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. )

Genealogical Journey: Cousin Vera

Vera Howe being duly sworn deposes and says: - "I was born February 1, 1897 in the Borough of Manhattan, City of New York under the name Anna Rogers. "  Only she wasn't.  Born in 1897 that is.  The 1900 census had her listed as a thirteen year old, not a three year old.  In genealogy, we are taught to believe church records over civil records.  The census is notorious for having ages wrong.  Vera's baptismal certificate says she was baptized on 13 February 1887.  The New York City birth index has her born on February 1, 1887.  Her obituary says she died at age 85.  I believe that too, was wrong, possibly making her the oldest living relative on this branch of the family...so far.  That contest is still ongoing. 

Vera's baptismal certificate showing her born in 1887.  Old Uncle George was her Godfather. Courtesy of  Drew VanWinkle 

Her legal deposition continues on to say that at the time of her confirmation twelve years later, she was given the name Veronica and thereafter known as Anna Vera Rogers.  "In June 1918, I was married to my husband, who was then in the theatrical business, was known as Samuel Howe, which was his stage name.  As a result, I became known to all our friends as Vera Howe, which is the name I have been using ever since our marriage.  I have, however, used the name Anna Veronica Howe Orchard only in connection with business transactions or in matters of a legal matter.  My mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Sullivan.  At the time of my marriage to my husband, the Rabbi who performed the marriage ceremony and who could barely speak or write English, erroneously spelled my mother's name to read Doliere. This latter name means nothing to me." 

Amendment to Vera's marriage certificate.  Courtesy of  Drew VanWinkle

The above deposition sounds like a case study for a genealogy class on name changes.  Had it not been for this deposition and the living relatives who both gave me this and knew Vera, I would not have been able to make this connection.  I found her so interesting that I momentarily forgot about finding more living relatives.  Although childless, Vera did lead me to more of them.  I guess she wanted some attention first.  So let's give her some as a thank you for helping me communicate with more distant cousins. 

Vera Howe, nee Anna Rogers was born February 1, 1887.  She was the second of four children born to Michael Rogers and Elizabeth Sullivan Rogers.  Vera was my grandmother Mary Sullivan Lagoy's first cousin.  Vera's oldest sibling, George, her only brother, had a grandson named Bob.  Bob provided me with legal documents as his father, Vera's nephew, was mentioned in her will.  Vera was Drew's mother Agnes' first cousin.  She would visit them on Staten Island.  Drew also provided me with many photos and documents of Vera's.  Perhaps because she never had any children, several extended family members ended up with her ephemera.  This turned out to be fortunate for me as a researcher. 

Vera married Sam Howe Orchard in Newark, New Jersey on June 15, 1918.  Vera was a performer in Vaudeville and then later in Burlesque.  Along with her sister Lizzie, she worked at the Hippodrome Theatre in New York City.  There was a pool on the stage of this theatre and one of the acts featured her diving into it.  Her husband Sam, was an actor with his own traveling show.  They probably met in show biz at the Hippodrome like her sister Lizzie met her husband.  Vera fist acted under a stage name of Vera Desmond prior to marrying Sam.  In a show business publication titled:  "Stories of the Play; News of the New Offerings" a photo labeled "Miss Vera Desmond  One of the pretty girls of the 'Wine, Woman and Song' Company at the Gayety" accompanied the following: 

                     "Miss Vera Desmond, one of the pretty choristers in the 'Wine, Woman and Song'
                     Company at the Gayety this week, is the youngest girl in the company as to years, but
                     in stage experience she is older than any of the other female members of the company.

                     Miss Desmond was only recently recruited from the ranks of the vaudevillians, she      
                     having been featured for several years as one of the models in the act of Dida, the   
                     Illusionist.* Before this the pretty little miss was a member of the chorus of a New York
                     musical production.  Later, however, the temptatious offer she received to become a
                     member of the 'Wine, Woman and Song' company caused her to forsake musical
                     comedy and vaudeville for burlesque."

