Week 19: Nurture #52Ancestors

I assume Amy picked this last week’s prompt as it falls near Mother’s Day and it’s a great time to remember those mothers (and fathers) who nurtured us when we were small and those that still look out for us even though we are adults. I hope I never get so cynical that I don’t recognize and thank the nurturing souls that help me navigate these perilous times.

There is a story in my family tree of grandparents nurturing two grandsons whose mother seems to have abandoned them.

 I wrote about my husband’s 2ndgreat-grandparents, George Washington Baty and Mary Elizabeth Elliott, just last week. They were the parents of at least 11 children, born between 1847 and 1866. When I first started researching them, I thought that they had 13 children. However, I started to wonder about their last children, John Rufus, born in 1868 and Charles Henry, born in 1875.

As I dug into it more deeply, it seemed more likely that Charles and Rufus were probably the sons of Frances, George and Mary’s daughter. I say “probably” because I don’t think I have found enough evidence to support my theory. Further, I have not (yet) found anything where Frances acknowledged these boys as her own.

Frances was unmarried and 15 years old when Rufus was born in Lawrence County, Missouri.[1] We know that his father was likely from Tennessee.[2] Sadly, no birth records were required to be kept in Missouri at this time. Frances was still unmarried and 22 years old when Charles was born in Kansas. Again, no birth records were required to be kept in Kansas then. Until she was married in 1877, Frances and the boys lived with her parents on their family farms. Once she was married however, she left Kansas and these boys for good.

One piece of evidence that Charles and Rufus were not the sons of George and Mary is the Warranty Deed by which the family farm was sold.[3] Mary and the children of George all signed the deed and it was legally required that ALL the heirs of George be signatories. The fact that neither Charles nor Rufus signed the deed is good evidence that they were not sons. Further, the 1880 U.S. federal census does list Rufus as a grandson.[4] Lastly, Mary’s obituary does not mention Charles or Rufus as sons even though they were still alive.[5]   

There is other evidence that points to Frances being the mother of Charles and Rufus, but it is inconclusive. Sadly, Rufus never married and Charles only had daughters, so tracking down their fathers with a Y-DNA test won’t work. 

In 1880, Charles was five and Rufus was 11. They were living with their grandparents on the family farm.[6] As I mentioned last week, George and Mary were running a busy farm and these young grandsons, along with a son, a daughter, and Mary’s mother, Emma, must have worked hard to have such a successful farming operation. 

 After George died in 1890, Mary and Rufus were the only ones left on the farm.[7] The 1895 Kansas census shows that Mary and Rufus were still cultivating crops, albeit at a much lower level. Of the forty acres that made up the farm, they only had 16 acres of cotton. Their butter production was still an impressive 100 pounds and they had two horses and one milk cow. This census shows that they also had some apple, pear, peach, and cherry trees. 

I can imagine how comforting it was for Mary and Rufus to have each other. Charles left the family farm in 1893 and all of Mary’s children had moved out of the area.[8] Reading between the lines of some of the local newspaper articles, I get the sense that Charles may have not had a pleasant a life on the farm; he did leave when he was only 18. Rufus stayed with his grandmother until he was 27 when it appears Mary moved in with one of her daughters who came back to Neosho.[9]

Sometimes, we don’t get a say on who raises us. I hope that George and Mary gave Rufus and Charles the love and nurturing every child deserves. 

[1]1870 U.S. census, Lawrence County, Missouri, population schedule, Ozark Township, p. 10 (penned), dwelling 72, family 72, George W. Baty; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://wwww.ancestry.com: accessed 4 May 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication M593, roll [not noted].  

[2]1880 U.S. census, Neosho County, Kansas, population schedule, Canville Township, enumeration district (ED) 163, p. 4 (penned), dwelling 37, family 38, George Baty; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://wwww.ancestry.com: accessed 4 May 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 390.

[3]Neosho County, Kansas, Deed Book 56: 537, Mary E. Baty, et al., to John Golobay, 14 November 1902; Office of the Register of Deeds, Erie, Kansas.

[4]1880 U.S. census, Neosho Co., Ks., pop. sch., Canville, ED 163, p. 4 (penned), dwell. 37, fam. 38, George Baty.

[5]"Obituary," Chanute (Kansas) Times, 12 Nov 1909, p. 5, col. 4; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85030529/1909-11-12/ed-1/seq-5/# : accessed 10 May 2015).

[6]1880 U.S. census, Neosho Co., Ks., pop. sch., Canville, ED 163, p. 4 (penned), dwell. 37, fam. 38, George Baty.

[7]1885 Kansas state census, Neosho County, population schedule, Canville township, p. 12 (penned), dwelling 70, family 73, M.E. Baty; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://wwww.ancestry.com: accessed 4 May 2017); citing Kansas Historical Society, 1895 Kansas State Census, microfilm reel v115_105.

[8]"Earlton," The Erie (Kansas) Record, 16 February 1900, p. 2, col. 6; digital image, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 27 Aug 2018).

[9]1900 U.S. census, Neosho County, Kansas, population schedule, Canville Township, enumeration district (ED) 147, p. 5 (penned), dwelling 94, family 94, Thomas Knowles; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://wwww.ancestry.com: accessed 20 May 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication T623, roll 492.

The Baty family farm as it looks today.

Open Records for Kansas Appraisers, “Neosho County, Kansas, Property Ownership Map,” Parcel Numbers 067-074-17-0-00-00-008.00-0 and 067-074-17-0-00-00-007.00-0; digital image, ORKA – Open Records for Kansas Appraisers (http://jade.kgs.ku.edu/orka2/CoSelect.aspx : accessed 8 May 2017).

Week 18: Road Trip #52 Ancestors

This week’s prompt is “Road Trip” and I have been wracking my brain trying to come up with a good/funny story to tell about one of my ancestors. My immediate family was never one to take family road trips. I know a lot of folks in the Mid-West took road trips as kids to some of our many national parks out west. The best my family could muster was the less-than-two-hour drive to the Jersey Shore every other year. And even then, it was a harrowing experience. First, my dad and mom were smokers. If you didn’t suffer from car sickness before they lit up, you were sure to get queasy once they started (sadly, I was in the car-sickness camp even without the smoke). Second, even with a large station wagon, there was not nearly enough room for us five kids. Between “he’s touching me” and “she’s looking at me” we couldn’t get far enough away from each other. To make matters worse, our dad refused to pay the 25¢ toll on the Garden State Parkway. For him, his toll-less route was great and saved him money! For us, it was 30 minutes more of pure hell. As soon as he made the turn to go onto Route 9, there was a shared groan from all of us (including mom). Ugh. 

