Tombstone Tuesday - When Your Dead Relatives Call To You

Have you ever had those moments of serendipity? You know the ones I'm talking about. The ones where your relatives call to you from beyond the grave to guide you. When you're walking through a cemetery filled with various tombstones with surnames in your tree, but you don't know which ones are yours. You want to take pictures of them all, but just don't have time so you grab some and get lucky.

Get lucky. Is it really getting lucky if you take pictures of them all? Nah. It's being thorough. I had an instance of luck at Saint Gabriel's Cemetery in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Luck of the Irish or my relative pulling me in. Call it what you want, but it was thrilling. So here's the story...

My oldest and his grandpa pouring a new base of a family tombstone. To be
fair my oldest did the heavy lifting. Grandpa did the technical work.

My first week in Pennsylvania I head to the cemetery with my kiddos, mom, and stepdad to fix the tombstone for my 2nd great grandparents, Edward and Alice Quirk nee Blanchfield. I've been to Saint Gabriel's cemetery numerous times and didn't have any plans aside from visiting family stones and making sure my stepdad didn't try to carry an 80 lb bag of concrete by himself (rest easy...my teenager watched grandpa and made sure he was semi-sensible). So my littlest, my mom, and I wandered the cemetery while they poured a new base for our tipped over ancestral headstone. Toward the end of the time there we passed a tombstone for some McElwees. You couldn't tell who was buried there because there was a "McElwee" surname marker and the one that said "Father 1879-1937" and "Mother 1879-1931". No given/first names. I just looked at my mom and said, "The PA Death Certificates cover those dates. I'm going to figure out who these McElwees are!"

Owen McElwee

Bridget McElwee nee Brown

I headed home and we went about our routine of making dinner and just doing "stuff" in general. It wasn't until after dinner that I remembered about the mysterious McElwees. Well, do you know what? Mother McElwee is my 2nd great aunt. I never had a tombstone for her on FindAGrave, but I do now. I used to walk by tombstones like that and not investigate further. Call it laziness. Call it being too busy to bother. Either way I'm glad that I stopped this time.

Yeah, I snapped some photos on my phone for BillionGraves.com. Yeah, those nitwits are going to copyright my photos...whatever. This was the only photo I took of a gravestone today on my phone that I kept (my BillionGrave photos automatically delete). And it's the only one that belongs in my tree. I love it when that happens.

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.

Tombstone Tuesday - I Danced on My Ancestor's Grave

Thank you for adding your copyright to MY photo BillionGraves!

But it was all in the name of genealogy! I swear they would have approved! The dancing was unintentional. I've been stomping on the grave of Edward and Susan Lee nee Philips for years without results...I guess that doesn't sound much better.

OK. Take a look at the photo to your left. Ignore the BillionGraves copyright at the bottom right because that is MY DAMN PHOTO they copyrighted and I'll use it when and where I like! Grrrrr. Oops...sorry...back to my point. So you can clearly see the birth and death years for Edward. For Susan you can only see that she was born in 1821. The death year isn't particularly visible in the photo, but it's there and it says 1883.

This tombstone and those of my ancestors neighboring it are being eaten by the earth. Hazleton was a coal mining community back in it's heyday, but this isn't due to a subsidence. This is due to ants and lots of them! There is apparently one heck of an ant mound (or multiple mounds) right there and it has made the ground too soft for this heavy tombstone. In past years I've visited and tried pressing down the earth (ahem...stomping) with my foot to no avail. This summer my mom and I went out prepared.

I don't know why I hadn't thought of bringing a small shovel with me before. Perhaps I didn't want to look like a grave robber, but this was a hand shovel so there was no chance of anyone thinking that. This time we brought one and gloves. So I went in for what needed to be a quick operation, but there's no such thing as quick when you trod on an ant mound. That's where the dancing came in. I'd lean in and dig at some of the grass and dirt and then I'd be dancing and stomping around making sure that the ants never made it farther up my legs than my sneakers. It took a few tries, but I managed it. I snapped the photo after and made note of the year in case the photo didn't turn out well. I'm delighted I did since it didn't. I'm sure I looked quite odd to the few people in the cemetery that day, but I was finally able to get a year for Susan's death and that made it all worthwhile. Now if the tombstone sinks more or disappears entirely the picture and information will be preserved on BillionGraves, FindAGrave, in my family tree, and on my blog. Susan and Edward would approve!

Tombstone Tuesday - The Sisters of Mercy

I was walking through Saint Gabriel's cemetery in Hazleton, Pennsylvania in June snapping pictures for my research and canvassing one section of the cemetery for BillionGraves when I saw this memorial. My mother actually pointed it out to me. She knows that I like to take pictures of the graves of the priests and nuns whenever possible because they don't have descendants. While I'm certain many are remembered by their nieces, nephews, and all those whose lives they've touched I try to remember them as well.

