Marriage licenses in Find My Past

Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, Marriage Certificate No. 433346, (1920) accessed 10 Mar 2011, McCarry-Gunther; Philadelphia County Orphans Court, Philadelphia

I have been having such fun over the last week finding records that are new in Find My Past! This is the first time I have found so much on this site. I am liking this! One of the new things is the Marriage License images and this is really great! These are the Philadelphia marriage licenses and have not been online before. You had to order or go to the courthouse in Philadelphia. I had a learning curve at first which led to the post I made on Facebook the other day. In 2011 I had been in Philadelphia for something at GSP. So before the meeting I went to the courthouse and ordered my grandparents marriage license. I received it in the mail the following week.This is what the cover looks like for a copy.

After I went to the Philly Archives and saw some on microfilm I saw that the name of the church was sometimes was written on the cover. So that was why I was looking for the church. So after I called the archives for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and found out the church name because I had the name of the priest, I was so excited in finding out that it was Saint Anthony of Padua church. Then later in the day I was working on finding records for my grandparents and one of the pages of their license came up but I couldn't find other pages until I saw that you had to open one page at a time(like I said I didn't have a lot of experience using Find My Past). Then I spoke to a friend and she was looking at the same time and found that you had to open them up one page at a time. So this page came up.

United States Marriages, Find My Past (findmypast.com: accessed 3 Aug 2017),  marriage certificate no. 433346, (1920), McCarry-Gunther

This is the return that was sent back to the court by the person that performed the ceremony. It was copied with the cover page as you can see it is different than the one I had. You can see St Anthony written on the bottom. So there was the answer on the original. I'm just glad to have it now. So after this I started going through and finding marriage licenses for my McCarry's and finally I did find my Parents' license. I already had their copy of the license but this gave me the whole story.

United States Marriages, Find My Past (findmypast.com:accessed 3 Aug 2017), marriage certificate no 892745, (1950), O'Donnell-McCarry

I still have more work to do and I am getting a bit more comfortable with Find My Past. So I'll keep going, I'll keep on looking!

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!

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.

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. 

Finding Where in Connecticut Patrick McCarry was born

                                                                                     
                                                                                                   Tracking down these two documents I have learned a valuable lesson. The Best Thing is to Begin with What you KNOW!

I thought I had done that when I tried before to find out where Patrick McCarry, my great grand uncle, was born. I knew that Patrick, along with his two older siblings, had been born in Connecticut. But in what town? That was not clear. On his marriage license it said he was born in Thomason, Conn. and his WWII registration card said he was born in Thompsonville, Connecticut.

According to the Connecticut Towns and Counties Map, "compliments of Chuck and Molly", that I found online, there is the town of Thompson over in the very northeast corner of the state in Windham County. And then there is Thomaston in Litchfield County. This seemed like the logical one to me because Mary had been born in Naugatuck and James in Waterbury. Both of these just in the county next to Litchfield, New Haven County. I had tried before to check with both of the towns but kinda got the run around and put it aside. But a few weeks ago after being inspired by a Legacy webinar I thought about trying a different approach to the problem.

I knew that even though Mary and James were born in a different town that they were baptized in the same Church, St Francis in Naugatuck. So I called the church and this time asked if they had a record for Patrick. I figured it was worth a shot since the town of Thomaston was not that far away. But they did not have a record for him. I explained that I thought it could be Thomaston and could they tell me what Catholic Churches would have been there in 1879. She found that there was only one Catholic Church and that was St Thomas and she gave me their number. I called when I got off with her. the secretary told me that I needed to send her the information and she would look it up. I sent her an email right away and the next day I had a reply that they did have a baptism record for Patrick. She also included the phone number for the Town Clerk. I called her right away and she did find a birth record for Patrick.

Unfortunately of the 6 children of Patrick and Margaret (O'Connell) McCarry this is the only one that I have this much information for. I do have baptism records for Mary and James but there are no birth records. Their oldest son, Hugh, was born in Philadelphia before they traveled to Connecticut and Margaret was born in New York as they were making their way back to Philadelphia. I have found no birth records for her and have not been able to find what church they may have gone to when she was born. Their youngest, John, was born in Philadelphia and the birth records were spotty. I do know where they lived there and the church they went to. I just have to get info from the Archdiocese's archives. Hopefully they will have his baptism record. They also might have one for Hugh. Keeping my fingers crossed while I keep looking.

Right now I am excited for my new finds!!!!

Tombstone Tuesday-Gallagher/Hanf

This is the third plot at Westminster Cemetery that I found when I last visited there. this plot was owned by Timothy Gallagher. He was the father-in-law of my great grand uncle Patrick McCarry. This plot has 4 graves and this stone is across the top of the two middle ones. Rose Gallagher Hanf was another Gallagher daughter and John was her husband.

