Genealogical Gems

My Still line had had me at a blockage for years. I am able to get back to the late 1700s but I have not left Chester County . I do not where the family came from originally or even who is my immigrant. As such, I have taken to tracing random Stills from time to time to see if I can connect them. Most I have been able to remotely connect. On Sunday, I posted a Sunday’s Obituary piece of little Emma Still. She was just a year old when she died. The Allentown Leader announces death of Emma Still. Her obituary, which ran in The Allentown Leader , reads: Emma G., the young daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Still, died at 7:30 last evening of pneumonia, aged 1 year and 4 months. The funeral will take place Friday at 9 a.m., from the parents’ residence, No. 532 North Court Street. Internment in Highland Cemetery . Rev. Dr. J. F. Pollock will officiate. Pennsylvania began keeping death certificates on a state level that year and I found her death certificate. That started me ...

Like every year, I list a few things I want to focus on and confirm or deny. This year I decided to focus on my immigrant lines and my ancestral homelands. On Glenn’s (hubby) side, I want to focus more on documentation. My great grandfather Panko Hruszczak arrived in New York on the Volturno My known immigrants are: Panko Hruszczak – my great grandfather from Prusy, Sambor , Galicia Bessie Matys - my great grandmother from Fraga, Rohatya , Galicia John Kurenda - my great grandfather from Tatary, Sambor , Galicia , Poland Frances Skrabalak - my great grandmother from Temeszow , Poland Mary Kilpatrick - my great grandmother from Ireland Michael Walsh - my 2x great grandfather from Ireland Anna Keating - my 2x great grandmother from Ireland Dennis O'Flaherty - my 2x great grandfather from Ireland Martha Durkin - my 2x great grandmother from Ireland My Still line continues to be an obsession. I am determine...

Last Sunday I had a great time at the PA Renaissance Faire dancing with the band Tartanic (pictured below for no other reason than the drummers are hot!). After their set, I had a chance to chat with them – one in particular - about tartans. I still had a few questions about them, like which one can I wear if I have several Irish lines.    The Scottish Register of Tartans states a restriction of one of my ancestral tartans is that it may only be worn by those with that surname. Does this mean that since my maiden name is (clearly not Irish) Ruczhak, that I can not wear my ancestral tartans?       My grandfather’s mother was a KILPATRICK, born in Ireland . My grandmother was full Irish. Her grandparents – our immigrants – were WALSH, O’FLAHERTY, KEATING, and DURKIN. My DNA results from Ancestry.com show that I am 35% Eastern Europe, 29% Great Britain and 17% Ireland . I also have 14% Scandinavia, 3% Western Europe , 1% Italy/Greece and a tra...

I knew the Deyo clan was rather large before we even went to New Paltz earlier this week. My husband, ironically, seemed surprised at how vast the Deyo/Deyoe family is and what an impact they had – and continue to have – on the community there. Today, I too was surprised by the Deyo clan. Skimming through Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, I came across an article, dated 26 August 1908, about one group of Deyos. The headline reads: Fugitive Who Attacked Deyo Family Up the State Trapped at Greenwood Lake . The dateline is Middletown , NY .   The article states: “Weak from loss of blood and in a starving condition “Bill” Monroe, the desperado who murderously assaulted six members of the Deyo family and burned a barn at New Paltz on Friday afternoon, was trapped at Greenwood Lake to-day.”   Monroe himself was in a weak condition and bleeding from pistol wounds. A family finally let him in and summoned the physician who examined him. Monroe had sta...