I usually try to create a memorial on FindAGrave if they don't already have one, but in the case of this memorial it's not possible to create an accurate one. They have no surnames and the names on here are their assumed names when they became nuns. I suppose I could created memorials for each and leave out the surname, but I think that would just confuse. Either way I want to memorialize them now for all the good works they did with the Sisters of Mercy.

Sister's of Mercy memorial in Saint Gabriel's Cemetery, Hazleton, PA (side 1)

Sister M. Austin - died 1922

Sister M. Evangelist - died 1893

Sister M. Clare - died 1882

Sister M. Benedict - died 1889

Sister M. Angela - died 1883

Sister M. Desales - died 1886

Sister M. Joseph - died 1885

Sister M. Josephine - died 1902

Mother Agnes - died 1903

Sister M. Isabel - died 1911

Sister's of Mercy memorial in Saint Gabriel's Cemetery, Hazleton, PA (side 2)

Sister M. Francis - died 1913

Mother De Chantal - died 1914

Sister M. Anthony - died 1915

Sister M. Patrick - died 1918

Sister M. Rose - died 1920

Sister M. Liguori - died 1922

Sister M. Camillus - died 1927

Sister M. Theresa - died 1928

Sister M. Agatha - died 1946

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.

Amanuensis Monday - Patrons of the Church, Part 2

Lobby of Saint Gabriel's Church, Hazleton, PA

Last Monday I transcribed the names off of the plaque on the left in this picture at Saint Gabriel's Roman Catholic Church (now Holy Annunciation Parish).  This week I'm transcribing the plaque on the right.  There were many familiar names on both, but I was excited to see the names of 2 family members this week.  My 2nd great aunt Ella Quirk was a donor to the Organ Fund and my 2nd great uncle William Quirk was a pew donor.  Neither Ella nor William married so it's always nice to see them remembered.

Right plaque remembering the 1931 patrons

"This plaque is erected in memory of Rt. Rev. Monsignor J.S. Fagan and in honor of the following donors

