Category: Genealogy

The Cross of Iron

Books, Family, Genealogy

One of the best finds so far in my parent’s library isn’t a rare or particularly valuable book (as far as I know). It’s a great find because of the inscription which reads

Bill –

Best wishes for happiness always –

As Ever –

Jeanne 10/9/56 (2yr.)

The book my future Mother was gifting to my future Father was a war novel called The Cross of Iron, written by Willi Heinrich, himself a veteran of the German army in WWII.

And I have MANY QUESTIONS! And only my ability to deduce and guess to answer them.

The first question is, what did the parenthetical ‘2yr.’ in her signing mean? My best guess is that it was an anniversary of them going steady? I originally assumed this gift was given while they were college students together at the University of Illinois. But math is magical, and calendars are steady… my father was 17 years, 8 months, and 19 days old when he received this gift. They were still students at Morton High School in Cicero, Illinois when Mom gave Dad this book. And they had been a couple for two years. Coincidentally, the first of their four children, a son named Sean, would be born exactly four years later on 10/9/1960.

My next question is, who gives a war novel about retreating Nazis as an anniversary gift? The book is a first edition, first published in english in the same year of 1956. My parents would have talked about books. So I have no doubt that Mom knew this was a book Dad was interested in, and that knowledge was what made it a suitable ‘anniversary’ gift for him.

My final questions are grammatical. I’ve long known that Mom had a phase when she spelled her own name with an extra ‘n’, turning Jean into Jeanne, because it was posh or something. I don’t know exactly when the extra ‘n’ appeared or when it went away. And what’s with all the hyphens Mom??

So I found the book, and now I’ve read the book. Holding in my hands, and turning the same pages that my 17 year old father turned. It was a good war novel. I dove deep into Wikipedia to learn more about the Caucus operations of the Soviet’s pushing German invaders back through Crimea in WWII. The current war in Ukraine adds some sad currency to the story.

As it turned out, 21 years later, the book was turned into a movie, starring James Coburn and directed by Sam Peckinpah. So naturally, when I finished reading the book, I called up the movie online and watched it, using some of today’s tech voodoo that those high school kids in 1956 could never have imagined.

I watched a lot of movies with my Dad. I’d say that enjoying a good flick together was among our favorite pastimes. Once, when he and my Mom were visiting my family in Virginia, and enjoying their too few opportunities to grandparent, Dad and I pulled an all-nighter watching all of the Rambo movies. But, I have no memory of ever watching or discussing Cross of Iron with him.

Hollywood did what Hollywood does, and took many liberties with the source material. But the basic story remains intact. And James Coburn leads an impressive cast in an explosive overloaded war flick.

Anyway, I loved finding this book that Mom gifted to Dad. It was a wonderful reminder of the amazing value of adding an inscription to gift books. As I turned every page, I knew my younger Dad had done the same. Thanks Mom, for gifting a book your future son would read 68 years after you gave it to my Dad.

Leave a comment

Dad & The Harrier

Family, Genealogy, Photos

Across my father’s long career as an Experimental Test Pilot, first in the U.S. Navy, and then for the McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Corporation, he flew many different planes that read like random numbers and letters; XV-6A Kestrel, SC-142A, X-22A, and later YC-15 and C-17 among many many others… but one that stands out in my memory I knew of more by it’s name than a number… The Harrier. The Harrier’s unique characteristic is it’s vertical/short takeoff and landing operations (V/STOL). The Harrier has the ability to direct the thrust from it’s jet engines downward, and as a result can take off and land vertically, like a helicopter. Pause to think about how cool that is and was, a supersonic jet fighter that could come to a dead stop and lower itself gently to the ground with little or no runway!

As we continue the work of sorting through his belongings, I recently came across a small spiral bound album of black and white photos, a gift to my Dad from the British Hawker Siddeley Company, and there among the photos were a few that included my father, William Casey.

