Week 9: "At the Courthouse" #52Ancestors

This week’s prompt from Amy Johnson Crow (the guiding light for the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” project) had me a little stumped. Amy asked: “What neat discoveries have you made at the courthouse? Or, do you have an ancestor who spent a lot of time at the courthouse, either as an official or as someone who ran afoul of the law?”

As a recovering lawyer, I have spent more than my fair share of time at courthouses in my past life. Not super interested in going back to one ever again. Except I know that much genealogy research can only be done by going to the repository itself, especially courthouses. While a lot of material is online (more and more each day), not everything is. So, if I have to go to a courthouse to get that document I need, I will go despite my distaste.

From what I have learned of my family tree, no one ran too afoul of the law or was a courthouse official, except for my father-in-law. John Richard Baty was the first generation of lawyers in our family and our first judge. Since then, we have become thick with lawyers, including my husband, brother-in-law, and numerous Baty cousins. I am the first lawyer in the Glacy family and I am truly grateful for my legal training as it really helps me in my genealogy work. 

I mentioned in a January blogpost that my family’s original name was “Glaeschen” and that they immigrated to the U.S. in 1845. The family settled originally in Reading, PA, presumably to be close to my 3rd great-grandfather who came to Reading about 4 years earlier. One thing to know about family migrations is that rarely did the family or person migrate alone and, if they did, they usually did so to prepare the way for others. That seems to have been the case with John Michael Rebholz (my 3rd great) who came to the US from Germany by himself and was ultimately joined by all but two of his ten children. Interestingly enough, his wife did not join him and she died less than 10 years after he immigrated.

 Anyway, back to courthouses: I recently discovered that the Recorder of Deeds from Berks County, PA, has published online every document EVER RECORDED in their office since 1752. Wow, what a find! What fun! [Yes, I know, I need to get out more.]

For the hefty sum of $3.50 I was able to obtain a digital copy of an 1852 mortgage obtained by Joseph Glaschen for his home in Reading.[1] In July of 1852, Joseph signed a mortgage for a brick building sold to him by Christopher Shearer, a large Reading property owner. It appears that the sale price was $960, but the mortgage was for “only” $430. Could this mean that Joseph was able to put down $530 for this house, only six years after arriving from Germany? Hmmm. More mysteries for me to investigate.

The Reading Recorder of Deeds office does not have the actual deed conveying the property to Joseph, indicating that he likely never paid off the mortgage. Nevertheless, this mortgage describes the property as being on a “newly laid off street” between 9thand 10th, north of “Button.” Well, I’ll be darned if that isn’t the exact same description given for his residence in the city directory four years later. In the 1856 Reading City directory, Joseph GLACY, a mason, is living in the “alley” north of “Buttonwood” between 9thand 10thstreets. I had found that city directory at the Reading city library many years ago and am glad I did as it is NOT available online.  

That “alley” is really Moss Street and from what I can tell, the brick house that Joseph lived in is no longer there as a recent search on Zillow.com shows most of the houses now standing on that block of Moss are 1920s vintage.

No picture of a smiling/not smiling ancestor this week. Sadly, I don’t have one of Joseph or his wife, Eva Elizabeth. Nevertheless, I’ve attached a copy of a page from the 1884 Atlas of the City of Reading showing Moss Street. Joseph had long since moved to New York City. Yet, I can’t help wondering if the lot noted as belonging to Shearer was where Joseph lived?  

[1] Mortgage, Glaisgen to Shearer, 7 July 1852; City of Reading, Pennsylvania, Mortgage Book U:23; digital image, Berks County, Pennsylvania, Recorder of Deeds Office (http://www.co.berks.pa.us/dept/deeds: accessed 2 February 2019).

A.H. Mueller, Property and Insurance Atlas of the City of Reading, Berks County, Penna., From Official Records and Actual Surveys(Reading, Pa.: Forsey Breou & Co., 1884), a section of Plate 36; digital image, the Library of Congress (http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3824rm.gla00187: accessed 2 March 2019).

Week 8: "Family Photo" #52Ancestors

I am a sucker for old family photographs. I can lose myself staring at a picture: imagining what the people are feeling and how they got to that moment in time. Whenever I am in an antique shop and see abandoned pictures and photo albums it makes me so sad. No one wanted that picture of that adorable baby? Or that wedding photo of the grim-faced couple (have you ever noticed back in the day no one smiled for portrait sessions)? 

