WEEK 14 – 2015: The Jersey Shore and my favorite photo

This week’s 52 Ancestors challenge theme was so easy for me: favorite photo. By far, my favorite photo has to be this one of my grandmother, Emma Sarah Cone. That’s her, third from the left. How I received it is one of my favorite genealogy stories as well.

My dad and my grandfather were always into photography. My dad had boxes and stacks of old photographs everywhere. Mainly of objects, landscapes, horses or his favorite subject: me. But, when I asked if he had any old photos of his parents, or perhaps his grandparents, he did not have any. My aunt had some awesome photos that my grandfather had taken of my dad and his siblings and their childhood. But there were none of their grandparents.

Three years ago, I had been reading a collection of stories of genealogists swearing that their ancestors were reaching out beyond the grave to help them with their research. I distinctly remember wishing that my grandmother would help me out in at least finding some more old photos.

Well, Grandmom must have heard me. It was only 3 or 4 days later, I received an email from a woman with the last name of “Cone.” She said she had been looking at Findagrave.com at the memorial page for my great grandfather, Patrick Cone. She had noticed that I had added “flowers” on the page, indicating that I was his great-granddaughter. She was curious, because her husband’s father, Albert A. Cone, was also buried in that plot, and she was not familiar with my name. Her husband, it turns out, is my dad’s first cousin. They had not been in contact for decades! It was exciting, because even though my dad had Alzheimer’s, he remembered his cousin very well.

Mrs. Cone and I exchanged several emails over the next few days. Then she said that she and her husband dug out their mother’s old photo albums, THAT THEY STILL HAD! They did not have a scanner, but they started taking photos with their phone and sent me so many treasures! They had my grandparents’ wedding photo! They sent me photos of my great-Grandmother, Margaret Carney. They sent me images old newspaper clippings of my great grandmother’s relatives in Scranton and letters that she received from her sister, Mary Ann.

But this is the photo I instantly fell in love with. First of all, I was surprised that she had such dark hair! I had always remembered her having gray hair. She looked so young and so vibrant in this photo, with not a care in the world. This photo was one of many that looked like they were all taken at what may have been Atlantic City, NJ. My new found cousins did not know who the other people were in the photos. And the hottie that has his arm around my grandmother in the other photos was definitely not my grandfather. Wow! Grandmom DATED?! Who knew! It looked like such a fun day for my grandmother.

I love these photos! I still feel that this was a big gift from my grandmother, even though she had been gone for over 30 years.

So Grandmom, if you’re still listening… I really would like to find out where in Ireland your father was born. 😉

WEEK 4 – 2015: Mary Ann CARNEY – The Lost Sister

Mary (Carney) O’Mara. 1881-1955.

This week’s theme for the 52 Ancestor challenge is “Closest to your birthday.” I actually share a birthday with my great grand aunt, Mary Ann Carney. And, she has an interesting story, so this blog is dedicated to her.

Mary Ann was born on February 20, 1863 in Dunmore, Pennsylvania to Patrick and Bridget (McDonald) Carney. She was baptized on February 22, 1863 at St. Mary of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Dunmore. Her sponsors were Michael and Marie Donovan.

Sadly, Mary never got to know her parents and her siblings, Margaret and James. Their mother became too ill to take care of them, and the children were placed in a home near Scranton sometime around 1864. Shortly afterwards, Margaret was taken from the home by her father’s uncle, Michael Murray, and was raised in his home in Scranton. James was taken 2 years later by the Peter Murray family, who were cousins of their mother.

A Caveney family had promised to take Mary when she was a little older. However, when they went to the home years later, they had discovered that she was already gone.

Mary had been taken from the home by a Joly family from Tunkhannock, PA. She remembered living with them and remembered the canal boats going up and down the nearby Susquehanna River. The Joly family had been told that Mary was baptized Catholic, and they were not Catholic. So, they gave her to William and Julia Collins of Lovelton, PA. The Collins family, who had 8 children of their own, were the only parents that Mary had known. She lived with them until adulthood.

On January 26, 1881, Mary married John O’Mara at Saint Basil’s Church in Dushore, PA. John and Mary settled down on a large farm in Stowell, PA and raised a large family of 16 children.

Although Mary was very busy with her large family and the farm, she still wondered if she had any other family and siblings. She vaguely remembered having a little brother. She tried to contact the Joly family once to see if they could give her more information. However, she discovered that they had moved out west and she did not know how to find them after that.

On October 31, 1924, her husband was reading the local newspaper, The Wyoming Democrat and saw this ad:

The ad that helped Margaret Carney Cone find her sister, Mary, after 60 years of being apart.

John O’Mara knew right away that it was Mary that they were looking for. Mary was surprised, because she never remembered having a sister. They immediately wrote to Margaret.