I’ve done a little traveling for my genealogy work, mostly to conferences and institutes. In fact, I am writing this blog from St. Charles, Missouri (just west of St. Louis for the geographically-challenged of us) as I am attending the National Genealogical Society’s annual conference. The theme this year is “Journey of Discovery” and features lots of interesting topics presented by the top people in the field. A typical day consists of one or two session in the morning and one or two in the afternoon, with lunch-time presentations, dinner-time presentations and an Exhibit Hall filled with vendors of various goods and services. The NGS has nine different “tracks” including DNA, Methodology, Migration, African American, Military, etc. One can follow one track the entire time or mix it up, like I intend to do. My biggest problem is that I usually have two or more lectures I want to attend and it’s super hard to choose.

One genealogically-related road trip I took was several years ago when I did a deep dive into my husband’s 2nd great-grandparents, George Washington and Mary Elizabeth (Elliott) Baty. Specifically, I was working on a paper for a class I was taking and researched where they lived in Neosho County, Kansas. George was born in Ohio[1] and Mary was born in Kentucky.[2] They were married in 1846 in Effingham, Illinois, and George served in the Civil War as a Sergeant with Company D of the Illinois Infantry.[3] A few years after the war, the family moved to Ozark County, Missouri, and then finally settled in Neosho County.[4] Talk about a road-trip!

 My little road trip to Neosho took me first to the county courthouse where the wonderful staff there showed me how to find the appropriate land records and copied for me everything I asked for. Even though there is a wealth of genealogical material available on-line, there really is no substitute for going to the repositories in the town or county where your ancestors lived. Universally, I have found the folks in these places to be friendly, helpful, and especially kind. The woman at the Register of Deeds office who did the copying, told me that she recognized the names of the people on the deeds. Cool! It turns out, she and some friends tend to abandoned graveyards in Neosho County and one of them is the Earlton Cemetery where George, Mary, and other family members are buried. She had her own map of the headstones at the cemetery and made a copy for me. What a lovely woman!

 In addition to visiting the cemetery, I was able to drive past the last farmhouse that George and Mary lived in. This was the third piece of property they bought after moving to Kansas.[5] In 1883, when he was 58, George acquired a forty-acre farm for $500.[6] Two years later, George and Mary reported on the Kansas census that they had planted 9-acres of corn, ½-acre of potatoes, and 2-acres of millet and had cut 1-ton of hay and 2-tons of prairie grass. They owned $12 worth of chickens and one milk cow, from whom they produced 150 pounds of butter. They also had 2 horses and 3 pigs. And, lest we forget, they had one dog.[7]

George died in 1890 at 65 years old, allegedly due to the lung illness he caught during his Civil War service.[8] Mary lived on the farm until she sold the property in 1902.[9] She died in 1909 at 80.[10] Someday, If I take another road trip to Neosho, I’ll have knock on the door of that house and introduce myself.

[1]Find A Grave, database with images (http://www.findagrave.com: accessed 2 September 2017), memorial 25889585, Sgt. George Washington Baty (1825-1890), Earlton Cemetery, Earlton, Neosho County, Kansas; gravestone photograph by TiogaRose.

[2]Find A Grave, database with images (http://www.findagrave.com: accessed 2 September 2017), memorial 25855648, Mary Elizabeth Elliott Baty (1829-1909), Earlton Cemetery, Earlton, Neosho County, Kansas; gravestone photograph by TiogaRose.

[3]Effingham County, Illinois, County Clerk, Register of Marriage Licenses, vol. A-B, 1839-1877, p. 73, no. 61 (1846) Baty-Elliott; digital image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939J-KS95-JW?i=41&cc=1803970&cat=267606 : accessed 17 July 2017); FHL microfilm 1,010,047, image 42 of 210. 

[4]1870 U.S. census, Lawrence County, Missouri, population schedule, Ozark Township, p. 10 (penned), dwelling 72, family 72, George W. Baty; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://wwww.ancestry.com: accessed 4 May 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication M593, roll [not noted]. 1880 U.S. census, Neosho County, Kansas, population schedule, Canville Township, enumeration district (ED) 163, p. 4 (penned), dwelling 37, family 38, George Baty; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://wwww.ancestry.com: accessed 4 May 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 390.

[5]Neosho County, Kansas, Deed Book J: 614, Jacob Plyborn and wife to G.W. Baty, 17 May 1875; Office of the Register of Deeds, Erie, Kansas. 

[6]Neosho County, Kansas, Deed Book Z: 495, Henry and Catherine Ocker to George W. Baty, 8 September 1883; Office of the Register of Deeds, Erie, Kansas.

[7]1885 Kansas state census, Neosho County, population schedule, Canville township, p. 11 (penned), dwelling 53, family 57, G. W. Baty; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://wwww.ancestry.com: accessed 4 May 2017); citing Kansas State Historical Society, 1885 Kansas State Census, microfilm reel KS1885_96.

[8]“Obituary,” Chanute Weekly Times, 20 March 1890 [page unknown; copy provided by family member without citation]. Find A Grave, database with images (http://www.findagrave.com: accessed 2 September 2017), memorial 25889585, Sgt. George Washington Baty (1825-1890), Earlton Cemetery, Earlton, Neosho County, Kansas; gravestone photograph by TiogaRose.

[9]1895 Kansas state census, Neosho County, population schedule, Canville township, p. 12, dwelling 70, family 73, M.E. Baty; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://wwww.ancestry.com: accessed 4 May 2017); citing Kansas State Historical Society, 1895 Kansas state census, microfilm reel v115_105. Neosho County, Kansas, Deed Book 56: 537, Mary E. Baty, et al., to John Golobay, 14 November 1902; Office of the Register of Deeds, Erie, Kansas.

