Tombstone Tuesday – John and Nettie Richmond

© Copyright 2009 Terri O’Connell

My son and I recently took a trip East to look at colleges. On our way home we stopped in Beckley, WV to visit a few cemeteries and to show him where his Grandma was born. We only had a short period of time to visit, but we made the most of it. I believe we saw about 4 cemeteries that day. My son got to stand at the grave of his 6th, 4th and 3rd Great Grandparents. It is all in a days work. I am grateful to Bob, who is  a distant relative on my Warden side, for taking the time to show us  the many different cemeteries. 

John and Nettie Warden are my Great Great Grandparents. They are one of the main reasons I made sure we stopped in Beckley on our way home from this road trip. I have recently found out that John Richmond was a 3rd degree Mason and Nettie was in the Order of the Eastern Star. I wanted to see of their tombstone had any symbols on it. Unfortunately, there were none. 

Though there were no symbols on the stone, the trip was well worth while. I met a few relatives and enjoyed my breif stay. I have learned that the Warden side of the family has a yearly family reunion, down the road from John and Nettie’s house. I hope to be able to attend one soon.

 

Wordless Wednesday – Richmond Homestead

Home of John and Nettie Richmond, Stanaford, Raleigh Co, WV

©2009 Terri O’Connell

Tombstone Tuesday – S Martha Warden

©2009 Terri O’Connell

S. Martha Warden is the wife of Thomas. Thomas Warden’s headstone was featured in my last Tombstone Tuesday post. Both are buried at the Warden Family Cemetery in Raleigh County, WV.

Many of their descendants still live in Raleigh County today. 

To pay, or not to pay

Over the past few days I have been looking through Ancestry. com’s service of Expert Connect. Where someone can hire an “expert” to help them with their research. I am all for them having professionals who are looking to find clients to assist. I mean it is only to make it easier for those of us researching our families. I myself would be inclined to ask for a bit of help here and there. But, what has me questioning this service is some of the pricing they are asking for. For instance,  to have someone take a photo of a gravestone could cost you anywhere from $5 to $709. (The $709 will allow this group of experts to travel 999 miles to take this picture.)

 I would pay $5 for a photo, that does not seem unreasonable. Plus, to be able to get the picture quick. This is a definite positive. But $709, why would a person want to pay that amount of money for a photo? I mean, we want the photo’s.  I am sure most people are either willing to wait for some kind person to be able to take this photo, with the services of Find a Grave , Random Acts of Genealogy Kindness, do not forget the message boards on Ancestry or even the groups on GenealogyWise. There are many places one can find assistance with a photo they are looking for. 

I mean for $709 I can drive to the cemetery I need the photo from and take it myself. I mean, same amount of money and I get to see the places my ancestor lived. That would mean more to me, then just having the photograph of a headstone for me.

What does an “expert” mean? According to the FAQ’s on the Expert Connect site, it is a researcher or a professional. A researcher is someone that can go pick up a record or take a photo for you. Professionals must have advanced qualifications, like certifications, education and membership in professional associations.

It comes down to this, anyone of us could be the expert. I know I would not pay an expert $999 for any photo.

So, after some thought. I have decided that I will be this expert and see what happens. If any one needs pictures in the Chicago area, look me up on Ancestry. We will see how this goes. I do not expect to see much here. The jobs that are out there for Chicago at the moment are for research, which I am not a professional, which means I cannot assist.

I wrote this post about a month ago and held off publishing it because I wanted to see if I could find any photography jobs I could assist with. At this point, there have been none. I have even looked in other states and nothing at this point. I will update the post if at any point I find a job for taking photo’s.

My Irish Ancestor

The 16th edition of the Irish Heritage and Culture has asked bloggers to submit a story on an Irish ancestor and share a photo, if possible. When I started researching the family tree, the one question I really wanted to answer was where in Ireland did my Irish ancestors come from? At this point I am no closer to answering that question, but I am still working on it.

Larry (Ambrose) and Dennis

Copyright © 2009 Terri O’Connell (original photo held by Terri O’Connell)

Dennis O’Connell was born 6 Sep 1883 to John and Bridget (Curran) O’Connell of Granville, NY. Dennis was third of seven children. He was also the first son born into the family. He was baptized 10 days after his birth at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church, Middle Granville, NY. His sponsors were Edward and Mary Leanord. He married Rose Springer circa 1897.

