Vita brevis; genealogia longa
From left to right: Josephine Kelly, her older sister Sarah Anne Kelly, Jesse Cotter, and unknown best man. Thanks again to Jan Branham for generously sharing her family photos.
Kelly, Josephine; Kelly, Sarah Anne; Cotter, Jesse; Photograph ca. 1906. Digital image. Original privately held by Jan Branham, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Richmond, Indiana. 2012.
…leaping, turning handsprings, and generally reveling. Remember Fiske’s Law of Genealogy? Well, cousin Jan Branham has come through magnificently with the only known photograph of my 2nd great-grandfather, John Kelly. I am absolutely thrilled and refuse to wait for the next Wordless Wednesday (besides which, this post appears to contain words), so here you go.
Kelly, John. Photograph ca. 1900. Digital image. Original privately held by Jan Branham, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Richmond, Indiana. 2012.
Kelly, Father R. E. grave marker, Mount Calvary Cemetery, Huntington, Huntington, Indiana, USA; photograph by Annis Jean Hite Patee, 1 Oct 2009. Digital copy privately held by Jean Marie Diaz, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Linden, California. 2009.
Fr. Robert was one of my great-grandmother’s brothers, the youngest in the family, and largely raised by her after their mother died.
Kelly, Margaret G grave marker, Calvary Cemetery, Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, USA; photograph by Mary Rose, 1 Apr 2009. Digital copy privately held by Jean Marie Diaz, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Linden, California. 2009.
Margaret is the wife of my great-granduncle Edward KELLY.
Kelly, Josephine grave marker, St Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, Union City, Randolph, Indiana, USA; photograph by Suzanne Stamper-Youmans, 23 Apr 2008. Digital copy privately held by Jean Marie Diaz, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Linden, California. 2009.
Kelly, John F grave marker, St Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, Union City, Randolph, Indiana, USA; photograph by Suzanne Stamper-Youmans, 23 Apr 2008. Digital copy privately held by Jean Marie Diaz, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Linden, California. 2009.
It is time again for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – thanks to Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings. Somehow by the time Saturday night rolls around, I’m much too tired to assemble one of these — but they’re just as much fun on Sunday afternoon, when I have more brain cells available.
1) List your 16 great-great-grandparents in pedigree chart order. List their birth and death years and places.
2) Figure out the dominant ethnicity or nationality of each of them.
3) Calculate your ancestral ethnicity or nationality by adding them up for the 16 – 6.25% for each (obviously, this is approximate).
4) If you don’t know all 16 of your great-great-grandparents, then do it for the last full generation you have.
5) Write your own blog post, or make a comment on Facebook or in this post.
Well, I’m missing 3 of my 16 great-great-grandparents still, but it’s safe to assume they’re all Puerto Rican, so without more ado–
16. Eloy Diaz y Gotay (8) was born at Penuelas, Puerto Rico, USA. He married Edwigés Yrigoyen y Márquez de Diaz (441).
17. Edwigés Yrigoyen y Márquez de Diaz (441) was born circa 1869 at Puerto Rico, USA.
18. [Belen’s husband, surnamed Silva, is unknown as yet, but most likely Puerto Rican.]
19. Belen Fernandez (498) was born circa 1870 at Puerto Rico, USA. She married Silva (953).
[20 and 21 are missing but can be safely assumed to be Puerto Rican.]
22. Marcelino Gonzalez (1003) was born at Naguabo, Puerto Rico. He married Petrona Valentin y Roman (1004) at Puerto Rico. He died before 15 Apr 1910 at Naguabo, Puerto Rico.
23. Petrona Valentin y Roman (1004) was born circa 1860 at Puerto Rico.
24. Lott J Tierney (635) was born on 15 Aug 1833 at Clare, Ireland. He married Margaret Connell (496) on 27 Nov 1860 at St. Mary’s Church, Lowell, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA. He died on 9 Apr 1915 at Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, USA, at age 81.
25. Margaret Connell (496) was born on 1 Aug 1835 at Tipperary, Ireland. She died on 6 Dec 1918 at 1526 Richard, Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, USA, at age 83.
26. John Kelly (684) was born on 24 Nov 1840 at Tipperary, Ireland. He married Johanna Leahey (75) circa 1865. He died on 16 Feb 1905 at North Union St, Union City, Randolph, Indiana, USA, at age 64.
