But Where in Ireland? Answer Buried in Records

In 2018 I traveled to Belgium to attend a friend's wedding. Afterwards, my cousin Peter and I spend 10 days driving around Ireland and Northern Ireland. Peter and I share Irish ancestors but we also have Irish ancestors on other branches of our separate family trees.

I loved Ireland. I especially loved the natural beauty of Northern Ireland. Being there did somehow make me feel closer to my Irish ancestors even though, like many Americans with Irish ancestry, I don't know exactly where most of my Irish ancestors were from. Once most immigrants arrived in the U.S. they didn't identify themselves by the town they came from, just the country.

On my paternal grandmother's side I know my great-great grandmother, Annette Hinch-Henry came from Barnamelia and Hackettstown, in County Wicklow. Also on dad's side, I know my Hughes came from Liscolman, Clonmore, again, in County Wicklow and my Grays came from County Cavan. 

My mom's side is more elusive and they suffer from very common Irish surnames; Joyce, Kelley, O'Neill, and Fay. Their U.S. records just record their place of birth as Ireland. No towns, no counties, just Ireland. Even if I may not have been in my ancestors' exact footsteps, I felt very at home in Ireland.

Years later, in 2021, suffering from the wanderlust caused by the Covid-19 world health crisis, I set about visiting the graves of my direct ancestors in this sort of cemetery marathon on which I dragged my cousin Peter. Actually for one cemetery visit I dragged both Cousin Peter and Cousin Ashlee all the way to Dayton, Ohio. I wrote about that adventure in this blog post: https://diggingupthedirtonmydeadpeople.blogspot.com/2021/06/third-great-grandpa-john-joyce-dayton.html 

Prior to that visit to the grave of my third great grandfather, John A. Joyce, I ordered his military pension file from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Washington D.C. In fact, I ordered the file on April 22, 2021. I made that trip to Dayton in June 2021. In November 2021 I finally received John's file; a 89 page pdf related to his military service as a First Class Boy in the U.S. Navy during the Mexican-American War. It took more than 6 months to obtain the file.

Now if you are like me, you don't know much about the Mexican-American War; but you see that word Navy and you feel all queasy - sea sickness sets in, right? It does for me. I have so many seafaring souls in my gene pool but any body of water makes me a little green. Ugh, I can't with the boats, people!

Anyway, John was in the Navy. He enlisted January 19, 1846. 1846!! His whole military service was a surprise to me really but I did not expect him to be in the U.S. before the potato famine.

Ireland suffered the famine between 1845 and 1852. It was a period of starvation, disease, death, and immense emigration. The poor were leaving Ireland in droves for America where they had the hope of not starving to death. Often Americans refer to their Irish immigrants who came during that period as Famine Irish. John enlisting in U.S. Navy in January 1846, that was pretty early on in the Great Famine, so it's likely my Joyces were pre-Famine Irish immigrants; that they arrived in the U.S. before 1845. 

Another great surprise is that John enlisted in the Navy in Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia! My people are all New Yorkers. Philadelphia? Really? So this has put me on the path of searching for John, and perhaps his parents, yet unknown to me, immigrating through Philadelphia rather than New York. We'll see if I can find anything now that I have that lead.

The most amazing discovery in John's pension file, though, was the name of the county in Ireland where he was born. Yup! On page 24 of the 89 page pdf, at the bottom of the page it states "...born at ___, in the County of Armath, and State of Ireland..." Now Armath has to be County Armagh because there is no Armath. 

County Armagh is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. I don't think Peter and I drove through Armagh though. The closest we would have gotten would probably have been Banbridge on route between Belfast and Dublin. Guess I gotta go back!

Thank you, Officer Heney

The headline of the Brooklyn Daily Times from Monday, December 22, 1924 reads,"16 RESCUED, HERO COP OVERCOME IN SEVENTH AV. FIRE. Patrolman Heney Collapses After Turning in Alarm and Rousing Tenants. 7 CANARIES SMOTHERED. Family of Four Awakened by Fireman, Escape in Night Clothes by Ladder"

Three of the tenants rescued by Patrolman Joseph Heney were my great-great aunts and uncle; Gertrude Joyce-Sheridan (February 7, 1863 - April 21, 1934), George Joyce (November 30, 1854 - March 6, 1931), and Mary Isabelle Joyce (June 1, 1861 - January 24, 1940). They were three of my great-great grandmother, Agnes C. Joyce-Fay's four siblings.

In the image below I have highlighted where my family members' names appear. 

The article reads as follows:

Sixteen persons were rescued during the cold early hours of today when fire in the basement of the three-story brick building at 89-90 seventh avenue sent clouds of heavy smoke billowing through the structure. Fireman Joseph Denato, of Truck 105, standing at the top of a thirty-foot ladder, awakened Gustav Burkhardt, his wife and two children when he smashed a window in their apartment with his axe. In their night clothes, except for coats. Mrs. Burkhardt, her husband and their children, Henry, 20 and Mildred, 16, went down the ladder to the street.

Previous to this, Patrolman Joseph Heney, after discovering the fire and sending an alarm, rushed through the hallways on the second and third floors, awakening occupants of apartments and helping them to the street those he aroused were James Seayth, his wife, and their sons, Kenneth, 17, and Alexander, 15, asleep on the third floor; Charles White, Mrs. White, their daughters, Catherine and Dorothea, and their son Charles, and the occupants of an opposite apartment, Mrs. Gertrude Sheridan, her brother, George Joyce, aged 70, and their sister Mary, 61.

Heney collapsed after every one was out, and was relieved from duty after having been restored by an ambulance surgeon.

Seven canaries were smothered in the Seayth apartment. Mrs. White brought out her pet canary, but when she slipped on the sidewalk, the bottom dropped from the cage and "Pete" fell into the freezing water from hose lines. Mrs. White kept him warm in her hands thereafter.

The women from the burning building were put into the heated taxicab of Louis Kirsch, of 424 Albany avenue, where they remained until arrangements were made to take them into neighbors' homes.