[10]Find A Grave, database with images (http://www.findagrave.com: accessed 2 September 2017), memorial 25855648, Mary Elizabeth Elliott Baty (1829-1909), Earlton Cemetery, Earlton, Neosho County, Kansas; gravestone photograph by TiogaRose.

Mary E. (Elliott) Baty photograph, ca. 1890; digital image, privately held by Tamara Cullison [address for private use]. Photographer was W.T. Dole/D'Ole who had a studio in Kansas City, Missouri, from approx 1888 to 1908. Helso had a studio in Ft. Scott, KS in 1890. The back of the photo says "Kansas City," but Ft. Scott much closer to where Mary lived in Neosho Co., KS. Dole was known for painting his photographs.

Week 17: At Worship #52Ancestors

As the daughter of a long-line of Roman Catholics, I am grateful for the church’s meticulous record keeping showing the baptisms, marriages, and (sometimes) deaths of my ancestors.[1] Yet it wasn’t until recent years that the Catholic Church itself started publishing records. The early publication of church records belongs to another church: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I’ve mentioned their free website as it is one of my most favorite resources: www.familysearch.org. FamilySearch says they have the largest collection of genealogical and historical records in the world and I believe it!

FamilySearch was founded in 1894 as the Genealogical Society of Utah. Their website says they have more than 3.5 billion images on microfilm, microfiche, and digital media. They have collected records from over 100 countries and currently have over 200 scanners and cameras distributed around the world copying genealogical and historical documents. No matter where you are from, they probably have your ancestor’s records![2]

So, why do they do this? If you look at their FAQ, here’s what they say: “FamilySearch gathers records for genealogical purposes, providing family history resources to those who are searching their ancestry.” But, I don’t think that tells the whole story. While I’ll be brief, I want to be sure to provide you with a clear understanding of this aspect of their faith, so I’ll be quoting directly from their website.[3]

Mormons believe that baptism in their faith is required to enter heaven and that everyone, even the millions of people that lived before the faith was established, must have the opportunity to receive this sacrament of salvation. Therefore, Mormons are called to research their own ancestors in order to request “proxy baptisms” for them. Mormons believe that all those that have died “continue to exist in the afterlife as conscious spirits with the capacity to learn, exercise faith, and make choices pertaining to their personal salvation.” They state that does not mean that the deceased is automatically a Mormon when baptized, but that they can accept the Mormon faith if they choose. 

You can agree or disagree with Mormonism (or any other faith for that matter) but one thing that you can’t argue with is the incredible generosity of the Latter-day Saints sharing the documents they have gathered for all to use and all for free. 

I can’t even begin to recount the numerous records, especially church records, I have found via the FamilySearch website. Many are not indexed, but if you are willing to spend the time, you can find a wealth of information. A perfect example is from just this past weekend where I found a record naming two of my 3-times great-grandparents! [Insert happy dance.]

I’ve written in this blog a couple of times about my 2nd great-grandparents who came from Germany under one name and changed their name almost immediately upon arriving in the U.S. But I never could figure out who were the parents of my 2nd great-grandfather, Joseph Glaeschen/Glacy. I thought it was odd that the church’s marriage register showed Joseph’s wife’s parents, but not his. As I looked at the document more closely, I realized that this was Joseph’s SECOND marriage. He’d been married before to a woman named Barbara Treaten (or something close to that as it is spelled at least 3 different ways in the records I have). Well, I’ll be switched! I went on to find the record of this first marriage and there were his parents: John Glässgen and Barbara Masser. Whoopie!

Unfortunately, FamilySearch has not yet finished digitizing the records from this diocese, but once they do, I will have more information on John and Barbara Glässgen.

What I can tell you now is that Joseph was their legitimate son (thank you to the good father for mentioning that!) and that they came from a small village in Bavaria called Wernersberg.

Wernersberg is now a “municipality” in Südliche Weinstraße district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany, not far from the French border.[4] The town is called “Cuckoo’s Nest” by the locals (I haven’t figured out why). It is located in the middle of the Palatinate Forest and has about 1,100 inhabitants.[5] The Office of Tourism website shows a darling village of red-tiled half-timbered houses and amazing views of the surrounding forest. The town has an annual celebration the second weekend in May called “Cuckoo-goerwe.” I don’t know what that is but someday, I’m gonna go!

From 1798 to 1814, Wernersberg was a part of the French Republic and then the Napoleonic Empire, putting some credibility back on my grandmother who always said we were French.[6] Wernersberg had a Catholic church whose name, amazingly enough may have been St. Cäcilia (Cecelia)! However, I don’t think the church building exists anymore (I’ll have to check that out when I get there!).

 My ancestors did not get married in Wernersberg. I haven’t yet figured out exactly why, but I suspect that, as in other places in the world I have researched, one got married at the largest church around and your small village church was used for mass and maybe baptisms. Anyway, John and Barbara were married in the larger “city” of Annweiler (about 7,000 inhabitants). Back then, there was only one Catholic church, but as far as I can tell, the original church building no longer exists. The current Catholic church, St Josef’s, was built in 1866-68. 

I have barely dipped my toe into exploring this family. I can tell you it is going to take a lot of learning on my part to research them effectively. I am hampered by not being able to read “High German” (or ANY German for that matter), but I know there are plentiful resources available. If my goal is to visit there (in 2021-22?), I have to take the time, take the courses, and LEARN about German genealogy! Wünsch mir glück![7]

[1]Because burial is not a Catholic sacrament, records for burials can be sparse. 

[2]FamilySearch, “Archives,” (https://www.familysearch.org/records/archives/web/: accessed 29 April 2019). 

[3]The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Newsroom, “Background Explanation of Temple Baptism” (https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/background-explanation-of-temple-baptism: accessed 29 April 2019). Click on this link to read more.

[4]Wikipedia(http://wikipedia.org), “Wernersberg,” rev. 06:48, 20 January 2017. 

[5]Pfalz-info, “Wernersberg in the Palatinate” (https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://www.pfalz-info.com/wernersberg-essen-trinken-uebernachten/&prev=search: accessed 29 April 2019). 

[6]Wikipedia (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernersberg), “Wernersberg,” rev. 16:31, 23 January 2019 [in German]. 

[7]If Google Translate is correct, this means “Wish me luck!”

