CLAUDIAS GENEALOGY BLOG

THERESA RAUSCHER

2012-01-28T15:45:00.001-05:00

I was perusing the Pennsylvania County Marriage Records that have been recently added by Family Search. I have found a few nibbles but not a whole lot. I am hoping that only a portion have been indexed so far.

What I did find was a record for Franz Schmid and Theresa Rauscher.

The thought I have now is Theresa the sister of my husbands great grandmother Katharina T. Rauscher. They both lived in Millvale PA, and on the application is says that the two above were from Shaler, which is the township next to Millvale. In fact Millvale was once a part of Shaler.

Theresa and Katherine born within a few years. I will have to check the church records to see if I can find this marriage. The priest who recorded Katherine T Rauscher and Anton Sperl had recorded their parents and the towns they came from in Bohemia.

Sometimes you hit the jackpot, I am hoping I can find this information.

WINDING UP OR DOWN ON THE CLEANING.

2012-01-28T13:21:00.001-05:00

It is winding down. To answer a question, the boxes that I threw out were empty. I consolidated a lot of things. Took books to the resale show, who give you a pittance for what you bring in to sell. Maybe I should have donated them to the library for their book sale.

Took all sort of computer related items to the Goodwill store. They employ people to refurbish computers. I think it is part of their mission or purpose for employment and utilizing electronics. Dropped off clothing, glassware and other household items to St. Vincent de Paul thrift store for them to sell.

I put the paperwork and pictures in two other storage boxes and should be ready to start scanning soon. I read the article on how to name your files so I can do this properly from the beginning. I check my files and most of them are labeled, I will have to do some renaming on some of the old files.

What I learned from the videos from STATE LIBRARY OF NORTH CAROLINA was how to change a file extension. The most important thing to do is MAKE A COPY BEFORE YOU START. Then you can change the file extension (after the dot) and make it a jpg or what ever you want. I have a few pictures I had downloaded and have to go and find the appropriate thing to open them. I changed them to a .jpg and now it is easier to open. This was a wondrous discovery, guess I should have figured it out a few years ago.

Office Max this week had a file cabinet on sale and I ordered it. My local store did not have one and they got it from another location. So, the goal is to file what I have and perhaps make new folders. I want the folder name to be organized with the titles of the files to match.

Next will be scan the new finds and then burn everything to DVD’s. If I do it in steps it will be much more manageable and easier to get it done. I want to make copies of the DVD’s and give them to my sisters so they will have copies, this is a backup data plan.

TRYING TO GET ORGANIZED

2012-01-22T15:59:00.001-05:00

The past week or two we have been going through our basement. We threw away several trash bags, and consolidated boxes and threw away about ten cardboard boxes. I made a trip to the thrift store and still have to go to Half Price Books and sell a few boxes of books. This is my first plan

My old computer has been repaired and my B-I-L put my pictures and downloads onto the D drive, now I have more room on C. What he suggested was making a DVD and put my files onto the disc. Supposedly DVD’s will last longer than CD’s. That is the second plan.

The third is scanning the pictures and papers I found in the basement in boxes from our parents homes. I had to download the drivers for my Lexmark printer and soon I will be in business to scan. I just have to move everything into the family room and set up on the larger desk. That is plan three.

To get this all done this week will be my goal. We will see how it goes.

ETERNALLY SEARCHING…

2012-01-17T16:38:00.001-05:00

I suppose we are all doing that. Each discovery presents more questions and the need to find the answers. My current quest is the parents of Michael A Coleman (1809-1855). What I have tired so far: 1) Doing a Google search using his name and dates , 2) Searching with his wife’s name and information. 3) Searching on Ancestry for records and family trees. 4) Searching on Google Books.

I did find a posting and have written to the author of the posting who has a Coleman Family. There are three males born in the area of when Michael A Coleman’s father was born. All I have are the dates with “mother and father” listed.

My question for today is where are the records of the now Woods County WV, which was formerly Virginia in 1790. If I can find the repository of the records, perhaps I can find a clue which will lead me to an answer.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!

2012-01-16T08:47:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, 15 January, 1923, was my moms birthday. She was born in Germany and emigrated with her parents in 1926 to Pennsylvania. They joined my grandmothers brother and her aunts who already lived here.

1923-1995

WHAT I HAVE FOUND THIS WEEK.

2012-01-14T11:38:00.001-05:00

Thursday I did research for two clients at the Diocese Archives. What amazes me is that on the website it explains that the work is done by volunteers and because we are searching old to ancient records, this is because of their fragility. They are not scanned or copied.

People still think we have everything digitized and requests can be obtained in the blink of an eye. Not a thing related to these records is digitized, this is mostly to protect the privacy of the dead and their families.. With all those books, there are hundreds, the old writing which is sometimes illegible it can be a very difficult task.

I still managed to fill the death information requested. Since their foundation and up until World War II, every ethnic group had their “own” Catholic Church. A lot of these old parishes have been consolidated and many old buildings closed,demolished or repurposed.

THE PRIORY is an example of the former ST MARY RC CHURCH, ALLEGHENY CITY. If you look at this link you will see THE GRAND HALL which is what the inside of this old building looks like today.

I must admit that in my searching I find the German priest were the most complete in recording. I have found maiden names and town of origins with Baptism and Marriage records and we all know what a treasure that is to find.

Michael A Coleman

2012-01-10T19:57:00.001-05:00

For many years Michael A Coleman has been a mystery. Or, perhaps I should say his parents have been. Michael is an ancestor of my husband. My cousin Helen had given me his information and we have not been able to find Michaels parents.

In Michaels Bible ( from the Civil War pension file) it is listed “Father” 1780-1847 and “Mother” 1789-1831. They knew what their names were and were inconsiderate that 170 years later their descendants would be agonizing on what “mother and father” names actually were .

The second Tuesday of each month we have a meeting of the Oakmont Genealogical Study Group, this includes a educational topic, and a “show and tell” This morning a new person arrived (we love new members or potential members) and he had Coleman in his ancestry. He had some information that he found on line (I know, I know) but he was using it as a basis for his research.

He had information on his line and I copied the URL and was surprised to find online much information. “My” Michael could potentially fit in to one of the on line submissions on Roots Web. The post I found was dated 2003, and I set the woman an email with what I found and my information. She had listed a Michael, born between 1777 and 1782 but not further information.

Also there was a book written “The Coleman Brothers: Revolutionary War Militiamen, Pennsylvania and (West) Virginia Pioneers and Their Descendants’ It was compiled by Georgie Kratzer Allen with research assistant Beverly Yingling Peoples by Gateway Press, Inc., Baltimore 1987.

The email had not returned as “unable to deliver” so I am hoping that perhaps this is my Michael………….But I have tried to find this book but none of the major sellers or eBay have this listing. There is no email for the compiler but a snail mail address is given.

GENEALOGY HAPPENSTANCE HAS STRUCK AGAIN…..

2012-01-06T09:07:00.001-05:00

We do not have an attic, but we have a basement. In our basement are the remnants of our parents and grandparents lives packed away in boxes. It is something we vowed to get to some day. That time is coming near, I will not throw away anything useful that can be used by others. About one mile from my home is a St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store where I donate many usable items and clothing.

Yesterday we were moving some of the boxes and I came across a photo album that was from my husbands parents. Some of them I had never seen before and did not know they existed, but Chuck remembered.

I found a few older pictures and plenty from the fifties and sixties of his childhood. A lot of them were scorched from the fire that happened in 1963. I will make a post on that later, now that I have the pictures.

Of course, not one of the photos are labeled, but we will collaborate and write the names on the back of them, in pencil, so down the line people will know who they are.

JANUARY 2, 2012

2012-01-02T09:24:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I did not feel like writing. I suppose I should write my goals, but I feel guilty when I do not obtain them. Perhaps I can write them and not publish them.

The week of Christmas, on the LDS site I found marriage records for Allegheny County PA. I found about twenty records, some of which I already had.

I also found many I did not have, so I spent the day making copies of the original and them cropping them to just have my ancestors information in case I wanted to publish it in my blog. At the same time I entered the information on to my Family Tree.

I have downloaded Legacy and Roots Magic and I like both of them but I still can decide which of them to purchase. I think that after entering new and unrecorded information I will have a better idea which I would like to keep. I also have information on My Heritage Family Tree, I suppose a person would say I am a little (maybe more than a little) indecisive.

What I absolutely LOVE about My Heritage Family Tree is the app for the smart phone. Now I can just access from my phone and do not have to worry about taking my computer to the library. The phone will fit in my pocket. How many people have their information on more than one tree?

Well, maybe one of my goals will be to copy all my information on a DVD as suggested by my brother in law. I have it on flash drives but he was right, I will get started on that project soon.

NEW YEARS GOALS

2011-12-29T19:19:00.001-05:00

Everyone is writing about whether they met their goal for 2011, I could not remember if I had set any…. I checked back on my posts and found that I did not.

What does that mean? It certainly does not mean I did not have any, it means that I had no clue what I wanted to do. When I wrote the posts a year ago, I did not know for sure that I would be retired by now. But I am…..I think forty two years working as a nurse is long enough.

I made a lot of discoveries, most of them by happenstance. I find things when I least expect it, it is that I go to search for an ancestor or something related and come up with something totally different. This has happened the past four years of my research.

The most surprising was my sister and I went to take pictures of my grandparents graves and I found a whole branch of her family. I had no idea that my great grandfathers siblings had moved to the USA.

My mother spoke of her Tante’s but I wrongly assumed that she was speaking of her fathers Aunts in Germany. She also had mention family secrets that I have yet to prove and perhaps I shall never find. What do you do with family scoundrels? I suppose I shall not print what I have heard until proved otherwise…..I could have gotten it mixed up like the information about her Aunts.

CHRISTMAS

2011-12-25T11:09:00.001-05:00

WOW..TODAY IS MY BLOGIVERSARY.

2011-12-22T08:47:00.001-05:00

It has been three years since I have started writing. Thanks to Thomas MacEntee at GENEABLOGGERS for reminding me and mentioning my blog. I knew the anniversary date was soon, but I thought it was after Christmas. When I started I had no clue what I was doing, sometimes I feel that I still don’t.

Looking back I feel it is more on the order of a research summary and questions to decide how and where to proceed. I really have learned a lot in a short period of time.

What I have done was to find collateral families of my ancestors that I did not know existed. I am currently trying to find what happened to them since I can not even find the Michael Downs Family in the census.

I have started to volunteer doing research at the Diocese of Pittsburgh Archives , and indexing on Family Search. I am even getting better at reading the old style German writing script. I would like to assist on the indexing of the Pennsylvania Deaths and Birth which now will be made public after the bill was signed into law by Governor Corbett of Pennsylvania.

I am hopeful that I will find as much more information in the next three years as I have found in the past.

BACK TO THE O’DONNELLS

2011-12-21T09:17:00.001-05:00

After spending time yesterday I found the 1910 census of my O’Donnell Family in North Braddock PA. Edward, Mary and the daughters are still living on the same street as her brother Thomas Dowd and sisters Catherine Mulroy and Norah Finnerty.

But census searches for any of the family after 1910 were negative. One thing I did find was a application for a passport for Bridget O’Donnell.

From Ancestry.com

Bridget was born in December, 1889 and would have been fifteen at the time of the passport application. My brewing question is, did they are return to Ireland? If some family tragedy occurred I am sure some of the remaining family would have taken her in.

This case is getting quite interesting……

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2011-12-21T08:52:00.001-05:00

WEDNESDAY CHILDREN

2011-12-21T08:49:00.001-05:00

These are only a few of the children who had died. They are the children of Katharine Rauscher Sperl and Anton Sperl.

Johann, 20 June 1888-27 February 1891

Anton F, 1 July 1890-11 March 1891

Margaretha, 10 February 1885-15 July 1892

They all died from infectious diseases.

DISCOVERY THIS MORNING

2011-12-19T19:19:00.001-05:00

This morning I went to the Archives to do my volunteer work. I usually go on Thursdays but I will be busy with Christmas preparations.

My morning was filled with searching for information of a client, which was successful. There weren’t any requests left. The afternoon was spent looking for my own ancestors.

I found that the previously mentioned Mary Dowd O’Donnell was indeed my great aunt. She and her husband had only daughters. He had emigrated in 1875, according to the 1900 census. Edward was fifteen years older than Mary.

