Author: joelowry1982

The Tragic Deaths of William Pepperney and William Groucutt

joelowry1982 1920s, Death Certificate, Groucutt, Paternal, Pepperney
Two little boys who lived just 50 miles apart. The same age and sadly, the same cause of death. These two death certificates tell of the very sad deaths of William A Pepperney and William Groucutt Jr. 
William Groucutt and William Pepperney were born a few months apart. They were both no doubt the apple of their parents eyes. They were the first son in each family, expected to carry on the family name. Sadly, it was not meant to be. After a brief illness, both died from what is today a very manageable disease – pneumonia.
William A Pepperney was born on 26 December 1919 to Andrew and Magdalena Pepperney. He is my first cousin, three times removed. The Pepperneys lived, ironically, on Lowrie Street, in the Troy Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Andrew was a pipe fitter and Lena kept the house. William was their second child, following a daughter Savilla three years prior.
At just 15 months, Andrew contracted pneumonia. It probably started as bronchitis or influenza however this was before antibiotics could have provided any relief. Antivirals and vaccines to treat or prevent the flu did not yet exist either. According to the death certificate, Wiliam Pepperney was attended to by Doctor J.F. Thomas from 29 March until his death on 31 March. He had probably been ill for days prior but it finally reached a severity where his parents felt the need to contact a doctor. At 2:30 p.m. in 31 March, 1921, little William died of complications from pneumonia. This no doubt was devastating to his family. He is buried in Most Holy Name Cemetery in Troy Hill.
Just 50 miles away in New Castle, Pennsylvania lived the Groucutts. William and Tillie Groucutt had two daughters before William Jr was born on 29 February 1919. William Jr is my first cousin, twice removed. William Sr. worked in the steel mills while Tillie was a homemaker. Tragically, William Groucutt would not live to see his first birthday. Sometime in late January he probably contracted influenza or bronchitis. By 2 February, his symptoms were so severe as to warrant a doctor’s attention and Doctor Davis was called. Sadly, on 3 February he too would die of pneumonia.
William was buried at Saint Mary’s Cemetery in New Castle on 5 February 1920. He was only 11 months old.

Source:
Pennsylvania Department of Health, “Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1944,” database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 19 Oct 2014), entry for William A Groucutt, record 20022 (3 Feb 1920).

Pennsylvania Department of Health, “Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1944,” database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 19 Oct 2014), entry for William Pepperney Jr, record 23020 (31 Mar 1921).

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday – 1950 Lowry Family Photo

joelowry1982 Lowry, Paternal, Wordless Wednesday
On the back of this photograph it reads, “May 1950 Jean, Chas III, Chas. Jr.” The Lowry family of three would end up being a family of eleven. If only they had been able to predict the future, the changes they would see!

Source:
Jean Groucutt Lowry (1924-1987), Charles James Lowry (1924-2007) and Charles James Lowry, Jr. [year of birth withheld], Photograph, taken in unknown location, in May 1950; digital image, photocopy of original, scanned in 2013 by Joseph Lowry; privately held by Mary McCaffrey, [address for private use], Canton, Ohio. Family of three standing together in front of car with brick structure in the background. Provenance is Charles Lowry family to Mary McCaffrey.

Treasure Chest Thursday – Death Certificate of Bridget Foy Groucutt

joelowry1982 1920s, Death Certificate, Foy, Groucutt, Paternal, Treasure Chest Thursday
Sometimes you need to search long and hard for a great record, and sometimes you just need to click on a Shaky Leaf. Ancestry.com uses ‘shaky leaves’ to indicate that someone in your tree has a hint, or possible match to a record in their vast collection of databases. I had basically exhausted all of the hints in my direct ancestors so I was very excited to see a new shaky leaf appear on Bridget Foy Groucutt.
Bridget Foy Groucutt is my 2nd great grandmother and this shaky leaf hint indicated that a death certificate match may have been automatically made. Of course I review all of these hints meticulously. There are often useless record hints for a person you know isn’t your ancestor. On more than one occasion, Ancestry.com has suggested a possible match of a record for someone who lived or died 100 years from when the record was created.
This death certificate was a legitimate hint however. It told me quite a bit about Bridget and her life. At the end of her life, Bridget was at living at 1026 Huey Street in New Castle, Lawrence, PA with her husband George and daughter Sara, who was the informant on her death. She died of carcinoma of the large bowel after being sick for 6 months. An infection one month before her death and surgery just two weeks prior no doubt made for a difficult last stage of life for both her and her family.
Her death certificate tells us that she was born on 2 February 1862 in England, the daughter of John Foy and Sarah Coyne, likewise born in England. She was a house wife who tended to her home and large family. At the time of her death on 14 October 1925, she was 62 years old. She is buried in Saint Mary’s Cemetery in New Castle.

