Wednesday, December 2, 2015

The Railroad Retirement File for James John McCarry

"Application for Employee Annuity" (Form AA-1(4-52)), filed 19 Jan 1954, James John McCarry pension file, SS no. 716-09-2211, 1954; NIA: 5743080, Textural Records; Inactive Claims Folders; RG 184: Records of the Railroad Retirement Board; National Archives-Atlanta, Morrow, GA.

A couple of weeks ago I looked at NARA to find my grandfather's Railroad Retirement file. I found the information I was looking for in Atlanta. I sent an email giving them the information requested and received a response that same day telling me that I should hear back within 10 business days. Last Monday I received an email telling me that his file had been located. They gave me options on obtaining the file. I decided on the 25 page digital scan file to be emailed to me. I received my email on Monday.


There are a few parts to this file and lots of information. The above form he filed when he retired in 1954. He had been diagnosed with tuberculosis in October of 1952 and went out on disability at that time. He had worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad since 15 July 1920 starting as a brakeman.

Passenger(?) brakeman (Pa. US) some time between 1918 and 1920, wikipedia.org
For the last 15 years he was a conductor for the railroad which from what I found about his brakeman job, was much safer.
"Record of Employee's Prior Service" (Form AA-2P), filed 30 Sep 1942, James John McCarry pension file, SS no. 716-09-2211, 1942; NIA: 5743080, Textural Records; Inactive Claims Folders; RG 184: Records of the Railroad Retirement Board; National Archives-Atlanta, Morrow, GA.
Included in the file was information about compensation for service prior to The Railroad Retirement Act of 1937.  This  included a chart giving his pay received from Jan 1924 to Dec 1931. On the form above it gives his birth date of 19 May 1901 stating is was not verified. I was hoping that there would have been a birth or baptismal certificate in the file to verify this because I have not been able to find this for him. But no luck on that.
"Application for Lump-Sum Death Payment and Annuities Unpaid at Death" (Form 70-R144.5), filed 19 Jul 1957, James John McCarry pension file, SS no. 716-09-2211, 1957; NIA: 5743080, Textural Records; Inactive Claims Folders; RG 184: Records of the Railroad Retirement Board; National Archives-Atlanta, Morrow, GA.
My grandfather died 5 Jul 1957 so my grandmother, Theresa V. Gunther McCarry, made her application for a Death Payment.  This form gave their marriage date, listed surviving children with their address and date of birth, and surviving brothers and sisters. It did not give their ages, adults was written down the column and just the city and state was given for their address. There was even two letters my grandmother had written when she misplaced her check and wanted it replaced.

So all and all there was a lot of information in the 25 pages I received and I am glad I finally have this.

So keep on looking, you never know what you will find!

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Early Genealogy Christmas Wish Granted-Pension File for Jerome VanBilliard

A couple of weeks ago on "Mondays with Myrt" we were talking about our Genealogy Christmas wishes. I mention I would love to get the pension file for my 2nd great grandfather, Jerome VanBilliard. Well that wish was granted early thanks to fellow Dear Myrtle community member, Susan Bleimehl. She sent me the access to the file in Google Docs. It was so great to see this record and I thank her so much for sending this to me.

Deposition of Claimant, 9 July 1884, Ellen VanBilliard, widow's pension application no. 317.526; service of Jerome VanBilliard (Pvt. A. 2 PA. H.A. & B 153 PA. Inf., Civil War); Case Files of Rejected Pension Applications Civil War and Later Pension Files; Department of Veterans Affairs, Requested by Susan Bleimehel, stack area 16w4, row 5, compartment 11, row 5 National Archives, Washington, D.C.
I am still going through this and trying to read it all. This page is the General Affidavit of a physician who had know them for a long time and was present at the births of the children listed, one being my great grand father, George. This listing has his middle name as Mcclellan. I have only seen this in one census record. Have not seen it anywhere else.

Ellen's application was not approved because his cause of death was Typhus, because this was not a result of his service. Jerome had been captured in September of 1864 and there were affidavits that his "health and constitution were ruined when he returned from the rebel prison and we know that he suffered continuously until he died." I was really hoping that there would be a mention of where he was a prisoner, because I have not been able to find out where that was, but I am very happy to have this now.