I did not find a marriage record for Edward and Mary Dowd but the 1900 census they had stated they were married in 1885. I suspect they were married at St. Thomas RC Church in Braddock, but could not find a record of this marriage. According to the 1900 census Mary emigrated in 1882 which was two years later than my great grandfather (Thomas Dowd her brother.) Edward and Mary had only daughters Margaret 1885, Catherine 1887, Bridget 1887,Annie 1889, Mary in 1892 and Norah in 1895.

I have looked for them in the 1910 census but they could not be found. With all daughters I find them hard to search because of the change of name.

My great grandmother Bridget Naughton Dowd (b. 1868) had a sister Mary born in in County Galway, Ireland in 1865. I found Mary, she married Michael Downs on 23 July 1882 at St. Thomas Church in Braddock PA.

They also has daughters and one son. Michael Downs b. 1892, Sarah Mary Downs, Mary Downs 1884, Anna b. 1887, Margaret b. 1889, and Josephine b. 1896.

I can not find the Downs Family in any census. I know Mary was alive because my father, Thomas told me that his grandmother Bridget had a twin sister and he could not tell them apart. My father was born in 1918 and Bridget died in 1939. My theory is that he would have been somewhere between 1925 and 1939 to have remembered Mary Naughton.

She was alive probably in that time period, but where was she?

SUNDAY OBITUARY MARCH 14, 1924

2011-12-18T13:28:00.001-05:00

O’Rourke, Ellen. On Friday March 14 at 7 30 (?) a.m. Ellen O’Rourke, beloved wife of Patrick O’Rourke, in her 72d year.

Funeral from her late residence, 274 Braddock Avenue, East Pittsburgh, on Tuesday, March 18 at 130 p m (?) Requiem high mass at St. Coleman’s Roman Catholic Church, Turtle Creek at 2 a m (?) Friends of the family are respectfully invited to attend. Interment in Braddock Catholic Cemetery.

This is the obituary of my great grandmother Ellen O’Rourke. The copy from the paper is difficult to read and it looks like what should have been PM looks like AM. I can not imagine anyone being buried in the middle of the early morning.

I was sad when I found it because it does not mention her birthplace (Limerick, Ireland), her parents (Patrick Mortel and ??? her mother), or her children. Many of her children, Mary, William and Gertrude, were still living at home with her.

Was the cost of the obituary a factor in omitting this information?

THE SWISS CONNECTION…

2011-12-14T20:02:00.001-05:00

Since I have retired my cousin Helen Jean has been sharing her family information (husbands side) with me. I have been researching a few of the Catholic families.

I made an informal research plan and decided to see if I could find information on Anton and Barbara Miller (Muller) who had listed their place of birth as Switzerland. I found that Anton had come across in the late 1840’s.

My goal was to see if the records existed to find Barbara maiden name and where they came from in Switzerland. They had many children so I check for the Baptisms first. I was able to find the Baptism of Chucks and Helens ancestor, Adelaide Miller Feldkamp. Adelaide was born in 1851 and I indeed did find her Baptism which was at St. Marys’ RC Church in Allegheny City, Allegheny County,PA. As I searched more I was able to find her siblings, Ferdinand, John, Caroline, Evelyn, and Bertha. A check with the 1850 census produced a sister Susanna, who did not appear in the succeeding census of 1860.

I was also able to glean Barbara maiden name, Bosshard and the town of her birth, Turpenthal/Turbenthal, Switzerland and the town of her husband Anton Muller/ Miller of Koblentz, Switzerland. This was exciting…..because I came across a person who was also researching this line on Ancestry. A quick note off to this other person and I found a cousin….Barbara who was descended of Adelaide's brother John.

We were able to share information amongst the three cousins. Now we had three people in on the search and Barbara and Helen sent for some records from the LDS Church. Barbara found a microfilm of a Family history of the Bosshard Family and it was documented the ancestors back for seven generations. That is totally unbelievable to me that records could exist back that far. After I realized Switzerland's neutrality and the records still exist. We have still much to find but this was a great find in a new cousin and much more information with just the maiden name of Barbara Bosshard Muller and her town of birth. From the family history we found that Barbara and Anton were married in Turbenthal before they emigrated to Pennsylvania.

It has been a good week. In the records from Switzerland and St. Mary’s Church the name is recorded as Muller and later on on the census and other documents it has been changed to Miller.

REFLECTIONS OF CHRISTMAS

2011-12-12T09:01:00.002-05:00

Pictures taken at PHIPPS CONSERVATORY on my outing yesterday.

SECOND FINDING FROM MONDAY, A MAJOR MYSTERY

2011-12-08T09:26:00.001-05:00

With a few hours and lack of clients I also tried to sort out the names of the four deceased O’Rourke children of my great grandparents Patrick and Ellen Mortel O’Rourke.

I knew of the daughter (Loretta “Gertrude” O’Rourke b. May 1890) and the tale of Dennis O’Rourke (“drowned in river”) I did find the death index of Loretta in the Allegheny County records. My cousin send a picture of Dennis and I never found a death record for him, and the cemetery records are incomplete.

Allegheny County did not keep records until about 1892 or 1893 and I estimated the time of death as August 1891 because that was when the cemetery lot was purchased. Dennis would have been named after Patricks’ father, Denis O’Rourke who lived in Limerick, Ireland.

I decided to start at the beginning. Looking for Baptism records at St. Thomas RC Church in Braddock PA. Since Patrick and Ellen were married in 1874 I started looking in 1875.

I found Dennis (Dionysium O’Rourke) I had to ask and was told this was Latin for Dennis. Born 28 October 1875 and Baptized 1 November 1875. Father, Patrick O’Rourke and mother Ellen Murtal, sponsors James O’Rourke and Maria Farrell. James was Patricks’ brother.

On the same page and two entries later was another record. Born 10 November 1875 was Joanne O’Rourke and Baptized 18 November 1875. Father Patrick O’Rourke and Ellen Mortel with sponsors Martin and Winifred Otter.

These pages were the original entries, what just happened here, or rather in 1875? It is highly unlikely that Ellen would give birth to two children twelve days apart. Who are the parents of one of the children?

Did they adopt a child as their own of some other family member to avoid a scandal? The two could actually be raised as twins, that would have been no problem at all. I have been thinking about all the possibilities and can not come up with a answer at all.

The Baptism record is probably the only record that I will ever find on these births. Being the first born children I can honestly say that this will remain a mystery forever.

Any thoughts on this mystery please leave a comment, I have to consider every possibility.

VERY PRODUCTIVE DAY……

2011-12-05T20:27:00.001-05:00

Today I went to the Archives to do my volunteer researching. Since Thursday is HOLY DAY OF OBLIGATION the Archives will not be opened.

I did some research for a client and since there were no more requests I decided to search for my Irish ancestors. The records of St. Thomas RC Church are incomplete and Spartan. The Church was founded about 1854 and the marriage I was looking for in 1874 is not recorded, actually for the year there were only about eight.

Quite unexpectedly I came across a listing for a Baptism and the name of the mother caught my eye. Her name was Mary Dowd. I knew my great grandfather, Thomas Dowd had three sisters, Catherine, Norah and Mary. Catherine and Nora emigrated to the USA, married and I found them living next to their brother Thomas in the 1910 census.

Copy from Ancestry.com

Catherine was married to Thomas Mulroy and Nora to Cummins Finnerty. What I found was a Baptism for a child, Bridget O’Donnell and the parents were Edward O’Donnell and Mary Dowd. Bridget was born 15 December 1889. The sponsors were Thomas and Ann Dowd. Thomas was my great grandfather, but who was Ann? I searched for additional children of Edward and Mary and found a few. The most important clue was a sponsor for one of the children was Richard Fitzmorris and Fitzmorris was the maiden name of the Dowd siblings mother Catherine.

Back to the 1900 census and Mary and Edward were there. According to the census they had been married fifteen years and Edward was fifteen years older than Mary.

Relatives really do hide in plain sight. On the above census the four siblings were living together on the same street. More research to be done on Mary and Edward. There is only one sibling left and that is a brother John. I suppose he will pop up unexpectedly like Mary did………..

There were a few other surprises which I will follow with later.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2011-11-30T14:53:00.001-05:00

Who are you? You are someone on my fathers side, but what is your name.

THANKFUL THURSDAY….

2011-11-24T09:10:00.001-05:00

It was just a little time on this thought. I am thankful that all of my sibs and I (six of us) and spouses, are healthy and have no major health issues. I am thankful that two are retired and four are employed. I am thankful that our children are all employed or are in school studying things that will lead to their employment.

I am thankful that we were all thrifty and surprisingly everyone still lives in the first houses that we all purchased early in our lives. I am thankful that my husband, brothers and brother in laws will help with home repairs and remodeling.

I am thankful that this afternoon we will be have dinner at my sisters and everyone will bring a dish to share in the feast. I am thankful that there are no family feuds and we actually like each other. I am thankful that everyone is a good cook and the meal will be great…

THANKSGIVING AT GRAMDMAS

2011-11-23T15:29:00.001-05:00

I have to talk to my sibs, but I do not remember having Thanksgiving at my grandmothers, either one of them. I do remember having dinner at my Grandmother O’Rourkes but for the most part my father would pick her and her brother William O’Rourke, and bring them to our house.

The really strange thing that I just thought of is I do not ever remember having dinner at my mom’s mothers, Anna Bartels. Was it because my father did not like his mother-in-law (that is a fact for sure)   What I can remember he said was someone asked him how the war (WWII) was going and he said it was going well and supposedly she said “Not for our side.” Anna was born in Germany. If this conversation did happen I will never know.

I also do not remember my grandmother Anna Bartels coming out to our house for dinner.   We would go to visit but not eat.   This needs to be investigated tomorrow when I talk to my brothers.

I talked to one brother and sister and they also had no memories of ever eating a meal at our grandmothers, Anna Bartels.   They also remembered going to visit but not eating. Was this because my grandmother did not want to cook or because my father did not want to eat there?   I am thinking it was the later.

My brother did remember eating breakfast at Gertrude O'Rourkes house because he was eating pork chops for breakfast. I can remember eating dinner and being fascinated by the tiny squares of carrots that she had cut, and also she made parsnips and turnips. He said he had gone there after church and she cooked breakfast.

Which leads me to another question. My grandmother O'Rourke lived in East Pittsburgh and the local Catholic Church was St. Williams. This the closest church, about a ten minutes walk, but most of it was uphill.   She always went to St. Colman's, which was in Turtle Creek. Traveling to St. Colman's would be on two street car rides and take about thirty minutes. I have her and my grandfather, Thomas Dowd marriage license and they were married in St. Colman's in 1917.   Perhaps this was the church she always attended and she would get to see her son and grandchildren every Sunday.

My father would take my grandmother and her friend, who was also her cousins wife, home after church. It is amazing what buried memories come back with a thought in your head.

THE ELUSIVE O’ROURKES

2011-11-21T18:29:00.001-05:00

No family drives me more crazy that my paternal grandmother (Gertrude O’Rourke Dowd Graham) parents, Patrick O’Rourke and Ellen Mortel (Martel/Martin??) I was re-reviewing my fathers papers and came across the Delayed Birth Certificate for William and Gertrude O’Rourke.

My theory is that they applied for them in order to get enlisted for that new thing Social Security. On my Uncle Bills papers he had listed his birthday as May 1888, which coincided with the Record of Baptism of ST. Thomas RC Church in Braddock PA. The interesting thing that caught my attention was the notation that there were nine children living in the household, including William.

My grandmother, Gertrude O’Rourke, also applied and listed her birthday as October 5, 1892 which also is what the records of St. Thomas RC Church had listed. The interesting thing to me is that in the four years between 1888 and 1892 are that the number of children now living, including Gertrude is six. Which leaves me missing three children as of 1892.

Who is missing? One I know of is Dennis O’Rourke, who my grandmother spoke of and said that he had died in the river (Monongahela River) He had gone to swim and drowned. I have his picture, courtesy of my cousin Joanne. My grandmother spoke of her sister Loretta who also died “Because someone scared her at the window and she died.” I did find a listing for Loretta in the Allegheny County death as of 1892. The report said she is buried in Braddock Catholic Cemetery.

Who is the third child? I check my fathers notes on the O’Rourke Family and he had listed a child Rebecca, who is Rebecca? I know nothing about her.

