Week 25 - Broken Branch (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks)

This week's story comes from my son in law's family.  It concerns an Irish school teacher who was forced to break ties with his family and move halfway across the world.  As you will see, even though he was still in contact with his family back home, he would never see them again.   

McGlynn to Macklin

 Hubert Patrick McGlynn was born about 1833 in Donegal, Ireland.  His parents were Andrew McGlynn and Annie Braisland.  Hubert was the eldest child and had six siblings, Mary, Edward, Annie, William, Hugh and Daniel. Daniel, who was born in 1858 in Glenfrinn, Donegal, Ireland, is my son in law’s great great grandfather.  Daniel and his family would eventually emigrate to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1912. But his brother Hubert had an entirely different course in life. 

I first heard of Hubert when my son in laws family shared some family history information with me.  All that I knew of him at the time was that he went to Australia with his wife and children and that both he and his wife were school teachers.  Part of this information included copies of letters written by Hubert to his father, who by then was living in Scotland.  In these letters (see at end of post), Hubert is urging his father to join them in Australia and would pay his passage.  His father never did move and died in Scotland in 1893. 

A few years ago, I was contacted by a descendent of Hubert, Jonathan Wooding and another researcher, Graham Whyte, and began to learn his story. They both  pointed me in the direction of some news articles in Australian papers and some records there.  Also I learned about an article that was written about Hubert’s reason for coming to Australia. This led me to a book that was written detailing his story even more. 

I learned that Hubert had married Kate Harkins in Donegal in 1853.  Their first child, Annie was born in 1855 in Ireland.  And a second child, Mary was born in 1856 also in Ireland.  During this time, Hubert was a school teacher in Letterbrick &  Beagh, Co Donegal.  He had favorable reports from school inspectors and was thought a fine teacher.  But in early 1856, Hubert contacted the local magistrate and wanted to turn over the names of members of a secret group called the Molly Maguires.  

If any of you reading this are from Pennsylvania or specifically northeastern PA, then you probably know who the Mollies are. But why would Hubert want to do this very dangerous thing?  He said it was to protect a man that the Mollies had turned their violent ways upon. But Hubert may have also had other motives, because he was in debt to local shopkeepers and also fearful of the retribution from the  Mollies himself.  Apparently he was a member and this would most definately be considered an act of betrayal.  Hubert and his family were placed in protective custody and the case moved along. Men were arrested, tried and sentenced to jail time, some solely on Hubert’s testimony.  

By the summer of 1857, Hubert knew he could not stay in Ireland and arrangements were made by the government for Hubert and family to go to Australia.  So in August of 1857 they sailed from Liverpool. During the voyage the younger child, Mary, died and was buried at sea.  They arrived in Melbourne on Nov 2, 1857.  The ship manifest described Hubert as a miner, but before his first year in Australia was over, Hubert had begun a new job as a schoolmaster in Beechworth.  He was a successful teacher and was also active in local activities, but his problem of being in debt followed him to Australia and he became insolvent and fired from his job in 1862.    At this point Hubert left Beechworth.  Hubert had other bouts with bankruptcy and was also fired from other teaching jobs up through 1890.  The family lived in Beechworth, Sandridge, Geelong, Blenheim and Kempsey. He also had a teaching job in Auckland, New Zealand about 1886.

Somewhere along the line, Hubert Patrick McGlynn changed his surname to Macklin and was also known as Patrick. In 1859 and 1862, two more daughters joined the family with the last name Macklin.  A 15 month old son died in 1863 as well.  Two more daughters rounded out the family in 1865 and 1872.  His wife, Kate, died in 1889 and Hubert himself passed in 1904 in Macksville, New South Wales, Australia while living with his eldest daughter.

No matter what his circumstances were, Hubert was well known, respected and very active in clubs and politics and wrote articles and lectured on many topics. 