Donations to organ fund

Miss Annie Mulherin

Mrs. E.J. McKernan

Miss Winifred Brown

Mrs. Thomas Burkhart

Mrs. Stephen Curry

Mrs. John Baker

Mrs. Charles Barnes

Miss B.T. Boyle

Mrs. John J. Boyle

Mrs. P.A. Boyle

Mrs. Thomas Bonner

Mrs. Thomas Brennan

Miss Annie Brislin

Mrs. John P. Burns

Mrs. Mary Byrne

Mrs. H.L. Campbell

Miss Laurette Cannon

Miss Nellie Cannon

Miss Nora D. Carr

Commercial Class St. G. 1927

Mrs. John J. Corrigan

Mrs. Lawrence Corrigan

Mrs. Norbert Corrigan

Council of Catholic Women

Mrs. James Crossin

Miss Mary Dever

Mrs. Catherine Dougherty, deceased

Mrs. James Durkin

Miss Marie Feeley

Misses Agnes and Mary Fitzpatrick

Miss Margaret Flynn

Mrs. August Gabrielis

Miss Mary Gallagher

Miss Rose Gallagher

Miss Jane Gorman

Mrs. James P. Gorman

Miss Margaret Gormley

Mrs. Mary Halsey

P.J. Heaney Family

Mrs. William Joyce, deceased

Mrs. George Kellner

Mrs. Charles Kelly

Mrs. Andrew Kennedy

Miss Theresa Kennedy

Miss Catherine Martin

Mrs. Frank Mooney

Mrs. P.J. Murphy

Mrs. John McBride

Mrs. Cormac McGee

Mrs. Edward McGee

Miss Sarah McGee

Mrs. D.J. McGeehin

Mrs. J.C. McGrory

Mrs. E.t. McHale

Mrs. Andrew McKelvey

Mrs. Patrick McKelvey

Mrs. Patrick McKenna

Miss Bridget McKiernan

Mrs. James J. O'Donnell

Miss Kate A. O'Donnell

Mrs. John Quinn

Miss Ella Quirk

Mrs. P.J. Reilly

Mrs. M.A. Ryan

Mrs. E.J. Sweetland

Miss Veronica Thompson

Miss Bridget Walsh, deceased

Mrs. Susan Uthe

Mrs. W.J. Ward

Mrs. T.J. Whittaker

Miss Mary Lynch

Donors of Pews

Charles Cannon

Mr. and Mrs. James Boney

John Bonner

P.J. Bonner, deceased

Edward Boyle

James Boyle

P.A. Boyle

Fr. J. Brennan

James Brennan

Thomas Brennan

P.J. Breslin

Thomas Brislin

John Burns

John and Elizabeth Burke

Patrick Burke, Chestnut St

Patrick Burke, S. Wyoming

James Calder

Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Campanell

H.L. Campbell

H.J. Campbell

James Carpenter

John J. Carr

John Cawley

James A. Collins

Michael Conahan

James Connors

Dr. James A Corrigan

Dr. John J. Corrigan

Dr. Lawrence Corrigan

Norbert Corrigan

Dr. W.V. Coyle

John Dailey Family

Dr. A.J. Dougherty

F.J. Dougherty

J.C. Dougherty

Michael and Rosanna Dougherty

Zoltan Drosdick

E.J. Duffy, deceased

Dr. P.E. Fagan

Paul Ferry

Michael Flynn

James Fox

Charles J. Gallagher

E. Joseph Gallagher

Mrs. Mary Gallagher

John C. Gallagher

Att'y Fr. Gaughan

Dr. Robert Gaughan

D. Genetti Family

Patrick Givens

Paul Glubshinsky

James A. Gorman

James P. Gorman, deceased

 Thomas Gormley

P.J. Heaney

Charles Helferty

John Helferty, Sr.

John Helferty, Jr.

Thomas Jacobs

P.D. Kelley

James Kennedy

Patrick Kennedy

John Lannon

Joseph A. Lannon

Matthew Leib

Patrick Maloney

Peter Matthews

Joseph Meiers

John J. Monahan

Frank Mooney

James J. Moran

John Moran, Jr.

Patrick Mulherin

Thomas mcAndrews

John McBride

Michael McCall

Peter MacDermott

J.B. McGeady

L.V. McGee

P.J. McGeehin

John J. McGill

James McGinley

William McGlynn

Luke McGraw

John J. McGroarty

Austin McHale

John C. McHugh

D.T. McKelvery

Patrick McKelvey

Patrick McKenna

James McKenna

E.J. McKernan

John McNally

E.J. McNelis

James P. McNelis

P.J. McNelis, deceased

B.C. North

Charles O'Donnell

John J. O'Donnell

William O'Donnell, N. Laurel

William O'Donnell, Locust

William Quirk

James Reilly

Peter Reilly

P.J. Reilly

James J. Ryan

Ma. A. Ryan

Clarence Sasso

John Sergeant

Howard Slattery

Daniel J. Stone

Patrick Sweeney

L.J. Sweetland

Joseph Trently

Michael Welsh

William J. Ward

William J. Weber

Thomas J. Whittake

Joseph A. Zogby

John P. Burns

1931"

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."

Amanuensis Monday - Patrons of the Church

When you walk through the front doors of Saint Gabriel's Roman Catholic Church (now Holy Annunciation Parish) in Hazleton, Pennsylvania there is a small lobby before entering the main portion of the church itself.  On either side of the doors to the entry to the main area hang these beautiful brass, engraved placards.

It was incredibly difficult to get decent pictures of them because with the lights on or off the glare from the outside sun was ever present.  Not having anything with me to block out the sun, I did the best I could.  These are the names of the people and families that donated to Saint Gabriel's in 1931 (the placard to the left).

"This plaque is erected in memory of Rt. Rev. Monsignor J.S. Fagan and in honor of the following donors

Main Altar, Mrs. Sarah McHugh, deceased
Altar Railing, St. Gabriel's School Children
Blessed Mother's Altar and Statue, Catholic Women's Club
Saint Joseph's Altar, Mrs. R.E. Walsh
Pulpit, Mrs. J.H. Garrahan
Priedieux and Vestment Press, Mrs. C. Gallagher, N.Y.
Statue of Saint Joseph, Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Ryan
Statue and Pedestal of Little Flower, Mr. and Mrs. Jos. Coll
Baptismal Font, Dr. John J. Corrigan
Sanctuary Chairs and Stools, John J. Gough
Statue of Scared Heart, Dr. James A. Corrigan
Candlesticks for Funerals, John J. Boyle
Sanctuary Lamp, May Boyle
Chimes, Thomas Bonner Family
Holy Water Font, Mrs. John Kennedy
Holy Water Font, Miss Theresa Kennedy
Holy Water Font, Joseph O'Donnell
Paintings, Nativity and Annunciation, Mrs. John J. Kelly
Painting, Crucifixion, Miss Theresa Kennedy
Gold Crosses on Steeple, Miss Jane Gorman

Front Windows
Rose Window, Mrs. M.A. Gallagher
Lower Windows, Timothy McCarthy, deceased

Large Windows
Rt. Rev. Monsignor J.S. Fagan
Rev. P.J. Brennan
Peter B. Sheridan
P.J. Smith
Frank McHugh
Mr. and Mrs. Hugh L. Campbell
In Memory of Mrs. Ellen Gorman
Gaughan Family
Mrs. Mary Boney
Dennis O'Donnell
D.T. Gallagher Family
Patrick McKenna Family

Lower and Small Windows
John Collins
Mrs. Elizabeth Brehm
In Memory of James A. Gorman
John Burns
Mrs. Eliza Clabby
Mr. Leonard
Rev. William Slattery
Luke McGraw
Rev. D.A. Boyle
Charles Cannon

