Protecting Genealogy Stuff-Prayer Cards!!!!

I just wanted to share something I found today.

I was looking for a way to protect my collection of prayer cards and a few snipped obits that I found in Grandmother's prayer book. First I found page protectors for baseball cards. The width was fine but some were taller than the pocket so they had no protection and I was afraid they would bend and tare.

Today I stopped at Staples and I found the perfect thing. Martha Stewart has page protectors there that have the perfect size pocket for the all of the cards. I picked up a pack to check them out. They all  fit and even better, all of her page protectors have a secure top. They have a flap across the top of each row that keeps the cards from falling out. I think this is great and they are acid free and archival safe.

I know I am giving Martha's Home Office line a plug here, but I just wanted to share how excited I am to find a non genealogy product to help with genealogy stuff!!!!!!!

I know it does not take much to make me happy!

Catherine Carr Welsh

Last week I wrote about finding the maiden name of my second great grandmother Catherine Welsh. Well I have had another week of Genealogy Happy Dances with finds for John and Catherine Carr Welsh!

I had found John's death certificate on Family Search early this year and I knew by the 1900 Census that Catherine had died prior to 1900 but could not find a death certificate for her that I could say was it. I had one contender but the address was not one I had seen so I could not prove it. But it did say she was buried in Westminster Cemetery and that is where John's said he was buried. A few months ago I found John's burial information on Ancestry using the PA Town and Church records. They include the book, Record of Interments, Westminster Cemetery Co., Philadelphia, PA. So this past Wednesday I took a ride up there to see what I could find.

I found this to be a large cemetery on Belmont Avenue in Bala Cynwyd, just on the border of Philadelphia. So I found the office and went in with my information. I also had found information that the in-laws of my great uncle Patrick McCarry, the Gallagher's, were buried here also. So I wanted to find them. the lady in the office found the card for the plot owned by Timothy Gallagher in section Eleven first. This is a lot consisting of 4 graves and it listed all the burials for the parents and some of their children. I was shown on the map that their graves were about in the middle of section Eleven. The information I had about John was that he was in section Delta. She started to show me where I could find the grave in Delta when I asked her if there was anyone with John ( since I was hoping to find Catherine). She went to find the card for that plot. it was found but there was no John Welsh in there. When I read her the information I had she said that she would look it up with the permit number. She comes back with a record of a plot with 8 graves owned by John Carroll. This was also in section eleven. I found out later that I had mistaken the 11 for ditto marks under Delta that was above. In the book they go back and forth between writing the section as Eleven and 11. Well John was in grave 8 and with him is Caroline Walsh. She thought the Walsh instead of Welsh was a misprint, I also said that his wife's name was Catherine. She said that she wanted to check something else and came back with an index card with the same grave information but the name was Catherine Walsh. She said that since I knew her name to be Catherine that I should go with this. So I found where she was buried but this only gave interment and grave numbers and I was told that she had no way of finding out the dates. And there were no markers to look at! I thanked her for her help and the information and left. Before going home I went to section Eleven and looked around but there was nothing to find.

Last night I decided to look in the Cemetery record book page by page to find her and I did. Catherine died 21 Jun 1896 and it gave her address as 2441 Cresson St., Manayunk, Philadelphia. Looking at the death certificate I had, Cresson St. was the address but the number was 4441 not 2441. There are some other differences like her age but the death date and burial date, 24 Jun 1896 match. So I now finally have her death information.

On to the next problem to be solved!

Finding another Surname in the McCarry Family

Back in April I decided to order some death certificates from Pennsylvania. I have had Grandmom Mccarry's death certificate for years and since I have finally gotten death dates for her brother John and sister Kate I thought I would order them. I was hoping that their's would give me something I had not been able to find, their mother's maiden name! So along with Aunt Katie's husband Joe, I ordered the certificates. Now in Pennsylvania you have to start your wait when you see the check clear your account. So after the check cleared I marked my calendar to expect them around the 7th of August. I was pleasantly surprised when I received an envelope from PA Vitals the beginning of June! That was short lived. When I opened it I found Uncle Joe's death certificate, ok. But they sent me the death certificate for the wrong Catherine Taylor and  notice that they had no record for John Welsh.