My only clue is the fact that Patrick purchased his cemetery lot in August, 1891. Is this the time Dennis drowned? I can not imagine anyone buying a lot unless it was needed. The records from that time period are missing from the cemetery records. Where does Rebecca fit in to this equation? My theory is that Dennis had been the first to died because August was the time to go swimming. So Rebecca died between 1891 and 1892, and Loretta died in 1892.

I have to go back to the cemetery and see if there is a listing of who’s who in the plots and search the Baptism records of St. Thomas. The death records do not start until the 1940’s so that is out. The records of death in Allegheny County Start in 1892 so Dennis and Rebecca would have died between 1888 and 1892.

How sad was it to lose three children within four years….

52 WEEKS OF PERSONAL GENEALOGY-FALL

2011-11-20T12:37:00.001-05:00

Fall is my favorite season, the hot days of summer are gone and the cool crispness has arrived, at least in Western Pennsylvania. School always started the Monday after Labor Day and that really signaled the start of autumn for me.   In grade school I went to a Catholic School. At the time, I and many other children, rode the city bus to school because it was not required to be provided by the school district.   The ride cost five cents, one way. Can you imagine sending your five year old on the city bus to school by themselves today?

\On snowy days school was never cancelled; I suppose it was because the nuns lived nearby in the convent.    The buses would be equipped with chains that were held together with huge bungee straps and if one of them broke the chain would make a loud noise as it hit the inside of the wheel well.

It was also a very busy time at our house.   My father had a garden which provided most of the vegetables and fruit for the winter season.   My parents would also buy fruit by the bushels full and can them too.    I had to help with the canning, my main job was to remove the skin from tomatoes and peaches and then after my mother cut them I would place them in the jars.   Anything remotely dangerous was done by my mom and dad.

The next big event in the fall was Thanksgiving.   My mother would cook the turkey and all the trimmings. I really do not remember going to my grandmothers for the Holiday, although my grandmother and her brother would come to our house. My dad would provide the car ride back and forth since no buses were running on that day.
We would have stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, two vegetables and the turkey. For the dessert was the pumpkin pies, later years my mom would buy the pre prepared pie shells and just make the filling.

It was and still is my favorite holiday.

SAD FINDING TODAY

2011-11-19T19:42:00.001-05:00

I set off this morning to search for a record of Clara Nosseck. It was brought to my attention to a woman who lives in the Pittsburgh area… She thought the story was of interest and did a Google search and found my blog. I had wondered what had happened to Clara Nosseck who was the first wife of my husbands great grandmother Katharina Rauscher.

This was from the Pittsburgh Press, 17 February 1889 page 4.

JUMPED IN THE RIVER

The body of Mrs. Cara (sic) Nossack (sic), wife of Joseph Nossack, of Millvale, who left her home the evening of Jan 7, was found yesterday by two men who were cutting ice at the head of Herr’s Island. Mrs. Nossack was mentally deranged. Her husband had made every effort possible to find her. She was last seen the evening she left home standing at the end of the Forty –third street bridge. She had her little dog with her, and the next morning when her husband was looking for her, the dog was still waiting at the bridge. It is supposed she plunges into the river there. A verdict of suicide was rendered.

I check the records of the deaths of the City of Allegheny and found the entry. She and Joseph had married in 1887 and she had two children. My thought were that she quite possibly had POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION Which quite likely could happen with two children under the age of two at home. She was buried in Shaler Township, but I have yet to find out if it was in the family plot at St. Anthony’s Cemetery.

I felt sort of depressed after reading the news article.

IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE I POSTED

2011-11-17T19:46:00.001-05:00

The past two months have been busy and that left not left a lot of time to do research, but I think I am back to normal, whatever that is.

Today I was at the archives and did research for three clients. One was a surprise to me and probably even a bigger surprise to the client.

I was researching her great grandmother and I found her Baptismal record and to my surprise her great grandmother was a twin…there was no information that there was a twin birth. I do not think the sister lived into adulthood because there was no record of her on Ancestry…

I did find the names of four of the great grandparents and where two of them were born. The interesting thing was in the space for the birthplace of the parents was ? in each space. Why did the bride not know where her parents were born? Did she emigrate by herself? This shall remain a mystery.

With the few minutes left I searched the records of ST. Thomas parish in Braddock, PA. I was looking for the marriage of my great grandfather Patrick O’Rourke and Ellen Mortel. According to the 1900 census it stated that they were married in 1874. I found the records of their first child, Anna O’Rourke in 1875.

I poured over the records from 1854 till 1879 and the book that had the early records was Spartan. From its appearance I think that the original record book was lost and what I found was sort of a reconstruction from some of the people who were married. Some of the years were missing records and the year 1874 there were only about seven marriages recorded. I have searched the Vital Records in Massachusetts , Baltimore, New York and Philadelphia to no avail.

I think they were married in Braddock PA and the record does not exist. What lead me to this conclusion is the fact that the first daughter was born the next year, no record in other states and I do not think they would travel with Ellen heavily pregnant and set up housekeeping, Also, I have searched every Irish Catholic Church in the Diocese of Pittsburgh and did not find anyone in my family, Both sides of ancestors attended St. Thomas and had the sacraments administered at that parish.

I will keep on searching, but I think by deductive reasoning that the records are lost.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY—SPERL FAMILY

2011-11-09T08:54:00.001-05:00

A collage done by me of the people of my husbands ancestors. Some of them have yet to be identified. Collage done by program COLLAGE IT I really like this program, but have not done very much work on it, I have to get busy creating.

BUTCHERS RUN FLOOD 26 JULY 1874

2011-11-07T17:49:00.001-05:00

Today I spent the day at the Archives and was perusing the records of St. Mary Catholic Church in Allegheny City. I was looking for a death for a client.

I came to a page in the handwritten index and I noted that five people of the Fuchs Family had died on 26 July, 1874. I made a note because I thought that was so interesting because they had died from aqua submersion, or drowned.

After I found the information for the client I went back to read it again and below and above I found families that all had died from drowning. My co-researcher said that she remembered that there was a terrible flood one year.

When I got home I Goggled the date and Pittsburgh Flood:

Introduction

“As evening fell on 26 July 1874, "a storm of unprecedented violence closed over this vicinity, and continued for upwards of an hour, during which the fall of water was something enormous, and the display of electricity unparalleled within the memory of any living citizens," reported an almanac of local history in 1876. Butcher's Run, Spring Garden Run, Pleasant Valley, and Woods Run injected flood waters into the city of Allegheny, Pennsylvania. All four streams coursed down from the northern hillsides, spilling over their banks into lower urban areas. Butcher's Run and Spring Garden Run flooded from their confluence a half mile to the river, pouring water into a heavily populated section of the city. [1] Steep hillsides focused the swollen streams. An observer declared that the flooded valleys

each contained a roaring river, carrying everything before it, -- buildings and their contents, corpses of human beings, dead animals of every description, horses, cattle, hogs, sheep, and mules, household furniture, mountains of clay, sand, and gravel, street lamps, fences, etc., etc., all borne upon its raging bosom toward the river below. [2]

Residents caught in the storm that Sunday evening had no warning. Property lost in the Butcher's Run flood could not be accurately tallied, but contemporaneous sources estimated several million dollars of material damage. About seventy Allegheny residents died, with up to eighty more perishing outside of the city. The greatest devastation centered on the Butcher's Run and Spring Garden Run watersheds, although Woods Run, in what was to become Riverview Park, also left destruction its path. "It was a terrible visitation, and should be a most solemn warning to the people, teaching them not to neglect the necessary precautions, and to never disregard the possible power of the elements," summarized the 1876 almanac. [3]

In 1896, another inundation revived memories of the 1874 Butcher's Run flood, burying railways under debris and forcing Allegheny residents to evacuate from many of the same areas. "Within minutes after the storm broke, Woods Run avenue was covered with several feet of water and much damage was done between the cemeteries and Washington avenue," reported the Pittsburg Post. A particularly steep sewer along Woods Run Avenue carried so much water.”

From www.Pittsburghbridges.com

FATAL FLOOD 1876 It seemed to be about 126 people who lost their lives. In one article I read was that the event was considered “an act of God” and no one was held responsible.

EXCITED ABOUT A FIND....

2011-11-04T20:54:00.000-04:00

Just an Android find, but it is the Beta of Ancestry. If you go to your apps and search Genealogy then Ancestry app comes up. It says "read only" You can download it and then log into Ancestry and download your information. There is a link for comments on how you like the app.

It was easy and what I feel is great is the fact that you can access the info from the smart phone. I have to use it and check the features but it will be good when I am out and need to access the account.

NEW FIND FROM ANCESTRY.

2011-10-28T19:14:00.000-04:00

Today I got an email from Ancestry that they had found some potential matches from my grandfather, Willi Schridde. My thought was what could they possibly have found?

Usually it is someone who is not a match or they found a tree match, which is really one of my other trees. I had called them one day and asked if there was anyway I could merge the four trees and they told me there was not.

Back to Willi........I knew from reading the news story about his death by electrocution as I had written HERE about his being injured in WWI. The information they sent me was from a book and it had him listed as being a casualty in the war. Since he was German it was published in Germany. I know it was him because his birthday was correct, and much to my surprise he was injured twice once in 1914 and once in 1917. Now I wonder if there are other records to describe his injuries, from the article about his death I think they were serious.

Now, on my to do list is to look at the towns that were listed and see if I can find records about his family. He was born in Quickborn, but his "parents left soon after his birth" This leads me to believe that perhaps she went into labor while on a visit to some relatives.

More to be discovered. I am glad I took the class about how to read Franktur....which is that "Gothic" style of German writing.

I HAVE DONE A RAOGK

2011-10-26T16:37:00.001-04:00

It was not really random, no was it something that any of us would have done.

During the summer I met my husband at an auction.   He had purchased a small chest of drawers and needed my car to transport it.   When we went to get the chest we found a box with a few other things that the auctioneer had thrown in as well.

One of the items was a box of family photos and some of them were from the late 1800’s and early 1900.   So doing what every other genealogist would do I searched and turned them over to see if they were labeled.   A few were and I scanned them and started a blog FOUND AT AN AUCTION.

With the name on the back of one post card, Henry and Calisa Steinke I was able to find a tree and the same old photo on the site.   The photo was a copy of a newspaper and not too clear, but I could see it was the same photo.   I found the pictures in Western Pennsylvania and the recipient lives in Ohio. It was probably on the western migration of the family.

After a few email to the tree owner I have sent the photo on their way. They were excited to get them, as I and all of you would be.   His mother in law was able to find many family members and was really happy to get one of the original pictures of Henry and Calisa. He said he will let me know how the story develops. I can’t wait to hear……..

My hope is someday one of my cousins that I have not met will find me and send me pictures of my great grandparents Thomas Dowd and Bridget Naughton and their children. There is always hope for that one.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2011-10-26T10:45:00.001-04:00

Hyperinflation circa 1923 following WWI. My grandmother said that the men got paid twice a day and at noon would bring home the money so the wives could buy something tangible because by the end of the day the cost of goods would be higher. The family emigrated in 1926 to Pennsylvania.

RESEARCH TODAY AND MY FINDS.

2011-10-20T19:01:00.000-04:00

Today I was able to do a bit of research on my husbands 3x great grandparents, Anton and Barbara Miller. What I found was in the Baptism records of St, Mary's German Catholic Church in Allegheny City PA.

I was looking for a marriage record and Baptism of a daughter Susanna Miller.   I did not find their marriage, or Baptism of daughter Susanna.   What I did find was located in the Baptism information for their daughter Adelaide Miller.   What it listed as Barbara's maiden name (Bosshard/Boshart) and the two cities of Anton (Koblenz, Switzerland) and Barbara (Turbenthal, Switzerland)

Now with the new discoveries my questions are were they married in Switzerland and was Susanna born in Switzerland.   Susanna is not in the 1860 census, did she die?   I have to check the death registers to see what I can find.

It was a good day in the discover of ancestors.   A note of interest was that the name was recorded as Mueller for the birth of all the children, the last being Bertha in 1866.   The death recorded for Barbara has her name listed as Miller in 1889.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2011-10-19T09:25:00.001-04:00

Fall in upstate New York. Tunkhannock State Park

THIS HAS BEEN A VERY BUSY MONTH

2011-10-14T19:35:00.001-04:00

And it is nowhere finished. I have been remiss in posting, that does not mean I have not been busy but rather, busy with the ins and outs of life.