Stations of the Cross
In Memory of Mr. D.T. Gallagher
Mary Reilly
Mary Brady
Regina Burns
Frank Gallagher
Mrs. Patrick O'Donnell
In Memory of Mrs. D.T. Gallagher
Margaret and Mary Ryan
Mary McKelvey
Hugh Scott Family
Thomas Ryan
Mrs. Thomas Dunleavy
Mrs. Kate Doud
Margaret Long

Accessories of the Main Altar
Candlesticks, Council of Catholic Women
Chalice, Miss Jane Gordan
Ciborium, In Memory of Mr. and Mrs. D.T. Gallagher
Crucifix, Annie and Patrick Breslin
Candlesticks, B.T. Boyle
Paschal Candle, Mrs. Thomas Martin
Altar Cards, P.F. Herron
Candlesticks, Mrs. P. Cullinan
Vases, Rev. J.W. Gilpatrick
Vases, Rev. James A. Walsh
Vases, Rev. John E. Walsh
Altar Linens, Theresa Kennedy
Altar Linens, Mrs. John McBride, Sr.
Missal Stand, John McBride, Jr.
Vases, Mr. and Mrs. M. Flynn
Altar Cards, John and Joseph McGee
Gold Lace, Mrs. Edward McGee
Mass Book, Mrs. James Conahan
Cruets, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Crossin

Accessories for Side Altars
Candlesticks, Agnes Byrne
Candlesticks, Margaret Byrne
Candlesticks, Mary Dugan
Candlesticks, Mrs. Bridget Hayes
Candlesticks, Mrs. M.A. Ryan
Vases, Mrs. James Fox
Vases, Mrs. Philip Reilly
Gold Lace, Mrs. Francis English
Gold Lace. Mrs. Dennis Brogan

Rugs for Sanctuary, Altar and Rosary Society
Lace, Albs, Mrs. Margaret Burke
Censer, Mrs. C.J. McGee
Holy Water Font, Mrs. Joseph Campbell
Sacristy Cabinet, Mary Gallagher
Crucifix, Daniel Gallagher
Extinguishers, Altar and Rosary Society
Altar Bread Box, Mr. Reed
Ablution Cup, Miss B. McKiernan
Cabinet, Table and Baskets, Altar and Rosary Society

Communion Plates, Mrs. J.B. Garrahan and Mrs. Andrew Kennedy

1931"

Sunday's Obituary - Edward Lee

Image has been adjusted to remove yellowing

"Edward Lee Passes Away.

Rope Breaks, Car Comes Down - St. Patrick's Day Parade.

(Handwritten - Jan. 19 - 1904)

Edward Lee, aged 81 years, one of the oldest and best known citizens on this side, died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. William Quirk, at Jeanesville last night about 7 o'clock.  The deceased was in perfect health up to Monday.  He partook of his Monday dinner as usual, but shortly after while lying on a couch he was stricken suddenly ill with what looked like paralysis and he was unable to utter a word from the time he was taken ill until he died.  Mr.  Lee was born in county Cabin (sic), Ireland, and emigrated to America about fifty-seven years ago.  He resided in New York and Nesquehoning previous to locating in Jeanesville.  His wife preceded him in death about sixteen years ago.  He was a man who was well liked by every person.  He was very active notwithstanding his advanced age and was a great lover of base ball.  During all of last season he witnessed every game that was played at Park View and was first among the spectators on the ground.  He was a great favorite of the children and often he could be seen with a crowd of little ones about him as they listened to the tales he used to relate.  He enjoyed a large circle of friends and all will be sorry to hear of his death.  He is survived by one daughter, Mrs. William Quirk, with whom he resided for the past number of years."

For those of you that have done Irish genealogy research or are familiar with Ireland, you'll know that there is no County Cabin, but County Cavan.  In Irish Cavan is spelled Cabhán.  You don't really hear the "b" in the pronunciation, but perhaps there was some miscommunication when relaying the information for the obit.  Edward, given the time of his birth in Ireland, would have most likely known Irish.  Spelling wasn't necessarily as important as it became over time and who knows how well Edward was educated.  I could hypothesize for hours, but the bottom line is they got that bit wrong in the obit.  I have no proof that Edward was from County Cavan, but this does give me a starting point when trying to continue his line.

The obituary also gives me an approximation for when he came to America, although still trying to find an immigrant by the name of Edward Lee is no small task.  Knowing that he lived in New York and Nesquehoning before Jeanesville will help as well.  A bit disappointing that no mention of his parents were made or any other brothers and sisters in America or Ireland.  Disappointing, but not surprising.  Almost as equally disappointing is that his grandchildren were not mentioned in his obituary.  They were adults and many were living together.  I blogged about the individual children of William and Mary Quirk nee Lee here.

