Ellen Frances Manley
January 7, 1933
San Francisco, CA
Saturday, January 6, 2018
FPF: Family Photo Friday
A day late in this new series, but better late than never. Family Photo Friday is a chance to highlight an ancestor or ancestors with a picture. This week I choose Ellen Frances Manley. She is one of my mysteries, as I know nothing of her background, however I know she must have been one tough woman. She lived to be almost 100 years old, survived the Civil War as an immigrant, and raised six children without her husband as he died at only 44 years of age.
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Kate Lucy Waters Moran
The only way I can begin 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is with my favorite one, Kate Lucy Waters Moran. She is my favorite for a variety of reasons. It took me six years of active searching to even discover her name. I owe that discovery to my research mentor and friend, Bee Dalton. She turns over every stone and taught me some excellent techniques, such as looking for and tracking siblings of the ancestors we are researching. In order to talk about Kate, I have to talk about her children, which I think is fitting as I relate motherhood so closely with her identity.
Kate Lucy Waters Moran is my 3 x great grandmother. I knew her oldest child's name, my 2 x great grandfather, James Joseph Moran. I knew he was born in Worcester, MA and that his parents were from Ireland because when his wife died, he lived with his son, daughter-in-law, and their four children, including my grandmother. She told me what she knew of him and his background which was only where he was born and that he came to San Francisco, became a police officer, and married Mary Catherine Manley. He was not for sharing family stories. I found his brother in a newspaper article, the San Francisco Call, on December 25, 1908. He was in a list of newly appointed civil servants. It listed names and addresses of the new police officers, and he had the same address as James Joseph! I started tracking William Thomas and found a coroner's report for him. The reporting party was my great grandfather, Frederick John Moran, and it listed him as William Thomas' nephew and James Joseph as his brother. Then I saw the brothers' parents' names. Kate Lucy Waters of Ireland and Patrick J. Moran of Ireland. It was my first time experiencing a brick in the wall falling down.
I have not found as much about Kate as I would like, but here is what I know so far: I do not have her birth record yet, but the records I have report her birth around 1848, perhaps May of 1850, in Ireland; the county is still unknown. I have her marriage record to Patrick Moran on February 7, 1869 at St. Mary's Church in West Brookfield, Worcester, MA. They lived in Spencer, Worcester, MA at the time. Patrick, 23, was a bootmaker. Kate was 19. She had six children from what I have found: James Joseph, my 2 x great grandfather, born November 27, 1869 in Spencer, MA, William Thomas, born February 5, 1876 in Denver, Colorado, Elizabeth C born October 17, 1876 back in West Brookfield, MA, John Michael born August 9, 1878 in West Brookfield, MA, Daniel born December 28, 1879 in West Brookfield and died January 9, 1880, MA, and a stillborn baby born February 12, 1881. Sadly, Kate passed away March 17, 1881, and her death record lists the cause of death as childbirth. Her occupation is listed as Homemaker, and her parents are reported as Michael Waters and Kate Murphy, both of Ireland. She was buried at Sacred Heart Cemetery in West Brookfield, MA without a headstone. A kind woman took a photo of where she is buried sans headstone, and I have a cemetery map showing her location. I hope to someday have a headstone added for her, and I am very curious about Kate and Patrick's time in Colorado and return to Massachusetts.
It took so long to find her, and it warms my heart knowing how she was found. Although James Joseph seemed to never have mentioned her, her entire name was recorded on her son's coroner's report 50 years after her death. She was remembered and loved.
Kate Lucy Waters Moran is my 3 x great grandmother. I knew her oldest child's name, my 2 x great grandfather, James Joseph Moran. I knew he was born in Worcester, MA and that his parents were from Ireland because when his wife died, he lived with his son, daughter-in-law, and their four children, including my grandmother. She told me what she knew of him and his background which was only where he was born and that he came to San Francisco, became a police officer, and married Mary Catherine Manley. He was not for sharing family stories. I found his brother in a newspaper article, the San Francisco Call, on December 25, 1908. He was in a list of newly appointed civil servants. It listed names and addresses of the new police officers, and he had the same address as James Joseph! I started tracking William Thomas and found a coroner's report for him. The reporting party was my great grandfather, Frederick John Moran, and it listed him as William Thomas' nephew and James Joseph as his brother. Then I saw the brothers' parents' names. Kate Lucy Waters of Ireland and Patrick J. Moran of Ireland. It was my first time experiencing a brick in the wall falling down.
