Category: Genealogy

Two weeks ago I received the sort of email that can make any genealogist’s day. It read:

Hello – In researching my Guinane family, I came across your Casey information. My gr-gr-grandfather’s brother Thomas Guinane married Bridget O’Casey in Annagh, Murroe Parish on Feb. 21, 1846. Patrick Casey & William Casey are sponsors of 2 of their children. Does any of this match your info?
Nancy Peregrine on the Lost Coast of CA

There was so much familiar here, I knew there had to be a connection. Patrick & William are the names of the older brothers of my Great Great Grandfather Michael Casey, and all of them were born in Annagh, Murroe Parish, Limerick Ireland. Also, the name Guinane rang a bell to me. Looking up the information I had obtained two years ago from Limerick Ancestry, I found that William Casey had been sponsored by Thomas Guinane in 1847, and Patrick had been sponsored by Bridget Guinane in 1848.

Nancy and I have been swapping emails and letters, sharing information in our common hunt for ancestors in Annagh. Probably the most interesting new information for me came from a map Nancy had that showed the numbered lots of Annagh, as they corresponded to the lots that Griffith’s Valuation shows our ancestors to have lived on. By matching those numbers to my own map of Annagh, I produced the map displayed here, which shows where Michael Casey and Timothy Guinane lived.

Nancy has shared other helpful ideas with me that have open new routes to search. One clever idea was to search for Casey’s living in Murroe today by searching Eircom’s Online Phone directory (I heard back today from Murroe’s only listed Casey, no obvious family connection, but it’s always good to hear from a fellow Casey), and to try the Tipperary Family History Research Center for research assistance, since they have access to the church records of the Archdiocese of Cashel & Emily, which included the Parish of Murroe.

One of the nicest aspects of genealogy as a hobby is the shared enthusiasm of fellow family hunters, and typical eagerness to share information, both to help another, but also in hopes of learning something useful for your own research. I hope that some of the info I provided to Nancy was helpful to her, and I’ll look forward to sharing our future discoveries with each other. Although we live on opposite sides of the country, we share a common history leading back to a time when our families were neighbors, friends, and family to each other.

And if by chance, you have found this page as Nancy found me, by Googling our shared hometown of Annagh, or the surname she’s hunting, Guinane, I’m sure she’s love to hear from you, so feel free to write her at nancyperegrine@yahoo.com, I’m sure she’ll be as glad to hear from you as I was to hear from her.

Yesterday my family tree research went hi-tech. Like every CSI on TV does to every suspect on the show, I swabbed the inside of my cheek to collect a DNA sample. Not to prove my complicity in any crime scenes at which I may have left some matching DNA clues behind. My sample is being collected as a tool for genealogical research, to see if a DNA match can help find or prove family connections with others who have similarly shared a sample.

Here’s how it works. Family Tree DNA will test the Y chromosome in the DNA sample I’ve sent them, and store the results in their database. The Y chromosome is passed from male to male, sorry sis, and by matching markers from my Y chromosome with those submitted by others a genetic connection can be proven. I have authorized Family Tree DNA to share my contact information with anyone else in their database for whom they find me to be a match. They won’t be able to tell us how we are connected, but based on the number of matching DNA markers they will be able to tell us how many generations back our most recent common ancestor lived. It will be up to us to then sort out the connection, but the pre-knowledge that a connection does exist will be a powerful incentive for the search.

An obvious starting point for me is with the Casey surname project, by which I will be able to learn if I am genetically related to other Caseys who are participating. At the moment, there are only four participants in the Casey project. But other surname projects on their site have grown much larger, so I guess I need to hope for some growth, or maybe I’ll get lucky with an early match. Mom, Dad, if I’m adopted, now’s the time to finally tell me 🙂 Stay tuned for updates.

For the last few months, my family tree search has gone out on horizontal branches, rather that back up the tree, as I have worked to learn what I can about all of my GG Grandfather Michael Casey‘s siblings. The first clues came in Michael’s funeral notice, which listed the names of nine siblings. My Great Aunt Margaret, a wonderful woman and goldmine of family history knowledge, has been able to offer me many useful clues about these siblings. In some instances she’s remembered the names of the men that Michael’s sisters married. In Edward’s case, Margaret recalled that Edward lived in the Pullman section of Chicago. Today I found Edward. Here’s how.

The company town of Pullman was built, owned and operated by George Pullman, the man who made rail travel luxurious for the well-off, and comfortable for regular people with his sleeper rail cars. From a map of the Pullman district and another collection of maps that identify the Census Wards and Enumeration Districts in Cook County from 1870 – 1930, I was able to identify which Census Wards covered the Pullman District, and start my hunt for Edward.

