing that contradicts what I already knew about Neil and Bridget and their family.

Sunday's Obituary - Deciphering the Zombies in my Family

Last week I shared a Census Record Sunday post about my 2nd great uncle, Neil Brown Jr, who apparently died in 1937, but was feeling plucky enough to be included in the 1940 US Federal Census with his family. So because of my relative's desire to be way ahead of his time for auditioning for the AMC's The Walking Dead I've decided to take some time to go through the obituaries for his offspring. The newspaper for the time of his wife's death isn't available yet, but hopefully someday. I do have her death certificate thought so unless reanimation was a common thing I'm fairly certain of when she died.

I've shared Neil Brown Jr's death certificate (excerpts) and a link to his obituary last Sunday. The next logical course would be to start with his oldest child and work my way down the list. That would be Nancy. I don't have an obituary for her though and her marriage to John Patrick Harkins needs to be researched more. The information was given to me by a cousin who passed so I can only use it as a guide, but I'm currently in the process of piecing it together.

The second oldest child of Neil and Bridget Brown nee Brown was Eleanor Prosser nee Brown, but I've already posted an obituary on here that you can read here. There were no surprises in this obituary. Every was pretty much who I expected them to be (dead and alive) and it helps to confirm Nancy's husband's name is Harkins.

The Standard Speaker -
30MAR1997, pg C6

The next in line to share is Mary Barth nee Brown and it would appear that I never transcribed her obituary, so let's see what we find.

"Mary L. Barth

Mary L. Brown Barth, 84, of 70 S. Pine St., Hazleton, died Friday at the Mountain City Convalescent Center, after a lengthy illness.

Born in Hazleton, she was the daughter of the late Neil and Bridget (Brown) Brown.

She was a member of St. Gabriel's Roman Catholic Church, Hazleton, and was previously active in St. Joseph's Hospital Auxiliary.

Preceding her in death, in addition to her parents, were her husband, Clyde O., who died in 1968; sisters, Nancy Harkins, Eleanor Prosser, Rita Dermot and Joan Cann; and brothers, Neil, Eugene 'Cy,' John and James.

Surviving are brothers, Charles, hazleton, and Paul, Erie; nieces and nephews.

The funeral will be held Monday at 10 a.m. from the Boyle Funeral Home, 100 S. Wyoming St., Hazleton.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. in St. Gabriel's Roman Catholic Church, Hazleton.

Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery, Drums.

Friends may call Monday from 9 a.m. until the time of the Mass."

After transcribing this obituary I was able to create a memorial on FindAGrave for Mary. Her husband already had one. No stone for either of them, but I've linked them and requested a photo. If one isn't taken I'll be able to grab one when I go to Pennsylvania this summer. It would also appear from this obituary that Mary and Clyde didn't have any children.

Then I decided to go onto Newspapers.com and pull Clyde's obituary since the FindAGrave memorial for him listed his death date. I was not prepared for what I found. Let's just say that April of 1968 was not a good year for Mary. The first newspaper hit I got wasn't for Clyde's obituary, but for Mary's brother, Neil Brown III. I knew when this Neil had died. I just hadn't realized that he died the day before Mary's husband! Bad year. Bad month. Bad WEEK!

Well there is nothing here that pulls Mary out of my family tree. Her obituary fits perfectly in where she should be. The only surprise aside from the deaths of her husband and brother was that she was buried in Calvary Cemetery and not St. Gabriel's. She was raised Catholic. There are Catholics in Calvary, but her funeral was in St. Gabe's too. The answer to that was found in her husband's obituary which I will share at some point in the future. He was Lutheran. They weren't the same religion. Now it wouldn't be such a big deal to have someone of another faith buried in a Catholic cemetery. That wasn't always the case though and it was most likely the situation then.

So nothing unusual. Until next Sunday!

Census Record Sunday - My Uncle, The Walking Dead

Neil Brown Jr
(possibly in baseball uniform)

I've blogged about Neil Brown Jr before. He was the son of Neil/Neal and Nancy "Annie" Brown nee McCoy. He married Bridget Brown (yes, same surname, but no known connection yet) on July 10, 1908 according to my cousin, Nancy O'Donoghue, but that date is unconfirmed and Nancy has passed so I'll have to do some of my own research on that one. They had 11 known children: Nancy, Eleanor, Mary, Neil III, James, Rita, Eugene, Paul, John, Joan, and Charles. This was also information given to me from Nancy and corroborated by census records, death certificates, tombstones, and obituaries. In that previous post on Neil Brown Jr. I transcribed his obituary. It was from The Plain Speaker, Saturday, October 30th 1937.

I've found the death certificate for Neil Jr on Ancestry quite easily as well (below). The information on it is quite clear and it was given by his wife, Bridget. His parents are correct. His address looks good. My Neil died on October 30th 1937 and was buried in St. Gabriel's Roman Catholic Cemetery on November 2nd of that year. I have no doubt in my genealogical mind.

Death Certificate - Neil Brown living on South Wyoming Street, Hazleton, PA

Date and Cause of Death and Autopsy Performed

So why is he with his family in the 1940 US Federal Census? Seriously. He's there so help me reason this out. It was brought to my attention in an email recently. I had posted a memorial for Neil Jr. and linked him to family on FindAGrave. I was contacted by a fellow genealogist whose daughter-in-law turns out to be a distant cousin of mine through this line just the other week. We've talked before, but in this email she let me know that she noticed something "off". She pointed out that he was in the 1940 census so perhaps the death certificate wasn't for our Neil. The thing is the death certificate is most definitely for our Neil...but the census would appear to be too.  All the names are right on the certificate (you can see additional images from the death certificate at the bottom of this post)...and in the census.

