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52 Ancestors, No. 20: Julia Corr Graham, a Proper Lady

May 20, 2014 / tim / 0 Comments

Here is another of my earliest attempts at photo restoration—a “Throwback Tuesday”, if you will, from early 2012. Looking back, it turned out okay. I posted it as I fount it. What you see is what you get. On the left, the baby’s face had some sort of darkness across it that seems like it shouldn’t be there. A little digital wizardry, and poof! Bye-bye darkness. A little contrast boost, and there you have it. Not bad.

Young Julia and her sisters, Helen (standing) and Mary (seated).

This is an image of my great-grandmother, Julia Corr, when she was a wee babe. She was born in Philadelphia on October 6, 1904 to John and Julia (Foley) Corr. John was an Irish immigrant who built a successful wool recycling business from the $1.25 he brought with him to the New World. The elder Julia was the daughter of Irish immigrants Edward Foley and Mary Mahoney. After the elder Julia died of stomach cancer in 1906, baby Julia and her siblings were raised by their stepmother, Mary (Comey) Corr.

Young Julia Corr was the baby of the family. Her eldest sister, Mary, was about seventeen years her senior. Julia also had these other siblings: Helen, John A., another baby Julia who died in infancy, Edward, and Joseph. Like her descendants, Julia grew up in Philadelphia, but enjoyed summers by the Jersey Shore: Atlantic City, I believe, in her case. Julia married my great-grandfather, Joseph on April 10th, 1928. Their original marriage certificate is the only one I have yet to see. Continue reading

52 Ancestors, No. 19: My Mother, Celia

May 11, 2014 / tim / 0 Comments

I’m doing something a little different today. My normal M. O. is to profile ancestors who have long passed, and are no longer around to either defend themselves or allege privacy invasion. Today, I’m profiling my mother, who is alive and well, and whom I image will read her profile shortly. Today is Mother’s Day, and so today I recognize my mother as a family hero who has earned her place in history. Continue reading

52 Ancestors, No. 18: Minnie Anflick, A Mother Worth Fighting For

May 7, 2014 / tim / 0 Comments

I’m enjoying a nice little vacation this week, but taking a vacation from my vacation to publish this blog on Ancestor No. 18, my maternal grandfather’s mother. She was born Minnie Snyder in what was once the Russian Empire, sometime in the early 1890s. Telling exactly when she was born is difficult. I suspect that several of the young ladies on this branch of the family falsified their ages on official documents, such as marriage records. Suffice to say, the birth dates on the documents vary widely. Immigration documents place her residence at the time of emigration in a place called Mogilev. There are a few places with that name, the most well known of which, I believe, is in Belarus. There is another place, in what is now the Ukraine, called Mogilev-Podolskiy. I suspect Minnie was from the latter because of its proximity to the birthplace of her future husband’s family, and also because of its strong Jewish heritage, but I’m not completely sure in which of the towns she lived. Continue reading

52 Ancestors, No. 17: Henry Balmer, Swiss Tinner and Farm Laborer

April 29, 2014 / tim / 0 Comments

I think this will be a short entry. I haven’t yet had much to say about this branch of the family tree, and it may be a while before I have any more to say. I don’t know too much about this gentleman, or where he came from, genealogically speaking. This is Henry Balmer, my maternal grandmother’s maternal grandfather. He was born in Switzerland on March 17, 1858. Sometimes I call him “Heinrich”, because I imagine that’s what he would have been called there. Do other genealogists make up nicknames for their research subjects? I dunno. Whatever. Continue reading

52 Ancestors, No. 16: Grandma Cora Harrison, Born on Easter Sunday, 1877

April 20, 2014 / tim / 0 Comments

This week I bring you Cora Kline Harrison, my paternal grandmom’s paternal grandmom. that would be my great-great-grandmom I’ll tell you how my grandmom’s cousin, Doris, and I honed in on her birthday.

A questionable report.