I have not found as much about Kate as I would like, but here is what I know so far: I do not have her birth record yet, but the records I have report her birth around 1848, perhaps May of 1850, in Ireland; the county is still unknown. I have her marriage record to Patrick Moran on February 7, 1869 at St. Mary's Church in West Brookfield, Worcester, MA. They lived in Spencer, Worcester, MA at the time. Patrick, 23, was a bootmaker. Kate was 19. She had six children from what I have found: James Joseph, my 2 x great grandfather, born November 27, 1869 in Spencer, MA, William Thomas, born February 5, 1876 in Denver, Colorado, Elizabeth C born October 17, 1876 back in West Brookfield, MA, John Michael born August 9, 1878 in West Brookfield, MA, Daniel born December 28, 1879 in West Brookfield and died January 9, 1880, MA, and a stillborn baby born February 12, 1881. Sadly, Kate passed away March 17, 1881, and her death record lists the cause of death as childbirth. Her occupation is listed as Homemaker, and her parents are reported as Michael Waters and Kate Murphy, both of Ireland. She was buried at Sacred Heart Cemetery in West Brookfield, MA without a headstone. A kind woman took a photo of where she is buried sans headstone, and I have a cemetery map showing her location. I hope to someday have a headstone added for her, and I am very curious about Kate and Patrick's time in Colorado and return to Massachusetts.
It took so long to find her, and it warms my heart knowing how she was found. Although James Joseph seemed to never have mentioned her, her entire name was recorded on her son's coroner's report 50 years after her death. She was remembered and loved.
Photo by KL of FindaGrave.com
Map courtesy of Sacred Heart Cemetery
Sunday, December 31, 2017
2018 Goals
This is my year for genealogy. In January, I start the 15-week genealogy certificate program through Boston University. It is time to focus on improving my skills, learning new ones, and overall immersing myself in the field. Time for 2018 Genealogy Goals! I decided to make them SMART goals. In order to achieve these goals, I'll keep them simple, make a plan, and track their progress.
S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Attainable
R = Realistic
T = Timely
1. Post in my genealogy blog consistently all year.
2. Read one genealogy journal article a week.
3. Submit an article for publication to a peer reviewed journal.
4. Organize all my current research into a system.
5. Scan and upload all family pictures that I have.
6. Attempt one Find a Grave volunteer photo a month.
The third one does appear to be vague, but it can be broken down into specific steps. I'm considering using Evernote to organize everything I have, but I want to see what the program recommends before I undertake this huge project.
Although I planned to write this post anyway, this is in response to Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post over at Genea-Musings.
S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Attainable
R = Realistic
T = Timely
1. Post in my genealogy blog consistently all year.
2. Read one genealogy journal article a week.
3. Submit an article for publication to a peer reviewed journal.
4. Organize all my current research into a system.
5. Scan and upload all family pictures that I have.
6. Attempt one Find a Grave volunteer photo a month.
The third one does appear to be vague, but it can be broken down into specific steps. I'm considering using Evernote to organize everything I have, but I want to see what the program recommends before I undertake this huge project.
Although I planned to write this post anyway, this is in response to Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post over at Genea-Musings.
Saturday, January 7, 2017
Cleaning up the Past
When I started the blog in 2012, I made a list of goals for the year. For continuity's sake, I want to report what has been accomplished from that list.
- photograph local family headstones
- ONGOING PROJECT
- visit Wheatland
- DONE
- find burial info for Kate Lucy Waters Moran and her father, Michael!
- PARTIALLY DONE (Kate found, not Michael)
- find out what county in Ireland Patrick J. Moran is from
- DONE pending further documents (niece reported that her father, Patrick's brother, is from Dingle, Kerry)
- create a spreadsheet for all the people in the tree, cross-referencing all of their in an index
- NOT DONE
- create "profiles" for all the people in the tree using the index and spreadsheet
- NOT DONE
- scan ALL the images from family members that I can
- NOT DONE
- get photos of headstones for the family where location is known (via findagrave.com)
- ONGOING PROJECT
- get tracingtheivy headstone cards made (via Hector)
- NOT DONE, may choose to not do this
- take at least two volunteer photos per month for findagrave.com
- NOT DONE
In terms of photographing local relatives' headstones and scanning all the family photos I can, that will just have to be an ongoing project.
When I visited Wheatland, I only managed to go to the cemetery, but I was able to photograph all my known relatives there. My grandmother mentioned that even in the worst heat there, she would always feel a breeze by our family's plot (or her son's headstone, I can't remember). I felt it, too. I didn't make it to the family ranch, but someday I'll get there. It's rented out I believe, but I still want to see it.
I did finally find Kate Lucy Waters Moran's burial plot. A very nice volunteer braved the snow in Massachusetts and with the map I provided, she found her. Unfortunately there's a blank spot where her headstone should be. Her husband is buried with his second wife and some other people, children if I recall.
I still want to create some kind of spreadsheet and profiles for everyone, but soon I'm going to look into organizing my research with Evernote, so that goal may actually turn out differently.
