Finding my lost uncle

How I found my lost uncle.

Growing up I always heard that my grandmother had 11 children, but try as I might I can only come up with seven aunts and uncles and my mother. Growing up it seems that the adults never really wanted to talk to you about it, they would say "grandma had 11 children and three died young", but never saying who, when, where or why.
Now that I am searching my ancestry and doing genealogy I decided that I would get the answer to this. After searching all available census records I went to the cemetery where a good portion of the family are buried including my grandmother and grandfather. When talking to the caretaker in the office I did get a tip that there was a child by the name of Milan Dokmanovic buried in the family plot. He was buried there April 2, 1926 but there was no other information available and prior to that the records had been destroyed in a fire in the early 1920s.

My next step was to go to Pennsylvania vital statistics and locate a death certificate for Milan. You can locate and send for Pennsylvania death certificates that are over 50 years old (1906-1964) at the Pennsylvania Dept. of Health website. After searching in the year for 1926 I located his state file number and used the form from the state to send for the record, the records cost five dollars a piece and you can order five of them at a time.

After about three weeks I received the copy in the mail.

Now I have a record of another one of my grandmother's children, number 9 with still 2 more to go.

Milan Dokmanovic, born July 1, 1923, died April 1, 1926, two years nine months old. This is why he did not appear on any Federal census'. Milan is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery presumably next to his mother and father in the family plot.

Next I will begin the task of searching the Pennsylvania death records between years of 1906 and 1925 to see if I can find anymore Dokmanovic surnames. Some years are alphabetized very nicely with the D's all in order, but with some years Da might be followed by Di then Du then back to Da.

Finding these records in genealogical research can be bittersweet. At first you are happy you've finally found that much sought after info but then very sad imagining how distraught my grandparents would have been watching this active two year old go from his active self to an extremely ill child and then dying. 

Having a grandchild at this age makes it vividly evident to us. 

Owning Up To Your Family's Past

Owning Up To Your Family's Past

Being relating in multiple ways.

 My maternal grandmother was always telling me, "...we're related to ..". I wanted to hear it but she usually did so when I was driving and interacting with my car seated  little one in my Grandmother's car car that required more than the usual attention to drive. She and my "Pap" had bought it and even though it was very difficult to steer she was keeping it! It just wasn't conducive to writing it all down. When we were at home we both were usually busy doing other daily things.

Anyway, when I was young I remember my (Great)Aunt Gladys and her husband, Uncle Bill coming to visit.  They were both ministers and missionaries. They were always dressed in their 'Sunday clothes'. 

 Aunt Gladys was my Grandpa, Pap's, sister but their last name was Cochenour. Hmmm that name was from my mother's other side...not my Pap's side. 

I'd walk up to Uncle Bill and start a conversation and tell him we were probably related and he'd shrug it off. It made me feel 'warm and fuzzy' that we could be related by family to Uncle Bill and to Aunt Gladys. 

He may have indicated he 'was not related to his wife, Aunt Gladys' in response  but I know time and time again I would try to explain to him it was on his side not Aunt Gladys' so he wasn't married to his cousin.

He just didn't want to hear it. 

To get to the point Uncle Bill was related to us , he was my third cousin twice removed. To make it even more complex he's related to me again; his grandmother is my first cousin four times removed.  So Uncle Bill was related to me three different ways, through his wife by marriage, his 2nd great grandfather and his grandmother. Whew...

Do you have any multiple relationships in your family? 

The Great Flu Epidemic's Effect on Family Females!.

I've been thinking a lot lately about my Mom and her Mom's family. I knew my grandmother, Gan; as we called her, had been through the Great Flu Epidemic back in 1918.

I, also, knew her Dad, Sidney,  died October 27 of that year.
In researching the Great Flu Epidemic the statistics indicate October 27, 1918 was the day the largest number of people died as a result of the flu epidemic in one day.

In retrospect I always found myself thinking how the death of my great-grandfather effected the women in his life.

I know my great-grandfather's death left a widow (at 38 y.o.) with 11 children, having already lost two of them. She had lost a son, Brynley, in 1907 at the tender age of three and an infant not quite two months old in 1914. 

