Son of Swift

ge·ne·al·o·gy [jee-nee-ol-uh-jee, -al-, jen-ee-] noun. 1. a record or account of the ancestry and descent of a person, family, group, etc. 2. the study of family ancestries and histories. 3. descent from an original form or progenitor; lineage; ancestry. 4. Biology . a group of individuals or species having a common ancestry. Origin: 1250–1300; Middle English genealogie < Middle French < Late Latin geneālogia < Greek geneālogía pedigree, equivalent to geneā́ race (see gene) + -logia -logy - from Dictionary.com

[sonofswift]

Finding Frances Collins

After I was able to focus on the proper surname of the wife of Noah Price, I tried to track down her parents. The 1850 Census showed Mary Collins 17, living with Francis Collins (49), James C. Collins (25), & Elizabeth Collins (22). It's an easy assumption that Francis is her mother, with a simple misspelling.

Tracking down from there, I found her in the 1840 Census also as the head of family. As you can see, the 1840 and previous censuses leave a lot to be desired.

In the 1860 Census, the kids have moved out, but instead she moved in with Elizabeth, now going by Olive and married to John Stroop, misspelled here as Strop.

She continues to live with Elizabeth's family in 1870.

The last census record I can track her to is the 1880 Census, where she's living with the now widowed Elizabeth, and Frances listed by the nickname Fannie.

I found Elizabeth's death certificate, which includes her father's name and Frances's maiden name, Gibson.

Taking a step back, I found the online record of marriage between Levi Collins and Frances Gibson. I then tracked down Levi and family in the 1830 Census.

So now I need to track down Gibson's in the 1820 Census. So far, unsuccessfully.

Now I know, Frances Collins was born around 1801 in Pennsylvania. Checking Pennsylvania counties bordering the West Virginia panhandle (Ohio County, VA prior to 1863), I found the Rev. William Gibson in Canonsburg, Washington Co., PA. He was a Presbyterian minister, born in Co. Down, Ireland, with a full biography available online. Sadly, he is not Frances's father. Quick research into the Reverand finds four daughters, none named Frances.

Once again, bedeviled by the absence of the 1890 Census. Frances died sometime after 1880, before 1900. So far there's no Find A Grave entry, but my search will go on.

[sonofswift]

The Price is Wrong

During my early days of genealogy research, I spent a lot of time comparing census records. By doing this I was able to add a lot o my trees, but, in some cases, mistakes were made.

Mary Price, born 1871 in West Virginia, daughter of Noah and Mary Price. This is the family I have done a tremendous amount of research on over the past 18 to 19 years, including earlier today. I was so happy when I tracked down Johann Wilhem Stalp and his wife Catherine Elizabeth Stahl, found using Find A Grave. The 6x great grandparents were complete on that branch!

Except they are not. Mary's parents are named Noah and Mary Price, but not that Noah and Mary Price. This is Noah Price and Mary Brock Price of Montgomery County, Ohio. My Mary is the daughter of Noah Price and Mary Sprouse Price of Wheeling, WV.

This is going to take a lot of time to clean up.

EDIT: And they're cousins! Both Noah's are great grandsons of John Michael Price and Margaret Killian! That leaves that branch largely unchanged.

[sonofswift]

Ancestors in Historical Events

I recently read the book Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Mayhem in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe, which was adapted into a TV series for Hulu. I actually watched the first episode then went and read the book before continuing with the series. It gave a much deeper dive into the history of "The Troubles" (there's that wonderful British gift of understatement). The separation of Northern Ireland from the Republic was done in 1921 in negotiation by Michael Collins, but it was built on years of tumult beyond that that led to the Irish Civil War.

I got a hint notification today for David Maxwell, my exwife's great great grandfather through her paternal grandmother. I thought it might have been something on the recently release 1921 England Census, but no, it was the Ulster Covenant.

