Genealogical Journey: Surprises Kept Me Searching

The ancestors are always teasing me:  pack of napkins I found in a grocery store parking lot.  Photo credit:  Michele Lagoy

Great-great-grandma Elizabeth Sullivan was buried in her son James' ( 1853-1907) family plot.  James was my great-grandfather Charles' brother.  The strategy of researching my ancestor's siblings was paying off in spades.  Not only was I meeting more relatives, I was finding ancestors.  St. Peter's Cemetery in Staten Island, NY had my great-great-grandmother listed as Elizabeth O'Sullivan in their records.  Via the Emigrant Savings Bank records, I had previously learned that her maiden name was O'Regan.  Our ancestors had a bank account but I haven't found the money yet, so calm down family. With the date of the burial information from the cemetery, I could narrow down a search for her death record in the New York City death certificate database.  One result came up for an Elizabeth O'Sullivan who died in November of 1899. The luck of the Irish struck again!  I ordered a copy of her death certificate and impatiently waited for it to arrive.

Relationship Summary Lagoy, Michele Ann's grandmother's uncle is Sullivan, James S. Sullivan, Denis 1815 - 1880 Elizabeth Sullivan (1826-1899) was married to Denis Sullivan  and is my great-great-grandmother Sullivan, Charles Joseph 1856 - 1902 Sullivan, James S. b.1853 Sullivan, Mary Bernadette 1896 - 1964 Lagoy, William Paul, Jr Lagoy, Michele Ann Details: Lagoy, Michele Ann's father's mother's father's brother is Sullivan, James S. Names:  Lagoy, Michele Ann father Lagoy, William Paul, Jr mother Sullivan, Mary Bernadettefather Sullivan, Charles Joseph brother Sullivan, James S.

In the meantime, I put in a request on the Find A Grave website to have the headstone photographed. I was not impatient about getting this photograph because I knew I would eventually get back to Staten Island myself, or ask my cousins to photograph it during one of their visits to the cemetery.  
( By that time, my second cousin Charles, who goes by Tim, had moved from across the street from the cemetery or I would have asked him to photograph it.)  Find A Grave had an event that they called Community Days. It consisted of asking people to fulfill photo requests made to the site by going to cemeteries and photographing headstones with the information provided by the requester. Christine answered the request that I had posted.  Once again, the kindness of strangers prevailed. Christine lived in the vicinity of the cemetery and regularly walked her dog there.  This was her fist time fulfilling a photo request on Find A Grave and I was glad that she chose mine.  ( The ancestors must like Christine and her dog. )  She initially had some trouble locating the headstone as each section of the cemetery was not clearly marked and the cemetery office that might have been able to help, was closed on the weekend.  A flurry of email exchanges between us finally got her there.  I figured the grave was near Section XX where my great-grandparents were buried, so I advised her to use the Clove Road entrance where the words "Saint Peter's Cemetery 1848" were written on a stone pillar.  I suggested she check near the lake for Section 33, for which there was no signage.  Arliene Sullivan, Jack's wife, was interred there four months earlier so I suggested she look for grass that was not as grown in as much as on the other plots.  That did the trick!  Racing to get back to the cemetery before night fall, Christine took several photographs of the main headstone and the two adjoining ones.  I emailed the photos to Cousin Bill and he sent her a thank you email as well.  I had found a great-great-grandparent's grave that led me to a death certificate that I hoped would provide me with the names of yet another generation of ancestors.

Grave stone of my Great-great-grandmother Elizabeth O'Sullivan and her son James' descendants and their spouses.  Photo credit:  Christine B. as part of Find A Grave's Community Day

Genealogical Journey: Staten Island, Sullivan's and Saint Peter's

Relationship Summary
Lagoy, Michele Ann's father's second cousin is Sullivan, Carolyn

Sullivan, Denis 1815 - 1880   Sullivan, Charles Joseph 1856 - 1902   Sullivan, James S. b.1853   Sullivan, Mary Bernadette 1896 - 1964   Sullivan, Joseph Francis 1897 - 1971   Lagoy, William Paul, Jr   Sullivan, Carolyn 1937 - 2011     Lagoy, Michele Ann

The above relationship chart shows Michele's relationship to Carolyn Sullivan.  Our common ancestor is Denis Sullivan.

