Friday, April 14, 2017

More photos~David O'Donnell & Elizabeth VanBilliard

David and Elizabeth O'Donnell, original in the possession of author

Back again with photos and stories about my family. This is a photo of my paternal grandparents, David O'Donnell and Elizabeth VanBilliard. We have very few photos of my grandfather and I knew there was a resemblance to my dad from the other photos, I did a real double-take when I saw this for the first time the other day. I thought it was my dad at first it looks just like him! I am not sure but I think my dad could be the baby my grandmother is holding. 

David William O'Donnell was born 8 March 1898 in Hazleton, Luzerne, Pennsylvania to Cornelius O'Donnell and Cecilia Fitzpatrick. He was baptized 13 March 1898 in St. Gabriel's Church. David was 19 in May of 1917 and I remember my grandmother saying that he had lied about his age to serve in WW1. The first indication of this was when I took a photo of his military headstone and noticed that his birth year was 1889 instead of 1898. Looked like they had a dyslexic engraver. I asked my dad about it and he said he had never noticed it. I even called the veterans association. They said they get the information from the death certificate, but the death certificate had the correct date! When the applications for military headstones and compensation files came on Ancestry I had my answer. He had lied about his age and it was different on all these forms. His age on entering the Army was anywhere from 21 to 28. But he did serve and he was discharged 28 Feb 1919. This photo always hung in my grandmother's living room.
David O'Donnell, original in possession of author
After the service he drove trucks for a living. On 6 November David married Elizabeth VanBilliard in Bethlehem, Northampton, Pennsylvania. In 1930 David and Elizabeth and their 4 children moved to Philadelphia.  Living in Philadelphia David drove truck for The Bulletin, a Philadelphia newspaper. The family had 2 more children after moving to Philadelphia, the last in 1941. David died 26 April 1947 and is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, Pennsylvania
Elizabeth VanBilliard, original in the possession of author
 This is Elizabeth VanBilliard. Elizabeth was born 1 November 1900, to George VanBilliard and Susan Haas. She was second to the youngest of 9 children with her sister Margaret born about 18 months after Elizabeth. Her brother Irwin was a couple years older than she was but he died the same month Margaret was born, he was 3 years old.

VanBilliard family, original in the possession of author
This is a photo of George VanBilliard with his daughters Elizabeth and Margaret. In this copy of the photo Elizabeth wanted all to know which one was her having put an arrow and"me" printed over her head.

When Elizabeth married David William O'Donnell it was in the rectory of Holy Infancy Church in Bethlehem. David was Catholic but Elizabeth was not and in those days the wedding could not take place in the church which is why it took place in the rectory. Elizabeth did convert to Catholicism and she was a very devout Catholic.  They moved to Philadelphia in the later part of 1930. While taking care of her family she did take on extra jobs. I have a ledger of her's where she kept track of Laundry she did for people. She also did house cleaning for people after David died. She later worked for Merkel Medical Supply, a store in Center City Philadelphia, cleaning the store. They loved her there and she worked there into her 70's. Another strong woman, like her mother-in-law, who took care of her family. Elizabeth died 15 May 1985, a little over 5 months from her 85th birthday. She is buried with her husband in Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, Pennsylvania. I would like to close this with a funny story my Aunt Marie told  a few years ago. We all heard the stories growing up that our grandfather made beer in the bathtub but Aunt Marie told of the time that Elizabeth was mad at David for something and she threatened to pull the plug in the tub! I just love that. She was little but mighty!

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Condy and Cecilia O'Donnell

Cornelius O'Donnell, original in possession of author
Hi everyone! I am back with more of the new stash of family photos. Today we have my  great grandparents, Cornelius O'Donnell and Cecilia Fitzpatrick. These two photo cards are side by side on a page from a "wonderful" magnetic album. I scanned the page and then cropped the photos down saving the original image. I now have each of their images as their profile on Ancestry. These photos were such a wonderful find and to have this labled right there as "Grandpop O'Donnell" was fantastic!

So lets get started with Condy. This seems to be what he liked to go by! Condy was born to Manus O'Donnell and Mary McGee, both Irish immigrants. He was born in Hazleton, Luzerne, Pennsylvania. He married Cecilia Fitzpatrick in St. Gabriel's Church, 24 July 1892. According to the marriage record Condy was a coal miner and his birthdate is 12 July 1870. Here is where I have conflicting information! I have a list of Condy and his siblings Baptism records from St. Gabriel's Church. On this record his birth date is 26 October 1871. The dates of his other siblings births match up with the date on their death certificates but I have a problem with his because of course his is the only one that does not have a birth date on it. Condy died 11 December 1909. His death certificate has his age as 37. If he was born 12 July 1870, the date on the marriage record, he would be 39. If he was born 26 October 1871, the date from the baptism record, he would be 38. So there is that dilemma, I have 3 records and each of them are different! So until I can find that miraculous record that matches one of the dates I have, His birth is an uncertainty!
Cecilia Fitzpatrick, original in possession of author