Ancestry.com’s Census search results display different information depending on the Census year and whether they have an ‘every name’ or ‘head of household’ index for that year. My luck with Edward came in 1910, in which the search results display the city ward in which the address is located. And first in the list for Edward Casey’s in 1910, was one that lived at 407 Morse Avenue in Ward 33, right in the Pullman District. Edward was 44 in 1910, and that age matched well with what I expected for the Edward I was looking for. He and his wife Mary had four children at home with them. Their oldest daughter Margaret was 21, Michael – 20, Mary – 16, and youngest Loretta was 14 years old. With this info I was quickly able to find this family, 10 years younger in the 1900 Census. By 1920 the street name had changed from Morse Avenue to Forestville. Michael and Margaret had moved out, but Edward and Mary were still there with their daughters Mary and Loretta. It was clear from these Census records that Edward worked for the Pullman Company, but I still had no certainty that this was MY Edward Casey. I really needed Edward’s Death Certificate, in hopes that it would include his parents names and confirm our family connection. But first came an interesting detour into his work history.

I read in the April 2005 issue of Family Tree magazine an article titled “Job Hunting” about how to search for your ancestor’s employment records. I learned that the South Suburban Genealogical Society holds and has indexed nearly a million Pullman Company records and that by writing they would confirm if they had any files on the person you are seeking. I did, they did, and $20 later I received a packet that included Edward and his son Michael’s Pullman employment records.

Most of my family research has been among the obvious vital records; Census, Birth, Death, Marriage, Burial. One leads to the next as you follow the paper trail of someone’s life. These Pullman records are the first employment records I’ve obtained for an ancestor, making them uniquely interesting, yet frustratingly arcane. I know now that Edward E. Casey worked for the Pullman Company for 42 years, from 1884 – 1927. That would have put him there during the Pullman strike of 1894 which was a turning point in the American labor movement. I know that his ‘Day Rate’ climbed from ’31 2/3′ in 1904 to ’68’ at his retirement in 1927. I’m still trying to figure out what that means relating to his actual wages from Pullman.

The most interesting item in Edward’s file was a letter to his employer’s from the Consumers Company in Chicago. In 1926, Edward applied for $100 in credit from the Consumers Company, whose letterhead says they sold ‘Coal – Ice – Building Material’. Depending on how you do the math, $100 in 1923 was about $1000 – $4000 in 2003. What was Edward buying?

If he did get that loan in 1926, it’s not likely he ever paid it off. Having located Edward in the 1920 Census, but not in 1930, and knowing from the Census and employment records that his middle initial was ‘E’, it was easy to guess which Edward Casey was most likely mine from a search of the Illinois State Archives database of Death Certificate (any genealogist whose ancestors lived in Illinois must be grateful for this wonderful resource). Edward E. Casey’s Death Certificate arrived from the Cook County Clerk’s office today. He died seven days after turning 63, a year after retiring from the Pullman Company. His father’s name is on his Death Certificate, Michael Casey of Anna (Annagh), Ireland. Michael is my GGG Grandfather, and so this Edward Casey IS in fact my GGG Uncle. This summer I plan to pay him a visit at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery when I visit Chicago. But first I need to write a letter to Holy Sepulchre and get a copy of the burial record and learn who else I might find buried with him. I’ve found Uncle Edward, and I’ve leared a few things about him, but the search for others continues.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! In honor of the day, and the name, I’ll focus today on my relative, Patrick Casey.

Patrick Casey is my Great Great Great Uncle. Or more clearly put, the older brother to my Great Great Grandfather, Michael Casey.

Here is what I know about Patrick Casey;

• He was born in Annagh, County Limerick, Ireland in 1848. His father, Michael Casey, was a tenant farmer on the Barrington Estate. His mother was Margaret Ryan. He was christened in the Catholic Church in Murroe.
• Patrick was the second of four known sons of Michael and Margaret. He had an older brother William, and younger brothers Michael and Timothy.
• He came to America in 1870 at age 22. I know that his brothers Michael and Timothy also came to America, but I am uncertain about William.
• He married Elizabeth ‘Bridget’ Fahey in 1877 at age 29. They remained married for 33 years.
• Patrick and Bridget had at least six children; Maggie, Lawrence, Michael, Joseph, Patrick & Timothy.
• He worked as a Porter (on trains?), and later worked as a laborer for the city of Chicago from 1885 – 1910
• He died in 1910 of stomach cancer (the same thing his father died of). He is buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Chicago

That’s what I have on you so far Uncle Patrick. I’ll be visiting you at Mt. Olivet this summer in Chicago. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

From 1893-1900 a column ran in the Chicago Record under an anonymous byline that was titled ‘Stories of the Streets and of the Town’. I picked up the volume on a recent visit to Chicago as the ideal item to offer some insight into the city during a period that my genealogy research has led me to be particularly interested. I bought the book in hopes that it would offer contemporary sketches of life in the city during that period. No longer anonymous, the stories by George Ade and illustrated by John T. McCutcheon have not disappointed.