The fire was confined to the basement and the stationary store of Samuel Weiss. A third alarm was sent as a precautionary measure.

The news was picked up in several other newspapers of the day. I have chosen to share this one because it has a photo of the officer who risked his life to save the tenants of that building, including my family.

There are not many descendants of my third great grandparents, John Aloysius Joyce (February 11, 1829 - September 30, 1910) and Mary Ann O'Neill-Joyce (about 1829 - January 11, 1911). They had 5 children, George, John (about 1857 - February 27, 1896), Mary, Gertrude, and Agnes (my great-great grandmother). Three of them were present at this fire. John had passed many years before this event. There are no records of George, John, or Mary ever marrying. Gertrude had no children. It was only my great-great grandmother who had any offspring; eight to be exact. Although George, Mary, and Gertrude were all considered elderly at the time, 70, 63, and 61 respectively, I cannot imagine what it would have been like for Agnes to lose all 3 of her living siblings at one time had Office Heney not saved them from the blaze.

Moved by this patrolman's efforts, I researched him a bit and reached out to a descendant of his that I found researching the family on Ancestry. I haven't heard back from Officer Heney's grandson yet but I hope he'll respond. It is not often one finds a photo of a relative in the newspapers, and certainly not one attached to such a heroic deed.

I’d Like to Meet...

In 2022 I participated in Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge, and I am quite proud to say, I accomplished it! I blogged every week, writing to a majority of the themes she put forth. This year, I commit to writing at least once a month and I may at times use her prompts to stimulate and inspire my blogging. I would however, also like to commit some time to making more discoveries in my personal genealogy research. Writing takes time. Search takes time too.

The 52 Ancestors Challenge theme for this week, though, is "I'd Like to Meet..."

Pondering the past tense of that theme, I would have liked to have met my maternal grandmother, Marilyn Irene Fay-Gardner (August 28, 1930 - June 5, 1972). She passed away so very young, at the age of 41, the year before I was born. I had all three of my other grandparents until my Grandpa Earle died in 2000, shortly after my 26th birthday. Grandpa Gardner passed in 2004. Grandma Earle will be 94 in February. Sadly she no longer recognizes her family due to the ravages of Alzheimer's disease but she's otherwise hangin' in there. So I knew my grandparents. I can tell you a lot about each of them, well, except Grandma Gardner who no one, not my grandpa, not her children, no one spoke about. 

Prompted to want to know more about my Grandma Gardner and having tapped out the resources on Ancestry.com, I went looking in other databases, namely MyHeritage. My subscription runs out there in February so while I have it and the time off from work during this holiday week, I went looking. 

I think I have found my grandma's high school yearbook photo. I'm not sure. I've only seen 2 other images of her. Once a long time ago when I was a kid my mother showed me a photo of her mom. I want to say it was taken at a baby shower. Marilyn, or Lynne, as everyone called her, did have a bunch of babies so I'm not sure when it was taken and I don't have the image to refer back to as, sadly, I am estranged from my mother. The other image I have of Lynne was from about 1950 from an unidentified newspaper announcement of her engagement to my Grandpa. It's terribly unclear, graining like most newspaper photos.

The new image I found is from the 1948 yearbook at Newtown High School in Elmhurst, Queens, New York. The name, year, and location fit. I think it's her.

The day I found the image I sent it to all my siblings as well as the two cousins with whom I have any contact information. Being the eldest grandchild I didn't think any of them would be able to identify the grandmother we never knew but I thought they'd appreciate having it. I showed my father, who knew Lynne. Not only was she hid mother-in-law, he grew up next door to her. He was not confident that it was her though. She died 50 years ago and this high school yearbook photo was taken long before he knew her so I understand his reluctant to confidently identify her. I showed his brother, my Uncle Allen, and he too was unsure. I know my mother would recognize her, but again, I have no contact with her nor do I have contact with either of her sisters. Well, one I could email I guess but she was only 2 when her mother passed. Hmm. Anyway - - -

The following day it dawned on me that I should look in that same school's yearbooks for Lynne's sisters; one of them I knew. When I was in my teens, every summer I would go to Florida and spend a month with my grandfather and he would always make sure I spent a day with his sister-in-law, my Great Aunt Ann. I could probably count on my fingers how many times I saw Ann in my life, however, I am 100% sure this is Aunt Ann's yearbook photo from Newtown High School, 1938. 

The discovering of Ann in the the same school's yearbook at the right time period, I am not confident that this is a picture of my grandma Lynne.

Hi grandma.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 23: "Mistake" - 3rd great grandparents, Lawrence & Bridget Fay

For awhile I had a cousin who lived in Saugeries, New York. Around the same time she lived there, I discovered that my maternal grandmother's family lived in Saugerties from the mid-to-late 1800s. It was a bit of surprise to me really. My maternal grandmother died before I was born. Thus, I have little family lore regarding this branch of my family. I think of them as my Irish immigrants who settled in New York City, though. But oh contraire mon frère. 

My 3rd great grandfather, Lawrence Fay (About 1829 - December 23, 1879), settled in Saugerties, Ulster County, New York, probably in the 1840s. He may have been a pre-famine Irish immigrant. I'm not sure as I have not been able to confirm his immigration date or where in Ireland he was born. 

The Great Famine occurred in Ireland between 1845 and 1852. During that time more than 1 million Irish died of starvation caused by phytophthora infestans, the fungus that invaded the potato plant; a staple of the Irish diet.

Lawrence was absolutely living in Saugerties at the time of the 1850 U.S. Federal Census. Pre-children, here Lawrence is listed with his wife, Bridget, living with a group of people that I don't know as being related.

The couple had 7 children. The oldest of which was my great great grandfather, Michael Fay (October 1852 - January 13, 1915).

I can't find much about Lawrence and Bridget's lives in Saugerties but I did find Lawrence listed in the 1880 Mortality Census, meaning he died before May 31, 1880.

If you find a relative in a Mortality Schedule you get so much information.

I have underlined my Lawrence in red but will transcribe the information as well below.