Now Aunt Katie died in 1970 and Uncle Joe died in 1962 so they are not in the archived index. But Uncle John died in 1916 so I had looked him up in the index. I found that page was messed up and could not get enough information to find the correct John Welsh. This was why I decided to order his from the state, thinking that they had other ways of finding the record with the index the way it was. Well I was not giving up. I called Harrisburg and told them first that I had received the incorrect certificate for Catherine Taylor and started to explain about the index and John Welsh. The person I spoke to told me to resend the applications and give them any information I had. So I proceeded to write a letter giving all the information I had from the cemetery records and even sent them copies of these along with a copy of the index page indicating which John Welsh's I thought could be correct. I am sure that the vitals people hate seeing requests from me, I always send a lot of copies of information so they have more than enough!

Well the beginning of August I received the correct certificate for Aunt Katie but along with it I receive a notice saying that in order to give me the best possible copy of Uncle John's death certificate it would take another 4 weeks. Well it arrived yesterday! And it was worth the wait. Aunt Katie's had her mother's maiden name as Welsh, that was Aunt Katie's maiden name, and her father's name was unknown. I was thinking that Uncle John's would be the best bet all along because when he died Grandmom McCarry was still alive.  I was right! The informant was my great grandfather, James McCarry and while he had the parents born in Philadelphia not Ireland, Their names were there, John Welsh and Catherine Carr. so I finally have the maiden name for my 2nd great grandmother. Next for her is to find her death information!

Sunday Obituary-Mrs William VanBilliard

Mrs. William VanBilliard.

Althanetta, wife of William VanBilliard, died on Wednesday at SouthBethlehem, aged 44 years. Deceased was a daughter of Charles F. And the late Mary Sounders Seifert and was born at Durham. Besides the husband, a daughter, Mrs. Helen Munsch, of South Bethlehem, and two sons, Charles, of Allentown and Edwin of South Bethlehem, her father and three brothers, Erwin and Edwin Seifert, of South Bethlehem, and Harry of Allentown survive her.

"Althanetta VanBilliard," (Easton) Easton Express, 8 Nov 1912, pg.5.

Althanetta's husband William was the brother of my Great Grandfather George. 

Obituary of William A. VanBilliard

"William S. VanBilliard obituary," (Easton) Easton Express, 

 Tuesday, 10 Jun 1924, p 2, col 2

 

William was my great uncle. Don't you just love the sisters having just their husband's name. Well, Mrs, David O'Donnell is my grandmother, so I know that is his sister Elizabeth. Thank goodness I already knew the married names for my other great aunts. Mrs. Edward Leidig is his sister Tillie(Matilda), Mrs. William Martin is sister Margaret, and Mrs Walter Feldman is sister Mabel.





Wedding Wednesday-Emil and Catherine Gunther

Philadelphia Inquirer, 25 Sep 1897

I found this yesterday on Genealogy Bank. It was a great find. My great grandfather Emil Gunther is still a mystery is so many ways, but I am finding things slowly about him. I had gotten their marriage license last year when I went to the Philadelphia Archives. The license said that Catherine McCarron resides on Grays Ferry Rd(Ave), Philadelphia. Where this said she is from Norristown, a suburb of Philadelphia. 

Not so Wordless Wednesday-McCarry's at the Shore

This is my Mother's parents, Jim and Tess McCarry down in Atlantic City on the beach. That looks like my uncle peaking over the edge of the photo so I would say this is the early to mid 1930's. 

Tombstone Tuesday-Thomas Niland

Thomas Niland died from injuries when there was an accident at the Hillman Ship yard that was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He was born in Ireland and only had his US citizenship for about 5 years when he died . He left a wife and child. In "Notes of the Courts" in the Philadelphia Inquirer of 11 Nov 1898 it was noted that his wife Mary had begun an action in Common Pleas Court, No. 1 against the Charles Hillman Ship and Engine Building Co. to recover damages for the death of her husband. I have not found what the outcome was as yet, but the ship yard went out of business in 1899! 

VanBilliard Newspaper finds

I have been spending the last few days in GenealogyBank looking for what I could find. I had ended up just putting in the name "VanBilliard" and was very surprised by what I have found. One story I found was from the Evening Journal, Jersey City, Tuesday, 19 Dec 1899.

"WEDDING BELLS
Roper-VanBilliard
 Miss Ella Roper, daughter of Mrs. Sarah Roper of 266 Communipaw Avenue, and Mr. Edgar VanBilliard were married Sunday afternoon by Rev. Joseph Meehan of All Saints' Parish Church. After the ceremony there was a reception at the home of the bride's parents.
The bride wore a white brocaded silk with pearl and lace trimming. the bridesmaid, Miss Sarah Roper, sister of the bride, also wore a white brocaded silk with lace trimming. The ushers were Mr. Harry VanBilliard and Mr. Walter Roper. There were many costly presents." The story went on to list those present at the wedding.