These days, camera-phones are everywhere. The best part of this phenomenon is that it is hard to get away with being a jerk anymore (e.g. “BBQ Becky” and “Permit Patty”). For me, I’ve taken so many photos that they are cluttering-up my hard-drive something fierce. One day I’ll get them all organized. Some day. Tomorrow? Okay, probably never.

Back to the topic at hand: anyone who’s been to my house knows I have show-cased some of my favorite family photos along my front stairwell. I spent months and months collecting antique frames and restoring photos of our family. They make a beautiful display (if I do say so myself) and make me smile every day to see them looking back at me (despite the generally grim faces).

My favorite of this collection for its historical and family significance is one taken in May of 1895 in Otoe, then Indian Territory of Oklahoma.[1] The photo depicts a group of about 19 white people on a large porch and includes my husband’s grandparents and his grand-father (about three-years-old). The most fascinating and remarkable thing about this photo are the three Native American girls just to the right of the house. I spent many hours working on restoring this photo; getting rid of water marks; scratches; and dings. I tried to be careful in order to preserve the faces of these people, especially these little girls. It’s hard to tell how old they were – I would guess under ten. They appear to be wearing similar polka-dotted dresses. I doubt they knew they would be in this picture, but I am sure glad they were.

From about 1895 to 1898, William Jordan Mills (the great-grandfather from last week’s love story), was working for the U.S. Department of the Interior as the “Clerk in charge” of the Indian Agency located in Otoe, Oklahoma.[2] The Otoe Agency ran a boarding school at that time and that probably explains why the three girls are in what appear to be uniforms. To benefit the school and support the agency, William oversaw the cultivation of wheat, oats, millet, peaches, and vegetables on 35 acres and the raising of livestock including hogs and milk cows. As clerk in charge, William was paid an annual salary of $1,200 in 1897.[3]

Sadly, the girls in the picture were likely taken from their families and sent to this school to be “civilized.” The Otoe-Missouria Tribe reports that the stigma that was attached to speaking their traditional language resulted in much of the language being lost. Today, there are approximately 3,000 members of the tribe still living in Oklahoma. The website for the Otoe-Missouria Tribe has a wealth of information on their history and culture. Please check it out at http://www.omtribe.org.

[1]Otoe Agency, Oklahoma, photograph, c. May 1895, privately held. 

[2]“Employees in Indian Agency Service,” Official Register of the United States 1895, vol. 1(Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1895), 752; digital image, U.S. Government Publishing Office (https://www.govinfo.gov: accessed 24 February 2019). “Employees in Indian Agency Service,” Official Register of the United States 1897, vol. 1.(Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1897), 525; digital image, Hathi Trust (https://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t7qn6wr0p: accessed 24 February 2019). 

[3]“Reports of Agents in Oklahoma: Report of Clerk in Charge of Otoe School,” Annual Reports of the Department of the Interior 1897(Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1897), 246; digital images, Google Books (http://books.Google.com: accessed 24 February 2019).

Otoe Agency, Oklahoma, May 1895.

Week 7: Love is in the air! #52Ancestors

This past week’s prompt was “Love.” While I’ve missed Valentine’s Day, love is ALWAYS something good to talk about.

I scoured my family tree for that one great love story I could tell: the star-crossed lovers fighting against all odds to be together. Hmmm. Should I write about my great-grandfather whose marriage to my great-grandmother was his third and took place 14 years after their first child was born? Not sure how romantic that was and given what a wild character he was, I think I’ll save him for later. 

The story to share today is of my husband’s great-grandparents, Ella Mae Marlow and William Jordan Mills. 

The family bible said that they were married on Christmas Day in 1884 in Vinita, which was then in the Indian Territory of Oklahoma. 

Oklahoma? Really? What were they doing there? 

Ella was born in Indiana in 1868, the youngest of seven children of a Congregational Minister. In 1880, twelve-year old Ella and her family are living in Brookline, Greene County, Missouri.[1]

William was born in Tennessee and his obituary claims that in 1882, he was a “helper” for the Frisco railroad in Rogers, Arkansas.[2]

According to Google Maps, Rogers and Brookline are about 80 miles away from each other (as the crow flies). Both are further away than that from Vinita. 

