6 Lessons from an Ancestry Message

She wasn't listening. A stranger, who contacted me through Ancestry.com and incorrectly claimed a branch of my husband's family as her own, brushed aside my explanation of why his Jacob & Mary couldn't be her Jacob & Mary. I deleted my knee-jerk response before sending it and instead waited and thought about it a little longer.

My exchange of messages with this woman, who I'll call Kate, began as frustrating but ended on a very positive note. I strongly believe in the importance of learning from each other. In this instance, Kate reminded me about being kind and patient when interacting with others, and I hope she picked up some tips that she can use again when searching for ancestors.

Since the purpose of this post is to share lessons and not to shame anyone, I'm changing the names of the family at the center of the Ancestry messages.

Kate contacted me about a Jacob & Mary Fortman in her family tree who she insisted were the same Fortman couple in my husband's tree. I had recorded Mary with a different maiden name, and Kate wanted to know how I came to that conclusion and why I hadn't included one of the couple's daughters, Helen Lucille. She was desperate to find this daughter in the 1900 census, since she didn't have any information about Helen's life prior to her marriage around 1905.

After reviewing the Fortman branch and confirming my sources, I took a look at Kate's tree and saw that she and quite a few other Ancestry members had made some mental errors when they added Fortman records to their trees. When I replied to Kate that our Jacobs were two different men and gave my reasons (which I thought were clearly presented!), her response was "I do think they are the same Jacob, dob and dod both match."

Rather than provide all of the details of my research after receiving that response, I'll just say that I spent many hours digging into Kate's family to try to get her on the right track. It was very challenging, and I never did find Helen in 1900, but this story provides several lessons:

1.  Start with what you know - Helen's obituary provided parent names, place of birth, and the married names of two sisters. Absolutely none of that tied into my husband's Jacob & Mary Fortman. It said Fortman was Mary's maiden name, not her married name. It said Helen was born in a county that was different than (and rather far from) where my husband's Fortmans lived. Yes, obituaries can be wrong and it's good to question, but they are a good starting point. I think Kate fell into the trap of copying records from other Ancestry trees and then let that misinformation cloud her view of the obituary right in front of her.

2.  Don't ignore location - The obituary said Helen was born in 1887 in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. Census records from 1910 to 1940 show that she lived in Bedford and Indiana counties. My husband's Fortman family lived and died in Washington County. This should have been a red flag that prompted Kate to do more digging before assuming she had the right Jacob & Mary.

3.  Consider all household names, not just the parents - Kate was determined to find a Jacob & Mary Fortman in Pennsylvania and chose to ignore their children's names. The two sisters in Helen's obituary were the key in this research. They were difficult to find since one was listed with a nickname (Mrs. Sadie Ward) and the other using her husband's name (Mrs. Charles Conner), but I eventually tracked them down and learned that both their given and married names weren't even close to the daughters of my husband's Fortmans.

They were Helen's half-sisters. It appears that Mary was single when Helen was born in 1887. She was working as a servant when she married Peter Harper in 1891. Mary gave birth to the two girls in 1892 and 1895, and then unfortunately died in 1898 when she was only 30 years old. In 1900, the two young sisters were living in Bedford County with their widowed father, but Helen (who would have been 13 and not the man's biological daughter) was not living with them. The sisters were named at the end of a list of survivors in Helen's obituary, but they were at the top of my list in showing the two Fortman families didn't match.

4.  You may never find a census record - I'm not sure that Kate will ever find Helen's 1900 census record. I tried wildcard searches to account for possible misspellings of her name, looked for matches with her middle name and possible nicknames, searched the entire county for girls her same age, looked at nearby counties, and even scanned numerous pages of the handwritten census for any possible match. I looked at the households of her grandparents, aunts, and uncles to see if she was taken in by one of them. I looked at every household with the same surname as the father named in her obituary. All were dead ends.

5.  Don't respond right away - Take a deep breath and think before sending your response to a fellow researcher. At first, I wanted to tell her why she was so very wrong. She insisted our Jacobs were the same man because all of the vital dates matched. I wanted to point out that they matched because every single record she included in her tree was for the Jacob Fortman in Washington County. After some time to reflect, I decided to stay away from listing her mistakes and take the time to actually help her. I decided to never mention my husband's family again and just get her to focus on the facts I was able to find for her family.

6.  Taking time to help others is extremely satisfying - I didn't know how Kate would respond to my research. Would she say thanks but no thanks and insist that I was still wrong? I had no idea. Well, I'm happy to report that she was very grateful! She wrote back three times to thank me and give me updates. I must say that, while I spent a lot of time on this family that had zero connections to my own, I found the whole experience to be very rewarding. Kate's positive reaction and genuine appreciation had a lot to do with that.

If you don't have time to help a less experienced family researcher, I would say be kind when responding and then move on. But if you can't pass up a challenge and have time to take a short break from your own tree, you may be surprised at how wonderful it can be for both of you.

Cowden Land for 200+ Years

There are a lot of Cowdens in Washington County, Pennsylvania. I haven't tried yet to figure out how these cousins are exactly connected to my husband, but this chapter of the family story begins in 1787 with 154 acres that are still owned by Cowdens today.