Image has been adjusted to remove yellowing

This clipping was regarding Edward's burial in Saint Gabriel's cemetery.  It was in a scrapbook (see note below) and was obviously torn.  Not too surprising since it was clipped in 1904.    Not much information here except where he was buried and a bit about the funeral.  Still, it would be nice to have an untorn copy.  Sadly, the local newspapers from this period are gone.  At least in microfilm.  The local library has an enormous gap...which covers almost 2 decades of family members that I really want to know more about.  Next step is to contact the local newspaper and see if they have copies.  Sadly the local paper was bought out a few years ago by a larger non-local company.  Hopefully, they will be as helpful as they had in previous years. Fingers crossed there.

Edward Lee.  One of the first people that I learned about when starting out on my genealogy research over a decade ago, and I never posted his obit.  Shame, shame on me, but better late than never.  Rest in peace to my 3rd great grandpa.

NOTE:  Attached to the inside cover of an old family photo album that was passed on to me were newspaper clippings.  None of the clippings had the name of the paper that they were taken from, but it's safe to say that they most likely came from the local Hazleton area papers (The Standard Sentinel, The Plain Speaker, or the Standard-Speaker).

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.

Tombstone Tuesday - Alice and Edward Quirk

I've talked about Edward and Alice Quirk nee Blanchfield before, but I realized that I never posted a picture of their tombstone.  I'll have to take another picture when I go back to Pennsylvania this summer.  I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I can't believe that I cut off part of the stone.  There's no information there, but still!

Alice died in 1915.  That's 45 years before her husband.  I thought that I had blogged Alice's obit previously, but I'm not seeing it on my blog.  I'll have to look again when this flu bug gets out of my system and if it turns out I didn't, then I'll have to rectify that.  It's a very sad story (as death usually is), but I will only touch on it today and save the details for when I'm more coherent.

Alice died shortly after giving birth to their second child.  The child also passed soon after birth.  My grandmother, Mary Alice Quirk, was their first-born.  Edward never remarried and he and his daughter lived with his brother and sisters.  Her aunts and uncle raised her like their own daughter and she had a good childhood.

The year Edward passed away, my grandparents lost their fourth child, a daughter, Ann.  She is buried with Alice and Edward.  Their tombstone is located in Saint Gabriel's Roman Catholic Cemetery in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

I like sharing information about Alice.  I don't have a lot of it, but when I first began my genealogy research and I ran across others researching the Blanchfields, there were more often than not family trees that had Alice married to someone besides Edward or not married at all.  I felt like I was actually able to help fit some pieces together for some people conducting their research.  I know I always appreciate it.

I feel a special connection with Alice.  I don't know why.  Perhaps it's because I feel for my grandmother having lost her mother when she was tiny and it makes me realize how lucky I am to have my mother even as an adult.

Until next time, have fun tending those roots!

Tombstone Tuesday - James and Anne McCoy

McCoy.  It's a family name, but also a dead end.  I was also a very bad person when I photographed this tombstone and forgot to annotate whether it was from St. Gabriel's in Hazleton or St. Mary's in Beaver Meadows.  Either way it's a family cemetery and I will be retracing my steps the next time I go home and properly annotate the photo.

My McCoy ancestor was Nancy Brown nee McCoy.  I don't know much about her apart from being born around 1845 in Ireland and dying in 1926 in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.  Nancy (called "Annie"...obviously not this Anne) was my 2nd great grandmother.  I have found no immigration records for her and I don't know who her parents were.  I have to narrow down her death date and hopefully a death certificate and/or obituary may provide some healthy leads.

As it is each time I walk past a "McCoy" tombstone in Saint Gabriel's or Saint Mary's cemetery I wonder if they belong to me.  Was this my 3rd great uncle on this tombstone?  I may not know for a long time. I may never know.  You can be sure that I'll be tracking down information on James as well as my Annie the next time I'm home.

The research I was able to do on this James McCoy was that he came to America from Ireland around 1878 and he was born around 1860.  My Annie was born 15 years earlier and was already in America in April 1874 when she married her husband, Neil Brown.  Does this mean that this James isn't a relation of my Annie's?  No, but it's not a strong case.  Perhaps a cousin or nephew?  Sure, maybe.

It looks like, for now, I'll still be staring fondly after all those "McCoy" tombstones.  Perhaps the cemetery will at least be able to give me a month for the burials to help me with obituaries and death certificates.  It's certainly worth a try!

Sunday's Obituary - Remembering Nancy

A electronic scrapbook page Nancy created and linked to me.  This is her as a little girl.

It's been a year since something horrible happened.  I previously wrote about how my cousin, Nancy O'Donoghue nee Brown, still didn't have a tombstone at her grave.  Well, today marks the anniversary of her death.  I'll never forget how I found out about it either.