But none of the photos were dated, and even his resume’s mention of being a part of the ‘Navy Preliminary Eval Team’ for the AV-8A Harrier, came with no dates. Dad graduated from the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School in 1967, and you can see that patch on his right shoulder in these photos. I recently read his wartime diary of his combat cruise on the USS Hancock, flying F-8 Crusaders in Vietnam. And from that I know he left in August 1969 and returned eight months later in April 1970. But where did this time flying the Harrier fit in?

Where else to turn but the Google?! And very early in my searching, I came across the below video. I had not heard John Farley’s name before seeing this, but I did quickly note how closely this presenter looked like the gentleman in the photos I had found. Well it turned out, it’s because he IS the guy in the photos, and that John Farley was a well known and highly regarded British test pilot, who worked to sell the Harrier to the US.

You don’t need to watch his whole hourlong presentation in this video, but click the ‘play’ button and it will start just where it gets good. He picks up here describing just having convinced two USMC pilots that the Harrier would be a good match for the US Marine Corp, but how there were more hoops yet ahead, including training a team of US Navy Test pilots, one of which was my Dad. Watch 5 minutes and I’ll meet you on the other side…

There’s been a small trove of other Harrier related finds that help complete the story…

But… yeah Internet!! I didn’t just find the time span that I had been looking for,.. this was in February 1969, just six months before he departed for his Vietnam cruise, but I found the story, straight from the mouth of the British test pilot in the picture. Very cool.

2 comments

Bringing Old Photos to Life

Genealogy, Photos, Technology

Today I saw the below tweet from a genealogist that I follow, describing a new free photo enhancement feature from the Heritage.com genealogy website. In addition to choosing to enhance, and to colorize a photo, the new tool can identify a face in you photo, and bring it to life with some simple animation. And it’s really very very cool.

So I thought I’d give it a try. These are my GGG Grandparents Vitus DeDera and Rose Bicek on their wedding day, September 21, 1912. Vitus was 21, and Rose was 20 on their wedding day. And as is common in photos of the era, smiles as we know them today were rarer. This wedding photographer didn’t shout out ‘say CHEESE’ before snapping this shot.

I’ve written about Vitus (Victor) and Rose, and what I’ve learned about their courtship here in my blog 15 years ago.

When I uploaded the above 109 year old photo to Heritage.com and asked it to ‘animate’ it, the tool first enhanced the photo, creating a much sharper image, and it then identified each face in the photo and asked me which one I wanted to animate. Not to play favorites, I naturally did them both. And here’s the results.

Vitus Dedera – animated

Rose Bicek Dedera – animated

Pretty cool, and a little bit unnerving isn’t it?! It’s amazing what a few blinks, a tilt of the head, and some lip movement can do to breathe life into a static image. Freaking realistic! And in the context of this photo, where I imagine Victor and Rose, holding still in their pose for this important photo, pondering their future lives together, their animated expressions convey a thoughtfulness that feels very genuine to me.

Of course, this technology would, I assume, work on any photo. But modern day moving images aren’t quite as, well, eye opening are they (see videos, animated gifs (hard G)). It’s in bringing old photos to life that I see the magic in this tool. It makes me think of the portraits on the walls of Hogwarts, or the Mirror of Erised in which young Harry Potter could see his dead parents as they were in life. Cool stuff, I’m gonna be making LOTS of these!

Leave a comment

Send a Casey to Ireland

Family, Genealogy

There once was a girl from Montclair.
Who had pretty reddish blonde hair.
She said with a smile.
Throw money on my pile.
So I can go study over there.

– Rick Palermo

This limerick by a family friend, captures well my daughter Katie’s online efforts to raise money in support of her plan to study abroad at the University of Limerick in Ireland next year.  She has already won a $5,000 scholarship, which combined with existing student loans and her parent’s regular tuition payments will cover the majority of her expenses.  But there is a gap in her budget that remains to be closed, and so she has put out a digital tin cup and is asking for your help.