The Bing surname, according to Ancestry, is “English, of uncertain derivation.” Uncertain – yep, that’s my family! My Bing Family begins with John and Jane Bing. Like so many on my mom’s side, John just kind of appears. I have no idea where he came from or how he came to be in Chester County or very little else about him.   John and Jane had three boys: James, Robert and Joseph. Robert is my direct line.      James James was born in 1776, the year of our Nation’s Independence ! He died 84 years later on 23 November 1860 in East Fallowfield Township .   Robert Robert was born in 1781, according to the 1810 US Census. He appears in East Caln in both 1800 and 1810 census records. In 1820, the US Census shows him living in nearby East Fallowfield . At some point, he married Sarah McWilliams (1788 – 1859). They had seven children: Jane, Mary, John (1808-1871), my 3 rd great grandmother Sarah (1811-1891), Samuel (b. 1813), James (b. 1819), a...

The Barr line, though admittedly the one I am the least familiar with, is ironically one that I am the furthest back on. Ancestry.com indicates the majority of people with the Barr surname is Scottish or from Northern Ireland . England , Great Britain and Germany follow. Finally the New York Passengers List shows several from Switzerland as well, though comparatively not many.   The Barr name, at least in my husband’s case, is a Pennsylvania German name. Pennsylvania German names were generally either personal names, occupational names, or derived from whence they came or lived. Barr is an example of a personal name. Barr is derived from Berhard, according to “Early Life of the Pennsylvania Germans” by A. Monroe Aurand, Jr.   Susan Barr was the first Barr I came across in my research. She was born 15 May 1792 to Martin Barr and Maria Herr. She died in Providence Township , Lancaster County on 27 March 1849. She married John Longnecker and they had six children,...

Yesterday’s Fearless Female post focused on my great grandmother’s immigration record. That record, which I have had for quite some time, led to a hint that I never picked up on before. That hint led to another and … I found her sister Maria!   I knew, from a family letter, that my great grandmother (Bessie Matys Hruszczak) had one brother (Frank) and three sisters. It was Frank’s daughter who wrote me. She (Catherine Matys Rothermal) had also said that Bessie was the youngest of the five and that she never met the other three girls. So, I did the worst thing one could do; I assumed those three never came over and simply did not focus on them. Shame on me!   Yesterday when I reviewed Bessie’s passenger list, I noticed the person listed above her (Antoni Storosz) was a 38 year old married man who was also from Fraga in Austria and was coming to Coatesville ( Chester County , PA ) as well. He was coming to see his brother in law – who happened to be Bessie’s broth...

Michael Walsh has gone in hiding. Well, at least it seems that way. I have managed to narrow down his death year but I know so little about him.   Walsh is an extremely common Irish surname. My 2 nd great grandparents are Michael J and Anna Keating Walsh. I know little of her and even less of him. My grandmother had told me once that Michael was born in Dublin . She was not sure when he immigrated. Anna, she said, left Ireland as a child with her siblings. They met up near Shenandoah, married and had several children.   Their children (that I know of) are: John Katherine (1875-1939) Daniel James (1877-1957) Margaret Mary (1881-1926) Martin Joseph (1884-1923) ß my great grandfather Michael Joseph (1893-1968)   The Walsh family lived at 306½ Lloyd Street in Shenandoah, Schuylkill County . By 1910 Michael Walsh, the father, was already passed. This I know since Anna’s marital status is widow on the 1910 US Federal Census. The Census shows jus...

Louise Sharp has always been a bit of a mystery for me. She is my husband’s great grandmother. His family had stories but no facts about her. I first “met” Louisa in those family stories that all state she was a Native American - a story whose pieces did not fit right. Over the years I have filled in some blanks and have (mostly) put to bed a rumor with DNA testing but still have many questions, including her lineage.   To find Louise, I started with her son (and hubby’s grandfather) Morgan Deyoe. I traced him back to the 1880 Federal Census. I found the family in Lexington , Greene County , New York . Daniel G, age 44, is a white male farmer. His wife, Louise, is a 42 year old white female. This puts her born approximately 1838. Their son Morgan is five. Living with them also is a nine year old white male named William Parker. He was adopted by Daniel and Louise. All four were born in New York State , as were their parents.   So today – on Surname Saturday – I am...

