Tombstone Tuesday - A Face and Final Resting Place

I wasn't going to do a "Tombstone Tuesday" post today, but since I mentioned my great uncle Adam Tabor Jr in yesterday's post (and since I'm in Colorado Springs for Spring Break with the family).  I thought I'd share a little more about the writer of that letter.

Adam Jr was the 3rd of 4 children born to Adam and Jadwiga Tabor nee Paszkawicz.  He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania on May 21, 1913 and as far as I know he lived there all his life.  He died on May 16, 1985 and is buried in the Lithuanian National Cemetery in Chinchilla, Pennsylvania (just outside Scranton).  Adam never married.

Even though I knew that Adam Sr, Adam Jr and Jadwiga were buried in the Lithuanian National Cemetery, it took me a very long time (and I'm talking years of searching) to find it.  You see they were said to be members of the Polish National Catholic Church and when I couldn't find the Lithuanian cemetery, I started looking through the PNCC cemetery.  Then one year before a trip home to Pennsylvania, it turned up in a Google search (and I swear it never did before).  Then with the help of a GPS I finally found it.  I'd driven past it several times when out searching and never saw it.  It's small and just off a narrow, winding road.  If you blink...you miss it!

Every time I look and see that Adam Jr died in 1985 I'm stunned by the fact that I never met him.  We never went to the funeral.  I was 13 when he died and I could have had memories of this man, but have none.  Sad.

Amanuensis Monday - The Apple Doesn't Fall Far...

Back when postage was 4 cents!

Page I

As I was organizing my files the other day, I came across some papers that were passed on to me by my uncle regarding our Tabor side of my family.  I had given them a quick read when I first received them, but really nothing more.  I knew they were in reference to the death and estate of my great grandfather, but I didn't realize remember that there was drama involved.

Part of me was giggling as I transcribed this letter for this post.  Why was I giggling?  Because as I read it, it sounded all too familiar.  My father certain unnamed member of my family is all about the quick buck.  This letter was written to "Corp" from Adam.  Adam is my great uncle Adam Tabor Jr and "Corp" was the family nickname for my grandfather, Clarence Paul Tabor.  Apparently when Adam Sr died, my grandfather wanted his share and wanted it now...and he didn't really care about the inconvenience or hardship that it would cause his siblings.  The letter doesn't exactly say that, but let's just say that Adam's reply to a letter that my grandfather apparently sent is dripping with disdain for his request.

The inflation of the value of Clarence's portion of the estate and the immediate gratification are things that I can see were passed down to his oldest son.  The difference is Adam responded to his brother in a way that I wish I had seen more people respond to the apple!  My great uncle Adam was always this odd-looking man that I'd only seen in pictures.  I have new respect for the man I never met!  Great job, uncle Adam!

Page II

"June 22 - 1960

Dear Corp.

Sorry I could not answer your [sic] any sooner.  The day your letter arrived, I had the virus.  This letter is going to disappoint you, as you read later on I'll answer this letter in a forum bases so it will be plain and explained in a easier way.

I.  I have talked to Lillian, Stan, Aldona; and Leo, and they cannot in a way, see it your way.

(a) Zentar's [sic] still has mortgage on their house, as they have done some extensive repairing on their house.

(B) Ruminski's can't get that much money together.  Carolyn just graduated from Central; and is going to nurses Training at the Mercy Hospital and that takes a little money.

(C) If I (Adam) had money I would not be driving around in a 1951 jalopy.

II.  If we were to go and borrow money from the Bank to buy your share, who is going to pay the interest on the loan.

Page III

(A)  If we take a mortgage on the house, who is going to pay the interest and principal back to the bank.  If a prospective buyer knows there is a mortgage on the house will practically set his own price.

(C) To buy your share of the house, we have to hire a lawyer to change the will, and go to court to have it legalized.  Would cost $100.00  I know because I have inquired about that.