Warrantee Township Map (partial)
Mount Pleasant, Washington County, Pennsylvania

This image from the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission and PA State Archives shows the parcel of land called "Horn Head" in Mt. Pleasant, Washington County, that was owned by Mary Reynolds Cowden, my husband's 5th great-grandmother. Mary moved the family here from Guilford, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania (now Franklin County), several years after her husband John died.

After Mary died, her oldest son John--my husband's 4th great-grandfather--owned the farm. It then passed to his oldest son (another John) and remains with his descendants today. My husband's branch eventually left rural life and moved to Allegheny County for work in steel mills.

It's fantastic that the original 1787 farm is still owned by the Cowden family, more than 200 years after its brave matriarch moved to this unfamiliar part of the state.

Pittsburgh's Historic Oliver Bath House

Oliver Bath House,
From The American City, 1915

I mentioned the Oliver Bath House almost two years ago in my post "The Pittsburgh Buildings of Henry W. Oliver." On Friday, a newspaper article showed the efforts underway to designate the bath house as a historic landmark:

"The idea for the bath house was born in the early 1900s, when industrialist Henry W. Oliver saw the need to provide mill workers a place where they could clean and refresh themselves after their shifts. Indoor plumbing was rare, particularly in working-class neighborhoods. (Pittsburgh did not require bathrooms in homes or apartments until the 1950s.) Many workers simply rinsed off in the Monongahela River on their way home."

Many members of my family tree lived on the South Side of Pittsburgh. Who knows? Maybe they used the bath house or at least walked past it.

Read the entire Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article at "Preservation Pittsburgh pushes for historic designation for Oliver Bath House."

Successful Genealogy Is in the Details

This post began as a tribute to my 3rd great-uncle who lost both his wife and newborn son in the 1880s, but it has turned into a good lesson about the importance of slowing down and paying attention to details. If you read a lot of other blogs like I do, you've probably heard multiple times that you should understand every collection that you search. Yeah, yeah, an obvious tip meant for newbies. Not so. It's a mistake I made, even though I should have known better.

My uncle, Thomas Baker, was born in Canada on February 1, 1857. To be more specific, his baptismal record from St. Patrick in Caledonia, Ontario, states that he was born in "the township of Seneca of the Mission of Indiana." Sometime before the age of 10, Thomas crossed the border with his parents and siblings and settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

In his 20s, Thomas met Maggie Olive Barnett (sometimes recorded as Burnett), got married, and had son John Wesley Baker in 1885. But the couple's lives together ended tragically. In 1888, their second son Allen was born in April and died in November of gastroenteritis. Then Maggie died six months later in 1889 of phthisis pulmonalis (tuberculosis).

Thomas raised his son as a single dad in Pittsburgh until he married Virginia Irwin Wilson on February 9, 1894, in Jefferson County, Ohio. With this marriage, he became the stepfather of two teen girls. The family stayed in Pittsburgh for a while, but then left for Glendale, California. One of Virginia's daughters had moved there with her ill husband and, when he died in 1921, it appears that her parents and sister decided to join her.

Thomas and Virginia were together for more than 30 years, until her death in 1927. I assumed that both died in California since that's where they're buried, but I wanted to see their death certificates to be sure. FamilySearch has images of California death certificates in its collection called "California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994." On the search page, I entered the names of both Thomas and Virginia but didn't find them in the list of results.

Then I read the description of the collection at the top of the page, which included this sentence at the very end: "The name index for death records covers Stockton, Lodi and Manteca cities and San Benito and San Joaquin counties." Clearly, I would have to browse the collection to find the Bakers' death certificates. It took a couple of steps, but I did find both of them.

California Death Certificate (partial), Thomas Baker, 1937
[CLICK TO VIEW LARGER]

It was definitely a good reminder for me to slow down and focus on the details. All of us should take time to understand exactly what records are provided in each collection. Even though I remember reading this tip more than once on other blogs, I skipped this important step. The bottom line: there is so much we can learn from each other. Thank you, fellow bloggers!

Surname Spellings May Require Creative Searches

Are your ancestors hidden in the shadows because their names are misspelled in records? All of us have probably faced this issue at some point in our research.

Before Louise Binkert married her second husband, my 2nd great-uncle, her life in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, seemed to be a mystery. Her 1925 death certificate and obituary indicate that her maiden name was Binkert, but I couldn't find her in the census records. Binkert doesn't seem to be a difficult name, right? But I was surprised by the spelling variations that I eventually found.

My uncle's military pension file contained a copy of their 1905 marriage certificate, which shows that Louise's name was Ofhouse, the surname of her first husband. That clue led to her 1883 marriage record from the West End United Church of Christ. Louise's surname was handwritten as "Bankart." Thinking that this earlier record might have the correct spelling, I searched for "Bankart" and "B*nk*rt" but still couldn't find her in the 1870 and 1880 censuses.

Louise's death certificate shows that her father was "Hanson Binkert." I couldn't find that name in any of the censuses either. In fact, the only match was a Pennsylvania death certificate for a Mary Binkert Geartner which shows her father was Hanson. I searched for other Binkert deaths in Pennsylvania and found that their fathers were recorded as "Ansom" and "Anson." Both of these spellings also appear in several Pittsburgh city directories next to his widow's listing. But there is one that says she was the widow of "Anslem." Finally a breakthrough!