After a few letters back and forth, Mary was finally reunited with her sister, Margaret. It was noted that they looked and even acted, very much alike. Afterwards, Margaret and her family would come up to visit with Mary every summer for the next 20 years. Mary and John traveled to Philadelphia once, to visit with Margaret.

Mary reunited with her brother James, in June 1925. He came to Stowell from his home in Lowell, Massachusetts, and stayed for 3 weeks.  However, his health was very poor and he died on February 18, 1927. Their 3 week reunion was the only time Mary got to see her brother.

Mary died on January 4, 1955 at the age of 91. She is buried in St. Anthony’s Church Cemetery in Stowell, PA.

17. Patrick J. Cone – help from beyond?

The Cone family. Front row: Margaret (Carney) Cone, Albert Cone, Katie (Cone) Taylor. Back row: Isaac Taylor, Bill Cone, Patrick J. Cone.

I am continuing my 52 Ancestors challenge with my great-grandfather, Patrick J. Cone, and how he may have helped me by granting me one of my genealogy wishes.

A few years ago, I had read an article with stories of people who had felt their ancestors had helped them from beyond the grave. Although some of the stories seemed a little to far fetched (people who said their ancestor’s ghost appeared to them), I couldn’t help but wish I could get some ancestral help, especially with my Cone ancestors.

My Dad and his sister had always asked if I could find out more about their mother’s family. Their grandfather, Patrick J. Cone, had passed away from a brain tumor before their parents had married. So they knew nothing about his family, except for some of their immediate aunts, uncles and cousins. My Dad and his sister had not been in contact with any of them since my grandmother, Emma Cone, passed away in 1978. And neither one of them had any photos from that side, something that I had really wished for. My Dad had remembered being told that his grandfather was from England.

So, I dug in and found out quite a bit about Patrick Cone. He was born in Ireland, probably around March 31, 1852. From researching his children’s baptismal records, he was possibly born in County Mayo, Ireland. He was the youngest child of Patrick Cone and Catherine Walsh. Some time after Patrick was born and 1861, the Cone family immigrated to Yorkshire, England. (This is why my dad thought he was from England.) The elder Patrick and some of the children found employment in a nearby carpet mill. The family lived there for many years, until their parents both died weeks apart in the spring of 1875. Patrick and Catherine are buried in the Stony Royd Cemetery in Halifax, England.

Patrick came to America at some point between 1871 and 1878. I have never been able to find him in any ship passenger lists. he found his way to Yonkers, New York and worked at another carpet mill in that area. He met my great grandmother, Margaret Carney, and they married on April 12, 1879 at St. Joseph’s Church in Yonkers. They had two children while living in Yonkers. Then, they moved to Philadelphia, PA between 1880 and 1884. Eight more children were born to Patrick and Maggie, three of them dying at a very young age.

Patrick died in Philadelphia on September 15, 1912. His death certificate stated that he was employed as a carpet printer at the J.J. Dobson Carpet Mill. He was buried at Westminster Cemetery in nearby Bala Cynwd, PA. And that pretty much summed up what I had found out about Patrick Cone.

About a week after I had read that article, I received an email from a woman with the last name of Cone. I had entered Patrick Cone’s burial information on findagrave.com. She had been browsing the Internet one day and came across it. She told me that Patrick Cone was her husband’s grandfather, and that his parents, Albert and Marie Cone were buried in the same plot. She had seen the “flowers” I had posted for my great grandfather, and was curious as to how I was related. It turns out that her husband was one of my Dad’s first cousins that he had not been in contact with for decades. Many excited emails were exchanged between myself and this newfound cousin. I sent her photos of our family, and then she asked if I would like to have some old photos of my grandmother! Not only did she send me some incredible photos of my grandmother as a young woman (I was completely surprised to see my grandmother with dark hair!), but she had photos of her wedding to my grandfather! Plus, she had photos of my great grandmother, Maggie, as well as the one I had posted on top, of Patrick and Maggie with some of their children.

I may never know if Patrick, or Maggie, or perhaps my grandmother heard my wishes that one day. But, there is no doubt being contacted by a cousin, and receiving such precious photos were definitely a gift from heaven.

 

Of all the photos my cousin shared with me, this one is my absolute favorite. My grandmother, Emma Cone, at the Jersey Shore. She is 3rd from the left.

Daniel and Emma (Cone) Logue on their wedding day, June 23, 1926, St. Martin de Porres Roman Catholic Church, Philadelphia, PA. Maid of Honor was Marie Feuerstein, Best Man was Francis Mahon.

My grandmother and her brother, Albert, visiting relatives in Wyalusing, PA. The infant is the cousin who emailed me. The little troublemaker in the middle is my Dad!