III.  If you want to I have the consent of the Zenters & Ruminskies to send you $300.00 no more and that amount to be deducted from your share when the estate is sold.  Is that fair enough

Now you say your share of the estate is $4500.00 which means it is worth $18000.000 to you.  If you can get a buyer for the property at that price you bring him or her to Scranton to show them the property, at my expense, and if they buy I will give you from my share as a bonus $500.00.

Now I have explained the best I know how.  And I hope you can see our side of the situation.  I am still waiting for a thank you for the check for $250.00 I send last Christmas time.

Page IV

Your brother

Adam
6-22-60"

Sunday's Obituary - Be Careful What You Say

John Trunzo

This is actually a very sad story.  John Trunzo was the 6th of 8 known children of Raffaele and Giovanna Trunzo nee Ferraro.  He was also my step-father's father.

The news article below doesn't tell all the details of the story.  It mentions a heart ailment that John was suffering from, but my step-father believes that his lungs were also affected.  He told me his memories of the event...what he may have remembered and what had been told to him by his mother later.  His father worked at the Royal Battery Company, and I'm told that he never wore his protective mask at work, which means that he was exposed to all the chemicals in the air at the factory.  My step-father recalls that this is what caused his hospitalization.

I had been concerned that he had been scalded with battery acid or something along those lines, but I was told that all of his injuries were internal.  He looked fine on the outside and my step-father remembers visiting his father in the hospital.

What caused John to jump?  Was it really that his recovery was going too slowly?  Family history leads us to believe that it was something else.  John's parents were immigrants from Italy and they spoke Italian at home.  As a result John and his siblings also spoke/understood Italian.  So when some of the other men were standing in the hospital, perhaps in what they believed to be out of earshot, and began speaking about John's condition in Italian, he not only heard them, but he understood them.

John Trunzo and unknown woman

What were they talking about?  What did they say? According to my step-father they talked about how hopeless his condition was.  How he would never be the same and how he'd be scarred for life.  Do you know any Italian men?  I do.  The thought of being "scarred" or somehow "weak" or permanently disabled is a pride-crippling thought. And John apparently felt that this was the only way to restore that pride. To take his own life rather than wither away and perhaps not be able to support his family.  So he jumped.  He died.

It makes me sad...pride.  Had it not been for pride and the stupidity of those gentlemen standing around talking, my step-father may have had a much longer time with his father.  My baby sister may have known her grandfather.

Everything happens for a reason though.  John's wife, Frances, did remarry and she had many more sons and daughters for my step-dad to grow up with and enjoy his adult years.  I wish I could have had the opportunity to meet John as well, but I am grateful for the wonderful step-family that I have and I love them all.

Life.  Sometimes things absolutely suck but without it, we'd be different people.  Without it there never would have been those other children.  We're in pretty good hands after all.  Rest in peace John Trunzo.

Unknown NJ newspaper

"Hospital Patient Jumps to Death

John Trunzo, 29, Sick in St. Peter's 3 Months; Dies Instantly [hand-dated Dec. 17, 1939]


Despondent over his slow recovery from a heart ailment, John Trunzo, 29, of 23 Hardenbergh street, jumped to his death from the second floor of St. Peter's Hospital early last evening.

Trunzo has been a patient at the hospital since early in September.

Early last evening he was administered oxygen and given a cup of tea by a nurse.  She left the ward for the chart room and upon her return, she found a wind open and Trunzo missing from his bed.

The nurse peered out the window and saw the body of Trunzo on the concrete pavement below.  She spread the alarm and hospital attaches rushed to the aid of the patient.

Death Instantaneous

Carried into the hospital, Trunzo was pronounced dead.  It was announced that death was instantaneous.  Mrs. Trunzo was summoned shortly after the accident.

Coroner William H. Jaqui was called and after an investigation, he removed the body to his morgue.

Detectives Charles Reilly and James McCormick of the local police and Detective James Bates of the prosecutor's office made an investigation.  Statements were taken from the hospital attaches and ward patients who saw Trunzo leap to his death.

Death was officially given as suicide.

Trunzo had been a resident of this city for the past few years and before his illness was employed by the Royal Battery Company.