Wedding Wednesday-Seeing the Bride and Groom Off

I know you do not see a bride nor groom! But this is from my parent's wedding album. The lady holding the handbag is my grandmother and next to her is my grandfather, James and Tess Gunther McCarry. With them are some family and friends all at the front door of their South Philly home to see my parents off to the Pocono Mountains for their Honeymoon

Tombstone Tuesday-The Gallagher's and the McCarry's

A couple of weeks ago I received the death certificate for my great grand uncle, Patrick J. McCarry. I found that he was buried in Westminster Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. So I went there last Wednesday to find his grave and I was hoping that I would find his wife, Fannie (Frances) Gallagher, also. I had been there last year and found the plot that Fannie's father had purchased. But Patrick and Fannie are in a different plot. The other plot contained 4 graves, this one has 10 and it's owner is Sarah Kelly. The family doctor that had signed Fannie's family death certificates was J. V. Kelly living at 138 Rector Street, Manyunk, Philadelphia and the informant on the father's certificate was Mrs. J.V. Kelly of 138 Rector Street. I had suspected that one of Fannie's sisters had married the doctor and this told me more so.
This plot's graves contain of course Fannie and her husband, but also one of her brothers and also some of her sisters,  brothers in law, a sister in law and nieces and nephews. There are only stones on two of the 10 graves, this is one of them for her niece, Mary J. Gallagher. Patrick and Fannie are in the grave next to this one.
I have gotten caught up in the last week with sorting out the Gallagher's in these two plots and they are not even my direct family, just the in-laws! But I get so involved with the stories and have figure it all out before I can stop. These two families came together in Manyunk. The other McCarry siblings left that area, his older sister joined the convent, his younger sister moved to California, his brother James, my great grandfather moved to South Philadelphia. Patrick and Fannie stayed in Manyunk, most likely because of her family, but they stayed and they are all buried just across the river from where they lived.

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!

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. 

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!!!!

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?????

John P. Welsh, brother of Bridget Welsh McCarry

I found this obituary a few months ago and really did nothing with it but I knew that this was the brother of my great grandmother, Bridget Welsh McCarry. It wasn't until last week when I looked at it again that I noticed that he was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery. I have an 1880 Census that I have been trying to prove they are my Welsh family so I was looking at this again. So Saturday, my daughter, Erin, and I went once again to Holy Cross to do some "digging" around.

When I saw the cemetery record, the plot was owned by Annie Malloy and she along with John Welsh and John Rooney are buried in the plot. I have no idea who Annie Malloy and John Rooney were, and what the connection to John Welsh would have been that Annie would buy a plot to bury John. When I got home I found John Rooney's WWI draft registration card. that showed that Annie Malloy was his mother and they lived at the same address as listed as John Welsh's Late Residence on the cemetery records. they were listed at this address in the 1910 census, but John Welsh was not living with them at that time. So I am ordering his death certificate to see what other info is there to be found, but I don't know if I can find out what this relationship was.

Mother's Day-May Procession

Catherine Marie McCarry

this looks like a wedding picture doesn't it. It was my Mother when she was May Queen in her 8th grade May Procession.

The Story of John McCarry-The 6th Child

A few weeks ago I wrote about The Story of Miss Mary McCarry. In that story I mentioned that Mary was the second child of Irish immigrants Patrick and Margaret(O'Connell) McCarry. I knew from the 1900 census that they had 6 children but only 4 were living at that time. When I wrote about Mary I said that I had only accounted for 5 of the children. Yesterday I found information about John.
The 1880 Census found the family living in Lenox, Madison, New York with 4 children. They had another child, Margaret, still living in NY in 1881. City Directories had them back in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia, PA before 1894. This was where their family was. I just did not know when they did return or when or where this 6th child had been born and what his story was. Yesterday I found his death certificate. According to this certificate he was born in 1884. And he was born in Manayunk. So the family had come back to Philadelphia by 1884. But this was a death certificate and I knew that he was not still alive in 1900. So the rest of the information was sad but expected. John died 19 May 1894 at 10 years old. Cause of Death was peritonitis from appendicitis. But something not expected, when he died at 10 years old he had an occupation listed as a mill hand. How different "childhood" was for our ancestors.

Wednesday's Child-Baby James McCarry

When my Grandmother spoke of him she called him Baby James. I guess that was partly because they later had another son they called James. But Baby James was the first child of James and Theresa McCarry. I found out the details that Nana never spoke about when I went to Holy Cross Cemetery looking for Catherine and Emil Gunther, Baby James' maternal grandparents. I found that he is buried with them. James' cemetery card said that he was 10 months old when he died on 1 Aug 1922 and that his cause of death was Stomach Trouble. I ordered his death certificate and it recently arrived. His date of birth was 14 Sep 1921 and the cause of death was Tuberculosis Meningitis. I don't have a photo of a headstone because there is none, but I wanted to write about him.