Drafted in 1912, Ulster's Solemn League and Covenant was a petition against home rule in Ireland. With over 400,000 signatures, including many from outside Ulster, it helped draw the lines that still live on in the partition of Eire.

Here's more about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster_Covenant

There's even a Rudyard Kipling poem about it, which is funny as Kipling has been on my mind a lot since the 28 Years Later trailer was released featuring his poem Boots. Here's his poem, Ulster 1912: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ulster

As a genealogist, there's always a hope that you'll find connections to someone famous. Descended from royalty, or from some other great historical figure. Other than Charlemagne, of course. But just as finding records of an ancestor serving in wartime, it's documents like this that show how our family history can be more interesting than we can imagine.

[sonofswift]

Census telling a story between the lines

The 1870 Census is the last to include Phillip Moore and Nancy Coone Moore, as far as I can tell, and it also lists an inferred daughter: Catherine (30), but there was no previous Catherine on their census.

Clicking on her brings up the 1880 Census where she is head of household with a number of children, all with the surname Moore. Going back to the 1860 Census, I found her by looking up the page, as the wife of their son, Jacob.

Between 1860 and 1870, Jacob died. Catherine and her youngest daughter moved in with her in laws. The Census had no way of delineating that fact, but by looking at these three documents, you can see the story between the lines.

[sonofswift]

Census Tip: Look beyond what Ancestry shows you

After getting a bad hint on Ancestry in the Moore clan, I was sent spiraling, rechecking all my research into John Makel Moore, his parents Lewis Moore and Malinda Beaver, and onward. I have now been able to confirm those family connections, the problem comes in the next generation.

I had Lewis Moore as the son of Phillip Moore and Nancy Coone, but was thrown off by a recommend Find A Grave hint that there names were actually John Moore and Nancy Gaff. This called into question everything I had for preceding generations. Increased scrutiny finally put that matter to rest and I was trying to track down more on Lewis Moore, Nancy Coone, et al.

Today I started with Nancy Coone Moore, and found her on several census records with the proper husband, but since they were married in 1814, very little on her parents. Ancestry recommended a widowed Nancy Moore in 1880 but that proved to be Nancy Stratton Moore, barking up the wrong tree once again.

I have her for certain on 1850, 1860, and 1870 U.S. Federal Census records. 1840 and prior only listed head of household. So I decided to look beyond what Ancestry was showing me:

Phillip and Nancy are at the bottom of a page from Jolly, Ohio in 1850, but there family continues here on the next page. And who do I find living three houses down? Lewis Moore and Malinda Beaver Moore with their first son George. Bingo.

Looking again in 1860:

First we have an error where Phillip and Nancy are listed as Moon instead of Moore, but looking at the sheet, you see their son Jacob living next door, and another son Conrad living two houses down. On the next page is son William. There's more to discover in the neighborhood.

Ancestry is a good beginning to your search but should never be the end. Your only limit is your time and imagination.

[sonofswift]

The Wrong Elizabeth Thompson

While finishing up a project I noticed some lacking information on the Thompson branch of my mother's family. Elizabeth Thompson (1871-1955) married Samuel Preston Dunn (1868-1902) in 1893. I have her on the 1940 and 1950 Census, I also had her on the 1880 census, or so I thought.

The suggested Elizabeth Thompson was the daughter of J.C. and Mary Thompson in 1880. I tracked them down as James Chrysostum Thompson and Mary Ward. James's parents were Thomas and Jane Thompson of Ireland. Mary's were Michael Ward and Elizabeth O'Neill Ward. Doing basic research on Find A Grave found me a lot of information on the O'Neill's and Ward's, and I even was able to connect a couple separate entries. That should help out anyone else studying that family, but not me.

Today I tried to find out more about the Thompson's by searching for James. I found the 1870 Census, which included a one month old Lizzie, which meant she was a year older than I had thought. It was just like what I found previously with Elmira Grim. Then Ancestry recommended other documents, including her death certificate.

