Genealogical Gems

Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to work the fields on a plantation during the Revolutionary War? Or stroll through an 18th century village? Or fight in battle during the Civil War?  Living history  offers an interactive perspective which incorporates  historical  activities and dress providing a sense of stepping back in time. So, how can YOU step back in time? Rock Ford volunteer Nancy Bradley in the Study of the mansion Rock Ford Plantation, in Lancaster County, PA, will be hosting a Volunteer Tour Guide Recruitment Event on Sunday, 22 March. They need tour guides for its upcoming tour season.  Built circa 1794, Rock Ford was the home of Edward Hand and his family. Hand, an Irish immigrant and physician, served as Adjutant General to George Washington during the Revolutionary War.   Volunteer tour guides at Rock Ford bring the past to life for museum visitors. A tour guide can be any person aged 18 years and up. No experie...

Did you know today - 1 February - is National Freedom Day? I had no idea, to be honest, until I was searching for an article for Black History Month (which is February by the way). It was on 1 February 1865 that President Abraham Lincoln signed the joint resolution - the 13th Amendment - abolishing slavery. How did National Freedom Day come about then? According to the Weekly Review, in Birmingham, Alabama, from 31 July 1948, Major R. R. Wright, Sr. organized the National Freedom Day Association in 1941. The purpose of the association was to establish a national Freedom Day. Wright was born a slave in 1853 in Georgia to Richard Wright and Harriet Lynch. The 1880 Census shows a R.R. Wright living in Cuthbert, Randolph County, Georgia. He was 27 at the time and an editor. He lived with his 23 year old wife and two children. According to the census, both his parents had been born in South Carolina. Other sources confirm his name is Richard Robert Wright and his wife's is L...

Within the Lancaster Convention Center (Lancaster, PA) is a small section dedicated to Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith. The section is known as the Stevens & Smith Historic Site. It is scheduled for development this year. At the moment one can only get a glimpse of it through the Convention Center or by peeking in from the outside. Here at Queen and Vine Streets in Lancaster City, Pennsylvania, Thaddeus Stevens had his law office. Stevens was an abolitionist. An abolitionist is a person who favors the abolition of a practice or institution, especially capital punishment or (formerly) slavery. Stevens was born 4 April 1792 to Joshua Stevens and Sarah (Sally) Morrill in Danville Vermont. One of four children, he attended Vermont University from 1810 to 1812 when the War prompted its closure. He then went to Dartmouth, where he graduated in 1814. He then studied law and found himself set up in Gettysburg, PA in 1816. He practiced law there until 1828 when he...

Ancestry is always adding new content. One of their recent additions is "US: WWII Hospital Admission Card Files 1942-1954. Knowing my Uncle Paulie - Paul Kurenda - died in the War, I searched for him.  I searched only by his surname. The only entry matching his name, is most definitely him. There were a couple other similar last names, but only one Kurenda. Race: White Rank: Enlisted  Admission Age: 22  Born: abt 1922 Admission Date: Mar 1922 Discharge: Aug 1922 Military Branch: Infantry, general, or unspecified Diagnosis: Tuberculosis, generalized military Type of injury: Disease Injured in line of duty: Injured in line of duty Type of Discharge: Died Length of Service: 1 Year 3 months Service number:  33478954 The original database is:  Hospital Admission Card Files, ca. 1970 - ca. 1970 . NAI:  570973 . Records of the Office of the Surgeon General (Army), 1775 - 1994. Record Group 12. The National Archives at College Park, MD. USA....

Everyone sets New Year Resolutions or Goals. I personally prefer goals. I set health goals (like I would like to loose 40 pounds this year), and I have financial goals (pay off cards, improve credit score, build savings, improve business revenue). I also set Genealogical Goals each year. My genealogical goals are really five areas I want to focus on. This year, they are: Matys line. ... nothing specific I just felt called to focus on that line this year. Walsh/Welsh descendants ... where are my Uncle Leo's kids and Uncle Gerry's kids? What happened to my great grandfather's siblings and their kids? Where is Michael Walsh? ... what happened to him? where is he buried? Anna Keating ... how did she get from Ireland to Ringtown? What happened to her siblings? How did she get from Ringtown to Shenandoah? O'Flaherty line ... How did they get here? When? Where in Ireland did they come from exactly? Who are Dennis' parents? Any siblings? What are your goals -...

Public Domain Photo: (l-r) USS West Virginia (sunk); USS Tennessee (damaged);  and the USS Arizona (sunk). Every year, on 7 December, the United States observes Pearl Harbor Day. The "Day of Infamy" remembers and honors the 2,403 citizens who were killed in the Japanese surprise  attack on Pearl Harbor  in Hawaii on Sunday, 7 December 1941. That Sunday, by all reports, began as a beautiful, tranquil morning. The morning was soon devastated. The Japanese bombed the ships that were in port. Explosions. Fires. Sirens. Sounds and smells no one ever expected. Our Navy bore the brunt of the attack, obviously. The US National Park Service has compiled a list of those killed in action that day. They are: Navy , Marines , Army , and Air Force . In addition, 68 civilians lost their lives that day as well. Vichnaya Pamyat. Sources: "Military Casualties," National Park Service.  https://www.nps.gov/valr/learn/historyculture/military-casualties.htm Wortman,...

