52 Ancestors, Week 5: Oops

Week 5 of Amy Johnson Crow's "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" prompt is "Oops." Mistakes can be costly. They can also be deadly, and the summer of 1892 was a doubly tragic one for my family.

Shot Himself in the Side

Charles Herrick was received at the Allegheny Hospital yesterday afternoon severely wounded by a gun shot. He gave his address as No. 32 Cherry street. He said he was with a camping party down the Ohio River opposite Shousetown, and yesterday afternoon went with a companion to shoot at blackbirds among the reeds in the river. His rifle trigger was caught in some matted grass, the weapon was discharged and the ball entered Herrick's side at the fifth rib. It passed upward and caused a very serious wound, which seems likely to be fatal. The man was brought to Allegheny on a Ft. Wayne train, but at midnight the surgeons had not been able to find the ball.

— The Pittsburgh Dispatch, Tuesday, August 16, 1892

"The Shot Was Fatal" read the headline in the following day's Washington (Pa) Daily Reporter. That article gives the location as Leetsdale, on the Ohio River 17 miles below Pittsburgh. It states that Charles accidentally shot himself while climbing over a fence. Marshall Lytle, one of his companions, had him placed on the train and taken to the hospital. Lytle, and Charles's brother and sister, were with him when he died.

Charles was about 15 or 16 at the time of his death. His parents had divorced several years earlier and mother Rebecca had died four years before. His father Henry was living elsewhere, and Charles and his siblings were essentially reared by their sister Daisy, about five years Charles's senior, and their brother Frank, who was about three years older than Charles. 

It's not known which siblings were at Charles's bedside when he died. The eldest brother, Harry, had gone to Texas sometime in 1892 or 1893 but returned before the summer of 1893, most likely due to the impending death of his grandmother, Jane (nee Wood) Herrick, who reared him and with whom he lived. 

In 1899, Marshall Lytle would go on to marry Charles's sister, Katherine. Harry married Maggie Donley in 1893 and their only child, a son (who was my grandfather), was named Charles — likely in memory of the uncle he never knew.

__________

52 Ancestors, Week 3: Out of Place

Amy Johnson Crow, in her "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge, has as Week 3's prompt "Out of Place." 

Amy asks, "Have you ever found an ancestor in an unexpected location? What about finding a record someplace that surprised you? Or what about that one great-great-uncle who moved out West when everyone else in the family stayed put?"

So I decided to write about all of the above.

One difficulty in my family history research is finding out WHERE in England my great-grandmother Margaret Donley's family lived. Face it, it's not much help when on every record I found, it says merely "England." OOO-KAYYY. Fortunately, I found out about great-grandma's brother, who was nearly 20 years older. Robert Donlon used a different spelling of his surname, but he had the decency to use a consistent birthdate (thank you, kind sir!), and vital records state he was from Leeds. At last! Something to go on.

Before discovering Robert, I'd found a family in the 1885 Iowa State Census whose members seemed to match up with what Dad told me about his grandmother's family. Since the first mention of Maggie was at her marriage in Pennsylvania, I had no idea if this was the correct family as they were not in a place in which I expected to find them.

After discovering Robert, I found that he was also in the same Iowa county, married and with two children. That census suddenly became a more important puzzle piece. The Donley boys were coal miners and I don't know if they stayed put in one area, or criss-crossed the country, going to where the jobs were.

At least one of the brothers went out west.  This news item from 1915 mentions that Robert's brother James was visiting from Montana. The family is definitely a work-in-progress, although DNA is helping!

Under the "record I did not expect to find" category is a divorce record. My 2x great-grandfather, Henry Herrick, had married Rebecca MOLDEN/MOULDEN and I was checking newspapers for a marriage notice. I found a news item with both Herrick and Molden — but not the marriage I expected. Turns out Henry's sister Bell had married a Molden and it didn't work out. Bell's mother Jane Herrick was filing the suit. More work to do, for sure, as the 1868 divorce notice mentions Bell's husband William Molden, but an 1865 marriage notice says Bell was married to James Molden. In any case, in the 1870 U.S. Census, Bell is married to Jacob Miller and has a 3 month old son, John.

52 Ancestors, Week 1: I'd Like to Meet...

For the past few years, my friend Amy Johnson Crow has featured a writing prompt called "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks." I've been bad about writing and blogging regularly (all you have to do is look at the dates of my previous posts, LOL!). This is the year I actually stick to it. I'm not getting off to a promising start, though - Amy's already posted prompts for Week 3, and here I am, blogging for Week 1. Oh well!