The article, with some photos,  from which I gathered most of the above information from can be found here:  https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-informer-who-disappeared-in-1856-and-has-shown-up-again-1.3522569?mode=amp

It is very interesting, as is the book spoken about. The book is “The End of Outrage” by Breandán Mac Suibhne.

I’d like to thank Jonathan Wooding, professor of Celtic studies at the University of Sydney, and the great-great-grandson of Hubert Patrick McGlynn and Graham Whyte, an Australian revenue official for contacting me about this family and sharing the information.  As well as, Breandán Mac Suibhne, author and an associate professor of history at Centenary University, in the United States, and fellow of the Moore Institute at NUI Galway for his research.   

A side story of this, is that  I learned more about the origins and history of the Molly Maguires from the book The End of Outrage.  I grew up in northeastern PA and the Mollies were a large part of the local history and the coal mining industry there during the 1860's and 70's.  The PA Mollies were largely Irish miners who resorted to violence to promote their goals.   Eventually the Pinkertons infiltrated the group and many were arrested, tried and hung for various crimes including murders.  There were some who were actually thought to be innocent after the fact.  I'd even read that some received posthumous pardons in recent times.

For more information on the Molly Maguires

 http://genealogytrails.com/penn/luzerne/molmaguires.html

The Letters

Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2022. All rights reserved. 

Week 24 - Popular Name (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks)

 When I first started researching, I remember thinking to myself "I hope that I don't have any Smiths or Jones'!"  They are such common surnames that I was afraid that I would never be able to sort them out.  Well, there were a few but I remember being relieved that I did not have much difficulty with them.  

However, I do have problems with the Italian side of my family!  My grandfather Charles Christmas Bonadio, is first generation American. His parents Pasquale Bonadio and Rose Dicello came here separately from Italy and did not, as far as I can tell, continue the traditional Italian naming order.  They had 11 children.  Just as an explanation of Grandad's name, I should say that Charles was not born as Charles. He told us his birth name was Angelo Natale Bonadio.  However, his delayed birth certificate and baptismal certificates say Angelo Charles Bonadio. Somewhere along the line he himself changed it.  We don't know why, unless he just wanted to anglicize it.  Natale could mean Christmas. And I'm not sure if Charles could come from Angelo. 

Below is the traditional naming order for Italian families as found at italianamericanpodcast.com

1. Your first son is named after his paternal grandfather; your first daughter after her paternal grandmother.
2. Your second son is named after his maternal grandfather; your second daughter after her maternal grandmother.
3. Then, if you’re blessed (or crazy) enough to have more children, you can, after all four grandparents have had their names passed down, start picking from siblings, aunts, uncles, and patron saints.

But anyway, my issues started with the siblings of Pasquale & Rose.  We have this photo from 1940  that Charles' sister conveniently labeled with names.  You would think ok this is great. But....

Mom and Pop are the easy ones because they are Charles' parents Pasquale Bonadio & Rose Dicello, they lived in Pennsylvania

Uncle Tony is Pasquale Bonadio's brother and lived in Wisconsin

Uncle Frank is Rose Dicello's brother also lived in Wisconsin

The two Mary's are harder because are the names their maiden or married names?  

Uncle Frank Dicello has a sister Mary Dicello married to Joe Romano  and a wife Mary Bonadio(different family), sister Mary Dicello Romano also lived in Wisconsin

Uncle Tony Bonadio also married a Mary Butera

The dilemma is - are the Mary's sisters or wives or a mix in the photo?

My first thought was wives, as both Frank and Tony married Marys but if they are wives then they are either standing behind the wrong husband or the IDs are mixed up because Mary Dicello would be Frank's wife and Mary Bonadio would be Tony's wife, if they are behind their husbands and if those are their married names.  Also, in Italy, married women would keep their maiden name. Pasquale's wife, Rose, did that on her Passenger List but in America took her husband's name Bonadio.