My great great grandfather, Michael Walsh, got lost in the coal strike. The United Mine Workers of America demanded higher wages, shorter workdays, and union recognition in eastern Pennsylvania. On 12 May 1902, the coal miners laid down their pickaxes, hammers, chisels, and pans. At this time most homes in America were heated with anthracite, that is hard coal. It lasted through October that year. In the end, the miners' demands were met. It was also the first time in American history that the federal government stepped in as an arbitrator to negotiate. Most important to me personally is that it was due to this strike that I lost my Michael Walsh. Public Domain Image of miners in Hazelton, PA in 1900. Now, to clarify, when I say I lost him to the strike, I do not mean that he died in the mines. I do not mean that there was an argument on the streets and he died. No, I mean I lost track of him at that point. It was reported by Commissioner of Labor Carrol D. Wright, at tha...

This past weekend, we were at a show down in Solomons, Maryland. On our way back to Pennsylvania, we saw this Historic Marker along Route 2 in Harwood, Maryland. I had to turn around and come back so we could actually stop and read it. I grew up relatively near the Mason-Dixon, yet I never knew this!  A quick search led me to this site:  https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=3042 (c) 2019, Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman  

My Aunt Helen used to write me long letters about various family stories and information. Sometimes the letters were nothing more than a specific line's names and vitals. Sometimes she would include little stories about her mother or family stories she had heard growing up. Sometimes it might be a newspaper clipping she thought I'd enjoy. No matter what she sent, even if it was simply a birthday car, she always found the most interesting stamps. Today, it is US Postage Stamp Day. T he United States issued its first postage stamp on July 1, 1847. They were not mandatory thou until 1855. Today, not only are they mandatory, but they cost an arm and a leg. To put this in perspective, Aunt Helen was actually my great grandfather's youngest sister. Born 24 August 1903, Helen Mae Still was the youngest of six children of Franklin & Sarah Jennie Van Horn Still. She was an incredible woman. She grew up on the family farm. All the Still girls were educated and Aunt Helen w...

1968 MS State University Robert P Still I found a Baseball Questionnaire today on Ancestry.com. I got excited because there is a family story that involves a local baseball team but this questionnaire was for the professional teams. So naturally I played with family names. I got a hit, even though I doubt he is of the same line. Robert Philip Still was born 24 April 1949 in Georgia to Clinton H Still and Louise Cowan Still. In May 1972, Robert Philip STILL filled out a questionnaire. He played for the Oneonta Yankees, a minor league team of the New York-Penn League.He played Third Base for the Oneonta Tigers. Still was born in 1949 and lived down Decatur, Georgia. He graduated from DeKalb HS in Decatur in 1967. That same year then, in 1967, he was drafted out of high school by the Cleveland Indians in the 27th round of the 1967 MLB June Amateur Draft, according to Baseball Reference . Three years later, the Baltimore Orioles drafted him in the 10th round of the 197...

William Chester Ruth, son of  Samuel and Maria Louisa Pinn Ruth, invented several pieces of farm machinery. He was born 19 July 1882 in Ercildoun, Chester County, one of 12 children to Samuel and Maria Ruth.  Ruth  married Gertrude Miller on 6 June 1906. They moved to Gap, Lancaster County in 1917. He was, at that time, working for Midvale Steel in Coatesville. Six years later, Ruth opened Ruth's Ironworks Shop.  Ruth became a well-known and capable blacksmith to the farming families of Eastern Lancaster and Western Chester Counties. Among his patents were a machine feeder used between the thresher and straw baler, a cinder-spreading truck, self-raising elevator, and other machines.  Landis Valley Museum will remember Ruth on 6 June . The event is scheduled for 10 a.m.  at the  Landis Valley Christian Fellowship, next to the Landis Valley Museum. It will last until 2:30 p.m. After a light complimentary lunch, Dr. Leroy Hopkins wi...

Young Alexander Meyer was a disturbed and angry young man with some major issues. He had failed sixth and seventh grade, and instead of having to repeat eighth grade again, he finally gave up on school. At age 16 he quit Downingtown Junior High. Meyer is not a relative, nor are his victims (that I am aware). I stumbled upon young Alex while reading Tortured Minds: Pennsylvania's Most Bizarre - But Forgotten - Murders by Tammy Mal. On 11 February 1937 Alexander Thweatt Meyer killed young Helen Moyer as she walked home from school in Coatesville along Modena Road. She was not his first. The jury was out only three minutes after hearing Dr. Michael Margolis' testimony on the death of Helen Moyer. The jury determined Meyer had murdered Moyer and should be held for first degree murder. The jury also condemned the parole system which had released Meyer back into the public, after having served just 14 months in Huntingdon Reformatory, for the murder of two other girls - Anna Blasc...