St. Josef’s Church, Annweiler. Wikimedia Commons, Immanuel Giel, photographer (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Annweiler_katholische_Kirche.JPG). The photographer has released this work into the public domain. Attribution to him is not legally required, but the right thing to do.

Coat of arms for Wernersberg in the Pfalz, “Wernersberg in the Palatinate” (https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://www.pfalz-info.com/wernersberg-essen-trinken-uebernachten/&prev=search: accessed 29 April 2019).

Week 16 "Out of Place" #52Ancestors

This week’s prompt is “Out of Place.” Amy Johnson Crow (the leader of this project) asks: “Have you found an ancestor in an unexpected place or in an unexpected set of records? Maybe an ancestor who seemed out of place with the rest of the family?”

 Both my husband and I have a traditional “Melting Pot” of European ancestors: Irish, German, and English. Mine all came to the U.S. in the mid-1800’s; most of his came about the same time, with the exception of a line that goes back to the late 1600’s in Maryland and Virginia. 

 All and all, a fairly common-place immigrant story. 

Yet, I do find one ancestor who may have felt “out of place” at some point in her life.

 My great-grandmother, Carolina Neidhart, was born on 18 December 1869 in what was then the Grand Duchy of Baden, a state within the German Empire (now the modern Federal State of Baden-Württemberg).[1] I think she arrived in New York on 26 September 1885, when she was almost 16.[2] She appears to have traveled alone, but I haven’t ruled out that a fellow passenger might have been a friend or relative. 

When she married my great-grandfather, Charles Maier, she identified her mother as “Crescentia Neidhart.”[3] However, a line is drawn on the Marriage Return where her father’s name should have been written. It’s a little odd that she wouldn’t have list her father on the marriage record. As a genealogist, I am happy to have her mother’s name, but assume that it is not a mistake or an oversight that caused her father’s name not to be disclosed. 

As I continued to research Carolina, I found her baptismal record and discovered the possible reason that her father’s name was not given: she was illegitimate. Her baptismal record specifically (and in Latin) identifies Carolina as the illegitimate daughter of “Creszenzia Neidhart.” Cresznenzia was noted as the “legitimate” daughter of Ignaz Neidhart and Maria Anna Gölz [a little “yay” for the names of two more ancestors!]. Her father was not named. Does that explain the absence of her father’s name on the marriage record? Did she not know him? 

It turns out that Carolina was the youngest of four children born to Creszenzia from 1859 to 1869 and ALL of them were illegitimate.[4]

Wait.

What?

What was Creszenzia’ profession anyway?

While I am still working on this family, this particular circumstance can be partially explained by the power structures that existed in Germany in the 18th and 19th centuries. The poor in Germany did not have the freedom to marry whomever they wished. The nobility, community councils, and the church all had say over whether or not you could marry the love of your life. Generally speaking, in order to get permission to marry, the groom had to produce evidence that he had wealth, property, or stable employment. These laws were put in place to ensure that you and your family wouldn’t become a burden on the state. Baden had some of the most restrictive marriage laws in Germany. However, most of these laws were repealed by 1870, partially due to the high rate of illegitimacy caused by these restrictive laws.[5]

Well, no kidding. Did they really think that not letting people get married would stop them from having sex?

 Here’s what I think: It is likely that my great-great-grandparents couldn’t get permission to marry, but they lived together as husband and wife and had at least four children. The vicar of the church where the children were baptized did his “duty” by noting the illegitimacy of the children and by NOT naming the father.

Not so “out of place” for Germany at that time, but probably by the time my great-grandparents married in a Catholic church in New Jersey in 1890, she might have wanted to hide her illegitimacy. 

[1]Wikipedia (http://wikipedia.com), “Baden,” rev. 18:37, 19 April 2019.

[2]There is a “Carol Neidhard” listed on the manifest for a ship that left Bremen, Germany, for New York in 1885. She was a 16-year-old female servant, born in Germany in 1869. I am pretty sure this was my great-grandmother because 1885 was noted as her immigration year in the 1920 US census and I have found no other female with the same/similar name and age on any other manifest. However, without more evidence, this is not to be taken as a confirmed “fact.” Manifest, SS Neckar, arriving 26 September 1885, p. 10, line 19, Carol Neidhard; imaged as “New York, Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957,” Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 22 April 2019), image 271 of 1,068; citing National Archives microfilm publication M237, roll 490. 1920 U.S. Census, Essex County, New Jersey, population schedule, Newark, Ward 9, enumeration district 188, sheet 11B (penned), dwelling 101, family 280, Caroline Maier; Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 22 April 2019); citing National Archives microfilm publicationT625, roll 1033. 

[3]State of New Jersey, Marriage Return, no. M-114, Maier-Neidhart (1890); New Jersey Department of Health, Office of Vital Statistics and Registry, Trenton.

[4]All of the baptismal records for children born to Crezenzia Neidhart, the daughter of Ignaz and Maria Anna (Gölz) Neidhart, were noted to be illegitimate and the father was never named.

[5]John Knodel, Law, “Marriage and Illegitimacy in Nineteenth-Century Germany,” Population Studies, Vol. 20, No. 3 (March 1967), pp. 279-294; image, JSTOR (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2172673: accessed 22 April 2019).

Great-grandmother, Carolina (Neidhart) Maier Raether with Mary Regina Maier (my mom) and Charles P. Maier, Jr. (my grandfather)

Week 15: DNA #52Ancestors

Today I “get” to write about DNA. Ever since I completely failed that unit in Mrs. Hershey’s biology class at Columbia High School (#gocougars), I break out in cold sweats when I think about DNA. It makes my brain hurt. Talk about a “brick-wall.”  

“Back in the day,” many genealogists would scoff at the usefulness of DNA testing. However, in recent years, the field of genealogy has leapt upon DNA testing with both feet. Testing companies have grown both in sophistication and through aggressive marketing. Frankly that’s not a bad thing. DNA is one of those things where “the more the merrier” rule truly applies.  As I understand it, the more people who take a DNA test, the bigger the database is and, the bigger the database is, the more refined the results can be. As of today, Ancestry.com has a database of about 15 million users. 23andMe.com is the next closest with 10 million users.[1] The current price for an Autosomal DNA test for Ancestry and 23andMe is about $99. BUT, Thursday, April 25 is “National DNA Day,” so you can expect some discounts around that time. If you are thinking of doing a test, this might be the perfect time!

