Tombstone Tuesday - Abraham and Mary Turnbach nee Blanchfield

Abraham and Mary Turnbach nee Blanchfield are my great great uncle and aunt.  Mary is my great grandmother's sister.

Abraham was the son of Milton and Bridget Turnbach nee Dugan.  He was born on February 25, 1877 in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.  He died on December 9, 1918.

Mary was the oldest daughter of Martin and Anna Blanchfield nee Boyle.  She was born on November 11, 1879 in New York, NY and died in 1919.

Abraham and Mary had at least 8 children (Milton, William, Robert, Mary,  Elizabeth, Ann and 2 unknown children).  Both Abraham and Mary died so close to each other that the first thought that had jumped into my mind was "Flu".  This would have been during the height of the 1918 pandemic (at least for Abraham).  Sometimes guesses are wrong.

Abraham died in a mining accident.  He did repair work in the coal mines and was electrocuted.  It stated on his death certificate that his cause of death was "Electric shock - came in contact with hot wires."

I don't have Mary's death certificate.  The last time I requested it I received notice of a failed search.  I'll have to try again soon or see if one of my genealogy cousins was lucky enough to get a copy.  I suppose it's possible that she could have succumb to the epidemic, but not knowing when in 1919 she passed does put a bit of a damper on that.

What is sad aside from them dying so close to each other?  Their youngest was only about 4 years old.  Luckily (if there can be luck) their oldest was nearly 20 and the family stayed together.

Abraham and Mary are buried in St. Mary's cemetery, Beaver Meadows, Pennsylvania.

Military Monday - ARCOM with V Device for Ronald Harrig

[Hand-written 1968, although no specific date given]

"Green Bay Soldier Cited For Bravery in Vietnam

The Army Commendation Medal with V for Valor has been awarded to Sp 4 Ronald W. Harrig of Green Bay for gallantry in action in Vietnam.  Harrig, now stationed at Ft. Lewis, Wash., and due to be discharged in July, is the son of the late Eugene Harrig and Mrs. Mary Ann Harrig, 213 Berwyn St.

Harrig, then a private first class in Co. B, 3rd B., 22nd Infantry of the 25th Infantry Division, was cited for bravery during the repulse of a heavy North Vietnamese attack on his company's defensive position the night of April 12, 1968.  His battalion, in a night defensive perimeter during a reconnaissance in force, was attacked by a regiment of North Vietnamese regulars.

While his company pulled back to a secondary defensive position under heavy assault, Harrig held his ground and assisted in disrupting the enemy advance by heavy suppressive fire.  The attack was thrown back.

The 25-year-old soldier was born in Fond du Lac in 1943 and graduated from Preble High School in 1961.  After completing a course in accounting at the Northeastern Wisconsin Technical Institute, he enlisted in the army in July, 1967, and was sent to Vietnam in December.

Subsequent to his heroic action in April, Harrig was twice wounded - in June and again in July of last year."

NOTE:  This clipping was passed on to me by my mother-in-law in Green Bay, Wisconsin (and they had been passed on to her by her mother-in-law).  There is no date on the clipping apart from the year and no newspaper name.  The clipping most likely came from the Green Bay Press-Gazette

Sunday's Obituary - Mary A. Quirk nee Lee

Photo shows Mary's gravesite shortly after the funeral/before the headstone in St. Gabriel's cemetery, Hazleton, PA

Mary A. Quirk nee Lee was my great-great grandmother.  She was born in November 1846 in Ireland.  I don't have an exact location for her, but it is most likely in County Donegal.  County Donegal was listed on her father's death certificate (although not on hers).  I am making the assumption for now that they didn't move much and that she was likewise born in Donegal.  Unfortunately, it's one of the largest counties in Ireland and I don't have any specific location in the county yet.  Still much to verify or disprove!

She emigrated to the United States in 1850 (still looking for her on the passenger lists) and was married to William Quirk on September, 17 1868 in Saint Gabriel's Roman Catholic Church, Hazleton, PA.  The best I can make out (see earlier post) they had at least 9 children.  Mary died on September 1, 1913 and is buried in Saint Gabriel's cemetery next to her husband, William, her daughter Ella and her mother and father (Edward and Susan Lee nee Phillips).

I wish I knew more about her.  I'm fairly certain I have a picture or two of her in my photo album of unknown people.  I can even venture some good guesses as to which person she is, but since none were labeled, they are just guesses.