Details:

Lagoy, Michele Ann's father's mother's father's brother's son's daughter is Sullivan, Carolyn

Thanks to Beatrice Sullivan's obituary, I had eleven living relatives to contact on the James S. Sullivan line of the family.  Eleven!  All I needed was for one of them to be willing to talk to me.  I started looking up names and phone numbers in the white pages online.  Some of the names didn't have phone numbers listed.  One person didn't return my call, but I had many names to contact.  I was drawn to the name Angelique Phyllis Sullivan.  ( It was on a public record I had found; see previous blog post.)  Her mother Beatrice's obituary gave Angelique's married name and the New Jersey township where she currently lived.  That information led me to her phone number.  I called it leaving the message I had honed stating who I was, that I was seeking genealogy information as I believed we were related.  After several rounds of phone tag, we spoke.  I believe she left me two messages before I could get back to her.  She seemed eager to talk to me and I soon learned why.  She was a foster child of the Sullivan's who came into their home when she was 18 months old.  At some point, she started using "Sullivan" as her last name until she married.  She was eager to contact me because she heard that a biological sister lived out West and her name started with an "M."  So a "Michele" calling out of the blue from California saying we were related, piqued her interest.  I was sorry to inform her that I was not a close biological relative but she confirmed that my research had yielded the right Sullivan family.

Relationship chart showing Annie and I are third cousins.  Our ancestor in common is Denis Sullivan.

Sullivan, Denis 1815 - 1880   Sullivan, Charles Joseph 1856 - 1902   Sullivan, James S. b.1853   Sullivan, Mary Bernadette 1896 - 1964   Sullivan, Joseph Francis 1897 - 1971   Lagoy, William Paul, Jr   Sullivan, Joseph James, Jr. 1925 - 1990   Lagoy, Michele Ann   Reedy, Angelique

Details:

Lagoy, Michele Ann's father's mother's father's brother's son's son's daughter is Reedy, Angelique

Names:

Lagoy, Michele Ann father Lagoy, William Paul, Jr mother Sullivan, Mary Bernadettefather Sullivan, Charles Joseph brother Sullivan, James S. son Sullivan, Joseph Francisson Sullivan, Joseph James, Jr. daughter Reedy, Angelique

We talked about Staten Island.  She grew up there and having already located me on Facebook, saw the photos I had of the Lyons' pool.  She and her siblings swam there as children but never knew the pool was named after a mutual relative, Joseph H. Lyons.

We discussed her Aunt Carolyn and her Uncle Jack's family.  Annie, as Angelique is called, told me that her late Uncle Jack had two married daughters whose names she gave me.  That was another reason I had trouble tracing this family branch; Jack only had daughters whose last names changed upon marriage.  According to Facebook photos, they are fair skinned with blue eyes like many of the Sullivan descendants.  They look more like my Dad than I do!  They reside on Staten Island to this day.  Annie told me that her Cousin Karen might have some of their Aunt Carolyn's family history notes as Carolyn knew a lot about the family.  Contacting her is on my genealogy to do list.

Here is what I do know about their Aunt Carolyn strictly through genealogy research.  Carolyn Sullivan (1937-2011) was the Carol Ann Sullivan listed on the 1940 census I located.  Note to self: learn about Soundex.  That would have saved me hours of fruitless research time looking for a Carol Ann Sullivan.  I discounted all records of Carolyn Sullivan because of that mistake on the census!
Carolyn never married so there was no record of marriage for her.   I even paid the City of New York to conduct a record search hoping to find a married surname that I could trace.  I missed her in the Social Security Death Index because I insisted on looking for a Carol Ann Sullivan and stopped searching each time the records showed a Carolyn.  (Ironically, Carolyn spent decades working at the Social Security Administration.)  For some reason, I kept looking for her even though female relatives are harder to trace.  It turned out she had something to tell me about the ancestors.  Eerily, I pictured her in a wheelchair talking about her knowledge of the family.  Annie told me at the end of her life, Carolyn fell on some icy steps and was wheelchair bound after that.   I searched for her obituary online where I found what she wanted me to know.  Carolyn was buried in the family plot located in St. Peter's Cemetery in Staten Island, NY.  A light bulb went off in my head and I called the cemetery to inquire about the location of the plot.  I was told there were ten other people in that plot besides Carolyn!  The list of names included Carolyn's parents, grandparents, a child named George who died as an infant, and my ancestor:  Elizabeth O'Sullivan who I learned died in November of 1899.  My great-great-grandmother was buried with my great-grandfather's brother's family, a few rows from our family plot.  Thanks Carolyn!

1940 US Census showing Carol Ann ( Carolyn)  Sullivan living with her family on Markham Place in Staten Island.  Notice the family paid $40 a month in rent and Joseph made $2100 a year as a letter carrier for the Post Office.  