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

The Naturalization of the Fitzpatricks

I am participating in Dear Myrtle's Tracing Immigrant Origins Study Group. This week we will be looking at Immigration and Naturalization records. This is my post for this subject.

My second great grandfather, James Fitzpatrick, along with 3 younger brothers, was born in Earltown, Colchester, Nova Scotia, Canada. James immigrated down to Pennsylvania in 1870. I have not found his naturalization records as yet but I do have his brothers. They left Canada before James and and settled in Massachusetts. I am using William Henry Fitzpatrick for this post.

"United States, New England Petitions for Naturalization Index, 1791-1906," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-14711-13612-23?cc=1840474 : accessed 9 July 2015), Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont E520 (Alexander) - F324 (Thomas) > image 4596 of 4635; citing NARA microfilm publication M1299 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
I had found William's index so I knew when he became a citizen. I found that Family Search had the Petitions for Naturalization but they are not indexed so I had to browse them to find it. It was very handy having the index because it gave me the information I needed to find the record quickly.


Add 
"United States, New England, Petitions for Naturalization, 1787-1906," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-32369-7167-32?cc=2064580&wc=MK5D-W3K:1054679701,1054679702,1054679703,1054735201 : accessed 9 July 2015), Massachusetts

The first page tells us that William is a Clergyman in the district of Stoneham and that he was born in Nova Scotia 21 September 1832 and is now 36 and he arrived in Boston on 4 April 1852.

The second page has his witness' saying they know him.Then his oath of allegiance and the statement that he became a citizen 2 July 1869.

I also have records for the brothers, Timothy and David, following the same process for them. I am still working on finding James' records. He was naturalized in Pennsylvania in Luzerne county. Hope to have them soon.



Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Tombstone Tuesday-Sister Mary Patrick McCarry

Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament Cemetery (Bensalem, Bucks, Pennsylvania),  Sister Mary Patrick McCarry marker, St. Elizabeth's Convent, photo by Florence McCarry Hutton, 2015.

On Saturday, 3 Oct 2015, I had lunch with my mother's first cousin, Florence McCarry Hutton, along with her daughter in law and her granddaughter. We had a great time looking at photos and telling and listening to stories. In the process I talked about the information I had found for the sister of Florence's grandfather, my great grandfather, James Francis McCarry. Florence said she would like to visit the convent and see her grave. It turned out that her daughter took her the following week and I received this photo after their visit. I have now put this on her Find A Grave page. I was very happy to have it. I talked about how finding Mary's entry into the convent led me to some other information in this previous post, The Story of Miss Mary McCarry. I have since acquired Mary's death certificate:

Pennsylvania Department of Health, death certificate No73837 (1932), Mary McCarry (Sister Mary Patrick); Office of Vital Statistics, New Castle, Pennsylvania
I have the remembrances of my grandmother talking about going to visit Sister Mary at the convent and the written remembrances from another cousin of my mother's of them visiting "Aunt Mame" with the entire family. She said: " When we were children, many years ago, the families would rent cars (we had none) and go from South Philadelphia up to Cornwell Heights on many a 'visiting day'. ...The times we visited Aunt Mame the Nuns would take us to the Convent kitchen and give us milk (right from the cows) and cookies." citation: Catherine G. Selfridge-O'Connor (deceased) to Rita Selfridge Walker, family letter, 15 Mar 1987; privately held by Jennifer Selfridge Biggs, 2014. The late Mrs. O'Connor was a grand niece of Sister Mary Patrick McCarry. love having these stories.


Monday, October 26, 2015

the Patrick McCarry family in the census records

I am participating in Dear Myrtle's Tracing Immigrant Origins Study Group. This week we will be looking at census records or city directories that indicate a place of origin. This is my post for this subject.

I am looking at my 2nd great grandparents, Patrick McCarry and his wife, Margaret O'Connell. We see them in the New York State Census for 1875.

1875 New York State census, Montgomery, Orange County, population schedule, p. 15, dwelling 108, family 130, Patrick McCarry; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 Oct 2015)
Patrick was born in Ireland, he is a Cutler. His wife Margaret was also born in Ireland. Their oldest son, Hugh was born in Pennsylvania. Mary and James were born in Connecticut.

In the 1930 U.S. census the information changes. This is the census record for their son Patrick who was born after the 1875 census.