1940 U.S Federal Census - Neil Brown household, S. Wyoming Street

Now help me through this one. I had heard recently that if no one was home when the census taker came that they could ask a neighbor for information. Could the census taker merely have asked who Bridget's husband was and made the assumption that he was alive? Or is it more likely that this Neil  was really her son? If it was her son they got the rest of the information wrong. Thoughts? In the 1940 US Census the census taker was supposed to mark an "x" with a circle around it to indicate who gave the information. Now that mark after their daughter, Nancy's, name could be that or it could be just a middle initial if no one from the family gave the information. What you can also see from the census (here) is that zombie-Neil wasn't employed and wasn't looking for work. A good thing too because he would have looked terrible after that autopsy! It does list Bridget as having an "other" source of income...but her income is listed as $0. Gosh I'm so confused.

Here's a clip from the U.S. City Directory collection. It's Hazleton, Pennsylvania in 1935 and there are THREE Neil/Neal Browns all living in or South Wyoming Street. While there are multiple Neil/Neal Browns in my tree there should only be two alive and old enough to be in a directory. They all live in the same or a nearby home though. So there's that to add to the confusion.

1935 Hazleton - US City Directory

Could there really have been another family living on Wyoming Street in Hazleton, Pennsylvania that had not only a husband and wife team of Neil and Bridget, but also had the kids with the same names? Even with taking Irish naming conventions into consideration that's a bit hard to swallow. For sanity's sake I'll be posting the obituaries I have for his family in upcoming posts. Perhaps something will appear there that hasn't been considered, but by first glance at all the ones I have they just confirm that this is the right Neil.

All I can say is that I'd love some input on this. The link to the obituary on Neil is in the first paragraph if anyone would like to take a look. This death certificate is for our Neil. I'm positive. The obituary is for my Neil. Again...positive...it confirms everything in the death certificate. The census should be my Neil's family, but he most certainly should not be listed there. Can anyone bring some sanity to this or do I call in Rick Grimes?

The zombie, Neil Brown Jr, is my 2nd great uncle.

Neil's Wife and Occupation

Neil's Parents and Burial

Amanuensis Monday - Working on my Brown Ancestors

The Plain Speaker,
21MAY1937, pg18

After a recent breakthrough in my Barrett line I decided to work on my Brown line. They are connected. Mary Barrett married Thomas Brown Sr. in 1901 and they had 6 children: Marian Veronica, Thomas Joseph Jr, Edward John Sr, Walter, Alice, and Hubert.

One of the reasons I'm working on my Brown line is that, well, it needs work, but also because my cousin, Nancy O'Donoghue, once told me that we were related to coach Hubie Brown. I've looked at articles on Hubie Brown and I have no doubt that she was right, but I need to start collecting the proof as to where he belongs. As I was doing that I came across more article on Rev. John A. Brown who I blogged about previously.**

So what does the priest, John Brown, have to do with Hubie Brown? John was Hubie's uncle and my first cousin twice removed. I also realized that while I had posted on Reverend Brown before I never updated my family tree. So continuing on with this post is making me rectify that situation.

"Rev. John A. Brown

Tomorrow morning at St. Peter's Cathedral in Scranton, John A. Brown, of Hazleton, will be ordained to the holy priesthood with an impressive service in which a large number of monsignor and clergymen will participate. Rev. Brown is a son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Charles Brown of this city, and is a nephew of Patrick Brown, of West Hazleton and Thomas and Neil Brown of this city, and comes from one of the oldest Hazleton families.

After graduating from St. Gabriel's high school. Mr. Brown entered St. Mary's College in Maryland and later followed his theological studies at St. Charles' College, Columbus, Ohio, and completed his preparation at Mt. St. Mary's College in Emmittsburg, Maryland.

After tomorrow's ordination, Father Brown will come here to celebrate his first mass at St. Gabriel's church on Sunday morning, May 23 at 10:30 and among the officers of the high mass will be his first cousin, Rev.. Father Charles A. McElwee, of Scranton, also a former Hazleton resident."

The Thomas mentioned in this article is my great grandfather, a child of Neil and Nancy Brown nee McCoy. John's father, Charles Sr., is my 2nd great uncle.

The Standard Speaker
21JUL1969, pg22

"Msgr. John A. Brown, a former city resident, who was elevated to his present position in the Roman Catholic Church on July 9 by Pope Paul VI during ceremonies conducted by the Bishop of Raleigh, N.C., is the brother of Mrs. Gertrude McLaughlin, of Alexandria, Va., who attended the ceremony; Mrs. Helen Cassidy and Mrs. Esther Cassidy, both of Elizabeth, N.J.; Leo Brown, of Cumberland, Md., and Charles Brown, of Elizabeth, N.J.

Msgr. Brown also has two sisters living locally, Mrs. Genevive (sic) Hooper, 585 Arthur St., and Mrs. Lawrence Gallagher, of Harwood. He is a son of the late Charles and Anna (LeGrande) Brown.

Msgr. Brown is pastor of St. Eugene's R.C. Church, Asheville, N.C. and Chaplain to the Catholic Daughters of Asheville."