I think I’ve mentioned before what a big fan I am of Ancestry.com. Yes, yes, I know it is expensive and some people think they are a big bully, but I think there is nowhere else on the internet where you can get a bigger bang for your buck. In addition to the biggest DNA database, Ancestry has a huge database of records, tons of collaborative members, and great learning tools.[2]

So, there’s a cool brand-new tool on Ancestry to help DNA-challenged people like me. It’s called ThruLines™. It provides a way to look at your Ancestry matches through the family trees you and others have on Ancestry. Just this morning (Monday, 15 April 2019) I am looking at 3rdand 4thcousins I didn’t know I had! Because our shared segments of DNA (called centimorgans or cM) are so small, I would have likely not paid any attention to them as a possible “match.” However, because they have their family trees on Ancestry, I can see exactly how “Karen,” my 4th cousin relates to me through our shared 3rd great-grandfather.

[Sorry, have to take a little break here to do a happy dance.] 

Yes, I am this big a genealogy nerd (as if you haven’t figured that out already).

Be grateful that I am such a DNA neophyte, or I would bore the living daylights out of you (okay, I might do that already). I’ll just share just one screen-shot of what one of my ThruLines™ looks like. This one relates to my 2ndgreat-grandfather, Joseph Glaeschen/Glacy (he of week 9). This one has me super-excited as I just recently found records relating to my 2nd great-aunt, Philippina Glaeshen/Glacy. Now I have honest-to-goodness flesh-and-blood cousins to go with my paper research! Awesome!

[1]“Autosomal DNA Test Prices (as of 8 April 2019),” TheDNAGeek.com (https://thednageek.com/dna-tests/: accessed 15 April 2019).

[2]I don’t want to leave out my other favorite research site, which is FREE – www.familysearch.org. Run by the Latter-day Saints, it has a massive collection of records, many of which can be found nowhere else on the internet.

Week 14: Brick-walls #52Ancestors

For those of you reading this who are not into genealogy, a “brick-wall” is that person in your family tree who you’ve researched until the cows come home, but still cannot find and document their roots. You can’t find when they were born. You can’t where they were born. You can’t find who their parents were. Nada. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. 

 Everyone has brick-walls in their family trees. Many times, it’s where that person lived so long ago that the normal go-to records do not exist. I’ve got tons of those folks in my tree. However, I do have one ancestor where I really should find records on her, but have been hitting the brick-wall time and time again.

Anna Marie (nee Miller) Glacy was my great-grandmother (wife of Joseph from last week’s post). She was likely born in New York in 1849 of maybe German parents (maybe Frank and Annie). She died in 1887 at 37 of “asthenia exhaustion” with “pulmonary phthisis”; essentially, fatigue, weakness and asthenia caused by tuberculosis. Her death certificate provided her age and her parent’s names, but it doesn’t show who provided that information so I do not know how accurate it is.[1]

I have birth certificates for a couple of her ten children and in two she is identified as Anna “Müller.” Miller or Müller? Close enough not to fuss over and perhaps a clue as to the accuracy of her German parentage. 

I haven’t yet been able to find her marriage certificate, even though it should be in several databases. A cousin says they were married in 1867 but my grandmother thought they were married in 1868. Either way, I still can’t find a thing. I have found where two of her sisters-in-law were married a couple of years earlier at Most Holy Redeemer Church in Manhattan, but Annie and Joseph were alleged to have been married in Brooklyn.[2]

My grandmother claimed that her mother-in-law’s last name was actually “Lottrell.” My grandmother was largely inaccurate when it came to retelling her husband’s family lore. Quite literally, none of the stories she told my dad and aunt about that side of the family have turned out to be true. That’s not too surprising since my grandmother didn’t seem to have much contact with the Glacy side of the family after her husband died in 1927 (when my dad was 5 and my aunt was 1).

However, since I had come up blank on searching for Miller/Muller I thought I’d give “Lottrell” a try. It turns out that the Glacy family did live next to a George and Mary Latrell in Brooklyn in 1880.[3] And, both George and Mary were born in Germany. Further, George and Mary were the baptismal sponsors for one of Joseph and Anna’s children in 1882.[4] That makes me think, maybe grandma wasn’t all that wrong. Maybe they ARE related. So, down, down, down I go – deep into the records. Nothing. Maybe they were just good friends and neighbors and by the time Anna and Joseph needed sponsors for their ninth child, they’d run out of family members and asked a neighbor? That’s my guess for now.

So, what do I do now? Well, for starters, I never give up! Here’s some good advice I have learned over the years when dealing with a brick-wall (the genealogy kind or others):

·     Re-examine EVERYTHING.

·     Search ALL available sources, not just typical birth, marriage, death records.

·     Keep a good research log.

·     Plan, plan, plan,

·     Keep flexible.

And, I’ll say it again, NEVER GIVE UP! 

[1]New York, New York City Department of Health, Certificate of Death no. 594288, Annie Glacy, 1887; Municipal Archives, New York City.

[2]Most Holy Redeemer Parish (New York, NY), Parish Register, p. 118, Mossner-Glasgen marriage (1865); image, Findmypast, "New York Roman Catholic Parish Marriages," (http://www.findmypast.com : accessed 6 Dec 2018).

[3]1880 U.S. census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn, enumeration district (ED) 249, p. 149 (stamped), p. 17 (penned), dwelling 112, family 151, Joseph Glacy; image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 8 April 2019); citing National Archives microfilm publication T9, roll 856).  

[4]St Nicholas Parish, Manhattan, New York, unpaginated , Maria Anna Glaese, 8 Aug 1882; digital image, "New York Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms," Findmypast (https://www.findmypast.com: accessed 4 February 2019). 

Anna Marie (Miller/Muller) Glacy [picture courtesy of my cousin Kathleen].