My Uncle Ed reads the hometown news online even though he now lives on Oahu.  He saw an obituary for Nancy and emailed my mother asking if this was one of the cousins I'd found doing my genealogy research.  My mom forwarded the link to me telling me how sorry she was.  I had just talked to Nancy by email less than a month earlier and seeing a news article about her murder was surreal.  I starred at the page on my computer and although I read it, I didn't really take it in.  It wasn't her.  Why were they sending this to me?  Then it finally sank in.  It was her.  My sweet, sweet cousin was gone.  Murdered by her husband.  That's not a shock you get over and I cried sporadically for several days whenever I thought about it.

I'm not saying that I was close with my cousin.  I'd met her once and communicated with her sporadically.  We both enjoyed genealogy research and we'd found each other researching the same line through an Ancestry.com message board.  Then Nancy suggested that we meet up the next time I came back to Pennsylvania.  I took her up on it.  We met at the Knotty Pines restaurant (a local, Hazleton, PA landmark that is now a parking lot).  My mom came with me, as did my husband and oldest son.  We talked about our families, genealogy, and exchanged information.  She even went with us to Saint Gabriel's cemetery to visit family plots.  Sounds boring to non-genealogists, but it was a special memory for me.  And Nancy was one of the sweetest, kindest people I had ever met.  I felt like I had known her for years!  If it hadn't been for Nancy, I would still have a fairly large chunk of my Brown family missing from my tree.

I had felt like I had finally contributed something significant to our tree when I located the grave of our common Brown ancestor.  The grave of Neil and Nancy Brown (nee McCoy) was something we had both been looking for.  I excitedly took pictures and sent an email to her complete with directions on how she could find it.  She was excited and said that she looked forward to being able to visit it the next time she got up to Hazleton from Newark, DE.

She also talked about how she was hurting and had stopped going up and down stairs as much as possible.  I asked how bad she was feeling (my memory is always horrible and I couldn't remember what it was that caused her pain).  Nancy brushed off the question cheerfully.  She was just fine.  She changed the subject to digital scrapbooking and her grandkids.  It was the last I communicated with her.

I don't know why her husband did what he did. She never, ever spoke ill of her husband.  She always spoke fondly of him, her children and grandchildren.  It was clear that he was the love of her life, so hearing the news of her murder was particularly shocking.  I immediately began rationalizing what had happened.

"Hazleton native accuse of killing sleeping wife

Lucille Sukel of Hazleton couldn't understand why her high school classmates weren't returning her e-mails, as they talked every day.

She hadn't heard from Hazleton natives Michael J O'Donoghue and his wife, the former Nancy Brown, in three days, she said.  On Tuesday morning, Sukel found out why.

Michael O'Donoghue, 68, was charged with first-degree murder of his 67-year-old wife, Nancy, in their Newark, Del., home.

O'Donoghue called police early Monday morning - two days after shooting his wife in the back of the head as she was lying in bed, Delaware Online reported.

Police found Nancy O'Donoghue in a second-floor bedroom with bullet wounds and severe blunt force trauma to her head.

Michael O'Donoghue told police that he shot his sleeping wife twice with a small-caliber handgun from his night stand, court papers said.  He also took a hatchet from the garage into the bedroom, in case the gun did not kill his wife, court papers said.

O'Donoghue told police he may have struck his wife in the head with the hatchet after he shot her, investigators said.  He then got into bed and held her, court papers said.  Police recovered a gun and a hatchet in the home.

He is also charged with possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony.

Nancy (center) at the Knotty Pines

The news shocked friends who graduated in 1960 from St. Gabriel's High School with the couple, leaving them with more questions than answers, Sukel said.

"I have been on the phone with classmates all morning," she said.  "They loved each other very much.  This is the most unexpected thing.  We're in shock."

Sukel remained very close to the couple, despite the miles between them, she said.

"If she was going out shopping, I knew it," Sukel said.

She became concerned when neither answered the e-mails - the last sent Monday night.  Then, Tuesday morning, another classmate learned about the murder and word reached Sukel.

"We're all just astounded," she said.  "None of us could make any sense out of [sic]

Sukel worked with the couple to plan their 50th high school reunion, which was held in June.  The O'Donoghues were on the reunion committee, and Nancy had received a special award for all her hard work on the event, Sukel said.

Michael, who was known to friends as "Jay," had worked as an accountant, and Nancy as a nurse, she said.

Another of Nancy's scrapbook pages (her father)

"Both were retired.  They were happy and contented," Sukel said.

She wishes she could drive to Delaware to ask her friend what happened and why, questions to which she may never know the answers.

Delaware Online, an online edition of The News Journal of Wilmington, contributed to this story.

kmonitz@standardspeaker.com, 570-455-3636"

Published in the Citizens Voice on October 6, 2010

That was the news article.  Her obituary reads much better:

"Nancy O'Donoghue, 67, of Newark, Del., passed away Saturday at her residence.

Born in Hazleton, she was the daughter of the late James and Martha Brown.

