Sunday's Obituary - Gabriel Kennedy

The Standard Speaker, 30JAN1971, pg 1

I'm always trying to firm up my lateral lines. It can help in so many ways. If you're stuck on a direct line ancestor, but you gather information on that person's brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, etc you might find information in documents about them that could also pertain to your ancestor. Even if your ancestor isn't specifically mentioned knowing more about that lateral line can help you confirm or reject a document you find on your ancestor later. After all if you know the members of your ancestor's family and then find a document that has completely different names you'll know that it's not right and to keep looking.

This obituary doesn't yield an immediate results for my direct line, but it's still a good obituary and you never know what the future brings. Maybe it will help someone else and they'll know something about our joint line I don't. I wonder why Gabe died so suddenly. The Pennsylvania Death Certificates aren't online for 1971 so I won't know for awhile. He was 65 when he died. Sure, so people will say that's a good age. As I get older though it starts to feel like 65 is too young to pass. Of course I'm looking at it from today where our average life expectancy is a bit higher than that.

“Gabriel J. Kennedy, Former Cafe Owner, Dies Unexpectedly

Gabriel J. ‘Gabe’ Kennedy, one of the area’s best known bar and restaurant owners, died unexpectedly at 10:30 o’clock last night in his home at 356 Thirlwell Ave.

The prominent businessman, who retired in 1970 after operating Gabe’s Cafe on the Heights for more than 35 years, was born in Tresckow, a son of the late Anthony and Fannie Cortez Kennedy, and spent his entire life in Hazleton.

‘Gabe’ established an outstanding reputation as a businessman and humorist and was noted for his generosity to the needy.

He was a member of Holy Rosary Catholic Church, the Knights of Columbus, Hazleton Council No. 442, and the Heights Fire Co.

He was preceded in death by a sister, Mary, in 1930; a brother, Dr. V. James Kennedy, in 1968, and another brother, Joseph, in 1969.

Surviving are his wife, the former Mary Turnbach; one daughter, Mrs. Joseph (Joan) Undeck, Wheaton, Md.; a grandson, Joseph, and the following brothers: Dr. Frank Kennedy, D.D.S.; Charles T., Anthong and John, all of this city.

The Standard Speaker,
30JAN1971, pg 2

The funeral will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday from the Turnbach Funeral Home.

A high mass of requiem will be celebrated at 9:30 a.m. in Holy Rosary Church. Interment will be in St. Gabriel’s Cemetery.

Friends may call at the funeral home from 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday and from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Monday.

A para liturgical service will be held at 8 p.m. Monday in the funeral home.”

Gabriel was married to Mary Turnbach who was my first cousin twice removed. Rest in peace, Gabe.

Amanuensis Monday - Wrapping Up the Villers Trial, Part 1

I've blogged about Martin Joseph (MJ) Villers before. I've shared articles and documents from his attempted murder trial as well as his murder trial. I thought I was done, but then I was contacted by, Guinn Hinman, who is currently researching the historic Stutsman County Courthouse in North Dakota (like their FB page!). In her research she found two things of interest to me. First she found my blog which referenced MJ Villers and the trial at the courthouse, and second, she found a photograph on the front page of a newspaper of MJ Villers! Yes, morbid curiosity made me want to know what this man looked like and now I know...

...but this is an Amanuensis Monday post so what am I transcribing? Well when Ms. Hinman told me about this photo and an article I never expected what I encountered. There wasn't just an article, but all of page 1, 2, 3, and parts of 4 and 8 were about the trial!

Now that's a lot of information so I can't possibly share it all here, so I'm going to tackle this elephant bit by bit over the next several weeks (possibly months) of Amanuensis Monday posts. I've always wanted to know what made this man do what he did. His family was highly respected and he had even once been a police officer in Wisconsin. Why did this happen?

Well I haven't read all of the articles in this paper. I'm too busy with school right now, but I think I can commit to transcribing a little for each week until my term finishes at the end of April. We'll discover it all together.

These articles are from the January 20th 1898 edition of The Jamestown Weekly Alert which can be digitally found on Chronicling America.

Headline - The Jamestown Weekly Alert, 20JAN1898, pg1

"Imprisonment for Life

The Jury Finds M.J. Villers Guilty of Murder in the First Degree and Fixes Punishment at Imprisonment for Life.

Stay of Proceedings to February 1st is Granted to Give the Defense Time to Prepare Argument for a New Trial.