I found the Binkert family in 1880 after several different searches using wildcards. Louise was listed as "Louis Benket" and her father was "Anslen Benket." Below is the list of various spellings of Binkert that I found in records for Louise's parents and siblings:

• Bankart
• Bankerd
• Bankert
• Beankart
• Benkert
• Benket
• Bunkert
• Renhert

At the risk of making this post way too long, I must share that Louise had one sister whose married name was completely botched as well. I'm still not sure at this point what the correct spelling is! The marriage record for Maggie Binkert shows that she married John Thuering. The 1900 census recorded it as Thuring. Her death certificate shows her surname as Tiering. Since Maggie's cause of death was tragic (her clothes caught on fire), I searched Pittsburgh newspapers for those surnames but couldn't find the story.

I tried searching newspapers for her address that's listed on her death certificate but had no luck. Then I searched for "Allegheny General," which was the hospital where she died, the word "fire," and the year 1909. There were four news stories about Maggie's accident, and her surname was spelled as "Theeny," "Theney," "Therry, and "Theery." I never would have found those spellings!

Whether looking at all family members for clues, using wildcards, or searching for addresses and key words other than surname, it's often necessary to think creatively in order to discover your hidden relatives.

Another Friday the 13th

Happy Friday! It doesn't bother me when the 13th falls on a Friday, but many people are superstitious. Here's an article about this special day that was published in a Pennsylvania newspaper in 1922:

Indiana Evening Gazette (Indiana, Pennsylvania), October 13, 1922

    "Keep your fingers crossed--look out for ladders and spilled salts--and run if you see a black cat. For today is Friday the 13th, the star Jonah combination of them all. That is, if you are superstitious.
     But if you're inclined to scoff at the Friday jinx, here are a few arguments in your favor: Columbus' expedition which discovered America, set sail on Friday and landed on Friday; Richard Henry Lee introduced the Declaration of Independence on a Friday; Cornwallis surrendered on Friday.
     And to argue against the 13 superstition: There were thirteen original united states; there are 13 stripes in our flag, and, originally, it contained 13 stars; President Wilson considered 13 as his lucky number--and he was right about it--California's 13 electoral college votes re-elected him.
     As for Friday, the 13th: General Pershing was born on Friday, the 13th. The Yanks won at St. Mihiel on Friday, September 13, 1918.
     Where the Friday 13 idea came from is still in doubt. The most probable explanation is that the Crucifixion gave rise to the Friday part and the 13 part from the fact that the Hebrew words for 'death' and for 'thirteen' were identical."

You can find great articles by searching newspapers, especially if you find pieces that mention ancestors!

Related Post:  Superstitious Beliefs of Ancestors

Holiday Skating Tragedy, 1920

The holiday season is a time of joy but can also be difficult if you've lost a loved one. One particular loss had to be extremely tough for my Steimer branch to overcome and, since it happened so close to Christmas, most likely affected their holidays for many, many years.

Photograph from The Gazette Times (Pittsburgh, Pa.),
December 27, 1920

Vincent Steimer was probably a typical 10-year-old. His Christmas in 1920 had to have been full of excitement, presents, and family. Once the big day was over, my 2nd cousin three times removed decided to spend time outdoors with his friends. The day was cloudy and cold with the temperature in the 20s, but I'm sure the group of boys thought it was perfect for having fun.

According to this 1920 newspaper story published in The Pittsburgh Post on December 27th, two boys died that day:

     "Two boys were drowned, and two others, apparently dead, were resuscitated by prompt medical aid after being rescued by a man who risked his own life when a portion of the ice on Chartiers creek, near the plant of the Superior Steel Corporation, Carnegie, gave way yesterday afternoon.
     In trying to rescue the boys, Thomas Hall, 10 years old, of Logan and Cubbage streets, Carnegie, also fell into the water, but managed to get to shore safely.
   
     THE DROWNED
Vincent Steimer, 9 years old [actual age was 10], of 711 Logan street, Carnegie.
Richard Joyce, 9 years old, of Logan and Cubbage streets, Carnegie.
     RESCUED
John Walnosky, 10 years old, of 28 Bank street, Carnegie.
Leo Walnosky, 7 years old, brother of John Walnosky.

