I know My Own Mother's Birthday, In Which I Concede I Can't Do Collaborative Genealogy

                                                            by Cindy Shebley

    I recently began a tree at Family Search, home to the Family Search Tree, for the express purpose of taking advantage of the hints they now send relating to your ancestors.  At the time I was leery of the fact others can come in and make changes to this tree, it's not really "your" tree but I thought, it's a trade off for the hints, how bad can it be?  Pretty bad.  Yesterday I received a hint; upon taking a look, I saw some changes had been made to my late mother's profile.  Someone had changed the year of her birth. By one year.  Because of a census record.  Really?  I know what year my mother was born and found that quite annoying.  But there was more.

     The branch where Mary White Driscoll resides had been altered beyond recognition.  Her daughter Catherine Ellen who appears in the 1870 census of Palmyra, New York and in the 1880 census of nearby Manchester, New York with her parents is clearly stated to have been born in New York.  She's still in Manchester in the 1892 census.  But now she had been transported from New York to Massachusetts and had a brand new husband and children. Which pretty much defeats my original purpose since in some instances the hints I'm getting are not even for my family.  How did the person doing the editing get it so wrong, was this a bad merge?  To top that off, the site won't allow me to delete the erroneous data because several people apparently agree with it.  How many times have you seen trees on Ancestry that are carbon copies of each other and are all wrong?  Sadly, not everyone doing genealogy is holding to a standard of proof.  And some are so married to their version of the facts they won't consider changing their online trees.  Even when presented with documents proving they are incorrect. 

     I no longer try to sway other researchers with facts.  No matter how tactful one tries to be it seems for the most part to irritate them, but when it's your own mother's data being played with that's another story.  I've never been overly concerned about identity theft, all my trees are open, but I also leave out some personal data about close relatives-- that isn't possible with the tree on Family Search.  Yes, you can omit facts and surnames, but a busy little bee will be right behind you adding them in.

     In light of this, I've decided it's best for me to not participate in the global tree, I just don't have the patience or temperament. Who has time to keep an eye on this and constantly correct mistaken data added by others?  Not me, I'm sticking with Ancestry.com.  Even though the cookie cutter trees there perpetuate errors, at least I can post the correct information in my tree to counter it.  I'd just delete my section of the Family Search Tree, but the site in all likelihood won't allow me to.

    

    

    

Musings During St. Patrick's Month

     Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to have lived during my Irish ancestor's lifetimes; I don't think it would have worked out well.  As a young girl I was plagued with throat infections, especially when the weather turned damp.  Obviously, Ireland's climate and lack of penicillin could have proven problematic for me, quite possibly fatally so.

     My Gunn ancestors lived in County Kerry at a time when out of a population of 230,000 souls, 170,000 were destitute; they didn't have to wonder what living in poverty in the damp, cool, west of Ireland could do to a person's health, they knew.  My third-great-grandparents John Gunn and his wife Margaret Browne, born in the mid 1820's, were parents to seven children all born at Ballygologue near Listowel.  Three of them, (including my second-great-grandmother), emigrated to America, two died in childhood and two grew to adulthood in County Kerry-- Johanna, and her brother John who died at thirty eight of consumption.  Imagine having seven children and being left with only one.  The children's father John's death certificate puts his age at fifty six and his cause of death as chronic bronchitis, a disease known to be aggravated by damp weather.

     The younger John's case is especially sad.  His wife Deborah O'Neill's death occurred three years before his own from the same disease that stole his life. Their son who was orphaned at fourteen, passed away in 1908 at age twenty eight, also from the effects of consumption.

    Like her mother, Johanna Gunn Connor gave birth to seven children. Her first was born out of wedlock and I've been unable to trace him after his baptism.  I don't believe he reached adulthood.  Of her remaining six children, three of them, all named John after Johanna's father, died in early childhood. Two from scarlatina, which is a throat infection!  The other two children emigrated to America and prospered there.  Johanna's youngest son, Thomas, remained in Listowel where he died at age twenty four of consumption.