Photo of Vera Desmond that accompanied the above quoted article. Collection of Drew VanWinkle

Perhaps the first paragraph of this article explains why Vera had to keep up the story of saying she was ten years younger than she actually was.  "Youngest girl in the company as to years, but older in stage experience", yeah, because she really was older!  I believe Vera was a very good actress blessed with the youthful genes our family possess.  Too bad she did not transition into the movies. 

After show biz, Vera continued to earn a living via her love of water and swimming.  She and Sam owned and operated a bath house in the beach community of the Far Rockaway neighborhood of Edgemere in the borough of Queens, New York.  A local community newspaper, The Wave, Rockaway Beach, NY dated Thursday, August 28, 1941, had a photo of Vera listed as Mrs. Sam Howe of Edgemere captioned "Bridge on the Beach."  Jo Carroll of the Queen's Borough Public Library pointed out a possible bid to Vera as other beach going card players looked on. 

Vera, in white.  Found online courtesy of Megan Sullivan.

I believe Vera is still performing her water acts today.  According to her will, she was cremated and her ashes were spread in Long Island Sound so she could swim in eternity. 

Vera had passed on a treasure trove of professional show biz photos to Cousins Drew and Bob.  Decades later, they would share them with me.  My second favorite photo of her is with her husband, Sam.  She is looking at him while he reads a review of his show in Variety.  My favorite photo of Vera is a simple but elegant head shot of her wearing pearls and lace.  It is my favorite not because of its elegance, but because another relative I was trying to get in touch with had the same photo.  When I emailed my copy to her, it gained her trust in me and a flood of wonderful communication opened up. 

* Dida is the illusionist act of having one girl in a tank of water on stage and then another girl suddenly appears.

Vaudeville era professional photo of Vera. Courtesy of Drew VanWinkle

Vera Howe.  Collection of Drew VanWinkle

My favorite photo of  Vera because it put me in touch with Megan!

Genalogical Journey: Cousin Bob (Part 2)

"Which photographer is that, Bob?"  My Great-uncle Jim and Bob's grandfather were first cousins so perhaps he was going to say, "Jim Sullivan, the newspaper photographer."  Instead he said, "Timothy O'Sullivan, that Civil War photographer."  Now I had the same story, unprompted, from three different branches of the family.  I told Bob about "the book" written about O'Sullivan and mentioned a newer one the Smithsonian had put out a few years ago.  Through the magic of Amazon, I sent him a copy.  ( He already had "the book" by James Horan.) 

In a subsequent email thanking me for the book, Bob floored me with the following, "I have a similar photo of O'Sullivan on brittle, albumen paper."  That photo, like the one of Timothy's sister, Ellen, was in our family for over one hundred and fifty years.  My theory was that Timothy sent it to his parents who were our ancestors' aunt and uncle.  As they (sadly) outlived their children, our ancestors inherited the photos or more likely, were charged with the lovely task of cleaning out their house and kept the photos. 

Bob emailed me the photo he had and I recognized it from yet another book, by Joel Snyder titled American Frontiers The Photography of Timothy O'Sullivan, 1867-1874.  Again, through the magic of Amazon, I sent him a copy of that book which explained more about the photograph on page 14.  Photographed by fellow photographer, Alexander Gardner, it was taken in 1868. 