     The five boys went to the creek to skate shortly after noon and at 12:30 o'clock all were struggling in the water. According to the police, the ice gave way when the boys were about 10 feet from the shore. Young Hall was able to scramble from the water and ran to summon aid.
     H.C. Dodds, a druggist, of Oakdale, and Homer Moore, also of Oakdale, were riding in the Noblestown road when Dodds discovered the boys struggling in the water and crying for help. Operating his machine at fast speed he drove as near the creek as he could, and, leaping from the automobile, dashed across the Panhandle railroad tracks and jumped into the water.
     Moore followed, but remained on the shore. Dodds lifted the Walnosky brothers from the water and placed them on the ice. Assisted by Moore, both boys were carried to the automobile and rushed to the office of Dr. James A. Hamma, 408 Chartiers avenue, Carnegie, one-half mile away.
     Dodds stated that he believed both boys were dead, but hurried them to the office of Hamma.
     Although he believed each boy was dead, Dr. Hamma sent a call for aid to Dr. F. E. Herriott, of 412 Chartiers avenue, Carnegie, and also for the pulmotor at the power house of the Duquesne Light Company, in Railroad street, Carnegie.
     Assisted by Harry Schaffer, of Carnegie, the Shafter method of resuscitation was used until the pulmotor arrived.
     Dr. Herriott was on the scene in a short time and while one physician worked with the pulmotor on one boy, the other used the Shafter method. Previous to the using of the pulmotor, Rev. L. McCrory, pastor of St. Luke's Catholic Church of Carnegie, administered the last rites of the church to the boys.
     After working with the boys more than 30 minutes, the physicians restored them to consciousness. An hour later both were able to go to their homes.
     Dr. Hamma said that Joyce and Steimer probably disappeared below the ice after falling into the creek while the two Walnosky boys reappeared on the surface and were rescued.
     The bodies of Joyce and Steimer were recovered about one hour after the accident by Carnegie police, Watchman John Keil of the Superior Steel Corporation plant; James McCaffery, George Ebner and Orrin Baux, all of Carnegie who went to the creek after learning of the accident.
     Dodds said he did not see the Steimer or Joyce boys."

Discovering a family story like this one reminds us to cherish those in our lives today. You never know how much time you have with them.

Cousin Who Died on a Train

An unexpected find showed me that she was young, a teacher, and died while traveling on a train. I came across this Cowden death while browsing an unindexed FamilySearch collection. The scanned page from "Record of deaths, 1893-1906" for Pennsylvania's Washington County showed that Mary Alma Cowden died on May 9, 1899. Since I didn't have her name in my husband's family tree, I took a closer look.

Mary's life began very soon after the 1880 census and ended a year before the 1900 census, so I had no record of her from those sources. Her 1899 death registration shows that her parents were John K. & Elizabeth Cowden and that she died of consumption (tuberculosis) while on a train, an illness she had battled for six months. Mary was 18 years old and, during her short life, had become a teacher. She is my husband's third cousin 2 times removed.

I searched Newspapers.com and found this article about Mary Alma's death:

Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, May 10, 1899
[CLICK TO VIEW LARGER]

I was glad to see that she hadn't been alone when she died. A photo on FindAGrave.com shows that Mary shares a headstone with her parents and brother Emil in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Hickory, Pennsylvania.

Pittsburgh Nurse & War Veteran

Ester LeMans, from
The Gazette Times, 1922

In honor of Veterans Day, here's a story that appeared in The Gazette Times (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) on August 13, 1922:

"Hearing Affected by War, Nurse Will Help Disabled

    With the better part of her life already devoted to making others happy, Mrs. Ester LeMans, aged 39, registered nurse and World War nurse, is starting anew and along entirely different lines to radiate sunshine and spread cheer and contentment to the unfortunate.
    Handicapped by the loss of hearing, one of the woman's sacrifices for her country, and realizing she could no longer minister the wants of the sick, Mrs. LeMans decided she would devote her time brightening the lives of crippled and disabled soldiers. She confided her plans to the War Department and was informed that to pursue this work she must have training and a college degree.
    Undaunted by this obstacle, she appealed to the Army Vocational Bureau, after she learned she was entitled to war compensation and asked to be sent to school. This all happened in May, 1920, and now, after two years of intensive study, Mrs. LeMans has completed half of the arts and crafts course at Carnegie Institute of Technology.
    Mrs. LeMans is a native Pittsburgher. She joined the Red Cross in April, 1918, and after a period of training was sent overseas with Base Hospital Unit No. 115. The unit later became known as the President Wilson Unit and was stationed at Vichy, France. She was afterwards reassigned to Base Hospital No. 38, stationed at Nantes.
    In September, 1918, Mrs. LeMans was stricken with influenza and after hovering between life and death for several months recovered and again joined her unit. She was again stricken in January, 1919, and invalided home in April. She was confined in Staten Island Hospital for eight months, having three operations in that time in an attempt to restore her hearing. She is a graduate of Emergency Hospital, Washington."

The Veteran's Compensation Application for Ester Dolores LeMans, which can be found on Ancestry, shows that she was born in Pittsburgh on April 7, 1883. When she submitted the form in 1934, Ester was living in Phoenix, Arizona.

Thank you to all veterans, past and present, for your service and the sacrifices you've made for our country.

A Lot Can Happen to Your Ancestor in a Decade

Population Record, 1890-92,
Western State Penitentiary

Murder, trial, and prison. If you looked at the life of Stewart Cherry based on census records alone, you'd never know that his life was turned upside down when he was 38. Stewart was born in Pennsylvania in 1853, and in the 1880s married Mary Jane Phillips and started a family. He would eventually become the father-in-law of my first cousin 3 times removed, when his daughter Rachel married Harry Monroe Dietz.