Edgar VanBilliard was the youngest of the children of Jerome and Ellen VanBilliard, my second great grandparents. I was able to go through the guest list in the article and find Edgar's siblings. First off Mr and Mrs H.(Harry) VanBilliard of Hoboken, NJ. Harry was also his usher. then there was Mr. and Mrs. W.(William) VanBilliard of South Bethlehem, PA, Mr. and Mrs. G.(George) VanBilliard  of Easton, PA. These are my great grandparents, George and Susan. Then we have Mr. and Mrs. A.(Albert) VanBilliard of Philadelphia. These were all the brothers except for Franklin who died 11 years before. According to the census records I have found that there was also a sister. Her name was Emma.

Back awhile ago when I received George's obit from The Easton Library I found that when he died in Nov of 1930, "he was survived by three sisters, Mrs. Emma Haas, Philadelphia; Mrs. Newton Bast, Bethlehem; Mrs. John Acker, Bethlehem". Well George's wife Susan's maiden name was Haas so when I saw this I was thinking that maybe Mrs. Emma Haas was married to one of his brother's in law. I thought that his sister Emma was maybe one of the other two sisters listed. Well in the list of wedding guests for Edgar I found Mr. and Mrs. John Hans of Philadelphia, PA. And that led me to look into this couple more. Finding PA church records and Philadelphia death records, I found that Emma VanBilliard married John Haus in 1888 in Bethlehem and the family later moved to Philadelphia. John died in 1918 so I think this would be why Emma is listed with her name in George's obit and not her husband's name as the other women are. As for the other two sisters, I have not been able to find anything as yet. I do not know who there could be as I cannot find any other daughters listed anywhere for Jerome and Ellen VanBilliard. But in the wedding guest list there are Mr. and Mrs. John Acker of Bethlehem, PA, but nothing of Mr. and Mrs. Newton Bast or a Miss. ? VanBilliard.

So I feel like I am having one of those "If I could just have a 5 minute conversation with Grandpop George" moments! I need some direction to find out about the other sisters?????

I found a lot more interesting articles about the VanBilliards that I will post more about.

Titanic records for Austin VanBilliard and son Walter

Record for Austen Blyler VanBilliard
additional information:
Status: (previously unidentified)
Number: 255 (listed on page:8)
Gender: Male Age: 40 Hair: Dark
Remarks: Instructions, N.Y. Office, wire, May 2nd. Listed as A. VanBilliard, third class. Embarked Southampton.
Disposition: Forward, May 4th, to North Wales Depot, PA
Reference no: Medical Examiner, City of Halifax and Town of Dartmouth Nova Scotia Archives RG 41 no. 76 no. 255







Record for Walter John VanBilliard

additional information:
Status:(previously unidentified)
Number: 1 (listed on page: 8)
Gender: Male Age: 10 Hair: Light
Remarks: Later identified from effects.
Instructions N.Y. Office, wire, May 2nd.
Listed as Walter VanBilliard, third class.
Embarked Southampton.
Disposition: Forwarded, May 4th,
to North Wales Depot, Pa.
Reference no.: Medical Examiner, City of Halifax
and Town of Dartmouth Nova Scotia Archives
RG 41 vol. 75 no. 1
  

\

Almost Wordless Wednesday-Titanic Victims

These two young boys are James(11) and Walter(9) VanBilliard. They along with their father, Austin VanBilliard, were passengers on the Titanic coming from England. Their father was moving the family to America where he was from. His wife was ill so he left her and the other children to come join him later in Pennsylvania. One of the articles I found said that it was believed that the boys would not leave their father so they all perished. James was never identified. But Walter is buried with their father in Pennsylvania. They are distant cousins in my VanBilliard line.

Finding More Family in the 1940 Census

So last week I found both of my parents families last week in the census. What next? I have been doing some indexing, but I wanted to find some more family!

I went looking for my grandfather's aunt, Aunt Katie Taylor. I knew where they were in 1930 and I thought that was the house that I remembered. But when I went there in 1940, someone else was renting that house in North Philadelphia. And I could not find them in the 1950 directory. So that one will have to wait. I have ordered the death certificates for Aunt Kate and Uncle Joe from Pennsylvania. That should give me the address I need, I hope!