I knew that beginning with the 1930 census the place of birth could not be just Ireland given that the country was now divided. So I looked up the instructions for the 1930 Enumerators and it reads as follows:169. Do not return a person as born in Great Britain but indicate the particular country, as England, Scotland, Wales, etc. Di.stinction must be made between Northern Ireland and Irish Free State. It is not sufficient to report that a person was born in Ireland.
 
1930 U. S. census, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Philadelphia, p. 8B, dwelling 90, family 108, Patrick McCary; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 Oct 2015) ; citing NARA microfilm roll 2103.

This says that Patrick was born in Pennsylvania, ( he was actually born in Connecticut), and his parents were born in Northern Ireland. Living with Patrick and his wife Frances are her three sisters. Frances and her sisters were all born in Northern Ireland. So without giving a specific location in Ireland, it does narrow it down a little. 


Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Checking the Townlands

After my post on Saturday about searching Irish Catholic Parish Records, I had a comment from Bob Cumberbatch giving me a link to townlands.ie. This took me to the page for Aghamore Downland, Co. Mayo. The first thing I looked for was the link to Mountaincommon. I opened the link for the 1901 Irish Census looking for Niland or Nyland. On page 3 I found Catherine Nyland. Opening this I find she is the wife of Pat Nyland. looking at the family I find Austin Nyland, son, Roman Catholic, can read and write, age 9. I know this is the Austin Nyland that I first found Naturalization papers for leading me to this area for the family. I was not sure if he was a brother for the other Nylands but this tells me that his mother is Catherine not Sarah and this family is younger than the family of Pat and Sarah, so cousins!
1901 census of Ireland, Aghamore, Mayo, Mountaincommon, Form A, Pat Nyland, The National Archives of Ireland (http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie: accessed 19 Oct 25015.
So next I wanted to search the Griffith's Valuation(1847-1864) for Mountaincommon. This gave no results. I went back to the Aghamore page. Going down the list I had to find the Townland of Mountaincommon, found it and clicked on the "Occupants" button. Going down I am looking for Nyland or Niland and I see Thomas Niland. Thomas was the father of Pat Niland married to Sarah.
So I opened up the details page:

"Griffith's Valuation Record Information in Ireland." Union of Swineherd, County of Mayo, (printing date 1856), 22A, for Thomas Niland, Tenant, Barony of Costello, Parish of Aghamore, Downland of Mountaincommon; "Griffith's Valuation," digital images, "Ask about Ireland" (askaboutireland.ie) accessed 19 Oct 2015

looking at the list I see John Walsh above and below Thomas Niland. This shows Thomas Niland has a house and land on 22a, but John Walsh has land on 21 and a house on 22b.

"Griffith's Valuation Record Information in Ireland. Union of Swineherd, County of Mayo, (printing date 1856), 21 & 22b, for John Walsh, Tenant, Barony of Costello, Parish of Aghamore, Downland of Mountaincommon: "Griffith's Valuation," digital images, "Ask about Ireland" (askaboutireland.ie) accessed 19 Oct 2015
What does this mean? My 2nd great grandfather was John Welsh/Walsh, and his father was also John Walsh and his mother was Catherine Niland. They were neighbors! While looking for the Niland family, I found the Walsh family in the same place! Don't you love it when a plan comes together!

Keep looking, you never know what you will find!

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Irish Catholic Parish Records

Today I thought I would look at the Catholic Parish records on the National Library of Ireland site. I know it has taken me awhile to do this. I don't know where any of my people come from let alone what parish they were in. But then today I remembered with the research I had done on the free weekend of Find My Past, I had found that the Nilands had been married in the Parish of Aghamore. So into the records I went. First I tried to find the marriage record for Pat Niland and Sarah Caulfield. They were married 19 January 1864 and found that the records started in December of 1864. So I was not able to find that. The Baptism records were good for the years the children were born. So I gathered up the birth records for them on Family Search and got into it.
Catholic Parish Records at the NLI, Aghamore Parish/Microfilm 04217/03, page 6; Nov. 1864-Jan. 1865, entry for Dec. 4, Thos. Nyland

I found records for all 6 children. The records went back and forth with the spelling some were Niland, others Nyland, and Sara would be Sally a couple of times. First I found Thomas, on the Family Search record his birth date was 4 Dec 1964 and place was Kilkelly, Mayo, Ireland. The Church record has the same date but it is not identified as the birth or baptism date. The Church record has a column heading of Village, this entry said Mountain.
Catholic Parish Records at the NLI, Aghamore Parish/Microfilm 04217/03, page 82, May 1876 -Aug. 1876, entry for Mary Nyland

All of the children are the same with Family Search saying Kilkelly except for the youngest, Mary. Family Search has Mountain, Mayo, Ireland. I have not been able to find anything about this village of Mountain but I had seen the reference to it before.