     Chronic bronchitis, multiple cases of consumption... that's a lot of lung disease. I wonder if there was a genetic component involved here?  Scientists have in fact discovered a genetic variant that predisposes people who have it to tuberculosis.  The mother of this clan, Margaret Browne lived long enough that her cause of death was given as "old age" while her daughter Johanna reached age seventy.  Somehow those two escaped the disease that took so many of their family members. The individuals who decamped to the USA seemed healthy enough, living reasonably long lives.  Unless you count Uncle George who got tipsy one night, fell in the canal, and drowned.  But he was in good health before that lamentable event.

     Ireland of course was far from alone in it's widespread cases of consumption, it was a highly contagious killer worldwide in the 19th century.  However, lack of warm shelter and clothing, an inadequate diet along with all the other lacks that resulted from poverty could not have helped the situation in Kerry.  One website had this to say--"It is easier to get TB if you have little or no heating and live in damp, dark or dusty conditions".

     Johanna nursed her son Thomas throughout his illness until his death yet she remained well.  Her death when it came must have been a lonely one with her children all gone before her except the two far away in America and her siblings all dead or also in America. Perhaps instead of wondering what it would have been like for me to live in Ireland during their time, I should be wondering what their lives could have been like had their country not been occupied by a foreign power.

Some Green Irish DNA

     
 

     A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about Mary White, newly proven relative of my great-great-grandfather James White. With the help of a DNA match found on Ancestry.com, who turned out to be a cousin,  the tale of Mary's life has slowly come to light.  We now know she was born in Ireland, almost certainly in County Laois (Queens) and came to America, settling in the same area of upstate New York as her uncle James, where she married Dennis Driscoll, a native of County Cork, in the Catholic Church at Palmyra, New York.  We know Dennis died and was buried in December of 1880, within months of the birth of their sixth child, and that Mary then married a man named McDuff, since the 1900 census of Canandaigua, New York, lists her as the widow Mary McDuff with a son named Joseph McDuff who was born in Pennsylvania. In that census Mary and Joseph are living in the household of Mary's eldest daughter Catherine Driscoll MacAniff and her family.

     That left a lot of questions however, which the lack of the 1890 census only exacerbated. Like when did they marry?  Did they marry in New York or in Pennsylvania?  They aren't in the NYS Marriage Index, but would the widow Mary leave New York and travel to Pennsylvania on her own? Where did they live in Pennsylvania?  When did Mr. McDuff pass away?  There was so much more to Mary's life after her first husband's death until her own in 1917.  I first checked the 1892 New York State census and found no trace of Mary though I did find her oldest daughter and her son John Driscoll still in the Palmyra area. John was living with Mary Lawler Floodman and her family, the same Mary Floodman at whose home Mary White Driscoll McDuff would pass away twenty-five years later.

  Pennsylvania of course had no 1892 census so it looked like church records were going to be needed, but which church?  That's when Joseph's social security application came to light showing his name now as Martin Joseph "MacDuff", his birthplace as Conshohocken Pennsylvania, and his parents as Martin MacDuff and Mary White.  His marriage record from 1916 gave his name as Joseph MacDuff and his parent's names as the same Martin  & Mary! That was progress.

Joseph's marriage 1916

        Conshohocken in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania was built on the Schuylkill River which provided power for various mills and other industries.  No doubt jobs were what drew immigrants to the area, but I was still curious about the circumstances of Mary's move there.  St. Matthew's was the Catholic parish in Conshohocken so I wrote to them-- and received no reply, but after much searching I discovered Ancestry held the cemetery records for St. Matt's.  Searching them I came across an infant born in January of 1890 in West Conshohocken named Rose McDuff who passed away in July of 1890 from cholera infantum.  While not contagious, this disease marked by severe diarrhea and vomiting, was fairly common in the summer months before refrigeration became available and was deadly to small children.  This could be another child of Mary's, no parent's names were listed but in the 1900 census Mary said she was the mother of 8 children, only 6 of whom were living.  Rose could be the missing 8th child.