Limerick isn’t just another spot in Ireland for us.  It happens to be where our Irish ancestor’s came from.  Katie’s GGGG Grandfather Michael Casey worked as a tenant farmer on the Barrington Estate (today’s Glenstal Abbey), and most of his 10 children, including son Michael, emigrated to America and settled in Chicago, Illinois.  So Katie won’t just be studying abroad, she’ll be walking in the footsteps of the ancestors who gave her our Casey name.

After looking over a few alternative sites for online fundraising, Katie selected one called smartypig.  Gifted funds are held in an FDIC insured, interest bearing account, from which she’ll be able to withdraw them when needed for her study abroad expenses.

Online fundraising such as this is the meat and potatoes of my day job, funding Democratic candidates and progressive causes that I support and am proud to work for.  But this is a cause that beats them all, for being one that I support, and that makes me proud.  The hardest, but most important part of fundraising is the asking.  And so we ask.  If you are able and willing to pitch in to help, your support is very much appreciated.

Leave a comment

Marion Dedera Casey (1913/Chicago, IL – 2008/Newport Beach, CA)

Family, Genealogy

casey_gram.jpgToday is my grandmother’s birthday. She would have been 95 years old, but sadly did not reach that milestone having passed away two months ago. She was the oldest of five children of Victor and Rose Dedera, and is survived by her sister Jean, her son William, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Twice married to John Casey (and twice divorced), Grandma Casey lived a very independent life, raising my father as a single working mother during a time when that was nowhere near a common as it is today.

In recent years my interest in genealogy led to many wonderful hours visiting with ‘Gram’, looking at old family photos, and appreciating her is a way that could only come in adulthood. She laughed when sharing photos of her and friends at the beach, and was proud to show off memorabilia from her career at Amphenol which included company Christmas cards on which hers was the only female presence among the crowd of male executives. Late last year my brother discovered another interesting tale from Grandma’s working past. As a young woman she worked for the Mars candy company in it’s early days. She was one of the staff who was flown out to attend the founder Franklin Mars’s funeral in Tennessee in 1934. When I asked her when she stopped working for Mars, she responded, “When I got married. They told me there were plenty of young single women who would be happy to take my job, and that a married woman had no place in the workplace.” She said this with no bitterness or resentment, just acceptance that it was how things were. Another good story was finding out that she did not learn to drive a car until my teenage father was also just learning.

Gram was an active letter-writer who was always caring and curious about the lives of others. A postcard from 1988, when I had been married and lived in Virginia for less than a year is typical…

Good morning – It’s Fri. 3/25 – 10am and would you believe 88 degrees already – we’re having a heate wave – anyone for a nice cold dip? – I’m ready for work and looking forward to the week end as I’m sure you are – what do you do week-ends? – where do ya go? – what do ya see? – For me, Sat is a clean house, food shop day and Sunday a day of rest, with the O.C. Register spread all over the d.r. table or maybe a matinee movie. Luv ya, Gram C

I would like to send Gram a similar postcard now. Where do ya go and what do ya see? And I’d like to wish her a very Happy Birthday, and let her know she is missed.

2 comments

In the Baggage Coach Ahead

Genealogy

Rinkenberger Stumpf WeddingOne of the pleasures of researching family history, is stumbling across a good story. Sometimes they are love stories, or war stories, or funny stories. But recently I came across a poignent tragedy, a real tear-jerker.

In the last couple of weeks I’ve made real progress in searching my wife’s side of the family. The breakthrough came in locating information about two sisters of my wife’s GG Grandfather, Adam Geldmacher. Adam had two younger sisters, Victoria and Catherine, and I was fortunate enough to locate a living descendent of Victoria, Kathy, who has done much amazing work on her ancestors, and as genealogists so typically do, she gladly shared with me. Among the many names I was able to add to our tree thanks to Kathy help was Victoria’s daughter, Mary Stumpf, who married George Rinkenberger on August 16, 1887 in Farmdale, Illinois at the age of 19. From the information that Kathy provided, I saw that Mary died at the young age of 23, and I asked her if she knew anything about the cause of Mary’s death, and she had this story to share.