Besides his wife, he is survived by a three [crossed out and hand-written in four]-year-old son, James.

No arrangements have been made for the funeral."

Society Saturday - Texas Relatives? Don't Miss This!

Say "Cheese!", Amie!

East Bell County Genealogy Society held a meeting on February 21st and had an excellent speaker in Amie Oliver.  Amie is the Coordinator for Use and Access Services for The Texas Collection at Baylor University.  She gave a wonderful and information presentation, “Genealogical Resources at The Texas Collection.”  All I can say after hearing everything The Texas Collection has to offer, is that I wish I had ancestors that lived in Texas!  If you have ancestors that lived Texas, you don’t want to miss out on this collection!

So what exactly is meant by a “Special Collection”?  Well a special collection is a library or archive devoted to one specific type of information, in this instance, Texas history.  The Texas Collection is a closed stack library, which means that someone will retrieve the books/materials that you wish to look through.  And just like in other closed stack libraries and archives, you can submit a request for materials to be pulled before your arrival so they’re waiting for you!

Some of the information in The Texas Collection that you can peruse includes:

            -135,000+ volumes of printed materials on Texas, both rare and current and approximately 150 books are added each month!

            -Microfilm (a genealogist’s bane true love)!  Seriously, though everything isn’t on line so good old-fashion microfilm scanning is essential and The Texas Collection is not lacking here.  They have the census records, both microfilmed as well as electronic versions.  Another neat aspect here is the Regional Historical Resource Depository (RHRD).  What’s that?  Well, they are county records!  Of Texas’ counties 167 have chosen to have their records microfilmed.  There are 25 RHRD depositories in Texas and The Texas Collection at Baylor University is one of them!  More awesomeness needed?  Well most microfilm is available through Inter-Library Loan (ILL).  So if you find something you’d like to take a look at and you don’t live near one of these depositories, you can make a request through ILL.  If it's not one of the items that is available through ILL the worst you'll hear is "no", but nothing ventured nothing gained! Records that may be found in the RHRD include, naturalizations, vital records, muster rolls, voter registrations, probate, divorce records, etc.  Criminal cases (sadly) are not microfilmed, but tax records from the formation of a specific county through 1910 are!

            -Various area histories (an often neglected resource)

            -Biographical Gazetteer of Texas – This is unique to the Texas Collection.  Almost 200 books with biographical sketches were taken, gone through and a database was created so that you can search for a person’s name and find which books they are mentioned in.  The database can even be searched via their website!

            -Telephone books and City directories – they have been digitized through 1923 and as copyright limitations expire, more will be added!

            -Periodicals – There are over 100 genealogical titles

            -Vertical Files – These are cataloged, not digitized.  The files are on specific people, places, or events and many have family history data in them.

            -Church histories of all faiths – sure the South is known for Baptist churches but The Texas Collection has church histories for all faiths.  These histories may include membership information, baptisms, cemetery records, births and information on the clergy.

            -Family histories – these can be found in books, vertical files, and oral memoirs.  Family histories can be difficult to come by because when someone publishes theirs, they tend to only make enough copies for immediate family.  Is your family from Texas and do you have a family history that’s been published (bound or digitally)?  Send the Texas Collection a copy.  Trust me…the want it!

            -Funeral home records – Always a great source of information and while some of the information may also be found on a death certificate there may be other tid-bits that you don’t want to miss out on, including who paid for the funeral.  That may help you demolish a brick wall or two!

            -Military records – Lots of Civil War records here, and the military records are in both book and microfilm form.  Some of the information includes, County rosters, cemeteries, branch of service, pension applications, muster rolls, etc.

            -School annuals/yearbooks – All levels here from Kindergarten through college.  If you have an old yearbook that you’ve been looking to get rid of send it to The Texas Collection!  Does your child’s school have extra yearbooks that they’re looking to get rid of?  Send a copy to The Texas Collection!

            -Cookbooks – All kinds from church to business to family to school.  An often over-looked source of family information, these cookbooks can include genealogical gems and pictures!