First, my husband had some outpatient orthopedic surgery. A visit to the daughter was in order. Tomorrow is a wedding, and two other things planned with in the next month. I do not know how I found time to work.

What I have been doing in genealogy has been interesting too. Since I have retired I have been going over the records of my cousin Helen. She and my husband are first cousins and I am searching for clues and information that pertain to those lines.

One of the things I found was a death certificate of a relative that she did not have. The second was, when I updated one of the four lines I got a shaking leaf on Ancestry. As the story develops, I found a new cousin, Barbara. We both were excited because I found someone to share information with. My husbands 2x great grandmother was a sister of Barbara 2x great grandfather John Miller. Cousin Barbara said she had never found someone who was researching the Miller/Muller line before.

Anton Miller/Muller (father of both) was born in Switzerland in 1810. I have not found the information on the date he emigrated to Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. The first record I found was the 1850 census with he and his wife Barbara living with a daughter Susanna. Susanna is six years old at that time and would have been born in 1844, they were living in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania which is now part of the City of Pittsburgh.

In 1860 census the same couple have one daughter, Adelaide who was estimated to be born in 1850. Susanna is not listed. What makes my new cousin and I think this is the same family is that the wife is named Barbara and is 14 years younger than Anton in all the census information.

Helen (cousin) had found the two obituaries for both Anton and his wife Barbara. They were buried with funeral masses from St. Mary's Catholic Church located in Allegheny City PA. What I need to do is search the records of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. The first German Catholic Church, in Pittsburgh, was St. Philomena's. It was established in 1828. So my plan is to find the records to see if Anton and Barbara were married here. With Barbara being fourteen years younger than Anton I see this as a definite possibility.

Then check the records to find Susanna and Adelaide. I need to see if the first child with a question mark is a sister of Adelaide and child of Anton and Barbara Miller (Muller) I have seen the last name written both ways.

Cousin Barbara is descendant of Adelaide’s brother John. Cousin Helen had no information on John because John Miller is such a common name. So we were able to share information and obtained information on a brother.

We have all been excited about what we now know and I hope to be able to fill in the pieces.

BRAIN ON HIATUS

2011-09-30T15:39:00.001-04:00

Or at least it seem that way. I seem to go in spurts in blogging. I hope I am on the up side now…….I have been researching my husbands side for the past few months. He seems to have more interesting ancestors than I. This is because they arrived from 1733 to the early 1800’s.

My Irish relatives came over in the 1880’s and my mother and her parents came over in 1926. I find the Irish and German research to be very difficult. I found a lot of information after their arrival but not a lot in Europe.

I find it unusual is the fact that both of our families settled in Pennsylvania and STAYED THERE. How rare is that? I have been perusing the local county Historical Societies and looking on the Gen Web site for those counties. I guess a road trip will be in order. The good thing is that they are no more than a two hour drive away.

I felt the need for a little autumnal color.

52 WEEKS LEAST FAVORITE FOOD

2011-09-25T16:46:00.001-04:00

My father had the philosophy that children should eat what they are served. This was the result of his growing up during the depression. And my mom served things that only my father liked. The most disgusting and repulsive food to me were creamed Lima Beans.

The texture was gritty and flavorless. He seemed to like everything creamed, including spinach, lima beans and corn. Why anyone likes cream on vegetables still escapes me to this day.

He also liked raw onions in everything and the worst were meatloaf and hamburgers. I remember picking out the onions in everything I could find, and I do not eat them now. My mother bought a blender years ago and chopped up the onions and celery that she put in the stuffing because I would sit and pick them out of the dressing.

We had to finish everything on our plates and I would sit in the dark in the kitchen, gagging and holding my nose while I had to eat what was there.

I still do not eat Lima Beans and will pick them out of vegetable and make a nice, neat little pile of them on my dish. They are a vegetable invented to punish children.

CEMETERY INFORMATION

2011-09-21T19:08:00.001-04:00

I am both happy and sad at the same time.   I contacted the person ("me") who had posted the information for the grave at Freeport Cemetery.   I was interested in Mary A Bowser who had died on 17 February 1914.

This was in the area of possibilities for the death of Olive(Maud) Bowser Stephens mother. Olive had indicated in her second marriage license application 6 June 1914 that both of her parents (Jacob Bowser and Mary Murphy) had died.

I sent an email to "me" inquiring about her/his posting. The grave had been moved to Red Oak and I actually had two questions.   The first was about Mary A Bowser and where was Red Oak.

"Me" replied that Mary A Bowser that was buried was only three years old and they also searched the rest of the Bowsers and no one there fit into my criteria.   The Red Oak was adjacent to Freeport Cemetery.   She/he said in fact not too many people knew that Red Oak had been part of Freeport.

I sent a "thank you" email back and was glad to get the information.   That is one of the myriad of cemeteries in Armstrong County PA that I can take off my list....I was really glad for the reply and history about the cemetery.

MY GENEALOGY WEEKEND

2011-09-19T09:33:00.001-04:00

This weekend was very busy for me. After perusing the plethora of Bowser Family trees I could not find a death date for Mary Ann Bowser.   On her daughters second marriage license application in June of 1914 they were both listed as deceased.

So, having nothing much better to do, I went on find a grave and electronically visited every listed cemetery in Armstrong County.   I found one single grave Mary A Bowser, 17 February 1914.   Moved to Oak Ridge.    This is a likely candidate, but where is Oak Ridge and who had her moved.   I have to give them a call and Google Oak Ridge.

I visited my cousin Helen, her grandfather and my husbands grandmother were siblings. She shared (very generously I may add) her folders on one side of the family. I spent the better part of yesterday going through and copying files.   The family names were Feldkamp and Honerkamp.   Both sides came from the Kingdom of Hanover in the early 1830-1840 era.   She had copied many census records and I searched Ancestry to see what I could find but there were no census records to be found on these families. I have to talk to her and see where she got her records.   I wonder who is doing the indexing, I have a suspicion that it is not someone that English is their native language.

I did find one nugget of information and it was a death of death on one of the descendants of Johan Feldkamp.   Helen did not have this record. Now I will search the Diocese of Pittsburgh Archives and see what they might have.   The first Catholic Church in Pittsburgh was founded in 1808 and that parish was St. Patrick. There were a few German parishes founded a few years after that.

Each answer brings more questions.

SENSORY OVERLOAD WITH BOWSERS

2011-09-13T20:35:00.001-04:00

Since I found the parents of Olive Bowser I have been looking at online trees, census records and the documentation of the Bowser Family in the early Pennsylvania history. I have found that the Bowsers/Bausser/Bauser/Basur came to the USA in 1733. It seems that a whole group of the family left Switzerland and headed for Philadelphia.

I have found them in Montgomery, Lancaster, York, Bedford, Somerset, and Armstrong County Pennsylvania. I find much information, but what is right and documentable?

For example I have the names of two different women as wives for Valentine Bowser. Was he married twice and who is the mother of Daniel Bowser? My Mary Murphy has a father named Thomas and was living with her and Jacob A. Bowser in Pennsylvania in 1860. Someone else has him living in Iowa. The two names are the same but they can not be in the same place at the same time.

I have written to a few of the owners of the trees and I hope someone answers so I can figure this out. I find personally when something does not feel right, it usually isn’t.

More work tomorrow and I know this is going to be a long project. The fascinating thing is how people have been able to trace this family back to the late 1600’s in Switzerland. How much of it can I prove to be correct?

9/11 MEMORY

2011-09-11T09:49:00.000-04:00

It was a cool, bright and sunny Autumn day. I met my husband at the local family restaurant for breakfast because I was not scheduled to work that day.   Several of the local police usually stopped at the same restaurant.

One of the detectives got a phone call and said "A plane has hit the World Trade Center."   My initial thought was that is was small Cessna type plane. Soon more calls and the police had to leave. The detective stated that the thinking was it is a terrorist attack.

Next I went to get my hair cut and by then a second plane had hit and rumors were swirling. I went home to watch the TV and the reports of another hijacked plane and it was thought to be over Cleveland.   Since my daughter was in college in Cleveland, and not too far from Hopkins Airport I was really getting upset. I tried to call her but she was in class, at least I hoped she was.

Next came the report that the plane had turned and was in Pittsburgh's air space.   Scenes of horror were imagined as I tried to think if Pittsburgh was the target. No Pittsburgh wasn't, the plane was now flying East over Southwest PA.

Then a crash just east of Pittsburgh............I kept waiting to hear of more hijacking and heavens knows what else.   I sat with morbid fascination, dread and fear while watching the collapse of the towers.    I wondered why people were told not to leave the twin towers, I was feeling that if I was there I would have left.

It was one of the scariest event in my life as well as others.   My daughter's classes were cancelled and I worried about her.

FLOOD STORIES THEN AND NOW

2011-09-10T20:33:00.002-04:00

Actually, I have been spending a lot of time and psychic energy worrying about my daughter who lives near the Susquehanna River in NE PA.   She lives more to the center of town and not on the edges.   She is a RN and works at the local Medical Center.

She did not get any water in her basement but many people did.   There are levees on the river and the river got quite close to the top.   The next town down, Athens PA, the river breached the levees and flooded the town. What she has to do is boil the water and the sewer system is not functioning.   If the levees had been breached in her town I can not imagine the damage that would have happened.

The hospital has cancelled the elective surgery for two days and she is hoping to be able to get back to work.   Being off is fine when you have something to do.   The town, Sayre PA, has a great Facebook page and they have been updating the townspeople with all the needed information.

My great grandparents and their family lived near the banks of Turtle Creek. This was long before any flood control.   My grandmother would talk about the many floods and how they had to move everything to the top floor and then the massive clean up afterwards. After the parents died her sister Mary O'Rourke told her brother William, O'Rourke to sell the family house and move because she just could not clean a house like that again.

The did sell and move up on a bluff overlooking the old house and the creek. The old family house and beyond it is the bluff where they moved. The town was called East Pittsburgh.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2011-09-07T08:29:00.001-04:00

Tom and Gerda taken in Erie PA, early 1940’s.

SEARCHING FOR BOWSERS

2011-09-05T09:36:00.001-04:00

Since last Thursday when my fellow Bowser researcher generously gave me the names of the next Bowsers in my and her family, I have been perusing all sorts of sites and posted family trees.

I have a lot of information and now trying to make sense of it. The biggest thing that caught my eye is the number of people who just post names and dates all willy-nilly.

I really wondered if they had read and correlated the dates of birth and deaths of the parents and they children they have posted.

For example, one of the ancestors had his first child at the age of 11 and one wife continued to have children fifteen years after her posted death…..with no mention of a second wife or marriage.

This also happened to another ancestor I was following, he did not emigrate to the USA but someone working on his line had him here years before my great grandfather emigrated and was 13 when his son was born.

This is going to make my job quite complex. Are the dates of birth and deaths of the parents wrong or do the children listed belong to another branch of the Bowser family? I have not written to any of these people, how can I mention that their math skills and assessment skills leave a lot to be desired.

Does anyone else find this a problem?

ARMSTRONG GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

2011-09-02T09:05:00.003-04:00

Wednesday I spent the afternoon at the ARMSTRONG COUNTY GENEALOGICAL LIBRARY A member there is researching the sister of Jacob A Bowser. I had copied the marriage application of Olive Bowser Stephens where I found Mary Murphy, Olives mother.

She share with me the names and dates of four more previous generations of Jacob A Bowser. That was VERY exciting to me because it takes me back to the 1600's. Now with this information I can search and document the information. She said she did not have the documentation because she had started thirty years ago and did not cite her sources back then. It is easier to search if you have names and dates.

Guess I will be busy on this line for a very long time.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2011-08-31T09:10:00.001-04:00

NEW BLOG

2011-08-30T08:35:00.000-04:00

As mentioned in my Blog latest Blog post I have set up a photography-geneblog. FOUND AT AN AUCTION is its name. Setting it up is still a work in progress. I had linked it to my Live Writer Account and now I can not access my old blog accounts, so I have to work on that.

I also found that my old Photoshop will not work on my new computer, so I guess I have to work on that too. I search the forums of Photoshop and there does not seem to be a patch for that old program. Actually it is PS 3 so I guess a new one is in order.