Fay, Lawrence. 
Age: 60. 
Sex: Male. 
Race: White. 

Marital Status: Married. 

Birthplace: Ireland. 

Father's birthplace: Ireland. 

Mother's birthplace: Ireland. 

Occupation: Blacksmith

Month in which the person died: December. 
Cause of Death: Chronic Bright's. 
How long a resident of the county?: 1
Place of Death: 445 W 40
Attending Physician: H.D. Joy

This information led me to a death certificate for Lawrence in the City of New York, not in Saugerties. However, his Manhattan death certificate indicates he is buried in Saugerties. In the red circle below I think it says Saugerties Ulster Co. He died on December 23, 1879 and was buried on Christmas Day. I didn't think Catholics buried on Christmas Day but the certificate says buried 25 Dec.

This find prompted me to look for his wife's, Bridget's, death certificate in the City of New York. She too is buried in Saugerties. She died on March 3, 1892.

Okay so we got this right? 

Lawrence Fay, age 60, died December 23, 1879.

Bridget Fay, age 60, died March 3, 1892.

Lookie here though. Their headstone at St. Mary of the Snows Roman Catholic Church in Saugerties, New York. That says Lawrence Fay Died 1880 aged 65 yrs Bridget Fay Died 1890 aged 60 yrs.

Mistakes were made people. Mistakes were made.

How these mistake were made I am not sure. I figure someone loved them enough to put up a stone long after this couple died and just gave the stone carver whatever information they thought they knew. Still...its a gesture of love and I am grateful there is a marker there, even if it isn't accurate.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 5: "Branching Out" - Great-great grandparents Michael & Agnes Fay

For the last few years I have been working a lot with genetic genealogy. Mainly helping people find their biological parent or parents. In the summer of 2020 I decided I would dive more deeply into my own AncestryDNA results. My goal was to place 100 of my matches into my family tree. In order to do that, I most certainly had to expand my family tree; branch out as it were. I'll explain a little bit about how I did that.

Last week, though, I received an Ancestry message from a DNA match suggesting we might be 2nd or 3rd cousins based on what AncestryDNA suggested. Well, I already had built Cousin Lori in my tree and was able to quickly say, "Oh, we're 2nd cousins once removed on my mother's side." I Love it!

Ideally, Step 1: Make a fleshy tree! 

I really think it is best to do your DNA testing after you have developed a really fleshed out family tree. Get back at least to a few great-great grandparents and expand the tree by including everything you can find on your direct ancestors' siblings and their offspring. Make a fleshy tree!

I do realize though that it is not always the order in which genetic genealogy research comes into play. For example, I had a friend who had a good fleshy tree. He took an AncestryDNA test and linked it to his tree. And oddly, none of his matches popped up in ThruLines. 

ThruLines is a feature of AncestryDNA that shows you how you may be related to your DNA matches. It is based on information from your DNA matches' family trees. Now if you have been doing genealogy research for sometime you know how shitty some family trees can be. Lots of "researchers" just copy information from other people's trees without vetting the information themselves and backing it up with documentation. In short, you can't trust ThruLines. It might not place your DNA matches in the right place - - BUT once you link your DNA to your tree, ThruLines should recognize some of your direct ancestors in the trees (even shitty trees) of some of your DNA matches. For my friend it did not.

I had to break it to him that he was adopted. 48 years-old and the thought never crossed his mind. That is when genetic genealogy comes to play a bigger role. For most of us though, we aren't adopted and our fathers are our biological fathers. Thus, once you link your AncestryDNA results to your fleshy tree, ThruLines will show how some of your matches may be connected to you. If it doesn't, hate to break it to you but you're probably adopted or you have some bad research going on in your tree.

I generally, I did not use ThruLines to get my 100 matches in my tree though.

Step 2: Look at your match list.

That ethnicity pie chart is junk science if you ask me. It's interesting, sure, but it's not going to tell you who your great-great-great grandparents were or where they lived. I wish people would stop caring about estimates so much. Sure busted fender, need a kitchen remodeled, want to know how long the wait will be for dinner, go get all the estimates you want. Genealogy isn't an estimate.

And ThruLines I already discussed. 

You want to figure out who you have in common with each of your matches!

I am fortunate to have a lot of known family members who have tested through AncestryDNA. Let me count... 43! 43 of my DNA matches on Ancestry are people that I have either spoken to face-to-face in-person during my lifetime or conducted online genealogy research with and expected to see in my DNA results. That's a lot. Then again though, it is a big family.

When you open your match list, Ancestry now asks you if you know the person. You want to fill that out if you can.

Step 3: Link the known family members into your tree!

You should know almost everyone in the following groups: Parent/Child, Full Siblings, and Close Family. 

Towards the bottom of the Close Family group there might be a few people you don't know; typically some cousins of your parents or some second cousins wind up there. Second cousins are people with whom you have the same great grandparents in common. A majority of your Parent/Child, Full Siblings, and Close Family should already be in your fleshy tree. If not, maybe your tree isn't really that fleshy. Go flesh it up! Or maybe we need to have that heart-to-heart.

When you click on the name of a match in the list, it opens their DNA profile.

Next to their name you'll see a symbol which to me looks like the face of the Man in the Moon; a circle with a little pedigree shaped Y and a plus sign. Like this: 

Right? Looks like the Man in the Moon's face, doesn't it? Well, that is what I see. Anyway...

Once you click on that, a panel will open to the right and you can search for the person in your tree. If they are in your tree, it will link the match to the tree. 

Done!

Wait! What about the other 57 people that I worked into my tree that I didn't know in real life??

Well - - - 

This is when the work starts!

Step 4: Look at their linked and unlinked trees.

Sometimes Ancestry will show you that you and your match have a common ancestor in your respective trees. That will look like this:

Examine their trees. Build their line down into your tree from the ancestor you have in common down to the person you match to. Making sure you review their connected documents, etc. Build them right in. THEN you can use that "Man in the Moon"-tool and connect that match to your tree.

That technique added about another 30 linked DNA matches.