Source:
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, “Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1944,” database, Ancestory.com (http://goo.gl/jTgDq4%5D: accessed 8 Oct 2014), entry for Bridget Groucutt, File 101333 (16 Oct 1925).

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday – Fussy Guy

joelowry1982 Lowry, Paternal, Wordless Wednesday
Boy, can I relate to this photo! My son Brendan recently had his very first teeth pop; his two lower incisors both made an appearance last week and he hasn’t really been enjoying the experience. He’s been fussy, crying, and wants to be held more than usual. I doubt this photo of my dad taken around 1953 involves crying over new teeth but his sentiment is the same as Brendan’s – “I’m not a happy camper.” I saw my dad this weekend and he appears to have made a recovery from whatever bothered him while this photo was being taken.

Source:
Patrick Lowry [year of birth withheld], Photograph, taken in unknown location, in about 1953; digital image, photocopy of original, scanned in 2013 by Joseph Lowry; privately held by Mary McCaffrey, [address for private use], Canton, Ohio. Child crying in a crib. Provenance is Charles Lowry family to Mary McCaffrey.

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday – The Three Musketeers

joelowry1982 1920s, Lowry, Paternal, Wordless Wednesday
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The three musketeers are my great grandfather Charles Lowry (center) and two others whose relation I’m not sure. Perhaps they are friends or coworkers. Based on captions in photos taken at the same time, the person on the left is named Bill and the person on the right Campbell. This photo was taken in 1929, which leads me to think it was probably taken at Republic Steel, where Charles was working at the time.

Mystery Monday – What Happened To Edward Lowry?

joelowry1982 Lowry, Mystery Monday, Paternal

Update: After this was posted, I discovered more about Edward Lowry, including his death and where he is buried. You can read that post here.

Edward Lowry is a mystery. A brick wall. After 1904, an apparition being sought. He is also my 2nd great grand uncle, a son to my third great grandfather Michael Lowry. Throughout Edward’s life, he worked hard, but was never able to stay in one place and to some degree, appears to have had a strained relationship with his family. Over the course of a few dozen years, he made a trek west starting in Pennsylvania before the final mention of him appears in Washington State. But it’s only the final mention, and probably not the final record. I’ve been trying for years to figure out what happened to Edward. The easiest thing to do to help locate someone is study what you already know.

Edward was born in 1855 in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, the second child of Michael and Bridget Lowry. He had an older sister, Mary, who edged him by a year. At least three more children would follow, including Anna in 1858, Margaret in 1861 and my great great grandfather Michael Jr. in 1868. For at least the first five years of his life, Edward and his family lived in Carbon Township in Huntingdon County. Michael Sr. was a coal miner and that dangerous work is how the family paid its bills. There is speculation that he was a member of the Molly Maguires, an often violent Irish secret society believed to be active in Pennsylvania coal fields. They used murder, extortion and kidnapping to fight for better working conditions on behalf of the Irish American miners. Whether or not Michael was a ‘Molly’ remains to be determined.

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By 1870, the family had moved to Saline Township, Ohio, along the banks of the Ohio River. Edward, only age 15, was already at work in the coal mines with his father. Today, a child this age can’t drive, vote or drink, but 140 years ago, he was sent into the dark and dangerous depths of a coal mine to extract whatever million year old carbon he could.

In 1877, Edward married Sarah Humphrey. Sarah was born in Ohio to Welsh parents but spent much of her childhood in Bevier, Missouri. By 1879, the family of three lived in Boulder, Colorado where their first child, Edward Jr was born. In addition to being a miner, Edward was an organizer for the Knights of Labor. This early labor union rose quickly prominence and size in the early 1880’s but by the middle of the decade, largely failed because of a weak organization and a penchant for violence.

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By the end of the 1880’s, Sarah was in Bevier with her family. We know this because it is where their second son, Ralph, was born on 18 April 1889. How long they stayed with Sarah’s family or the reasons for leaving Colorado are unknown, but by 1900 the family  was together in Republic, Washington. Republic is the county seat of Ferry County in northeastern Washington. Ferry County was created in 1899 from a part of Stevens County, located to the east. Ferry County is so large and so desolate that its population density even today is just 3 people per square mile. Large amounts of snowfall and very cold temperatures in the winter no doubt made living in Republic less than ideal in the late 1800’s.

At the turn of the century, Ralph was busy studying in school while his older brother and father worked in the coal mines. It’s hard to image an 11-year old dreaming about escaping that life if it was all he had known. We know, however that while his brother continued to work in the mine, Ralph would go on to obtain an engineering degree from Washington State College and become a senior engineer for the Bureau of Reclamation. He would be involved in some of the largest and most important construction projects ever conceived in the United States. (See my article about Ralph here.)