This second article helps me fill in some of the details of my Brown ancestors even more than the first. My great grandfather isn't mentioned in it. This was because Thomas Sr died in 1955, but the article doesn't mention his other aunts and uncles so even if Thomas had still been alive he most likely wouldn't have been mentioned. Since John never married, being a priest and all, the sisters listed are easy to place in my tree. I placed husbands with the sisters mentioned in the article except for Mrs. Lawrence Gallagher. John had six sisters in my family tree and only five are mentioned here. The wife of Lawrence Gallagher would be either Ann (born 1900) or Mariam (born abt 1912).

A quick look in the Pennsylvania Death Certificates online shows me that Ann Brown died on February 19th 1919. She never married so unless there's another sister hiding out there, Mariann is Mrs. Lawrence Gallagher. I did find it a bit odd the she is listed by her husband's given name and not her own. Her other sisters are noted by their own given names. Could Mariam's husband be the only one still living? Possible, but not the subject of this post.

It's wonderful that the post lists all of those localities because apparently the children of Charles and Anna Brown nee LeGrande escaped Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Knowing where they might be can help me find other information. So now that I've entered all of those tidbits into my tree I can rummage around looking for marriage dates, obituaries, children, etc.

How does it pertain to Hubie? Well, Hubie was born in Hazleton, Pennsylvania and moved when he was about three years old...to Elizabeth, New Jersey. Oh...and his father's name was Charles. Yes. These two clippings are a great start to working on my Brown side and seeing where Hubie will fit in.

** Tombstone Tuesday - Who Is Rt. Rev. John Brown
** Sunday's Obituary - A Genealogical Angel Sent This to Me

Sunday's Obituary - Eleanor Prosser nee Brown

I decided to prepare some posts on the Neil and Bridget Brown (nee Brown) family. I recently uploaded my family tree onto Ancestry. I had been holding off wanting to get everything just perfect before uploading it. How silly is that though! Are we ever truly finished with our family trees? No! So I uploaded it, but kept it private. I know some people think it's counter-productive to keep it private, but I disagree. I can still interact with others and they can interact with me, but they have to contact me for most information as opposed to just copying it and running away. Isn’t that what we want anyway?

So as I was clicking on the little leaf-hints after uploading my tree I saw that someone else had a tree with people from my Brown line. I contacted her and asked if she wanted to collaborate. Since I was looking at this line’s information and hadn’t shared much I figured that now was a good time.

“Eleanor Brown Prosser

Hazleton Standard Speaker,
14OCT1972, pg 16

Mrs. Eleanor Brown Prosser, of 635 N. James St., died at 9 a.m. yesterday in St. Joseph Hospital, where she had been a patient since Sept. 22.

Born in this city where she spent the greater part of her life, she was a daughter of  the late Neil and Bridget (Brown) Brown, and was a member of St. Gabriel’s Church.

She was graduated from the former St. Gabriel’s High School and the Hazleton State General Hospital School of Nursing.

She was preceded in death by a brother, Neil and a sister, Mrs. William (Rita) Dermott.

Surviving are three sons, Thomas J., of Camp Hill; Robert C. and J. Paul, both of Reading; five grandchildren and the following brothers and sisters, Mrs. Nancy Harkins, Newark, Del.; Mrs. Clyde (Mary) Barth, James and Charles Brown, all of this city; Eugene, of Levittown; Paul, Meadville; John, of Philadelphia; and Mrs. Charles (Joan) Cann, this city.

The funeral will be held from the Boyle Funeral Home, 100 S. Wyoming St., at 9 a.m. Monday, with a Mass of the Resurrection in St. Gabriel’s Church at 9:30. Interment will be in the Calvary Cemetery, Drums.

Friends may call from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday.”

What wasn’t mentioned in this obituary was Eleanor’s husband’s name. I’ve seen plenty of obituaries where the spouse was mentioned and not the parents, but I haven’t seen many where the husband was left out. My assumption is that Rodney died before his wife. To me the fact that he isn’t listed as surviving Eleanor implies this, but I’ll have to see what I can turn up. So far nothing on Ancestry or Newspapers.com confirms this, but I have little on Rodney to start from. He was a member of a family tree that my late cousin, Nancy O’Donoghue nee Brown, sent me and she had no dates of birth or death for him. As for Eleanor, she is my first cousin twice removed.

Medical Monday - Hubert Brown

Cause of Death - Hubert Brown

In a previous Pennsylvania Death Certificate Appreciate Society Wednesday's Child post I talked about Alice Brown, a child of Thomas and Mary Brown nee Barrett, that I was able to neatly place into a fabled male-twin slot in my family tree. I also mentioned that when finding her death certificate online I also found another for a child my family knew nothing about and how he died. This is his story.

Thomas and Mary had six known children: Marian, Thomas Jr, Edward, Walter, Alice, and Hubert. Alice and Hubert were my newest discoveries. Hubert was born on November 10th 1915 and died on November 29th living only 19 days. His cause of death was listed as "enteritis and diarrhea." Gastro-enteritis causes diarrhea which can lead to severe dehydration, malnutrition, and death. How did this little guy get gastro-enteritis?