     After much more searching for St. Matt's records online, I found some Diocese of Philadelphia baptisms on Find My Past.  There was Rose McDuff, parents Martin McDuff & Mary White and Joseph McDuff, his parents also Martin & Mary.  As it turns out, West Conshohocken had it's own parish, St. Gertrude's, which is where the baptisms took place.  Little Rose's burial said St. Matthew's only because both parishes shared St. Matthew's cemetery.  St. Gertrude's is no longer open, their registers are at St. Matthew's now but it doesn't look like they are going to respond to my email and so the search continues.  Martin and Mary's marriage date and place are still unknown as is the date and place of Martin's death, but now the groom's name is known and their place of residence in the early 1890's.  I'm closing in.



    

Today's Tip/Don't Rely On Those Indexes Of New York Vital Records

     Yes, I know that's not a new tip however, there is one mistake that keeps popping up in the New York State Vital Records Indexes, (birth, marriage, and death), that are now available on Ancestry.com.  

     Quite a few of my relatives passed away in Rochester, New York.  Even if it wasn't their usual place of residence, Rochester has the biggest hospitals in my area so for many of them Rochester was the final earthly stop on their pilgrimage to eternity.  The problem is, the abbreviation for Rochester, "Rch", keeps being mistranslated by the transcribers at Ancestry as Richmond, NY.  I don't know how the New York clerks abbreviated Richmond, but there you have it; and not once or twice, but many times.

     I don't know if this is happening with other cities, but if you're looking for relatives in Rochester, maybe even in Richmond, be aware of these errors.

My Serious Crush on DNA, In Which A New Branch Is Added

     Long ago I turned to the FAN method (friends, associates, neighbors) in my attempt to find the birthplace of my second-great-grandfather James White.  It's now been determined, by me, that James hailed from Rathdowney Parish in Queens County, now known as Laois.  A large gap exists in parish records of Rathdowney, and all United States sources have been exhausted, so I will never find the proof  of Grandpa's home spelled out anywhere.  But then, there was DNA!  I've written before about the proof that has emerged here.

     Among the neighbors of Grandpa James White, could often be found the family of Michael Driscoll from Ireland.  In Palmyra, New York and later in Manchester, New York, there were the Driscolls right along with the Whites.  I had a feeling there was a connection.  Years passed while I attempted to find the link between these two families, and now DNA has provided an answer.  In Palmyra, St. Anne's marriage records contain the nuptials of Mary White and Dennis Driscoll.  Great, right?  Well it was, but while the first names of Mary's parents were John and Mary Ann, my James' parents were James and Margaret Keyes. Why is it never easy?  That record also gives the name of Dennis' father as John Driscoll who I now believe was a brother of the Michael who seemed to always live near my James. Enter DNA; a match with a tree containing the surname Driscoll came to light a few days ago, and the owner actually answered my email inquiring about her tree.

    As we compared notes, the emails flew and the puzzle began to take shape.  Me sharing the marriage record of Mary White and Dennis Driscoll, she sharing that someone long ago had mentioned a great-grandmother with the maiden name of White, the information we were sharing was all beginning to fit.  I now tend to think Mary White Driscoll was the daughter of my James' brother John who stayed in Ireland.  When my grandpa James' son was baptized in 1857 his godmother was Mary White, strengthening their connection.

     Then other names began turning up, names I knew from earlier research.  Like the name Mary Floodman, at whose home it turns out Mary White Driscoll died.  Mary Floodman was the former Mary Lawlor, granddaughter of Sarah Keyes (there's that surname again).  Mary Floodman in the New York State Census of 1915 referred to Mary as her aunt, (she was probably a much older cousin, but often in such cases the elder was given the title of aunt).  My father remembers people named Floodman visiting his grandmother, Ellen White O'Hora, the granddaughter of Margaret Keyes many decades ago and he id'd the photo below.  More proof!

Ellen White O'Hora nd Mary Lawler Floodman

     We began tracing the children of Mary and Dennis Driscoll, one of whom was William Driscoll.  A search of the 1892 New York census turned up William Driscoll, of the right age, living with none other than James White!  Not my grandfather James White, but his nephew, the son of his brother William White.  I had seen this census before, but had no idea who William Driscoll might have been, why he was living with the Whites, or why when James' wife Margaret Touhey died, her obituary referred to William Driscoll as her "foster son".  I knew now.