Today's Sunday's Obituary is in honor of Mary:

"Died 

QUIRK - In Jeanesville, Monday September 1, Mary A., wife of the late William Quirk.  Funeral on Thursday morning at 9 o'clock from the family residence.  Requiem High Mass at 10 o'clock in st. Gabriel's church, Hazleton.  Interment in St. Gabriels' cemetery.  Cortege by trolley car.  D. Crosby, funeral director."

"The Death Roll 

Mrs. Mary Quirk 

After being ill for the past two weeks, Mrs. Mary Quirk, one of Jeanesville's most esteemed residents, passed away at her home in that town at 1:30 o'clock this morning.  The end came peacefully at the time stated above, with the deceased surrounded by the members of her family.  Mrs. Quirk's pleasant and kind hearted disposition made for her scores of friends throughout this region, who will be grieved to learn of her death. 

The deceased was the only child of the late Mr. and Mrs. Edward Lee and was born in Ireland.  After coming to this country she was married to the late Wm. Quirk, who preceded her in death about 11 years ago.  Her father died at Jeanesville about two years later.  The deceased was a devout member of St. Gabriel's church, this city, where a requiem mass will be offered up on Thursday morning, with interment in St. Gabriel's cemetery. 

The following sons and daughters survive:  Edward of Park View; William, Ella, Kate, Bessie and Mary, all at home."

"Two Large Funerals. 

The funeral of the late Mrs. Mary Quirk of Jeanesville, took place from the family residence where the esteemed lady resided for almost half a century, at 9 o'clock this morning.  The cortege moved by trolley to Hazleton, where a requiem high mass was offered up in St. Gabriel's church followed by interment in St. Gabriel's cemetery.  Many former residents attended the funeral to pay a last tribute of respect to the deceased. 

The funeral of the late Daniel McDevitt of McAdoo, was held from his late home at 9 o'clock this morning.  The esteem in which the young man was held was attested by the scores of people who assembled to pay a last tribute of respect to a departed friend.  A requiem mass [sic] was [sic] offered up in St. Patrick's church followed by interment in the parish cemetery. [No relation to me, but transcribed in case anyone comes looking for him!] 

Attended Funeral. 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Cummisky of Long Island, and Miss Carris Lee of Pittsburgh, attended the funeral of the late Mrs. Quirk today." [I believe it should be "Carrie Lee of Pittsburgh".]

Mary's tombstone is now leaning quite badly

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).

Follow Friday

A short one this Friday.  I'm about 1,000+ blog posts behind in my queue and I'll be spending some time this weekend catching up.  No doubt next Friday will have a long following list because there are just so many great posts out there! 

Dick Eastman had an incredible blog post called "Controversy: How to Read Unreadable Tombstones".  It's an amazing video and it certainly produces results, but I would agree with Dick that I wouldn't want to personally use it or encourage it's use until I heard from qualified experts as to the long term effects of using flour on tombstones.  Some may argue that the stones are already deteriorating beyond functionality.  I would caution that before you do anything to a gravestone that you first receive permission by the cemetery.

Until next time have fun tending those roots! (Oh, and don't get behind on your reader posts...so not a good sign!)

Wisdom Wednesday - I Live For These Moments!

Buried Saint Gabriel's Cemetery, Hazleton, PA

Have you ever had those moments of genealogical divine intervention where a brick wall that has been laughing at you for months or years finally starts to crumble?  That happened to me yesterday morning.  I woke up early to get ready for a PTA-type morning.  Before falling into PTA induced insanity I relaxed with my morning routine of coffee, checking Facebook, and checking obits from my (and my husband's) hometown.

It was my hometown's obituaries that caught my attention.  An obituary in the Hazleton Standard Speaker for one Rose Marie Dugan.  While Rose is no relative of mine, at least not one I'm aware of, she does share a name with a relative.  Rose Dugan was the second wife of Dennis Dugan.  Dennis' first wife, Elizabeth "Bessie" Dugan nee Quirk was my 2nd great aunt.  So why would I be interested in his 2nd wife?  A little background...