I found a book/journal excerpt on gastro-enteritis in infants (which works out well since those were the words I searched on Google) and I was pretty horrified at what I began reading. Written about 50 years ago the author of the piece chalked up infants getting this sickness to living in impoverished, filthy conditions. I've got to say that I got the impression that the author looked negatively upon those that had infants suffer and die from this. Did he say that? No, but reading "...In areas where poverty, poor housing, and malnutrition still go hand in hand with ignorance this scourge continues..." doesn't make you feel that he thinks much of the poorest of families. Regardless, it made me wonder what conditions my ancestors were living in. My great grandfather worked in the mines which wasn't the cleanest job in the world, but my great grandmother was a teacher. Hardly ignorant. My mother has nothing but good memories of her grandfather and the time she spent with him. All of the children that survived to adulthood earned bachelor degrees or higher (although I'm told my great grandfather didn't believe in women attending college, my great aunt Marian did anyway and excelled). Not exactly an ignorant family. So how did this infant come down with gastro-enteritis?

As I continued reading this excerpt something caught my eye. The word "giardia". It might not mean much to many reading this, but when I was growing up in Hazleton we would get boil advisories for giardiasis in the water. It was always a pain to have to boil our water before using it. Those advisories were during the 70s and 80s. I've moved away so I don't know if they still deal with these pesky protozoans, but I can imagine they do from time to time throughout the region. So if we were dealing with them when I was a child and the article mentions them is it possible that this was what may have caused the gastro-enteritis in Hubert? Giving water to babies wasn't unheard of. It still happens even with breastfeeding mums. We all know that formula is mixed with water, but when my boys were born (the youngest is nine years old) I had to specifically say to not give them water between breastfeedings. It wasn't because of any fear of water-borne infection, but because I didn't want anything interfering with my milk coming in. So if water is still sometimes given to infants it's certainly possible that it could have been given to one 100 years ago causing an infection. Giardia could have laid the whole family up with severe diarrhea and enteritis. When these things happen in infants they can be deadly while someone older and healthier could recover.

I won't ever truly know how Hubert got sick, but I do feel for his parents. They lost Alice in January of 1914 and then another child in November the following year. Alice and Hubert were their last children and both died. They had to have been devastated. Like Alice and most of her family, Hubert was buried in St. Gabriel's Cemetery in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. I haven't been able to find a marker for him yet and I don't know if one exists, but I created a memorial for him on FindAGrave. Rest in peace, Hubert.

Wednesday's Child - Alice Brown

Excerpt of Alice Brown's Death Certificate

Thank goodness for the Pennsylvania Death Certificates being online! I was able to discover that my great grandparents, Thomas and Mary Brown nee Barrett, had two children that I didn't know about previously. Today's post is about one of them.

I came across Alice Brown's death certificate accidentally. I was actually searching for Barretts who died in the Hazleton, PA vicinity and she popped up because her mom's maiden name was Barrett. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. We never knew about her. My mother's middle name (and the name she goes by) is Alice, but we have several Alices in the family tree that she could have been named for. This discovery added another possibility and was certainly interesting news to my mom.

We were surprised that she was never mentioned especially since my grandfather (her brother) would have been about 5 when she died. He would have remembered her. What was more surprising was that she was a twin.

We knew that Walter Brown (another child of Thomas and Mary Brown nee Barrett) had a twin that died and everyone believed the child had been stillborn...and was male. Well as it happens I was updating great uncle Walter's information on his FindAGrave memorial right before beginning this post and had just put in his birthdate of February 3rd 1911 when I looked at Alice's death certificate and saw that was her birthdate as well. She was the twin of family legend.

Alice died of pneumonia on January 16th 1914 at 4 a.m. and was buried in St. Gabriel's Cemetery. There is no known tombstone for her although I did create a memorial for her on FindAGrave. This little girl...my great aunt...was always remembered because of her twin and we remembered her without a name and as the wrong gender. Now we can remember her properly and someday maybe I can discover where in Saint Gabriel's cemetery she is buried.

Wednesday's Child - Ann Brown

Ann Brown is buried with her grandparents in St. Gabriel's Cemetery, Hazleton, PA

My mother, aunt, and uncle knew that they had a sibling named Ann who died in 1950 and was buried with their grandparents, Edward and Alice Quirk nee Blanchfield. Still seeing the details in a death certificate can also make you realize just how lucky the mother was to have survived the birth. A premature breech delivery isn't optimal even today and Mary's mother died shortly after childbirth so I'm sure that was a concern. In fact my mother tells me this Mary (her mother) was obsessively worried about childbirth. When my mother had her first child they deliberately didn't let her mom know she was in labor so she didn't freak out.

You can see that Ann was not stillborn. She was born on November 20th, 1950 and lived for 2-1/2 hours. It had to have been heart-breaking. How could it not be?

Ann Brown, child of Edward and Mary Brown nee Quirk

I can't make out all the details in the cause of death, but I'm curious. If anyone else can make it out or even has an idea, please comment below. This is all I can make out and some may very well be wrong:

"Premature (8 mos) breech - (unknown) - spontaneous pressure on chord - utra uterine (unknown) to (unknown) resperatory (sic) movements no bronchial obstruction"

Ann Brown - Cause of death

It's always heart-breaking when a little life is cut short. I take today to remember my Aunt Ann. She will never be forgotten by our family.

Sunday's Obituary - Mary Brown nee Barrett

Hazleton, PA newspaper*

Yet another obituary that I had no idea I hadn't shared. No idea until the other day when I was doing some research into my Barrett line and tried using this obituary to narrow the search down a bit. You see Mary was a Barrett and she had 5 siblings: Edward, William, Hugh, Walter, and Alice.

