Pennsylvania – Colleen & Jeff's Roots

#52Ancestors: Great Grandmother Sarah Kennedy, a Tough Woman to Research

Kennedy Sarah Headstone — Buffalo Cemetery, Cheektowaga, Erie County, New York. Lot 3, Section F, Grave 1.

My 3rd entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” family history blogging challenge for 2015.

The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.

Amy’s 2015 version of this challenge focuses on a different theme each week.

The theme for Week 3, Tough woman — Who is a tough, strong woman in your family tree? Or what woman has been tough to research?

Sarah Kennedy Prayer Card — Prayer card for Sarah Kennedy Flanagan.

My 3rd ancestor is my great grandmother, Sarah Kennedy (abt. 1898-1930), and she has been one of the toughest people for me to research.

The main reason Sarah is so difficult to research is that my grandfather Michael John Flanagan (1927-1997), her youngest child, never knew his mom. Sarah died of tuberculosis in 1930, orphaning him at 3 years old. Her husband, my grandfather’s dad, Patrick Thomas Flanagan (abt. 1897-1928) died of the same disease just 1-1/2 years earlier. Two months before her death, Sarah had become so ill that Grandpa and his four older brothers had to be committed to an orphanage, the German Roman Catholic Orphan Home in Buffalo, New York. After the boys’s brief stay at the GRCOH, they were split up, with Grandpa never really knowing his brothers well– except for one who reunited with him much later in life.

Records Challenges

Aside from Grandpa not knowing his mother, the biggest difficult in researching Sarah has been my failure to locate records for her, and inconsistencies in the records I have found for her.

I have not been able to get a death certificate for her from Erie County, New York. She died in the city of Buffalo.
I have not been able to confirm her birth year or location, or obtain a birth or christening record for her. While most other records indicate that Sarah was born in Cumberland, Allegany County, Maryland, the GRCOH records state she was born in Hyman, Pennsylvania — a locality I cannot even find. The census, death, and marriage records I have for Sarah even list conflicting birth years.
Sarah was not truthful on her marriage record to my great grandfather about a previous marriage. She indicated none, despite marrying first husband Frank Ward 12 years prior.
No other family — of Sarah’s, or of her husband’s — appear to be buried in the same cemetery as her. Someone paid to bury her in the Buffalo Cemetery (this was not an indigent cemetery or grave). The current cemetery operators confirmed Sarah’s site and service were paid for, but they don’t have a record of who paid, and they don’t have a record of any other family buried there.

No Other Researchers

Often I can use clues provided by other family members or even from strangers researching the same person or family to help break through my own genealogy ruts. But these stepping stones just aren’t available for Sarah.

None of my grandfather’s siblings are living, and few of his siblings had children of which I am aware. Because the siblings were split up and became lost to teach other, I don’t even really know which of his siblings had children and might still have living descendants.
- The brother that Grandpa reunited with late in life has some living children, but my branch no longer knows how to contact them.
- Grandpa’s half sister (who was of adult age when their mother died) does have descendants living, with whom I am in contact on Facebook, but they don’t have any info on Sarah.
I have not identified a single other descendant of Sarah who is on Ancestry Member Trees or other genealogy forums. I see her name pop up on some other public trees, but in just a brief reference as a collateral family member– no one has any real facts and records for her, or seems to be actively researching my Sarah. Just me.

Next Steps

Other than finding birth records for her three oldest children (Wards, half-siblings of my grandfather), I didn’t have any Sarah breakthroughs during my research trip last year to the Family History Library. I go again next month, so I will keep looking.

I am pretty sure that further breakthroughs will have to wait until I have the money and time to visit the localities I have identified for her, so I can search for leads and records in person.

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#52Ancestors: Who are the Parents of Grand Uncle Harry Flanagan?

My 45th entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks family history blogging challenge.

The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.

I am still playing catch up, due to being sick so much of this year.

Michael Flanagan Patrick Flanagan Harry Flanagan — My grandfather Michael John Flanagan (center) with two of his brothers. Uncle Pat is on the left. Mom and I think that is Harry on the right. This photo was most likely taken shortly before Grandpa joined the Navy at 17.

My 45th ancestor is my grand uncle Harry J. Flanagan (b. 1920). Harry was my grandfather Michael John Flanagan’s (1927-1997) third oldest brother…or at least from among the brothers that Grandpa knew about (more later on the siblings he never knew).

