Mystery Monday - Mystery Solved

It all started with a short clipping of a death notice in the Hazleton, Pennsylvania newspaper. It alerted me to my 2nd great grandfather's niece who I didn't know existed and to a sister I didn't know existed.

The Plain Speaker, 22AUG1903, pg 1

Now I can finally put Mrs John Dever (Nellie/Ellen Dever nee Reilly), her mother Margaret Reilly nee Barrett, and Mrs. John Mulhearn (Ellen Mulhearn nee Barrett) in my family tree.

Excerpt from Patrick Barrett's death certificate

I knew from Patrick's death certificate that his father's name was Edward Barrett and his mother was Mary Merrick. I head never heard of the surname Merrick before, but I was hesitant to add the names to my tree because the information was second-hand and given when someone was grieving. I needed more before including it.

While Nellie Dever's mom was only referred to as Mrs. Charles Reilly in her obituary I found her death certificate online, but it wasn't as clear cut as I would have liked.

Excerpt from Margaret Reilly nee Barrett's death certificate

Her daughter (also named Margaret) gave the information for her death certificate and it seems the elder Margaret's husband's name found it's way into the place of "father" on the certificate. I'd have dismissed this certificate entirely if it wasn't for seeing her mother listed as "Mary Merrick." Seeing that is what led me to believe that the father's name was most certainly wrong.

So there I was trying to see if Patrick Barrett and Margaret Reilly nee Barrett were siblings. The assumption is that they are, but you need more than assumptions. I went through all of the news clippings I could find on the Reillys and Devers and didn't find anything else I could use to solidify the connection. I went to sleep knowing that I was missing something. Something that was obvious. I couldn't sleep. I spent too much time thinking through this problem. When I woke up the next morning I knew what I needed to check.

In the initial clipping that led me to the niece of Patrick Barrett I had completely overlooked the other sister...Mrs. John Mulhearn. I didn't know her first name, but if my deductions were right she'd be another sibling to Patrick and Margaret. I found her death certificate. Her name was Ellen. Just like her niece Nellie/Ellen Devers nee Reilly.

Excerpt of Ellen Mulheron nee Barrett's death certificate

Their similar names was great and all, but I was interested in the information on her parents to finally make or dispel this theory. I found what I was looking for.

Her parents were indeed Edward and Mary Barrett nee Merrick. The information was given by what appears to be a nursing home. They were obviously given all of her information by her family. I also have a county in Ireland now. County Mayo. Who knows if it's right, but it's a new lead to take. Hopefully I'll finally be able to jump the pond!

Mystery Monday - I Need a Clear Set of Eyes for This

1880 US Federal Census Patrick Barrett household

I need a sanity check. A pretty big one too. The above is from the 1880 U.S. Federal Census. It's my Patrick and Bridget Barrett nee Farley with three of their six children. They were living in Cranberry, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. In 1900 they would be living on East Diamond Avenue (with all six kids) in Hazleton, Luzerne county. Hazleton and Cranberry are close to each other so this change in address isn't such a stretch. This clipping also helps connect them if there was any doubt...

The Plain Speaker, 22AUG1903, pg 1

I was supposed to share this clipping in a post published yesterday, but I apparently left it in "Draft" mode so it never went out. It will go out for next Sunday. I've got school-brain right now! Anyway in that upcoming post I have this clipping and deduced that this Miss Nellie Riley (Reilly) was most likely the daughter of Charles and Margaret Reilly nee Barrett. I've confirmed the Charles part, but Margaret is always referred to as "Mrs. Charles Reilly." Women's lib came to late too help me with that.

So I'm trying to connect Nellie with Patrick. She's his niece so if Margaret Reilly nee Barrett is her correct name, then I've pretty much got it down that Margaret is Patrick's sister. So I went looking for Charles, Margaret, and Nellie in the 1880 census. I found a Charles, Margaret, and Ellen (her FindAGrave memorial lists her as Ellen Devers nee Reilly) and they live right by Patrick and Bridget. Only one family separates the two...

1880 US Federal Census Tidley/Reilly household pg 25A

...but it just couldn't be easy because Charles and Margaret are listed as having the surname "Tidley" and the kids are listed as Ellen, Charles, Magie, Mary, and Edward. Also next to Ellen it has her relationship as "S. Daughter" which I would assume to be step-daughter, but she is listed as his daughter in his obituary and all those other kiddos are listed as well except for Mary. Perhaps she had passed away by then.

The above is at the bottom of the census page and the family continues over onto the next census page where Patrick is also listed...

1880 US Federal Census Tidley/Reilly/Mirick household pg 26B

So here we have a "S. Son" (guessing step-son) by the name of Martin Casina (ish). Below that is Charles' mother-in-law, Mary Mirick. Confused?

OK so on Patrick Barrett's death certificate his parents are listed as Edward Barrett and Mary Merrick. I hadn't heard the name Merrick before, but then I found Margaret Reilly's death certificate and her parents are listed as Charles Reilly and Mary Merrick. Her daughter, Margaret, supplied the information for the death certificate and as we know Charles Reilly was her husband not her father.

