It's been really difficult to find any records of my mother's family dating back before she was born, especially on her mother's (Mom Mom Mom's) side. Do you have any idea how many Mary O'Briens there were in Philly in 1900? On top of that, i wasn't sure of her parents' names. Last night i finally had a breakthrough: i remembered the names of a few of my grandmother's siblings. It's amazing how your memory kicks into gear as soon as you make that first connection! I started out by remembering that i had an Uncle Jim whom i thought was her brother, then i remembered Aunt Jule, next came the name of an uncle by marriage that i'd always heard spoken of as being a royal jerk.
I finally found a 1900 census record with the right kids' names and with both parents born in Ireland (as I knew they were). This was surprisingly tricky. It turns out that there were two O'Brien families on the same page of the census, both sets of parents were born in Ireland, and both mothers were named Mary. Not only that, but there was a daughter named Mary in the other family (although the census taker inexplicably labelled both Mary and Margaret from the other O'Brien family as sons). So to return to my earlier comment: there were an awful lot of Mary O'Briens around in 1900! The first Mary was too young to be my grandmother and the names of the other kids in the family didn't sound familiar, so i looked down the page to the second set of O'Briens. When i saw that the father's (my great-grandfather's) name was Cornelius, it rang a bell. Oddly enough, my grandmother's name wasn't listed, but since all the other names were the names of her siblings, i'm assuming that it is the correct family. It's possible that, for whatever reason, she was not living at home at the time the census was taken. I've run across this in the records for my father's family, where at one point two of his brothers were living with their aunts rather than their parents. At any rate, I started out looking for one Mary O'Brien (my grandmother) and found three others, even though she herself seems to have been hiding from the census taker. This has been a real challenge, but i've finally broken through to one more generation in the family tree.
Now here's the really cool part. Since i've always been a map-geek, when i find old census records for people in the family, one of the first things i do is see if their address is legible, then look it up on Google maps. I already had the 1900 census record for my mom's father's family (the candy-making Millers from whom i inherited my sweet-tooth). So i plotted the two addresses and discovered that my mother's parents grew up about a block away from each other in Fishtown. I'd always known that my dad's side of the family lived in or near Fishtown, but i was really surprised to discover that my mother's family did too! I wonder if the families knew each other. They may have gone to the same church, or Grandpop Miller may have gone to school with Aunt Nell (his future sister-in-law), since they were about the same age.
Even though their houses gave way to urban renewal long, long ago, it's so exciting to know that this is where they lived, these were the streets they walked. And, in a strange coincidence, i lived just a few blocks from there ninety years later. It's an odd feeling to know that i walked the same streets as my great grandparents and probably passed where their homes had stood a hundred times.
Oh, and since i mentioned that my father's family lived in that area too, here's where his grandparents lived.
In 1900, Philadelphia was the third largest city in the United States. But to our family it was practically a village. I've now found the homes where three of my four grandparents' families were living at the turn of the last century...and they were all within walking distance of each other.
I finally found a 1900 census record with the right kids' names and with both parents born in Ireland (as I knew they were). This was surprisingly tricky. It turns out that there were two O'Brien families on the same page of the census, both sets of parents were born in Ireland, and both mothers were named Mary. Not only that, but there was a daughter named Mary in the other family (although the census taker inexplicably labelled both Mary and Margaret from the other O'Brien family as sons). So to return to my earlier comment: there were an awful lot of Mary O'Briens around in 1900! The first Mary was too young to be my grandmother and the names of the other kids in the family didn't sound familiar, so i looked down the page to the second set of O'Briens. When i saw that the father's (my great-grandfather's) name was Cornelius, it rang a bell. Oddly enough, my grandmother's name wasn't listed, but since all the other names were the names of her siblings, i'm assuming that it is the correct family. It's possible that, for whatever reason, she was not living at home at the time the census was taken. I've run across this in the records for my father's family, where at one point two of his brothers were living with their aunts rather than their parents. At any rate, I started out looking for one Mary O'Brien (my grandmother) and found three others, even though she herself seems to have been hiding from the census taker. This has been a real challenge, but i've finally broken through to one more generation in the family tree.
Now here's the really cool part. Since i've always been a map-geek, when i find old census records for people in the family, one of the first things i do is see if their address is legible, then look it up on Google maps. I already had the 1900 census record for my mom's father's family (the candy-making Millers from whom i inherited my sweet-tooth). So i plotted the two addresses and discovered that my mother's parents grew up about a block away from each other in Fishtown. I'd always known that my dad's side of the family lived in or near Fishtown, but i was really surprised to discover that my mother's family did too! I wonder if the families knew each other. They may have gone to the same church, or Grandpop Miller may have gone to school with Aunt Nell (his future sister-in-law), since they were about the same age.
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| A. 210 E. Allen St. - Miller B. 914 Beach St. - O'Brien |
Even though their houses gave way to urban renewal long, long ago, it's so exciting to know that this is where they lived, these were the streets they walked. And, in a strange coincidence, i lived just a few blocks from there ninety years later. It's an odd feeling to know that i walked the same streets as my great grandparents and probably passed where their homes had stood a hundred times.
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| C. My little house on Crease St. (1990) |
Oh, and since i mentioned that my father's family lived in that area too, here's where his grandparents lived.
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| A. 933 N. Mascher St. - Lyons (1900); B. 210 E. Allen St. - Miller (1900); C. 914 Beach St. - O'Brien (1900); D. my house (1990) |
In 1900, Philadelphia was the third largest city in the United States. But to our family it was practically a village. I've now found the homes where three of my four grandparents' families were living at the turn of the last century...and they were all within walking distance of each other.
So cool to see how close everyone lived!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is so cool! Keep digging!
ReplyDelete