 

16. Emma Sarah Cone, and how she got me started in genealogy

First an update on my daughter. She is fine and says she feels 100%. She’s been busy living the life of a normal 21 year old: hanging out with friends, going to concerts, registering for her fall classes, getting parking tickets and working 2 jobs. She has a follow-up with her doctor this week, but still needs to make an appointment with a cardiologist to discuss her hole in her heart. Not sure where that will lead yet. But for the time being, all is well with her. Well, except for the parking tickets, but that’s a whole other story.

I have just finished reading and watching the video posted on Ancestry’s blog called “Between The Leaves.” It was a great discussion between Ancestry’s professional genealogists on how they got started in genealogy. This prompted me to write about how I got started in this 52 Ancestors blog post.

I would say that it was my grandmother, Emma Sarah (Cone) Logue, that got me started. Some of my favorite memories were of going to visit my grandparents at their home in Newtown Square, PA, and sitting and talking with my grandmother. On one of those visits, she showed me a copy of a typewritten family history that one of her cousins had written entitled, “The History of the O’Mara Family.”

I was probably still in grade school when she showed me that document, so most of the detail was totally lost on me. This cousin had written about both the paternal and maternal side of her family, and the O’Mara was her paternal side. My grandmother was on the maternal side. So, for years, I had thought that the O’Maras were directly related to us. I had even used one of the O’Mara as the central character in an assignment for my high school composition class. After my grandparents had both passed away, this document ended up in my parents’ possession. My Mom made some copies of it and sent one to me. After re-reading it after so many years, I discovered my mistake. But I also read the part about my grandmother’s side of the family and became intrigued with the story of how her mother, Margaret Carney Cone, was separated from her sister for almost 40 years. This made me want to learn more, and thus began my fascination with genealogy.

This was back in the day of being on the Internet meant having to subscribe to Prodigy and/or CompuServe. I started poking around in some genealogy forums on those and learned about the Family History Library and Family History Centers. I took the plunge and went to a local Family HIstory Center and ordered my first microfilm: the one that would have my grandparents’ marriage application. I remember the thrill I felt when I first saw it on that microfilm reader.

 

My grandmother married my grandfather, Daniel A Logue in Philadelphia, PA on June 23, 1926. I had known my grandparents had met at Bell Telephone, where my grandfather was a lineman and my grandmother was an operator on the switchboard. But finding this document gave me just a little more insight on their families. It listed their parents, the addresses, and the fact that both of their fathers had passed away by this time. All information that both answered questions, gave clues and generated more questions.

One of those questions was directed to my dad and his sister: did they have any photos of my grandparents wedding? I was surprised that my dad, an amateur photographer, did not have any photos or knew of any photos that existed. But that will be the subject of my next post.

 

1. Margaret Carney Cone – #52Ancestors

Margaret Carney Cone, her sister, Mary Carney O’Mara. Some of Mary’s daughters standing behind them.

I am not the first genealogist in my family. It turns out my great grandmother had to do some digging in order to find her sister.

Margaret “Maggie” Carney, was born April 2, 1859 in Scranton, PA to Patrick and Bridget (McDonald) Carney. Her younger siblings, Mary Ann and James Patrick, were born in 1863 and 1864, respectively.

Shortly after James birth, it was said that the parents became unable to care for the children, and they were placed in a home, called the Scranton Asylum. It is not known what became of their parents after this time.

Margaret was taken from the home by an uncle of her father shortly afterwards. The baby, James, was taken by a cousin of their mother. Margaret and James were fortunate enough to have grown up near each other and knew each other. However, Mary was taken from a family not related, and lived in nearby Wyoming County. She did not have any contact with her siblings at all while growing up.

Margaret eventually moved to Yonkers, New York to live with her aunt. She met Patrick Cone while living there, and married him on April 12, 1879. Patrick and Margaret had 10 children. They also moved to Philadelphia, where Patrick had a job working at the Dobson Carpet Mill. Patrick died of a brain tumor September 15, 1912.

Margaret had tried searching for her lost sister for years. After Patrick’s death, the need to find her grew stronger. She had discovered that Mary had been taken by a Joly family and went to live with them in Wyoming County. At the suggestion of a cousin, Margaret placed an ad in the local paper in that area, The Wyoming Democrat. The ad ran on October 31, 1924.

The ad that helped Margaret Carney Cone find her sister, Mary, after 40 years of being apart.

It turns out that Mary was living in Wyoming County on a farm in Stowell. She was married to John O’Mara and had 16 children. Mary’s husband, John, was the one who spotted the ad in the paper. After an exchange of letters, Margaret went to meet Mary in Stowell. After almost 40 years of diligent searching, Margaret was finally reunited with her lost sister.

They were able to visit each other several times a year, with their families for many years afterwards. Margaret died August 27, 1944 in Philadelphia. Mary died January 5, 1955 in Stowell. However, their spirit of learning more about the family still lives on.