            -Manuscript Archive – Filled with diaries, letters, photographs and more.

            -Oral Memoirs – Some have even been digitized and may be available online!

            -Newspapers – OK, maybe you anticipated this one, but they’ve got more than just Texas newspapers!

            -University Archive – Includes university records, policies, organization, planning, decisions operation, procedures, etc.

            -Photographs – An estimated 250,000 images!

            -Maps, Maps, Maps! – 14,000+ including historic Texas maps, highway maps, urban renewal and topographical.

Now that you know why going to Baylor University’s Texas Collection is well worth your while, here are some good things to know before arriving:

            -Photo ID is required

            -All bags must be placed in a locker (you can keep out your paper, pencil, and laptop)

            -No food or drink in the reading room

            -Please take all cell phone calls outside (don’t you just hate it when someone doesn’t!)

            -You can bring a thumb drive and scan items instead of making photocopies.

            -Copy orders can be filled for you for a cost.  You do not make your own copies.

            -Bring a sweater, because it’s cold inside!

            -There is no trained genealogist on staff.

You can follow the Texas Collection on Facebook by clicking here, on YouTube here, their blog here or on Twitter @texascollection. You can check out the Texas Collection's website by clicking here.

Now if you've got Texas roots, get on out there and get researching!

The Unknown Collection

Back of photo

Edward Joseph and Charles Hambright

Another photo from my scrapbook of unknowns.  Always hoping for a genealogically connected angel to swoop down and help identify some of these pictures!

What I know about the pictures is pretty obvious from what can be seen on the back of the card.  The boys are apparently Edward Joseph and Charles Hambright and the photo was taken by J.E. Sonnenberg in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, but I don't know what these boys are to my family. Relatives?  Friends?

Now this scrapbook was from a member of my Quirk line and my family is all from the Hazleton area of eastern Pennsylvania and this photo was from Allegheny City in western Pennsylvania.  I do know that there was at least one family member that moved to the Pittsburgh/Allegheny area from this side of the family.  Perhaps there were more?  Did my ancestors move from the Pittsburgh area and then to eastern Pennsylvania?  Possibly, but most likely these relatives moved from eastern to western PA.

I may need to do some research on Joseph and Charles Hambright.  Perhaps they lived close to my Lee relatives.  Always neat to realize that there may be other ways to get through brick walls...and maybe, if I'm very lucky, I may find out who Edward Joseph and Charles Hambright are to my family!

Tombstone Tuesday - Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot, OVER???

Sorry military humor, but this kind of chapped my booty a bit.  I had requested a tombstone photo through FindAGrave for my step-father's 1st cousin, Kathryn Clements nee Sonni.  A kind-hearted genealogical angel set out to fulfill said request and posted that there was a problem...

"Please contact the cemetery office for the name of the section that she is buried in as this is a very large cemetery.  Due to privacy issues, the office will not give out burial information to non-family members."

You've GOT to be kidding me.  Not to be rude, but what privacy issues?  She's dead!  So you've got to be a relative to visit someone that's died?  So much for visiting a friend or a random act of genealogical kindness!

So apparently I'll be attempting to call Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park in Clearwater, Florida this week to get the information and ask "Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot, OVER?"

Nonsensical silliness...

A Crime to be Catholic, Part 1

It's no secret that the Catholic Irish and Protestant English/Irish have been butting heads for centuries, but I really didn't understand the depth of the persecution until very recently. Heck, I most likely still don't grasp it fully, but I did receive a bit of a wake up.

For Lent I made the pledge to recite my rosary daily.  I have a very old family rosary that was passed on to me (which I blogged about previously), and this was the rosary that I would use to pray. I really didn't know much about it apart from that it was passed down through our ancestor William Quirk.  It was obviously hand-carved and the date 1816 was carved into the back.  There had been some various people that tried to help me discover the origins of the rosary, but as I didn't even know the origins within Ireland of William Quirk, I have had to take everything with a grain of salt.  Placing the rosary in a specific location doesn't lock in where William is from, but it could be a clue.  Either way, I still didn't know much about it.