Sidney Davis family in 1913 at Kennywood Park, Pittsburgh, PA 

Now she was left a widow with a 21 year old WWI soldier son, a 20 year old son, a 17 year old son, a 15 year old son, a 12 year old daughter, a 10 year old daughter, an 8 year old daughter, a 6 year old son, a three year old son, a 22 month old daughter and a 9 day old son.

She had her hands full and she was on her own. Her parents and both sets of grand-parents were deceased. What a struggle her and her children's lives must have been. She was thrust into a life without an income. Her perfectly healthy working husband got the Spanish flu and died! How many of the children that lived through the flu epidemic were sick? Did  she suffer the flu herself? I'm sure some of the children old enough to work helped out financially and the older girls helped with youngest children but I can't fathom how she did it. How many were still in school? How many could actually find employment and help with the finances? There was no pension, no social security benefits for her underage children, how did she make ends meet? I know my Mom always told me she came from strong pioneer stock, maybe that was it. My great-grandmother's family had been here for almost 200 years at the time of the Great Flu Epidemic.

Sidney's mom, Mary, had just lost her husband of 49 years, William, 9 months ago. Mary, still grieving her husbands loss, loses  her 44 year old son, with 11 children.  She was dealt another blow by her first son's death at 49 years seventeen days later on November 13, 1918. At the age of  70 years she was living under the roof of two of her coal miner sons, a pregnant daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. Mary will go on to lose a 39 year old daughter, Ida, with  in a year. Ida leaving  3 of her children, girls  ages 12 years to  17 years old motherless and fatherless and her three children from her second marriage with out a mom. (The oldest being 6 years of age and the youngest being 17 months old.) Did the three older girls live with their step dad and their 3 other siblings and help raise them after Mom died? (I know Ida was a milliner and a seamstress so with her death they had less income. )

The oldest girl became a nurse and I don't know if she ever married. The 5 year old was hit by a train at 10 years of age and died. The rest of the kids went on to marry and have their own families.

That brings up the sisters of Sidney: Edith and Ida lost their dear brother. (Ida dies in October 3, 1919)

Next comes the daughters: Margaret, Kathryn, Neva and Marie lost their Dad. How emotionally and financially devistating would that be? They had been the first in their town to have a telephone in their home, now luxuries like that would be unattainable. 

None of the children were married yet so when the widow became a grandmother the grandchildren knew no grandfather.

 Back in 1918 life was hard. In looking at census records you can see a definative pattern of babies showing up on the scene within a year or two of marraige and then about every two years.

Yes, many didn't make it to adulthood but that the doesn't belittle the loss. Losing a viable productive husband with 11 children ages 9 days to 21 years of age had to be mind numbing, but 'pick yourself up and get on with it' would be the only choice the working class family had back then...

I

honor all those who did so.

Thank you for reading our story. Feel free to add anything or ask anything.

Surname Saturday: "Indian Captures and Murders" was the title!

Indian Captures and Murders Western Pennsylvania Frontier

Insomnia and the love of history and genealogy drives my husband to do online research late into the night. When he finds something really exciting he actually wakes me to tell me! I'm usually equally as excited with his finds and this one really sticks with me.

Let me first say that all my life I've wanted to move to the Ligonier, Pennsylvania area. Why? I just felt drawn to it. Pennsylvania is the Keystone State. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is where Ben Franklin lived and where Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Here in PA the Founding Fathers made the decisions to move to independence.
Many early settlers were Quakers that came here to Pennsylvania to seek two things they could not achieve in Europe;  religious freedom and land that would be theirs. In our search for our ancestors we have found many of mine were in fact Quakers. Ligonier was the first Fort  west of the Allegheny mountains on the way to Fort Pitt in Pittsburgh, PA. It was the gateway west for "pioneers" over those hard to cross mountains. For more info on Fort Ligonier see: http://fortligonier.org/

To get back to the Indian captures and murders: Nick, my husband, came upstairs with startling news one night about one of my ancestors we knew about but never heard this exact story before.

It appears as though my fifth great grandfather, James Means had come to Fort Ligonier with his family in 1777 to seek protection from the Indian allies of the British. He would have been about 12 years old. We knew he had a sister that was killed by the Indians but not any details.

This new info gave us stark details.

Four children, two were children of Robert Reed and two were children of Robert and Elizabeth Means. James and Rebecca Means along with Martha Ann and George Reed were headed out to pick berries in a clearing near the fort during the summer of 1778.