Cousin Bob's photo of Timothy O'Sullivan in 1868 by Alexander Gardner


Bob and I then corresponded about other family members.  He sent me information and stories about our family tongue twister, the relatives with double Sullivan ancestry.  See if you can follow this:  Elizabeth Sullivan became Elizabeth Rogers upon marriage.  She had a daughter Elizabeth Rogers who became Elizabeth Sullivan upon her marriage.  Lizzie, as she was called, had a son named Frank after her husband also named Frank.  Lizzie and Frank met at the Hippodrome Theatre in New York City where they both worked in show business.  Frank was an actor.  Their son, Frank, Jr. was in WWII and then went to California to earn a PhD in paleontology from Berkeley.  He then moved from Carmel, California to Oklahoma to work for the oil companies.  Frank had three sons, but through his wife's obituary, I found that they had pre-deceased him.  The obituary mentioned a granddaughter, Megan.  She seemed to be the only living relative from that branch of the family.  Could I find her?  I wasn't even sure of her age.  If she wasn't an adult, it would not be appropriate for me to contact her.  Would her mother want to answer questions about her daughter's father's side of the family?  My attempts to make contact with her were close but not on track.  I placed a request on my Find A Grave page next to her grandfather's memorial.  One woman wrote back but had outdated contact information.  The letter I sent was returned undeliverable.  Further attempts to correspond with this contact went unanswered.  This was not looking good.  I so wanted to get in touch with Megan because Bob's grandfather George, was friends with Frank who was his cousin.  Bob had photos and legal documents I wanted to share that mentioned Frank and his sons.  We will get back to that part of the research story  shortly, but now we will take a break to hear about Cousin Vera, Frank's aunt and Lizzie's sister who was also in show business in Vaudeville and Burlesque.  It turned out that Cousin Vera was my link to making contact with Megan's branch of the family. 

 

Genealogical Journey: Cousin Bob

Still drunk on the accomplishment of having found out that Timothy O'Sullivan was my Great-grandfather Charles' first cousin, I then wanted to take the genealogy research in two different directions.  First, I was having so much fun finding and connecting with distant cousins, I continued to research my ancestor's siblings in hopes of finding more of them.  After all, now I could definitively tell them how we were related to Timothy O'Sullivan.  With a little co-operation, I would be able to put together a family tree of all relatives to date descending from my great-great-grandparents Denis and Elizabeth Sullivan.  Second, I wanted to continue researching ancestors beyond Denis and Elizabeth Sullivan.  If any of my distant cousins didn't know who they were, perhaps the information that Great-great-grandpa Denis had a brother named Jeremiah could lead me to their parents.  Jeremiah was Timothy O'Sullivan's father Timothy's grandparents are also my ancestors; three times great-grandparents. 

I started with relatives that Drew knew; he had met them as a child.  George Rogers was the oldest son of Elizabeth Sullivan Rogers and Michael Rogers.  I chose a male to trace because even though "Rogers" was a common last name, it would stay the same if George had a son.  He did and it did.  Through census and military records, I was able to determine that I had the right George Rogers ( 1885-1950) but I needed to pin down his spouse's name to find children.  I asked Drew if he knew her name, as there were several military records with the name George Rogers.  Drew couldn't answer my open ended question except to say, "That is a good question, what was his wife's name?" Then I asked him if it could have been Corie or Coralee as I found records with those spouses' names connected to men named George Rogers.  There are often several sets of records with a couple that has the same first names, no matter how unusual you think it is.  That was the case with Coralee and George Rogers.  I had to narrow them down by location.  He said he thought so, "Coralee, that was it"!  Drew knew they lived in the Washington, DC area so I had three place to check:  the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia.  I had lived in Washington, DC prior to moving to California, so my familiarity with the area helped in the research.  The Find A Grave website and online obituaries led me to learn that George and and Coralee had a son also named George and a daughter named Helen.  Helen married a man with a very distinct last name and I actually found her living descendants first.  However, he kept mentioning Helen's husband's line of the family and I could not seem to get him to understand that that I was related to him through Helen, not her husband.  So I returned to Helen's brother George, hoping to find his descendants.  George had two sons, one named George and the other named Robert or Bob.  I found this out from their mother's recent obituary.  It is always bittersweet finding and obituary.  I am sorry for the family's loss and that I didn't get to meet the relative that had passed; so much family history knowledge goes with them.  The sweet side of the obituary is that living relatives were mentioned.  I called both Bob and George and left messages on their answering machines saying who I was and that I hoped they would call me back.  Several weeks had passed and just as I was beginning to think I wouldn't hear from them, Bob called. 