The last mention I have of Edward Sr. is a 1904 obituary for his mother Bridget that appeared in the Leetonia Reporter. It says only that he was living near Spokane, Washington, 120 miles away from Republic. I haven’t located either of them in the 1910 Census. Sarah Lowry died in 1915 at age 57 in Spokane and is buried alone in Republic. Her obituary makes no mention of Edward, only her sons.

Sarah’s grave in beautiful Republic Cemetery. Edward is not buried there.

In 1904, Edward was only 48 years old. So the important questions to be asked are when and where did Edward die? Where is he buried? Why did Sarah go back to Bevier for the birth of her son when the family was otherwise living in Boulder? This is a brick wall that I really want to answer to both help explain Edward’s journey west.

(PS: Today is supposedly the 184th birthday of Edward’s father and my third great grandfather Michael Lowry. How they tracked birthday’s in 1830 in rural Ireland is beyond me, but sure, let’s celebrate. Happy birthday grandpa Mike!)

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday – Junior’s First Photo

joelowry1982 Lowry, Paternal, Wordless Wednesday
Sometime in late 1924 or early 1925, my grandfather Chas. Lowry was photographed for the first time. He’s outside, probably in Leetonia, Ohio, being held by his proud father Charles. I remember the joy and excitement I felt when the first photo was taken of me holding my son and I can only imagine that 90 years prior, the exact same emotions were being felt.
As evident in the caption, my grandfather was called Junior as a youngster, even though the nickname is slightly misapplied. His middle name was James while his father’s middle name was Edward. I’m going to assume this photo was taken outdoors because indoor photography in the 1920s was clearly not something that would produce usable photos without large flashes not commonly used on personal cameras.

Death Certificate of James A. Rogan

joelowry1982 1930s, Death Certificate, Paternal, Rogan
My 2nd great grandfather James Rogan died on 21 April 1938 at 78 years of age. His death certificate tells a lot about both how he lived and how he died. He was born in Aurora, New York to James Rogan and Esther Callahan. He was a second generation American, as both his father and mother were born in Ireland. His primary occupation was in the steel mills, although what he actually did is not discernible.
The last months of his life were no doubt difficult both for him and his family. He suffered a serious fall on 10 January 1938, which led to a fracture of his right femur (thighbone). The femur is the largest bone in the human body, and it takes significant force to break. Breaks of the femur and the hip to which it connects can have significantly detrimental effects to the lifespan of the elderly, who suddenly lose all mobility. About 10% of people who break their hip die within the first 30 days. That number increases dramatically if there are other complications, including pneumonia, heart trouble, or another acute medical problem. In James’s case, he suffered a pulmonary embolism, no doubt brought on in part by his sudden immobility.
At the time of his death, he was being cared for at Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital in Youngstown but was previously living in the home of Catherine Rogan. His final arrangements were handled by D. A. McVean in Youngstown, long considered the Lowry family funeral home. However, he was a long time resident of New Castle, Pennsylvania, and that is where he is buried.

Click to enlarge.

Source:
“Ohio, Deaths, 1908-1953,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-21757-24359-29?cc=1307272 : accessed 09 Sep 2014), James Rogan, 1938; citing Youngstown, Mahoning, Ohio, reference fn 24019; FHL microfilm 2023561.

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday – Ray

joelowry1982 Lowry, Paternal, Wordless Wednesday
This is my great grand uncle Raymond F Lowry. He was born on 17 Feb 1902 in Salem, Ohio, the youngest son of Michael and Bridget Lowry. He lived his entire life in Columbiana County, in either Salem or Leetonia. He died in Salem on 2 Mar 1977.
Because of the age of these photos, dating to the early 1920s, many of them did not scan well because the paper had curled or became wavy.

Sunday Night Genealogy Fun – Last Name Unknown

joelowry1982 LNU, Maternal

When I first joined Ancestry.com about five years ago and started looking at the family trees out there, I was dumbfounded by the number of people with the surname that I assumed was pronounced ‘Lanoo.’ Countless women in so many different trees were named LNU. Fortunately, I learned there was not a rash of poorly surnamed individuals out there.

LNU is a fairly common genealogical acronym meaning ‘Last Name Unknown.” You will most commonly see it with female ancestors, whose maiden names are more difficult to discern the farther back in history you search. I have dozens of individuals in my database with unknown last names.

This weekend’s Saturday Night Genealogical Fun at Geneamusings.com (one of the BEST genealogy blogs) asked how many Sarah LNU’s are in your database and how many of those were your ancestors. Well, I searched high and low in mine and of 1400+ people I’ve researched, I have exactly one.

1) Sarah LNU (Abt 1825 – ?), who married William Price (1823 – 1895) in Wales. They migrated to Mahoning County, Ohio and had at least 5 children.

I’ve not done a lot of research with this line. I did a few quick searches for Sarah to see what else I can find and turned up the 1860 Census, which identified several additional children. Certainly I need to look a little deeper, but for a quick five minute search, headway has already been made!