I never met Harry, and I don’t think my mom or her siblings ever met Uncle Harry. Like Grandpa’s second oldest brother Leonard Ward (b. 1917), I did not even know Harry existed until I found that very first lead about my grandfather’s family history, the 1930 U.S. Census record for their orphanage. Harry too was placed in the German Roman Catholic Orphan Home in Buffalo, New York when the boys’ parents were stricken with tuberculosis and died. Harry was 10 years old when mother Sarah Kennedy (1898- 1930) died from TB and 8 years old when father Patrick Thomas Flanagan (1897-1928) died of it.

Birth

Uncle Harry was born 22 April 1920, supposedly in Bellaire (Belmont County), Ohio, where all siblings except baby brother Michael were born. I say supposedly because this is the birth location listed in his orphan records from the German Roman Catholic Orphan Home (GRCOH), and the birth county he identified in his marriage record and his Army enlistment record. Yet Harry is the only one of the Bellaire-born siblings for whom I have no official birth documentation, which means no official documentation telling me the names of his parents.

1930 US Census Flanagan Boys Buffalo — 1930 U.S. Census Record, German Roman Catholic Orphan Home. Courtesy of Ancestry.com.

Bellaire Birth Records V1 1909-1920 — I found birth records for all of Sarah and Frank Ward’s children when I visited the Family History Library in February…for everyone except Harry. Nor is there a record for a Harry born to Sarah and Patrick Flanagan in 1920.

Although the older boys — Joseph and Leonard — were recorded under the surname Flanagan and as the children of Patrick and Sarah Flanagan on the 1930 US Census and in the GRCOH records, I have confirmed that these two boys (along with older sister Catherine) are the children of Sarah and her first husband Frank J. Ward. I also know that my grandfather Michael and his older brother Patrick Joseph are the children of Sarah and second husband Patrick Thomas Flanagan. Yet, I have no real proof about Harry’s birth or parentage. Although Harry consistently identifies himself as a Flanagan, and the child of Patrick Flanagan and Sarah Kennedy in documentation throughout his life.

To complicate matters, when Harry was born (in 1920), Sarah and Patrick Thomas Flanagan were not yet married. They married five years later in 1925, when Sarah was already 8 months pregnant with their son Patrick Joseph. And a 1920 Bellaire city directory records Sarah still living with her first husband Frank Ward. I believe Patrick Thomas Flanagan was still married to his first wife at this time too.

So Harry could be the biological child of either of these two sets of first marriages, or the love child of my great grandparents Patrick and Sarah.

Military

Harry J. Flanagan enlisted in the U.S. Army on 12 November 1941 at Fort Hayes, Columbus, Ohio (Army serial number 35037563). He joined as a private, under the warrant officers branch code. Harry had only completed two years of high school (Grandpa never completed high school either), and had worked in civilian life as a semi-skilled miner and mining machine operator. He was described as single with no dependents, 5 feel 9 inches tall, and 152 pounds.

From what I can tell, Harry served in World War II. He was released from service on 28 September 1945.

Marriage

Harry married Anna M. Sabatino on 15 December 1944, in Belmont County, Ohio. It was a first marriage for both, and Harry was still employed in the U.S. Army. He identified his place of birth as Bellaire, Ohio, and his parents as Patrick Flanagan and Sarah Kennedy. I find no later record of children born to Harry and Anna.

Death

I do not yet have proof that this is the same Harry J. Flanagan, but I find several references to an 8 October 1981 death date for him.

It appears he is buried at All Saints Braddock Catholic Cemetery in Pittsburgh (Allegheny County), Pennsylvania. His wife Anne, who died 30 September 1988, is buried there too.

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#52Ancestors: My 3rd Great Grandfather James Patterson Darnley, Shot & Killed

My 32nd entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks family history blogging challenge.

The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.

I have fallen way behind in this challenge again due to continued health issues the last few months, but I am trying to catch up by the end of the year.

My 32nd ancestor is my 3rd great grandfather, James Patterson DARNLEY.

While working on the recent blog post about my 2nd great grandmother Catherine DARNLEY (1878-1928), I started spending a bit more time researching her parents, and was shocked to stumble upon this death certificate for her father, James Patterson Darnley. Third great grandfather Darnley died 18 March 1908, in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, from a homicidal gun shot wound to the abdomen!

James Patterson Darnley Death certificate, courtesy of Ancestry.com. — Death certificate, courtesy of Ancestry.com.

Murdered

Hoping that a gun shot wound death would be covered in the local newspapers, I hopped on over to Newspapers.com and struck gold.

Third great grandfather James Patterson Darnley was shot and killed by three “foreigners” (“Italians”) who jumped up from behind an embankment with the intention of robbing Darnley on his way home (to the Hempfield Slope mine area) around midnight. Third great grandfather Darnley was accompanied by his son, son-in-law, and another man. According to the Indiana Democrat, “Darnley rushed at the thug with his [own] revolver” before getting fatally shot.