    Mary and Dennis seemed to disappear after 1880; returning to St. Anne's records I found the burial of Dennis Driscoll in 1880, he had died after the census that year, but no trace was found of his wife Mary White Driscoll.  Then an email from my new cousin arrived-- in the 1900 census of Canandaigua, New York, in the home of Catherine Driscoll McAnniff ,(eldest daughter of Mary and Dennis), and her husband Joseph was living Mary McDuff, Mother-In-Law.  No wonder it took so long to find Mary, she had remarried and had a new surname.  And a new child too; nine year old Joseph McDuff who was born in Pennsylvania.  Young Joseph's marriage record in 1916 gives his father's name as Martin MacDuff from Scotland and his mother as Mary White from Ireland.

    I'd long believed Mary White was a close relative and that the Driscolls were an important part of the story, now I have my proof.

The Fascinating Life of Howard Richard Valentine

Howard and his second wife Rae

     While working on my Galloway line this week, I came to the children of Milo's daughter Sally Ann who married Daniel Valentine and moved to Illinois.  I'd never before gone into this branch and as I followed the hints Ancestry threw my way, I came to Sally's grandson Howard Richard Valentine who had an amazing number of hints attached to his name.

     Howard was born to Sally's son Richard and his wife Mary Pickens on 4 March 1885 in Chicago, but he didn't stay put for long.  In 1906 he turns up in Boston where he married Beatrice Galvin whose parents were natives of Ireland.  Their son Richard was born the following year in Illinois.  In May of 1909 Beatrice passed away and Howard returned to his parent's home with his small son.  He can be seen with them in the census of 1910 though his wandering seems to have continued.  On the 9th of March in 1910 Howard can be found returning to New York City from Colon, Panama.  The manifest gives his occupation as Artist. A passport application filed in 1918 shows Howard was in Australia for several months in 1915.

     Sometime before 1918, Howard married again, his new bride being Rae Bell of Chicago; I've found no marriage record and I'm not sure if Bell was a middle name or surname, but she used "Rae Bell Valentine" in official documents. Howard and Rae were both listed on the passport application of March 1918 which was to be mailed to "South American Tour LTD" in New York City.  Howard's occupation was "theatrical" and he and Rae's destinations were Argentina, Brazil and Chili.  A Google search for South American Tour brought up an ad in The Yankee Clipper in 1917--

Dumb acts?

     In the years 1915 and early 1918 the first world war was still being fought.  What was Howard doing roaming the seas?  In September of 1918, Howard and Rae can be found in Mobile Alabama where Richard worked as a welder in a shipyard but they didn't stay long, by May 9th in 1919 when their daughter Patricia was born, they had returned to Chicago. Her birth did not slow them down.  

Patricia Valentine

     In 1922 Howard, Rae and three year old Patricia set sail for England as they again did in 1926.  In 1929 they can be found returning to New York City from Hamburg Germany.  Unlike the passport application the ship lists didn't provide an occupation, but for some reason, Howard's passport was cancelled and he reapplied in March of 1922, stating he intended to travel to England, France, Belgium, and Holland for "theatrical business" as an actor.  Always, Rae and Patricia accompanied him.  In the new passport application Howard revealed he had spent three weeks in Canada in 1921 and that he had a contract with a man named Percy Reiss.

     A Google search for Percy Reiss brought up the January 1920 issue of the theatrical trade magazine,Variety.  In it Reiss states he opened and managed the Victoria Palace theater in London.  Howard had apparently dropped South American Tours, maybe he didn't care for the "dumb acts".

     This is an enormous amount of travel for a young family, it makes me wonder why?  According to the 1910 census Howard was an actor, the 1920 says a truck rider, and in 1930 Howard operated a repair shop.  Rather diverse occupations.  I admit I was intrigued, but that wasn't the end of the Valentine travels. 