Nancy was a graduate of St. Gabriel's High School in 1960 and worked as a registered nurse prior to her retirement.

Another of Nancy's scrapbook pages (her parent's wedding)

Preceding her in death, in addition to her parents, was her son, Patrick.

Surviving are her husband, Michael J.; sons, Dr. Michael and his wife Merih, Maryland; and James and his wife, Catie, Delaware; brothers, William and his wife, Barbara, North Carolina; and James, Arizona; and eight grandchildren.  Several nieces, nephews and cousins also survive.

Friends are invited to attend a Mass of Christian Burial on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Holy Annunciation Parish at St. Gabriel's Church, Hazleton.

Interment will follow at the parish cemetery.

Friends may call at the church from 10 a.m. until the time of the service.

Fierro Funeral Services Inc. is in charge of the arrangements."

Published in the Hazleton Standard-Speaker, October 7, 2010

Today marks the 1st anniversary of Nancy's loss.  It is still unbelievable.  Unreal.  I don't personally know her children or her husband.  I can only imagine what they've been going through and what they are about to go through.  Her husband's trial is set for the first week of November.  I know that it means more news will be out there.  Maybe something to help piece together as to how and why this could have happened, but my thoughts turn to her children and what they are going through.  To have lost their mother, and to see their father on trial for killing her.  It's got to be tearing them up inside.

I don't hold any animosity toward her husband "Jay" either.  I don't know why he killed her, but to have done it in the manner he did and then hold her for so long before calling the police?  My mind wanders to her telling me that she was hurting.  Was it bad enough that he thought he was helping her?  I can't believe that either.  They were both Catholic.  To take a life or to ask that your life be taken is damnable and they would know that.  Would believe that.  I cannot conceive of Nancy asking her husband to do something that would damn him, or her.  So even when I try to make sense of it all, it makes less sense.

I hope that her family is granted the strength they need to make it through all this and to make sure that fond memories are preserved like the beautiful pages in Nancy's scrapbooks.  A beautiful woman.  Never to be forgotten.

[Photos and scrapbook pages used in this blog were either taken by me or shared with me by Nancy.  Most pictures have been cropped to focus solely on Nancy.]

UPDATE:

Is it odd to update a post before it's published?  I had this post written and scheduled to go out and something unbelievable happened.  Nancy's husband just died.  Just a few days before the anniversary of her death.  I don't know why I'm angry.  As I stated before, I'm not angry at him necessarily.  I'm angry at what he did...it was so senseless.  Maybe I'm angry because now we'll never know why.  The trial would have been in a month and I wanted to know why.  Ah well.  Here's his obituary:

"Michael "Jay" O'Donoghue of Newark, Del., and formerly of Hazleton, passes away on Wednesday at Heartland House Hospice, Wilmington, Del.

Forn in Hazleton, he was the son of the late Michael E. and Lucille (Sargent) O'Donoghue.

Jay was a graduate of St. Gabriel's High School.

Preceding him in death, in addition to his parents, were his wife, the former Nancy Brown, and their son, Patrick.

Surviving are his sons, Michael and wife, Merih, Maryland; and James and wife, Catie, Delaware.  Eight grandchildren and several nieces and nephews also survive.

Friends are invited to attend a Mass of Christian Burial on Saturday at 11 a.m. in Holy Annunciation Parish at St. Gabriel's Church, Hazleton.  Interment will follow in the parish cemetery.  The family will receive guests in the church from 10 a.m. until the time of Mass.

Fierro Funeral Service Inc., Hazleton, is handling the arrangements.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Heartland House Hospice in Wilmington, Del."

Published in the Hazleton Standard Speaker 30SEP2011

Amanuensis Monday - A Great Reason to Transcribe...

Last Tuesday I posted about the Rt. Rev. John Brown.  I had wondered who he was, came to some conclusions and vowed to continue my research.  I had a feeling that he was a relative.  As it turns out, I was right.  How did I discover it? 

My mom emailed me because of the John Browns I listed in that post, she recognized the city "Southern Pines, N.C." as being a place many priests were sent on missions.  That made me laugh!  Probably sent to convert the South to Catholicism!  Too funny. 

But even before my mom emailed me with this tid-bit I had already performed another search for John Browns on Ancestry and came up with the following result from the North Carolina Death Collection:

This John was born in Pennsylvania at the right year, never married and was then buried out of state.  Sounds right for my priest, but it wasn't a confirmation, but then the church in Hazleton, PA that buried him responded to my email and told me that the Rev. Brown in their cemetery was buried in September 1986.  So of the John Browns I had found in the SSDI, the Southern Pines John was the right John.  This didn't tell me that he was a relative though. That's where I credit transcribing and taking part in Amanuensis Monday for (once again) saving the day (and an awful lot of time).