He was away on one of his trips ( he had the travel gene, another sign I had the right person) and recently returned home.  He recognized the name Sullivan and seemed interested in the genealogy.  We talked about present day family, and how he came to live in Minnesota ( job).  I asked if he had blue eyes.  He said yes, confirming in my mind anyway that they came from the Irish Sullivan genes.  I immediately recognized by good when I asked him if he had a big head.  He laughed when he heard that and said he had been told that at times.  I meant to ask if he had the stereotypical big Irish head that some men have.  We chatted a bit longer before he said a now familiar sentence to me: "You know we are related to that photographer." 

Genealogical Journey: The Book, the Box and the Moment of Truth

Still basking in the glow of my wonderful visit to Staten Island, I returned to family history research.  I had gained a lot of knowledge, but the question of how and if we were related to Timothy O'Sullivan was still unanswered.  Or was it?  Here is how a book and a box helped me find the moment of truth. 

                                                      The Book

In genealogy research, a family Bible is often a valuable source of information.  Names, dates of birth, marriage and death are often recorded there.  How wonderful!  Unless you are Catholic.  You may have a Bible on your bookshelf, but it was not referred to as "the family Bible."  It sat on the shelf but you weren't encouraged to read it.  The priest did that at mass each Sunday.  No need for you to look at it on other days of the week.  And you certainly would never, ever deface a Bible by writing in it.  Especially the names of your family members who you already knew because you lived with them. So a Bible was not going to be the kind of book that would help me with my family history research. 

The book that helped me was authored by James D. Horan, titled Timothy O'Sullivan America's Forgotten Photographer, it was written in the 1960's.  James Horan interviewed my Great-aunt Margaret Sullivan for his book.  Cousin Tim was present for part of that interview.  When I asked him to tell me about it while we were waiting for the cemetery staff to located some information, Tim started at the beginning.  Literally.  He said James Horan rang the doorbell.  Tim made the doorbell pressing motion with his index finger.  Someone answered the door.  When they heard who he was and about the project he was working on, they went and got Great-aunt Margaret.  The two of them talked privately at length  and sadly, that conversation remained between them.  They did go to St. Peter's Cemetery to look for O'Sullivan's grave.  Great-aunt Margaret's memory was fading and his grave was not located then or to this day.  Horan was probably looking to photograph his headstone for his book.  Instead, he was only able to include a photo of many headstones with a caption saying, "St. Peter's Cemetery on Staten Island where O'Sullivan is buried in an unmarked grave." 

I was a child when my family obtained our copy of "the book."  Living in upstate New York, I remembered it was a big ordeal to get it (and many other things) as I recalled the frustration of the limited selection of items and places to shop in a rural community.  Online shopping changed all of that, but there was no Amazon back then.  The book had to be special ordered from a publisher in New York City because it was out of print.  Called an on demand printing and very expensive, a minimum number of books had to be ordered and paid for before the publisher printed another batch.  My Aunt Peggy took on this project after hearing about the book from Great-aunt Margaret.  At around $50 (compared to the five dollars I paid for my copy on Amazon), it was a big purchase four decades ago.  I recalled my Dad showing me the book and saying we were related to this man who took photographs during the Civil War and then out West.  I thought that was pretty cool. 

During the course of my research, I was so obsessed with finding out about how we were related to O'Sullivan that I even contacted James Horan's daughter, Patricia.  ( Horan himself passed in 1980.)  I explained who we were and how the book functioned in our genealogy.  I was hoping to get a look at her father's research notes, particularly his interview with Great-aunt Margaret, but they had been sold long ago.  In any case it was nice to be able to let her know what her father's work meant to our family.  "The book" turned out to be another way to verify relatives on my family tree.  Of course Cousin Bill had a copy; I didn't even have to mention the title to Cousin Tim.  When I called him he said, "Hold on while I get 'the book'. "  My Dad and Aunt Peggy each had their four decade old copies.  Cousin Drew had his copy and soon-to-be found cousins that descended from great-grandpa's siblings had their copies of "the book."  I came to realize that it was another sign that we were related to O'Sullivan. 