SENTIMENTAL SUNDAY

2011-08-28T18:41:00.001-04:00

Or at least it will be when I find the relatives of the box of pictures I found at an auction. My husband went to a auction in Cheswick PA. He purchased a small piece of furniture and the auctioneer threw in a box of photos.

There are some old ones and the rest are from the 20’s through the 50’s. I found a picture of husband and wife and their names were on the back.

I checked for the family and I did indeed find them in the census in Darke Ohio. Even better I found a man had posted a family tree with this information. Buy this time I suspected that the couple in my picture was the family I had found due to the woman's unusual name of Calista.

When I read his tree he had a lot of pictures and he also had the very same one I had in my hand. His picture appeared to be a copy of a newspaper photo.

What I will do is scan, make a folder and then see if he wants them. Is there anyone out there who would not want to be contacted and offered a collection of photos that included your ancestor?

I have to get busy on that project and I thought that I would mail him the whole bundle if he is interested. From the amount of photos I think he likes pictures.

I am hoping that some day a person will contact me and tell me they have found a picture of Thomas Dowd and Bridget Naughton and the children and would I like a copy…..I would walk to go and pick it up.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2011-08-24T14:27:00.001-04:00

What was the reason for this picture?

EUREKA, I REALLY FOUND IT…..

2011-08-23T13:19:00.001-04:00

As I had planned Chuck and I stopped at the City-County Building in Pittsburgh.

It only took about 10 minutes and now I have the answer. I found the parents of Olive Bowser and as I had suspected, but now I can PROVE it. Her father was Jacob Bowser and mother Mary Murphy. Olive was married on 6 June 1914 but the Justice of the Peace C.B. Milligan at 1334 Federal Street, North Side, Pittsburgh PA. At the time of this marriage both of Olives parents were deceased.

I have to take a drive back up to the Armstrong County Genealogy and now gather up more information on the ancestors of Jacob and Mary.

The Bowser Family is well know in Armstrong County PA In fact the original Matthias Bowser SR. came to the United States somewhere in the early 1700’s.

They were German Swiss and I can go back about four or five generations that have already been documented.

I took Chuck with me to do the research. Olives name was misspelled, it was Stephens but listed as Stevens. He wanted to know if I was certain and why would it be spelled wrong. I just laughed.

Her husbands name was Oswald Rauhut and how could anyone not know that this was the same couple? Even in the 1900 and 1910 census the names was spelled Stephens in one and Stevens in the other.

I am so happy because I have been searching for the documentation of Mary Murphy for about two years.

SUNDAY AND WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK

2011-08-21T20:33:00.001-04:00

This has been a slow genealogical week for me…..On Tuesday I went to a meeting of the NORTH HILLS GENEALOGISTS. I was so surprised that they had a great meeting. I had joined this group earlier this year but with winter and working I did not get to go as it is about an hour drive from my house.

The topic was on German Genealogy and I have to put my plan into action. There is also a beginning German class and I would like to start learning German. It seems that there is a beginner, medium and advanced class.

I asked my sister if she was interested in going, she will let me know. I will see if Chuck is interested in driving there. It is at the PENN BREWERY and he could have dinner and a brew while I am in class.

This week I also did my volunteer work at the Archives of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. I was searching the records of St. Michaels, which was located on Pittsburgh’s south side and know then as Birmingham. St. Michaels was a German Catholic Church and the old records are written in German in the old German Script, I am getting better at reading the old handwriting.

What struck me while searching the death records was the extremely high number of children and infant deaths. It seemed to me that this group comprised about 75% of the deaths. Really, how sad was that? I knew that there were a lot by this actually surprised me. There were also a number of women in their 20’s who had also died, and I have a suspicion that they died in childbirth.

The current c-section rate is now about 25% and that is about the same number of women who died in childbirth at that time….

My goal this week is to go to the Allegheny County Courthouse. Chuck has an appointment in town and the Batman filming is over, so I mentioned to him that I would like to stop and look for the records of his great grandmother Olive Bowser. I am hoping that when she married the second time it was in the timeframe (1914) that the name of her parents was required. But, the way things go for me on that line I am prepared that the information will not be there……Tuesday is another day……….

I REALLY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER….

2011-08-16T16:36:00.001-04:00

I have been agonizing and really frustrated by the lack of information on Olive Bowser Stephens and her parents Jacob and Mary Bowser of Armstrong County PA.

Today out of the blue, I was looking in my Bowser folder actually, it suddenly struck me……..Olive’s second marriage. She was married in 1914 and in Pittsburgh. At that point in time the parents names were required on the marriage license applications. Why did I not realize this a year and a half ago. Why did it take looking at her second husband, Oswald Rauhut’s immigration papers to finally figure out to look at their marriage application.

I will go to Pittsburgh and look it up as soon as the Batman filming is ended and all of those filmmakers and actors have gone.

Has anyone else done something incredibly off the wall like that, missed something so obvious in their research? I feel like a complete idiot over this basic record.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2011-08-10T14:26:00.001-04:00

Maria Korbach Bartels, Anna Bartels, Daniel Mathias Bartels c. 1913

BACK HOME

2011-08-07T09:24:00.001-04:00

My sisters and I spent a few days at my daughters home. She had to work and my sisters and I did some sight seeing and shopping.

We perused many antique stores and what I saw in one store was amazing. It was an old photo album, with pictures from the late 1890’s and early 1900’s. The most amazing this was that 90% of the photos were labeled. Someone took the time to write, above the photo, the names of people in the photographs.

I would have purchased it but the cost was $60. What a treasure to find if it were your Family. The person who took the time to write a Who’s Who deserves a genealogical medal.

I was in a shop in SYLVANIA PA which is in the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania and in Western Bradford County. The people were the Reynolds and Willis families.

So, I decided to make a post and list the place and families in case anyone would happen to find the link to my blog.

AN ELECTRONIC VISIT TO ST. LUKE CEMETERY

2011-08-04T07:36:00.001-04:00

Before I could select a day I made an electronic visit to St. Luke Cemetery.

Photos taken by Rich Boyer and courtesy of Allegheny County Gen Web Archives. I had been looking for George I the 1910 and 1920 census and now I know why I did not find him.

It is amazing how some people are easy to locate and others are virtually impossible. I also sent these to my Aunt Edna. I am thinking that the elder Phillip emigrated to the USA circa 1850 to 1855. On one census it is documented that the son Philip was born in Pennsylvania and one in France.

OUT TO LUNCH AND RESEARCH FOR AUNT EDNA.

2011-08-01T18:50:00.002-04:00

My husbands elderly (89) Aunt invited me out to lunch with her and her daughter yesterday afternoon.   I have been sharing with her my trials and tribulation on finding relatives.   Her husband was my husbands fathers brother.    She was the person who told me that the elusive Olive Bowser died on Christmas Eve in Salem Ohio.
After lunch she asked me if I could do something for her. She wanted to know where her Great Grandparents came from.   Aunt Edna had given me some preliminary information.   She said that her grandmother could speak French and German and in fact Edna had studied French in High School so she could practice speaking to her grandmother.
I accepted the challenge.   She had written that her great grandfather was born in 1825 and died in 1886. Phillips wife was named Barbara.   Checking the census was the number one thing to do.   Fortunately the couple came to the Pittsburgh area and stayed there.
What I found on Ancestry was 1)1860 census was Philip, Barbara and son Philip.    2) I found him on a list of eligible to fight in the Civil War list.   I do not know if he did serve. 3) 1870 and 1880 census.   All were saved by me on my computer and in my Ancestry Shoebox.
Next I searched on the Ancestry Family Trees and found two with people who were researching the same couple.   I now had Phillip and Barbara’s dates of birth and death.    There was no citation so I sent the owners and asked where they got their citations. As well as their dates of birth and death I now had Barbara’s maiden name and the places where they were born in Alsace-Lorraine France, complete with the towns listed.
The last of my find was a note that they were buried at St. Luke Cemetery.   Now there were a few St. Luke Cemeteries and I chose the one that was the closest to where the couple lived.    St. Luke near Millvale Pa is a small cemetery and it is kept up by the Lutheran Church in Millvale PA.
Some wonderful soul had indexed the cemetery and it has Aunt Edna great grandparents, grandparents and some of the siblings of Edna father.   I was so happy that finding this information was a breeze. It actually only took me a few hours time and the research was quite fruitful.   I hope Aunt Edna is happy…..
The index stated that they had grave markers, so I see a trip to ST. Luke Cemetery in my future.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2011-07-27T17:31:00.001-04:00

Morocco WWII

SCANNING TODAY

2011-07-27T17:25:00.001-04:00

Today I decided to get busy and scan some of the photos I found in the box that I refer to as My Fathers Treasures.

I went through some of the envelopes that he had labeled as Old Negatives. My parents were married 4 February 1943 before he was shipped to Europe.

What I am most curious about is who took the picture and were they taken after the wedding ceremony.

Some others ………………………..

Since my mother was born in Germany this was the only job she could find, working in a bake shop.

52 WEEKS OF GENEALOGY -EMPLOYMENT

2011-07-26T08:15:00.001-04:00

My first job started early, I was in charge of watching my brothers. I never baby sat for pay, I was just was not interested in watching children.

After high school graduation I did not know what I wanted to do, and actually no one ever sat me down and asked “Claudia, what are your career goals?” That includes the guidance counselor, who to this day, I considered totally useless.

That summer after graduation I got a job with WOOLWORTH 5 & 10 STORE My job was waitressing and selling snow cones from a machine which was placed outside the store. Woolworths is the store on the right with the red letters. From the cars I would imagine it was in the late 50’s or early 60’s

*I found this image on Google Images, but do not know the credit of this picture. Published by Imperial Greeting Card Company.

The snow cones were 5 cents. The ice was kept in a insulated bin and you inserted the ice and ground into small pieces and then topped it with flavored syrup. The syrup came in three or four flavors including cherry and orange.

I spent the summer sitting outside and watching the passers by. I do not remember the relentless heat we have today. After the summer was over I was waitressing inside as the lunch counter. Coffee was a dime, hot dogs a quarter as well as ice cream sundaes. What I remember mostly was you pulled a piece of paper for the banana splits and they ranged from five cents to a quarter.

I also remember the store manager, who never spoke except to criticize…..another thing from that experience that irked me was that he called everyone by their first name but insisted that he be called MR. _______ It is funny that it still irks me to this day. There also was the fact that some customers treated you rudely because you were waitressing.

After a few months working at this job my biggest enlightenment came to me. I was not going to spend the rest of my life doing this. I made a decision and went to Nursing School. I guess I can say that one of the things it taught me was to get out of there and on with my life doing something more meaningful.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2011-07-20T09:49:00.001-04:00

Summer day cool off c. 1928

MCCONNELLS MILL STATE PARK PENNSYLVANIA

SNGF I am jealous....

2011-07-17T19:35:00.001-04:00

After reading all the posts and the colorful charts, I must admit I am extremely jealous. Randy wrote to include all you information about you great great grandparents. Randy, I am lucky I know their names...........and some of then I do not.

This is a problem for me because my first great grandparents came from Ireland in 1874, the second set came in 1880 and 1888.

My grandparents came over in 1923 and the great great parents never left. I think I can safely say that I am 50% Irish and 50% German. I would like to make that chart. It would be half purple and half gold.

Sometimes I get frustrated with not finding my ancestors. I read everyone's blogs and try to utilize their techniques and hints. But for some of them it is a brick wall as high as Niagara. I will keep on plugging.

52 WEEKS……SUMMER

2011-07-17T09:50:00.001-04:00

Somehow, I do not remember long stretches of protracted hear during the summer, when I was a kid. Have I forgotten them or has it gotten hotter?

In South Western PA no one had A/C. When walking past a movie theater, with my mother, I remember the sign proclaiming AIR CONDITIONED. There was also a movie poster with the picture of Lon Chaney as the Wolfman, I found out much later that it was Lon Chaney. I never saw the movie but I wondered about the Air-conditioning .

A few days in the summer it would be hot a few days and then cool off. When it is too hot to fall asleep and you lay awake I wonder how hot it was in the house. I am thinking in the 90’s. But, somehow, I would fall asleep and the morning would be not as hot.

We lived in a two story house and the upstairs would be hotter than the main floor. My parents bedroom was on the main floor and any complaints about the hot room would fall on deaf ears.