Week 1's prompt is "I'd like to meet..."  I’d like to have met my great-grandmother, Margaret Donley Herrick McCabe. Born in England, she and her family came to the US in the early 1880s.  She died in 1950, six years before I was born. So, I think I'll ask Maggie as if she were still here.

Margaret Donley
Herrick McCabe

• Did your family all immigrate to the U.S. together? Or did some of you arrive first, and the others followed? When and from where did you arrive in the U.S.?
• It appears that your family lived in Iowa in 1885. How did you wind up in PA in 1893? Where did the other family members go?
• How did you meet Harry Herrick? He had been in Texas, and returned to Washington, Pennsylvania sometime around the death of his grandmother Jane. Was it a love match? A one-night stand? 
• When and why did you and Harry split? Did you formally divorce? (I hope so, because you later married Robert McCabe, so...) When and where did you and Harry divorce? Did you ever have contact with him again? When did you divorce McCabe (or did you)?
• Was Julia Donley a sister of yours? If so, why do I not find any connection between her and her siblings?
• Most importantly, who were your parents — John Donley and Katherine Kelley? Or Patrick Donley and Margaret Kelley?

So many questions; so few answers. Maggie, why did you use Donley, but your eldest brother Robert used Donlon? Speaking of Robert, why did my dad hear from his dad — your son — about various family members, but not a peep did Dad mention a Robert? Heck, Maggie, Robert even lived in East Palestine, Ohio, the town in which Dad was born. 

I'd love to know the answers to the most mundane questions. Did you speak with a British accent? What were your favorite foods? What kind of mother were you: the soft, nurturing kind? A hard-as-nails badass? What made you decide to leave Iowa behind and come to Chicago? What (or who) was here for you?

DNA and genealogical research will help answer some questions, but there will be others that go unanswered forever, and that's a shame.

Census Goal: Discovering Donnellys

Twelve days and counting until the 1940 U.S. Census. Dad spoke of many of his Iowa relatives, and I'll get a chance to find them. I want to see Dad's grandmother, Margaret Donnelly Herrick McCabe. In 1940 great-grandma would be in Chicago, where she operated a rooming house (no, Jana Sloan Broglin, not the kind your Aunt Merle had!). Dad said that when Margaret first came to Chicago, she was a lady barber, and her shop was across the street from the Coliseum at 12th and Michigan. I believe the Coliseum was made from the original Libby Prison, the famous Civil War prison.

I want to find Margaret's sister, Katherine Donnelly Morgan. Just a few months ago, I found that Dad's Aunt Kate had gone back to Ohio and is buried near her son, Grant. Is Kate enumerated in 1940 in Chicago with Louis Henderson? Dad always called him "Uncle Louie," but it was years before Dad's mother told him that Kate and Louis were not married. I believe he and Kate are listed as Henderson in 1930. Stories are running together in my mind. Was Aunt Kate the one who ate her dessert first? Or was she the one who drove all the way to Ohio without knowing how to back up?

I want to find out more about Aunt Mary Liz Donnelly Bishop. She apparently was the sister of Katherine and Margaret, but I've never found enough to locate her beyond a doubt. Or at least to differentiate her from other Marys. Dad said she was in Iowa as well.

The Donnelly boys intrigue me also. Dad said his grandmother had at least three brothers: Eddie, Matt and Jim; also possibly a John and a Tom. One of the boys may have been a boxer. One of them supposedly went to California and did either truck farming or acting.

Many years ago, I recall riding in a car with Dad, Uncle Bill and other relatives. I think we were out of town for a family function. When we stopped in Spring Valley, IL, Uncle Bill said that the Donnellys had lived there. I had never heard that from Dad. I wonder if they were miners.

So. The Census Goal is to find Donnellys. Genealogists are told to "start with yourself" and 1940 is as close to starting with myself as I'm likely to get, at least for another 10 years. Finding Margaret's parents will be a kick. Margaret's death certificate lists her parents as Patrick Donnelly and Katherine Kelly, while her marriage license to Robert McCabe lists her parents as Thomas Donley and Margaret Kelly. Sheesh. (Not as hard as tracing Smiths, but definitely harder than Mom's Polish side.)