Rose and Dennis had 4 children, Ambrose Lawrence (my Grandfather), Linus Joseph, Theresa May and the fourth child died as a toddler. They started their family in New Hampshire, where Ambrose was born in 1905. In 1910, the family was living at 11 New Street, Town of Moreau, Saratoga County, NY. Also living with the family was Mary E. Robichaud and William Springer (Rose’s Mother and brother).

Dennis is found in 1918, in Thorold, Alberta, Canada on 15 Jan 1918. This record states he has been living there for three months. Dennis continues his career in papermaking, working for the Ontario Paper Company.

By 1920, Dennis and Rose have divorced.  Rose is raising the three children, between the ages 11 and 14, alone. They are living at 12 Jay Street, Queensbury, Warren County, NY.

Dennis died in 17 Nov 1950. His body was returned home to Hudson Falls, NY. Where he is buried surrounded his father, brother – John W, sister  - Harriet and other O’Connell family members at St Paul’s/St Mary’s Cemetery, Hudson Falls, NY.

Though  few relatives remain that were around when Dennis was alive, I unfortunately have no stories to share. Dennis spent his remaining years in Canada and his grandchildren were raised in Chicago, IL. Though they lived far apart, it seems that Dennis did remain in touch with his children through the years. Through conversations with family members, I know that his oldest son went to Canada and stayed with his Dad for work reasons at one point. I also have pictures of Dennis with his three grown children.

Since I have not found any official divorce records at this point, I can only assume that the reason Dennis left NY for Canada is to find employment. I hope that one day, I will be able to find the truth to this.

In his private records that I have, I can see that he was a hard worker and had many friends. In these records is a poem written upon his death by co workers. I will add this to my blog another day. 

 Sources:

¹ Letter from Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Middle Granville, dated 7 Jul 1940, Original,  held by Terri O’Connell

² 1910 Federal  Census,  Town of Moreau, Saratoga County, NY ED 119, SD 9, sheet 7A, line 7, Ancestry.com, http://search.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=View&r=an&dbid=7884&iid=NYT624_1076-0707&fn=Dennis&ln=Oconnel&st=r&ssrc=pt_t9822545_p-737908889_g32768&pid=19920176

³ 1920 Federal Census, Queensbury, Warren County, NY ED 163, SD 10, Sheet 1B, line 77, Ancestry.com, http://search.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=View&r=an&dbid=6061&iid=NYT625_1272-0094&fn=Rose&ln=O+Connell&st=r&ssrc=pt_t9822545_p-737907139_g32768&pid=87554000

Wordless Wednesday – Hurt Cemetery

Tombstone Tuesday – Thomas Warden

Copyright © 2009 Terri O’Connell

 

Thomas Warden is the earliest ancestor on my Warden line. The Warden family ties into my Richmond line. Nettie Ann Warden married John Eldridge Richmond. Thomas is Nettie’s great, great, great grandfather. Which makes Thomas my GGGGG Grandfather.

I was lucky enough to get to visit the gravesite of many of my ancestors this past week and share this with my 17 year old son. Once I am done going through all the information on this line. I will post more on the Warden family!

Wordless Wednesday – Arlington National Cemetery

Creating family history

This is a big week in my family. I am currently on a college road trip with my 17 year old son Corey. We are heading East to check out the colleges of his choice. Tonight we are staying in State College, PA and have a tour set up for Penn State tomorrow. We left home yesterday and spent Saturday evening with my Great Aunt Mary in Ohio. While visiting her, we went to the hospital to visit my Great Aunt Mae who is in their at the moment. It was wonderful to be able to see a few relatives. But, we had to head out to make our first scheduled tour. During our drive, we had great scenery to look at.

America truly is a beautiful place to be!  I am so glad that we are taking the time to make this drive east during the fall. The colors are beyond gorgeous! Vibrant oranges and yellows mixed in with deep shades of red! It is truly breath taking.

 

The only downside, we saw snow already! It is too early to be having to think about shoveling and scraping windshields. I hope we do not run into any. I did not bring the ice scraper with!

I did have the chance to read Randy’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun and hope to get to it during the week when I have a few minutes to look into it.

Wordless Wednesday, Dennis O’Connell

Dennis O'Connell and sons, Joe and Larry