Each family I research has their own "Surname Folder." In it resembles that drawer we all have in the kitchen that everything ends up in! Seriously though, if I come across something about a Van Horn who I cannot immediately place or do not have time to get lost on that track at the moment, it lands in my Van Horn Surname Folder. Once every so often I sort through the folder and put people where they belong, so to speak. Sometimes, papers remain there if I still cannot place them. One such paper is a copy of the Schedule 3 for Buckingham Township , Bucks County , PA.   The Schedule lists those who died during the year ending 1 June 1860. Line three lists a Martha Vanhorn. She was age 80 and single. She died in December from “Suicide by Landanum.” I cannot fit her into the family yet. I do have an Aunt Martha but she was a Van Horn by birth. She married a Robert Newsman. She was also born in 1845. Martha went back in the folder for a future rainy day.   On a handw...

I am doing some side work researching postcards and writing up descriptions for a friend and, like most things in life, there are pros and cons. The major pro of course is that it is work so there is some financial benefits. I am also learning quite a bit about various places and dating postcards in general, which in turn has helped with some of my own research. The con is that I tend to get lost in research! I was working on a postcard depicting the grave of Benjamin Franklin and his wife. The card itself did not reveal much of interest to me. Dated 1907, it is an undivided back therefore the message had to be written very tiny on the white space at the bottom of the picture on the front. It's addressed to an Ernest McConnell of Narvon, whose family I have not heard of before. But ... hubby's family (on his mom's side) actually attended Christ Church in Philadelphia. His maternal grandmother is Julia Coursault. Her parents were Charles Edwin and Appelina Coursault....

My Polish/Ukrainian surnames are frustrating sometimes! I know I'm not alone in this frustration. My surnames are: Hruszczak, Matys, Romanko, Vaspleship, Kurenda and Skrabalak. For example, I found Matys to also be written as Matyz. I found Kurenda recorded as Korenda and Skrabalak as Skrbalik. Hruszczak was changed to Ruczhak when my grandfather started school and the teacher Americanized his name so it was easier on her. One of his brothers switched the c and the z around. On top of that it is also pronounced differently depending on who you ask! I have also seen Hruszczak butchered by a few census recorders. Recently, someone (on Facebook) suggested an article by William F. Hoffman. He wrote this excellent article about the mutilation of Eastern European surnames. Photo: Dreamstime

I joined a Polish Genealogy group on Facebook and came across a resource, similar I suppose to our white pages here. The site, Moikrewni , led me to realize that the surname Matys is more common that I had thought.   There are, according to this site, 2,446 people with the last name Matys. That said, it does say "people" as opposed to "families" or "households."   On a whim, I searched for Matys in Ancestry.com using only a location as "Fraga, Poland" (which by the way did not self populate. The results? Over 47,000 entries! I should point out that I currently only have the US edition of Ancestry. I am so close to upgrading but I wanted to wait until I had several lines ready to cross the pond, to make it cost effective.   Find A Grave (yes I realize it is now owned by Ancestry.com) revealed 52 entries using only the last name Matys as my search requirements. That's a little more manageable! It also includes some from Poland, ...

On Tuesday, Patricia Ann Ladun was included in the Tombstone Tuesday . She is buried next to John and Anastasia Ladun. John (13 May 1916 - 4 November 1979) was born here in Pennsylvania. However, I do not know his parents' names. The 1930 Census shows John living on Newlinville Road in East Fallowfield Township, Chester County with his grandparents, Frank and Helen Witok. The Witoks immigrated from Russia, according to the census, in 1914. Frank worked retail at a grocers. Aside from three boarders, he is the only one living with his grandparents. The three boarders worked at the steel mill. Living next door though is 33 year old widowed Mary Ladun with her three sons: James, Joseph and Nicholas. She has three boarders: 56 year old married Romon Jemorcek from Russia, 56 year old married Iean Devatock from Russia and 39 year old single Paul Hellan from Austria. All three boarders worked at the steel mill. Helen Witok passed away on 3 July 1933, according to the Chester Co...