Now on to Cecilia Fitzpatrick. Cecilia was born in Ebervale, Luzerne, Pennsylvania on 10 January 1873. This date is on both her marriage record and her death certificate. I do not have a baptism record for her. Her parents were James Fitzpatrick and Ellen Tracy. Her parents were both born in Nova Scotia Canada with their parents being immigrants from Ireland and Scotland. Cecilia was the first of their children born in Pennsylvania. Her older siblings were born in Nova Scotia before they came to Pennsylvania. Cecilia and Condy had 10 children together. Three had died in infancy and after loosing her husband in 1909, her oldest son died in a mining accident in 1914. She also cared for her mother Ellen until her death in 1911. It seemed after her son Manus died in 1914 she took the rest of her children and left Hazleton and moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I think she wanted to get them away from working in the mines. But between the census records in 1920 and 1930, she moved the family back and forth between Bethlehem and Hazleton. I know my grandparents met and were married in Bethlehem in 1920 but my father was born in 1922 in Hazleton. She kept all the family together until 1930. I mean everyone, single and married, along with the grandchildren! They all moved back and forth between the two towns.  They were still together in the 1930 census in April, but during that year my grandparents moved to Philadelphia and my grandfather's sister moved her family to York, Pennsylvania. Then the other boys got married and left and her other daughter lived with her in Allentown until Cecilia died 11 July 1936. Cecilia and Condy are buried in St. Gabriel's Cemetery in Hazleton along with many of the family.Cecilia was the true Matriarch of the O'Donnell Family! One of the memories my father had told me was that she smoked a corn cob pipe! I think she was a very strong woman and I wish I had known her!

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Photo Treasures for O'Donnell Family!

John Taylor Fitzpatrick, original in possession of author
My cousin Sue came to visit yesterday bringing me some photos of our family. We went through them looking at them all. Some we still have to figure out who they are but we had fun working on them. Some are stuck on the "magnetic" pages so I will have to work with that. My cousin has started an "O'Donnell Cousin" page on FaceBook and we are getting this photos on that for all to see but I wanted to do some blog posts on them to talk about who they are and the excitement of the find! So starting with this handsome gent here. We had no idea who he could be until I was able to turn over the photo to find this....
 


Uncle John was my great grand uncle and brother to my great grandmother Cecilia Fitzpatrick O'Donnell. He was born in Nova Scotia 3 June 1870 and was a few months old when the Fitzpatrick's came to Pennsylvania. His father James had come a few months before so Ellen brought baby John and the rest of the children to Pennsylvania. She traveled with her in-laws, Stephen and Jane Fitzpatrick, leaving them in Boston to stay with another of their sons, William.

John never married and in the 1940 Census he had a farm in York County, Pennsylvania and the record showed this was where he was in 1935. Sometime before 1950 he came to be living in Philadelphia with my grandparents. He died in their house 30 April 1950. My grandmother was the informant on his death certificate. He is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

I want to continue to show the photos I was given with posts telling what I have found out about the people in the photos. So stay tuned for more!

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Your mission this week, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  A meme on Facebook has been circulating about what states, countries and other places you have visited.  The average for Americans is 8.


2)  Copy the list from this blog post and denote your places visited with an X, and add states or countries you've visited not on the list.  Then total it up at the end of your list.


3)  Put your responses in your own blog post, in a comment on this blog post, or in a status or comment on Facebook. 
Alabama 
Alaska 

Algeria
Arizona 
Argentina
Arkansas
Aruba
Australia
Austria
Bahamas
Barbados
Belgium
Belize
Bermuda
Bonaire
Brazil
British Virgin Islands
California
Canada X
Colombia
Castaway Island
Cayman Islands  

Chile
China
Chicago
Colorado
Connecticut X
Costa Rica
Cuba
Curacao 

Czech Republic
Delaware X
Denmark
Dominican Republic
Dubai
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
England 

Estonia  
Fiji
Finland
Florida
France
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guam
Guatemala
Haiti
Hawaii
Honduras
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Idaho
Illinois
India
Indiana
Iowa
Iran
Iraq
Ireland X
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kansas
Kentucky
Kenya
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan

Latvia
Lithuania
Louisiana
Luxembourg
Maine
Maryland X
Massachusetts X
Mexico
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana 

Morocco
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire X
New Jersey X
New Mexico
New York X
New Zealand
Nicaragua
North Carolina X
North Dakota
Norway
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Palestine
Panamá
Pennsylvania X

Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Rhode Island X

Russia
Saudi Arabia
Sicily
Scotland
Singapore
South Africa
South Carolina
South Dakota
South Korea
Spain
St Marten
St Thomas
Switzerland
Sweden
Taiwan
Tennessee X
Texas
Thailand
Trinidad
Turkey
The Netherlands
United Arab Emirates
US Virgin Islands
Utah
Venezuela
Vermont
Vietnam
Virginia X
Washington
Washington DC X
West Virginia X
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Wales


My score:   15