Week 13: “In the News” #52Ancestors

This week we were to write about using newspapers in our family research. In last week’s blog I mentioned Chronicling America, that great (free) website at the Library of Congress containing (as of today) 14,932,463 available pages. One cool thing Chronicling America does is highlight 2-3 papers from 100 years ago every day. For instance, today Chronicling America features The Washington Herald of April 1, 1919. The front page of that paper includes stories on the deadlocked peace negotiations and the British threat to march on Berlin “Unless Huns Sign Treaty.”[1]

 Chronicling America is not the only free newspaper site. One of my other favorites is Old Fulton New York Post Cards (www.futonhistory.com). This website is run single-handedly by Thomas Tryniski who started out digitizing old postcards. It is now the largest free online collection of New York newspapers. Tryniski’s collection includes papers published from 1795 thru 2007 with data added every Sunday night (!!!). While his concentration is with New York papers, Tryniski has added papers from other states and Canada. I find it a little wonky but have located some really great stuff on there.

 The last website I’ll mention today (before I get on to my Ancestor “In the News) is The Ancestor Hunt (www.theancestorhunt.com). This is not a website of newspaper pages themselves, but it provides links to U.S. historical newspapers. The cool thing about this website is that you can sign up to be notified when links are updated with newly digitized papers and pages. As of today, this website has over 27,210 free links to historical American newspapers. Can’t beat that for service!

Okay, okay, enough with the dorky genealogy stuff.

When I was in the early stages of my family tree research (1998 to be precise), my oldest brother forwarded to me an email from someone looking to make a connection. The woman who contacted him had stumbled across my brother’s name when she did an internet email-name search on “Glacy.” She introduced herself as a potential cousin (maiden name Glacy) and wondered if we were related to a Joseph Glacy. I was thrilled to work with her and we exchanged some emails to determine if and how we were related. As I mentioned, this was pretty early in my genealogy life, so I wasn’t making any head-way with the information she had. Then she asked: “Do you know if your great grandfather happened to have committed suicide by shooting himself?”

Ah, what?

My first response was “no.” Surely my dad or grandmother would have mentioned something like that so it couldn’t be MY Joseph Glacy we were talking about. My dad was alive then and I asked him about this. His answer was also “no.” 

My potential cousin then sent me newspaper article on his death and, of course, her Joseph Glacy was, in fact, my great-grandfather. There it was, in black and white, “Aged Man Takes Life While Alone in Home.”[2] So how did I confirm that this man was my great-grandfather? The article goes on to explain that my very own grandmother found his body. And she never thought to mention this to anyone? Ever? I am sure that this was a gruesome scene, so I guess I can’t blame her for not mentioning it, but still….

That one article connected me with my cousin (no longer a “potential cousin”) and I have very much enjoyed getting to know her and work with her on our family’s history. I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting her or her family on Long Island, but I hope to someday soon. In the meantime, we are friends on Facebook and share our lives that way. 

Did I mention how much I love old newspapers?

[1] Fred S. Ferguson, “Slow Work of Big Four Halts Pact, The Washington (D.C.) Herald, 1 April 1919, p. 1, col. 1-2; image, Chronicling America (https://www.chroniclingamerica.loc.gov: accessed 1 April 2019).

[2] Thankfully, my cousin sent me a copy of this article because I have not yet found it online.

Joseph Glacy (1844-1917) Joseph was 6 months old when he and his family came to the U.S. See Week 3 for part of their story. Also, if you know my brothers, they look just like him!

Week 12: 12 #52Ancestors

This week’s prompt had me a little stumped. “Twelve.” That was it. We could write about whatever we wanted related to “12.” Yes, okay, this is our twelfth week, but maybe a little more help than that would be great. Something like: twelve children, the twelfth month, twelve whatevers.

My husband came to the rescue with a suggestion: how about the 12th day, like in our son’s birthday. Of course. A nice little story that I’d like to share.

Our son was about 4-5 weeks early when he was born on February 12, 1992. We hadn’t yet finished decorating his nursery and I still had a boat-load of work on my desk. But when the baby gotta come, the baby gotta come!

We had told the family that since the baby was going to be a boy, we were naming him Connor, after my mother’s favorite cousin Connor Owen. My mother-in-law was perplexed by this and (seriously) asked my husband if that was going to really be his first name. My husband (not one to miss an opportunity to punk his mom) responded, “Why no, mom, we’re changing our last name to Connor.” She was not amused.

After he was born, my mother-in-law suggested that since our son was born on her father’s birth date, we name him Richard. Hmmmm. Not a fan of that name (no disrespect to all the Richards, Ricks, and Dicks out there). She suggested Richard as a middle name. Sorry, no; already decided to name him after my husband’s father (and her deceased husband).

 So that’s the way it was. No big deal. But then I start to do this “genealogy” stuff. And lo and behold, not only was our son born on his great-grandfather’s birthday, but on his 100th birthday. Okay, I think that would have changed things and we’d have had a Richard and not a Connor. 

Our son’s great-grandfather, Richard Mills, has been seen in my blog before – he is the little toddler sitting on his mother’s lap in Otoe, Oklahoma, Week 8. Richard was born on February 12, 1892, in Wichita, Kansas, but lived most of his life in Monett, Barry County, Missouri.[1] One of the great things about Monett was that they had a great little daily paper that published articles on the life of the town-folk. So wonderful to put some “meat” on the dry bones of family research. I found stories about parties Dick attended as a kid, picnics and train trips he went on, camping trips with his buddies and their sweethearts (scandalous!), church happenings, and on and on. All courtesy of a great on-line source for digital newspapers, Chronicling America (https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov).

 An aside: Chronicling America is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress. As of today, 2,821 newspapers are available for viewing on the site, with entries dated from 1789 to 1963. The website also publishes a directory of newspapers published in the U.S. since 1690 to the present and information on how to access papers that have not been digitized. A truly great website that is invaluable for any family historian.

 Back to my topic – Richard Mills. One of the more fascinating Dick Mills stories from the Monett Times happened in 1909, when he was 17. Dick and his girlfriend, Maude Gibbons, were returning home from a nearby town with another couple. One of them was driving a two-horse carriage when they tried to cross an unfamiliar ford. Regrettably, they drove the carriage into a 15-foot hole and they were all swept down-stream. The boys were able to rescue the girls and one of the horses, but the rig was damaged and the other horse was killed.[2] Yikes! The Monett Times story was titled “Narrow Escape.” I should say so.