I felt it was odd that her death certificate would list her by her maiden name, but not entirely out of the ordinary. It had the parents I had listed, and noted her name was actually Mary Elizabeth Thompson, born July 1870. That was discrepancy #1. Then I noticed the death date of 1948, seven years before the recorded death. My mother had met her, her great grandmother. That's discrepancy #2. Then I noticed what should have been the biggest red flag, she was listed as single, unmarried. That's why she was listed by her maiden name. This was not my GG Grandmother.

James Thompson and Mary Ward are not my GGG grandparents. All of my searching of the Ward's and O'Neil's at St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Pittsburgh were of no benefit to myself. Hopefully my fixes to Find a Grave will help someone else. Now I am starting the search over again, as I was literally barking up the wrong tree.

[sonofswift]

A Grim tale

Researching Elmira Grim, wife of John Brillhart, ancestors of my sister in law. My initial search found only a Find A Grave entry, which game me her maiden name and birth day in February 1861. (attached below)

Elmira J. Grim Brillhart (1861-1927) - Find a...

Entering her name and information in Ancestry, I already had her in the 1880 census, which is a free record to access (along with the 1940 and 1950 censuses). (Curse the loss of the 1890 Census!) In 1880 she is married with a two year old daughter. Now though, I have the 1870 census, with father William (41) and mother Sarah (38), and older sister Anna (28)? Well, that's odd. Then there was a bigger oddity.

Ancestry suggested that Elmira was in the 1860 census, something that should be hard to do if you're born in 1861. Clicking on it I find that she was five months old, so Find a Grave is incorrect by a year. I also note that her sister Anna is 9 at the time of the census, July 1860. The 1860's must've been a hard decade for Anna Grim to age 18 years in only 10.

Going back to the 1870 census, I click to the digital image of the record rather than thee transcription and I see it was a simple transcription error. The 1 of 18 in her name had a slightly longer hat than normal, and the transcriber mistook it for a 2. Interestingly, her occupation is listed as Cigar Maker.

So now I have unlocked the Grim family, and in doing so, found two minor glitches to correct so that other researchers find the correct information. Always remember to use the journalist rule: one source is a rumor, two sources are fact.

[sonofswift]

Origin of the Gartley surname

Continuing some family history research over the holiday break, I realized I never had a derivation for the Gartley's as there is no entry in the Surname database.

My 3G Grandfather, Alexander Mervin Gartley, was born in Saint Johnson, County Donegal, Ireland, to Henry and Mary Chestnutt Gartley. He emigrated by way of Liverpool to New York City in 1851. A lot of this was provided from a letter from his Grandson and is now listed on the Find A Grave entry: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6897044/alexander-m-gartley

He married Lydia Ann Little in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1853 where he worked as an Iron smelter. He served in the Civil War, and eventually moved to Idaho where he died in 1912.

His parents are listed on his death record, and my own research brought them back to Scotland. Here is what I found with my new research today:

It's Saint Johnstown or St. Johnston, now St. Johnstown, as is listed on the Find A Grave: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Johnston,_County_Donegal

I have both parents born around 1805, while a tree on Ancestry guesses at 1790. I have Henry's birthplace as Edinburgh, Scotland, which led me to search Scottish Birth Records. There I found a number of Gartleys born in Gartly, Aberdeen, Scotland. Thus, we have the origin of the name. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gartly

The hamlet is named for Gartly Castle, built by the Clan Barclay in the 15th century and owned it til the 16th century. Nothing of the castle remains today after being demolished between 1975 and 1982. https://www.stravaiging.com/history/castle/gartly-castle

So there we have it, Gartley is:

Scottish: habitational name from Gartly (Aberdeenshire), earlier the barony of Garntuly in Strathbogie.

Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.

From Google Generative AI:

The surname Gartley is a Scottish habitational name that originated from Gartly in Aberdeenshire, which was previously known as the barony of Garntuly in Strathbogie. Similar surnames include: 

Bartley

Hartley

Gailey

Gurley

Barley

Gurtler

Antley

Girdley

Between 1840 and 1920, the Gartley family name was found in the following countries: USA, UK, Canada, and Scotland. 