So then yesterday I looked for my grandfather's uncle, Uncle Patrick McCarry. I thought he and his wife Fanny would still be in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia. They were still at the same address 149 and 1/2 Walnut Lane. Patrick is found working with sea food in a private business.

Then I remembered my Dad's notebook from when he was in the army(WWII). I knew that he had some address in there so he could write to some of his aunts and uncles. Well this took me to looking in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I had not been looking outside of Philadelphia before this. So first I found Aunt Jane and Uncle Joe O'Leary. He was a Fuller Brush Man. I remember when we were little going there and he would give us samples of things. It was cool!!!! They were living at the same address as Edmund O'Leary and his family. It looks like this is Uncle Joe's younger brother that I did not know about before. Also Aunt Jane had the supplementary questions. She was a weaver in a silk mill and this was her first marriage. She was 36 when they were married and she is 38 at the time of the census so they were married 2 years in 1940. Some more info I did not have.  Then still in Bethlehem, I found Aunt Jane and Grandpop's youngest sibling, Charles. He and his wife had her parents and brother living with them, so this gave me info for her. Charles was working at Bethlehem Steel. Then just a few streets over I found my grandmother's sister and her family, Aunt Margaret and Uncle Bill Martin. I found that he came from England. He was also working for Bethlehem Steel.  The last address was my grandfather's brother James and his family. This took me back to South Philly. James' wife, Margaret was from Austria, did not know that before! James worked as a clerk for the street railway. I do not know if that means city transit that was PTC at that time, now is SEPTA.

So I hit a goldmine of information for my O'Donnell/VanBilliard line with my finds in the 1940 census yesterday! This is so much fun! What are you finding????

Found the McCarrys in 1940

I think I was spoiled yesterday finding my father's family so easily in the 1940 Census. I thought it would be even easier to find my mother's family. But I had a surprise!

I knew that they moved around on McClellan Street in Philadelphia. I knew the house number and the ed from 1930. I also knew the house number was different in the 1950 phone book. That was the house I remembered and that is the house where my grandfather died in 1957.

So I started with the 1930 ed and converted it to 1940. The conversion gave me 2 1940 districts to look at. These had McClellan Street and a couple of others on them of course. I found the house they lived in on the 1930 Census. It was not them. I found the 1950 address, it was not them again. I looked through both districts and did not find them. How could this be? I thought they always lived on McClellan Street! Ok, what next? I went back and asked for a larger area. I started looking in the districts following the two I started with. Went through three more districts and then part way through the fourth there they were in the middle of the page. They were on Fitzgerald Street!  My Nana gave the information. They were paying $28 a month for rent. My grandfather, James, was still a conductor for the Penn railroad. He earned $2500 in 1939, he was 38 and they lived in the same place in 1935. My mother was 14, her sister 16 and her brother was 11.

I was hoping for another answer in this census. Last year when I found my grandparents marriage license I was puzzled by the fact that it said my grandmother was 18 when they married in 1920. She had always told us that she was 15. I could not understand why they had done this. Her father had signed for her. I did find that a Philadelphia marriage law states that persons under 16 have to have a ruling by an orphans court judge besides having a parent ok in order to marry. Maybe they did not want to go this extra step, so they lied about her age. They 1930 census they seemed to carry on the little white lie. So I was wondering if it would continue for 1940. Well it did NOT! her age in the census is 34, this would make her born in 1905, because her birthday is in May. 1905 is the birth year on her death certificate!

So far this census is a great find, but I have lots more to find. So I will keep looking!!!!!

Have fun looking all!!!!

The O'Donnell family in 1940

Like everyone else I was so excited for yesterday to check out the 1940 Census. I had to work in the morning so I had to wait until I got home. Well I was not able to get in. So I put it all aside and did some indexing. And in the evening had my first 1940 Census indexing project. It went well.

This morning I had to work but I thought I would see what was happening while I waited for my daughter to be ready to leave. So at 5:30 this morning I put in my Dad's family address in 1940, 2318 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, PA. After I put in all the surrounding streets only one ed came up for me to check out. So I clicked on 51-230 and to my surprise it opened right up to the first image. I did not have many images to look at before finding them on sheet 7A. They were right at the top and my Grandfather was line one and my Uncle Charlie was line five. So they were given the Supplementary Questions.