The Judge's Charge to the Jury, - Sketch of the Concluding Testimony - Pleas of the Attorneys - Satisfaction With Verdict."

The Jamestown Weekly Alert, 20JAN1898, pg1

"State of North Dakota, pelt. vs. Martin J. Villers dfdt. We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree as charged in the information and fix his punishment at imprisonment in the penitentiary for life. (Signed) M. Watson, Foreman.

The above is the verdict rendered by the jury in the trial of M.J. Villers for the murder of August Tromer Sept. 14th, '94. The verdict was read at 9:50 a.m. in open court and then the jury polled at request of defense. Each juryman responded firmly and distinctly that that was his verdict.

Judge Fisk thanked the jury 'for the careful manner in which you have discharged your duty - have done so in a very able and conscientious manner. I believe as you go to your homes you will do so feeling that you have discharged your whole duty, both to the state and the defendant.' They were then excused for the remainder of the term.

A stay of proceedings was granted by the court to Feb. 1st to give the defense opportunity, if so desired, to prepare a motion for a new trial. A request for a copy of the proceedings was made by the defense and argued Tuesday p.m. This was granted by the court.

During the reading of the verdict the prisoner sat behind his attorney closely watching proceedings. He remained unchanged when his fate was announced. On his return to his cell, however, he was not in the best frame of mind and threatened in regard to the delay of his physician in arriving."

I'll try not to be the grammar police, because I'm sure they were trying to get a lot into these pages and it was quite the sensational story of the time, but the phrasing of that last sentence is puzzling. I can understand him not being in the best frame of mind, but the "threatened in regard to the delay of his physician in arriving"? He felt personally threatened by that or he felt that his health was threatened? Or was it another threat? You may say that I'm reading too much into this, but there were allegations that he tried to kill himself in another article I transcribed and he was not a healthy man at this point in his life. This life term he received would end within 6 years with his death. Many thought he was faking sickness for pity from the jury. I guess he had the last laugh there.

The Bismarck Weekly Tribune 01MAR1985, pg8

Jumping a little off track to illustrate what I just mentioned, this article was taken from The Bismarck Weekly Tribune on March 1st 1895 when MJ Villers was on trial for attempted murder (he tried to kill the wife of the guy he killed...yeah...this story has some drama).

"Has His Nerve

M.J. Villiers (sic), who is confined in the LaMoure jail awaiting trial for a murderous assault on a woman, Mrs. Tromers (sic), made a desperate attempt at suicide last Friday. Being allowed to leave his iron-grated cell for the purpose of exercise, Villers took advantage of the opportunity to secure the poker from under the stove, and returning to his cell, extinguished the light and attempted suicide. It appears that he placed the poker against the wall and with a wonderful display of nerve forced the sharpened point through his body at a point a few inches above the navel. The force used was sufficient to penetrate the body at least for or five inches, and, as Sheriff Jones entered the jail at this very moment, Villers, not to be baffled in his purpose, grasped the handle of the poker and drove it upward toward the heart. He then coolly drew the steel out, dripping with blood, and threw it under the cot in his cell. Villers' condition was not improved, and, in fact, considerable (sic) worse. His injuries were fully as serious as reported, and in his weakened condition it is not improbably that death may result."

This is all I'll transcribe for this post. It's time that I jumped into my discussion post for the week for Lighting 1. This class is going to be challenging. Right now all the terminology is just swimming around in my mind and not really clicking. Hopefully that changes because a photographer that doesn't grasp lighting won't be very good. Here's hoping that I keep up the posts with school in session. I haven't for the past few months because school was just too overwhelming. This, however, interests me enough to take a small break to transcribe. Until next Monday!

Sunday's Obituary - Hugh Barrett

The Plain Speaker, 25FEB1943, pg18

My mom's going to love this one! Hugh and his sister, Alice, Barrett were the only two children of Patrick and Bridget Barrett nee Farley that we didn't have death dates for. After doing research over several weeks and from different angles I found a possible match in the New York Death Index and sent away for the death certificate. As it turned out I did have the right person, because his sister, Alice, was the one that gave the information for his death certificate and is also stated that he was heading back to St. Gabriel's in Pennsylvania to be buried.

That was exciting news. What was more exciting was jumping on Newspapers.com over the weekend to do a search on Alice and then have Hugh's obituary pop up. Not what I was looking for, but I'll take it!

I'd often wondered if the Hugh Barrett in the sports section for the Hazleton team was mine and I've waffled back and forth with believing it was...and then wasn't. This article confirms that it was and that he was apparently pretty good.