In 1840, about 67% of all the recorded Gartley's in the USA were from Pennsylvania.

[sonofswift]

An O'Neil mystery

My great, great grandmother, Alice O'Neil, was born to Mortimer "Morty" O'Neil and Catherine "Cate" Dugan O'Neil in Nashua, NH in 1861. When in 1861? I don't know. It's not on her marriage record, divorce record, birth record for her children, or death record.

I search for more on her parents, having to search for Morty instead of Mortimer to find his death record. Even worse, Catherine is listed only as Mrs. Mortimer O'Neil on her death record. They were married in 1859, I have their marriage record, June 5th, 1859 in Nashua. Searching today I find a birth record for a daughter, no first name, born March 29, 1859. Oopsie.

Could this be Alice's actual birth date? Before her Irish Catholic parents were married? Ancestry thinks so. So I checked the 1860 Census, there's Morty and Cate in Nashua, no children listed. The census was taken June 12, 1860, just a year after they were married.

Did Morty and Cate hide their child born out of wedlock from the census taker? Did they lie to Alice, and others, about her birth year?

[sonofswift]

Here is one of my new ventures, a weekly video podcast on YouTube. In this episode, I introduce the series and discuss the other new venture, Branch Tales.

Enjoy!

[sonofswift]

Biography of Thomas Garvin

Thomas is my 4G Grandfather on my paternal grandfather's side. His granddaughter would marry my great great grandfather John Francis Shovlin I. For most of my time doing family research, I have tried to find out more about him but was stymied. For the past few weeks, I was bewildered by the "hint" of a Biography attached as a story on another family tree on Ancestry. Today I finally found that biography, and I will share it in full:

Thomas Garvin was born in Ireland around 1821-1824.  In a letter written by his grandson-in-law, John Gallagher, of Salem, Ohio, we are told that Thomas and two brothers were orphaned in Ireland.  Neighbors took the children into their families.  Thomas was taken to England where he grew to manhood.  He married Bridget Sloan, either in England or Ireland.  Bridget gave birth to their first child, John Girvin, in Ireland in 1844.  (Irish potato famine was 1845-51) The family returned to England and settled in Egremont, in the Whitehaven District of Cumbria.  Four more children were born: Mary, Thomas, Jr., Edward, and Margaret.  Thomas began work as an agricultural laborer and eventually joined other men in the ore mines nearby.  He continued this work for over thirty years. Thomas and Bridget raised their five children in the Whitehaven District of Cumbria.  They moved from Egremont to nearby Cleator into a cottage down a path which led to Low Wath Mill and Weir.  Here they lived out their lives.  Their lives were church oriented and work centered.  Their children's births and baptisms are all recorded at St. Mary's Priory in Cleator.  Their children went to work at an early age which was typical for the time. John, their eldest son, married Mary Foy at St. Mary's in 1863 (at that time called St. Bega's).  They lived in one of the cottages of Low Wath as a neighbor to his parents.  John and Mary had made plans to emigrate to America.  At the time of their departure in 1872, they had six children.  The youngest were twins and Mary was expecting their seventh.   Because one of the twins was frail they left this baby, Mary Elizabeth, with John's parents, Thomas and Bridget, who raised her to age thirteen.  Thomas and Bridget also helped raise another grand-daughter, Eliza, the child of their daughter, Mary. It appears that Bridget may have had failing health at the same time Mary Elizabeth was reaching the age when she would be old enough to make the trip to join her family in America.  Mary Elizabeth left her Girvin grandparents in 1884 for that reunion, and Bridget died three years later. John was the only child of this family to emigrate.  His brothers remained in the area of Egremont.  Edward married, raised his family, died, and is buried at St. Mary's in Cleator.  Thomas, Jr. died in an accident at a mine at age 26 just a few months before his first child was born.  He, too, is buried at St. Mary's.  Margaret married and lived in Low Wath, where she and her husband, John Higgins, made a home for her father, Thomas, after he was widowed and until his death in 1893.  It is not known what became of their daughter, Mary, the mother of Mary Eliza. It is fascinating to learn that this family was one which was well-rooted in the same community for over forty years.  One can imagine the support that they were to one another.  Church records indicate the witnesses to Sacramental events, and these witnesses were relatives of friends.  We know that Thomas and Bridget must have been caring and loving grandparents to have raised two granddaughers.  It is my regret to realize that there are blood lines that remain unknown and disconnected by the distance and years.  Yet to my astonishment, the possibility that further research may uncover living persons descended from our Thomas and Bridget Girvin (aka Garvin) remains the impetus to continue this endeavor. Written by Margie Brubeck, posted to Ancestry by Jean Fox, Dec 25, 2012