Obituary for Carolyn A. Sullivan

AGE: 74 • Wall, New Jersey

Carolyn A. Sullivan, 74, of Wall, passed away on Thursday, July 7, 2011, at Care One, Wall. Born in Staten Island, N.Y., she lived in Plainfield and Brick prior to moving to Wall five years ago. She was a case worker for the Social Security Administration in Plainfield for 30 years before retiring in 1998. She was a parishioner of St. Dominic Church, Brick.

Carolyn was predeceased by her parents, Joseph and Alma Sullivan; and two brothers, Joseph Sullivan and John Sullivan. She is survived by several nieces and nephews, grandnieces and nephews; two sisters-in-law, Arliene Sullivan of Staten Island, and Beatrice Sullivan of Lakewood. Also survived by great-grandnieces and nephews.

Visiting hours are from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday, July 10 at Colonial Funeral Home, 2170 Highway 88, Brick. A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 9 a.m. Monday, July 11 at St. Dominic Church, Brick, followed by interment at St. Peter Cemetery, Staten Island.

Published in Asbury Park Press on July 8, 2011 - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/app/obituary.aspx?n=Carolyn-A-Sullivan&pid=152419742#sthash.E9drYtPy.dpuf

Genealogical Journey: Finding My First John Smith aka James Sullivan

One thing led to another.  Having tracked down two of my great-grandfather's siblings' descendants, I was left with the task of finding the remaining two.  (Old Uncle George had no descendants, having had his heart broken, he ran off and joined the Circus as previously mentioned.)  I decided to take a look at finding living descendants of great-grandpa's brother named James Sullivan (1853-1906).  I might as well look for the genealogical equivalent of a needle in a hay stack: John Smith.

Old Uncle George Sullivan about 1915, Staten Island.  ( Courtesy of Drew Van Winkle)  

Agnes Lyons Van Winkle,, with Old Uncle George Sullivan.  ( From the private collection of Drew Van Winkle.)

Utilizing the research techniques that served me well thus far, I searched census forms for Staten Island.  I quickly learned that James S. Sullivan was married to a woman named Julia, and their children were named:  James A., Anna Maria, and Joseph Francis Sullivan.  Those names matched Bill's dad's notes.  More John Smiths to trace, but I had three leads.  At some point I learned that James A. and Anna married but had no children.  To further confuse me, James A. married a woman named Helen whose maiden and married names were both Sullivan.  I wondered if she had to officially change her name.

My hopes of finding living relatives from this branch of the family all rested on a man named Joseph Francis Sullivan.  Via the draft records for both World Wars, I learned that he had blue or grey eyes, a ruddy complexion and worked for the Post Office.  His physical description was keeping in line with most of the Sullivan men, including my dad.  I realized from this form that the letters "P" and "O" next to his name stood for Post Office on Cousin Bill's dad's notes!  (Cousin Bill's dad was also named James Sullivan and also worked for the Post Office.  Perhaps he and Joseph had met there, and sharing the same job, last name and probably looks, struck up a conversation about how they might be related.)

Family tree notes showing descendants of James Sullivan.  Note my grandparents' names William Lagoy and Mary Sullivan.

Above notes credited to James J. Sullivan, Cousin Bill's dad who gave me these invaluable notes. 

The 1940 census showed Joseph Sullivan married to a woman named Alma and their children were listed as Joseph Jr,, John and Carol Ann.

1940 Census showing the family of Joseph and Alma Sullivan on Staten Island.  It was their descendants I was seeking.  Source:  1940 US Census from the Family Search website

I was stuck at this information for a long time and unable to make headway with those names.  More John Smiths.  Then one day, the genealogy gods were with me or Joseph wanted me to find his family.  On the Family Search website, I came across an unlikely record that I thought had no business being online but it was classified as a public record. It stated that Joseph F. Sullivan, aka Joseph James Sullivan and a date of birth of 27 May 1925.  This too, was another stroke of luck.  On the 1925 New York State Census, taken on June 1, 1925, Joseph was listed as five days old, thus I was able to hone in on his date of birth as his age was only days old at the time the census was taken.  I now had a name, a date of birth, and an address from the aforementioned draft card that all matched.  I was getting somewhere.  The bottom of the public record listed possible relatives:  Angelique Phyllis, Beatrice M. and Margaret E. Sullivan.  Finally, there were some names I could leverage and match up with Joseph Sullivan.  Before I tell you the rest of the story, let me remind you about the Clay boys who were put into an orphanage. ( See the three previous blog posts titled "The Cryne Line").  Now let me balance the family tree by showing you the obituary of Joseph's wife Beatrice Sullivan (1927-2013).