I know that Edward moved to Buffalo, New York with his family and most likely died there. His wife, Esther Corrigan, is buried in Mount Calvary Cemetery (Cheektowaga, Erie, NY) and my guess is that Edward is most likely buried there too. Sadly, there was a problem with my photo request on FindAGrave and it appears that her tombstone is overturned and unreadable so I can't see if her husband is on the stone with her. There was no memorial for Edward on FindAGrave, just Esther so I'll most likely contact the cemetery and see if they have a burial for him. I have a date of birth, but only know that he died after 1944 because of this obituary. Edward is mentioned as surviving his sister. I have a few possible dates of death for him which I will try to check in the local Hazleton newspaper when I go back home. Since he was originally from the area chances are something made it in there.

Now the obituary names her sister, Alice, as surviving her, but William, Hugh, and Walter are left out of the mix. From searching the online Pennsylvania Death Index I can see that William died in 1915 and Walter died in 1910. Walter never married. William did (to Carrie Bittenbender) and had three known children: Marie, William Jr., and Thomas.

In my research I had been trying to find Hugh and Alice. Both moved from Hazleton and became fairly elusive. Neither married and both have common names. At least when Edward moved to the Buffalo area I was able to track him down because I knew the names of his wife and children. I couldn't do that with Hugh and Alice. With Hugh I can see that he isn't mentioned in his sister's obituary so that most likely means that he died before she did. I also know that Alice out-lived her sister. Aside from that it's a dead end.

I'll dive deeper into some possibilities with Hugh and Alice and some documents I found in another post. Until then I'll share the obituary and funeral notice for my paternal great grandmother:

"Deaths

Mrs. Thomas J. Brown

Mrs. Thomas J. Brown, of 3322 West Broad street, this city, died at 3:15 this morning at her home following eight weeks' illness. She was born here and spent her entire life in Hazleton. Her maiden name was Miss Mary A. Barrett and her parents were the late Patrick and Bridget Barrett.

Mrs. Brown was a member of St. Gabriel's church and the Altar and Rosary Society. In her younger days she was a school teacher in Hazle township.

Surviving are her husband and the following children: Marian and Edward Brown, city school teachers; Sergeant Walter Brown of the army air forces stationed in the South Pacific and Thomas Brown, Jr., of Elmira, N. Y. One brother, Edward Narrett (sic), of Buffalo, N. Y., and one sister, Miss Alice Barrett, a registered nurse of New York City, also survive.

The funeral will be held at 9:30 Friday morning. Services will be conducted at 10 a.m. in St. Gabriel's church and interment will be in St. Gabriel's cemetery."

Hazleton, PA newspaper*

"The funeral of Mrs. Thomas J. Brown, of 832 West Broad street, was held at 9:30 this morning with the blessing at 10 o'clock in St. Gabriel's church by Monsignor D. J. Kane, who also gave the blessing at the grave. The pallbearers were: Daniel Meehan, Michael Welsh, John McHugh, Michael Conner, John O'Donnell and Charles O'Donnell. Interment was in St. Gabriel's cemetery."

*The clippings were taken from the Hazleton, Pennsylvania newspaper. It is called the Standard Speaker, but was once The Plain Speaker, The Standard Sentinel, and possible something else. Problem is that when I printed these clippings from microfilm I didn't source my information properly...bad, Cherie...I know, I know! I just wrote 04APR1944 on the back and that is actually her date of death not the publication date. I've improved in my sourcing since then...

Wedding Wednesday - Brown-Tabor Engagement

Standard Speaker, 30JUN1964, pg 15

Mommy! Yeah...my mom's a babe. I love this picture. I had never seen it until I came across it searching newspapers. I'm so glad I found it though!

"Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Brown, 576 West Green street, announce the engagement of their daughter, Alice, to Paul C. Tabor, son of Clarence P. Tabor, and the late Mrs. Florence Tabor, 230 East Broad street, West Hazleton.

Miss Brown was graduated from Hazleton High School in 1962 and attended Marywood College, Scranton.

Mr. Tabor was graduated from Hazleton High School in 1960 and is employed by Allied Egry Business Forms, Philadelphia, as cameraman."

You know when I got married I didn't even think to put anything in the newspaper. Not the news in Hawaii nor the news back in Hazleton, PA. Maybe if I remained in my hometown it would have been something I thought of. Being stationed elsewhere, well, it never even crossed my mind. If it didn't cross my mind for my marriage I can tell you that it certainly didn't for my engagement. I also didn't do any engagement photos. I had a photographer at my wedding, but those pictures were for family, not for the papers.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I disagree with the tradition. I love it in fact. I regret not thinking about it. If I had I most certainly would have done it. Now that my hubby and I are civilians and (hopefully) not moving much anymore I will certainly be making sure that there is something in the local papers when my sons are married. For their engagement that will depend on who they marry. Traditionally it was just the woman that got her picture in an engagement announcement, but it's a little different now. Sometimes you've got the couple in the picture. I'd actually like to see that.

Right now I'll live vicariously through my mom and her beautiful photo in her engagement announcement.

Matrilineal Monday - Finding Nancy

We all have brick walls and brick walls with female ancestors can be particularly painful especially if you don't know their maiden names. A maiden name wasn't the issue with this particular ancestor though. Neil and Nancy Brown nee McCoy were born in Ireland (although I don't know where) and were the parents of six children....eight by some accounts because it appears they may have adopted two boys, Patrick Timmoney and Michael Brown. When I couldn't go farther back in this line than Neil and Nancy I did as much research as I could on their children. Who did they marry? When did they die? What children did they have? It was this lateral research that helped me eventually find out more information on Nancy. That and a little help from others.