Bessie was one of (at least) 9 children of William Quirk Sr and Mary A. Lee.  Nine children and you would think that there would be lots of descendants around to help me with my research, or heck, just to connect with.  Nope.  Sometimes life throws curve balls at families and they deal as best as they can:

Child #1 - William Quirk b. 09JUL1869 d. before 1880 - I have 2 baptismal records for William Quirk (son of William and Mary Quirk), which indicates to me since this William is in the 1870 census and then is the same age in the 1880 census that he died before 1880 and the parents later named another son William.

Child #2 & #3 - Susan Quirk b. 22SEP1870 d. 13AUG1889 - Why child 2 and 3?  Well, I have a baptismal record for Susan Quirk (child of William and Mary Quirk) showing her birth as 1870.  I have a funeral card for Susie Quirk for 1889.  The problem?  If these dates were for the same person, she would have been almost 19 when she died, but the funeral card (left) has that she was 15 years, 8 months old when she died (wish they had listed the days so I could figure out the exact date).  Doing the math, this Susie was born between December 1873-January 1874.  So was the baptismal certificate transcribed wrong?  Possibly, but that a lot to transcribe wrong...the month and year?  I think it's more likely that the first Susan died sometime before the 2nd Susan was born.  I can understand them wanting to rename another daughter Susan (as they would for William) since Susan was Mary's mother's name.  So the above dates (seem to me to be) most likely the birth for one Susan and the death for the other.

Child #4 - Eleanor "Ella" Quirk b. 15APR1872 d. 01JUL1941 - Ella would have been born between the two Susans, if there were indeed two Susans.  She never married. She was a school teacher and helped to raise my grandmother Mary Ann Brown nee Quirk (mentioned immediately below).

Child #5 - Edward Joseph Quirk b. 08AUG1876 d. 19OCT1950 - Edward was my great grandfather.  He married Alice Blanchfield on 15SEP1912.  They had my grandmother, Mary Ann.  Then Alice died in/shortly after childbirth with their second child (name/gender unknown) on 23SEP1915.  Edward and Mary then lived with Edward's siblings who helped raise Mary Ann.

Child #6 - Catherine G. Quirk b. 24JUL1878 d. 23JAN1961 - "Aunt Kay".  I believe my aunt Cathy is named for her.  She never married.  Just helped take care of Mary Ann.

Unk Hazleton newspaper

Child #7 - William Quirk b. 26OCT1880 d. 16OCT1948** - "Uncle Bill".  He never married.  Lived with his siblings his whole life and can be assumed that he also helped to raise little Mary Ann.

Child #8 - Elizabeth "Bessie" Quirk b. 09FEB1882 d. 14DEC1918 - Bessie was the postmistress in Jeanesville, PA.  She married Dennis Dugan on 02OCT1917.  She would have been 35 when she got married.  Late by standards in the early twentieth century.  She died after a cesarean section (on right).

Child #9 - Mary A. Quirk b. 10MAY1887 d. 02DEC1965 - "Aunt Mary" (shocker, I know) never married.  She helped to raise Mary Ann as well.

Obviously, William and Mary could have had other children that are not accounted for in the census records and that didn't get sent to me from the church in baptismal records.

It's also obvious that little Mary Ann Quirk was taken care of and loved.  I hear those stories from my mom, aunt and uncle.  She may have actually been a little spoiled too, and I say that in a loving, good way.  She probably didn't want for much.  But for William and Mary to have had all those children and end up with only one descendant?  Talk about sad.  I say "one" because no one in my immediate family knows what happened to Bessie and Dennis' child.

1920 U.S. Federal Census - Andrew Dugan household

I became fixated with Bessie and Dennis' child.  Nothing no name for the child in the newspaper, BUT I did find Dennis in the 1920 census.  He was living in Bethlehem, PA with his siblings and his daughter...BETTY!  Named after Bessie!  YAY!!!  Happy dance!  1930 census...well, Dennis is still there in Bethlehem, but he's remarried (to Rose) and with a (step) son...no Betty.  Did she die?  Did she go off to live with other relatives?  I don't know.  Certainly it was a little bit of progress on finding another Quirk.  But happiness at realizing Bessie's daughter survived was slammed down by a nasty brick wall, and Betty wasn't found with her aunts and uncles in the 1930 census.

1930 U.S. Federal Census - Dennis Dugan household

That's where I was before yesterday morning.  Seeing the Rose Marie Dugan obituary made me realize that I had never checked to see when Dennis' 2nd wife died.  If I could find an obituary, maybe I could find a reference to Betty.  I don't k now why I hadn't thought to search through the 2nd wife before, but sometimes it just happens.