[sonofswift]

Using Ancestry as a step ladder

My research into James Fitzgerald (4G Grandfather, father of Elizabeth Fitzgerald, wife of James J. Shovlin) gave me the first glints of hope in finding more family in Ireland.

Searching on Ancestry has connected me to naturalization records, and other family histories that point me to County Cork, Ireland, as his place of birth.

Adding that to my search terms then brought me the collection Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers, 1655-1915. In that I found the marriage record of a James Fitzgerald, approximate age, to an Anne Fitzgerald in 1833.

Further searching finds a James Fitzgerald baptized at the same church 29 years earlier, listing parents names David Fitzgerald and Mary Geran.

Further search on Ancestry has so far been lacking, so I turned to other resources on the web using the church as a research point. The St. Mary's James was baptized and married at may be another institution than the present Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary & St. Anne in Cork.

History of the Cathedral of St. Mary & St. Anne - Cork Cathedral Family of Parishes

The Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary & St. Anne is "the Mother Church of the Dioceses of Cork and Ross" and was dedicated in 1808

So my next avenue of research is the church itself, using the genealogy link on the page, I have sent an email to the parish for any information along the lines of the family I have tracked down.

I also noted in search a Reverand Mother Mary P. Fitzgerald buried on the Cathedral grounds having died in 1810. We'll see if she might also be a distant relation, possible a Great Aunt to James.

I'll keep you updated

[sonofswift]

The Tale of Two John Dunns

AKA You Can't Always Trust Ancestry Hints

This is my ancestor, John Alexander Dunn, 3rd Great Grandfather on my maternal grandmother's side. Most of what I had on him was from a family bible I consulted over 20 years ago when I began my genealogical journeys.

In preparing a colossal update to my research (TBA), I have been rechecking some family members now that more collections and databases are at my disposal. Doing that led to many of those wonderful Ancestry hints including:

John Dunn, my ancestor, Civil War Soldier.

This was great, as I recently tracked down the service records for ancestor John McDowell, more about that in a future post. So here was another ancestor fighting, birth year approximate, birth place, ah that must be a typo. But, wait, why was he in Illinois?

I have him in Fayette County, Pennsylvania in the 1860 census and then 1870. Did he sneak out to Illinois, particularly Ohio Grove, which is on the banks of the Mississippi, the western border of the state?

This hint wasn't adding up.

So, at work today (08/27/24), I entered his name in the AncestryLibrary site and sure enough it brings up this record. I was ready to add him, track down his records. See where he fought. Ooh, he was wounded in a battle, interesting. But wait, why was he in Illinois??

And wait, Fayette, Juniata County, Pennsylvania?

Quick google search, Fayette Township is in Juniata in Central PA. Not to be confused with Fayette County in Western PA, a county I know very well. Pennsylvania has so many little towns and hamlets that they reuse names A LOT.

Back to the records, and find my ancestor in the 1860 census with the appropriate parentage for a 16 year old. And he's in Fayette County, PA.