The census records seem to show that Stewart maintained a rather normal, routine life:

• 1900 - oil well driller living in McKeesport, Allegheny, Pennsylvania
• 1910 - oil driller living in McKeesport, Allegheny, Pennsylvania
• 1920 - driller for an oil well company in Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania

Decade after decade, it looks like Stewart's life didn't change. And if the 1890 census had survived, it most likely would have showed again that Stewart was a well driller. I base this assumption on a different type of census record: the one shown at the right that was created by the Western State Penitentiary. It provides many details, including his occupation and his crime of murder. Yes, Stewart Cherry's life shows that a lot can happen in between censuses.

Newspapers from 1891 show that Stewart was arrested for murder, found guilty, and sentenced to 11 years in prison. He claimed self-defense. Stewart was released at the end of May 1900 after serving almost 9 years of his sentence (just a few days before the 1900 census was taken). His normal-looking life from census records turned out to be far from ordinary.

The Pittsburg Press, May 11, 1900
[CLICK TO VIEW LARGER]

You never know what interesting events and facts you may find about your ancestors.

Related Post:  In Pursuit of Pennsylvania Prisoners

Halloween Costumes, 1916

If you're giving out candy this Halloween, you'll see children wearing lots of different costumes. The advertisement below from The Philadelphia Inquirer shows what kids might have worn a hundred years ago.

Advertisement for Snellenburgs store,
The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 25, 1916

Happy Halloween!

Anniversary of a WWI Death

The Pittsburgh Catholic, February 28, 1924

Last week was the anniversary of my great-uncle's death in France during World War I. George J. Stenglein was born to German parents just 1 week after they arrived in New York in 1891. The family soon settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. George served in the Army from September 21, 1917, until his death on September 26, 1918. My grandmother was only 10 years old when her oldest brother was killed in action.

Several years after George's death, The Pittsburgh Catholic listed him among the names of the city's Catholic soldiers who were buried in the Meuse-Argonne Cemetery. Here's part of the newspaper article:

     "Many Catholic graves in the Meuse-Argonne Cemetery, located at Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, (Meuse), France, have been recently blessed. The graves of American heroes from the Diocese of Pittsburgh are listed below.
     The location of this cemetery is within the area of the Meuse-Argonne offensive, the greatest engagement in which American troops ever participated. During the forty-seven days' struggle 1,200,000 Americans were engaged, suffering 120,000 casualties.
     Upon completion of concentrations there will be 13,969 interments in the American cemetery. The data on the Catholic heroes has been assembled through cooperation of the pastors, the Catholic press, and the Bureau of Records, N.C.W.C. [National Catholic Welfare Conference]
     The following are grave records of young men of the Pittsburgh diocese who, serving in the World War, made the supreme sacrifice and whose bodies are buried in the Meuse-Argonne Cemetery..."

Each man's military unit, date of death, and grave location in the cemetery were also provided by the newspaper.

• Paul Adamski, Braddock
• Joseph Battaglia, Sharpsburg
• Anthony Broestel, Pittsburgh
• John F. Coakley, Washington
• Dominico Colaizzi, Pittsburgh
• Patrick Paul Collins, McKeesport
• James Connolly, Pittsburgh
• Edward R. Connors, Pittsburgh
• John Patrick Corrigan, McKeesport
• Patrick J. Cronin, Pittsburgh
• Domenico Dimasi, Greensburg
• Andrew Early, Pittsburgh
• Barton W. Elliott, Springdale
• George W. Fleischer, Butler
• Oscar John Gallas, Pittsburgh
• Stephen Gasper, St. Vincent
• Lorenzo Gentile, Jeannette
• Paul Grabowski, Braddock
• Albert Jacob Hohman, Pittsburgh
• John Hutchinson, New Salem
• John P. Jene, Pittsburgh
• Alex Johnston, Turtle Creek
• Walter R. Johnston, Pittsburgh
• William B. Kamer, Ford City
• James M. Keady, Pittsburgh
• Daniel R. Kelley, Mt. Pleasant
• John P. Kirby, Pittsburgh
• Andrew H. Klein, Pittsburgh
• Karl Kleinert, McKees Rocks
• Joseph Kohuth, Glencampbell
• Louis F. Krezanosky, Avella
• Walter Kudzman, Vandergrift
• Andrew Leap, Pittsburgh
• Ellsworth J. Lew, Carrick
• Donato Maesano, Sharpsburg
• Fiore Marchegioni, Bradenville
• Samuel Martello, Braddock
• Marco Mercurio, Greensburg
• Peter J. Och, Pittsburgh
• Vincenzo Piccirillo, Butler
• John Plehta, Uniontown
• Stanley Price, Glassport
• Michael Puskat, Burgettstown
• William A. Reinhardt, Pittsburgh
• Frank J. Rieble, Pittsburgh
• Ludwig Rigotti, Sutterville
• Sylvester Rombach, Pittsburgh
• Anthony Ryder, Braddock
• George A. Schafer, Millvale
• William E. Schaffer, Duquesne
• Alphonse A. Schmidt, Pittsburgh
• George Schmidt, Pittsburgh
• George Joseph Schmitt, Pittsburgh
• Nicola Serago, Jeannette
• Michael Snee, Kittanning
• Christopher A. Steighner, Coylesville
• John Steininger, Blairsville
• George J. Stenglein, Pittsburgh
• John H. Theuret, Freeport
• Bernard W. Travers, Castle Shannon
• Emanuel G. Tschippert, Pittsburgh
• George J. Wintz, Pittsburgh
• Steve Wolf, Connellsville
• William H. Zewe, Duquesne
• Mike Joseph Zoldak, Coral

You can search issues of The Pittsburgh Catholic (1844-2001) in Duquesne University's Gumberg Library Digital Collections. 