Well I was just so excited but I had to go to work and was not able to look at it at all. So I downloaded it and hurried home after work to read it.

My grandfather, David, was 42. He worked 40 hours the previous week as a Chauffeur for a publisher(he was a truck driver for a Philadelphia newspaper). His earnings for 1939 were $796 and they paid $23 a month rent. My dad, George, was 17 and he had worked 60 hours the previous week as a grocery delivery boy. He earned $252 in 1939. Hi brothers and sister were all in school. They were living in the same place in 1935.

So now that I have this information it is on to finding some more people!

the 1940 Census is coming!!!

I am really excited about the release of the 1940 Census. In the 1930 Census I was able to find both sets of grandparents with their own families for the first time since both were married late in the year 1920. I was also able to see my parents. My Dad was born in 1922 so he was turning 8 that July. And my Mom was born in 1925 so she was turning 5 in September of 1930.

The 1930 Census showed my Dad living in Bethlehem, PA. The family consisted of my grandfather, David, grandmother, Elizabeth, my dad, George, my uncles, Con and Charlie and my aunt, Betty. But they were living with my grandfather's mother, Cecilia along with my grandfather's sister Elizabeth, her husband and three children and another of my grandfather's brothers and another sister. Wow, talk about a big family! But I do know that later in 1930 my father's little part of this family moved to Philadelphia and in 1931 my Uncle Dave was born. So it will be interesting to see the family in 1940. My Dad will be going on 18 and in a couple of years he would be going into the Army. So I know where they lived in Philadelphia so I should not have any problem finding them on April 2nd.

So who are you hoping to find in the 1940 Census????

McCarry, Welsh and Niland Connections

Don't you just love finding connections when you are not looking? My latest BIG FIND started over a year ago, but I didn't know it at the time. I found a Petition for Naturalization that my great grandfather, James F. McCarry was a witness on. It was in 1920 and I matched their address on Reed Street in Philadelphia to the 1920 census and the fact that he was a boiler maker. I did not recoginize the name of the petitioner, but seeing that he was a riveter I figured they were friends and co-workers and filed it away. I pulled it out again recently, because I'm working on my Proof Argument about Grandpop McCarry. I have been going back over anything I have found that is connected to him. When I started reading this again I had a big surprise! The petitioner's name was Austin Michael Niland and the other witness was Patrick Niland!

I know, you are asking why is this important? Well it would not have phased me at all except for one thing. Remember back at the beginning of the year I found the death certificate for John Welsh? He was the father of James' wife Bridget. I was so excited because even though it only gave Ireland as where he was born, it did give his parents names. His mother's name was Catherine Niland! So all of the sudden the petition he witnessed was not for a friend or co-worker, Austin Michael Niland was FAMILY! Well this sent me off and running the last couple of days. I know I should be doing other things, like finishing my proof argument, but you all know how that goes. When the family pulls you in another direction you have to go. Besides, they had another mystery to solve for me!

So I started researching Austin Niland. I found so much information on him and Patrick and other Nilands that I had to start a new file on my computer. I found the passenger manifest for the ship he came over on in 1910. It was a good one, not just the list of names like I usually find. Between that and his immigration papers I have actually identified where in Ireland one of my families came from. This is a first for me all of you out there in blogland! I usually have no more than just Ireland for where they came from. He came from Ballyhaunis, County Mayo, Ireland on the S.S. Merion sailing from Queenstown, Ireland. Well then I found him in the 1910 census. The year he arrived and his first U.S. census. He was living with his aunt, Annie Malloy.

"Oh sweet mysteries of life I have found you." I have seen this census before. I was looking for information on Annie Malloy last October. When I went to Holy Cross Cemetery to get information on the grave of John Welsh, Jr. I found that his was buried in a plot that Annie had bought when John died and Annie and her son were buried there also. I had no idea who Annie was. I remember wondering at the time, what could the relationship have been that she bought a cemetery plot for him and while he was not living with her in 1910 he was living there when he died. Today I also found that he was living there in 1900 along with more Nilands. Then I also found today, a 1910 death certificate for Bridget Niland, wife of Thomas Niland. The informant was Mrs. Annie Malloy and while Bridget died in Philadelphia General Hospital, her former or usual residence was 1827 Manton Street, Grandmom and Grandpop McCarry's address in the 1910 census.