"Pennsylvania, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1800-1962", [online database], (Ancestry.com, accessed 17 Oct 2015), entry for Austin Niland, age 18, arrived Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 17 April 1910 on S.S. Merion.
I saw this on the ship manifest for Austin Niland's arrival. In the column for name and address of relative in country you came from, he listed his father in Mountain, Aghamore.

I am finding that my Niland or Nyland family seem to be in this area of Aghamore. So I have to keep looking and maybe I will get them connected with my 3rd great grandmother, Catherine Nyland Welsh. I so wish I could get back to Ireland with this information I have now that I didn't know 11 years ago when I was there! Maybe some day?



Thursday, September 3, 2015

Findings in Ancestry's Wills and Probate files






I was not having much luck with Ancestry's new collection of Wills and Probate files, so today I started looking at my Fitzpatrick's and go lucky! First I found Thomas J. Fitzpatrick. He was the older brother of my great grandmother, Cecilia Fitzpatrick O'Donnell. Thomas had a photo studio if Bessemer, Alabama. I thought I might find something for him and what I found was he didn't leave a will. So I found that it was filed 3 March 1927 with his wife Mary C. Fitzpatrick as Administratrix. The actual settlement did not happen until 24 September of 1928.
The citation for this is: ancestry,com "Alabama, Wills and Probate Records, 1753-1999", File no. 1028, Thomas J. Fitzpatrick, 3 March 1927, accessed 3 Sep 2015 [online digital image]. Citing: The State of Alabama, Jefferson County, Probate Court, Bessemer Division.


The second one I found was for Rev. William H. Fitzpatrick. He was the uncle of Cecilia Fitzpatrick O'Donnell. He was a Catholic Priest in Boston, Massachusetts. I knew he had a will from the letters I had received scans of from my Fitzpatrick cousin. The letters were written by James Fitzpatrick, the son of Thomas J. Fitzpatrick. James had mentioned the will in one letter talking about Father Fitz's nieces that he left money to in the will. It sounded like James had gotten a copy of the will to have seen that, but that was really all he mention about it. But one other item that was mentioned in the will answered another question. We did not know from the letters where Stephen Fitzpatrick, 3x great grandfather, died and was buried. We knew that Stephen's wife died and was buried in Boston, not sure about Stephen. William had bought a plot with 4 graves, in St. Mary's Cemetery in Dorchester, Massachusetts. I had called the cemetery a couple of months ago. They could tell me that William's mother was buried in the cemetery but could not tell me where. She could tell me that William was in the plot that he bought and another person, George McNeil, is buried there. Do not know who he was. the office told me she was unable to tell me who was in the other 2 graves because the old records were not kept very well. She said the William's mother could be there but she is not sure about the other one. But the will does state that William was to be buried "in my own lot in the old Dorchester Catholic Cemetery, Bernard Street, between the graves of my father and mother." So hopefully that was the case. William made this will 26 June 1913, he died 12 December 1913 and the will was allowed 1 January 1914.  The citation for this is:Ancestry.com "Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991" William H. Fitzpatrick, will filed 18 Dec 1913, [online digital image], accessed 3 Sep 2015. Citing: Probate Record Books (1900-1916), and Probate Docket Books (1901-1916), Suffolk County, Massachusetts; Probate Court (Suffolk County), Probate Place: Suffolk, Massachusetts.

So all in all is was a good genealogy day!



Sunday, August 30, 2015

Sunday's Obituary- Stephen R. Davis

Stephen R. Davis, Obituary, Martins Ferry Obituary File; Martins Ferry Public Library, Card file of obituary clippings, death; 7 Jun 2000, accessed; 27 Aug 2015
Stephen is my 2nd cousin once removed. His grandfather, Stephen Henry Fitzpatrick, was the older brother of my Great grandmother, Cecilia Fitzpatrick O'Donnell.