My cousin, Nancy O'Donoghue nee Brown, helped me with why I couldn't find Nancy in records and why this "Annie" chick was living my 2nd great grandfather...Nancy's husband. Who the heck was this "Annie"!?!?! Nancy explained to me that Ann or Anna or Annie was a common nickname/diminutive for Nancy and that it was the same person. Sort of like John = Jack, James = Jim, Richard = Dick/Rick/Rich. That small bit of intel really helped my sanity. Nancy and I collaborated on our family trees up until she passed away. Just before she passed I was able to share with her the location of Neil and Nancy's tombstone. It was in Saint Gabriel's Cemetery in Hazleton, Pennsylvania where we knew it must be. We just hadn't been able to find it until we got some more help.

The caretaker for the cemetery, Rick, was on the premises when my mother and I visited in 2010 so we got to ask him if he could confirm if they were in the cemetery and where their tombstones were located. He was able to do both. There were several tombstones for various Browns and Neil Browns in the cemetery. He pulled out his binder and we were able to see when someone was buried. I knew Neil died before the 1900 census. There was someone that matched and he walked us right to the tombstone.

She was listed as Nancy on her tombstone, but not her death certificate!

The tombstone helped to confirm what I knew. Neil did pass after the 1880 census and before the 1900 census. Nancy passed after the 1920 census. So I (eventually) went to the Pennsylvania Death Certificates that were online to look for her.

If you have family from Pennsylvania and you haven't used this resource you really need to...and it's free! Well, from what I can see it's free to Pennsylvania residents here (start by entering your zip code at the bottom of the page) and is included with an Ancestry membership here. Either way with how much I've discovered it's paid for the membership I have many times over. Moving on....

So after seeing the tombstone (and unless there was a mistake on the stone) I knew Nancy/Annie died in 1926. Move a head a few years and being able to access the Pennsylvania death certificates online and I came up with a possible match:

Excerpt of Nancy/Anna Brown nee McCoy's death certificate

It was even the top hit. I didn't search for "Nancy" or "Annie" but I did search for the surname Brown in Luzerne county with a death year of 1926. This Anna Brown had a husband named Neil, was born in Ireland, and died in the right year. Was that proof enough for me that it was her? Not necessarily. She is listed as being married on the certificate and I know Neil died many years before she did. I also know that putting married instead of widowed is a common mistake on death certificates as well as census records.

I looked further into the death certificate and saw that she was buried in Saint Gabriel's Cemetery which was one of my family cemeteries, but it's a huge one and that wouldn't confirm much. Then I saw the informant on the death certificate was Owen McElwee. Now that's a name in my family tree! Owen was the husband of her oldest daughter, Bridget. I went on to look at the 1920 census to check out the address and found that she was living with Bridget and Owen before she died. 

Excerpt of Nancy/Anna Brown nee McCoy's
death certificate

Now how correct is the rest of the information on the death certificate? It wasn't given by her daughter, but by her daughter's husband. The information could certainly be wrong, but so many of these records for my ancestors simply state "unknown" for the person's foreign-born parents that seeing something at all makes me very hopeful. I'll have to verify it in some way, but it's information I didn't have before. Finding Nancy's death certificate didn't give me an exact date of birth, but it did give me her death date and possible parents. 

This is the point in my blog post where I would normally say that the next time I'm in Pennsylvania I'll pull her obituary, but I can't. There is no microfilm for the Hazleton newspapers at the public library for that year. The Hazleton Standard Speaker has some of the years missing at the library in their vaults, but I don't have access. I'm hoping that Newspapers.com will get them to share at some point in the future and maybe I'll find the obituary, but it's not happening yet. I'll still enter it onto my research calendar, but with little hope of finding it any time soon.

Wordless Wednesday - Missing My Uncle

April 3, 1941 - January 30, 2015

Sometimes life just isn't very fair.

Military Monday - Remembering my Uncle

My uncle, Edward Thomas Brown, Jr., passed away sometime on Friday, January 30th. I found out as I was driving to a Scout class this weekend. Not the best drive after that news and being cheerful in class wasn't happening either. We knew he was sick for a few weeks. Cancer. By the time it was discovered it had really progressed. We knew it all didn't sound good, but you never know how long you'll have after such a serious diagnosis. I did think I would have at least a little more time though. I had emailed his wife and asked what time and phone number would be good to call this Sunday. My husband, boys, and I wanted to be able to talk to him again even if the cancer kept him from being able to talk back. We never got another Sunday to say goodbye. It makes his passing even harder to deal with. We didn't call quickly enough.

I thought I transcribed this clipping before, but I couldn't find it. Either way I'm sharing it today. I don't know when or if an obituary will be published. I do know that he will be cremated and his ash will be scattered in the Pacific. Thank goodness for FindAGrave where I could at least create a virtual memorial.

"Ensign Edward T. Brown

Ensign Brown Navy Aviator

Ensign Edward T. Brown, son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Brown, 576 West Green street, this city, recently was designated a naval aviator and received his 'wings of gold' at the U.S. Naval Auxiliary Air Station, New Iberia, La.

He now is serving aboard the aircraft carrier, the USS Hornet, with its home port at San Diego, Calif.