The remaining 27 to 30, you ask. Well about a dozen or so had unlinked trees that or "unavailable" trees. It took a few more clicks then to open their trees and look around for our possible common ancestors.

The additional dozen required much more work to link them to my tree. I had to apply the Leeds Method, look at what shared matches we had, email some of them, snoop for them on social media, etc. I used a bunch of techniques but you can do this. YES you can!

AGAIN, Branch out! 

Explore the siblings of your direct ancestors through documentation. Add them into your tree.

So, when my 2nd cousins once removed on my mother's side reached out to me because we had a DNA match - - remember her, back in paragraph 2 - - Cousin Lori - - she was already in my tree because I "branched out." 

Based on her Ancestry tree, which was not linked to her DNA, I could see exactly who we had in common; Michael Fay (October 1852-  13 January 1915) & Agnes Joyce-Fay (12 August 1865 - 12 December 1933), my great-great grandparents.

The Family of Michael & Agnes Fay

Michael Fay, my great great grandfather, was born in Saugerties, New York in October 1852 to Lawrence Fay and Bridget Kelly (or Kelley)-Fay who were both born in Ireland. Based on census records and records from St. Mary of the Snows Roman Catholic Church in Saugerties, New York, I believe that Lawrence and Bridget had 7 other children after Michael from about 1854 to 1869: Thomas, James, John, Martha, Joseph, Anne, and Lawrence J.

Agnes Joyce-Fay, Michael's wife and my great great grandmother, was the daughter of John Aloysius Joyce (11 February 1829 - 30 September 1910) and Mary Ann O’Neil-Joyce (about 1829 - 11 January 1911), again, both of whom were born in Ireland. Agnes was the youngest of their five Joyce children. Her four older siblings were named James, John, Mary, and Gertrude; all born between 1854 and 1863. 

Michael and Agnes Joyce-Fay had six children of their own: Leo (28 January 1888 – 27 January 1819), Anna (3 February 1889 – 5 February 1819), James (my great grandfather - 11 February 1893 - 1 October 1964), Mary Ann (17 June 1897 – 1965), George (7 October 1898 – 6 April 1976), and Agnes (April 1900 – unknown). 

This is what I mean by "branching out" and making a "fleshy tree". I had all these siblings in my tree when Cousin Lori contacted me. I descend from Michael and Agnes's son, James. Cousin Lori descends from their son George. I had already had documents attached to George including his marriage record and census records identifying his children. Years before I had already communicated with other cousins from this line. So although I don't "know" Cousin Lori, she was already in my tree thanks to that DNA match and good old fashion genealogy research through documentation.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 4: "Curious" - Grandma Gardner's Side

I am struggling with this week's theme of Curious. I'm not sure how to interpret it. I am curious about all sorts of things, especially history. Not just my own personal family history but history in general. How did things get to be the way they are today? is always a question on my mind. I think I do genealogy research because I am curious. 

So I have been staring at my family tree pondering which one of my direct ancestors I am most curious about. They all make me curious. I'd have to say I'm probably most curious about my mother's maternal side. My grandmother, Marilyn Irene Fay-Gardner (29 August 1931 - 5 June 1972), passed away before I was born. In June it will be 50 years since she died, which, on a positive note, means I can order her New York State Death Certificate. I already have the form filled out. (These are things genealogist say.) She was so young; only a few months shy of 41. I'm definitely older than her now. 

Her youthful passing creates a void in many ways. It leaves me with little connection to her family history. I don't have any of her family stories really, not from her mouth at least. I have researched her side of my tree extensively though. Connected with a few researching cousins. Yet still, there is an absence felt there; an absence filled with curiosity I suppose.

Grandma Gardner's ancestry presents my most exotic ethnicity. I am American but ethnically speaking, well, I'm White American. Kind of a mutt. My ancestors were mostly waspy white Early Americans, Irish Catholics, and Canadians (French, Scottish, and English). Pale people. Kind of bland really. I mean no disrespect to those ethnicities or lines of my family tree but I learned something about all those regions in grade school. 

Grandma Gardner was 1/2 Irish (on her paternal side, the Fays and the Joyces), 1/4 German (the Krantzels), and 1/4 Czech. Yeah - Czech. Exciting right? 

I was always told by my mother that the Prince Family was Polish but all documentation shows my great-great grandfather, John Prince Jr., was born Jan Prinz on May 2, 1853 in Jungwozic, Bohemia which was part of Austria, then it was Czechoslovakia for a while, and now it is known as Mladé Vožici in the Czech Republic. 

I didn't know anything about that region of the world except it's landlocked. I have so many sea captains and sailor is my family history but I suffer terrible motion sickness. So part of me thinks my landlubbering is derived from my Czech ancestors. Although, they made it here by ship so maybe not.

I also know that WWI and WWII impacted the area tremendously, shifted all their borders around. That made for a good puzzle in my search for Czech records for my Prince ancestors. 

I recall the first time I saw the name of the town of John's birth. It was on his New York City Marriage Certificate from 1881, a relatively early vital record for NYC's vital records. At the time I had a colleague who loved to visit the Czech Republic and I asked him if he could figure out with me where the town was on a map. And sure enough, through all the boarder changes and city name changes, he found it.

It was not much longer after that when I found a cousin on Ancestry researching John's parents, Jan Prinz (14 May 1826 - 22 May1888) & Franciska Preis-Prinz (17 November 1830 - 29 November 1902). Cousin Carol is my 3rd cousin once removed, meaning we share that couple, my 3rd great-grandparents, in common.

In 2013, Cousin Carol made the trip to our common ancestors' home town in the Czech Republic. Although Cousin Carol shared a great deal about her trip, including photos and genealogical finds, I think I am most curious to see the place for myself and walk the road my ancestors traveled. 

So yeah, I guess I am just curious about it all.