Beatrice M. Sullivan (2013) 

AGE: 86 • Brick, New Jersey

Beatrice M. (Schine) Sullivan, also known as "Bea" "BB" "Grandma B" and "Mom," 86, of Brick, died Saturday, July 27, 2013, at Meridian Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Brick. She was born and raised in Staten Island and lived there for 60 years before moving to Brick in 1986. She was a graduate of Port Richmond High School in Staten Island. In her younger years, she enjoyed spending her summers in Highlands, NC and loved reunion trips back to Highlands. She was a parishioner of the Church of the Epiphany in Brick where she taught CCD classes. She was a member and past president of Mater Dei Chapter of the New York Foundling Hospital Center for Development of Children. She was honored by Cardinal Cook for her work in finding homes for children, many of whom were taken in at her home. She was also honored as a Foster Parent of the Year. She loved bowling and was a member of the Columbettes Bowling League and was a member of the Music Club and Italian American Club at the Original Leisure Village in Lakewood.

She was predeceased by her beloved husband of 44 years, Joseph J. Sullivan in 1990. She is survived by 11 children, Barbara Tunnington and her husband, Tom of Brick, Margaret Territo of Manchester, Joseph Sullivan and his wife, Karen of Parlin, Robin Bisogna and her partner, Audie Parker of Staten Island, Catherine Regan of Yorktown, TX, Angelique Reedy and her husband, Ron of Brick, Ginny Romo of Columbus, GA, Azealia Caceres of Philadelphia, PA, Tommy Wong and his wife, Sherry of Utica, NY, Daniel Lenier of Montgomery, AL and Jackie Andujar of Staten Island; 22 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren; and several nieces & nephews. - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/app/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=166112480#sthash.DsvIsZfr.dpuf

Genealogical Journey: The Cryne Line Part 3: The Fine Cryne LIne

The Cryne family members I was in touch with didn't seem to know about my branch of the family, so maybe nobody in mine knew about Catherine Cyrne's youngest three boys being placed in an orphanage. Cousin Carol confirmed the name of the orphanage to be what is now called Mount Loretto.  I perused my grandmother's address book.  An address listed for Great-aunt Margaret read "Mission of the Immaculate Virgin, Mount Loretto, Staten Island, NY.  Dietary Department Boys." This was not written in the address book, it was from a pre-printed address label torn from an envelope and scotch taped into her address book.  As there was no zip code in the address, it was put in there prior to 1963. Cousin Bill confirmed that Great-aunt Margaret did indeed work at Mount Loretto and even resided there in her retirement years.

Address in my grandmother's handwriting for her sister Margaret at Mount Loretto on Staten Island

Okay, so that was reference to evidence that her cousin Catherine's sons were there at possibly the same time Great-aunt Margaret worked there.  The Clay boys were there from the late 1920's to the mid-1930's.  I found Frank, Raymond and Joseph Clay, Carol's father, listed there on the 1930 census.  However, Great-aunt Margaret was listed as a chambermaid at Bellevue Hospital, also living there. in 1930.  Aunt Peggy told me that Great-aunt Margaret did work at Bellevue for a while, and as she does not appear on the census in Staten Island in 1930, that must be her.  So perhaps she didn't know about the Clay boys and got that job at Mount Loretto after the Clay boys left.  I found Great-aunt Margaret still at Bellevue on the 1940 census which asked where you were five years ago. She answered, "same place." so didn't encounter the Clay boys at Mount Loretto in the 1930's.   But why did I still feel that the family knew about the Clay boys?

Reviewing Julia's family tree on Ancestry again, I noticed something I had not seen the other times I had looked at it.  Read much?  One of Catherine's sons with the last name Cyrne had a baptismal certificate that referenced "Helen Lyons" as a sponsor.  The link said to email the author to see a copy of it.  I was willing to bet that the certificate read "Helena"not Helen.  Helena was the baby's great-aunt and Cousin Drew's grandmother.  I didn't expect a response from this email address because it contained the word "bogus" in the address.  Happily, I was wrong.  Julia emailed me back right away and sent me a copy of the baptismal certificate.  It read "Helena Lyons" as I predicted.  More reference to evidence that the family possibly knew about Catherine's youngest sons.  Below is Julia's email to me.  The Cyrne line is fine.

Michele,

I have asked my family for a copy of the certificate, and I will send it to you.  You should know that there is some confusion between the birth certificate and baptism:  the dates of birth don't match, and one shows him as older than the other.  We believe the baptism certificate is more likely accurate, as the birth certificate wasn't filed for a few years afterwards, and the family were strict Catholics and would have had him baptized quickly.  