     I couldn't find them in 1940, but when Howard registered for the draft in April of 1942, just a few months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he and Rae were in Honolulu.  Howard was again a welder, this time for the US Navy... at Pearl Harbor!  I don't know if he was there at the time of the attack, but this guy had more excitement than ten people, did I mention I'm intrigued?  Howard and Rae stayed in Honolulu where Howard passed in 1965 and Rae five years after.  Their daughter Patricia made her home there also.  You may be wondering what became of Howard and Beatrice's son Richard.  He seems to have stayed with his grandparents through Howard's travels becoming a dentist as an adult, with a wife, the house in the suburbs of Chicago and a son and daughter.  Probably the obligatory 1.6 dogs too.

Richard Valentine, son of Howard and Beatrice Galvin

    In my wilder fantasies I picture Howard as a spy or CIA agent.  Whatever the truth of that is, there's no denying he had an incredible life!

Louis Armstrong, (Not That One), What Really Happened?

     

The Ambridge Aliquippa Bridge under it's original name 

     On a drizzly January afternoon in 1933,  Louis Armstrong of Ambridge Pennsylvania parked his car on the Ambridge Aliquippa Bridge, high above the Ohio River, and stepped out.  There would be no witnesses to what occurred next, but it wouldn't be long before his empty car was noticed and a search for the owner initiated.

     Louis, born in 1880 in Seneca Falls, New York was the first child of Thomas Armstrong, an immigrant from Northern Ireland, and Hannah McGarr, the daughter of Irish immigrants.  He was also my third cousin, three times removed.  Louis grew up in Seneca Falls, moving to Pennsylvania sometime between 1900 and 1904, the year he married Minnie Brack of Pittsburgh.  Over the ensuing years their family grew to include four daughters and one son, Louis Jr., but by 1930 the family had fractured with Minnie and the children living in Pittsburgh while Louis lived as a boarder in Ambridge about 20 miles away. In 1930 Minnie described herself as married; Lester told the census taker he was single.  What could have caused the breakup at a time when divorce was uncommon and the great depression was raging?  Louis' death certificate held a possible answer.

     The county coroner fixed Louis' time of death at 1pm, and gave the following cause--  
Suicide-Drowning-Jumped into the Ohio River from the Ambridge Aliquippa Bridge.  
Contributory--  Temporary insanity due to head and neck injuries in auto accident two years ago.  

     Search as I might, I couldn't find any mention of the car accident, finding the newspaper account of the suicide took hours.  With a name like Louis Armstrong a lot of the hits were for the musician.  Finally I located the article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette but it was on a pay site.  It did give the newspaper name, date and page where the article could be found however, so I tried the Library of Congress site which was malfunctioning and then a college library site but I didn't have a user name or password.  Then I remembered that Google has some digitized newspapers, (you didn't really think I was going to pay to see the article did you?).  The Google newspaper archive project has been long abandoned, but the newspapers that were already posted are still there and one just happened to be the paper I needed, the January 20 edition--

      Less than 3 hours after his car was found abandoned on the Ambridge-Aliquippa bridge, the body of Louis Armstrong 48 of Ambridge, was removed from the Ohio River at Legionville by employees of Lock number 4 yesterday afternoon.  Search for the owner of the abandoned car had been started when the body was found.  Armstrong, an automobile salesman, is believed to have leaped from the bridge while despondent, and is reported to have attempted to end his life by asphyxiation previously.  He roomed at 318 Park Rd, Ambridge, and leaves a widow and children in Pittsburgh, friends said.

     It's hard to say with certainty that the car accident was responsible for the breakup of the Armstrong marriage or the suicide, but a quick internet search brought up medical research into victims of traumatic brain injury and concussion that showed a marked increase in suicides among that group.  With the scanty information we can't tell if Louis' brain itself was damaged and affecting his behavior, or if his seeming depression stemmed from discomfort or limitations from his injuries.  The mention of neck injuries and the fact he went from an active job as foreman at a drilling site, as seen in the 1920 census, to auto salesman may indicate Louis was a victim of chronic pain. As in so many cases, this tragic story makes me wonder if Louis could have benefited from modern medicine and treatments.