The Story of Miss Mary McCarry

Mary McCarry was the second child born to Irish Immigrants, Patrick and Margaret (O'Connell) McCarry. She was the first of three? that were born in Connecticut. I have the question because according to the 1900 Census they had 6 children 4 living, and I have only accounted for 5 at this point. The other two born in Connecticut were James Francis (my great grandfather) and Patrick Joseph. I had found that Patrick was born in Thompsonville, CT from his Marriage license and his WWII registration. Then I found that James was born in Waterbury, CT from his Marriage license. So I figured that Mary was born in another town also. I found this clipping while searching on Genealogy Bank. I had known that my Grandfather had an aunt that was in this order, but I had thought it was his mother's sister not his father's. Well after finding this on Sunday, I called the Mission on Monday and spoke to the archivist. She told me that she did not have much on Mary because she was one of the early Sisters, the order was founded by Saint Catherine Drexel in 1891. The records they have did show that Mary's name was Sister Patrick McCarry and that she died 9 Aug 1932 and is buried at the Mission. The records did show that she was born in Naugatuck, CT and was baptized at St Francis Church. Can I say BINGO! They did not have much, but what they had was great! So my next call was to St Francis of Assisi (who happens to be my favorite saint) Church in Naugatuck, CT. After a few missing each other I spoke with the secretary on Tuesday morning. When talking to her I mentioned that James was born in Waterbury and I did not know if he was Baptized there also. She thought he could be since that is the next town over. She told me that she would see what she could find and call me back. Well she called back in about an hour and said she found Mary's record and would send me a copy. She also found James' but I will save that for another time. So on Friday I received this record. To finish this story I still have to get her death and birth records but I am just loving what has happened in just a week beginning with a little newspaper clipping.

So don't overlook the little mentions you might find in a clipping, you never know what it could lead to!

Marriage Certificates-Answers-More Questions?

Two weeks ago I went to the Philly Archives to find copies of the marriage certificates that I had found in the index on Family Search. I had found the license numbers for my mother's parents, James J. McCarry and Theresa V. Gunther. For James' parents, James F. McCarry and Bridget Welsh. For Theresa's parents, Emil Gunther and Catherine McCarron. And James F.'s brother Patrick McCarry and Frances Gallagher. I was able to get all but my grandparents that day because the archives only has microfilm for up to 1915 and they were married in 1920. So last week when I was back in the city again I went to city hall and ordered the copy of their certificate at Orphans Court. It arrived today. Adding to both the answers and more questions.



First big information I was looking for was to confirm where James F. McCarry was born. I had information from different census that said he was born in Connecticut. But his death certificate said he was born in Philadelphia and that his parents were unknown. So I needed to confirm where he was born in Connecticut and where in Connecticut. Also who his parents were so I could confirm that the family I had for him was correct. Well this was all confirmed. He was born in Waterbury , CT, 14 May 1873. His parents were Patrick McCarry and Margaret O'Connell. This was confirmed by his brother Patrick's marriage certificate. And his place of birth was also confirmed on my grandparent's marriage certificate. So I am very happy with this result!



The second big information I was looking for was answers about my grandmother's father, Emil Gunther. This man has been such a mystery! My grandmother talked about her father all the time. I knew he came from Germany. the only place she ever said was that it was the Black Forest. Not a big help! Had an idea when he was born. My cousin had given me a date a few years back. I have not been able to find him in a census and a few years ago I found out that my grandmother's oldest sister was her half sister. So he had been married before my great grandmother. and the mystery grew! then this past October I found Catherine McCarron Gunther's death record. My grandmother had always said her mother died when she was a little girl. Well she died in 1914. So I went to the cemetery to find out about her death and was hoping that Emil would be buried there also. I had a bonus that day. Not only did I find that Emil was there and that he had died in 1924, but also there was my grandparent's first child that had died at 11 months old in 1922. So I ordered their death certificates but they have not come yet. So I will have to follow up on that information. Coming back to the information from the marriage certificates. Well his place of birth on both his marriage certificate and my grandmother's was..... you guessed it......Germany! So I still have no idea where in Germany he was from. So that will be a continued work in progress. But there was another mystery on his marriage certificate. It said that this was his first marriage. that did not match what I had known. So he will continue to be a work in progress.

So on to the questions that came out of these certificates. Emil was not the only one that gave me questions. First, my great grandmother, Bridget Welsh McCarry. the information I had from her death certificate was that her birthdate was 23 Nov 1875. Her son Thomas was the informant, her husband, James F, had died 10 years before. Well when I saw their marriage certificate her birth date was 6 April 1873. I could see if she lied about her age because she would have been under age if she was born in 1875. And there was not a consent with the certificate. But these dates do not match in anyway at all! So I need to try to find a birth record for her. Another work in progress.

The second question that came out of the certificates was my grandmother, Theresa V Gunther McCarry. I grew up hearing how she was 15 when she was married. Well she was married in 1920 and her birth date on her death certificate was 31 May 1905. My mother was the informant. this would make her 15 when she married. Well her certificate said she was born in 1902 and that she was 18 years old at her marriage. So another work in progress.

So I am really excited to get these documents in the last couple of weeks. While I am disapointed that not only did I not get all the answers I was looking for, but more questions were added, I ask the question.....what would we do if we had all the answers about our family?????

Happy Hunting!!!!!!!