So I seach for his name, John Dunn, obviously a common sobriquet, and then boom:

Here's a different John Dunn living in Mercer County, Illinois, the same county as Ohio Grove. He has different parents. Then Ancestry gives me some helpful documents on the same name and I get:

His Grave, with his GAR service flag holder.

Every time I go on Ancestry I see hints that are so obviously wrong that its obnoxious. I see family trees that have accepted those hints to the detriment of their family history research. I've seen people with:

Multiple census records for the same year in completely different locations

Children born to couples after their deaths

Records for people in the wrong country/continent/century

Guesses taken as fact

We have to be better at this. We have to do the research. Ancestry is not going to do it all for you. My family has my research to build off of, and I have benefited from dozens of family members that have done their own. Each time I make a major discovery, it's a cousin that has pointed me in the right direction.

Ancestry is not your family. They will give you these hints because they want you on their site and they want you paying for your membership and higher levels and extra bells and whistles. Even if you pay them, you still won't get the full picture of your family heritage. It's almost impossible to find that unless you are of definite royal bloodline.

You have to do the work. Your family is counting on you.

Sorry for the rant.

[sonofswift]

It all comes back to the 1890 Census

Following the Frontier Line, 1790 to 1890

Check out the weekly data visualization from the U.S. Census Bureau which follows the Frontier Line from 1790 to 1890. This series of maps h

"In 1890, the Superintendent of the Census described the western part of the country as having so many pockets of settled area that a frontier line could no longer be said to exist. The advance of the frontier line that characterized shifts in population distribution for the previous 100 years was complete."

[sonofswift]

Watch your sources

I thought I had a major breakthrough. I thought I was finally going to be able to track the Shovlins, my family name, in Ireland. I thought I was going to be able to learn so much more about the descendants of the Swift.

I was wrong.

After a recent breakthrough, which I will go into detail on in a future post, I have been rechecking other brick walls. While searching James J. Shovlin, and his parents James Shovlin and Mary Herron, I found several family trees on Ancestry that listed birthplace for James J., and birth years for James and Mary. After looking at five different trees I found that they were all guesses made by the researcher, not at all supported by documents or other sources.

What made it worse is, I see two trees that list *Date is a guess, or *Location is a guess, and others that have copied them without including the fine print. Those guesses were trusted as sources.

Disappointing.

[sonofswift]

This is the first of several posts catching up on recent family history breakthroughs.

These are the fan charts for my paternal grandmother's parents, pre-July 1st and present. You can see there's been a great amount of expansion for both William Robert Roach and Hazel Louise Allen. Why these two in particular? Two words, Family Reunion.

It's been years since I attended a family reunion and even longer since I went to one for this section of the family. One such reunion, in 1976, included a pamphlet with the Allen family history that was absolutely vital when I started my own research over 20 years ago. When this reunion started coming together, I started making plans to continue that tradition with my own research.

Throughout July I used Ancestry and GeneaNet to pad out additional generations for both sides of the family, taking some back numerous generations. These charts were created in Reunion, the Mac-based genealogy software I've relied on for several decades now. Ancestry now offers a fan-chart for each person in your tree, but only going back two generations.

A few days before the gathering, I had the finalized charts printed in black and white on 3' by 4' blueprint paper and brought them for my aunts, uncles, and cousins to peruse. I also had my laptop, open to my Ancestry tree, able to bring up any individual profile, but also connect with distant cousins that have been doing their own research. There will be more to come on this, including an interesting story, so be sure to check back as I fill in more on my genealogical adventure.

[sonofswift]

Daughter of James and Anne (Dunn) Fitzgerald. ------------------------------ MRS. ELIZABETH SHOVLIN Mrs. Elizabeth Shovlin, aged 83 years, died at 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. James Brennan, of 161 Kidder street, from complications. Mrs. Shovlin,...

First I find my GGGG Grandfather’s Obituary, and now his wife’s.