Like many members of my husband’s family, Dick worked for the Frisco Railroad. He had a variety of jobs with the Frisco, including freight clerk, baggage “master,” yard office “clerk,” and “yard master.”[3] He and his girlfriend Maude (from the story) were married on June 18, 1915. They had three children, all girls, including my mother-in-law. Dick died in Monett in 1971 and Maude followed in 1978. [4]

A last bit on the topic: I mentioned that our son was named after my mom’s favorite cousin. Darned if I didn’t find another bit of genealogical serendipity regarding his name. Again, it’s not until I am deep into genealogical research when I discover that my mom’s cousin was named for his great-grandfather, Conner McGann, who is my Connor’s third great-grandfather.[5] “Connor” is actually a nick-name for Cornelius - thank goodness that name didn’t come up when Connor was born (again, apologies to anyone so-named). 

[1]“U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 July 2014), card for Richard Mills, Ward 1, Monett, Missouri; United States, Selective Service System, “World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” National Archives microfilm publication M1509, roll 1683091. 

[2]“A Narrow Escape,” The Monett (Missouri) Times, 9 July 1909, p. 3, col. 3; image, Chronicling America (https://www.chroniclingamerica.loc.gov : accessed 9 June 2015).

[3]1910 U.S. census, Barry County, Missouri, population schedule, Monett City, sheet 6B, enumeration district (ED) 4, dwelling 209, family 215, William J. Mills; image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 July 2014); citing National Archives microfilm publication T624, roll 767. 1920 U.S. census, Barry County, Missouri, population schedule, Monett City, sheet 6B, enumeration district (ED) 5 dwelling 147, family 178, Richard Mills; image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 July 2014); citing National Archives microfilm publication T625, roll 904. 1930 U.S. census, Barry County, Missouri, population schedule, Monett City, sheet 8A, enumeration district (ED) 6-16, dwelling 190, family 205, Richard Mills; image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 July 2014); citing National Archives microfilm publication T626, roll not noted. 1930 U.S. census, Barry County, Missouri, population schedule, Monett City, p. 9B (penned), enumeration district (ED) 4, dwelling 209, family 215, William J. Mills; image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 July 2014); citing National Archives microfilm publication T624, roll 767. 1940 U.S. census, Barry County, Missouri, population schedule, Monett City, sheet 1B, enumeration district (ED) 5-20, line number 78, Richard Mills; image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 July 2014); citing National Archives microfilm publication T627, roll 2083.

[4]Find A Grave, database with images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 1/April 2015), memorials 57857237 and 57857263, Richard Mills and Maud J. Gibbons Mills, Monett IOOF Cemetery, Monett, Lawrence County, Missouri. 

[5]Find A Grave, database with images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 1/April 2015), memorial 110784646, Cornelius Conner McGann, St. Joseph New Cemetery, Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio.

Richard Mills

Maude Jane (Gibbons) Mills

Vintage Postcard of Monett, Missouri, mygenealogyhound.com.

Week 11: "Large Family" #52Ancestors

This week’s prompt was an easy one for me: the largest family I have in my tree is the Quinlan-Fitzgibbon family: thirteen children! [1] 

 John J. Quinlan was my husband’s 2nd great-grandfather and one of the few of Irish in our tree whose parentage and birthplace are known. We’ve even discovered his family in the 1851 Irish census despite the fact that most of the pre-1901 Irish census records were burned in the infamous Four Courts fire of 1922.[2]

While we haven’t yet determined exactly when John came to the US, we know he was in Illinois in 1860 and that he served in the Civil War in the 104th Illinois Infantry. [3] In 1864, John married sixteen-year-old Catherine Fitzgibbon (yet another child-bride on my husband’s side of the family).[4] Catherine was born in Fall River, Massachusetts to Irish parents, but moved with her family to Illinois when she was about eight.[5]

 John and Catherine had their first child, my husband’s great-grandmother Mary, in 1866 and proceeded to have twelve more children over the next 33 years. YIKES! I guess because she started young, Catherine was “only” 45 when their youngest child was born. This is an amazing level of fecundity. Most of the children survived into adulthood and only five pre-deceased their mother who died in 1927.[6]

 Like their father, most of the sons grew up to work for a railroad and two died from tragic railroad accidents.[7] The daughters mostly grew up to be wives and homemakers. The exception was the youngest daughter, Ellen (“Nell”) Quinlan. And, boy, was she an exception.

Nell left the family home in rural Labette County, Kansas, to go to Kansas City when she was only 16. She married her first husband, Paul Donnelly, a year after moving to KC, but apparently on the condition that she be allowed to attend college.[8] In 1909, Nell graduated from Lindenwood College (now Lindenwood University) in St. Charles, Missouri, with her degree in Domestic Science and Housekeeping.[9]

Nell’s real claim to fame was the dress-making company she and Paul founded: the Donnelly Garment Company. Talk about the quintessential rags-to-riches story! Nell started out making dresses at home and by 1931 her company had sales of $3.5 million and over 1,000 employees.[10] By 1953, her company was the largest manufacturer of women’s clothing in the world.[11] Nell died in 1991 at 102 years old, surviving all her twelve siblings by more than 32 years. 

 Nell’s life was not only one of being a successful business woman, but also one with a potential career-killing scandal involving a forbidden romance, a love-child that was not her husband’s, and a kidnapping that made the newspapers across the U.S. For more on Nell’s incredible story, check out www.nellydon.com and, if you are in the Kansas City area, a musical based on her life story is currently playing at the MTH Theater in Crown Center through the end of March (tickets are available through the above website). Local KC actress Ashley Pankow stars as Nell.

[1] I suspect that there might have been other children who died in early infancy.

[2] Josephine Masterson, County Cork, Ireland, a Collection of 1851 Census Records (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2001); image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 17 March 2019).

[3] “Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934,” images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 March 2019), John Quinlan and Kate Quinlan (Co. I, 104thIll. Inf.) imaged index card; citing Records of the Department of Veteran affairs, 1773-2007, Record Group Number: 15, Series Title: U.S., Civil War Pension Index, General Index to Pension Files, T288 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives [n.d.]), no roll number cited.

[4] Illinois, Marshall County, marriage license, John Quinlan-Kate Fitzibbons (1864); copy obtained by author on 8 April 2017 from Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD), Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois.