Same ladies with a 4th that cannot be identified

So partially because of the naming tradition from Italy or maybe because parents who came over here wanted to remember people left behind, we have too many Marys and Tonys and Franks and Roses etc and the same surnames keep marrying the same surnames and before you know it....chaos. I pretty sure that I have them straight on paper, but this photo, I'm not 100% sure yet.. This was just one example.

*********************************************************************

A second popular name that was very confusing is Zachariah Nixon, or should I say 12 Zachariah Nixons and I am descended from 6 of them.  The rest are uncles or cousins of different degrees. 

I think that I have them sorted out now.  I have numbered them for my own use.  1 - 6 are ancestors, the rest numbered by birthdate.  There are 5 Johns sprinkled in the mix as well. One between ancestors 1 and 2 and again between ancestors 4 and 5. The other 3 Johns are brothers to Zachariahs 5, 6 and 9.   Almost all of them are from the same area of North Carolina and when they did move several went
to the same county in Indiana. 

The Nixons also like the names Elizabeth (9), Francis (6), Mary (8), William(5) and Sarah(6).  Fortunately, I am only descended from one of those, a Sarah.  

I sure do understand honoring parents, grandparents and other special people by naming a baby after them, but it so confuses things for us today trying to figure them all out.  I really can't complain too much tho, my son is a Junior! 

Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2022. All rights reserved. 

Week 23 - Mistake (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks)

Take a look at line 9 on this census form.  What do you think it says?  Now remember what you thought as you read my post.  

Lately, I have been searching the newly released 1950 census.  Many times when I look at the actual record there are glaring mistakes made by either the transcriber or the new handwriting recognition technology being used by Ancestry when it comes to how the names are spelled in the resulting index. But even with what I call mistakes, the hint usually led to the correct individual.  When looking at some of the images tho, the names are clearly written and readable.  I know that transcribers are given instructions on how to do this, but I could not understand how anything or anyone could get some of them wrong. I spent the time in submitting a correction for each one that I found.  

But transcribing handwritten records is not an exact science.  Each transcriber may see the word differently.  So this is not a new problem for researchers.  Recently I posted an image of a 1950 census record for my great grandfather, William Ralph Arnold, in our family Facebook group.  His occupation was listed as a retail sales clerk in, what I read as, a "retail Luncheon store".  Maybe a little odd to me for a 69 year old guy who was a farmer and carpenter but that's what I thought I saw.  And  just what is a "luncheon store"?  My aunt later suggested that it was probably "linoleum" not "luncheon" because my great grandfather's son owned a floor covering store.  I did know this but did not connect the two because I never knew great grandad worked in it.  I took a look at the image again and there it was - "linoleum".   I guess it helps when you know what it's supposed to be.  

How did you read it?

Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2022. All rights reserved. 

Week 22 - Conflict (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks)

 I have a genealogical soft spot in my heart for veterans.  In my research, as I started finding more and more veterans in various branches of my tree. I began trying to keep track of them all. Sometimes this meant finding out as much as I could about their service.  In doing so, I most often found that one war or another was involved. 

I have a keen interest specifically in the American Civil War, so when I found my first ancestor who served, I dove right in.  I used all of the typical records to home in on his Regiment, then sent away for his pension records, military service records and Carded Medical records.  While waiting for those to come, I found that the Original Records, or O.R. as they are often called, were online.  These are very interesting and include reports that commanding officers had to write say, after a battle.  I also read many books that described, in general, a soldier's experience and books about the specific battles that my ancestor fought in.  Once I had all of the information that I could find, I began writing his story.  I was able to make it  less dry than just dates and places. My 3rd great grandfather, John B. Amos, enlisted as a Private into the 55th Pa Infantry and was promoted up to Lieutenant by the end of the war. He served his 3 years and reenlisted. During this time, he was in the deep south on the South Carolina coast and then into Virginia, where most of the fighting was happening. He was in a few better known battles and was wounded twice. His second wound was received at Cold Harbor in the infamous charge on June 3, 1864 and may very well have been one of the wounded who had to wait 4 days to be retrieved from the battlefield.  He experienced being in an Army General Hospital and, in a brush with the Secret Service, was falsely accused of consorting with counterfeiters and in custody for a time. His regiment was at Appomattox for the surrender, but he missed it because he was still recovering from his wounds. He was able to rejoin his regiment in time to muster out with them in 1865. After the war, he doggedly applied over and over to receive a veteran's pension for his wounds and received it each time. Through all of this conflict, he was able to raise 10 of his 12 children to adulthood and was known to be an "honest, kind hearted man and had many friends".  