                                                      The Box

Several weeks after I returned to California from Staten Island, Cousin Bill called me.  He told me I had better sit down for this one.  In the course of his moving, Cousin Tim mailed Bill a box of their grandfather's memorabilia.  Having driven us around Staten Island that summer day, Tim saw how interested we were in the family's history and thought Bill might like to have that box.  At first I was horrified thinking that Bill was going to tell me the box was lost when mailed.  It wasn't.  I like to think that Bill's dad, who retired from the Post Office, watched over its safe delivery. 

Bill tells me about the many photographs in the box.  As his grandfather was a newspaper photographer at the turn of the 20th century, he had taken many historical photos.  Bill starts with the photograph of Timothy Michael Healy.  He was the first Governor-General of the Irish Free State from 1922-1928.  He was from Bantry in County Cork, Ireland, not far from where our people originated.  His wife's maiden name was Sullivan, but no relation to us.

The second photo was a scene at the train station in Hoboken, NJ.  Great-uncle Jim titled it "Home from the war 1919.  Me- Sulli- on left with camera case."  I think of it as a 20th century selfie! 

The next photograph was "A stolen picture of Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Longworth and Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (left).  The former Alice Roosevelt is adverse to having her photograph taken.  But 'Nick' is a good sport, he generally says, 'Fire away.'" Much to our delight, this was in Bill's grandfather's handwriting. 

The fourth photograph is my cousin Erin's favorite.  She shared it on her Facebook page.  Again, in my great-uncle's handwriting:  "Red Fox-Skinhushu.  A blackfoot Sioux appealing to Secretary Baker to accept his warriors in the Army.  Sulli." 

Bill made sure I was sitting down for the next one.  "Elly O'Sullivan.  Music teacher PS 17 New Brighton, Staten Island."  Elly O'Sullivan was Timothy O'Sullivan's sister.  I calculated the photo to be around 120 years old.  Knowing Cousin Tim's sense of humor, he would have said, "Don't blame me, I am only 72 years old, not 120."  And it is only worse for his older brother Ed, because that means he hadn't looked in the box for 80 years.  My sister said that our dad has Elly's eyes.  I said we owe our mom an apology.  I always blamed the fat genes on her side of the family; looks like some might have come from Dad's after seeing Elly's photo. 

The photo could have come from a garage sale in the neighborhood and ended up in the box but I have a better theory.  Both Timothy and Elly pre-deceased their parents Jeremiah and Ann.  That means it was passed to our family upon their deaths.  Great-grandpa probably was charged with the lovely task of cleaning out Jeremiah and Ann's house and acquired the photo.  He gave it to his son, my Great-uncle Jim, who put it in the box with his other aforementioned prized photographs.  I am glad it was discovered but how is Elly related to us? 

                                                    The Moment of Truth

I had a great time meeting relatives for the first time and touring Staten Island but I was still no closer to finding the answer that started me on this quest.  Or was I?  How were we related to Timothy O'Sullivan? 

Still basking in the joy and the comfort of the trip, I reviewed Great-aunt Margaret's interview notes.  Deciphering the handwriting was as challenging as following her line of thought.  My sister said to re-type the notes so I didn't have to keep deciphering them each time I read them.  Good idea Sis!