During his training, he gained ground and flight experience that fully qualified him for all-weather flying and primary anti-submarine missions, and completed carrier landing qualifications aboard the anti-submarine warfare support aircraft carrier, the USS Lexington, in the Gulf of Mexico.

Ensign Brown, whose father is assistant principal at the H. F. Grebey Junior High School, was graduated from the University of Scranton and entered the service in June, 1962. he is an alumnus of Hazleton high School, class of 1958."

Happy Veterans Day to All Those Who Served

(This is a repost from previous years to thank those that have served in the military and to remember those veterans in my family as well. New to the annual post is my step-father, James Trunzo!)

I want to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who has served honorably in our Armed Forces.  Without our service members past and present our country would not be where it is today. We would not have gained our independence, we would not have unified a divided country, we would not have stopped the atrocities of 2 World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. There are many conflicts not mentioned which do not make light of the sacrifices that servicemen and women made in them. Sometimes the sacrifice was in time away from family and long hours. At times it was witnessing the horrors of those wars or even succumbing valiantly to them.

Not everyone serves their country as a Veteran does and not everyone can or should. You are unique, respected and given a burden that many would not be able to bear. Whether you served many months or many years in our Armed Forces makes no difference. You served. Thank you!

I'd like to now pay tribute to my family members who have served (I hope I didn't miss any!).

SGT James E Trunzo - USA

  

Sunday's Obituary - Catherine Quirk

Mary and Catherine "Kay" Quirk

I posted Aunt Kay's Funeral Card this past Friday and realized that I had never posted her obituary.  Strange, but true.  I seem to get sidetracked by so many other lines and neat things I find that far too often I find that I've neglected those members of my family tree that should have been blogged about earlier on.  So today, I'm going to share her passing.

Standard Sentinel 24JAN1961, pg 6

"Miss Catherine Quirk

Miss Catherine Quirk, 572 West Green street, this city, died yesterday morning at 10 o'clock at her home following an illness of two months.

Born in Jeanesville, she was a daughter of the late William and Mary Ann (Lee) Quirk.  She had resided in this city for the past 19 years.

She was a member of St. Gabriel's Church and the Altar and Rosary Society of the parish.

Surviving are a sister, Mary Quirk, and a niece, Mrs. Edward Brown, both of this city.

The funeral will be held from the Boyle Funeral Home at a time to be announced.  Friends may call Wednesday from 7 to 10 p.m. and Thursday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 10 p.m."

Standard Sentinel 26JAN1961, pg10

"QUIRK - At Hazleton, January 23rd Miss Catherine Quirk, of 572 W. Green street.  Funeral from the Boyle Funeral Home, 100 S. Wyoming street, Friday at 9 a.m. Solemn high mass of requiem in St. Gabriel's Church at 9:30.  Interment in St. Gabriel's Cemetery.  Friends may call today from 2 to 4 and 7 to 10.  John J. Boyle Sons, funeral directors."

Standard Sentinel 28JAN1961, pg12

"Miss Catherine Quirk, 572 West Green street, who died Monday, was buried yesterday from the Boyle Funeral Home.

Rev. Joseph Akulonis was celebrant of the solemn high mass of requiem in St. Gabriel's Church.  Rev. Edward Haggerty was deason, and Rev. Paul Purcell, sub-deacon.  Interment was in the parish cemetery, where Rev. Haggerty gave the blessing at the grave.

Pallbearers were Edward Brown Jr., James Moran, Thomas Sacco, John Boyle; James Flynn and Edward O'Donnell."

Tombstone Tuesday - Nancy Finally Got Her Tombstone

Michael and Nancy O'Donoghue nee Brown - St Gabriel's Cemetery, Hazleton, PA

I've blogged about my cousin, Nancy O'Donoghue nee Brown, before.  She was one of those dear cousins you meet online when researching your genealogy.  You correspond, compare notes, and help each other as best as you can.  We even met once.  I still remember it fondly.

Shortly before I started blogging (almost 3 years ago now) Nancy died.  She was killed by her husband and we were all shocked beyond belief.  This doesn't happen to people you know.  It's something you read about in other people's families.  Her husband, Michael, was apparently seriously ill.  He died almost exactly a year after Nancy and before his trial could begin.

This is one of those pieces of family history that I would love to know what happened...why it happened, but I would never seek to ask anyone in Nancy and Michael's family just to confirm or alter my own theories.  Their children and grandchildren have got to be completely devastated and heart-broken.  I'm sure they would prefer to remember Michael and Nancy with fond, loving memories.  I'm sure they do.  They deserve to.

I was upset when I visited Nancy's gravesite nearly a year after she passed and discovered that there was only a marker from the funeral home.  No tombstone.  I had spoken with the caretaker at Saint Gabriel's Cemetery in Hazleton, PA and he had told me that many people stopped by to visit Nancy and asked the same question.

I didn't make it home in 2012 so perhaps the tombstone was there then.  I can only guess that perhaps the family knew in 2011 that Michael's end was near and they held off on placing the stone until after his passing.  Either way I'm just glad it's there.

Rest in peace, Nancy and Michael.

Sunday's Obituary - Discovering Nana through Maurice Blum's Obituary

What a handsom man he was!