William & Mary RinkenbergerMary and her husband William had left Illinois and moved to Kansas, and had recently become parents with the birth of their son George in February of 1891. Sadly, just three months later, on May 11th, 1891, Mary died of pnumonia. William returned to Illinois by train, bringing his wife’s body home to be buried. On the train ride, the baby cried and fussed, a dilemma that any parent traveling with a baby can sympathize with. And the other passengers complained to William, and asked him why he didn’t give the baby to its mother to be soothed. He let them know that he wished that he could, but that she was dead in the baggage coach ahead. With this revelation, other women on the train took care of the baby for the remainder of the trip.

The incident was supposedly witnessed by a train porter, who retold the story in a poem that was later put to music and published by Gussie L. Davis in 1896 in a song titled, In the Baggage Coach Ahead that went on to be a very popular song and the biggest hit of Davis’ career.

I set out to find the song and at the Library of Congress I found a recording of it from 1925, and on many other sites such as this one I found the lyrics. Read on to listen to the song and read the lyrics.

Listen here to the song (mp3 format), while you read along with the lyrics. And just try not to get choked up.

“In the Baggage-Coach Ahead“

On a dark stormy night, as the train rattled on,
All the passengers had gone to bed,
Except one young man with a babe in his arms
Who sat there with a bowed-down head.
The innocent one began crying just then,
As though its poor heart would break.
One angry man said, “Make that child stop its noise,
For it’s keeping all of us awake.”

“Put it out,” said another, “Don’t keep it in here;
We’ve paid for our berths and want rest.”
But never a word said the man with the child,
As he fondled it close to his breast.
“Where is its mother? Go take it to her,”
this a lady then softly said.”
I wish I could,” was the man’s sad reply.”
But she’s dead in the coach ahead.”

While the train rolled onward, a husband sat in tears,
Thinking of the happiness of just a few short years.
Baby’s face brings pictures of a cherished hope that’s dead,
But baby’s cries can’t waken her in the baggage coach ahead.

Every eye filled with tears when his story he told
Of a wife who was faithful and true;
He told how he’d saved up his earnings for years,
Just to build up a home for two;
How when Heaven had sent them this sweet little babe,
Their young happy lives were blessed;
His heart seemed to break when he mentioned her name,
And in tears tried to tell them the rest.
Every woman arose to assist with the child;
There were mothers and wives on that train.
And soon was the little one sleeping in peace,
With no thought of sorrow or pain.
Next morn at a station he bade all goodbye,
“God bless you,” he softly said,
Each one had a story to tell in their homes
Of the baggage coach ahead.

4 comments

Ireland: Day 6 – Murroe, Limerick, Annagh, Newport

Genealogy, Travel

Glenstal Abbey, MurroeWhen my GG Grandfather Michael Casey was born in 1850, his father Michael was a tenant farmer working land rented from the Barrington Estate. About 70 years later, after their only daughter was killed in an IRA ambush, the Barrington’s sold their estate to the Benedictine monks who continue to run the estate today as Glenstal Abbey. And after breakfast on Friday morning, we took a nice stroll on the Abbey’s grounds, taking a quick look at the castle and meeting some Donkey’s along the way. Was the stone watchman in the castle tower there 150 years ago, watching my Casey ancestors harvest potatoes? I wonder.

Next we headed into Limerick, and despite hitting some traffic heading into town, and getting turned around a bit, we ultimately succeeded in getting the car parked so we could do some shopping, which we did. I failed in my mission to dunk a friend’s hat into the Shannon River, sorry Bobby, the banks were too high.