The story goes: "On their way and just as they ascended the hill on the other side of the Loyalhanna, the young men, who were walking ahead, met Major William McDowell, who was on horseback, coming toward the fort. At that instant, the whole party was fired upon by Indians lying behind a log. Young Reed fell dead, and McDowell's rifle was splintered by a bullet which glanced and wounded him in the hand. Young Means ran back to protect the girls, who had started to run to the fort. He was captured. The Indians soon caught Miss Means and tomahawked her; but Miss Reed succeeded in outdistancing her pursuers as she fled toward the fort."
"The garrison hearing the firing,a relief party"..."met Miss Reed a short distance from the fort," ..."conducted her to safety while the others proceeded to the scene of the firing, where they found the lifeless bodies of Reed and Miss Means."*
"Three years later young Means returned from his captivity and reported that the warrior who had chased Miss Reed was renowned as an athlete among the Indians, but had lost his prestige on account of his failure to catch the "white squaw".
James Means went on to marry my fifth great grandmother Rebecca McGrew a Quaker that was known for breaking Quaker rules by dancing! They went on to have 16 children!
What a happy ending!
Now I know my connection with Ligonier may have something to do with my ancestry!

Thank you for sharing your time with us.

If you would like more info on this area and Indian situation check out our blog on Col. Pomerroy who was the commander of Fort Ligonier at the time of my anscestors plight!

http://restinginwestmoreland.blogspot.com/2011/07/lt-col-pomeroy-more-info-on.html

http://fortligonier.org/

*"Pennsylvania In The Revolution, Fort Ligonier and It's Times. by C. Hale Sipe, Telegraph Press, Harrisburg, PA., 1932. 

Tombstone Tuesday:

Walking through Saint Vincent's Cemetery looking for monuments to fulfill photo requests we came upon this stone. No other stones close and no clue as to where J. F & E. F. BRIDGE are buried is seen.

Now I can hardly image having 12 children let alone losing 12 children. 

J.F. & E. F. BRIDGE lost just that many in a span of 28 years.

The deaths of these children started in 1862 with a one year old child dying. In 1865 two children, a 9 and a 7 year old were gone. A 19 year gap is broken by the 1884 deaths of four children. Four children in one year. They were a 7 year old, an 8 year old, a 9 year old and a 10 year old.  I checked for epidemics in the 1800's none are listed for 1884 all though TB, Malaria or Scarlet fever could happen at any time none were listed as significant that year.

By now the Bridges had lost 6 children between 10 and 1 year(s) of age at the time of their deaths.

A reprieve for 6 years allowed the rest of the family to continue to age.

But then came 1890 and the death of 5 more of the children.

An 8, a 10, a 12 a 19 and a 20 year old all died in 1890. 

Can you even imagine going through that after a gap of 6 years to recover from the loss of the last 4 deaths?

There was a flu epidemic in 1889 and one of Diphtheria in 1890 that continued through until 1895. Typhoid Fever was a problem in these years, also.

The couple continued to have new births through out this time with the last birth of the expired children in 1882.

How many children did this family have? Did any make it through adulthood to have their own families?

One of my ancestors had 16 children and 1 died in infancy, two I don't know their death dates yet. Another ancestor had 14 children and 3 died before adulthood. In all my genealogical research I've never seen this many from one immediate family.  I do know there is a story that my family had a history of herbalists to treat patients and mid wife. The chemicals/medications we currently used had their start from natural items.

We know childhood diseases were more prevalent before chemotherapeutic treatments were discovered and used. Penicillin was first used in 1942 for soldiers.No matter the problems and controversies over immunizations they have decreased childhood deaths significantly.

I understand families lost babies and it was an expected loss but I can't fathom the devastation of  losing 12 children.

Please, comment if you know of other diseases of these years. I'd like to know more!

Thanks for reading our post.

Have a good healthy day!

Update on: Its not always what it seems or it pays to dig deeper...

The day my husband found this marker at West Newton Cemetery he called me and together we did the "Happy Dance"!  On it is my 3rd great grandfather and grandmother, and my 2nd great grandfather and grandmother.