He is a remarkable man.  His life is quite a story, and I hope to post it sometime on Ancestry to keep the story alive. We also have a copy of his passport, when he went to Japan right after WWII for business, along with some other info.  He also enlisted in the US Marines at 17, fought in Central America, was wounded, worked for the Irish mob during prohibition, lost all his savings in the crash, started a steel company and remade himself from scratch.  

I would love to have the photograph that you mentioned.  It would be nice for my family to see my grandfather's mother.  She had a rough life after her first husband died.  All we know is that she remarried an abusive man and was fairly unhappy with her life.  

Julia

I was happy to provide Julia a photograph of her great-grandmother.  I also encouraged her to expand Joe Cryne's story as I, for one, would love to know more about this relative.

Michael Joseph ( Joe ) Cyrne's baptismal certificate showing Helena Lyons as his sponsor.  Courtesy of Julia Cyrne.  

Genealogical Journey: The Cyrne Line Part 2: The end of the line?

I found someone else also posted a family tree on Ancestry listing Catherine Cryne as an ancestor. Catherine was married twice and this tree was for her and her first husband Michael's descendants.  Ancestry does not give names of living relatives listed on the tree for privacy reasons.  (They probably had people like me in mind when they did that.)  Not seeing any other way to contact the tree's author, I wrote a message in the comment section of the page.  The tree didn't go beyond Catherine's parents ( Michael & Elizabeth Rogers) so I was not hopeful that she knew about any more ancestors than what I had learned. We all seemed to be "stuck" at Denis and Elizabeth Sullivan or their children, as was the case with this branch of the family tree.  This tree did cite that same 1900 census listing Catherine and her three siblings: George, Anna and Lizzie.  Maybe the author was certain that Catherine's mother was Elizabeth Sullivan Rogers.  Maybe she knew more about her grandmother's siblings.  As I studied the tree and the attached cited information, I hoped that Julia, the author would email me back quickly like Carol had.  That didn't happen.  Carol had left a message in the comment box as well.

From time to time, I would check Julia's tree hoping my question was answered in the comment section.  One time I notice that one of the names on the tree was no longer. private.  So I looked for an obituary and hit pay dirt again.  As always, I was happy to find more relatives but sad to see that someone had passed on.  This time it was Bernice's husband.  Bernice's father was Catherine's son. Catherine was her grandmother.  I found her living in New Jersey so I called her.  She said that Julia, the Ancestry family tree author was her niece, her brother's daughter.  I had a wonderful chat with Bernice; she told me to call her Penny.  When I asked why, she said as a little girl she attended Girl Scout Camp where everyone had to pick a nickname.  She didn't want to be called the obvious, Bernie, because there was a mean kid on her block named that and she didn't want to be reminded of him.  So she picked Penny and it stuck.  Penny didn't have Julia's contact information, did not use a computer and was only "a little" interested in genealogy.  Her son didn't accept my friend request on Facebook.  I thought I was at the end of the Cryne line.

By this time, Cousin Bob had come through for me and located a photo of Catherine Rogers Cryne Clay, his grandfather's sister.  This photo cemented it for me that Catherine was a member of our family.  Bob's email mentioned his mother's recollection of Catherine and two of her son's as well.

Kitty Rogers ( Courtesy of Bob Rogers)

I was still curious if other branches of the family, mostly mine, who resided on Staten Island knew of Catherine's youngest sons being placed in an Orphanage there.  Why would they go from Islip on Long Island to Staten Island?  I had this nagging feeling that knew but no proof until...

Genealogical Journey: The Cryne Line Part 1: Drew Knew Not

I can't remember exactly how I first discovered the possibility of another branch of the family existing, but the 1900 census was involved.  Ancestry.com took me to a family tree that cited that source for the author's grandmother whose siblings I had finished researching. ( See previous blog posts titled Cousin Bob and Michele Meets Megan and Michael.)  Apparently, I did not research all of the Rogers siblings.  Either I had to be wrong or she had to be wrong about her grandmother's siblings.  Maybe the census taker was wrong when he recorded the names on the 1900 census. But three out of four children's names?  The parents' names were Michael and Elizabeth Rogers. Elizabeth Rogers was born Elizabeth Sullivan and she was my grandmother's aunt.  So I searched the 1900 census again seeking other Rogers families in New York City with three children named George, Anna and Elizabeth.  No other census sheet came close.  A call to Cousin Drew confirmed my doubt; he had met George, Anna aka Vera and Lizzie many times, but never a Catherine Rogers. Drew had so much first-hand knowledge about the family, how could he miss an entire person whose siblings he had met many times?  Highly unlikely.  So I set aside the only page from the 1900 census with the four Rogers siblings listed:  George, Anna, Elizabeth and Catherine.  I wrote question marks all over it as an indication to myself that I might have the wrong family.  ( Please scroll up & down as well as left & right to see the Rogers family on the 1900 census below.)