Related Post:  Consider Catholic Newspaper Archives

FamilySearch Find: Adoption of Walter in 1911

Orphanage from The Pittsburgh Catholic,
April 17, 1924

With the help of a digitized collection of adoptions on FamilySearch, I was able to find additional facts to support my thinking that one of my Pittsburgh cousins was adopted. This file doesn't appear on the site's list of published collections and can only be browsed, but "Index to adoption and change of name, Allegheny County (Pennsylvania), 1865-1917" was a key piece of my research.

Walter J. Klein first appeared with his parents in the 1920 census at age 16. Since Andrew & Magdalena were childless in 1910 (when Walter was 6 years old), I suspected that he had been adopted between 1910 and 1920. But how could I know for sure?

When I was scanning FamilySearch's catalog of records for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, I came across the adoption collection. While it's just an index of the court records, I did find an Andrew Klein who had adopted a child. The date was November 23, 1911, but no name for the child was provided in the index. Since Andrew Klein isn't an uncommon name, I couldn't assume he was my Andrew. And in order to find Walter in the index, I would need his surname prior to being adopted by the Kleins.

I used the 1910 census to provide me with a list of possible candidates. In Ancestry, I searched for everyone with the first name of Walter who also:

• was born in Pennsylvania between 1903 and 1905, 
• was living in Allegheny or nearby counties in 1910, and 
• was shown as an "inmate," which was often used on census records to describe an orphan's relationship to the head of household. 

There were 7 matches.

I then went back to the adoption index at FamilySearch and searched for each orphan. When I got to Walter Miller, I found that name in the index. Walter John Miller was the name of the adopted child, and the decree was dated November 23, 1911, exactly like Andrew Klein. Bingo! I still need to verify that they are my Andrew and Walter, but it looks very promising.

All I know at this point is that Walter J. Miller was a Pittsburgh orphan in 1910 and lived at St. Michael's Orphan Asylum, which was an orphanage established to take care of the orphans of St. Michael's parish on the South Side. When he was about 7 years old, he was adopted by Andrew & Magdalena Klein and became Walter J. Klein. (Again, I need to verify this last statement.)

I would love to know Walter's story. Who were his biological parents, what happened to them, and did he have any siblings?  Pittsburgh births are also browseable on FamilySearch and provide parent names, but I haven't found Walter's birth record yet. The Diocese of Pittsburgh may have records for his orphanage, so that's another place that might provide the identities of his parents. The search continues...

Related Posts:

• Where Did the Child Come From?
• FamilySearch Find: Deaths in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania

Letterhead Used by My Uncle, 1890s

When my great-grandmother, Alice Laubersheimer, arrived in New York in 1899, she named Frederick Waldschmidt as her uncle and indicated that he had paid for the trip that would take her to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While browsing the FamilySearch collection of "Registrations of deaths in the city of Allegheny, 1876-1907," I found a copy of the letterhead that Fred used as an alderman at that time:

(CLICK TO VIEW LARGER)

You never know what you might find by browsing!

For more information about Fred's life and to see his image, click on the link below. If you have any Waldschmidts in your family tree who lived in Pittsburgh or France, I'd love to hear from you to see if we have a connection.

Related Posts:

• Is Frederick Waldschmidt My Uncle?
• Record Browsing Has Benefits

In Pursuit of Pennsylvania Prisoners

If you've found any newspaper mentions of the arrest of an ancestor in Pennsylvania, you may want to search prison records to see if he/she served time for the crime. Ancestry.com has a new record collection called Pennsylvania, Prison, Reformatory, and Workhouse Records, 1829-1971 (subscription required) that may give you some new information about your troubled relative.

Image from Annual Report of the Managers of the
Allegheny County Workhouse & Inebriate Asylum, 1923

Here's the description of this database: "This collection from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) consists of records from the Eastern and Western State Penitentiaries, the Allegheny County Workhouse, and the Pennsylvania Industrial Reformatory in Huntington, Pennsylvania. It includes a variety of records, including inmate registers, bertillon hand books, identification cards, hospital records, and descriptive lists."

My 3rd great-uncle, James Baker, is in the database multiple times for sentences served in the Allegheny County Workhouse. Despite his common name and another Pittsburgh man in the collection with the same name and age, I'm almost certain that I'm looking at the various records for my James since they each contain a note of his "rt arm off." While newspaper articles give more detail on some of his crimes (see post at the end), I did learn that James had 30 convictions by 1919 when he was 58 years old. Yikes! And it's likely there were additional arrests that did not lead to time in the workhouse.

The workhouse records also show that James seemed to spend many years as a homeless peddler. I know this because occupation is listed for all inmates, and James was sentenced for vagrancy on more than one occasion. The majority of his sentences are for disorderly conduct, although it appears that only a fraction of his total convictions are in Ancestry's database.

