Genealogical Gems

h Hugh O'Flaherty was born 31 May 1869 in Phoenixville to Dennis and Martha Durkin O'Flaherty. He is the brother of my great grandmother Catherine O'Flaherty. Hugh married Katherine Dee (daughter of James Dee and Mary Sommers) on 4 November 1903. Together they had five children: Julia, Catherine, Martha, Dennis, and Hugh. They also lost one child, a stillborn child. He was a laborer throughout his life. He worked at the Iron Mill in Phoenixville as well as various odd jobs. He passed away on 24 March 1947. He was predeceased by his wife (Katherine passed in 1922) and all of his children except Dennis. Funeral Card Friday is a d aily blogging prompt prompted by GeneaBloggers in which the main focus of the prompt is a funeral card.

Pennsylvania State death certificates are available online now through Ancestry.com.  The range available is 1906-1924. I lost half my morning already when I saw these were available! I was surprised how few people I have who passed between these years but I did find some. Some admittedly I already had the hard copies. Some were like ... "wow!" The death cert here at right for example is that of Martha Durkin O'Flaherty - my great-great grandmother. When I first got her certificate (it was one of the first I had actually ordered) I was so excited ... and so in despair! Her mom was a Murphy! A Murphy in Ireland ... that should be easy to find, right? Martha Durkin and Dennis O'Flaherty had eight children. One of whom was Hugh O'Flaherty. Hugh married Katherine Dee and they had six children ... and now - thanks to this database - I have all but one of their names! Five of the six passed between 1906 and 1913, the oldest of whom was 9 years old at the time ...