1900 US Census showing the Rogers family at 511 West 44th Street in Manhattan.  My copy had question marks written all over it.

But I continued to research Catherine Rogers.  Although she was the youngest sibling, she was the first to marry as a teenager.  Her granddaughter, Carol, emailed me back almost immediately when I sent her a message through Ancestry about us possibly being related.  Carol said that prior to her father's death he could not talk.  Via cryptic, written messages, he told Carol's daughter Holly, that there were two.  Two what?  Two husbands.  His mother Catherine was married twice.  Prior to this, Carol's family did not know about that.  Catherine Rogers first husband was Michael Cryne.  Her second husband, Joseph Clay Sr. was Carol's grandfather whom Catherine married in 1918 after her first husband died.  Carol and I exchanged many emails; she patiently put up with my doubts about Catherine being a part of the family.  Cousins Ed and Bill were equally surprised about this discovery but could not shed any light on it.  Poor Cousin Drew, I fear he almost blew up his brain trying to recall anything about a Catherine Rogers.  I later learned that Catherine died in 1933 and Drew was born in 1932, so he would not have remembered if he had ever met her.  He later told me he did recall overhearing the adults talking about a Catherine but not directly to him.

Here is where the story got both interesting and difficult for me as a researcher.  Once again, the genealogy addiction gripped me and I dug deep.  Too deep perhaps.  How would I deal with this uncovered knowledge?  In one of my first emails to Carol, I asked what she knew about Staten Island.  She said she was surprised that I should ask that and then emailed me how Staten Island figured in her dad's life:

About Staten Island, well I was surprised to find out that u mentioned a few things, connecting our family to Staten Island.  Well, my dad, Joseph, and his 2 brothers Raymond and Frank were sent to the Catholic Orphanage there I have it in my notes and my dad brought me past there one day when I was a young girl.  It may have been called St. Mary's.  I bet your ( our cousin) Bill would know the name, it was the one that the cathedral burnt down.  There was a big fire there about 15 years or so ago.  My dad and I were watching it on the news.  His father didn't want them and were found in a house in Islip NY ( when they were small) and someone reported the incident.  I don't know all the details, I don't know if Catherine was dead then, I don't think so but I have to check the dates.  So I will ask that of my cousin Raymond to see if he has more detail.  Any way, they were young because Frank was still in diapers and not put in the same area as my dad and Raymond they were all a year or two apart.  My dad didn't get out of there till he was 16 when he joined the "CC Camp"*  then the army at 18 and when he was done with his two years he was getting set to be released and had to stay another four years because of WWII.  There was a man and wife who lived in Staten Island who wanted to adopt my father but the orphanage would not let him.  The man's name was Habacorn, my spelling may be off but it sounded exactly like that, and he lived near some kind of lake or body of water.  And I believe he also lived not far from the orphanage.  I went there too on the same day my dad showed my brother Bruce and myself the orphanage.  I will ask Raymond to search through his father's old pictures and maybe we can identify some of them.  Do you happen to have a picture of Catherine?  

Raymond, Joseph and Frank Clay, Catherine Rogers three youngest sons. Courtesy of Carol Hanrahan.

No, but finding a photo of your grandmother would be the least I could do for you.  I felt awful that her dad and uncles were placed in an orphanage in Staten Island.  Perhaps my branch of the family didn't know about this.  That must be it.  Drew knew not; so the rest of the extended family must not have known about Catherine's children either.  Please let that be the reason.

* "CC Camps" were The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a  public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families as part of the New Deal. Originally for young men ages 18–23, it was eventually expanded to young men ages 17–28. source:  Wikipedia

Genealogical Journey: Michele Meets Megan & Michael

Great-grandpa Charles Sullivan had two sisters.  His oldest sister, named Elizabeth, after their mother, was the fourth of the Sullivan children, but the first of the three born during the family's ten year sojourn back to Ireland.  Thanks to Cousin Drew and Cousin Bill's father's notes, I learned that Elizabeth Sullivan's married name was Rogers.  Without them, I was unable to trace her past the 1875 New York State census when she was still a Sullivan.  According to Cousin Drew, Elizabeth had three children:  George, Vera and Elizabeth who was called "Lizzie." Drew met them many times as they were his mother Agnes' first cousins.  Determined to complete Elizabeth's branch of the family tree, I began tracking Lizzie's descendants.