 I was always told our path to DAR was through Simon McGrew. It is actually through Simon McGrew Cochenour and then his mother Elizabeth Mains then on through Mains until we find Robert Means, our Patriot.

By looking at the stone,  it is relatively new and in great shape. So we thought that some one had placed a new stone on the family plot to replace an old weathered most likely unreadable stone(s) of those buried there. But that's not what this story is about. If you've followed our blogs on R.I.P. you know we did the "Happy Dance" when we found my third Great-Grandmother's, Eliza Duff Frew, marker in the Laurel bushes.    
http://restinginwestmoreland.blogspot.com/2011/09/surname-saturday-finding-frews.html

We had done so much research and got to the point we needed to meet with a family member that has collected all the family data and pictures of our family on my mom's side. So we  visited with the family member to compare notes. We told her we found Eliza Frew, mother of Catherine (Frew) Cochenour, on the pictured stone. She was of the opinion that one of Eliza's great grandchildren (a Davis baby) was buried with her! So off to the cemetery we go.

Going through the old cemetery books with the most helpful caretaker we realized there were 17 people in three different plots.

First at checking Eliza's and her husband J G Frew's site we found 3 adults and two babies interred there. . But the babies were the Frew's two infants  not their great grand child. (We hadn't known about them) The third adult was their married daughter, Olive Caddis. We know in the 1880 census Olive and her three children were living with her parents. Where is Mr. Caddis, Olive's husband? To top that off, the monument only had Eliza Frew's info engraved on it. It had three blank sides. Is this monument for all 5 of them?Or is the blank, weathered and sugared marble monolith beside her's the babies? Olive's? More questions.

So to the next plot we go: the Cochenour's.(as shown in the first picture) We find out there are actually two separate groups of burial's.

One belonged to Catherine Frew Cochenour, Eliza's daughter. 

In The Catherine (Frew) and Simon McGrew Cochenour lots were two adults and 6 babies! Three of these babies are their grandchildren, by their daughter Neva Pearl (Cochenour) Davis, the three Davis babies are Robert, Brynley and Chester Davis.. There were 3 other babies:  George W. Cochenour (baby), Kate Cochenour  (baby) and a baby boy Yukanalis ??. Two were children of Catherine and Simon we never heard of before now and one listed as baby Yukanalis! Who was this? There hasn't been anyone by that name in all of our genealogy research!

In the adjoining lot, the second group of burials: 

I was surprised to find out that Daniel Cochenour and Elizabeth (Mains) Cochenour where buried  with a baby Cochenour  and a Mrs.Kelly ??. Who is Mrs. Kelly?


 If you've been doing your genealogy, as you have come upon much sought information, and done that 'happy dance", you will usually find the very best info almost always comes with more questions that lead to more paths of info to pursue. We now have more questions than we started with at the beginning of this quest. So keep in mind in your genealogical research things may not always be as they appear.

Thank you for reading our blog. See you next time!

Update on baby Yukanalis!

Went to our family reunion this weekend and got new info on the baby with Catherine (Frew) & Simon McGrew Cochenour.

The baby was a child of Alice Cochenour & Thomas Paul Yuknalis.
They, too, are buried in West Newton Cemetery.

We have looked but have not found the names of her parents and exactly how she is related to Catherine Cochenour.

So another mystery solved but more questions.

We'll keep on looking for the answers...

Again thank you for visiting our blog. And don't underestimate all kinds of sources for genealogy research. Happy hunting!

How the Textile Arts and the Census are Connected!

HI!

I find this info would be relevent to both our 'RIP' readers regarding how info recording has evolved and for the connection the the 1880 and 1890 census tabulation and to my fellow crafters and weavers as to the connection of weaving to the evolution of recording and storing data. Thank you, Coverlet Gallery for your FB message.

