Paternal

Those Places Thursday – A Geography of the North Side

joelowry1982 Callahan, Family Story, Groucutt, Lowry, Paternal, Roberts, Schell, Sullivans, Those Places Thursday
This story was written by my uncle Chuck Lowry and shared with his siblings. It’s published here with permission.

When Chris was a babe in arms, we moved to 607 [Mansell Drive]. Here is my recollection of the distribution at that time.

Barbara and Dave Roberts lived at 135 New York Avenue, in a house I remember for its back stoop. I can remember Aunt Barbara sitting on that back stoop shelling peas. I must have been seven or eight years old. The front porch had a pole in the middle of it. I suppose it might have been a support for an awning, but I cannot be sure. I remember two of their neighbors, the Ash family and the Judge family.

Dorothy and Bob Schell lived at 81 Saranac, They were right down the street from the Elm Beverage Shop, on Elm Street near Saranac. Grandpa used to go there, and the proprietor was named Jack Daley. Jack had a container of pretzels on the counter, and whenever I went in there with grandpa, Jack gave me two pretzel rods. I believe Jack was killed in a robbery. [Ed Note: Jack Daley owner of Elm Beverage, was lucky enough to die a natural death.] One year someone in the Schell family got a small peep at Easter time. Now they are mostly dead or given away in a week or two, but not this one. By the end of the summer it was huge. I don’t recall what happened to it. Across the street from the Schells lived Sally Lowry, who was in my class every year at St. Ed’s, it seems. We were not related but she ended up working a couple summers at the custard shop.

Ruth and Joe Callahan lived on Madison, between Bryson (Ursuline) and Elm Street (fire station, which was the main fire station until they built the one downtown in (I vaguely recall) the early 1960’s. Uncle Joe worked on the railroad. After Ruthie and Joe (two children, each one named after a parent) moved out, Ruth and Joe moved to Elm Street, between Tod Lane and Benita.

Virginia and Johnny Naples lived on Florencedale, I think not far off Thornton, toward the north. They then moved to Fifth Avenue, two houses (when they moved, but soon three houses) north of Mansell Drive. They had a dog named Mickey, and the Eidelmans, who lived next door toward Mansell, had a dog named Prince, and Mickey and Prince fought occasionally but not always. Sylvan Eidelman, Jackie and Jimmy Naples and I used to sit around and discuss the Untouchables, with Robert Stack as Eliot Ness. It was on at 10:00 on Wednesday nights and took some maneuvering to watch because it was late on a school night. We were eventually joined by Jeff and Jay Martin whose family moved into the house next to Eidelmans, next to the corner of Mansell Drive. Jimmy Naples was a year older than I was. Jeff Martin was his age and Jay was a year younger than I was, the year between Pat and me. On the northwest corner of Mansell and Fifth lived the Gross family. Each year they walked to the synagogue on Yom Kippur.

The Sullivans, of course, lived in Cleveland. I do not recall where, except that it was Christ the King parish. For decades, whenever I saw anyone wear a Calvin Klein cap, I wondered if they were from the Sullivans’ parish. When we would go to baseball games in Cleveland (it was rare; because of Daddy Groc and Uncle Dickie, Pittsburgh was a more frequent destination for baseball), I always begged to be able to stay for a couple days at the Sullivan house. The answer was usually no, but it occasionally became yes once I was old enough to have Uncle Bob put me on the train from Cleveland to Youngstown in a form of captivity known as “conductor’s care.”

Uncle Dick got out of the army and went back to live with Mother and Daddy Groc on Elm Street, just south of Bissell Avenue, near the park. Daddy Groc used to love to walk in Wick Park, every day, and always in a white shirt and tie, even after he retired. After Louise stole Dick’s heart, Mother and Daddy Groc moved to Cordova, just across from Harding and Rayen. Mother Groc hated to stay alone, so after Daddy Groc died (April 1967) the families took a week at a time sending someone to stay. There was a roll-away cot in the living room. You would just be getting off to sleep when you would be doused with a splash of holy water–Mother Groc blessing the four corners of the room.