I was going to transcribe an obituary.  I knew that.  I wasn't sure which one though.  I had gone through so many this summer while back home and I wanted to start getting them online.  I was a bad girl though and didn't give many of them more than a cursory glance when I first found them.  The trip back home was crammed with family time and genealogy spread in between...not to mention my 10 and 5 year olds.  So now I get to transcribing the obituary for Charles Brown, Sr.

21SEP1935 - Hazleton Standard-Sentinel

"Deaths

Charles B. Brown, Sr.

Charles B. Brown, prominent resident of Hazleton, died at his home, 531 Arthur street, at 2 o'clock on Sunday afternoon after a two months' illness, due to complications.  He was born in this city, where he spent his entire life.

Mr. Brown was bottom foreman for the Lehigh Valley Coal Co. at the Hazleton Shaft colliery for 35 years.  He was a member of St. Gabriel's church and of the Holy Name Society of that parish.  He was a third baseman of the old Hazleton Athletics' team of many years ago.

His wife, formerly Anna LeGrande, died eight years ago.  Surviving are the following children:  Mrs. William McLaughlin, Washington, D. C.; Charles Brown, Jr., of Hazleton; Leo Brown, Cumberland, Md.; Mrs. George Cassidy, Elizabeth, N. J.; Esther and Marian, at home; Mrs. John Hooper, Elizabeth, N. J.; John of Mt. St. Mary's Seminary, Emmittsburg, Md.

Three brothers also survive, Thomas and Neil Brown, of Hazleton, and Patrick Brown of West Hazleton.

The funeral will be held on Wednesday morning at 9 o'clock.  Solemn high mass of requiem will be offered u pin St. Gabriel's church at 9:30, and interment will be made in St. Gabriel's cemetery."

Published in the Hazleton Standard-Sentinel, 21JAN1935

Charles Bernard Brown Sr was my 2nd great uncle.  The brother to my great grandfather, Thomas Brown Sr., and the father to Rev John Brown, which makes John my 1st cousin twice removed.

Of course, his son, John, isn't a priest as of his death, but was going through the seminary.  That's enough to confirm it for me.  Yes, I'll be requesting John's death certificate from North Carolina as well as checking to see if I can get any of the seminary records or find out where he served as a priest.  I'm not overly familiar with all that, so I may be talking to my priest to find out how the Church keeps it's records.

What I will be doing when I go back home next year is looking for the burial/funeral notice for Charles Sr...and John.  It's on my Research Calendar.  I look forward to seeing what else is out there!

Tombstone Tuesday - Who is Rt. Rev. John Brown?

Saint Gabriel's Cemetery, Hazleton, PA

Since I mentioned in a recent post, "A Well-Known Hazleton Baseball Player" about Rev. John Brown and how he'd been named in several family member's funeral notices, I figured I'd honor him this Tombstone Tuesday.

I still think he's a relative.  If you look at yesterday's post you may notice that Father Brown came up from Raleigh, North Carolina to be at and take part in the funeral.  Not really something that would have occurred unless he was family, so I decided to jump into my family tree and see if we've got any like players...

There is a John Brown in the family tree without a lot of information.  He's the son of Charles Brown and by looking at the 1910 and 1920 census he would have been born around 1909, just like the Rt. Rev. Brown.  Neil (who he helped celebrate the funeral mass for) would have been his uncle.

There is another John Brown in the tree (the son of the deceased), but this John was born 29SEP1927.  Wrong birth date and he would have been 10 years old when his dad died, so we can cross him out.

These are the only 2 John Browns in my tree.  Does that mean that I'm not missing one?  Of course not, but it is looking likely that the son of Charles is the John that became the priest.  I can still kick myself for not looking up his obituary when I was home a couple months ago!

I performed a search on Ancestry.com's copy of the SSDI and came up with the following John Browns born in 1909 and dying in 1986:

Ancestry.com search results

Only 6 and that's not bad.  Two, in fact, are listed in North Carolina.  Could be.  He was a priest, after all, so it's certainly possible that this is where his parish was and he came back home to Pennsylvania to be buried in the cemetery of the family's church.  Now I don't know why, but I get this impression that Father Brown was in the military too.  I don't know why this sticks in my mind.  It could be because Rev. McElwee (also listed in Neil Brown's obituary and in a separate blog post) is on my mind.  One of the things I'll have to check.  It's not listed on his tombstone, so it could just be my cruddy mind wandering off.

So where do I go from here?  I'm certainly not going to request 6 death certificates.  The SSDI isn't perfect and he could be absent from that list.  Nope.  I'm going to start simple.  Saint Gabriel's is an awesome church.  Granted, I've got quite a bias there...my ancestors helped found it and I was baptized there (as was my youngest child!), but they are very sweet about responding to requests about burials and I doubt they would object to one of their priests being remembered.

So an email to Saint Gabriel's church and most likely seeing how much a copy of the obituary from the local library would be after I find the date he was interred.  I should think that such a man would be remembered in the local paper even if he did die elsewhere. I'll keep ya posted!