Baptismal transcript for Elizabeth Sullivan.  Obtained in Ireland, courtesy of Bill Sullivan.

Portion of family tree notes by James J. Sullivan ( 1915-2004) showing Elizabeth Sullivan's married name as Rogers.
Filling in this family tree was the inspiration for this blog and my research.  Notes courtesy of Bill Sullivan. 

Like her sister Vera (nee Anna, subject of the previous blog entry) Lizzie was also in show business. She worked at the famous Hippodrome Theater in New York City where she met her actor husband, Frank Sullivan.  Lizzie Rogers married and became Lizzie Sullivan.  She and Frank had a son named Frank, Jr. On the 1930 census, I found Lizzie and her son Frank living with Vera and her husband, Sam in Queens, New York.  I believe Vera had real affinity for her nephew Frank probably because he lived with her for a while.  In addition to mentioning Frank in her will, Vera also bequeathed money to each of his three sons:  Brian, Michael and Pat.  Unfortunately, all of Frank's sons died young. Did they have any descendants?  Drew wasn't sure, but didn't think so.  I decided to find out for sure.  Armed with Frank's wife's name, Rose, I found her obituary.  Once again, a bittersweet discovery as the obituary was several months old.  I was sorry that I didn't get to meet Rose, but her obituary did mention a granddaughter named Megan.  Could I find her?  Would it be appropriate for me to correspond with her?  I was unsure of Megan's age and if she were not an adult, it would not be appropriate to contact her.  What about her mother whose name I didn't know?  Would she want to talk to me about her late husband's family?  I decided to try, proceeding with caution.  Through the Find A Grave website, I found someone had photographed and posted the graves for Frank, Rose and their sons.  I contacted the poster and asked if she was related to them.  The answer was no, but she kindly granted my request to transfer the graves to my Find A Grave account.  By doing so, I was able to post a message, saying who I was, how I was related, what I was researching and who I was hoping to contact on this branch of the family.  After a short time, I received messages from two people who knew the three brothers growing up.  One message from Richard, who knew Brian, the oldest brother, said he was sorry to hear about the passing of all three brothers.  He shared some photos he had of them when they were teenagers.  He had no further information to offer me about Megan or her mother.  I thanked him for the photos and hoped that some day I could share them with Megan.  The second person to email me about the Find A Grave post said she knew the middle brother, Michael and his wife, Debbie.  She and her husband were friends with Michael and Debbie, up to the time of Michael's death.  She even provided me with an email  and a mailing address for Debbie!  I was excited to contact Debbie via these sources but was soon disappointed.  The email bounced back.  The letter came back to me marked "return to sender" after months of not hearing anything.  The woman who originally gave me this info did not respond to my email when I informed her of what happened and asked for other contact information on Debbie.  Was this the end of my research on this branch of the family?  For the time being, it seemed so.  I still left the message on my Find A Grave account as this unorthodox method of searching did yield some results.

Marriage Certificate for Frank Sullivan and Elizabeth Rogers.  Note Elizabeth's mother's maiden name was also Sullivan.  

1930 US Census showing Frank living with his Aunt Vera.  Scroll three quarters to the bottom of the page to see their entry.
Source:  1930 US Census on familysearch.org

In the meantime, I had obtained photos of Vera and a copy of her will from Cousins Drew and Bob. The will mentioned Frank's sons Brian, Michael and Pat.  I hoped that some day I could share this information with Megan.  I was more eager than ever to find her.

I get so many junk emails that I almost deleted Sherri's email with the words "Sullivan Family" in the subject line.  I subscribe to many genealogy sites and they often send emails with that wording in the subject line trying to sell me something.  The ancestors stopped me from deleting this one.  Sherri's email stated:

Hi Michele,

I knew the Sullivan family of Tulsa, Oklahoma from 1966 till now.  I do have information on Michael's family, his wife Debbie and children.  I would also like to email Richard, as I was very close with Brian.  The site would not accept my email and as I have never tried to contact anyone that way before, thought it would be easier this way.  

Thank you,

Sherri

Wow!  Was I impressed!  She spelled my name right!  One "L", not two.  And she went out of her way to email me directly instead of giving up when she couldn't do it via Find A Grave.  I think you have to have an account to send emails through them; glad I included my regular email address in the message.  I tried to write the rest of what Sherri emailed me, but started to cry, so what follows is directly from Sherri instead.

Hi Michele,

I will get in touch with Megan, as she would be the best choice at this time and give her your email address.  

I am putting together an ancestry.com tree for Megan as a gift and would love to connect some more dots.  You say you are a cousin of Mike's, would that be on his father's side or his mother's side?  I do know quite a bit about their family, in some ways more than Megan, as she never got to know her uncles and was around 12 when her father died.  