We would get up early, eat breakfast, and after our chores were done we would be out the door. My friend lived next door and Jean and I would play with dolls, jack, hop scotch and sometimes just go on an adventure. I had to be back for lunch.

By that time my mother would find something else to do, usually involved watching my brothers. I realize now that she probably wanted to do the cleaning and tidy the house and they were in the way. Somehow I felt I spent a lot of time watching my siblings.

By the end of summer I was looking forward to going back to school and the cooler weather. I do not thing my brothers were as much as I.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2011-07-13T09:34:00.001-04:00

Anna Meta Hackmann and Freiderich Schridde, c. 1980’s.

My great grandparents, courtesy of my cousin Angelika S.

TECH TUESDAY…I WON, I WON…..

2011-07-12T15:52:00.001-04:00

What you might ask?? Let me go to the very beginning, actually not that far back. I belong to the Oakmont Genealogy Study Group, in Oakmont PA. The second Tuesday of every month we meet and have a discussion and sometimes have a presentation.

Most Tuesdays someone will donate some item related to Genealogy. Things that perhaps were on sale or purchased at a garage sale or thrift shop. It keeps the cost down that way. Sometimes it might be a tote bag or folders etc.

Today I won a Readers Digest Publication entitled OUR FAMILY ARCHIVE It is a tool for creating a Digital FAmily Scrapbook. It comes complete with a CD that provides the tools needed to make the scrapbook from all your special stuff.

My initial impression was “What am I going to do with this” has been replaced with “Maybe I will just do this” I suppose I have to hurry because I have 5 siblings and a certain Holiday is around the corner.

Before I promote it charms and usefulness I will have to work on the project.

BACK TO THE NEGATIVES

2011-07-11T18:52:00.001-04:00

The one package of negatives my father has listed as “Morocco 1943” I am very curious about this batch of pictures. I know my father was in Morocco during the war, but in what time frame I do not know. With the date 1943 I think it must have been one of his first assignments.

He said they were not allowed to go into the SOUQ. One morning my dad woke up with a huge, circular, black and blue mark with the appearance of two “fang” marks. He went to the doctor who asked if it hurt, was it itchy and how did he feel. My dad replied he felt nothing and in fact he felt fine. The doctor said he did not know but if he started to feel sick come back and see him.

I wished I had asked more questions about Morocco. He did bring back a curved knife. Looks like a lethal weapon.

I have to figure out what to do with the negatives.

WHEN I WOKE UP THIS MORNING

2011-07-08T09:58:00.001-04:00

I found that the new format had taken over and every thing was nicely in place.   The learning curve seems to be short.   I have to play with the features and so far I like it a lot. I was worried prematurely.

In my fathers Treasures I found a photo of Father Carrol, who was pastor of St Williams Church in East Pittsburgh PA.   Since I am volunteering at the Diocese for research requests, I decided to donate the picture to the archives.   I guess next I should look to see when Father Carrol was pastor.

I am liking my time at the Archives Center.   I am learning a lot about the Church history of the Pittsburgh area and getting better at reading terrible handwriting.   I can not criticize writing, my own is sometimes unreadable, even to me. I am also becoming more familiar with Latin.

Back to my fathers treasures. My father was a pack rate and lucky for me I find things of a lot of value to my personal history. What I found recently is negatives of every picture he had ever taken.   Honestly, I found negatives dating back to 1943, the year they were married.    I have to figure out how and if I can scan those old negatives.   Most of them look good when held up to the light and a few are damaged.

I had started a Genealogy to do list on my Google Docs. I actually had forgotten that I had started that list.    I should be better at adding and marking done at the end of the ones I have finished.   What I like about Google Docs, is that is free and the fact that I can share the list with family who can add to the list.

WEDNESDAYS CHILDREN

2011-07-06T16:03:00.001-04:00

Children of Anton Sperl and Katharina Rauscher Sperl

ROOTING IN MY FATHERS TRESURES

2011-07-05T19:51:00.001-04:00

I spent a few hours today going through my fathers pictures and things he had saved.

I have to get scanning the old photos of my sibs and I when we were young. Each time I look in that box I seem to find something new, or rather new to me.

Today I found large manila envelopes envelopes. The things he saved were mostly World War II related. The first thing that caught my eye was the front page story of 16 October 1946. It was published in the Pittsburgh Sun Telegraph. In two inch high letters it states:

GOERING KILLS SELF TO CHEAT HANGMAN

10 NAZIS DIE ON GALLOWS

Ex-Reichsmarshal Hermann Wilhelm Goering was scheduled to be hanged. It appears that he committed suicide a few hours before he was scheduled to be executed with the “ten remnants of the Nazi hierarchy”

“Despite the fact that an American security guards was supposed to be watching his every movement, The Crown Prince of Nazidom managed to place in his mouth, chew and swallow a vial containing cyanide of potassium.

The vial of poison was hidden in a copper cartridge shell. Goering swallowed the poison while Col. S. Burton Andrus, American security commandant,was walking across the prison yard to the death row block to read to him and the ten other condemned Nazi leaders the International Military Tribunal’s sentence of death.”

It seems that Goering or the others did not know the time of the execution, which was to be one hour after the sentence was delivered.

How he managed to know that this was the day or how he concealed the poison on his person remains a mystery.

I will have to find out if the mystery was ever solved.

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY

2011-07-05T10:02:00.001-04:00

Anton Sperl was the first husband of Katharina Rauscher. He died three months after the birth of his son John Christ Sperl, of typhoid fever. John was my husbands grandfather. Katharine and Anton married 17 June 1884. They had five children who died in childhood of infectious diseases.

Katharine remarried Joseph Nosseck 15 February 1904. Joseph died of tuberculosis in 1916. Josephs second wife, Catherine Stross died on 31 October 1903 also of tuberculosis. Joseph and Catharina had two daughters.

I have to search more for information on Joseph Nosseck.

The two tombstone are placed beside each other in St Anthony Cemetery in Shaler Pennsylvania

VACATION 52 WEEKS OF PERSONAL GENEALOGY

2011-07-02T19:32:00.001-04:00

Each summer my father would take a week off and we would do things locally. One day was dedicated to the PITTSBURGH ZOO. It was called the Highland Park Zoo at the time because it was close to one of Pittsburgh’s many city parts, HIGHLAND PARK. This was before we had a car, and it seemed to take a long time to get there. The family members were all dressed and we took one bus and two street cars to get there. This involved transfers from the bus to street cars and the same procedure home again. My mother always packed a lunch and I suppose she took it in a picnic basket but I have no memories of it being transported. I suppose they chose a picnic table and left it there for the day. I do not remember anyone taking our lunch.

Another day was going to the CARNEGIE MUSEUM and my favorite part was the DINOSAURS EXHIBIT which was both frightening and fascinating at the same time. ARAB COURIER ATTACKED BY LIONS was mounted in1867, it is the oldest exhibit and gruesomely fascinating.

A trip to KENNYWOOD PARK which was one of the many trolley parks build on the end of a line and it was a destination. They have a Kiddy Land and a large amount of ride for the grownups. They have three wooden roller coasters including the THUNDERBOLT and the RACER which is a double coaster. The leave at the same time and ride in parallel tracks along the whole length. That is one of the few double roller coasters in the world. What makes is scary is the fact that they are make of wood and it does not look very sturdy and the clicks and clacks when the coaster slowly makes its way up the hill.

On the other days, if it was sunny, we would go to the local state parks and swim the whole day. For Kennywood and the parks my mother would pack sandwiches, drink and a desert for our lunch.

It wasn’t until my youngest sister was out of diapers that we went on a week long vacation.

KATHARINA RAUSCHER

2011-06-30T17:23:00.001-04:00

Since I retired this spring I decided I wanted to do some volunteer work. When I saw the notice in the paper from the Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society about the Diocese of Pittsburgh needing volunteers I decided I would like to do that sort of volunteering.

I had taken a few classes on the old style German writing and thought that might help me. So far I have done two days and I am quite enjoying myself and obtaining a lot of skills in reading the “old” writing styles and research of old records. The older records are also in Latin a lot of the times. I am even getting better at Latin.

I have completed two requests for clients. It is taking me a long time but I feel I will get better as the months go on.

After I was finished with my client I still had a bit of time left and I decided to look for Katharina Rauscher, my husbands great grandmother.

I decided to search St Ann’s Catholic Church in Millvale PA. I had already had sent for the records at St Anthony’s in Millvale in 2008 but that marriage was not found.

I hit the genealogical jackpot. They were at St Ann’s. Anton Sperl and Katharina Rauscher were married 17 June 1884. Anton’s parents were Christof. Sperl and Margaret Buchl, this information I already knew because the family emigrated from Bohemia in 1869.

But I found Katharina’s father, Franc. Rauscher and her mother M. Anne Fleishner, both of Rosshaupt, Bohemia. Frank Rauscher’s name was listed on Katharina’s Death Certificate but her mother was listed as unknown.

A few weeks ago I found a Frank Rauscher living in Millvale and he was of the age that my theory was that he was Katharina’s father. I still have to prove this and my theory is he came to the USA after his wife had died and that is why the informant knew his name. His grandson, John Christ Sperl gave the information upon his mother Katharina’s death in 1947. I have to go about and prove my theory.

Another brick wall has crumbled.

After thinking about M Anne Fleishner I decided that I would look for the name Margarethe because that is the name she gave her first daughter.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2011-06-29T13:17:00.001-04:00

Picture of my mother I did not know existed until my German cousin Angelika sent it to me. She looks so happy

ORDERED MICROFILMS

2011-06-27T07:31:00.001-04:00

On Saturday I went to the Family History Center and ordered two microfilms that I found while perusing the LDS site. I found the baptism of my great grandmother, Bridget Naughton and the marriage of her parents, Thomas Naughton and Catherine Ward. They were both from County Galway, Ireland.

What am I hoping to find is the names of any brothers and sisters of Bridget. My father had long spoken of Bridget’s twin sister. I have not been able to find any information about his recollection. He would have been a child at the time so they could have just been sister that resembled each other.

In about two to three week I can expect them to be in, but I know there can be delays. I expect the delays so I will be pleasantly surprised if they come on time. What I am wondering is why every record I find of interest there is no image available? I guess that is just the way it goes.

Today I am going to see about volunteering at the local church diocese. I went on Thursday for a look see and an interview. Today I suppose it could be called an orientation. I ran off a copy of Latin phrases related to genealogy and I have the papers on the old German style of writing.

I am finding it easier to read after taking two classes but I need my “cheat sheet.” More on that later.

ANOTHER FUTILE SEARCH

2011-06-26T09:10:00.000-04:00

Wednesday I decided to go back to Armstrong County Genealogical Library.   The people there are quite helpful and offer many good ideas and suggestions.     We have now searched Ancestry, Heritage Quest and innumerable books about the county and about the Bowser Family.    Still no luck, the newsletter will be published this month and I posted a query with the information that I had.

One person suggested that I send for the Civil War Pension records for the Jacob Bowser that I suspected might be Olives father.   This is my last resort, I really do not want to spend $75 on a long shot.   What else to do? Do I want to go to Armstrong County Courthouse and sift through the will of every Jacob Bowser? The clerk told me that there were sixty three of them in the records alone.   I suppose I could narrow it down to Jacob Bowser's who died after Olive would have been conceived.

Another thought I had was that in the 1860 census I found a Jacob and Mary Bowser living with her father Thomas Murphy who was born in Ireland.   Could Mary Murphy Bowser have been Catholic and baptized the children in the Catholic Church?     Armstrong County belongs to the Diocese of Greensburg and they do not have an archives.   To obtain the record you have to go to each and every Catholic Church and since this family in question had different addresses in every census that might prove to be an monumental task.

I also have to drive to Ohio and see if the cemetery has any information that was not in either the death certificate or obituary.   It is only an hours drive, which is certainly easy to do.   I think I need another relative to occupy my time for awhile.

SPECULATIONS ABOUT OLIVE BOWSER

2011-06-21T09:21:00.001-04:00

I am grasping at straws here. Since I can find no records of the early life of Olive Bowser I have formulated some ideas to pursue.

It is know and documented (death certificate and obit) that her birthday was 4 October 1874 in Armstrong County PA. Her parents are listed as Jacob and Mary (UNK) Bowser of Armstrong County PA.