Each Pennsylvania institution's records are different, so you may learn even more about your ancestor. For example, the Eastern Penitentiary indicates if any relatives are in prison, and the Western Penitentiary provides a very detailed description of each person's appearance, including measurements.

Of course, court records should be explored for more specific details about a conviction, but the records in this Ancestry database give some interesting general information and are definitely convenient.

Related Posts:

• Arrests of My "One-Armed" Uncle
• Photograph: Genealogy Mystery

Pittsburgh and the World War, 1914-1918

The souvenir publication, Pittsburgh and the World War 1914-1918, can be viewed in the HathiTrust Digital Library and contains many photographs of Pittsburgh soldiers. Here are a couple of paragraphs from the booklet:

"From the high up places of Pittsburgh's loftiest skyscrapers a ton or more of confetti, small bits of paper and streamers of paper floated and fluttered to the streets below. A snowstorm of the white and red and blue fragments filled the air. The streets began to fill with merrymakers as the news was flashed about the city and its environs by newspapers, by word of mouth, by telephone and all other means of communication. Like wildfire the word spread that the armistice had been signed and the Huns had, in effect, laid down down their arms in ignominious recognition that to struggle further world be useless.

Parades formed as offices, stores, shops and mills were abandoned. Bells clanged loudly and to the din, which almost drowned the shouts of the populace were added the sound of many bands playing, the measured tolling of the bell on old City Hall, pounded in turns by men with a sledgehammer; the shrieking of sirens and mill whistles, the deep screeching of steamboat whistles and the booming and cracking of guns and other weapons in the air."

My great-uncle, George Stenglein, is one Pittsburgh soldier who didn't return, didn't see the parade, and didn't hear the cheers. As I looked at some of the photos in this book, I wondered if my grandmother and her parents cried when they heard others celebrating, since their hearts had to be breaking that George  wasn't coming home.

Don't Ignore Signs of a Genealogy Mistake

In 1904, a publication about the Cowden and Welch families indicated that a man named David Sloan was the father of Annie Sloan Cowden. David was a Revolutionary soldier who was killed at the Battle of Long Island in 1776. It turns out that David Sloan did have a daughter Annie, but she was not the woman who married John Cowden.

The Canonsburg Daily Notes (Pa.),
November 2, 1925

More than 25 years after that publication was printed, my husband's 2nd cousin three times removed, Lyda J. Cowden, sent a letter to the U.S. government, trying to locate the grave of this assumed Patriot ancestor. She was a member of the Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and even held DAR meetings in her home in the 1920s. I found Lyda's letter dated October 11, 1930, in a bounty-land warrant application record for David Sloan on Ancestry.com:

     "Dear Sir, Is it possible for you to furnish me with the information of the burial place of Lt. David Sloan who was killed in the Battle of Long Island Aug 27, 1776.
      Left a widow Mary Sloan and a daughter Ann. I am a member of D.A.R. through Lt. Sloan, and am seeking the location of his grave. A pension was granted to Mary Sloan widow of David Sloan Feb. 8, 1785 but I can not find any record of his burial place. Sloan served under the command of Colonel Miles First Penn Regiment.
      If you do not know or have records of his burial place please tell me if the bodies at that time were returned to their respective homes or buried on the battlefield."

The response she received is also part of this Ancestry record and makes it clear that Annie Sloan Cowden's father was not the Patriot David Sloan:

     "Dear Madam, You are advised that the Revolutionary War records of this bureau show that the widow of Lieutenant David Sloan was Mary and that his daughter Ann married Robert Hunter. In 1806, said Robert and Ann were of Salem Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.       
     The location of the burial place of the soldier is not shown and the bureau is unable to advise you further in regard to same."

Did Lyda choose to ignore what the letter was saying about her DAR connection? Or did she skim over that part and just take away from the response that David's grave location was unknown? Hmm. I do know from a newspaper article that Lyda continued to meet with her fellow DAR members for at least five years after learning that David Sloan was not her ancestor.

The mistake was still circulating in 1935 when a Welch cousin contacted the government to request the pension file of David Sloan. Like Lyda, she had submitted a DAR application and became a member through her connection to Lt. David Sloan. There are more than a dozen DAR members who claimed this inaccurate connection between Annie Sloan Cowden and David Sloan.

Fortunately, the DAR eventually caught this mistake, and all of these incorrect applications are now flagged with this message on its website: "Problems have been discovered with at least one previously verified paper." The explanation given is that "Annie who married John Cowden is not the dau of this man."

This is a good reminder to read everything carefully and to correct genealogy mistakes even if it's painful to remove a high-profile person from your family tree. Accuracy is more important than bragging rights.

Female Writers in Pittsburgh, 1897

A search in the Digital Public Library of America led me to Book of the Writers, published by the Writers Club of Pittsburg (Pennsylvania) in 1897. Among the men, you can find nine women profiled in the book, including Mrs. Ida L. Easton:

Ida L. Easton

     "Of much more than local literary note is Mrs. Ida L. Easton, or to use her social name, Mrs. Andrew Easton. Although she is comparatively a new comer into the world of the newspaper scribe, to the readers of the Pittsburg Dispatch, the Florida Times-Union, the Saturday Review, and a number of other publications her name is a familiar one and her pen is as versatile as it is tireless.