27. Johanna Leahey (75) was born in 1848 at Tipperary, Ireland. She died on 9 Aug 1894 near Union City, Indiana [but I don’t know which side of the Ohio-Indiana state line].
28. John Kohl (693) was born in Aug 1840 at Hesse Darmstadt, Germany. He married Gertrude Berg (580) circa 1867 at Germany. He died on 5 Jan 1903 at 320 W North St, Springfield, Clark, Ohio, USA, at age 62.
29. Gertrude Berg (580) was born in Feb 1843 at Hesse Darmstadt, Germany. She died on 14 Apr 1908 at Springfield, Clark, Ohio, USA, at age 65.
30. Philip John Weyrich (812) was born on 17 Feb 1844 at Hesse Darmstadt, Germany. He married Mary Engel (397) on 20 Dec 1870 at Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, USA. He died on 10 Jan 1906 at Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, USA, at age 61.
31. Mary Engel (397) was born on 15 Jul 1851 at Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, USA. She died on 1 Dec 1919 at 1232 Xenia Ave, Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, USA, at age 68.
…. for a grand total of 50% Puerto Rican (16-23), 25% Irish (24-27), and 25% German (28-31). Which I could have told you before doing this exercise, but as Randy points out, it’s nice to have your tree published so searchers can turn it up.
The numbers in parens in the list are each individual’s ID in my TMG database.
This article charmingly states “Fiske’s law of genealogy: ‘Genealogy is finding the person who has done all the research.'”
Well, this has been a particularly lucky summer for me, as I have been contacted by not one but TWO cousins who have done just that!
Leo Hart, whose grandfather’s grave stone is pictured here, has shared a wealth of material pertaining to our TIERNEY origins in and around Dysert, County Clare. This includes material from another genealogist cousin whose mother was in the US for some years as a housekeeper for her great-uncle, Rev. Michael M TIERNEY (mentioned here), and who then returned to Clare. Most breathtaking is a photo of the gravestone of John TIERNEY and his wife Bridget MARKHAM TIERNEY (my ggggrandparents), taken by Leo in 2003. That stone was erected by Rev. Michael, who apparently spent all of his career (1874-1914 or thereabouts) in Iowa, ministering to communities which seem to have been largely composed of other immigrants from County Clare.
Jan Branham contacted me because of my “brick wall” post on John KELLY, also her brick wall. (If you’ve been wondering if genealogy blogging is worth the trouble, wonder no more — the answer is yes. Your audience can be just you and Google’s search spider, until someone goes looking for the information *you* have!) Jan is revisiting the graves in Union City, Indiana, and together we are going to take aim at the brick wall and tear it down, stone by stone.
Finally, Junel Davidsen, CG, (not a cousin of mine as far as I know) has been helping me accumulate the probate papers and related laws and lawsuits surrounding the estate of Julia Anna TIERNEY of Dayton Ohio, mentioned here, so that picture is coming clearer.
Kelly, Edward Joseph grave marker, Calvary Cemetery, Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, USA; photograph by Mary Rose, 1 Apr 2009. Digital copy privately held by Jean Marie Diaz, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Linden, California. 2009.
Edward is the brother of my great-grandmother Margaret Theresa KELLY TIERNEY.
If you’ve wondered why I haven’t been blogging or updating my genealogy database, it’s because my laptop was stolen (argh!) from my office (double argh!). While, yes, my data is all backed up, we’re waiting for the insurance before we go acquire a replacement. I’m using the one-before laptop (the one that amazingly survived a coffee spill) but it’s a Powerbook G4 and cannot run Parallels, and therefore cannot run TMG. Its disk is also too small to restore everything that was on the lost machine, so I have to pick and choose.
Frustrating, to be sure, because I have received a veritable mass of material from the wonderful Janice Cantrell, archivist of the Archdiocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend (Indiana), covering the careers of Rev. (Robert) Emmett KELLY (and giving his death date!) and his nephews, Rev. Thomas Emmett DILLON and Rev. John Edward DILLON. Even better (and more unexpected, to say the least) she has given me a pointer to the possible whereabouts of Rev. Michael TIERNEY (Lott TIERNEY‘s brother) in Iowa. Next stop: writing the archivist of the Diocese of Sioux City.
I didn’t think to restore my electronic copy of Evidence Explained last night, which was silly, since I much prefer to include correct citations with my photographs. Nonetheless, I’m doing the genealogy happy dance now, and will do it again when I can share this all with you!