The top of the second page read: "George in with Barnum & Bailey Circus 23 years.  Charles Sullivan died 1902.  Tim- Brady was Civil War photographer- cousin father's first cousin Jeremiah was his father father's father was Dennis."  I took a deep breath and re-read the page.  There were three different pieces of information here.  The first piece referred to Old Uncle George, Great-grandpa's brother who ran off to joint he circus.  The second sentence referred to my Great-grandfather Charles' death date.  The third piece of information was the answer to the question I spent years seeking:  Timothy O'Sullivan was my great-grandfather's first cousin.  Their fathers were brothers.  Great-aunt Margaret was saying the following:  Timothy O'Sullivan worked for Matthew Brady, a Civil War photographer.  He was a cousin.  He was my father's first cousin.  Jeremiah was the name of Timothy's father.  My father's father was named Denis.  There was the moment of truth!  My family's lore was indeed fact!  No one had ever said we were descended from Timothy O'Sullivan, only that we were somehow related to him.  He was our ancestors' first cousin.  That means that Timothy O'Sullivan's grandparents are my three times great-grandparents.  Can he help lead me to them?  For the moment, I drank in the glory of finding out the answer to my question that led me on my genealogical journey. 

The Genealogical Journey: Staten Island ( Part 2)

Bill, Paula and I ate lunch at one of the many diners on Staten Island located near the New Dorp branch of the New York City Public Library.  Afterwards, we wanted to go in to look at old street maps, but the branch was closed for technology upgrades.  The only day on that trip that I could visit the library, coincided with the day it was closed.  Thwarted by technology again!  I would have to visit the public library holdings another time, but first I would make sure it was opened as I had learned from genealogy research travel tips. 

We drove to Vahalla Cemetery, now called Ocean View the Cemetery Beautiful to look for Joseph H. Lyons' grave.  Using only Drew's directions, we could not locate his uncle's grave.  The cemetery office was closed but Bill called them the next morning to get the location for our return on Saturday with more family members.  Drew said that his grandmother, Helena Sullivan Lyons, was also in that grave although the military issued headstone only bears her son Joseph's name.  The cemetery later confirmed this information. 

Bill took me to meet another second cousin, Joan.  She is Bill's first cousin and her mother, Mary, was Great-uncle Jim's only daughter and my grandmother's niece.  Joan lived five miles from Ocean View the Beautiful Cemetery on Staten Island.  Like Bill, her husband Al, retired from the fire department and one of her sons currently works as a firefighter.  Another one of her sons is named Timothy Patrick, like my brother.  Bill told me that when she and her sisters get together, they could talk a hitch right off of a trailer.  Joan didn't disappoint. 

Upon arrival, she and her husband greeted us on the front steps of their home.  In hushed voices, we were whisked downstairs to a finished basement.  Their firefighter son, Kevin, finished a twelve  hour shirt learning to drive the fire truck and was asleep in the other room. 

We were there less than one hour but I learned the following from Joan:  She thought Great-aunt Margaret might have been a twin.  Her poor health might have contributed to her shyness and lack of many friends.  She had weak eye sight, wore thick, unfashionable glasses and had skin issued like rosacea.  These issues may have played a part in her self-consciousness causing her to keep mostly to herself.  She never married and probably never dated.  Even though she only graduated from high school, she had the knowledge of a college graduate.  She read all of the time and spend Sundays reading the entire New York Times newspaper.  Great-aunt Margaret also had vast knowledge of our family history. 

Joan celebrated her fiftieth wedding anniversary earlier that year ( 2013) by attending a blessing ceremony at St. Patrick's Cathedral built in 1858, opened in 1879in Manhattan.  I told her that our great-grand-uncles, our great-grandfather's brothers, built the spires on that Cathedral.  Joan was even more pleased to have celebrated her anniversary there upon hearing that.  My sister, niece and I visited the church the next day.  We were in awe of the accomplishment.  Considering that the rest of the building was under scaffolding for a major renovation but not the spires; it made us proud to know family built something so lasting. 

Joan said she met her husband of fifty years online.  In New York City, you stand on line, not in line waiting.  She and Al met while she was on line at the A&P supermarket.  He was bagger, she was a customer he thought was cute.  So she tells everyone they met on line to see their reaction. 

I showed Joan the photo of our great-grandmother holding Joan's Uncle Charlie.  She had a visceral reaction to the photo and politely declined my offer to get her a copy of it.  She explained that she and her sisters were afraid of their Uncle Charlie.  They would go over to his house on Monroe Avenue, ring the door bell and if he answered, run up the stairs past him only when their Aunt Catherine, his wife, sweetly called for them to come on in.  In the photo, Charlie is three months old hoping great-grandma will protect him from the kitty, but as an adult, he was big and loud and scary to his nieces.  I even heard Bill mutter that he too, was scared of him as a child. 