     In wide spread charities, moral reform movements, philanthropic ventures she has always been a leader. With a true heart in close touch with the joys and sorrows of humanity, she possesses a courage that never recognizes failure and many an abuse has been brought to light and ended by her daring struggle in behalf of justice and kindness.
  
     To a large number of friends among the younger newspaper workers she is a genial, sympathizing mentor, and not infrequently terms herself the grandmother in the Womans' Press Club, of which organization she is treasurer. Mrs. Easton is an active member of the Writer's Club."

The other female writers included in Book of the Writers are Mrs. Dallas Albert, Jeannette Barbour, Roberta Bradshaw, Janey M. Coard, Marie D. Coyle, Sarah H. Killikelly, Dorothy Richardson, and Miss A.R. Stratton.

Note:  Ida Lois Reed Easton died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the age of 61 on August 24, 1916. Her newspaper obituary indicated that she married Dr. Andrew Easton in 1871 and left two children, Dr. John S. Easton of Pittsburgh and Mrs. C.L. Martin of Philadelphia.

Was Boy Missing in 1911 Ever Found?

I'm currently reading a fictional story by Kate Morton that involves the disappearance of a toddler in 1933. (If you love suspense, family secrets, and a touch of history, I highly recommend all of Kate's books. They're fabulous.)

The Pittsburgh Gazette Times,
November 5, 1911

The book got me thinking about real cases of missing children and how devastating that would be for a family. After searching historic newspapers, I found the following article from a 1911 Pittsburgh newspaper with the headline "Butler Boy Missing":

"Raymond, the 13-year-old son of William C. Cooper, a merchant tailor living at 519 West Clay Street, Butler, Pa., has been missing from his home since October 27. On that morning his father had taken him to school and at the morning recess Raymond disappeared from the institution. He left a note on his desk saying he was going to Pittsburgh to look for work.
...
As a result of Raymond's disappearance, his mother has become ill. Mr. Cooper has conducted a thorough search for the boy and the police of Pittsburgh and neighboring cities have been asked to keep a lookout for him. Mr. Cooper has appealed to The Gazette Times to assist in the search for the missing boy. If the lad sees this article he is requested to communicate with his father at once. The latter will extend his forgiveness, as Raymond's mother wants her son badly."

I couldn't find any news updates to see if he had been found, and I just had to know what happened to him or if his family was left guessing for decades. My son will be turning 13 soon, so the story touched a nerve.

Fortunately, a WWI Compensation Application on Ancestry provided the answer. I don't know how long Raymond was gone or when he returned, but it looks like he came back to his family...before leaving them again. The document says that he enlisted in the Army in 1914 (when he was 16 but apparently claimed to be 19), and he served until 1920.

FamilySearch Find: Deaths in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania

Are you overlooking some online records at FamilySearch? Here's one example of a digitized non-indexed collection that isn't on the site's list of published collections.

Image from end of death register book,
Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, 1891

Allegheny City in Pennsylvania wasn't annexed by Pittsburgh until 1907, so deaths for both cities were recorded separately prior to that time. That means if you look at the FamilySearch collection "Pittsburgh City Deaths, 1870-1905," you won't find my Uncle Emil's 1903 death record. While there doesn't appear to be a similar death record collection for Allegheny City, it is in fact on the site and available for online viewing.

My French 3rd great-uncle, Emile Wey, arrived in the United States in 1871. Known as Emil in America, he would marry, have 6 children, and build a life in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. Emil died in Allegheny City on May 4, 1903, which was provided by his newspaper obituary. Knowing exactly when he died is fantastic, but I wanted to know why he died at the young age of 54.

If you click on "Browse all published collections" on the FamilySearch site, you won't see a record set for Allegheny City deaths. But FamilySearch actually does have these records digitized and available to browse in its collection called "Registrations of deaths in the city of Allegheny, 1876-1907." Each listed record group with a picture of a camera under "Format" means it can be viewed online. (A reel means you have to order the microfilm for viewing at your local Family History Center.)

Glancing at the thumbnail images will give you a sense of where the handwritten surname index starts for each volume; it's usually somewhere in the middle and not at the beginning or end due to the way the book scans were saved. And sometimes there's a second index further down in the same file where the next book of death records begins. You can use these indexes to locate the page number of the death record.

My Uncle Emil did indeed die on May 4, 1903, due to "abcess [sic] of liver." The record also states that he had resided at 707 Middle Street in the 3rd Ward for 30 years and that he was buried in St. Peter's Cemetery on May 7th (although a photo of his headstone on FindAGrave indicates that he's in Highwood Cemetery).

By browsing for other relatives, I found cousin August Huber who died in 1882 at 7 weeks of age due to eclampsia, as well as another cousin's father-in-law who died in 1903 of "mania a potu" or madness from drinking. I had their dates of death from other sources (church record for the first and a newspaper obituary for the second), but now I have more details, including where they are buried.

Be sure to search the FamilySearch Catalog for your ancestors' towns to see if digitized images are available. As this example shows, some online records don't appear on the published collections list.

Note: "Registration of births in the city of Allegheny, 1878-1907" is also available on FamilySearch, although five years are missing.