Also listed are “several brothers and sisters” but no names are listed. I still want to go and see if there are cemetery records and return to the Armstrong County Genealogy Library.

In Armstrong County there was listed an Olive M Bowser b. 1875 in Armstrong County, she was the daughter of Felix and Mary Bowser. I later found the death and picture of her tombstone and she had died in 1885. In the 1880 census I find Maud Bowser b. 1874 with parents of Jacob and Mary Bowser living in Armstrong County.

My Olive disappears until the 1900 census living in Pittsburgh with Robert Stephens. The couple have three children at this time.

A while back I received a copy of Robert Stephens Civil War Pension Record. I did not post much about it at the time because of something I had found. My husband and his brother told me that I could post the information because all the people involved have all died long ago.

Robert was married 9 May 1868 to Sarah Wright (b. Franklin Township PA) in Allegheny City PA. They had four children, Rachurl (Rachel?), Robert, William and Rudy. In 1890 Robert is living alone in the “Morgan House” in Allegheny City PA.

In 1914 Olive filed for his accrued pension. In that statement it said that she was married under the name of Olive Bowser at Allegheny City (Allegheny County PA) in 1893 by “no ceremony.”

Olive had not been married before and the “soldier had been married and application made for divorce in 1893 from 1st wife but never carried through” First wife (Sarah Wright) died 19 December 1910.

In the 1900 census they stated that they had been married since 1891 and have three children at this time. Olive was probably about sixteen when she and Robert met and were together until he died in 1913. They were never legally married, in an affidavit filed after his death she stated that she could neither read or write and she thought he had divorced and they were married until someone read his papers she found after his death.

My thought is did her parents know of her marital status? Did she take the name Olive from her dead cousin Olive M? Is my Olive really Maud also born in 1874? At what age did she move to Allegheny City? She worked as a domestic, did she meet Robert in the “Morgan House?” Robert was twenty five years older than Olive. Did she take up with Robert out of necessity? Was she unable to support herself?

In the pension records it was stated that he referred to her as his “wife” and they lived together for twenty years and she took care of him after his spinal injury in 1903 until his death in 1913. All the affidavits given by people who knew the couple stated they the were happy together.

Will I ever find the answer?

FATHERS DAY

2011-06-19T07:42:00.001-04:00

Patrick O’Rourke - Great Grandfather

Thomas Dowd - Grandfather

Thomas Dowd - Father

Grandfather - Willi Schridde

Great Grandfather - Daniel Bartels

Frederick Schridde- Great Grandfather

And lastly my great grandfather Thomas Dowd, of which I have no picture and would dearly like to have one.

LDS SEARCH

2011-06-11T13:56:00.000-04:00

I am so excited, today I was experimenting with my Irish ancestors on the LDS search site. I popped in the names of my great great grandparents Thomas Naughton and Catherine Ward and (drum roll here) they appeared: Now with that information I can order the film and off I go, Hopefully, Bridget was born in 1868, so I can imagine that there other siblings. I am so excited.

Groom's Name:	Thomas Naughton
Groom's Birth Date:
Groom's Birthplace:
Groom's Age:
Bride's Name:	Catherina Ward
Bride's Birth Date:
Bride's Birthplace:
Bride's Age:
Marriage Date:	12 Feb 1861
Marriage Place:	Roman Catholic, Killian And Kilronan, Galway, Ireland
Groom's Father's Name:
Groom's Mother's Name:
Bride's Father's Name:
Bride's Mother's Name:
Groom's Race:
Groom's Marital Status:
Groom's Previous Wife's Name:
Bride's Race:
Bride's Marital Status:
Bride's Previous Husband's Name:
Indexing Project (Batch) Number:	M70176-1
System Origin:	Ireland-ODM
Source Film Number:	989748
Reference Number:

THRIFTY THURSDAY

2011-06-09T08:47:00.001-04:00

I suppose this could go into Thrifty Thursday and Tech Tuesday. Yesterday I published a very colorful picture of flowers taken by me on WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

This great photo was the result of COLLAGE IT This is free software, with the option to buy for $19.90. Is is really great for free so I am wondering what you would get for the full version. Collage It is available for Mac and Windows Operating Systems.

A Getting Started Screen appears and you click the Add button to import photos from your computer. On the top right you can choose the number of photos to use.

After your selection you click the Generate Layout to generate a preview, you can click this option many times to get the best arrangement you would like.

Next you click Save Layout and insert a title and save it to your picture album. There are a few other options including changing the size and shape of your field.

I need to explore the other options to see what is included.

I have not been compensated in anyway for my evaluation and use of Collage It. It is worth giving it a try…I am planning to arrange a collage of my ancestor photos.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2011-06-08T09:15:00.001-04:00

Bit of color

WEDNESDAYS CHILD

2011-06-07T16:43:00.002-04:00

This is the elusive Great Uncle of mine, Dennis O’Rourke. He was the brother of my Grandmother, Gertrude O’Rourke. She would speak of him and all I remember was that Dennis drowned in the river.    I do not think that Gertrude remembered him because she was born in 1892, I think all she knew was that he was her brother and he had died and was sorely missed by her parents.

Denis is the name of my great great grandfather, who would have been the younger Dennis grandfather.   I do not know when he was born or when he died.   I have not found any records of his existence except this picture and my grandmothers tales.

But my theory is Denis was born after his sister Ann O’Rourke (1875) and I think that is he would have been named after his grandfather and according to the Irish naming traditions. I am thinking that he was somewhere between the ages of 11 and 16.

My theory on his death was it was in August 1891 because that was the time that my great grandfather, Patrick O’Rourke bought the plot in Monongahela Cemetery ( Now All Saints or Braddock Catholic Cemetery) in North Braddock PA.    I can not imagine a poor person buying a cemetery lot if it was not needed.

The Vital Records of Pennsylvania do not start until 1908 and the County of Allegheny kept records from about 1893 until about 1905, so I never found Dennis in the records.

The picture is from the collection of my cousin Joanne D. She said that it was a copy of a large charcoal drawing that was held by her mother.   The large charcoal drawing has disintegrated, but we do have a copy of the lad. My estimation of his age would be about 12 to 14 years of age.

Picture from the collection of my cousin Joanne D.

I decided to change the title of my post published on Tuesday and even though it is Thursday I think the title is appropriate.

THIS IS THE FACE OF GENEALOGY

2011-06-05T19:04:00.001-04:00

My great grandparents Frederick Schridde and Anna Meta Hackman and their children. Elsa Schridde Czitkowski, , Willie Schridde my grandfather, Kate Schridde Schmolling, Emilie Schridde Beckmann, Frieda Schridde Bordolo, and Lilly Schridde Claussen

PA PALANTINES TO AMERICA

2011-06-05T09:40:00.001-04:00

Went to a conference this weekend. It was the PALINTINES TO AMERICA conference. It was held at the SHERATON STATION SQUARE. The location is great and is along the banks of the Monongahela River, just over the SMITHFIELD STREET BRIDGE from the city center of Pittsburgh.

The weather was spectacular with the temperatures in the 70’s and low humidity. The attendees raved about the location and the weather, I told them it was not like that every day.

While the location was great the food at the Sheraton Station was expensive and mediocre at best. Fortunately there are several restaurants close by and a lot in the city which can be accessed by the Pittsburgh T STATION or taxi. You can also walk into the city on foot if you choose.

A woman I spoke with also said she brought her iPad and asked if they had wifi. She was told in no uncertain terms that the Sheraton “did not have free wifi.” What????? Even Motel Six has free wifi !!!!!!

There were two main speakers John T Humphrey and James M Beidler. Mr. Humphrey spoke mainly on research technique and source location and Mr. Beidler on 17th and 18th century research. Since my German ancestors came over in the late 1800 and early 1900’s I attended mostly Mr. Humphrey’s lectures. His presentation well worth the attendance.

There were many other speakers who presented various topics and many activities were planned and well received by those who attended. Also available were books and other genealogical related item for purchase. The vendors were great and had a wide selection for sale.

I enjoyed the conference very much. Now onto to researching those elusive Germans.

MEMORIAL DAY

2011-05-30T09:30:00.001-04:00

Obituary, Michael O’Rourke, son of my grandmothers brother Thomas.

Mrs. Thomas O’Rourke of 126 Lynwood Avenue, East Pittsburgh has received word from the War Department that her son, Pvt. Michael O’Rourke was killed in action in Belgium on January 27.

In the service since April 1943, he is survived by three brothers, all in the service, Sgt. Thomas in England; William C., WT2/c with the Navy in the Pacific and PFC., Patrick stationed in California; and one sister, Elizabeth, at home.

A graduate of Union High School, Turtle Creek, he worked for the Union Switch and Signal Company in Swissvale, before entering the service. He had been overseas since October 1944.

Requiem high mass was sung at St.Colman’s Church on Saturday, March 3 for Pvt. O’Rourke.

Michael is buried in All Saints Catholic Cemetery (Braddock Catholic Cemetery) In North Braddock, PA in the Soldiers Section.

I never knew him but my grandmother kept his picture in her living room. By the dates sand location he was killed in the BATTLE OF THE BULGE

Michael J O’Rourke

Obit from collection of my cousin Joanne D. Portrait from my collection.

PENNSYLVANIA CIVIL WAR 150

2011-05-29T08:45:00.001-04:00

Found a great web site this morning in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. It is called PENNSYLVANIA CIVIL WAR 150 The information is about Pennsylvania in the Civil War, as you might suspect from the title.

There are many links including a section on Genealogy and a store. I have to explore it more thoroughly and wanted to share this link.

BOWSER THINKING CAP BACK ON

2011-05-25T11:19:00.001-04:00

I came up with an idea on how to proceed with Olive Bower/Maude Bowser. On her death certificate and Obit it states that she is buried in Grandview Cemetery in Salem OH. Since it is about a forty five minute drive from my home I decided to drive there and my husband said he would go with me.

I was hoping that she has a tombstone and perhaps there is a middle initial. More than that I am hoping the cemetery office has some records and perhaps I will find more information on her middle name.

With my luck I probably will find the cemetery records have been destroyed in a fire.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2011-05-25T08:17:00.002-04:00

Picture of my father, Thomas Dowd, circa 1920. From the collection of my cousin Joanne D.

IS THIS MY OLIVE BOWSER?

2011-05-20T12:06:00.002-04:00

After not finding Olive Bowser (b1874 Armstrong County PA)   I decided to search for a child with another name in the same time frame as Olive.

I searched for _______ Bowser, parents Jacob and Mary Bowser, b 1874, Armstrong County in the 1880 PA census on Ancestry.

What I found was Jacob Bowser (age 50) and his wife M Ann (age 47)   living in Armstrong County, Mahoning Township, district 14.     Also are listed S May (daughter) age 16, Andrew L age 9, Gertrude age 7, Maud age 6 (that would put Maud born in 1874), Enos age 4 and Annie J age 1.

In 1850 Jacob and Mary are living in Pine Township. The only child is Nathaniel

In 1860 I find Nathaniel 10, Lewella 7, Calven 6, Lafaette 3, Matthias 1.   I have been following this particular family for a few months.

Can not locate the family in 1870. I have to do a wider search for them in 1870.

I am thinking that perhaps Maud was Olives middle or first name. I have not found any documentation of a middle name for Olive. On her husbands Civil War Pension File she is listed only as Olive. On the documents she does not sign, just makes her markl

More searching to be done, my instinct tells me this is Olives Family, and Olive and Maud are the same child. I just have to prove it. I will start with searching for Gertrude and Enos. Jacob and Mary Ann are not very common as a couple in Armstrong County.

NEGATIVE COURTHOUSE SEARCH

2011-05-18T15:31:00.003-04:00

After a drive to Armstrong County Courthouse I easily found a parking space.    Then in the records department I sat down with the micro fiche reader and began my search.   My two Jacob Bowser wills proved to be a negative search.

I could have searched the deeds and records for Jacob and Mary but there were about 80 Jacob Bowser, I need a middle name or initial.   The Bowser name in Armstrong County is as common as Smith.

On to lunch, and a stop at an antique store whose owner had a shop cat named Chella.    She got Chella from a lady who was moving to New Mexico and the cat came and stayed.   She will come up for a few pats and then follow you around the store.   Nice cat was she.