James Patterson Darnley. The Indiana Democrat (Indiana, Pennsylvania), 25 March 1908, Page 6. Courtesy of Newspapers.com. — The Indiana Democrat (Indiana, Pennsylvania), 25 March 1908, Page 6. Courtesy of Newspapers.com.

James Patterson Darnley. Altoona Tribune (Altoona, Pennsylvania), 20 March 1908, Page 6. Courtesy of Newspapers.com. — Altoona Tribune (Altoona, Pennsylvania), 20 March 1908, Page 6. Courtesy of Newspapers.com.

Even his hometown paper carried the news.

No Justice

Fourteen months after the shooting, the man arrested and tried for the murder of James Patterson Darnley was acquitted by a jury. The verdict was reported in two different area newspapers, but those newspapers seem to disagree on whether there were one or two men tried and acquitted.

Murder of my 3rd great grandfather, James Patterson Darnley. — The Daily Courier (Connellsville, Pennsylvania), 22 May 1909, Page 1. Courtesy of Newspapers.com.

Trial of my 3rd great grandfather's (James Patternson Darnley) murder. — Altoona Tribune (Altoona, Pennsylvania), 26 May 1908, Page 11. Courtesy of Newspapers.com.

About James Patterson Darnley

I have only just started researching this part of my family, but from what I gather so far, James Patterson Darnley was born in Bothwell, County of Lanark, Scotland on 21 July 1856. His parents (according to the death certificate) were James DARNLEY and Annie BODMAN of Scotland. Third great grandfather James arrived in the U.S. with his father in 1865, at the age of 9 or 10.

It appears that his father married a Margaret in 1868, after father and son arrived in the U.S. I do not yet know if third great grandfather James’s mother Annie died, or if his parents divorced. I don’t even know if his parents were married.

At the time of his death, Darnley was married to Sarah Ann LLOYD (b. 1859) and lived in Greensburg. He was employed as a miner (I would assume at nearby Hempfield Slope Mine). Sarah and James were married in 1878. They appear to have spent most of their marriage together, raising their children, in Lonaconing, Allegany County, Maryland.

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#52Ancestors: John Philip Harless, 1738 German Palatine Immigrant to America

My 26th entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” family history blogging challenge.

The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.

Headstone erected posthumously for John Philip Harless and wife Margaret Price.

My 26th ancestor is my husband’s 7th great grandfather John Philip Harless (1716-1772). John Philip is our first Harless ancestor to immigrate to America, specifically, to the American colonies. John Philip Harless is of course the American spelling and pronunciation of his name. Some documents spell his first name “Johan” and his last name “Harlas”, “Harlash”, “Harlos”, “Harlosh”, “Horlas”, and “Horlash”. Sometimes he is referred to as “Philip”, instead of John Philip or Johan Philip.

Harless is the husband of Anna Margaretha “Margaret” PREISS [Price], the grandfather of Ferdinand HARLESS (1755-1853), the 2nd great grandfather of Miles (Myles) Washington HARLESS (1826-1891), the 3rd great grandfather of Leonard Jackson HARLESS (1858-1946), and the 5th great grandfather of Jean Alice HARLESS (1912-2011).

John Philip was born in 1716 in Germersheim, a town in the present day southern German state of Rhindeland-Palatinate. He married Anna Margaretha “Margaret” Preiss (1718-1784) — whom I profiled earlier in my first #52Ancestors post — on 17 February 1738 in Offenbach, Germany.

The new couple celebrated their honeymoon on board the ship the Winter Galley, in the last wave of the Palatine migration. It appears that they boarded the Winter Galley in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with a stop in Deal, England, which is near Dover.

View John Philip Harless : Old World in a larger map

Harless, his wife, and a handful of other family members (no children yet), arrived at the Port of Philadelphia on 5 September 1738, and Harless took the required oath of allegiance (to the British king!) that same day.

Ralph Beaver Strassburger and William John Hinke compiled, transcribed, and published (in 1934) the available Palatine immigration ships’ lists for Philadelphia arrivals from 1727-1808. Our John Philip Harless is included, in three different types of lists produced from the Winter Galley. Volume 1 of the Strassburger and Hinke publication includes type transcribed lists. But Volume 2 includes copies of the actual signatures!

Transcribed list in the Strassburger and Beaver publication, V 1, page 199.
“[List 52 A] A List of all the mens names and ages from sixteen years and upwards Passengers on b y Winter Gally, Edward Paynter, Commander. [Qualified September 5, 1738.]”
252 passengers total. 139 Palatines who took the oath. 113 women and children.
(Misspellings and punctuations copied from text.)