John B Amos & his wife Sarah Mower

Another Civil War ancestor belongs to my husband. His 2nd great grandfather, William Harvey Gray, enlisted several times. First, into a 3 month regiment just 4 days after Fort Sumpter was fired upon.  His 2nd enlistment was into the 4th PA Reserves, this time for 3 years.  The 4th participated in various battles and then fought for 2 days at Antietam in 1862.  After spending almost two years of fighting in eastern Virginia, the 4th was transferred to West Virginia.  In the summer of 1864, William reenlisted and his company was reorganized and attached to the 54th Pa Volunteer Infantry.  In mid-October of 1864, William's luck ran out.  After avoiding being wounded throughout his service, he was captured in a surprise attack at Cedar Creek.  Through his pension records, he is able to tell how the prisoners were held in  a tobacco warehouse in Richmond before being sent to the Salisbury Prison camp in North Carolina.  He spent most of the winter there without shelter and sparse food.  Fortunately, William was exchanged through a parole agreement in Feb 1865 and was sent to Camp Parole in Annapolis, MD.  While there, William was given a 30 day furlough and headed for home.  He made it to within 80 miles of home in northeast PA and was so ill from being emaciated and suffering with typhoid that he had to stop his journey to receive medical care. He was waylaid  for 6 or 7 weeks.  He did recovered enough to continue home and then rejoined his regiment in time to muster out in May 1865.  William also pursued his veteran's pension and was approved.   William married and had 3 sons.  

There is no photo of him but we do have his discharge paper

Some soldiers just couldn't handle the conflict of war.  The 17 year old ancestor of a friend of mine, enlisted in Union Army in 1864 and just 3 short months later deserted.  

Others make the military their life. My maternal grandmother's family is privileged to have a recipient of the Medal of Honor as a 1st cousin 2 times removed to my grandmother. Brig Gen Abraham Kerns Arnold was born in 1837in Bedford, Pa and became a career Army cavalry officer after graduating from West Point in 1859.  He was assigned to a post in the Western Plains until the Civil War. Then while he was in command of the 5th Cavalry as a Captain during the Civil War, he performed the action that would later be the reason for the Medal of Honor to be awarded to him.  On May 7,1864, at the Battle of Todds Tavern in Virginia, Abraham led "a gallant charge against a superior force of the enemy, extricated his command from a perilous position in which it had been ordered".  After the war, he was posted back to the Western Plains and later in Cuba for the Spanish American War.  He retired in 1901 and passed a few months later.

Abraham Kerns Arnold

One soldier did not survive his conflict.  My Dad's cousin, James W Heacock,  was a paratrooper with the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment.  He was among the men who parachuted into France for D-Day.  He was wounded that same day and died a week later at age 19.  

James W Heacock

Conflicts often affect a soldier in negative ways.  My father in law, Gary Sinton, was a nosegunner in a B24 in the Pacific during WW2.  He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1944 and served until the war was over.  He would never talk about his experiences other than to mention one date in particular, and only the date and place name.  July 28, 1945, the Battle at Kure Bay. After some research into the battle, I found that Gary's squadron participated in the air offensive from Okinawa to bomb the Japanese mainland. The Air Medal was awarded to him and his squadron for this action. 

Gary Sinton, front 4th from left

These are just a few of the stories of conflict in our family's history.  I just want to thank them for their sacrifices and their service.  

Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2022. All rights reserved.