Joan's Uncle Charlie hoping Great-grandma Margaret protects his place on her lap from the cat.

Cousin Joan showed us a drawing that her grandfather Jim Sullivan drew that hung on the wall of her finished basement.  I photographed it while admiring his artistic talent and sense of humor.  Cousin Bill hadn't seen it before, was quite interested in it, asking Joan for a life size copy.  The Norman Rockwell-esque colored pencil drawing was of a drunk guy, bottle in his coat pocket, hugging a cow with the caption, "Gee, dearie-hic-but yer sure are shweet." 

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When Bill mentioned that we were at the ancestors' grave in St. Peter's Cemetery that morning, Joan said he was there recently and was the one who left the flowers.  Mystery solved!  Joan's mother and brother are also buried in the plot and she visits quite often.  Her husband, Al, said he was the one who made the pipe vase for the grave.  Attached to the ground, front and center of the headstone, it is a metal tubular pipe for placing a bouquet of the flowers.  As I thanked him for making the pipe vase, Al mentioned that he cut the grass at a cemetery in Pennsylvania.  Visitors seeking their family history often stopped him on the riding lawn mower to ask him about graves.  It said he was the unofficial cemetery historian and his work was greatly appreciated. 

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Meanwhile, Joan carried on several conversations at once.  She talked to Cousin Bill about their grandfather and her mother and then turned to me to give her family tree information.  She rattled off the names and the dates of birth of her four children, their spouses, and their children with pinpoint speed and accuracy.  Did I mention we were there less than an hour? 

The next day I took a break from the genealogical journey to sight-see with my sister and eight-year-old niece.  We rode the Staten Island Ferry to Manhattan like our ancestors and cousins had done for 161 years.  We visited the Statue of Liberty for the first time.  Even though my sister and I were native New Yorkers and lived in the state for decades, we had never been to the Statue of Liberty.  New York State is big and we lived upstate four hours away.  So we waited until we grew up, moved out of state and then returned as tourists to visit Lady Liberty.  The ticket booth for the Statue of Liberty is located at Castle Garden.  A stone, circular fort, now run by the National Park Service, it was once used as an entry point for immigrants.  When my ancestors returned to New York in the 1860's, they would have passed through here.  It was a unique experience to walk around where they once stood.  We rode the subway to the Natural History Museum to see the dinosaur exhibit much to my niece's delight.  We took a taxi cab ride back to the ferry landing joking that my niece's made-in-China souvenir traveled on a boat, a subway, a taxi cab, another boat and then a private car to its new home. 

Saturday morning, my first cousins Bradley and Bonnie joined us on the genealogical journey.  Their mother, my Aunt Peggy, is my father's sister and oldest living relative on this branch of the family.  Cousin Bill arrived ( at the right hotel, on time) to drive us around Staten Island.  It was Bradley and Bonnie's first time meeting our second cousin Bill.  Bonnie told me she had stayed at this same hotel years ago when her husband was hospitalized on Staten Island after an accident. I told Bonnie I had not known that when I booked the Hilton Garden Inn and hoped she could replace her former memory of the hotel with the genealogical journey we were about to take.  We visited St. Peter's Cemetery, the ancestral homes ( including the one on Monroe Ave.) and vacant lots and the public pool bearing our cousin's name, Joseph H. Lyons.  We found his grave at Ocean View the Cemetery Beautiful.  It took all six of us plus a cemetery employee, to locate it in the rain, dodging geese droppings.  During the car ride, we laughed with Bill explaining to him that he sounded like my dad when he started a sentence with the words, "I should have...".  We ended the journey with a toast at lunch, " To ancestors in common.  May they be smiling down upon us proudly." 

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