Transcribed list in the Strassburger and Beaver publication, V 1, page 201.
“[List 52 B] Palatines imported in the Ship the Winter Galley, Edward Paynter, Com, from Rotterdam, but last from Deal. Qualified 5th Sept, 1738.”
(Misspellings and punctuations copied from text.)

Transcribed list in the Strassburger and Beaver publication, V 1, page 203.
“[List 52 C] At the Court House of Philadelphia, September 5th, 1738.
Present
Anthony Palmer, Clement Plumsted, Ralph Asheton, Wiliam Allen, Esq.
The Palatinates whose Names are underwritten, imported in the Ship the Winter Galley, Edward Paynter, M, a Rotterdam, did this day take and subscribe the Oaths to the Government.”
(Misspellings and punctuations copied from text.)

On the photocopied signatures included in the Strassburger and Beaver publications, I had a very difficult time trying to identify the signature of Johan “John” Philip Harless. I knew it had to be included, because I find a ton of family historians claiming this publication displays the Harless signature (of course, they could all be wrong!). It doesn’t help that so many of these Palatine immigrants have names starting with “Johann”. It’s like looking for a Jose on my side of the family! So, after an hour of my vision going cross-eyed from staring at these signatures, I enlisted the help of an <ahem> expert — my husband Jeff, who studied German way back in high school.

Jeff felt confident in identifying his ancestor’s signature pretty quickly. That last name didn’t look anything like Harless to me. But as Jeff pointed out, the first letter of the surname looks just like the “h” that appears in Johan and Philip. He also explained to me how the German double S consonant is written and pronounced, like a capital B (note the end of the surname, which would jive with Harless). The middle name, to me, looks like it ends with a “b” instead of a “p”, making it more like Philib instead of Philip. But as the Palatine Project points out, “Fileb” was a common old world German spelling for the name Philip. So, are we 100% positive we have identified the correct signature for Jeff’s ancestor John Philip Harless? No. But, it is a confident guess. Hopefully I will be able to verify it against other documents he signed while living in the Colonies. If some other Harless historian can verify or refute this signature, please contact me.

Signature fascimile list in the Strassburger and Beaver publication, V 2, page 207.
[List 52 B] Palatines imported in the Ship the Winter Galley, Edward Paynter, Com, from Rotterdam, but last from Deal. Qualified 5th Sept, 1738.
(Misspellings and punctuations copied from text.)

I will blog more about the family and their descendants. But, if you are impatient, the U.S. era of their family history has been extensively covered in the Pritchard publication noted below, which is available to read for free on HathiTrust.

Sources Used

Pritchard, J. L. R. (1962). Harless genealogy, John Philip and Anna Margaretha (Preiss) Harless;pioneers in western Virginia and some of their descendents, ([2d ed.].). Cupertino? Calif.]. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89066181694

Strassburger, R. B., & Hinke, W. J. (1934). Pennsylvania German pioneers;a publication of the original lists of arrivals in the port of Philadelphia from 1727 to 1808, (Vols. 1-3, Vol. 1). Norristown,. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.49015000086612

Strassburger, R. B., & Hinke, W. J. (1934). Pennsylvania German pioneers;a publication of the original lists of arrivals in the port of Philadelphia from 1727 to 1808, (Vols. 1-3, Vol. 2). Norristown,. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.49015002215748

#52Ancestors: Anna Margaretha “Margaret” Preiss (1718-1784)

Headstone erected posthumously for Margaret Price.

This week, I begin my journey participating in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” family history blogging challenge.

The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.

My first contribution to the challenge is from my husband’s family tree — the first female ancestor on his Preiss line (sometimes Americanized to “Price”) to immigrate to America — his 7th great grandmother Anna Margaretha “Margaret” Preiss [Price]. I have done almost no research on this particular ancestor, because a) I tend to spend more time on my family lines, and b) the descendants of Margaret Preiss and her husband Johan “John” Philip Harless [Harlas] have been heavily documented (and published) by other family historians.

Margaret was reportedly born in 1718 in Offenbach, Germany. She reportedly married John Philip Harless in 1738, also in Offenbach, and immigrated with him to Pennsylvania that same year. They had seven children together. Margaret reportedly died in 1784 in Christiansburg, Montgomery, Virginia. She is interred in what is now called Harless Cemetery, in Blacksburg, Montgomery County, Virginia with her husband, their second oldest son, and that son’s wife.

Sources Cited

Find A Grave. (2006, May 9). John Phillip Harless, Sr. Retrieved from http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=14235076

Pritchard, J. L. R. (1962). Harless genealogy, John Philip and Anna Margaretha (Preiss) Harless: pioneers in western Virginia and some of their descendents (ebook.).