Stephen Fitzpatrick had been born in Nova Scotia Canada and he did not remain in Hazleton, Pennsylvania which is where some of the Fitzpatrick family settled when coming to the United States in 1870. Stephen married Isabell "Nappy" Dougherty at St. Gabriel Church in Hazleton, 2 Jan 1882. After about a year they went to Ohio and then eventually went to West Virginia. It does seem that the family kept some attachment to Ohio, as I have found that a few of them ended up back there as was the case of Stephen R. Davis. Stephen's mother was Stephen and Nappy's first child born 14 Mar 1883. She was born in Hazleton before they left for Ohio. And it was in Ohio that Margaret married Thomas Davis 19 Sep 1903. Stephen was their youngest child.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Happy Birthday George C. McClellan VanBilliard


My Great-grandfather, George C. McClellan VanBilliard, was born on 16 Jul 1864. Son of Jerome VanBilliard and Ellen Shick, he was born in Freemansburg, Northampton, Pennsylvania. He was the middle child of 7 children. It was only in the 1870 census that the middle name of McClellan is found. 

On 19 Sep 1885 George married Susan Haas in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  They had 9 children and the next to youngest, Elizabeth, was my paternal grandmother. My father, George Charles O'Donnell Sr, was named for his maternal grandfather.

In the 1930 census George was living in New Hope,Bucks,Pennsylvania. He was work as a foreman for the Postal Telegraph-Cable Company, at the time the biggest competitor of Western Union, who later took them over. I have this letter that he sent to my father. I never saw this letter until after my father died so I don't know if he ever saw his grandfather in June of 1930. George VanBilliard died a few months later on 10 Nov 1930 in Brookfield, Madison, New York.



Thursday, June 11, 2015

Obituary find


Last week I found an online index for a Pennsylvania newspaper that I didn't know about. It is the Allentown Morning Call and the index is at the Allentown Public Library. I was really excited about this. I knew that my great grandmother, Cecilia Fitzpatrick O'Donnell was living in Allentown when she died so I gave it a look. I found one for her in the index and for 5 other people. So I ordered them and asked for them to be emailed. And there they were this morning. I was so excited with this. With information that I didn't have and was able to verify that I had the right info on other things. It said that "she was the mother of 10 with 4 preceded her in death". That verified that I had not missed any, I had figured using the census records that she had two children before 1900 that had been born and died. then I know about the other 2 that had died. A little girl that was under a year old I had found when the death certificates came on line at Ancestry and her 21 year old son, Manus that died in a mining accident.
Something that was new was the married name of her sister Jane. I had not been able to find anything about her because I did not know who she married, so I had nothing after the 1880 census. But there she was, Mrs. Jeannie VanWert. so I was able to find more about her. I had found her other sister, Elizabeth, before and also her two brothers that were mentioned, Robert and John. There is still another sister and brother that I have not found anything after that 1880 census. So I will just have to keep on looking. But this was a great find!!!

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Van Billiard's in the Pennsylvania Civil War Muster Rolls


Last night I found that Ancestry had put Pennsylvania Civil War Muster Rolls on site. So I had to check them out. This image is of the "Muster-Out Roll of Captain Joseph A. Frey, Company, B, in the 153rd Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, commanded by Colonel Charles Glanz called into the service of the United States by the President at Bethlehem, (the place of general rendezvous,) on the Twelfth day of September, 1862, to serve for the term of Nine Months, from the date of enrollment, unless sooner discharged; from the Seventh day of October, 1862, (when Mustered in, ) to the Twenty fourth day of July, 1863, when Mustered out. The company was organized by Captain Joseph A. Frey at Bethlehem, in the month of September, 1862, and marched thence to Harrisburg, where it arrived the 25th of September, a distance of One Hundred and Eight miles." The second page of this document shows my second great grandfather, Jerome Van Bilyard, (one of the many ways I have found the spelling of VanBilliard),and his brother, Martin.


This gives the information of when they mustered in, 12 Sept 1862, and Jerome was 25, Martin 23. When they were last paid, February 28th, and this is July? so I guess this is what they are being paid as they are leaving, Jerome received $33.70 and Martin $28.28.