With Father Ryan at Annagh GraveyardAfter our short stop in Limerick, we returned to Murroe to keep our date with Father Ryan. We met him at the church and then followed him to the Annagh Graveyard. The church in the center of the graveyard has been a ruin for more than 100 years according to the land valuation map I obtained in Dublin to locate the Casey plot, but the cemetery is still in use and has recent burials in it. Among the older markers, there were many so worn or damaged that there was nothing legible on them, and having found no Caseys among any that could be read, we had to assume that we may be close but would never know for certain if this was Michael Casey’s final resting place or not. Father Ryan returned to the church, having been very generous with his time this Easter eve, and we stayed a bit longer taking pictures in the graveyard, and then along the nearby road of what we guessed must have been the Casey plot of farmland. And our family hunt might well have ended there.

But it did not.

At Ryan’s pub in nearby Newport, I asked the woman tending bar if there were any Casey’s in the area. She said she wasn’t from nearby, but would ask the owner, and shortly he came by to speak with us. When I asked him about Casey’s, he paused for a bit and then told me to follow him outside into the street. Pointing up the street at a house a few hundred yards away he said, “Willie Casey lives there, you should talk to him.” And so we finished our drinks, which they wouldn’t let us pay for, and we set off to find Willie.

The woman who answered my knock at the door was quick to welcome us in when I mentioned my name was Casey and I was hoping to speak with Willie. And in no time we were sitting at the kitchen table with Willie and his wife Maureen, comparing Casey notes. Soon Maureen had me on the phone with Willie’s cousin, and while we didn’t find any direct connection between ourselves, they knew of other nearby Caseys and mentioned another neighbor we should speak took, and a graveyard we should visit called Ballymackeogh. A few doors down, we dropped in on Mary Ryan, and after a quick explanation we again received a warm welcome. Mary’s aunt was married to a Michael Casey, and when Mary confirmed that this Michael’s father had been named Thomas, and that they had farmed land in Annagh across the county line, the pieces all seemed to fit to say this Michael was my first cousin, three times removed (or more easily, my GG Grandfather’s nephew, I couldn’t sort any of these complex relationships out without my computer!). Mary gave us directions to another local cemetery, Rockvale, in which she said Michael had been the first burial. When we asked for directions, Mary pointed and said, “It’s just that way across the fields. But by car you’ll need to turn right at the main street in town and follow your noses from there”. That worked, and at Rockvale Cemetery we located my distant cousin Michael Casey, and a number of other Casey’s which we have yet to sort out. I should say ‘Jennifer located’, because she was always first to find the headstones we were seeking.

Proceed, or Turn Back?Finding Ballymackeogh was a bit more difficult, but after a few tries we found ourselves at then end of a gravel road facing a locked gate with three signs nearby. The first read ‘Ballymackeogh Graveyard’, the second essentially said ‘Private Property, Keep Out’, and the third read ‘Beware of the bull’. It was the third sign that most caught our notice. But having traveled so far, and now standing outside the gate that I thought could lead to my ancestors graves, was I to let a bull stop us? Never! I went first into the field, with Jennifer bravely following about 25 yards behind (wearing her new bullfighting red sweater), and our caution was rewarded by our arrival at the graveyard gates about 100 yards across the pasture, with no bull anywhere in sight.

Ballymackeogh was similar to the other graveyards that we had visited in that it had a roofless, ivy-covered church ruin the in middle, but was different in that the grounds around the ruin we terraced with paths, and the ground much more uneven. Headstones jutted out of the ground at every angle, some laying flat on the ground and others in broken piles. In placed the ground had collapsed in on a grave, while in others the grave was a large mound pushing upwards. It was late afternoon by this point, and long shadows hung everywhere. It was a very peaceful place, and as graveyards go, could be a scary one.

Once again, Jennifer found the Casey’s. A plot of four graves near one of the church corners had four burials, one of which seems to match well with our hunt. Reading with our fingers, we found a headstone that read:

Erected by Thomas Casey in memory of his Father Michael Casey of Polough who died Oct 9 1884, aged 70 years. May his soul rest in peace.