Source:
Charles Lowry, Brooklyn, New York, [e-mail for private use], to Lowry Family e-mail, 27 Nov 2014, “My Forgetful Self: A Geography of the North Side,” Local Folders: Genealogy : Bloggable!; privately held by Joe Lowry, [e-mail &address for private use], Sterling, VA, 20165.

How Being a New Parent Can Change One’s Genealogy Habits

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

A few days after his birth, I wrote a new blog post about my son Brendan and shared a few photos of the little guy. It was exciting to be able to add a new twig to the family tree, quite literally. I was almost giddy adding Brendan to my Ancestry.com online tree. What I didn’t expect were the very significant changes to my genealogy habits that would result from this little bundle of joy.

Genealogy is a hobby that I have poured hours upon days into over the last several years. I have attempted to be as professional as an amateur genealogist can and that takes time. Before Brendan was born that may have meant hours working in front of the computer. It was not unusual for me to get home from work at 6:30 p.m., have dinner and then spend the next two or three hours searching for documents, following leads, and working my way down genealogical rabbit holes. I would easily lose myself in Ancestry.com or Familysearch.org and before long, it’s 11:30 p.m. and I’ve guaranteed myself only four or five hours of sleep.

As anyone with a toddler knows time is not something I have in abundance anymore. Brendan’s presence has forced a shift in my genealogy habits. Parenting requires that my genealogy involve more fits and starts. I’ve had to become an expert at “5-minute genealogy.” Thanks to the Ancestry.com app, maybe I conduct a quick search for a record on my iPad or clean up my family tree on my iPhone. It’s not unusual for me to conduct a records search, walk away from the computer and come back an hour later not remembering what I had already looked at. Instead of trying to figure it out, I tend to open a new browser tab and start a new search. Pretty soon I have 15 tabs open in Google Chrome, all with search results or record displays and not much to answer for it.

Besides cleaning the house, doing laundry and maybe (just maybe) watching TV, I can usually work on my genealogy for an hour or so after Brendan goes to bed. I tend to rotate between conducting research and new blog posts. Because a blog post of any substance can take at least an hour to write and source, they are often now done haltingly. (I started writing this one over two months ago.) Hence, you will see a lot of “(Not So) Wordless Wednesday” posts, with just a photo and a caption and a lot fewer detailed articles.

While cranking out the work may be harder, I do have a new emotional driver for my work. Brendan is obviously a descendant to whom I can pass my work. I have no idea if he will ever appreciate genealogy, but there are family stories and photos that I want him to hear and see. As we all know, it’s important to pass down the stories of the ancestors he didn’t know as I did, like my grandfather Chuck Lowry or great grandfather Francis Witt. Genealogy has become more meaningful as I write down my family history for him.

Having Brendan in my life is a blessing. With the exception of wanting an hour or two of additional sleep each night, I wouldn’t change a thing. This includes cutting back on the genealogy. Instead of 20 hours a week spent with dead relatives, I gladly spend more time with the living. And those are the real memories I want to remember.

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday – 1st Sunday at Work?

joelowry1982 1920s, Paternal, Pepperney, Wordless Wednesday
Was April 1 the first day my great uncle James Pepperney went off to work? Was it the first Sunday he worked? I’m not 100% sure the meaning of the caption, however April 1, 1923 was a Sunday. James was 16 years old, assuming this photo was taken on that date. I’m equally not as certain where he would have worked at age 16. If you have any insights, leave a comment!

Source:
James Albert Pepperney Sr. (1906-1999), Photograph, taken in unknown location, probably on 1 Apr 1923; digital image, photocopy of original, scanned in 2013 by Joseph Lowry; privately held by Mary McCaffrey, [address for private use], Canton, Ohio. Man wearing dark pants and vest, lighter colored jacket and cap. Provenance is Charles Lowry family to Mary McCaffrey.

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
Click to enlarge

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.

Click to enlarge

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.

Click to enlarge

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.