So I checked the Social Security Death Index for Rose Dugan...yep.  Right where I expected her in Bethlehem, PA.  Died September 1982.  Good.  Recent is good.  I contacted the local Bethlehem newspaper, The Morning Call, via email and asked for help.  Who has the archived copies and are they available through inter-library loan?  I let them know who I was looking for and when she died (always hoping that they might perform a random act of genealogical kindness) and throwing in there that I'm from northeastern PA but living in Texas near Fort Hood (gotta try for some military lovin'...I'm not beneath that!).

I got a response a few hours later, and while it wasn't with the obituary, it directed me to the libraries with the microfilm and with some additional information.  She told me that their records indicate that there was an obituary published on 14SEP1982 for a Rose Steager Dugan on page B6 under "Local/Region" section.  She said I would need a date to request the information from the library.  I was excited.  Another name...Steager.  So what did I do?  I jumped on Google and typed a search for "Rose Steager Dugan".

I got an obituary for one James J. Steager Sr. published in...The Morning Call!  It mentioned his mother, Rose (King) Dugan and his step-father, Dennis Dugan.  Sadly, no mention of Betty.  Dennis and Rose did have another child (Francis), but he's no relation to me and he passed away as well.

Still, I got a church name...Saint Ursula.  I contacted them for the name of the parish cemetery, Holy Saviour.  I've also got the number for the groundskeeper. I called and left a message asking for Dugan burials.

So now I've got names.  Perhaps a child of James or Francis knows about Betty.  Perhaps they have a picture of Dennis.  I would love to see what he looks like.  I've got so many pictures in an old album that could be him...with an unknown baby...perhaps Betty.

The wall hasn't been torn down, but I think I whacked a brick or two out of it and can see some light on the other side.  The wall will eventually come down.  I'm sure of it.  I'm not hopeful though to find the result I wanted...another Quirk descendant.  If she had lived, wouldn't the she be listed as a step-sister in James' obituary?  Who knows, but I won't stop whacking away at that wall.  I'm determined and new motivation has energized me!

[The news clipping for Bessie Dugan nee Quirk's death has no source information.  It was glued to the inside cover of a photo album with dates penciled in.  The dates are presumably for her death and burial rather than actual publication.  The newspaper is most likely from the Hazleton Standard Sentinel or Hazleton Plain Speaker which predate the current Hazleton Standard Speaker.  It is also possible that the clipping came from a Bethlehem newspaper, but since the rest of the Quirks to which this album belonged lived in/around Hazleton it is unlikely]

**William Quirk is listed in the 1880 census which was enumerated in June 1880...that was before his October birth.  Now they were enumerated on June 21st so unless the baptismal record for William is wrong and he was born February-ish in 1880 there was another baby William that died before the one born in October?  If you look at the 1900 census William is listed as being born in May 1881! We can expect errors in them to some extent though.  Mary Quirk nee Lee is said to have given birth to 9 children 6 still living which is something to go on!

Tuesday's Tip - Inputting Data on the 1860 Census, Schedule 2

1860 U.S. Federal Census, Schedule 2

Last week I posted the 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Schedule 1.  This week I've posted the form for the Slave Schedule for this 1860 (Schedule 2).

This Schedule is almost identical to the one I posted previously, so rather than a long rambling about it all, I will direct you to the former post here for the details.

There were only 2 federal censuses that had the Slave Schedule.  Emancipation was on it's way, although I'm sure it still seem so far away to those living through 1860.

The only difference on this Schedule 2 from the last (aside from the year) is the tally section at the bottom of the sheet.

As always, if you have any difficulties with the form (downloading, inputting, saving, etc) just let me know and we'll figure out how to fix it.  So far, there haven't been any issues since the very first census form.  Let's hope my luck holds out!  The forms still appear to be 3 pages long when viewed through Google Docs, but rest assured that when you download it, it will be one page!

Next week we move on to one of the first censuses that we genealogists/family historians love...the 1870 U.S. Federal Census.  Finally, lots more info to make our little hearts happy! 

Until next time, have fun tending those roots!

Have You Heard About the Newest App???

If you haven't heard the Federation of Genealogical Societies has an app for your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.

If you haven't heard about it and you are hearing it from me for the first time, then you really need to get out more!

Either way, head on over to the FGS Voice to read all about it!