So Mary Merrick pops up on both Patrick Barrett's and Mary Reilly nee Barrett's death certificates. When I found the 1880 census records aside from the step-daughter and step-son thing I was convinced I had found them. Then I started thinking about Mary Merrick. Wouldn't her name be Barrett? Why would they have her down by her maiden name in the census? I would say that perhaps she remarried, but why wold Merrick be listed as her maiden name on her death certificate? Am I trying to fit a square peg into a round hole? It's certainly not conclusive, but there are too many coincidences in all of this.

Thoughts? Because right now my mind is a bit muddled.

Mystery Monday - Figuring Out my Lees

I previously posted the obituary for Gertrude Menges nee Lee. I said that I knew she had to be a relation...a cousin...because the clipping was in a family scrapbook. Not the strongest way to make a connection, but I was able to discover more on newspapers.com when I searched the Hazleton papers for Quirk and Lee.

The Plain Speaker, 05SEP1903, pg 6

 "Miss Lee, of Pittsburg, is visiting the Quirk family at Jeanesville. Miss Lee has been spending her vacation at Atlantic City."

So I know that one of the Lees, Grace or Carrie, were visiting my relatives. Edward Lee was still alive at this point as well and living with the William Quirk family in Jeanesville. Although I'm sure her main purpose was to have fun with the girls! I did find it amusing that the Hazleton paper also mentioned that she had been vacationing in Atlantic City. I don't know that would have been relevant to anyone reading it, but it does make the blurb a bit longer.

The Plain Speaker, 02OCT1903, pg 6

"Miss Carrie Lee, of Pittsburg, and Miss Katherine Quirk, of Jeanesville, are the guests of friends at Harwood."

Another short and sweet clipping, but I know that Carrie Lee and one of my Quirk relations are visiting someone together. Harwood wasn't really that far away so I'm not sure why this was in the paper. My great grandfather lived in Jeanesville and worked in the Harwood mines so they were close. I'm guessing it made the news because of Carrie Lee being out from Pittsburgh and they included Katherine. Either way it helps me to firm up that connection.

Something else I was curious about after seeing this clipping was that the date was barely a month after the previous. Was Carrie the person visiting in the first clipping and it was just a rather long visit or was is a separate visit? It doesn't matter too much but I was surprised at not even a month passing between the two.

The Plain Speaker, 18SEP1903, pg 6

"The following Jeanesville young people at a party held in Jeanesville last night had their photographs taken by Photographer Heiser, of Hazleton: James Collier, Philip Coll, John Dougherty, Robert Brennan James Martin, Jetta Coll, Katie, Ella, Bessie and Mary Quirk, Katie and Margaret Brennan and Anna Martin and Carrie Lee, of Pittsburgh."

Another page six clipping from The Plain Speaker! I'm beginning to think that this was one long visit by Carrie Lee. I don't know who Anna Martin is though. Perhaps Carrie was vacationing with a friend. I mean a vacation alone isn't all that fun and she was in Atlantic City during this trip. Staying with the Quirks that long or visiting that frequently if it wasn't a long stay does help solidify a connection. It doesn't tell me where to place them in my tree, but it does reinforce that they belong...somewhere.

Give me time. I'll figure out where!

Mystery Monday - Died on Voyage

I've mentioned before that I've been working hard during the periods when I'm not in school to get through my family tree and attempt to cite and/or correct the information in there. I was rather sloppy in citing my research when I first started this addiction called genealogy about 15 years ago. While I know I'm not the only one that starts out this way it can be very frustrating when trying to clean that mess up.

So I was reviewing a post on Eugene Villers' tombstone and I included the names of his children in that post. I actually have dates of birth of each of those five children...with no citation for where I got that information. If I only had a time machine I could go back and give my younger self a piece of my mind. I have no idea where I got these dates. None. I can't recreate any search that would give me the information on Ancestry and I know that's where I would have gotten it. I did find the passenger list on the Trumbull in 1856 and it listed most everyone I had in my family tree. It did, however raise a few questions that I hope someone can help me answer.

Trumbull passenger list - Departed Antwerp, Belgium. Arrived New York, New York 22APR1856

You can see where the Eugene Villers family begins at line 113. His wife's name looks something like "Felix" but I'm actually not hung up on that. I've seen other passenger lists from Belgium where the mother's name was given as her maiden name and one where every child had it's mother's maiden name next to it. I'm not concentrating on that today though. I see Martin on line 115 and then two Maries/Marias (apparently twins and they did have different middle names), but no son for Eugene...named Eugene...like I have in my tree.

Now if you look closely squeezed in between line 119 and 120 is another Eugene Villers. At the end of the row for the person above him it says "died on the voyage." My mystery is did they squeeze this other Eugene Villers in there because they missed him by his parents? According to the unsourced information I have Eugene was born on January 19th, 1855 so he would have been an infant on the trip from Belgium. So if they were squeezing him in there and not by his parents was it because he too died on the voyage?

According to the manifest the Villers family's destination was Wisconsin, but so far I haven't been able to find them in the 1860 census. I'm certainly going to keep looking, but so far...nada. In the 1870 census this Eugene wasn't listed with his mom and dad and he would have been around 15. Mom and dad both died in the 1880s and so far the only obituary I could find for daddy-Eugene was a blurb saying he died. Only about two sentences long. I'm not hopeful about finding any other detailed obituary, but miracles do happen.

