Author: joelowry1982

Death Certificate of Elisabeth Louise Kreher Witt

joelowry1982 1930s, Death Certificate, Kreher, Maternal, Witt
Click to enlarge.
Elizabeth Louise Kreher Witt, or as it appears on the above, Mrs. Elizabeth Witt, is my 3rd great grandmother. She was born on 22 March 1840 in Herman Township, Butler, Pennsylvania and died at the age of 89 (or specifically, 89 years, 9 months and 15 days) on 13 January 1930 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her husband Martin preceded her in death by nine years.
From this death certificate, we know that her father was Chris Kreher and her mother was Anna Hause, both born in Germany. She died from arteriosclerosis, having been under a doctor’s care for the last few days of her life. Her son Martin Witt served as the informant of her death and McCabe Brothers Funeral Home handled the arrangements. (They remain a Pittsburgh-area funeral home however their location at 3520 Butler Street is no more.) Elizabeth was buried on 15 January 1930 at Mount Carmel Cemetery in the Penn Hills neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

Source:
“Pennsylvania Death Certificates, 1906 – 1963,” index and images, Ancestry.com, accessed 18 Jan 2015, Elizabeth Witt, 1930; citing reference Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906–1963. Series 11.90 (1,905 cartons). Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/.

Photo of the Day – January 18, 2015

joelowry1982 1920s, Lowry, Paternal, POTD
Once again I have a mystery to solve. I know the little boy on the left is my grandfather Chuck Lowry. He was probably two or three years old at the time; the bobbed hair certainly places this photo before the summer of 1928 when my great grandparents had it cut in favor of a more traditional hairstyle for a little boy. 
The mystery is in identifying the two girls in the photo. I have no idea who they might be. Obviously they are older than my grandfather. Perhaps they are neighbors or cousins? I will add them to the list of people I want to identify. The longer I do this Photo of the Day project, the longer that list grows.

Source:
Charles Lowry (1924-2007) and two unknown girls, photograph, taken at unknown location around 1927; digital image, photocopy of original, scanned in 2013 by Joseph Lowry; privately held by Mary McCaffrey, [address for private use], Canton, Ohio. Three children standing on the steps of a home; two girls wearing hats. Provenance is Mary Pepperney Lowry to Charles Lowry to Mary McCaffrey.

What’s My Ancestor Score?

joelowry1982 A message from the blogger..., Maternal, Paternal

If you scored 14% on a test, most people would consider that a failure. I see it as showing room for improvement. I recently tried to determine my ‘ancestor score’ and it turned out to be 14%. An ancestor score is the percentage of ancestors in 10 generations that I have identified.

Last Saturday, Randy Seaver of the Genea-Musings blog asked his readers to determine their ancestor score so I played along. In 10 generations, a person will have 1,022 direct ancestors. This starts with your parents and walks through grandparents, great grandparents, etc. Once you add yourself, you have 1,023 people.

I had no problem counting the people in my family tree through the 6th generation, but after that, it becomes difficult to count everyone. After all, a person has 64 4x great grandparents. To ease the burden, I created what is called an Ahnentafel Report. An Ahnentafel Report can be created in most genealogy software programs and places all of the direct ancestors of a particular person (in this case me) in numeric order. It becomes very easy to determine how many ancestors of each generation you have.

You can see my results below. Overall, I don’t consider my score to be horrendous as I have 100% of my ancestors identified through 6 generations and 75% identified through 7 generations. For most people, the 7th generation leads back to the early 1800’s. So I don’t consider this to be a poor score; it just means that I have much more research to do!

Click to enlarge.

Photo of the Day – January 17, 2015

joelowry1982 1980s, Lowry, Paternal, POTD

My grandparents Chuck and Jean Lowry loved to travel, which was easier said than done with 11 children. Once their kids were older, they often traveled with friends to Florida. I don’t know exactly where this photo was taken, but the trees and horse statue don’t make me think Florida. I’m going to have to ask around to figure this one out. I’m guessing this was taken in the early 1980s.

Source:
Charles (1924-2007) and Jean (1924-1987) Lowry, photograph, taken at unknown location in early 1980s; digital image, photocopy of original, scanned in 2013 by Joseph Lowry; privately held by Pat Lowry, [address for private use], Poland, Ohio. Couple standing in front of shrubbery, horse statue and white Colonial structure. Provenance is Charles Lowry to Patrick Lowry.