At noon the Genealogy Library opened and I perused several of the books that they had to no avail.    The ladies suggested writing a inquiry for the next newsletter and gave a suggestion that perhaps Olive was not her given name, but rather one she   used.   I am hoping one of those "several brothers and sisters" are doing genealogy and have some information.

Now for the second part of the plan of research is to do a wild search for   * Bowser, birthday 1874, parents Jacob and Mary, and female in Armstrong County in the 1880 census to see what I will come up with.   I am pretty pessimistic right now about the outcome of this search.

SCANNING AND SEARCHING.

2011-05-18T08:36:00.001-04:00

Last night I did the downloads and found the software for my Epson computer. The computer is a few years old and never used because of two other functioning computers. I refused to throw away something that works and getting software to work drives me crazy.

I have Windows 7 on my new computer. I had visions of trials and tribulations finding and installing the drivers because Windows 7 was not around when the printer was made.

To my great joy and satisfaction it downloaded and works like a charm. I just had to go into the bowels of Epson and I must admit their information and downloading programs is great. No problem at all.

What I did was scan about half of the photos from the album that I had found that belonged to my father side of the family.

The biggest obstacle was getting the photos unstuck after being in the album for about thirty years. I do not know who had but them there, but they were really stuck. What I did, since most of them were snapshots and not formal portraits, was gently inserting a slim knife under the picture and gently manipulating the release of the photo from the album. There were no fatalities in destroying the pictures. There were some of them at I could not get the edge of the photo to release to start the process. I will scan them with my hand held scanner, I just need to replace the batteries on that tool.

A lot of them were thin, but the few formal portraits were made of better paper. It was a tedious job but I was able to remove most of the pictures.

A few of the pictures I could identify but most of them I could not. I wrote to my cousin and hopefully she can help me solve the mystery.

Claudia and Gerda c. 1946

Technorati Tags: Epson Printers

ARMSTRONG COUNTY COURTHOUSE

2011-05-17T14:46:00.004-04:00

Tomorrow my plan is to go to the Armstrong County Courthouse and search some records. I am still on the trail of finding the family of Olive Bowser.   She is proving to be the hardest to locate. I have the information on the two files and the lady who answered my questions told me that they have some birth records.

I am hoping that I will find some concrete information, but the way my luck goes I would not be surprised if I find nothing.   Or, perhaps my Karma will change.

Still have to get busy on putting the ink in the scanner/printer. I should really quit writing about it and just get it done.

RETIREMENT AND NEW FIND

2011-05-15T09:51:00.001-04:00

I think the Honeymoon phase of my retirement is about over. I have enjoyed my time off doing essentially nothing. One goal, and the most important in my eyes, is to get organized.

I have only been doing research for about three years. At the beginning there was not too much information on citing your sources. I did make a notations about when I obtained my information but not everything in my collection.

Now I am sorry because I was searching for the immigration record (my theory, has not been proven) my great grandfather Patrick O’Rourke, I can not find it !!!!!!! What I remember was a record that listed “P O’Rourke” The location and timing was in the right time frame, but can I find what I had copied? NO and my biggest initial source of documentation was and is ANCESTRY. COM. I have tried to search again to no avail.

They seem to have changed the search. When I choose the Immigration selection I get a massive run down on all areas. I am now trying to find a needle in a haystack, a portion of which has been my own doing.

In the need to get moving I went again to the box that held my fathers photographs and some of family papers. I really never had examined this box thoroughly. I found some more childhood pictures of the sibs and I.

At the bottom of the box was a blue photo album which I haven’t recalled seeing before. This must have belonged to my grandmother Gertrude O’Rourke or her brother William O’Rourke. What I found was many pictures belonging to the O’Rourke side of the family. I found a picture of my great grandparents Patrick and Ellen plus much more. Now I have to get the printer and scanner connected to copy my new finds.

The pictures are presenting a new challenge. They were stored in one of those “magnetic” sleeves that stuck on the backing and were covered with a plastic sheet. The photos are literally stuck to the back sheet. It will be quite a endeavor to safely remove and scan them. The problem remains how do I treat the now sticky photos. I have to find some mechanism to safely store the pictures. They must have been in that album or forty years.

Good start to achieving my goals for today.

My current picture of Ellen Mortel and Patrick O’Rourke

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

2011-05-08T14:59:00.001-04:00

Gerda Schridde Dowd

UPDATE ON FIND A GRAVE

2011-05-07T20:19:00.000-04:00

After my frustration declined I decided to email the person who claimed my work as theirs I decided to send them an email rather than post a nasty gram on her site.

In my email I noted that one warm sunny day my husband and I went to the cemetery and took pictures of our ancestors. I noted that they were still on my hard drive as well as some I had not posted. I requested that they remove their name from my pictures...

The reply was that they had removed them.....my reply was Thank You.

I really can not understand the logic of that at all.

CLEAN UP MY FILES

2011-05-06T16:21:00.001-04:00

On Wednesday I went to Armstrong County Genealogical Society to do research on Olive Bowser. I had a VERY difficult time trying to locate records that I had placed on my flash drive. I had been looking for Olives Obit.

I obsessively compulsively had everything in neat folders arranged by family names. Then I got the idea to copy them onto my new computer. Much to my horror……..they did not move in files. They moved into one enormous file arranged alphabetically by the name on the digital image. The C people in my line were among the Christmas Flower show and Chilhuly glass pictures that I had taken.

I began a long process of changing the labels on some of the images only to have them go poof and disappeared somewhere else in my digital mess. It took several hours to make new folders and sort things per family again. I still haven’t found my childhood photos but I have two more computers to check.

After I got everything in a folder I had to go back and eliminate the duplicates (census records and such) This ordeal told me I need to get better organized and if I decided to do that again I should manually move folder by folder.

Now I have to go and separate Christmas Flower show from the Chilhuly glass pictures and many scenes from innumerable vacations.

Technorati Tags: flash drives,organization,Olive Bowser

Find a Grave Website

2011-05-05T19:09:00.000-04:00

Today I am quite a bit irked. A few years ago I had added photos and the dates of births and deaths of some of my family members and the photos I had taken in Allegheny County Pennsylvania.

For the past week or so I have been getting no reply emails telling me they are duplicate postings and for me to remove them.   I know when I posted (35 or so of my family) there were no other memorial of my relatives and that is why I added and posted them in the first place..   To top it off the pictures that I had taken personally and added to the website are now gone.

What is going on here? Who would take it upon themselves to remove my photographs? And change the information?    After that I went to St Anthony's cemetery in Shaler site and checked to see if my listing were still there. They were but another person has inserted her name and claimed the photos that I had taken.

Do I need to get a watermark before I can post all my photos?    I see people have the names of their blogs on their photos, perhaps I should do that too.   This really annoys me to a great extent.

ARMSTRONG COUNTY GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

2011-05-05T17:34:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I took a drive to KITTANNING, PA which is located in ARMSTRONG COUNTY PA. Kittanning is located on the banks of the Allegheny River and it is a beautiful setting.

This time I used my GPS and did not get lost in a town without a map, it was easier with the GPS because most of the street signs are non existent.

The ARMSTRONG COUNTY GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY is located in the same building as the Historical Society. I joined this group at the beginning of this year. These little local societies operate on a shoestring budget and I feel that it is necessary to support them.

When they asked me what I was searching I explained my quest to find Olive Boswer Stephens and her parents and siblings. First to Olives Death Certificate.

The information was given by her second husband, Oswald Rauhut at the time of her death (23 December 1923) in Salem Ohio, Columbiana County. It lists her father as Jacob Bowser and mother Mary, maiden name unknown.

The second item is her obituary printed in the Salem Ohio Newspaper:

Mrs. Oswalt Rauhut

Mrs. Olive Rauhut, 49, wife of Oswalt Rauhut, died at 5:30 PM Monday at her home, 115 East Pershing Ave. She had been ill of heart trouble only 18 hours.

Mrs. Rauhut, daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Bowser, was born in Armstrong county Pennsylvania, and spent most of her life in Pittsburg. Two years ago she and her husband to Salem to make their home.

Surviving are the husband, one son James (Stephens); two daughters, Mrs. Irene Scheuring, north of Salem and Mrs. Mary Spell (Sperl) of Millvale Pa. and several brothers and sisters.

The funeral service will be a 2 PM, Thursday at the home on Pershing Ave, in charge of Rev. H L Miller. burial in Grandview Cemetery.

{The Obit came in the form of a PDF and I did not know how to cut and paste a section, anyone out there know how to do this?}

To my delight and surprise a woman, Linda, was there researching the same line. After going through the entire census of Armstrong County the only one I could find that could possibly relate was the 1860 census in Pine Township, Armstrong County. This image was downloaded from Ancestry.com.

It lists Jacob Bowser age 32, wife Mary A (Ann) age 27, Nathaniel 10, Lewela 7, Calven 6, Lafaett 3, Mathias 1 and Thomas Murphy 65 (retired farmer) Margaret Brunbaugh 24 and Martha B. aged 1. Linda said that Thomas Murphy was Mary Ann's father but who is Margaret Brunbaugh and Martha B?

We both looked for this family in the 1870 census but neither of us could find them. I did find Lafayette living with another family in Armstrong County working on a farm. Where are the rest of them?

In 1880 Mathias was living with relatives in Huron County Ohio.

With a little research in a book of Wills index I found a death of Jacob Bowser in 1878. If this is Olives father she would have been four years old. Did Mary Ann died earlier and then the children moved with relatives when the father died?

I have to go back to the courthouse to review the records. It is like Olive did not exist until the 1900 census, with the exception of the date on her death certificate and obituary.

Linda also had three other children born after Mathias….Mary Elizabeth, Lillian, and Harriet Jane. Linda and I are quite excited to find out if Olive is one of this family.

BLOG POSTS ADVICE

2011-05-03T16:34:00.001-04:00

Today I was reading many of the blogs on my list I can across a post on the ADVENTURES IN GENEALOGY BLOG. The article stated a few references on what to include.

I should have realized what but I was always confused or undecided what I should list. I read Thomas MacEntee’s article on BLOGS LABELS AND TAGS and my mental lethargy has been solved.

It is such a simple idea and why did I not figured it out by myself. Now that I have the idea I can proceed and perhaps people who are searching some of my same names or town will find me.

Flowers make me happy…..

Technorati Tags: Labels,Tags

Rauscher of Rosshaupt Bohemia

2011-04-29T19:29:00.001-04:00

In the 1910 census I found a woman named Theresia Rauscher living with Charles and Barbara Stick living in Millvale PA. Barbara was the daughter of Anton Sperl and Katharina Rauscher Sperl. I have been puzzled by Theresa for a few years. I was sure she was related, but how???

Yesterday I searched Ancestry for Theresa Rauscher and came up with a few surprises. In 1902 I found a Baltimore Passenger List, dated 2 May 1902. The main person was Elizabeth Rauscher, age 58 from Rosshaupt, Bohemia. Next was Johann 32, Anna 29, Theresa 10, Antonia and Margaretha both 4, and Anna age 2. Elizabeth is listed as a widow, but I can not read the information for Johann and Anna. But my theory is that Johann is the son of Elizabeth and Anna his wife and the children are theirs.

The interesting part is they are from the same town as Anton Sperl and his wife Katharina Rauscher. The destination lists Millvale PA and the relationship of brother in law with the name Sprool.

Searching more in Millvale I came across a listing for Frank Rauscher b. 1833 in Austria and his daughter Anna. There are two conflicting reports about the daughter Anna. In the 1910 census it lists her as age 10, but underneath is appears that she is 50. That age would fit in with her fathers age of 72. Frank emigrated in 1900 and I did not find him on the 1900 census. On the Mira code index of 1910 it lists Frank and Anna age 50.

Katharina’s death certificate Frank Rauscher is given as her father with mother unknown. This information was given by John Sperl her son and my husbands grandfather. My theory on this is that after Franks wife died he and his daughter emigrated to Millvale PA USA. Did John know his grandfather? I have not found a death date for Frank or Anna.

Is Anna Rauscher, Katharina Rauscher Sperl Nosseck sister. Anna would have been born about 1860 and Katharina was born in 1864. My best bet would be the family cemetery, St Anthony’s in Shaler Township, PA except for the fact that the cemeteries records were all destroyed in a fire and the only records they have are from the names on the tombstones.

Katharina’s middle initial is T, could that be Theresa and is it the name of her mother?