I would give the citation for this record using Evidence Explained as: Muster-out roll of Co. B, 153rd Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 12 Sept 1862-July 1863, Recruits, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Ancestry.com, "Pennsylvania, Civil War Muster Rolls, 1860-1869", 2015, digital image, citing PA State Archives, Record Group 19, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg.

The citation information on Ancestry makes no mention of the Pennsylvania State Archives. When you bring up the image the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission information comes up at the bottom of the screen. I went to the web site and found what record group the microfilm is in.

I did find more on Jerome and his brothers in the muster rolls, but I will save those for another day!

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun-Newspaper Headline on My Father's Birthday

For this week's mission (should you decide to accept it), I challenge you to:

1)  What was your father's birth date?


2)  Find a newspaper from his hometown, or a nearby larger town or city, that was published on that date.  What was the major headline on page 1 of that issue of the newspaper?

3)  Share your headline with us in your own blog post, in a comment on this blog post, or in a Facebook or Google+ post.

Here is my answer to the challenge.

 My father's birth date was 28 July 1922, in Hazleton, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.

I searched Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov) and found the Philadelphia paper, Evening Public Ledger, There are two major headlines and both about strikes. "President Proposes Three Plans to End Rail Strike" and "Harding Would Curb Dictation by Mine Unions". So it seems that there was a Railroad and Coal Miner strike going on at that time.


So I looked further with Hazleton being a keyword and found, The Topeka State Journal. They had two headlines about both strikes, "THREE WAYS TO END THE TIE-UP" and "MINERS TO TALK". 



What was even more interesting was in the eighth column was that Hazleton had its own dateline titled, "Pennsylvania Ready to Settle."


I guess these headlines were fitting for the day of my father's birth as his father was the last in his line to work in the coal mines and when he left the mines he became a delivery truck driver. My father was a driver in Public Transportation for most of his adult life.



Saturday, March 21, 2015

Finding McCarron's using PA Birth Records

My maternal grandmother's parents are a continuing mystery. They somehow avoided leaving a paper trail for themselves. The earliest record I have found for either of them is their marriage records. Emil Gunther and Catherine McCarron were married in Philadelphia, PA on 23 Sep 1897. The marriage records at that time did not give much information. I always knew that Emil came from Germany and this told me that Catherine was born in Philadelphia. But the first record I ever found on Catherine was her death certificate.This did give her parents names, John McCarron and Alice Carberry. It also sent me to the cemetery and gave me some other great information, but that is a story for another day. "Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803-1915," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-12337-79169-59?cc=1320976 : accessed 21 March 2015), 004009384 > image 350 of 580; Philadelphia City Archives and Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.


So while her marriage record had her born and living in Philadelphia, the newspaper notice said she was from Norristown, PA. So when the index for the birth records first came out I was looking for births that could be in all my lines. I came across an Alice McCarron born in Norristown I was hoping when the records were available I would find a connection. With the baby having the same first name as Catherine's mother, this could be her brother's child. But I didn't know if she had a brother because I never found any census records for her parents. Well looking in the birth records I found Alice McCarron. Unfortunately it did not give much information, only her mother's name, Laura McCarron.Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, Birth Records, 1906-1908 [database on-line]. No. 22525 (stamped), Alice McCarron entry, born 4 Jan 1906, accessed 17 Mar 2015.

Citing: Pennsylvania (State). Birth certificates, 1906–1908. Series 11.89 (50 cartons). Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.


Sorry to say that baby Alice only lived 5 days. But the death certificate did give her father's name, William McCarron. Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1963 [database on-line]. No. 2502(stamped). Alice McCarron entry, died 9 Jan 1906, accessed 18 Mar 2015.

Citing: Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906–1963. Series 11.90 (1,905 cartons). Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.


I continued to search and found death certificates for 5 more children, 3 stillborn and 2 only living a few years. This covered from 1906 to 1921, when the last child was stillborn and Laura died a couple of weeks after that child. William then died in 1929. Finding his death certificate told me that he was Catherine's brother as the same parents were listed. Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1963 [database on-line]. No. 94035 (stamped). William McCarron entry, died 3 Sep 1929, accessed 18 Mar 2015.

Citing: Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906–1963. Series 11.90 (1,905 cartons). Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.


I was glad to find a brother of Catherine's but so sad to watch William's tragic story unfold.