So I typed in "19th century Irish rosary" into a Google search and came to a site called the RosaryWorkshop.com.  There as I scrolled down the page was a crucifix that looked almost exactly like mine...including a carved date on the back!

It was called a Penal Cross, so the first thing I thought of (before reading just a little further) was "Did this mean one of my ancestors was a criminal?"  Talk about adding some spice to my Irish line!  The answer was no...and yes.  An explanation, because heaven knows I needed one!

I have no proof that William Quirk or any of his family were criminals, but they were guilty of criminal actions.  What were their crimes?  They were Catholic, and apparently this at one point, became a crime punishable by death.  They couldn't pray openly so they prayed in secret and this is where the Penal Cross comes into play.

A Penal Cross was usually attached to a chaplet (one decade of a rosary) and a metal ring on the opposite end.  The ring would be slipped over the person's thumb and the Penal Cross and chaplet were concealed up the person's sleeve.  They would pray a decade of the rosary and then move the ring from their thumb to their index finger and then so on as they completed each decade.  This is how they kept track of where they were in their prayers.  The Penal Cross was designed with shortened "arms" of the cross because if they were any longer they would break off.

Many of these Penal Crosses/Chaplets were purchased during a pilgrimage to Lough Derg in County Donegal and the date on the back of the cross was to indicate the year of the pilgrimage. I don't know if this goes for all Penal Crosses and my research is certainly incomplete.  I would find it difficult to believe that these crosses only were received/purchased if you made a pilgrimage.

Some differences with my rosary and the chaplets I've found...well, my obviously Penal Cross doesn't have the symbols that often come on the front of the crucifix.  This doesn't mean that it wasn't a Penal Cross (it obviously is...at least obviously to me) but it's not "typical".  Also on the back of the cross I do have a cross carved onto the top of an "H" and then the date, but the "IHS" is not there...just the "H" and frankly it doesn't appear that the "I" and the "S" were worn off.  My Penal Cross is attached to a 5-decade rosary...not a chaplet and it is missing a center and the first 5 beads that should be just above the cross.  I have no idea why it's different.

So more mysteries attached to the rosary.  While I didn't concretely locate it's origins, it did open my eyes to what my ancestors had gone through.  While on RosaryWorkshop.com I read the following and tears ran down my face:

"In 1726 the Lord Chancellor, Richard West, declared that: 'The law does not suppose any such person to exist as an Irish Roman Catholic'.  The right to vote was removed from Catholics by act of Parliament in 1727.  Other Penal Laws included the closure of Catholic schools (which forced education of Catholics underground) and the barring of Catholics from entering a profession, the army, or attending Catholic worship - however they were required to attend Anglican service." (http://www.rosaryworkshop.com/MUSEUM-Hunt-Penal-Rosaries.html)

I knew there was hatred, and I knew that the majority of the Irish Catholics were the poorest and worked the land.  That the rents were raised and they were run off the land and left without means to exist, but I didn't realize that through legal means that it had made it illegal to be Catholic and to force them to even pray in a church not their own.  I gripe about my church often enough (especially right now with the whole birth control garbage going on), but this really made me appreciate how strongly my family had to have felt about their faith.  They were persecuted for it and gosh darn it they weren't going to give in.  No English-made law was going to keep them from their faith.

Even though this rosary isn't a Penal Chaplet, the Penal Cross on it reminds me of what they went through to keep their faith despite great odds.  Somehow saying my prayers on this rosary has taken on a deeper meaning.

UPDATE:
Since I originally began writing this post, I have been in contact with some wonderful people at Lough Derg.  Lough Derg made my week by telling me that this is indeed a Lough Derg Penal Cross.  You can be sure that I will be putting a pilgrimage on my to-do list when I get to finally visit Ireland!  Thank you, thank you, thank you to Prior Mohan and Maureen!  If you would like to find out more information about Lough Derg you can check out their website by clicking here.  You can also LIKE them on Facebook here!