The Fays at Long Island National Cemetery

So this year's goal to visit all 56 great, great-great, and 3rd great grandparents' burial locations has begun. I have determined that I have already in my lifetime visited 25 of them, leaving me 31 to research and visit. As of today, I have the names of cemeteries and plot locations for 18 of those 31. I have also emailed two researching cousins to help me determine 6 gravesites. There are, however, a solid 8 that I'm really struggling with because I cannot find a date of death. Six of those people died in Quebec and one died in Ireland at a time when death certificates were not a legal requirement. The other one died in New York but its all really sketchy. Wait 'til I tell you about him. Anyway, I'm not giving up on any of them, I'm just not terribly hopeful that I will find them all or get to them this year given our current world health crisis.

Today's post is really about my visit to my great grandparents, James Aloysius Fay (11 February 1893 - 1 October 1964) and Mary Lily Prince-Fay (15 October 1893 - 17 July 1983). They are interred in Long Island National Cemetery in Pinelawn, New York. Their daughter, my grandma, Marilyn Irene Fay-Gardner is also buried there. 

Marilyn died before I was born. I frequently visit her grave. The cemetery is less than 2 miles from my job. When I wasn't working from home I would regularly take my lunch to the cemetery and eat in my car next to grandma. Like so many of my family members grandma is buried at the beginning of her row. 

I really love national cemeteries. I love the perspective caused by the uniform plots all lined up so neatly spaced. 

It is pretty, especially decked out for Christmas but man, it is a bitch to find a plot. Everything looks exactly the same! You can't be like, "oh the stone is white, about so high, right near a water spicket" because there are about 100 of those. They are all white marble, 42 inches long, 13 inches wide, and 4 inches thick. They each weight approximately 230 pounds. You have to know the Lot, Section, Row, and Grave, whatever way the specific cemetery records their locations.

James and Mary Fay are buried in section 2D, grave 704. Their daughter Marilyn is buried in section 2D, grave 1440. So I must have been to this grave before. Look how close it is to grandma. My car is parked right next to Marilyn there. Her parents are 19 graves north and 10 rows west in the same section. They almost line up perfectly on the angle.

James served in World War I. I'm not sure what his service entailed but that is why he is buried in a national cemetery. Grandma is there because her husband served in the navy in WWII.

It's a beautiful stone, isn't it? They are all made of the same marble but not all of them have this marble look to them. Most are just stark white. I love the gray veining running through this one.

I vaguely remember Mary Prince-Fay. She was the second to last of my great grandparents to pass. I was 9 when she died. She lived in Florida and I'm not sure why she was in New York when I met her. I must have been about 7. I just recall her being very confused as to who I was. She kept asking me if I was Mary; my aunt. I do remember when she died but I surely did not attend any of her services or the burial. 

Her name is inscribed on the back of the stone. The serviceman's name generally goes on the front of the stone; and yes, mostly its servicemen. I'm not sure I have ever seen a servicewoman's grave, now that I think of it but again, they all look the same in a national cemetery; maybe I have walked past 100s. Part of the reason I think the man's name is on the front is in part because women usually outlive their husbands.

Marilyn is listed on the front of her stone but that is because she predeceased her husband not because she served in the military, she did not see. Her husband's name is also on her stone even though he is not interred there. Grandpa, well, a portion of my grandpa's cremains are on my bookshelf.

So there they are, my great grandparents, James Aloysius Fay (11 February 1893 - 1 October 1964) and Mary Lily Prince-Fay (15 October 1893 - 17 July 1983). Two of my 31 graves to visit, 29 to go...

Next Steps in Planning My Cemetery Visits

The first step in planning my cemetery visits to all my great, great-great, and 3rd great grandparents for my 2021 research goal was to inventory those burial locations which I had not been to. Out of the 56 individuals I have been to 25 of their gravesites already leaving me with 31 to find.

I placed all 31 of them into a spreadsheet recording their full name, relationship to me, date of birth, date of death, and notes about where I believe they lived at the time of their passing and where I suspect they are buried. 

The next step in planning is to pinpoint the burial locations. Some of them I am sure I have noted their burial location somewhere, in all likelihood it is mentioned on some document that I have just never really paid attention to. However, there are a few on my list that I don't even have their date of death. For some of them I have searched for years for those death dates for years. Maybe some focused attention will find the details though.

I suspect some of these are couples that are buried together which will help to speed along my visits but don't assume that. I know several sets of my ancestors are not buried together. Why is that, you may wonder. Well, some of them died very far apart in time. Widowed young, some remarried and are buried with their second families. My grandmother, for example, died in 1972. My grandfather passed in 2004. That's 32 years. Grandpa never remarried but he left New York State not long after grandma died. Grandma is buried at the local National Cemetery. Grandpa is - well a 1/5 of him, is on my shelf. Yeah, his ashes were divided among his children that were alive at the time of his death. Mom didn't want her share. She thought it was morbid. So, Gramps is on my shelf. 

I also suspect that several of these different family lines are actually buried in the same cemeteries. I'd prefer to make one trip to each cemetery if possible, rather than multiple visits into Queens or Brooklyn or Canada or wherever these folks are. Some of the different lines of my family lived in the same communities; um, that's how their kids met. And many were of the same faith. Lots of Catholics of Queens and Brooklyn are buried in Cavalry Cemetery which has - no exaggeration - about 3 million burials. So I can imagine some of my father's relatives being buried in the same cemetery as some of my mother's relatives. 

So now I am just going to work through my list and try to nail down their dates of death and then burial locations. I suspect there will be some calls required to cemeteries and emails sent to fellow family researchers.

I'll write about each visit after I make the trip. At that point I'll share the process I took to get there then. First up, I think, will be my great grandparents, James Aloysius Fay (11 February 1893 - 1 October 1964) and Mary Lily Prince-Fay (15 October 1893 - 17 July 1983). 

Inventorying My Gravesites Visits, Part 1

The first research goal I set for this year is "to visit the gravesites of all my great grandparents, great great grandparents, and 3rd great grandparents; at least those I have never been to before." So today I did an inventory of the graves I have visited of my great grandparents and great-greats, just to see where I stand with those two dozen souls.