My first question was could the family bible be wrong. For some years now, I’ve been on the hunt for any kind of record that supported this story. With the only clue I had (that they were married in Indian Territory) I had difficulty finding any marriage records for them. I thought maybe they met there, but I couldn’t find anything to support even that. The question was: if she was in Missouri and he in Arkansas, how could they have met and fallen in love?

Ponder, ponder. Muse, muse.

Given that he worked for a railroad, I guessed it was possible William traveled some along the Frisco route and met her in is travels. And, guess what? Brookline was “laid out” in 1871 when the railroad was extended to that point.[3] Ah-ha! 

But why get married in Oklahoma? 

Two weeks ago, I was in Oklahoma myself visiting my darling niece and her darling fiancé. I was invited to go wedding dress shopping, which was such a thrill for me! Anyway, during some down time, I was checking my email and noticed an update on some interesting newspapers, including the Indian Chieftain, published in Vinita, Indian Territory, Oklahoma (1882-1902). Holy cow! Fingers crossed, I searched for a wedding announcement for Ella and William. Lo and behold, there it was! “Mr. W.J. Mills and Miss Ella Marlow, of Rogers, Arkansas, who came in on the noon train and were married at the Frisco hotel.”[4]

I did some more research and found that Brother Haworth, a Baptist preacher, was the go-to guy for marriages in Vinita. And, I answered the question of “why” Vinita: Ella was sixteen and she did not need her parents’ permission to marry in Oklahoma.[5] Apparently, many couples came to the Frisco hotel in Vinita and sought out Brother Haworth to marry them disobeying their parents’ wishes. Could this be my star-crossed lovers fighting against all odds to be together? Maybe so! There is so much more to this story that I may never discover, but for now, I’m happy to have found evidence of their Christmas wedding.

[1]1880 U.S. Census, Greene, Missouri, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 38, p. 127D (stamped), p. 16 (penned), dwelling not noted, family 135, R.T. Marlow; image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 19 February 2019); citing National Archives microfilm publication T9, roll 687.

[2]The St. Louis-San Francisco Railway was known as the Frisco. “W.J. Mills, Who Died at Nevada Monday,” unknown newspaper, digital copy held by author.

[3]Wikipedia (http://wikipedia.org), “Brookline, Missouri,” rev. 12:24, 27 July 2018.

[4]“More Happiness,” Indian Chieftain (Vinita, Indian Territory [Oklahoma]), 1 January 1885, p. 3, col. 2; image, Chronicling America (https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025010/1885-01-01/ed-1/seq-3/#: accessed 20 January 2019). I did note that the announcement says they were both from Rogers. That could well be true and deserves from further research on my part.

[5] “Marriage and Divorce Laws,” The World Almanac and Encyclopedia, vol. 8 (January 1901): 241; image, Google Books (https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=6OwbAAAAIAAJ&pg=GBS.PA241 : accessed 19 February 2019), image 223. N.B. Under normal circumstances, I would have preferred to locate the applicable laws for the Oklahoma Indian Territory and Missouri. This does the trick in the short term.

Ella Mae Marlow Mills (1868-1947)

William Jordan Mills (1858-1923)

Week 6: SURPRISE! #52Ancestors

This week’s prompt was to write about something surprising found in my family research. I’ve already covered a big one – that fact that my family name isn’t “Glacy” (see week 3). But I did find a surprising ancestor – on my husband’s side of the family. None other than our sixteenth President, Abraham Lincoln!

I know what you are thinking: “Sure you’re related to someone famous. Isn’t that the point of doing genealogy?” But really, “no.” I never thought I would find anyone famous and I am supremely skeptical of anyone who does. On one of my favorite T.V. programs, “Finding Your Roots,” they always seem to find that the celebrity guest is related to King Henry VIII. I shouldn’t be surprised because even though Henry VIII didn’t have any direct legitimate children, his SISTER likely has thousands of descendants! Nevertheless, I still smile whenever Dr. Gates whips out that huge family tree with old Henry at the top (Charlemagne is another favorite ancestor on that show). #smh

To be honest though, the number of ancestors and descendants is mind-blowing. Strictly looking at the math, you dear reader, have 4,096 10thGreat-Grandparents!1 [BTW, that’s why a genealogist is never “done.”] Of course, that does not take into account your shared ancestors. Given the number of cousins who married each other back in the day when that was more or less legal, you’ll likely find quite a few less than 4,000. But even still, it’s gonna be a BIG number!