I never had the pleasure of meeting Maurice Blum and he's not a relative of mine, but I wanted to share his obituary because he is special to me and my family.  How you might ask?  His wife, Hazel Blum nee Hill, was all I ever knew of a grandmother.  My paternal grandmother, Florence Tabor nee Bronsavage, died a decade before I was born and my maternal grandmother, Mary Ann Brown nee Quirk, died 2 years before I was born.  I love both of them, but I never had them in my life.  Hazel was my surrogate grandmother.

I've mentioned Hazel in previous posts, but nothing really concrete.  I never really knew much about my "Nana".  She taught my sisters and I how to knit and crochet.  She loved watching soap operas while she did her yarn-work.  She embroidered and cross-stitched and even reupholstered the covers on some dining room chairs with her needlework.  She lived in the house next door to us.  It was a house that she grew up in and lived her entire life.  It was the house she eventually shared with her husband, Maurice Blum.

I had always wanted to find out more about Nana, but like many things, I procrastinated and never followed through until I got a lovely email and phone call from a sweetheart named, Debbie, that came across one of my posts on Nana.  I'm not going to tell Debbie's story here.  She's going to be writing a book about it and when it's out I'll let you all know so you can see for yourself, but Debbie asked for some information on my Nana and I was so disappointed to admit that I knew little of value about a woman I loved dearly...so I started some research.  Research for me to find out more about the woman that meant so much to me and research for Debbie because I was touched by the connection her family had with Hazel and Maurice Blum.

So having just returned from a trip to Pennsylvania I'm going to share the information I found starting with Maurice's obituary today.  Maurice died a year before I was born, but Nana mentioned her husband frequently.  Like a typical 11 to 14 year old, the information just never really made and impression and apart from his name and a couple other details I can remember nothing.  It's really a shame because, as you'll see, he was an extremely impressive man.  So much so that his death made the front page of the Hazleton Standard Speaker.

Hazleton Standard Speaker, 21MAY1971, pg 1

"Dr. M.L. Blum, Prominent Civic Worker, Is Dead

Dr. Maurice L. Blum, local optometrist and one of the community's most active civic workers and leader in veteran affairs, died at 11 a.m. yesterday in the Hazleton State General Hospital following a lengthy illness.

Dr. Blum, who resided at 701 W. Diamond Ave., was a veteran of World War One, and was a charter member of American Legion Post 76, which he served as commander in 1928, and for many years as chaplain of the veterans' organization.

Dr. Blum served for 22 years as head of the National Firm's Division for the annual campaigns of the Hazleton Chapter of the American Red Cross.

He also served as general chairman of the United Fund Campaign, and headed divisions in other years.

Dr. Blum served as chairman of the Salvation Army Advisory Board, was a past president of the Hazleton Lions Club and served in various capacities with the Hazleton Tuberculosis and Health Society, the Anthracite Council of the Boy Scouts of America (now part of the Penn Mountain Council), and other local organizations.


Arranged Programs

21MAY1971, pg 14

For many years he arranged programs for patients in the White Haven State Sanitarium and continued the service for the White Haven State School and Hospital.

He was also one of the organizers and an active member, until his illness, of the committee of veterans in the Greater Hazleton Area who visited hospitalized veterans in St. Joseph and the State General Hospitals.

In July 1965, Dr. Blum was selected to a life membership in the American Optometric Association, and prior to that honor was awarded life membership in the state organization and in the Anthracite Optometric Association in 1960.  He aided in the organization of the anthracite group in September 1929, and served as its secretary-treasurer for 25 years.

State Chairman

In October, 1931, he was general chairman of the State Optometric Association Convention, which was held in Hazleton, at which time he was selected to serve a two-year term as secretary of the state organization.

In May, 1954, the Regional Association held a special dinner marking Dr. Blum's 25 years of service as secretary-treasurer, during which he was awarded a plaque for that service.

He has been the recipient of numerous local awards, among which were the designation of "Outstanding Citizen" by the Greater Hazleton Jaycees in 1957.  He was also recognized by the American Legion, the Boy Scouts of America, Salvation Army, Heart Association, White Haven State School and Hospital, Greater Hazleton Veterans' Association; Unico Club and the Community Chest.

American Legion Post 76, in April 1969, awarded Dr. Blum a life membership for his outstanding service to the organization [sic].

Dr. Blum is survived by his wife, the former Hazel Hill, and ane [sic] sister, residing in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Services Sunday

Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Sunday from the Temple Beth Israel, with Rabbi Abraham Ruderman, spiritual leader of the Temple officiating.  Interment will be in Beth Israel Cemetery.

Viewing will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday at the Joseph and Mary Fierro Funeral Home.

Pallbearers, all members of the Hazleton Lions Club, will be President David Schwarz; Third Vice President Louis Fierro, and Past Presidents Carl Ambrosio, Edward Scarp, Angelo Sist and Peter Forliano."

I read this and all I could think was, "WOW".  I never imagined that Nana was married to such a man.  She was so quiet and reserved...shy even.  I could hardly picture her at his side at these events, but perhaps that wasn't expected at the time.  I read this obituary and realized that Nana's life must have been so different than what I imagined...or was it?  I wish I had paid attention to all her stories.  She and Maurice never had children so who is there to remember them now?

FOLLOW UP - It didn't take long after posting this that something occurred to me...there's no age or date of birth for Maurice.  All that great information and it isn't mentioned.  It's not impossible to find clues to a birth for him (military records, burial, SSDI) but it was just plain surprising that with all the great information in there nothing on his birth.  Heck...very little on his family in general!