"Hugh Barrett Passes Away

Former Baseball Star Who Died in New York to Be Buried Here.

Hugh Barrett, a pitcher for the Hazleton baseball team when the games were played at the old Hazle Park diamond, died at St. Anthony's hospital, New York City, yesterday morning after an illness of several weeks.

The body will be brought to Hazleton on the 12:35 noon L. V. R. R. train on Friday and interment will be made in St. Gabriel's cemetery. Funeral services will be held at the parish church in New York City early that morning.

While a resident of Hazleton, Mr. Barrett was engaged with the old Hazleton Gas Co., and left here 28 years ago to locate in New York City, where the late Joseph Mayer had obtained him a high position.

Member of Pioneer Family

Mr. Barrett was a son of the late Patrick and Bridget Barrett, a pioneer family of this region and was born at Humboldt, but had located in this city as a boy. He learned the gas business here and for many years remained with the local company as a foreman.

Played On Famous Team.

As a curve ball pitcher, Mr. Barrett won recognition and the became a member of one of the greatest teams in Hazlteon's history, then managed by Herry Dryfoos and playing on what is now the site of the Spaulding Bakery in West Hazleton, which at that time was a portion of Hazle Park.

The team had such stars as Joe Walser, Jack Bream, Jack Neuer, Gorge Kimmell, Joe Londrigan, Charley Stoeker, Charles "Kid" McBride, Neil Brown, Harry Weidenback, Jimmy Kelly, James Brady, and latter (sic) Charles Weidenbach and Harry Brown joined the club. Six of the players, Bream, Neuer, Kimmell, McBride, Neil Brown and Jimmy Kelly are dead.

Leaves Three Survivors

Mr. Barrett is survived by a brother and two sisters, Edward F. Barrett of Buffalo, N. Y.; Mrs. Thomas Brown of West Broad street, this city, and Miss Alice Barrett, R. N., of New York City. Two brothers, Walter and William Barrett preceded him in death."

There's lots of rather cool information in there. School is back in session for me and this is the first post I've been able to do in quite awhile, but let's hope this find can help me to finally find Hugh and/or Alice in the 1930s or 1940s census records! I'd love to find out what job it was that he took in New York and who Joseph Mayer was. Always more questions!

Tombstone Tuesday - Caroline Lee

A very special thank you to Richard Boyer for permission
to post his photo

I haven't posted on my Lees since August. I haven't really had time since school started up again. When I got a notification from FindAGrave that a photo request had been filled and the kind man gave me permission to post his photo I had to take time out of school to get this post up.

I don't know much about Caroline "Carrie" Lee. She never married and I've posted clippings before of her visiting my Quirk/Lee family in eastern Pennsylvania. Carrie is part of the Pittsburgh Lees that I still haven't been able to fully figure out where they belong in my tree. The best I can make out is that Carrie and her siblings were cousins to the Quirks (grandchildren of Edward Lee). Carrie's father was Thomas Lee, but I have yet to figure out how he relates to my Edward.

Caroline was born on September 11, 1856 in Pennsylvania. She died on October 12, 1922 and is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Pittsburgh. Her tombstone looks very similar to those of her parents. I'm guessing that they are buried nearby, but I don't know for certain. Carrie died of pneumonia.

Still, I know that they're related somehow. I just haven't unearthed that special bit of information that will solidify the connection. They visited. My family saved an obituary clipping of one of Carrie's siblings. Perhaps a Pittsburgh Lee will find this blog and be able to fill in the blanks. Maybe something else will turn up. Maybe. Maybe. It's best to cling to hope when you're still hitting that brick wall. If you keep hitting it eventually you'll win.

Amanuensis Monday - Working on my Brown Ancestors

The Plain Speaker,
21MAY1937, pg18

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

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

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

"Rev. John A. Brown

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

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

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

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

The Standard Speaker
21JUL1969, pg22

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Veterans Day!

(This is a repost from previous years to thank those that have served in the military and to remember those veterans in my family as well. I feel like I'm forgetting someone in my family below. I'm sure it will pop into my mind some time after posting!)

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

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

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

SGT James E Trunzo - USA

  

Mystery Monday - Mystery Solved

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

The Plain Speaker, 22AUG1903, pg 1

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

Excerpt from Patrick Barrett's death certificate

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

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

Excerpt from Margaret Reilly nee Barrett's death certificate

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

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

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

Excerpt of Ellen Mulheron nee Barrett's death certificate

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

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