So maybe I shouldn’t be so skeptical of people who say that they have famous people in their family tree. There is a guy I regularly run into on Ancestry who claims he is descended from King Henry VII. Maybe I should agree that this might be possible. But he also claims he is related to the Medici family from Florence, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Zachary Taylor, Mickey Mantle, Ty Cobb, Tom Brady, and possibly Chief Powhatan from Pocahontas fame. You can see how my natural skepticism is fed. 

Alright, back to Abraham Lincoln. As far as I have been able to determine, it looks as though Honest Abe is my husband’s 4th cousin 4xs removed. What that means that Abe’s 3rdGreat-Grandfather is Bruce’s 7th Great-Grandfather (through Abe’s mother Nancy Hanks).

You might note the lack of footnotes in the above-portion of this blog. Part of that has to do with the fact that William Hanks, the common grandfather shared by Abe and Bruce, was born maybe in Virginia sometime in the 1650’s and died possibly in 1704. The lack of original records from that time makes research into that family a challenge I have not yet accepted. Of course, now that I have mentioned this as a possibility, I’d better get cracking and prove it! One of my favorite genealogical mottos is “without proof there is no truth.” So, unless and until I can get you some honest to goodness “proof,” take my Abe story with a big grain of salt! 

1 Dick Eastman, “How Many Ancestors Do You Have?,” Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter, 26 January 2018 (https://blog.eogn.com/2018/01/26/how-many-ancestors-do-you-have/: accessed 11 February 2019).

Leopold Grozelier, “Hon, Abraham Lincoln” lithograph (Boston: J.H. Buford, 1860); digital image, Library of Congress (https://lccn.loc.gov/2006678305 : accessed 11 February 2019).

This little cutie’s birthday is tomorrow too!

Week 5: At the Library #52Ancestors

Week 5’s assignment was pretty wide-open: Write about “an ancestor that you discovered while researching at the library; an ancestor who was a librarian or an author; an ancestor who had a large book collection; an ancestor who you picture being in a library; or maybe a relative who took you to the library.”

I have two “Library” thoughts this week.

First, is how fortunate I am to have the Midwest Genealogy Center a mere 35-minute drive from my house. The Center is part of the Mid-Continent Public Library System and is the largest free-standing genealogy library in the US! It has a vast collection of books, magazines, and manuscripts as well as free browsable databases, printable genealogy forms, online learning, and a plethora of genealogy classes for both the beginner and advanced researcher. All in my own backyard! I am truly a fortunate genealogist.  If you want to be really jealous of me, go to https://www.mymcpl.org/genealogy!

My second “Library” thought is about my mom. Born Mary Regina Maier in 1923 in Newark, New Jersey, she was the first of her family to graduate from college (specifically, the College of St. Elizabeth, Morris Township, NJ). Her degree was in home economics, but I’m not sure she ever taught school. If she did, it wasn’t for too long; she married my dad in 1953 and proceeded to have five kids over the next seven years. 

One of the many things my mom taught me was the love of reading. I recall having a library card at an early age and was super fortunate to grow up in a town with TWO libraries! Mom encouraged us to read mostly by example. There was never a time when my mom didn’t have a stack of books from the library – usually 4-5 books. And she would visit the library twice a week! How in the world she got all that reading done with the chaos caused by five poorly-behaved children and all their friends, I’ll never know. I remember many times flying through the kitchen with my friends, especially during the summer when we were on the hunt for ice cream, soda, or anything to keep us cool. And, there would be my mom, eating her lunch (usually way after everyone else had eaten) with her head buried in a book. She would be completely oblivious to the bedlam around her! I suppose she might have intervened if one of us got into a fight, but otherwise, she was not bothered by us in the least.