[5] 1850 U.S. Census, Bristol County, Massachusetts, population schedule, Fall River township, p. 108B (stamped), dwelling 1039, family 1760, Catherine Fitzgibbon in household of John Fitzgibbon; image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 March 2019); citing National Archives microfilm publication M432, roll 308. 

[6] Kansas State Board of Health, Division of Vital Statistics, death certificate #250 3101 (1928), Kate Quinlan; Office of Vital Statistics, Topeka, Kansas; copy in possession of author.

[7] “Jno. J. Quinlan, obituary, Parsons (Kansas) Daily Sun, 29 January 1921, p. 8, col. 1; digital image, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 25 August 2015). “Fearful Death in Katy Wreck: J.M. Quinlan, Brakeman on an Extra Freight, Cremated in a Wreck in the Katy Yards at Muskogee Last Night,” The Parsons (Kansas) Daily Sun, 10 February 1909, p. 1, col. 1-4; digital image, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 4 August 2014).

 [8] “Quinlan-Donnelly,”Parsons (Kansas) Daily Sun, 20 June 1906, p. 1, col. 3; digital image, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 25 August 2015).

[9] Lindenwood College, Lindenleaves, 1909, vol. 3 (St. Charles, Missouri: Published by the Students of Lindenwood College); images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 August 2015). I am sure you will be gratified to learn that Lindenwood no longer has such a course of study. In addition to standard STEM course, Business and Pre-whatevermedicalyoucanthinkof, Lindenwood offers a BA in “Game Design,” a BS in “Fashion Business and Entrepreneurship,” and a degree in Musical Theatre. 

[10] Kimberly Harper, “Nell Donnelly Reed (1889-1991),” “Historic Missourians,” The State Historical Society of Missouri (https://shsmo.org/historicmissourians/name/r/reed/index.html : accessed 18 March 2019). 

[11] Ibid.

Nell Quinlan Donnelly Reed from her 1909 yearbook. Lindenwood College, Lindenleaves, 1909, vol. 3 (St. Charles, Missouri: Published by the Students of Lindenwood College); images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 August 2015), image 22.

John J. and Catherine (Fitzgibbon) Quinlan [I think she looks pretty damn good for having had 13 children!]

Week 10: "The Bachelor Uncle" #52Ancestors

My favorite “bachelor uncle” is my own uncle, Charles Peter Maier. Or, “Uncle Charlie,” as we kids all called him. Through my research, I learned that Charlie was the fourth Charles Peter Maier in the family. My great-grandfather was the first Charles Peter and his first son was named after him. However, this Charles Peter died in 1892 of diphtheria at the age of 20 months. I didn’t even discover this baby’s existence until last year when I was going research at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. I was reviewing the digital files from Holy Sepulchre Cemetery (East Orange, NJ) for all of the Maiers buried there when I came across his burial card. I’d been to that cemetery a couple of years earlier but didn’t see headstone for this little baby. The more I thought about it, I’d not seen the headstone for his father either! The burial card explains that they were buried in the same plot. I am not sure why there is no headstone, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that my great-grandfather was likely living with a woman who was not my great-grandmother when he died (yikes, yet another mystery to unravel).

After this little baby died, my great grand-parents did what many people did back in the day, which was to give their next son the exact same name. Since I have seen this kind of thing before, it didn’t surprise me. But that’s how my uncle was the fourth Charles Peter Maier, although not Charles Peter Maier, IV. 

 Uncle Charlie was born 1926 in Newark, New Jersey, three years younger than my mom. Charlie graduated from Seton Hall Prep in 1944, having played varsity football and baseball his senior year.[1] He enlisted in the US Navy after high school and served aboard the USS Oregon City. The Oregon City was a heavy cruiser, launched into service in 1945. She was only in service for less than two years and never saw action during the war, instead sailing to Guantanamo Bay several times.[2] I always thought Charlie served in the Pacific since many of his war-time pictures showed him on an island with palm trees. It wasn’t until I searched on Ancestry.com and found he was really in Guantanamo Bay. As you can see from the photo below, he was one handsome sailor!

 I don’t know what Uncle Charlie did right after the war, but he ultimately enrolled in Immaculate Conception Seminary and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1954. The seminary was and is part of Seton Hall University (my alma mater). 

 By 1964, Charlie was the curate at St. Patrick’s Church in Elizabeth, New Jersey, a beautiful “Gothic Revival” church built in 1858. Because he lived close to our family, especially his mother, I well remember Sunday dinners at my Nana’s house with her wonderful food (she was a great cook) and our funny uncle to play with. He was soft-hearted and always had a big smile. He played the guitar and the organ and, while I don’t remember any of the songs he played, I remember how lovely it was to hear. I also have a memory of the sweet-smelling tobacco from his pipe. 

 Uncle Charlie was also that brave bachelor uncle who didn’t mind taking care of his nieces and nephews. My grandmother would pack up lunch (always tuna sandwiches, green grapes and pink lemonade) we’d pile into the back seat of his black sedan and head to the shore. Charlie thought it was super fun to show us how he could drive the car with only his knees and we were duly impressed. Another vivid memory I have of our lunch on the beach was the sand that always found its way into our sandwiches. I can almost feel the grit in my teeth now. 

Charlie was also an outdoorsy kind of guy. He took up skiing early on when you simply buckled your skis to whatever boots you were wearing. He always seemed to be going on some big adventure somewhere. Sadly, he left us far too soon. He died in Vermont on August 21, 1964, when the glider he was piloting crashed in a field near Montpelier. Our family was shaken to its core by his death. My grandmother never got over it; every year on the anniversary of his death, she would go to morning mass and then spend the rest of the day at home with the shades drawn, crying. One of us grandkids would be assigned to spend the day with her and I remember how inconsolable she was. As a mother myself, I can’t say I blame her reaction.

I am happy to share the story of this “bachelor uncle”; I remember him so fondly and with much love. 

[1]“The Tower, 1944,” Seton Hall Prep, p. 36; digital image, “U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012,” Ancestry (https://ancestry.com: accessed 5 March 2018), image 40.

[2]“USS Oregon City,” Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org), rev. 22:57, 17 July 2018.

Charlie and my mom

A very handsome sailor!

Love the cigarette

Me and Uncle Charlie at my Nana’s house

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.