Setting aside the to do list this #SundayMorning to research my Irish female ancestors, beginning with my great grandmother Catherine #OFlaherty . It is after all #IrishAmericanHeritageMonth and #WomensHistoryMonth Catherine O'Flaherty Catherine was born on 2 August 1880 to Dennis and Martha (Durkan) O'Flaherty in Phoenixville, Chester County, PA. This is confirmed through various records and family members, including my grandmother (her oldest child. Her marriage application however notes she was born on 2 October in 1885. She was the youngest of eight known children. Her siblings (in birth order) are: James - 1868 to 1870. Twin to Mary Theresa. Mary Theresa - 1868 to 1945. Twin to James. Married Patrick Rogers. They had five children. Through Ancestry.com, I have connected with one of her descendents.  Hugh - 1869 to 1947. Married Katherine Dee. They had six children. Michael - 1871 to 1904.Married Margaret McQuade. He died just two years after they married, le...

I found a wife! Not for me (my husband is work enough!) but for my Uncle Jim! Years ago, my great Aunt Helen (Still) Webster told me a story about my Uncle Jim (James Franklin Still) having a son. By the time we all came along, Uncle Jim was back East living with his brother/my grandfather (Lloyd Pierson Still). He spoke of working on ranches but never mentioned a wife or a child.  Searching on Ancestry.com today, I found a marriage record for James Still born 1910 to a Julie Riddle on 14 April 1931 in  Deep Creek, Routt, Colorado The 1930 US Census shows Uncle Jim, obviously single, still living in East Marlboro, Chester County, PA. The 1940 Census shows him living in Clark Township, Routt County, Colorado. The 1940 Census also reveals he lived there in 1935 as well but now his father, Pierson George Still, has moved out with him and Uncle Jim is single. In fact, it shows that the two of them are living by themselves on a farm.  I found land records for U...

Today (Sunday, 17 June) is Family Day at Historic Huguenot Street .. Admission is free and includes the historic house tours and exhibits. Tours will be done on a first come first serve basis with a limit to 12 people per tour. You are welcome to bring a blanket and bagged lunch and have a picnic on the grounds.  Learn about the families who founded New Paltz, including Pierre Deyo. The Pierre Deyo House, built in 1692, is one of the house on the tour. We went awhile back, not on Family Day but just a regular day. My husband is descended from Jacobus "James" Deyoe (1760-1819) and Annatje "Hannah" Walker (1764-1835). The Deyoe and the Deyo families are of the same family.  Those interested in tracing their family lineage to one of the 12 lines may also be interested in this (from a March 2018 press release): Thanks to a grant from the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Historic Huguenot Street (HHS) has digitized records from the Reformed ...

Memorial Day is is a day set aside in the United States for remembering the people who died while serving in the country's armed forces. While I am appreciative of everyone who has served - both in war and in peace - this weekend is for those who died while serving ... like my Uncle Paul. Paul Kurenda - Paulie as Baba always called him - died while serving in World War II. He had been serving in Europe and came down ill so the Army sent him stateside, first to South Carolina then to West Virginia then finally home to die. He passed away 11 August 1944 at the Valley Forge Army Hospital in Phoenixville, Chester County, PA. His official cause of death was "tuberculosis, pulmonary, acute, military, bilateral." He was just 22 years old when he died. His obituary was published in the now-defunct Coatesville Record. Coatesville Record August 12, 1944 PFC. Paul Kurenda, aged twenty-two years, of 1047 Rock Run, died last night in Valley Forge General hospital aft...

Baptismal records for four of the O'Flaherty family were found on Find My Past recently by my cousin's husband (Thank you, Ed!). His wife is descended from my 2nd Great Aunt Mary Theresa O'Flaherty Rogers. I do tend to rush into talking when I'm excited about a new discovery or new documentation so let me back up a moment. Patrick O'Flaherty and Martha Durkin are my 2nd great grandparents. That is to say, they are my great-great grandparents. They married here in America, settled down in Phoenixville, Chester County, PA and had eight known children.  Those children are: 1. James 2. Mary Theresa 3. Hugh 4. Michael 5. Dennis 6. Margaret A 7. Martha M 8. Catherine <-- my great grandmother Today, I am going to talk about four of them: Mary Theresa, Hugh, Martha, and Catherine. Mary Theresa, born 31 March 1868, married Patrick Rogers in 1891, at the age of 23. Patrick was born in Ireland and had immigrated in 1885. They had five children...