At night it was the same. After dinner was eaten and the kitchen cleaned, all of us would head elsewhere in the house, usually to a T.V. or unfinished homework. Mom would stay in her chair in the kitchen reading until it was time to go to bed. One year, my dad decided to surprise mom with a color television for Mother’s Day. We kids were all thrilled, as it was our first color T.V. As I recall, mom was gracious and thanked my dad appropriately. However, it wasn’t lost on me that this was a gift she could not be bothered to enjoy. No, she was happy that we were all happy but preferred her evenings in the kitchen with her books. Many a time in high school or college I would come home late in the evening and there she was in the kitchen reading. A warm memory of a beautiful lady.

Mary Regina (Maier) Glacy - 1953 Engagement photo

Week 4: An ancestor I’d like to meet #52ancestors

This week’s theme is to talk about one ancestor you’d like to meet. A super unfair question as there are MANY ancestors I’d like to meet. So many “brick walls” that a face-to-face meeting could solve. To pick one is really hard! 

My husband’s 2ndgreat-grandfather was John Quinlan. Born in Ireland in 1835,[1] he immigrated to the U.S. in the 1850’s when he was in his late teens/early twenties. However, it is his mother that I’d like to talk about meeting. Johanna Roche Quinlan was born in Ireland in about 1796. She had at least five children with her husband Daniel Quinlan. I know that three of those children (all boys) came to the U.S.[2]

I was super lucky to find Johanna and her family in the 1851 Irish census (anyone doing Irish genealogy knows how remarkable that is). She was 55 years old living in the Townland of Downing South, Parish of Kilcrumper, County Cork, with her daughter Ann (24), son John (16), sister-in-law Ann Malone (77), and 9-year-old grand-daughter Mary Hendley. Johnna was a widow.[3]

What would we talk about? Of course, I would pepper her with lots and lots detailed questions, but not just about dates and names. No, what I’d really want to know is what effect the famine was having on her family and in her community? How were they surviving? Why did she send her last boy to the U.S., leaving the women and girls alone in the household? In 1853, the family is living on a one-acre plot with a house.[4]How was she able to pay the rent for the one-acre of land they lived on? In 1828, the family had 31 acres,[5]so what happened between then and 1853? Did her husband’s death or something else cause them to lose all but the one acre? As a Catholic, how did she and her family survive under the Irish Penal Laws? How was the family treated by their landlord, the Right Hon. David R. Pigott, who was a Protestant barrister, attorney general, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer and member of Parliament?[6]

All of these questions and many more come to mind. It is almost unfathomable to think about life in rural Ireland during and after the famine. The starvation, extreme poverty, and rampant diseases are almost too much to consider. When she sent John off to America, did she know she’d likely ever see him again? Did she grieve for her loss (to America) of her sons or was she happy that they got away? At least she had enough money to send her boys to America and that’s really saying something! 

You’ll note my addition of footnotes this week. I am trying to be a disciplined genealogist and my previous posts without footnotes are kinda embarrassing. Anyone who knew me in law school knows my fondness for footnotes. That hatred has not changed.

[1]Kilworth Parish, Diocese of Cloyne, Counties of Waterford and Cork, Ireland, baptisms, 1829-1876, John Quinlan, 8 November 1835, unpaginated chronological entries; digital image, National Library of Ireland, “Catholic Parish Registers,” (https://www.registers.nil.ie).

[2]Massachusetts, standard certificate of death 361 (1910), Michael Quinlan; digital image, Ancestry, “Massachusetts, Death Records, 1841-1915” (https://www.ancestry.com). Massachusetts, Death Index, “1901-1980, Daniel Quinlan, 1919; digital image, Ancestry, “Massachusetts, Death Index 1901-1980,” (https://www.ancestry.com).

[3]Masterson, Josephine, County Cork, Ireland, a Collection of 1851 Census Records(Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2000); digital image, Ancestry(https://www.ancestry.com).

[4]Heritage World Family History Services, Ireland, Griffith’s Valuation, 1847-1864, Cork, Fermoy, Kilcrumper, Downing South, Johanna Quinlan, p. 100; digital Image, Ancestry(https://www.ancestry.com).

[5]Applottment for Vicarial Tithes of the Parish of Kilcrumper, Townland of Downing (1828), Daniel Quinlon; digital image, The National Archives of Ireland(www.titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie).

[6]The Irish Church Directory, 1862 (Dublin: James Charles, 1862), p. 171; digital image, Googlebooks (https://play.google.com).