I know for sure I have been to 15 of the 24 - and actually I think I have been to a few others among them but I'm not 100% sure so let's say I have 9 to go. As for the great grandparents, there are 3 I need to visit or re-visit as the case may be:

• I think my great grandparents, James Fay and Mary Prince-Fay, are buried in Pinelawn National Cemetery which I frequent as my grandmother, their daughter, is interred there. However, I can't for the life of me recall seeing their headstone so I am keeping them on my list.
• My great grandma, Mary Elizabeth "Mayme" Sharp-Gardner might be interred in a family plot I have been to but truth be told, I'm not sure. So I need to follow up on her.

Those 3 should be easy though as they are all certainly buried on Long Island where I live.

As for the great-greats, there are 6 I don't think I have visited. All but one should be in NY. The one I believe is buried in Quebec I have never been able to find a date of death for. I have been to her husband's gravesite in a small family cemetery in rural Quebec. I have assumed she is buried there without a marker but Lydia Maria McLean-Sharp is going to be an obstacle I just know it.

Then there is my great-great grandpa Abraham Earle that I am going to count as having seen his gravesite. He perished at sea on a ship called the Rise and Go which sailed out of Twillingate, Newfoundland bound for St. John's Newfoundland in the fall of 1890 but it never arrived. I have been to his cenotaph; which literally translates to empty tomb. So I'm going to say I did that one.

As for my 32 3rd great grandparents, I am going to have to take a much longer look at those.

My plan is to visit 3 per month, weather permitting; one every Saturday that I do not work. As soon as I make my first visit I will post about the experience. 

John Joyce, Is That You?

About 10 years ago I finished collecting the names of all my third great grandparents of which there are 32. All of us have 32 great grandparents but it's an accomplishment to be able to name them all. I can't say that I know all their dates of birth and death though. One in particular has always plagued me; John A. Joyce. 

He was the great grandfather of my maternal grandmother; Marilyn Irene Fay-Gardner. Grandma Marilyn died before I was born so I had very little reference for researching this branch of my family. In fact, my mother's whole side of the tree has proven to be quite challenging given the nature of the relationships among the living relatives. No one speaks to each other. In any case...

I knew virtually nothing about 3rd Great Grandpa John. Based on U.S. Census records I know he was born in Ireland in about 1828 or 1829 but I didn't know when, or where, or who his parents were - still don't know any of that. I knew he married Mary Ann O'Neill but I don't know when or where. And obviously he's dead but I can't find a death certificate or burial record for him which is the most befuddling part. 

My Joyces have a huge headstone in Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York. A big flashy thing! No branch of my family has big flashy headstones. Most of them don't have headstone at all. I am not of a wealthy stock. But here it is; a big shiny, showy headstone.

Years ago I wrote to Calvary and purchased what they call the Interment List; basically a list of every person buried in a single family plot. The cost of such a record begins at $120 and increases by $10 for every additional name. If you have a family plot with 10 bodies interred in it that will run you $210 for that list. Pricey if you ask me. I mean, I come from people who couldn't afford headstones, you think I have $210 laying around for lists? I don't! So I saved up. Yes, yes I did. And when I got the lists I was stunned to learn John A. Joyce bought the plot but he's not buried in it. I then combed the NYC Death Index for records that might possibly be him but nothing that jived. So I gave up.

Recently though I have been meditating on the fact that I tell my genealogy students to forget everything you think you know. Maybe he didn't die in NYC. Maybe there were no remains. Maybe he died in some awful fiery blaze. Or maybe he dies in another state and they never brought his body back to NY. Hmm. Maybe they spent all they had left on that flashy freakin' headstone.

Last night while poking through some Ancestry.com hints there was a records for a John A. Joyce in a U.S. National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. Actually, there are many of them all for the same man. A careful read revealed that he was married to a Mary Ann Joyce who resided at 763 9th Ave. in New York City. 

1910 Census

That's her!

The above image of the 1910 census clearly showed my John Joyce, his wife Mary Ann, son George, and daughter Mary J, all living at 763 9th Ave. in Manhattan. 

My 3rd great grandmother, Mary Ann O'Neill-Joyce, died on January 11, 1911. Her death certificate listed her as married, as opposed to widowed so I assumed that she pre-deceased John. But maybe not...

According to the military records for John he died on September 30, 1910 in Dayton, Ohio; just months before his wife. 

I am still trying to corroborate this information to confirm that is my John Joyce but that address makes for pretty solid evidence in which case, this is my 3rd great grandpa's headstone...

In the House Where He Lived

I have some patrons who bring me extremely interesting research. In my last post I wrote about Jack and his quest to find out more about the uncle he is named after who died in WWII. This past week Jack returned to my desk with an object he said I would not believe; and he was right.

Jack brought in a deep shadowbox frame; about 18"x 18" and 4 inches deep. Contained in it was a round ornate circular silver frame. At the center of which was a 3 inch circular photo of a couple in their mid to late 50s, maybe very early 60s. Curved around the top of the photo it said 1878-1903; beneath it said 2 May. Around the couple's photo were 1 inch round photos of 5 younger people; presumably their children. This was a silver wedding anniversary frame; silver in color and material, as well as in the fact that it is a 25th anniversary commemorative frame.

Jack proceeded to tell me how this was in the home his parents bought in 1969 in Flushing, Queens, NY. Jack surprisingly knew the name of the previous homeowner. Do you know the name of the person who owned the house you grew up in? I sure as heck don't.

Even though their was no indication on the object as to who was in the photos, Jack believed it belonged to the former homeowner and wanted to get it back to the family. The former homeowner's name was George Washington Anger. I guess that is a pretty hard name to forget.

A search for George quickly resulted in finding his WWI draft registration card. The card confirmed that George lived in Flushing and it provided his date of birth which made subsequent searches much easier.

From there we back up through the U.S. Federal Census records, 1940 to 1930 to 1920 etc, to find George living with his parents at the address Jack had grown up at. Sure enough, George was 1 of 5 children of August and Caroline Anger.

