Finding the Fitzpatricks

This is my Great Grandmother Cecilia Fitzpatrick O'Donnell. She is holding two of her grandchildren. The baby is my dad George. The little girl is his cousin Cecilia.

Cecilia was the daughter of James Fitzpatrick and Ellen Tracy. They were both born in Nova Scotia, Canada. I found the birth records of two of their children that were born in Canada before they crossed the border and settled in Ebervale, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. This is were Cecilia was born. She was the first of their children born in the US. The Nova Scotia birth record told me that James and Ellen were married in 1856 in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. I recently found them in the Nova Scotia Marriage index on Family Search. I started looking some more and found the baptism records for the same two children. Margaret Ellen was born 23 Jun 1868 and baptized 19 Jul 1868. John James was born 3 Jun 1870 and baptized 19 Jun 1870. Both were baptized in Stella Maris Roman Catholic Church in Pictou, Nova Scotia. I have not been able to find records for any of the other children born there. According to the 1900 census, Ellen had 12 children with 5 living at that time. The earliest census I have for them is 1880 and they had 7 children with the first 4 being born in Canada. So where are these other kids?????

Then I was reading the baptism records I saw that the godfather for John was a Stephen Fitzpatrick. I decided to look him up thinking maybe he was James' brother or something. Well the first thing that came up in Family Search was a West Virginia death certificate for Stephen Fitzpatrick and guess what???? His parents were James Fitzpatrick and Ellen Tracy! He was born in Nova Scotia, 31 May 1858. Two years after James and Ellen were married. So could this be one of the missing kids? How could I connect his further to them? I found that his wife was Isabelle Dougherty and then I looked into where she was from. She was born in Hazleton, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania! Bingo! I called my friend Kate at St. Gabriel's in Hazleton to see if she could find a marriage record for Stephen and Isabelle around 1882 because their first child was born in 1883 also in Hazleton. She called me back and said she found the marriage record for 2 Jan 1882 but the bride's name was Nappy Dougherty. I guess a nickname? My Great Grandfather Cornelius has his name as Condy on his and Cecilia's marriage certificate. Well the rest of Stephen and "Nappy's" children were born in Ohio and when I found their birth records her name was Nappy it was also on a census that way. But then she was using Isabelle but I would love to know where the name Nappy came from!!!!! So sometime after 1910 Stephen and his family left Ohio and moved to West Virginia. Stephen worked in the coal mines like his father and the O'Donnell men. I am so glad I have found another Fitzpatrick hopefully I can find some more!

One other thing is I am having problems finding when James and Ellen died. I narrowed down that Ellen died after 1910 but before 1920 because of the census. I looked in the PA death index and found a Ellen O'Donnell that died in 1910 in Hazleton. So I have ordered that death certificate. Hopefully I will have an answer soon!!!!!

New Military Record for David W. O'Donnell

I had a surprise today when I was looking at my grandfather's page on my tree in Ancestry. A hint popped up. It was from a recent added collection, US Headstone Applications for Military Veterans- 1925-1963.

This has so much information. A lot more than the record I received from the VA way back. I love all the check marks and notes in red. This was a real working document. I love that it says (in red) that he also served as a cook, did not know that. And that is my Aunt Betty's husband that did the application for my grandmother. With more information, gives me an address for them in June of 1952.

Treasure Chest Thursday-Lead on Emil Gunther

 I have had this photo for a while. But last week I got a new bookcase and have been going through things and came across this again.

This photo was in with my Nana's things. So I am guessing that it is someone in her father's family that stayed in Germany and sent this to him.

I tried putting the information through Google Translator trying to find the name of the town but was not having much luck. My son Rob has a friend on a forum that is in Germany so he sent him the photo and he said that the word in the middle of the card, Halberstadt, is ironically, a town in the middle of Germany!  So I have a town in Germany to begin looking anyway. Keep looking for those Gunthers!

Wedding Wednesday- Margaret McCarry and Arthur Kirk

Awhile ago I found out that Grandpop McCarry's younger sister, Margaret, had moved to California after their Father died. I found this out with a hint on Ancestry for Arthur Winfield Kirk's family. They had this photo with the label, "Arthur Kirk and 2nd wife Margaret McCarry." I was excited to find what had happened to her. So I ordered her death certificate from California. There was all the matches. She was the daughter of Patrick McCarry and Margaret O'Connell. She was born 1 Jul 1881 in New York.  She was Grandpop's sister!

I wondered what had led her to California from Philadelphia, PA. The last census I had for her was 1900. She was the informant on her father's death certificate in 1914 so that was the last contact I had for her. The information I had from the Kirk Family tree was that they were married 18 July 1923. Her death certificate showed that she had been a housewife for 41 years when she died in 1964. It also showed that she had lived in California for 44 years at the time of her death. So she had been there for 3 years before she married Arthur. I had no occupation for her. I wondered what she was doing out there and how she and Arthur met. I contacted the owner of the Kirk tree on Ancestry to see if I could get some answers. They never replied. Finally last month I ordered their Marriage Certificate from California. It came on New Years Eve. Excitement again! Well it didn't tell me much more than I knew already. It did tell me that she was a 42 year old single woman marrying for the first time and she was a dressmaker. There was no street address given for her, but they were married by a Catholic Priest. It did not list the church they were married in. Yesterday I sent an email to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles hoping that their archives might be able to help me there.

Chipping away at the mysteries!!!! Happy New Year!!!!!