The other thing about this passenger list is that Pierre Louis Villers is missing. The unsourced information I have has his DOB being November 1853. Could Louis and Eugene be one and the same person? I'm thinking they could be especially since I did such a bang-up job in failing to cite my sources. Louis is in the other census records and they were close in age. Someone could have mistaken them for two different people...or they could have been two different people (sigh).

Either way, little-Eugene seems to have disappeared after the voyage and Louis appears. If this Eugene did die on the ship were death certificates created? If they where would they be found? Eugene (jr) isn't a direct ancestor for my husband and children, but it's still a mystery and researching lateral lines can lead to important breakthroughs...and my OCD side doesn't like a mystery. What do you think?

Mystery Monday - Is This the Same Person?

I need a sanity check here because I really think that these two obituaries are for the same person. I shouldn't assume anything, but what are the chances of two Hermans men with the initials "J. B. " dying around the same time, in the same place, of the same ailment, and were buried in the same cemetery? Here's what I was looking at:

I printed his death certificate from the Wisconsin Historical Society. So John (Jean) Baptiste Hermans was 47 when he died, a farmer, from Belgium, married to Antoinette Dart, and his parents' names were Charles Antoin Hermans and Josephine Landvick (her name has been spelled differently in so many places, but they're all similar). You can also see that he died of apoplexy in Martinsville on October 30, 1892. It all seems pretty straight forward, right? I thought so too so based on his death I went to two local papers at the society to look for death notices around that time. Normally pre-1900 newspapers are the bane of my existence, but in this case I not only found one clipping, but two. I don't know which one I located first, but both were brief. I spent the time looking for another clipping in the off-chance that another would yield more information.

The Kewaunee Enterprise, 04NOV1892, pg8

The first news clipping is from The Kewaunee Enterprise on Friday, November 4th, 1892:

"-Died of apoplexy, on Oct. 30, 1892, Mr. J. B. Hermans, of Tonet, town of Luxembourg: His remains were interred in the Catholic church cemetery at Martinsville on Wednesday, Nov. 2nd, Rev. Father Van Huyter officiating. Deceased was about 45 years old and leaves a wife and about 8 children, besides his aged mother, a brother and two sisters, to mourn his loss."

This is obviously the John Baptiste Hermans in the death certificate even though they got the age wrong at least they said "about 45 years old" and I'd say 47 is "about" 45. I did like the fact that this clipping told me that he had one brother, two sisters, and (about) eight children. I'm trying to round out and firm up this part of my tree and I only had one sister for him and she's my hubby's ancestor. Even though there isn't a ton of information via the name department in here I do see dates for his death and even burial which is more than I've come to expect from most of these really old clippings. So here, I'm certain I have the right guy. Then there's this article:

The New Era, 09NOV1892, pg1

"Mr. Joseph B. Hermans, one of the most prominsnt (sic) farmers in Red River died last Sunday from a stroke of apoplexy. He was well up to a few moments of his death, and died almost without warning. He was 47 years old, and a highly respected man. He was buried on Tuesday from the Catholic church at Walhain, Rev. Fr. Van Huyster officiating. He was a native of Belgium, and leaves a wife and a large family of children."

Here his name is listed as "Joseph" which I could ignore if everything else was the same. The New Era is another Kewaunee County newspaper and this clipping was in the Wednesday, November 9th, 1892 edition. He made the front page even though the article was brief. The rest of the information is just slightly "off." First the name was wrong then we see Red River and Walhain mentioned not Tonet and Luxemburg. This doesn't bother me much because they're all in the same general area. In fact Wisconsin sometimes breaks areas down to unincorporated communities so while one newspaper may have just given the nearest town the other may have given the community name. The age is different than the other article, but here it's the correct age. Here it says he was buried on Tuesday. In 1892 November 8th was a Tuesday and November 1st was as well. The first article said he was buried November 2nd which was a Wednesday. Not the same burial dates, but this could be a mistake in either article. This article says he died last Sunday. My guy did die on a Sunday, but it was Sunday, October 30th not Sunday, November 6th. When they said Sunday could they have meant the one before? He's buried in the same place and I think eight children is a pretty large family even back when lots of kids was common.

So if the only thing that was different was the first name I could get over that, but there's enough different in this second article that even though logic and instinct tell me that it's the same person I begin to wonder. No it doesn't make a huge difference. I have a clipping for my guy and the second article doesn't change that, but I wonder if I should be looking for another Hermans dying around the same time as well. A search on the Wisconsin Historical Society's page turns up nothing for the Hermans I'm looking for in death records...not even the death certificate that I originally pulled. They've "updated" their search engine and it's crap and I've voiced that opinion to them. Just because the terrible search results didn't give me a Joseph Hermans doesn't mean much since the results also didn't give me John Baptiste Hermans. So should I waste time in the society when I get the next opportunity to scan the Kewaunee County death records to see if there are two or is this the same person? Thoughts?