The death certificate for my GGG Grandfather Michael Casey says he died on 12/1/1882 at age 66, a pretty big difference from this headstone which is specific enough to give confidence in its facts. So do I have the right Michael Casey and just some errors of fact over time? Or are there two Michael Caseys, with sons named Thomas, who lived, farmed and died at about the same time in very close proximity? I don’t know. Progress brings new questions, that’s just how it goes in genealogy. Wherever the truth is, the hunt continues.

We made it back through the pasture without any sign of the bull, and headed to Bunratty hoping to get in on one of their Castle Banquets for our last night’s meal, but finding it booked we had a very fine meal at a nearby restaurant and headed back to our B&B for our last night’s sleep in Ireland.

Leave a comment

Ireland: Day 2 – Dublin

Genealogy, Travel

Ireland's National LibraryFamily Hunting and Souvenir Shopping was the program for the day. I had thought I would allow myself just a couple of hours this morning at Ireland’s National Library to see what I might find out about my Casey ancestors, in particular my GGGG Grandfather, Michael Casey. I was already aware that the Church Diocese of Cashel and Emly are available only via Tipperary Family History Research, and I have already obtained some records by that route. So my visit to the Library was more in hopes of perhaps finding something that I didn’t yet know I was looking for. The very helpful library genealogist was great, and although there was little there at the library to search, he set us out on a family hunt that took us to three other offices in Dublin; the General Register Office, the Valuation Office, and Ireland’s National Archives.

BUT…

The story will have to wait. I REALLY need to get some sleep, as it’s 3:16 am and we have a very big day tomorrow, needing to get our rental car in the morning at Dublin’s airport, and then seek to make our way across the southern part of the island on our way to our next destination, Kinsale. More details to follow about the family tree hunt, but I’ll include this teaser, I found information about the Casey brother who stayed behind and farmed the family plot while his siblings had emigrated to America. And his son (?) was still owned that same plot until 1956. So guess which one of the above offices was the source of that breakthrough?

More to come, going to bed.

Leave a comment

Find-A-Grave

Genealogy, Guide to Life, Web Surfin'

findagrave.jpgFor me, one of the most satisfying parts of my hobby of exploring family history is finding and visiting the burial sites of my relatives. And I have a growing album of photos from such visits. While these visits sometimes can provide new information, more importantly they give me a sense of connection and satisfaction. Regardless of anyone’s individual beliefs in an afterlife, I know that one sure way to live on after death is in the memories of others. And I like that.

As nice as these cemetery visits are, it’s not always possible to make them. And that’s where a great site for Genealogists and Graveyard enthusiasts can be a big help. Find-A-Grave is a virtual cemetery in which information matching burials in real world cemeteries. For example, you can find information about my brother Sean, and my Great Grandmother Myrtle on the site.

One feature that’s available on Find-A-Grave is to request a photo. If there is a burial for which you’re interested in seeing a headstone photo, you can submit your request on the site. The request will be sent to registered users who have agreed to be photo volunteers that live near that cemetery. I have submitted a few such requests, but to earn the favor, I wanted to do the same for someone else. And I recently got the opportunity when a request to visit Hardens Hill Cemetery and photograph a particular headstone arrived in my email.

Thanks to the Google Map that showed the location, it was easy to find our way to Harden’s Hill Cemetery, unexpectedly nestled in some woods at the end of a cul-de-sac in a development just minutes from our home. My daughter Colleen joined me on the hunt, and we quickly found our subject, Theodore Reid. I took a bunch of photos, and added all of them to the appropriate internments on Find-A-Grave. The oldest burial we spotted at Harden’s Hill was in 1905, the most recent in 2005. And by the flowers all about, it was obvious this is not a forgotten cemetery. But even when there’s not human visitors, we learned that there are others keeping watch.

Leave a comment
1 2 3