Downing South, Kilcrumper Parish, County Cork, Ireland, 1853

Modern day, Downing South (no house on the likely plot)

Week 3: Is my maiden name really “Glacy”? Week 3 challenge #52ancestors

This week’s challenge (from Amy Johnson Crow) to blog about an “Unusual Name” struck a chord with me. My maiden name is “Glacy” and the story my dad always told was that our name was French meaning “ice” and that was because our family was from the “Alsace-Lorraine.” Alsace-Lorraine has an interesting history involving both German and French claims to the region and it is true that the French word “glacée” does mean “ice” in English, but this is one of those family stories that has some truth, but a whole lot not-truth.

When I first started down the genealogy path, I had no luck finding any information on the Glacy family in Germany or France. However, the 1850 U.S. census identified my great grandfather (Joseph) as having been born in “Bavaria” So while Bavaria is not in Alsace-Lorraine, it is next to Alsace-Lorraine. OK! Thanks, Dad!

This census record turned out to be important information in my search, as this is the one and only record I’d found that said Joseph was born in Bavaria. All the other censuses stated he was born in New York or Pennsylvania. Even his death certificate said he was born in New York!  

So how do I know that the place of birth in the 1850 census is accurate? Primarily because was taken when Joseph was 6 and his parents, who were also enumerated, would have been in the best position to know where he was born!

Later census records for Joseph Glacy have him enumerated under the various versions of Glacy, such as Glasy, Glazey, and Glasse. Remembering that my ancestors likely didn’t speak English well and, as we genealogists know, you are at the mercy of the person with the pen, none of this bothered me. What DID bother me was that I couldn’t anything find about when they came to the U.S. or anything in Germany. 

Then, along comes the vast and wonderful Ancestry.com community. A guy named Richard is doing family research for his sister-in-law. Richard found Joseph’s mother’s death certificate and that proved to be the one clue needed to find this family.

Here’s the short-hand version of how this went:

·     Joseph’ mother was Elizabeth Glacy. 

·     Elizabeth died on 15 June 1905 in Brooklyn, New York.  

·     Elizabeth was buried at the Calvary Cemetery in Queens.

·     Elizabeth had purchased that plot in 1881.   Hmmmm, did that mean her husband (also Joseph) died in 1881 and she bought the plot for him? 

·     Well, “yes,” that’s exactly what that meant.

·     Elizabeth’s husband, Josef Glasechen died on 28 August 1881.

Wait, what? “GLAESCHEN?”

Holy smoke!

A name I’d never heard before but one that seems to be mine!

 Dad, how come you never knew this?

So, why did Joseph have the “right” last name, but Elizabeth didn’t. Well, Elizabeth was the one who buried Joseph, so she would have known the original name, right? But why wasn’t Elizabeth buried under her original married name? She was living with her daughter when she died and I know her daughter knew the original name. Frankly, I don’t know and now I don’t care because if she hadn’t been buried under the Glacy name, I might never have found her or the rest of the family in Germany! I might have kept on searching for MY name without knowing it was the WRONG name!

Now that I’d cleared up that mistake, it was easy to find that elusive ship’s manifest. 

Joseph, Elizabeth, Philippina, and Joseph arrived at the port of New York on 3 January 1845 (pre-Ellis Island days) from Le Havre, France. And, gosh, who do I find listed right below them? None other than Elizabeth’s sister Margaretha and brother Nicholas! 

So how do I know that this is really them?  Well, here’s where that 1850 U.S. census comes in handy again. It lists, in addition to the newly born children, Joseph, Elizabeth, Philippina, and Joseph. Thanks, Aunt Philippina for that unusual name to help confirm I have the right family.

An amazing discovery to find my “real name” and more and more about my family.

BTW, our name was NOT changed at the port. The claim that names were changed at Ellis Island is just a myth (thank you Francis Ford Coppola).