I spent quite a lot of time with Rose and we talked a lot about the family.  It was pretty expected by everyone that Brian and I would have been married when I graduated high school.  Mike was our biggest cheerleader.  Brian was three years older and losing him was a huge blow, not only to me, but everyone who knew him.  I spent every birthday of Rose's with her, after she lost everyone and until her death.  I still live in the Denver area and went out every year to be with her,  I went for her funeral and Megan and I spent countless hours going through pictures, talking about their family heritage and telling her stories about her uncles.  

Thank you for getting back to me, it made me feel good to see someone cared enough to create the site for them.  Megan is always placing beautiful flower arrangements on the grave.  Rose did for years and her and I always went and placed flowers as well.  

Gratefully,

Sherri

Again, wow!  She spelled my name right for the second time!  In all seriousness, the kindness of strangers throughout my genealogical journey continues to amaze me.  The forthcoming of information, the documents, the photos and what they had to do to get them:  traipsing through cow pastures in the rain, returning to cemeteries several times before night fall, and searching through chock full storage sheds in the heat of summer, all to feed my addiction to genealogy!  May I be half as kind someday.

I re-read Sherri's email.  She said "Mike's children" as in plural.  So there was more than one.  Megan had at least one sibling.  Why was she the only one mentioned in Rose's obituary?  In genealogy research, I learned that obituaries are unsubstantiated and information is omitted and sometimes just plain wrong.  A death is an emotional time and newspapers are a business charging a fee to publish obituaries.  I know my own grandmother Mary Sullivan Lagoy's obituary was wrong when it stated she was born on Long Island instead of Staten Island.  To be fair, they are the same place to people in upstate New York just like upstate is all the same rural place to those South of New York City.

I waited to hear from Megan.  Sherri said it might take a while for her to respond as she was going on vacation.  Several months went by.  Then the year on the calendar changed.  Still no response from Megan.  I emailed Sherri asking for Megan's email address and even gave her my phone number in case she preferred talking.  Sherri replied:

Hi Michelle,

Happy New Year to you, hope your holidays were blessed.  

I am sorry Megan has not gotten in touch with you.  I have been extremely busy at work, so I have not talked with her as much.  I will relay your message and see if we can get this going. 

Thank you,

Sherri

This time Sherri spelled my name wrong with two "L's" instead of one.  She was busy at work. Genealogy is often defined as irritating the living and confusing the dead.  I feared that I had irritated Sherri.  But two days later, I received an email from Megan:

Hello Michele.  This is Megan ______.  Sherry told me you have found some information regarding my father.  Do you need me to verify its him or provide further info?  I'm going to be quite honest, since my grandmother's passing I have received correspondence from a handful of "relatives" seeking information for the wrong reasons.  I only wish to share genealogy related info on relatives no longer living.  The estate and family heirlooms have been willed and received.  If this seems harsh and offensive please understand it is not meant to be.  

I was not offended in the least.  She spelled my name right with one "L".  I completely understood her concerns about cyberspace scams and "relatives" coming out of the woodwork after a death.  All the more reason to get to know your family history.  I replied by sending her everything I wanted to share with her:  Vera's will mentioning her father and uncles, Richard's photos of Brian and a photo of Vera. I gave her my Facebook information, link to the online family tree and Cousins Drew and Bob's contact information.  When I went online later that night, I could tell I convinced her that I really was doing genealogy research and that we were related.  I had a Facebook friend request from her.  I had another email from her with the same photo of Vera that I had emailed her earlier; she had the exact same photo in her ephemera.  The lines of communication were opened.  She said she had a brother named Michael and asked me to add his name to the online family tree, which I did.  She linked me to his Facebook page where I said it was nice to finally "meet" them.  They replied in kind; we are all Facebook friends now.

At some point, Timothy O'Sullivan's name came up.   Of course Megan had heard that we were related to him and even had the copy of "the book" about him by James Horan. ( See the blog post titled " The Book, the Box and the Moment of Truth").  I didn't need any more proof that we were related to him by this time, but it was nice to know yet another branch of the family heard of his incredible story.  It was great to be in touch with Elizabeth Sullivan Rogers' descendants ( Cousin Bob descends from Elizabeth's oldest son George, Vera was childless, and Megan and Michael descend from Lizzie)  but little did I know that I wasn't done researching her branch of the family.

Rose Sullivan's Obituary

Photo of Frank Sullivan I posted on my Find A Grave account while looking for his descendants. Courtesy of  Drew Van Winkle (his handwriting. )