The 1900 Census placed Cora’s birth date in February of 1878. Doris rejected this claim, and insisted instead that her grandmother was born on April 1, 1876, although she had no documents to prove the fact. I had inquired about baptism records at the Lancaster County Historical Society with little else to go on. The archivists there told me that many of the churches of that time and place were inconsistent with birth records, so I might have trouble finding a baptism record for Cora. I did not know the parish in which she was baptized. I did find a record of Cora’s birth among her father’s Civil War pension file, but the record was ambiguous. Continue reading

52 Ancestors, No. 15: Bridget McShane, Irish Woman of Property

April 15, 2014 / tim / 0 Comments

This week I offer the third installment of my McShane series, as I am still compiling McShane family documents for my great aunt and uncle, in between other tasks. There may be another installment next week, depending on whether I can wrap up the project this week. Today’s subject is Bridget McShane, the matriarch of my branch of the McShane family in America. Among her children were my third great-grandfather, Patrick McShane, and Villanova University President Fr. Francis J. McShane, O. S. A. Continue reading

52 Ancestors, No. 14: Patrick McShane, Irishman. Boatman. Milkman. Watchman.

April 8, 2014 / tim / 0 Comments

I’m continuing McShane research this week for my great-uncle, Gabby. He had asked me a few weeks ago to build him a CD of McShane family history in anticipation of his Grand-daughter’s wedding. I went to the Philadelphia Archdiocese Historical Research Center about a week and a half ago to learn more about Fr. Francis J. McShane, and Augustinian priest and one-time president of Villanova University. I copied some articles of interest there, including a published history of one parish where Fr. McShane was pastor, and I have spent the past several days compiling these articles into easily readable PDF files. I’ve probably spent more time on this than I should have, but hey. I’m a data miner. I’m a family history completist. If Fr. McShane’s name is on it, I want it for this collection. Continue reading

52 Ancestors, No. 13: Fr. Francis J. McShane, Augustinian Priest and Villanova University President

April 1, 2014 / tim / 0 Comments

Ancestor No. 13 is the Reverend Francis J. McShane, O.S.A. (of the Order of St. Augustine). My great-uncle wrote to me a couple of weeks ago and asked me to clarify our relationship to Fr. McShane. You see, their granddaughter, my second cousin will shortly be getting married at St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church in Philadelphia. St. Nicholas was an Augustinian, like Fr. McShane, so they are looking perhaps to tie our family’s Augustinian heritage a little more tightly into the celebration. Well, Uncle Gabby came to the right place, because I happen to know the answer to his question. Fr. Francis J. McShane, O.S.A., was the uncle of my great-great-grandmother, Anne (McShane) Graham. That would make him my third-great-granduncle, and the same for the bride, who is also in my generation. Continue reading

52 Ancestors, No. 12: Sorrelona Angeline Butera, Big Sister

March 24, 2014 / tim / 0 Comments

I don’t know a whole lot about my ancestor No. 12, but her image here is a great reminder of why I got into this business. It is the quintessential photo restoration project. I have exactly one picture of this woman, and guess what: It’s wrecked. Wrecked, but salvageable. A little digtial wizardry and voila! Virtually good as new!

Well, enough about me. Let’s get to our subject. Meet Angeline Scaletta, or Aunt Angel, as my grandmother called her (pronounced AHN-jel). She is standing at right in the above photo, next to my great-grandmother, Katherine (Balmer) Scaletti. She was the older sister to my great-grandfather, Antonino Rocco Scaletti. According to civil birth records, she was born in Trabia, Sicily, on April 15, 1884. That made her a full nine years older than Nino, who was born in 1893. Nino also had two older brothers: Giuseppe, aka Joseph, who was born in 1881, and Carmelo, aka Uncle Charly, who was born in 1890.

52 Ancestors, No. 11: John C. Graham, and Celebrating My Family’s Irish Heritage

March 19, 2014 / tim / 0 Comments

This photo didn’t really need a lot of work, but I gotta do what I gotta do to get a legit 52 Ancestors post up on here, and there is no better way to do that on St. Patrick’s Day than to honor John C. Graham, my great-great-grandfather along the paternal line. He is the Irish ancestor of my surnamesake. Although I’ll never hear his brogue, it still reverberates in the memory of my grandfather, who has done his best to help me preserve the family’s history. Continue reading