1900 Census

Turning our interest to the parents, we found their marriage record in the New York, New York Marriage Index as, wouldn't you have it, 2 May 1878. This frame was theirs and those photos were these people we had seen in all these records.

Jack then asked if we could find any living family members. I always tell my patrons that it is easier to find the dead than it is to find the living. We took a shot though and searched the public family trees on Ancestry.com. We found someone who appeared to be the great-great grandson of August and Caroline. Using my personal Ancestry.com account I was able to email the tree owner through Ancestry. I could see this Ancestry user was an active researcher because he had had an account since 2012 and had last logged in 2 days before.

We simply sent a note saying I was a genealogy librarian working with a patron who had an object that might be of interest to him if he was indeed related to this couple.

Today Jack and I received a reply to that email saying that yes, those are his great-great grandparents and that he would be delighted to know what we have in store for him.

I know that it is Jack's wish to see this object back in the hands of a family member who will love and cherish it as much as he has all these years - these strangers whose house he once lived in.

Souls without Heirs

Direct ancestors get researched all the time. Their graves are often visited and well tended, but those who left no heir, and sometimes not even a single record (like children who died between the censuses), those souls call to me.

Like my Cousin Mary over at Heritage & Vino I too have a strong affinity for those family members who left no heirs. Cousin Mary recently wrote about the siblings, Rebecca & Jacob Raynor; neither married but both obviously left strong impressions on the nieces and nephews around them.

I have recently been struggling to obtain a birth record from the City of New York for my relative, John Fay, who died in WWII and left no heirs. Part of the struggle is that I am not his direct descendant. I just want to document his existence for my family. Don't get me started...

BUT I have recently had some brilliant success, though, helping a patron connect with people that I will call his cousins even though they aren't really. Let me explain.

My patron, who I will call Jack, came to see me in search of information about the uncle he was named after but never knew. Uncle Jack died in WWII and is buried oversees. This patron came with a photo in hand of his Uncle Jack besides a woman who we believe to be Uncle Jack's wife; her name was unknown.

After some poking around on Ancestry.com we found a record for Uncle Jack in the U.S. Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, 1942 - 1949 dataset. Had we just looked at the indexed information and not opened the actual image file we would have never seen the note that in 1965 a woman in Missouri requested a photo of Uncle Jack's headstone in France.

We both suspected this woman, Helen, might be Uncle Jack's wife and so we set off on researching what became of her which lead us to a post on FindAGrave.com that included a photo of Helen. Although the FindAGrave photo showed a woman much older then the one in the photo with Uncle Jack, there was definitely a resemblance. I reached out to the FindAGrave contributor to see if perhaps he was related to the woman in the photo he posted.

In short time I received a response from the contributor. Unfortunately he was not related to Helen but he got the image from her online obituary which he sent to me. The obituary was a gem. It told of her life with great detail and mentioned that the last feat she wanted to accomplish before her passing was to write an autobiography. At the end of the obituary it listed all her children and their spouses by name and the cities they lived in when she passed in 2016.

I immediately went to Facebook and searched for her children who all had quite unusual names. I wrote to three people who I was 99% certain would be her kids but I still wasn't sure if Helen was Uncle Jack's wife. I told them that I was a NY genealogist working with a man who might have a connection to their mother. I asked if they had ever heard of her having a first husband who died in WWII. If so, I asked if I could get a copy of her autobiography. The next morning I received a response.

Yes, my mom Helen's first husband was [Jack], who died in WWII. ...As for the autobiography, it is 109 pages long and I only have my copy. Pages 19 through 24 are about [the Uncle Jack].

This was them. This was my patron's uncle's widow's family. That being said, obviously, there is no biological connection between my patron and these children of Helen; especially given the fact Helen's children are all adopted. But what makes family is not simply genetics.

Souls who leave no heirs does not mean they did not leave family, they most certainly did. They loved and influenced people around them and those energies emit long passed one's lifetime.

Dear Representative

Anyone who has been reading my recent posts knows that I am now on the path of learning all I can about my first cousin twice removed, John Michael Fay.

I recently acquired the marriage record for my great aunt, Anna Josephine Fay-McGarry which shows that John was her witness at her wedding.

On the marriage certificate recorded John's address as it was in 1943. That address confirmed for me another record which included his date of birth. John was born on 8 May 1919.

With the help of a contact at the NYC Municipal Archives I learned that the New York, New York, Birth Index, 1910-1965 is available on Ancestry.com. The NYC Municipal Archives, however does not have the birth certificates. They are held by the New York City Department of Health, Office of Vital Records. But get this...

I cannot have access to the record unless my name is on it as the child or the parent. 

Um, John was born in 1919. This birth record is nearly 99 years old and he has been dead for 73 years having died in WWII. Yet, I can't get his record?

I'm willing to pay the $15 fee. I'm even willing to go get the application request form notarized as New York City Department of Health requires but um, no. I was told that unfortunately I am not eligible to order that record.

Now I know I am not dealing with New York State but rather New York City. Just so you know, though, you can order a birth certificate from New York State "if [the birth certificate has been] on file for at least 75 years and the person whose name is on the birth certificate is known to be deceased." 

Again John's record has been on file for nearly 99 years and John has been dead for 73 years. His parents are long gone. John left no heirs. What could possibly be "wrong" with me having a copy of this record?

So, I wrote to my representative in Congress. 

I'm getting that damn record.

Is This Them in the 1920 Census?

When introducing newcomers to genealogical research I first stress the importance of family history interviewing. The first record type I direct them to, though, is the census.

Census taking is not unique to the United States by any means. If you are familiar with the story of the birth of Jesus Christ, Mary and Joseph were on the way to Nazareth to be counted in a census. A lot of countries have taken censuses for far longer that the United States.

The U.S. started creating census records in 1790 and we have taken it every ten years since; on the years ending in "0." The most recently released U.S. census is the 1940 census. These records are only released to the public when they are 72 years old. The aggregate data is released rather quickly. That is to say one can find out the statistics about the demographics of their towns, states, or the country as a whole not long after the census is complete but to look at the actual records you must wait 72 years.