I got this info from the Coverlet Gallery in Latrobe,PA

 

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Jacquard Loom: The Precursor Computer

June 6, 2013 · by CoverletGallery · in Gallery News

The computer and textile industries, to most people, seem to have nothing in common. If anything, people can easily comprehend that development in the computer industry led to advancement in the textile industry. How hard would it be to believe that the exact opposite is also correct? Yes, it is quite true that the weaving and textile industry greatly influenced the development of modern technology. How is this possible? The answers can be found in analyzing how exactly a Jacquard loom works.
In “Punch Cards: 19^th Century Coverlet Technology,” we discussed the mechanics of the Jacquard loom. The basic concept is this: each hook in the loom attempts to push the warp to the opposite side of the weft; this is either permitted or prevented depending on the punch card. The warp is pushed when that location corresponds to a hole in the punch card. Essentially, the punch card holds a pre-set pattern that is read by the loom and serves to guide the loom.
The idea of there being recorded information read by a machine was quickly borrowed to be applied to mathematical computation, when Charles Babbage (mathematician, engineer, inventor) attempted to build a calculating machine. His first attempt failed in 1832, when the British government ended all funding for the building of the “Difference Engine.” The Difference Engine was supposed to be able to make calculations based off of a table of numbers. After ten years of building and no further funding, Babbage’s invention was never finished.
In an attempt to develop a better plan to construct a calculator, he implemented this idea of using the punch card as stored data. His new machine would be programmable, and would “read” a set of punch cards, each with a pattern of holes that represented an abstract idea, such as a set of raw data. He liked the idea of the punch cards because they could be read by a machine and could be used to store computed numbers for future reference. This new invention was to be called the “Analytical Engine.”

Charles Babbage’s “General Plan” for his Analytical Engine

The Analytical Engine was supposed to have two main parts: the store (which holds numbers), and the mill (which used the numbers to compute new results). This notion can easily be compared to the modern-day computer, since in both the Analytical Engine and the modern computer, there are two main parts: one can store data/memory, and the other can compute/interpret this memory.
The concept of the Analytical Engine was a great improvement upon that of the Difference Engine. The British government, however, refused to see this, since they were still displeased that they provided 10 years of funding to Babbage’s unfruitful attempt to build his first invention. They denied him the funding that he required, and he attempted to build this machine himself, until he died in 1871 with two incomplete inventions.
It is unfortunate that Babbage was unable to see his inventions through; his ideas were so far ahead of his time that the technology with which he was working was not advanced enough to be used in any of his inventions, leaving him to develop many of the pieces of machinery himself.
It was not until about ten years later that such an idea was actually created. Herman Hollerith was hired as a U.S. Census worker in 1881, and saw many of the difficulties in tabulating the data. The U.S. population had increased by approx. 30% in the previous ten years, making the calculation much longer and tedious than in the past; in fact, it took the U.S. Census Bureau over 7 years to calculate the data from 1880. Hollerith began to develop a machine that would make such calculations easier, so that any increase in the U.S. population would not pose such issues as seen in the 1880’s. Hollerith created the Hollerith Desk, a machine using a gear-driven mechanism that could count by sensing holes within the punch cards that were entered into the machine. Behind the machine was a wall of indicators (similar to a car’s speedometer) that displayed the results of the collected data.

Hollerith Desk

Hollerith’s innovative machine served well for the 1890 Census, for it allowed the calculations to be completed in a record 3 years and saved approximately $5 million in the process. With this machine, Hollerith founded the Tabulating Machine Company, now known as International Business Machines (IBM). Hollerith’s punch-card driven tabulating machines could only count data at first. However, by the 1928, his machines could add and subtract by using the new and improved “IBM Computer Card.”

1890 Census Punched Card

Advances in the technology of IBM’s tabulating machines led to the development of the early computer, which all used punch cards (similarly to IBM’s tabulating machines) and a magnetic memory drum. Such advances included the key punch machine (similar to a typewriter) that entered the data onto the punch card.
The punch card was the primary method by which IBM stored data until the 1970’s when scientists had discovered other means by which to store data. The develop and widespread use of magnetic tape greatly decreased the need for punch cards, since magnetic tape is much more cost and space efficient. Some punch card machines are still used today: tollbooths, voting machines, etc.
This amazing transition of machinery illustrates the importance of punch card technology to the modern world. The invention that has prevailed over two centuries “was not invented by IBM in 1928. Nor was it invented by Herman Hollerith in the late 19th century.” Charles Babbage also utilized, but did not create the punch card. The foundation of all the ensuing technology was Jacquard’s loom created in 1801 which revolutionized the textile industry and created, what is more or less, the equivalent of 18^th century graphic design.                                                                                                      This is their site address:   https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Foster-and-Muriel-McCarl-Coverlet-Gallery/112183105458886?hc_location=stream