Photo of the Day – January 16, 2015

joelowry1982 1920s, Mystery Monday, Paternal, POTD
The caption simply says ‘Martha’. I have no idea who Martha is. This photo dates from the early 1920s along with many of the Lowry and Pepperney photos in that collection. I checked my family tree and there are no Marthas of a matching age or relation to fit here. I checked the Lowry and Pepperney neighbors from the 1920 Federal Census and again, no dice. Maybe further research will reveal this Martha, but in the meantime, enjoy a photo of her standing on someone’s front porch in a long skirt and heeled boots. 

Source:
Martha (unknown), photograph, taken at unknown location around 1920; digital image, photocopy of original, scanned in 2013 by Joseph Lowry; privately held by Mary McCaffrey, [address for private use], Canton, Ohio. Woman in long skirt and heeled boots. Provenance is Mary Pepperney Lowry to Charles Lowry to Mary McCaffrey.

Photo of the Day – January 15, 2015

joelowry1982 1940s, Groucutt, Paternal, POTD
This is my grandmother Jean Groucutt Lowry around 1940.
This is post number 200 to my blog. Thanks for reading!

Source:
Jean Groucutt Lowry (1924-1987), photograph, taken at unknown location, in about 1940; digital image, photocopy of original, scanned in 2013 by Joseph Lowry; privately held by Mary McCaffrey, [address for private use], Canton, Ohio. Portrait of woman in white shirt with wide collar. Provenance is Charles Lowry to Mary McCaffrey.

Photo of the Day – January 14, 2015

joelowry1982 1930s, Lowry, Paternal, POTD
My grandfather Chuck Lowry struck quite a post for this photo from the 1937-38 school photo at Ursuline High School in Youngstown, Ohio. This would have been grandpa’s 8th grade year. I would love to see LifeTouch (school photography company) send home to parents school photos with a border like that today.

Source:
Charles J. Lowry (1924-2007), photograph, taken at unknown location, in about 1937; digital image, photocopy of original, scanned in 2013 by Joseph Lowry; privately held by Mary McCaffrey, [address for private use], Canton, Ohio. Young man wearing tie leaning with hands in front. Provenance is Mary Pepperney Lowry to Charles Lowry to Mary McCaffrey to Joseph Lowry.

Photo of the Day – January 13, 2015

joelowry1982 1970s, Bixler, Maternal, POTD, Witt
I probably met my great grandma Witt at some point when I was very young. Helen Bixler Witt died in January 1985, two months shy of my third birthday. This photo of her was taken on her porch on North Osborn Street on Youngstown’s West Side in the late 1970’s. You can get a more recent view of the houses in the background by clicking here (link).
Source:
Helen Bixler Witt (1898-1985), photograph, taken at 24 N Osborn Avenue, in about 1977; digital image, photocopy of original, scanned in 2013 by Joseph Lowry; privately held by Marie Dockry, [address for private use], Austintown, Ohio. Woman sitting in a porch chair in housecoat. Provenance is Marie Dockry to Joseph Lowry.

Photo of the Day – January 12, 2015

joelowry1982 1920s, Lowry, Paternal, POTD
My great grandfather Charles Lowry is looking pretty dapper in a three-piece suit. I can only imagine the color, maybe navy, with a red tie, silver cufflinks, and black shoes. Since the vast majority of the 1,000 Lowry family photos I have are in black and white, sometimes you have to invent the details to add color to life (pun intended). This photo is from around 1921 and was taken in front of the family home in Leetonia, Ohio.

Photo of the Day – January 11, 2015

joelowry1982 Lowry, Paternal, POTD
This photo was taken very close to Youngstown. In 1678, at the mouth of the Niagara River to Lake Ontario was established Fort Niagara, the longest continually occupied military site in North America. It sits just outside of present-day Youngstown, New York.
It was the mid-1950’s when two boys from another Youngstown – Youngstown, Ohio – traveled north and someone said, “Go stand there in front of that cannon and I will take your picture.” My dad Pat Lowry is on the left, his older brother Chuck is on the right.