One of these stories is titled Some of the Unfailing Signs, and in it the author demonstrates his ability to determine a great deal about a man’s occupation by their manner and dress. More simply put, George does some serious people watching and allows us to join him.

The first profile in particular caught my attention. It reads as follows:

Suppose a man is standing in front of a boarding house in Van Buren Street. He wears a close-fitting suit of black and the short sack coat flares out somewhat in a bell shape below. The coat has rather wide braid on it and the ves is slashed away from the lower button. The shirt is blue-striped and the soft black hat is flat on top and fits well down on the head, scraping the ears. With cameo ring on the third finger of the left hand what more is needed to identify the man as a “railroader”? Not an engineer or a passenger conductor, but one of the freight “crew.” Possibly he is the conductor, but probably his is the brakeman. The usual mark of distinction is the heavy gold chain which is worn by the “railroader” as soon as he is “given a train.”

If there remains any doubt as to his identity it might do to count his fingers and thumbs, watch the “hunch” of his shoulders when he walks or ask him the time of day. If the watch is open-faced and the man says “Nine forty-three” – that settles it.

The railroad man could be picked from a procession of 100 men strung along in a row and there wouldn’t be much risk of a mistake. If he had a look of worn patience in his eyes, affected and iron gray mustached, had box-toed shoes and dangled a secret-society emblem set in jewels the odds would be several to one that he was a passenger conductor with a good “run.”

“So what?”, you might ask. Well, in 1895 and 1896 my Great Great Grandfather, Michael Casey, lived on Van Buren Street. Documents such as the birth and death certificates of his children, and the City Directory, had listed Michael’s occupation as ‘Porter’ and later a ‘Teamster’, and I’ve suspected for some time that he may have worked on the Railroad.

Who knows. Certainly there were many hundreds of people this description could fit. It is Ade’s whole point that men in particular professions are easy to spot because they dress and act alike. Yet even if not talking specifically about MY ancestor of his time, this book has been everything I had hoped it might be, a trip back in time to Chicago in the mid-1890’s, and the feeling that I’m sitting there, looking at my own immigrant ancestor in his everyday life.

The first item that must be shared from the memory suitcase I’ve just brought home from Chicago is this newspaper clipping which should serve as a reminder that we can’t fight, or bite, the law. I had heard this story from Grandpa as a child, but I’m not sure if I believed it or not, until now.

I’m home tonight after a two day trip to Chicago to attend my grandfather’s funeral. It was really great to be there, to remember him, and to share memories with his large extended family, many of whom I was meeting for the first time. At the luncheon that preceded his funeral, a large battered black suitcase was on the table, and it’s contents were a time capsule of memories for all of us that were there. The suitcase was stuffed with photos dating back 100 years, newspaper clippings, letters, yearbooks, and more.

We spent hours pouring over its contents, repeatedly turning to my grandfather John’s 90-year old sister Margaret to ask, ‘Who’s this?’. And like an unfallible oracle of family history, Margaret could not be stumped.

Some fast sorting went on, with pictures that had the most meaning to each of John’s families ending up in the right hands. But the bulk of the photos, and the case itself, were entrusted to me, with my promise that I would digitize the collection and share it online with all. And Margaret’s children have promised me that they’ll get her in front of a computer as needed, to continue the task of sharing and preserving the memories that come out of this black suitcase.

Over the last two years I’ve often wondered what it was the triggered my sudden fascination with genealogy, and my obsessive hunt to learn more about my family. Opening this suitcase gave me one answer. For two years I’ve been doing my homework, learning about the people in my family, trying to understand what their lives were like. Without that initial effort, much in this suitcase would mean nothing to me. But thanks to it, I am well prepared to dive into this suitcase. I know the people in these pictures, and I’m ready to learn still more.

Stay tuned for a continuous stream of contents from this family time capsule to be posted here in the Casey blog. As I get items scanned, I’ll be adding them to album titled Casey Memory Suitcase that you can find among my online photo albums.