Manifest of passengers aboard the Louis Philippe

1850 U.S. census

Week 2: Challenge - Mary Elizabeth McDonough

As I mentioned in my first post, I am participating in a 52 week challenge put out there by Amy Johnson Crow: to write about 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks. #52Weeks

This week’s “prompt” from Amy was to write about an ancestor who was a challenge to find or an ancestor who faced his or her own challenges. At this stage of my work on my family tree, everything is a challenge - no more “low hanging fruit.” Therefore, I want to talk about an ancestor who faced challenges. I could talk about the son of the guy I talked about last time: David Baty. David’s son George was born in 1825 in Ohio, lived in Illinois, served in the Civil War, migrated to Missouri after the war and ultimately settled in Kansas. I can’t imagine the challenges he and his family faced during all of those transitions. Many other ancestors travelled far and wide to come to the melting pot that is America. Many from Ireland, Germany, and England. Each with a unique story and unique challenges deserving of their own telling.

Yet, I think the person I can most relate to with the challenges in her life is my grandmother, Mary Elizabeth (nee McDonough) Glacy.

Mae (or sometimes “May”) was born in 1883 in what was then called Hilton, New Jersey. Hilton became the town of Maplewood and is where Mae’s grandfather settled in when he emigrated from Ireland (and the town I grew up in). She married my grandfather Anthony Joseph Glacy in 1915 when they both were 31. While, 31 seems late in life for a first marriage, I don’t find evidence of a prior marriage for either of them. Mae was a stenographer for an insurance company in 1910, but appears to have stopped working outside of the home, at least by 1920.

Mae and Anthony had two children: my dad and my aunt. However, one year after my aunt was born, Anthony died of pneumonia. Here’s where I think it gets hard(er) - her husband and family breadwinner is dead, she has a one-year old and a four-year old, and America is on the cusp of the great depression. Yet, somehow, she is able to live on her own with the children, either in her own home or as a lodger. She appears to be able to make a sufficient living as a real estate broker and secretary to support them all (her mother died six years after Anthony and her father had been long estranged from the family).

She did have a couple of brothers, so it is conceivable that they helped to support her and her children. But she never remarried. She was able to send my dad to private high school and my aunt to nursing school. She was a life-long Democrat, but I am not so sure how conversant she was in politics. I remember her telling me that she voted for JFK because he was so handsome. :-)

I wish that I had taken the time to talk to her when she was alive and pick her brain about family history (the regret of every genealogist I know). I haven’t yet determined where in Ireland her grandparents came from (any guesses on how many Micheal McDonoughs immigrated to the US between 1840 and 1850?). My memories of her include the small box of toys she had at her apartment for the grandkids to play with (she lived above the bank on the same block where I grew up) and the worst pasta sauce you’ve ever eaten.

Mae was really short (under 5 ft tall) and I recall laughing at the height she invented for herself for her driver’s license. She was very proud of her Jersey roots and her Irish heritage. She was, as I remember, just a little nutty (the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, right?). She died the summer after I graduated from high school at the ripe old age of 91 (should we all have such good genes).

Here she is in what I think was an engagement picture with Anthony, taken probably sometime in 1915.

Anthony Joseph Glacy and Mary Elizabeth McDonough

Week 1: My First Blog Post

I’ve been thinking about starting a blog for a while now. Mostly to share my genealogical discoveries with my family, but also to vent, maybe cause someone to smile or chuckle, and to generally amuse myself. 

I was inspired by Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” challenge and thought it was time to get off my duff and do this! #52Ancestors

It will likely take me a while to find my “voice,” so bear with me on this journey.

The first ancestor I want to write about is my husband’s elusive 3rd great-grandfather, DAVID BATY. He may have been born in Kentucky. Likely born some time before 1787. And his parents names are lost to history (for now). He first shows up on ANY record when he marries Elizabeth Pickerill in 1808 in Mason County, Kentucky (Mason County is situated on the Ohio River). Where he was before that moment is anyone’s guess. OF COURSE, the 1790 and 1800 census records for Kentucky were burned (isn’t that always the way?). One can use the fabulous Kentucky tax records as a sort-of census “substitute,” but they don’t help in this case as David isn’t in them either until 1808. However, an Andrew “Beatty” is in the tax records in Mason in 1807 with 2 males (between 16 and 21) living with him. [Don’t fuss over the spelling of the name as many people those days were illiterate and couldn’t even write their own name, much less spell it.] So, this begs the question: was Andrew related to David? Was he David’s father, uncle, grandfather, or other male relative? Right now, I haven’t a clue, but you can be sure I WILL find out!

FYI, David was also a soldier in the War of 1812 serving in Colonel William Key’s Regiment of the Ohio Militia.