So I still have a ways to go, don't we always? I have to go back to Holy Cross because it seems not only are the McCarrys there but so are the Nilands. Isn't this fun?????

Genealogy Happy Dance with the McCarry Family

Yesterday was a great genealogy day!!!!!

As I mentioned last time, I am working on my ProGen assignment. I am trying to prove birth date, place and parents for my great grandfather, James Francis McCarry, aka Grandpop McCarry. Well I am ok with direct evidence on the date and place, but have not been sure about the parents and siblings. It is like I have known in my heart since I found this family that it is my 2nd greats, my McCarry's, but nothing on a piece of direct evidence tells me this is so. I do have his baptism record but the priest did not write out his first name in the record so the present pastor of the church would not give me a certificate because it is only in the record as "J. McCarry".

Well, working on this is getting me to look at all my records and things I have found over again. The other day I was looking at the marriage license for the "brother" and saw his father's address at that time. I realized it was down at the corner of the street and one block over from where Grandmom and Grandpop McCarry lived at that time! He must have moved closer to them after his wife died.

Then the biggie was yesterday! I hit paydirt! Did the Genealogy Happy Dance!  I started looking for directories and found a bunch of Philadelphia directories on Ancestry that I never saw before. I found one for the year Grandmom and Grandpop were married, 1894. It had listed James and his father, Patrick, as ironworkers and the address was the same address that James had on his marriage license! A match was found! I found others that matched James, Patrick and Patrick, Jr with the address and working with metals. Sometimes James and Patrick, Jr were boilermakers and riviters.

This past Wednesday, Marian Pierre-Louis, of Marian's Roots and Rambles, presented a webinar on Legacy about discovering Massachusetts Ancestors. In it she said that she thinks people are not using City Directories enough and we should be. Well Marian, thank you for the hint and I will be using City Directories much more!

Searching for John and Catherine Welsh

Last week I was working on my ProGen assignment and was considering using my great grandmother, Bridget Welsh McCarry for the subject. It really had nothing to do with the assignment but I thought I would once again search for her father, John Welsh's death certificate. I knew that he most likely died between 1900 and 1910 because he was with Bridget and her family in the 1900 Census. They were living in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia, PA. John we listed as widowed. I have no information on his wife, Catherine's death either. I only know that she died after 1880 and before 1900. Blast that missing 1890 Census! But I was hoping that I would have the same break with them that I had in finding Catherine and Emil Gunther.

I started searching the Philadelphia Death Certificates in Family Search. There are so many John Welshs in there. I had it narrowed down because he was not with the family in the 1910 Census and also they had moved to South Philly by then. Not knowing when they made that move, I was thinking it was after he died. Well much to my surprise I found a John Welsh that was a widower that died in 1907. I opened the certificate to view so I had more information. Well he was from Ireland, good.. then I saw the street address, 1827 Manton St. Ok, check the 1910 Census quick...yes! it is the same address that Bridget and her family were living in 1910! I found him. I also had the fact that James and Bridget McCarry and family moved to South Philly before April of 1907. Don't you love when you can get some other pieces as a bonus? And I had another bonus with this. It listed his parents! John Welch and Catherine Niland. I was in Genealogy Heaven!!! Well the death certificate also told me that he was buried in Westminster Cemetery. This is located in Montgomery County, just across the river from Manayunk. I continued to search the death certificates to see if I could find Catherine. I did find a Katie Welsh. It did not say if she was married or single, but she died in 1896 so I opened it up to view. Well this did not help much. She was from Ireland, good. Of course it did not list her parents, but the address was 4441 Cresson St, Myk ( Manayunk) and she was buried in West-Minster ?Cemetery. So I have nothing to connect this Catherine Welsh to my Catherine Welsh. So my next step was to call the cemetery to see what I could find out. I gave a nice young man all the information I had and he said he would give me a call. And all week I wanted to post about this but I wanted to wait for my happy ending!!!!! Well that nice young man called me back today and I am sorry to say he could not give me my happy ending:( He told me with John Welsh being such a common name and the records from back then are so hard to read and are not indexed that he was not able to find my John Welsh. And to top it off he does not have a record of a Catherine of Katie Welsh being buried there. I thanked him for his time and help and hung up very disapointed.
So I guess I am going to have to search some more. I know I have to try connecting John with this Catherine. See if I can find him at this Cresson St address. Moving forward with the past!!! Oh also, I decided to go with someone else for my assignment!