As for two volunteer photographs per month for findagrave.com, I wasn't able to do that, but I may have time now. I'll think about doing this, but I don't know if I'm going to leave personal cards. I'm thinking they might blow away in the wind and become trash, and I don't want to anchor them into the ground. Maybe I'll just leave a flower.
Sunday, January 1, 2017
Weekend Wrap-up: What I Accomplished
Ah the sins of my youth...I spent New Year's Eve day finally cleaning up my first Ancestry.com tree. I had so many duplicates and triplicates and even some quadruplicates. That tree is 11 years old, and I have my DNA results attached to it. I guess you could say I'm sentimentally attached to it. I didn't set out to clean it up. I meant to fill out a simple seven generation family chart for one of my second cousins, showing how far back I've gotten so far on a particular line (Moran) that we share. Then I ran into a problem. David John Kirkpatrick had two wives and a mess of children, and I couldn't tell from that old tree who their mother was: Margaret Miller or Flora McLeod. I managed to find a marriage record for David and Flora from 1886, and the children were all born before that date. I even found another daughter, Rowena, on someone else's tree that needed confirmation. It all snowballed with the first church record of one son's baptism which had his brother on the next page. Then I noticed that his brother had the same birthday. Twins! I checked the other pages next to the brothers and discovered that all the children were baptized on the same day and confirmed that Rowena was a daughter.
Hoping to ride yesterday's wave of success and productivity, I tried hammering at my Manley brick wall. Then I used a sledge hammer. Still nothing. So for fun I clicked on a tree that I started years ago for my best friend and saw that her mysterious grandfather had a leaf hint. At first I was a little disappointed that the hint was only for being on some other members' trees. Then I noticed that he had a different wife and children on two of the trees, so I cautiously texted my friend about it. Chalk it up to a bad memory; this was known information that I forgot. She reminded me that he's the mysterious grandfather with the unknown roots. Challenge: Accepted! I found him in the 1930 census with the first wife, first two sons, and a BROTHER. That also included their immigration year (1913). I found a death record with a really promising birth year for the brother that lists the mother's maiden name. I haven't confirmed that it's the same person with another document yet, but it looks good for now. Their last name had a different spelling when they came to the U.S., but it's very close. I found them in the 1920 census in Colorado and then the parents in 1930 in Nebraska with a new daughter. The daughter's birth state says Colorado. Then I found the parents and brothers on the Ivernia, arriving in Boston in 1913 heading for Brush, CO which is close to the town in which they were living in 1920. Bingo. I'd really like to find obituaries on the parents and children to try to confirm the mother's maiden name and any of their background information, but I pulled down a lot of bricks this afternoon.
Hoping to ride yesterday's wave of success and productivity, I tried hammering at my Manley brick wall. Then I used a sledge hammer. Still nothing. So for fun I clicked on a tree that I started years ago for my best friend and saw that her mysterious grandfather had a leaf hint. At first I was a little disappointed that the hint was only for being on some other members' trees. Then I noticed that he had a different wife and children on two of the trees, so I cautiously texted my friend about it. Chalk it up to a bad memory; this was known information that I forgot. She reminded me that he's the mysterious grandfather with the unknown roots. Challenge: Accepted! I found him in the 1930 census with the first wife, first two sons, and a BROTHER. That also included their immigration year (1913). I found a death record with a really promising birth year for the brother that lists the mother's maiden name. I haven't confirmed that it's the same person with another document yet, but it looks good for now. Their last name had a different spelling when they came to the U.S., but it's very close. I found them in the 1920 census in Colorado and then the parents in 1930 in Nebraska with a new daughter. The daughter's birth state says Colorado. Then I found the parents and brothers on the Ivernia, arriving in Boston in 1913 heading for Brush, CO which is close to the town in which they were living in 1920. Bingo. I'd really like to find obituaries on the parents and children to try to confirm the mother's maiden name and any of their background information, but I pulled down a lot of bricks this afternoon.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
2012 Goals
We're halfway through January already, but it's not too late to set goals for the year. I've noticed on the few genealogy blogs I subscribe to on Google Reader, everyone has set goals for the new year. Not to be left out, here is my list:
- photograph local family headstones
- visit Wheatland
- find burial info for Kate Lucy Waters Moran and her father, Michael!
- find out what county in Ireland Patrick J. Moran is from
- create a spreadsheet for all the people in the tree, cross-referencing all of their in an index
- create "profiles" for all the people in the tree using the index and spreadsheet
- scan ALL the images from family members that I can
- get photos of headstones for the family where location is known (via findagrave.com)
- get tracingtheivy headstone cards made (via Hector)
- take at least two volunteer photos per month for findagrave.com
That feels like a good mix of roadtripping, researching, organizing, and utilizing resources.
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