Funeral Card Friday: Margaret Flear

Margaret Flear passed on 21 April 1954. Her Funeral Card was in among some items one of my cousins has but none of us could place her, although the name sounded familiar. A quick search on Ancestry.com and not only did I find her but I placed her in the family!

The first document I found was her death certificate. It revealed that she died in Philadelphia at Memorial Hospital. She lived on Olga Street in Philadelphia with her husband, Charles J. Flear. Her COD (Cause of Death) was "intestinal obstruction" which she suffered from for four days. That was caused by a "carcinoma descending colon metastasis liver mesenteric nodes" which was due to obesity. The death certificate also shows that she had an operation on 12 March 1954 to treat the carcinoma. There was no autopsy, as was normal since she was under a physician's care at the time of death. The attending physician was Mary R. Curcio, MD. The funeral director was William P. Koller and she was to be buried at Westminster Cemetery in Montgomery County.

Now the exciting part ... Margaret Flear was born 26 Jul 1895 to Patrick Rodgers and Mary O'Flaherty! I should note that her husband Charles was the informant and listed her mother's maiden name as simply Flaherty. He also lists her birth year as 1895 whereas I had 1897, although that was a calculated year from a census record.

Charles states she does not have a social security number, implying she never worked outside the home. Her occupation was a housewife.

In searching through the census records, I also found a son! The 1920 census lists a two year old son James. Sadly, he does not show up on the 1930 or 1940 census.

The Westminster Cemetery Co.'s Record of Enlistment reveals she is buried in lot 243 in section Brookwood. It was an eight foot deep concrete grave. It also confirms the death date and cause as well as the funeral director and her home address.

A final family note ... Margaret Flear's mother was Mary Theresa O'Flaherty. Mary was the daughter of Dennis and Martha Durkin O'Flaherty ( my great great grandparents!).

Funeral Card Friday is a genealogical prompt of GeneaBloggers.

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