That retention schedule, as it is called in archives land, is based on life expectancy. It is assumed that in 72 years most of the people recorded in that census will have passed away and if not they will certainly be living with different family groups. This schedule is set to protect individuals' identities and personal histories. That is not to say that I have not had many clients who can find themselves in the 1940 census; I have. Many people come to genealogy later in life. It is kind of exciting to see someone see themselves listed on a census.

It is however rare to find a family group that extend back through the censuses without some finagling of search terms. Sometimes you have to use variant spellings or remove the dates of birth from your search criteria. Something.

You should start looking for your relatives in the most recent census, the 1940, and move back one decade at a time to the 1930, then 1920, and so on. Keeping in mind that the 1890 census no longer exists as it was destroyed after the Commerce Department Building in Washington D.C. caught fire in January 1921 and that the 1850 census is the first to list every member of the household, there are really 9 censuses I'm always looking for. Census records before 1850 are there but not terribly easy to use.

That is my dream though; to find a family group evolve from 1940 to 1850 in each and every available census. In my experience that is a rarity. There is always at least 1 of those 9 censuses which proves to be challenging to find "the family" in. 

For example, I could not find my great grandparents in the 1930 for a really long time. That was because the penmanship of the original census taker made the name Earle look like Carle and so the indexer who ultimately put it online listed it as Carle. It took me years to find the record. It didn't happen  until I searched by a combination of the first names of the household member and left out the last name entirely.

But the dream, oh the dream, to collect them all brings great satisfaction when it happens. Today it happened for me, I think. 

I was looking more closely at census records for my great grandfather's sibling's family; Marion Fay-Leechin. Specifically I was looking for her eldest son, John Michael Fay. 

• 1940: I saw Marion listed as Mary in the 1940 census at age 42 married to Thomas Leechin with 5 children including her son John Fay, age 20.
• 1930: She is listed as Marion Lee, age 32, living with her mother Agnes Fay, 2 children and 2 boarders. One of those two children is John Fay, age 10.
• 1920: I couldn't find her, or her mother, or John in 1920. More to come on this below.
• 1910: Marion was listed as Mary, age 12, living with her parents, Michael and Agnes Fay, 4 siblings (including my great grandfather James Fay), and her mother's aunt.
• 1900: Marion is just 2 living with her parents and 5 siblings. One of her siblings does not survive to the 1920 census.
• 1880: Marion is not yet born and thus not recorded in the 1880 census. Her parents are not yet even married. Michael Fay is 26 years old, living with his widowed mother and several siblings in Manhattan. Her mother, then known as Agnes Joyce, is 15 living with her parents and siblings in Manhattan.
• 1870: I find Michael Fay again living with his parents.
• 1860: Again I see Michael Fay with his parents.
• 1850: Michael Fay was not born until 1851 but in 1850 his parents are living together in some sort of boarding house or with friends or family in Saugerties, NY.

The dream. The Fay Family in every census. OH. Except that 1920 census. Where is Marion Fay? 

Was she married? Is that why I can't find her? Does she have a different last name? 

But what about her son who had his mother's maiden name later in his life - John Fay, did he have a different name at birth? He would have been about 7 months old at the time the 1920 census was taken. 

Maybe Marion is listed as Mary again? Am I looking for Mary Fay? Mary something else? She would have been about 22 years old. 

Marion/Mary may have been living with her widowed mother, Agnes Fay, who would have been about 54 years-old. Would she have had a different name too?

So I did a search specifically in the 1920 census for a John Fay born in 1919. And I finally came across this:

Could this be them? Agnes Fay listed as Fay, Tillie , age 54, widow; Marion listed as F. Manny, daughter, age 22, single; and John Fay, son, age 7/12 meaning 7 months old. If so, does it seem to you that Agnes was the head of a Shelter for Mothers with Children?

Is this them?

Uncle Frank's First Family : Part 2

Back on January 2 I wrote a post about my Great Aunt Ann and her husband Frank. Ancestry.com had suggested some records for Uncle Frank that indicated that he had been married before Ann. It made me curious enough that I ordered Frank and Ann's marriage records from the New York City Municipal Archives right away. The record arrived yesterday.

The three pages of documentation include an Affidavit for License to Marry, a form filled out by hand; a Marriage License, which is typed but identical in content to the previous document; and a Marriage Certificate for Anna Josephine Fay and Francis Thomas McGarry from June 1943.

The details included were pretty much as I expected; their names as I knew them to be, their dates of birth, and everything about Anna - her address in Elmhurst, place of birth, parents' names. The details include about Frank were new to me but not surprising. He was in the army, born in Pennsylvania but there it was - confirmation of his parents names. They were indeed who I thought they were; Thomas Joseph McGarry and Mary Agnes Carroll. 

The documentation states that Frank was never married before but the confirmation of his parents names affirms that the marriage record for Francis McGarry to Ruth Gifford in Dunmore, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania from 1931 is indeed my great uncle Frank as I thought.

That means those young boys for whom I found death records for are also all Frank's sons; Donald McGarry (1933-1933), Francis McGarry (1935-1935), John McGarry (1937-1937), and Baby Boy McGarry (1939-1939). When next I am in PA I plan to visit their graves at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Dunmore.

What happened to his marriage to Ruth? Did they divorce? Did he just take off? Did Ann know he was married before?

I don't have any documentation to answer those questions but I suspect the loss of all those children was too much of a strain on Frank and Ruth to sustain their marriage. I bet they did divorce. If I had to guess I am sure my Aunt Ann knew all about Frank's previous marriage and it's demise. She didn't share it with me though.

While looking at the actual marriage certificate for Frank and Ann, I see the names of their witnesses. The maid-of-honor was Gladys McGarry; Frank's sister who I have found plenty of records for. The best man was John Michael Fay. 

Who is John Michael Fay? 

Ann only has sisters. Two of which lived to adulthood. Her older sister Margaret died as a child. Her other two sisters, Viola and my grandmother Marilyn were younger than Ann. 

Who is John Michael Fay?

...The saga continues...