PERUSING OLD DOCUMENTS

Yesterday I was rereading the old documents in my possession. For some reason my Great Uncle Bill and my Grandmother had applied for delayed birth certificates in the early 1950's. MY THEORY is that it had to do with Social Security, but one would have thought that would have been about 15 years earlier. Maybe they had the SSN but needed proof of their births.

Guess Patrick O'Rourke and his wife Ellen Mortel did not register the children's births. In the 1890's it would have been a trek into Pittsburgh, some days it is a trek even today.

My great Uncle Bill had his birthday listed in May 1888 and the document had listed that there were 9 children living with now ten including him.

My grandmother's birth day was in October 1892 but now there were three children dead with in that four year period. I knew about Dennis drowning in the river and Loretta dying in 1894 but who is the third siblilng?

On my dads hand written notes it has listed Rebbecca as a sibling but nothing else but the name. There were not any listings as stillborn so did Rebbecca die in her infancy? Exactly where are these children buried? I need to get records from the Diocese of Pittsburgh. The funny part is I have THE ORIGINAL deed for the family plot, the cemetery office told me there were two open graves, could the records be lost and they are there. That seems to be the norm that cemetery records are missing or burned in a fire.

Patrick bought the plots 15 August 1891, could that have been the time period of Dennis's death, I guess he must have been school age at that time. At least that is MY THEORY.

Does everyone else move this slowly in their research? It seems the O'Rourkes and the Sperls has a lot of children that died in childhood, but I haven't come across any of the Dowd children dying. Guess they were of a hardier stock.