John H. Bentley 1870-1925 Finally Back in the Fold

My research time in Gloucester has been extraordinarily fruitful, but this particular find can only be credited to pure Irish luck.  This was so random it's almost scary.

John H. Bentley is the son of Captain Bentley who went down on the Schooner Paul Revere when young John was only about 12; his mother died a mere 3 years later leaving 4 young children including our great grandmother Catherine Bentley and John H. 

I don't know how the children managed after they became orphans, but I feel certain it was not an easy time for them. In 1892, John H. married and began having children--12 all told though some died as infants.  I have pretty good track of him from the time of his marriage to about 1922.  By 1930, his wife reports herself a widow in the census.

I had been able to track all of his siblings but lost John H. and hadn't been able to find him and bring him back into the fold.  I knew he died between 1922-1930 but even thorough Massachusetts records did not cough him up.  None of the many online Bentley family trees had any clues about his death and I finally came to a conclusion that perhaps he did not die in Massachusetts. I was at a loss as to how to proceed and just put him on a back burner again.

I was doing some work at the Sawyer Free Library looking at Gloucester Daily Times microfilm and had a little extra time to kill so I picked a random microfilm covering a 3 month period to review day by day to see if I saw anything interesting.  Happened to be the Jan-Mar 1925 reel.  Low and behold, on Jan 3 1925 (only a couple of days in)--I see this article on the front page and nearly fainted.

John H. had apparently abandoned his family, ending up in Illinois and dying there is some kind of accident.  I have sent away for his death record, which lists him as Jock or Jack (wouldn't have thought to check under anything except John....duh....).  It was pure serendipity that led me to this magical conclusion.  I don't know why he left his family but my imagination suggests that his difficult childhood probably contributed to these decisions later in his life.  For now, I'm happy to report he's back where he belongs in our little Gloucester family.  What a wild ride this is taking me on!  And there's even more to report soon!!

Happy Thanksgiving Mayflower Descendants!

Happy Thanksgiving! I thought this would be a good time to introduce the Pilgrims in our line--these are from the Ryan line.  I knew it was possible/likely that we had Mayflower connections, but a trip to the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston confirmed it.  And you have to pay attention because it's Thanksgiving and it would be nearly un-American not to pay attention to Pilgrim stories at this time of year.

First of all, part of my hesitation in sharing this with you was kind of stuck in my lack of confirming documentation that we actually descend from Mayflower passengers.  Part of what I learned in Boston was that there's a certain point in family history research at which you can accept what you are given since it's been very well documented by others with much more knowledge, experience and history than you. I don't need to find Richard Warren's birth certificate--that fact is already well researched and accepted knowledge.  The very fact of its presence at this library proves its worthiness.  I don't need to re-prove what's already well proven.  I guess I hadn't really come to that realization yet, though I've had this Mayflower information for nearly 20 years now.

It appears we have (at least) three Mayflower passengers through whom we can claim this honor: Richard Warren, Stephen Hopkins and William Brewster.  This is 14 generations ago.

These are documents cousin Ann Gleason possessed and shared with me.  She was working with a couple of other researchers who (I now see) did their work very well.  The outlines above were done by one of them. At number/generation 12 we would have Catherine Pierce (Nanny Ryan) and Paul Ryan Sr.  Generation 13 would be Paul Ryan Jr and Anne Flynn.  Pretty cool, right?  I already had things pretty well sketched out back to generation 8 or so and my time in Boston opened the gates from generation 7 back to the passengers themselves.

There are many many stories about these passengers, their first brutal winter at Plymouth and the first Thanksgiving celebration and it's pretty awesome to think we carry those stories in our very genes.  If you are curious, a really neat Mayflower site is Caleb Johnson's site www.mayflowerhistory.com .

There you will find brief biographies of these people and one of the most intriguing is Stephen Hopkins, who apparently had previously traveled to this new land and spent time in Jamestown VA before coming to Plymouth.  He was quite the rogue it seems, so that fits in pretty nicely with the rest of our story. We actually have 2 connections through him.

Another nice summary can be found at the New England Historic Genealogical website: http://www.americanancestors.org/who-came-on-the-mayflower-pt2/ . I strongly encourage you to check these out.

It's the Pierce family that is our "Yankee" connection.  Who knew? It's interesting to note that our beginnings in Plymouth MA wind their way back through our own ancestry from Gloucester  to Nova Scotia (Nickersons) to Cape Cod and finally back to Plymouth. 

I hope you keep these Pilgrims in mind as you feast this year.  Special Thanksgiving wishes to you all.

James J. Ryan 1864-1937 and his wife Mary A. (Fields) Ryan 1871-1938

James J. Ryan and his fate have been a brickwall for many years.  A brickwall I was finally able to break through on one of my recent visits to the Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records and Statistics. A little bit of Irish luck and perseverance helped.

James was our grandfather Grampie's (Paul Ryan Sr.) uncles, so here's our great grand uncle.  He was born in Gloucester, married in Gloucester and 3 of his children were born there.  In the 1900 census, he was listed as a bartender.  SURPRISE! 

Here's an odd little story from the Portsmouth Herald Mar 10 1903 possibly placing him there by then:  Note the "two chooses"

By 1910 he and his wife had added 2 additional children to the family and they were living in Portsmouth New Hampshire where he made a living as a saloon keeper.  I do not know what pushed him out of Gloucester to relocate to Portsmouth, but he was still there at the time of the 1920 census.  Then they drop off the earth, as far as I knew.  I could not locate them in either Gloucester or Portsmouth after the late 1920s.

Here's where the Irish luck and perseverance kicked in.  I made an educated guess as to when they might have died (1930s) and then started searching the Massachusetts Death Index looking for Mary listed with her maiden name Fields.  There were just too darn many James J. Ryans.  God Bless Massachusetts for making records available with extra hints!!!  I found two candidates who died in Boston in the late 1930s (yes, two Mary Fields Ryan!!).  I checked each of them out and found our Mary A. (Fields) Ryan!!!  She was a widow at the time of death so I cross checked James J. Ryan in Boston before her death and found 3 candidates.  One of them is our very own James.  I admit, tears welled up when I looked at the death record.  Finally found and no longer wandering out in there without acknowledgement.   

James' occupation was listed as X Ray orderly at the hospital.  Further inspection of the record showed they had lived in Boston for about 10 years as of 1937, which fit in nicely with my timeline.  My theory is that since their children were all grown and gone, nothing much kept them in Portsmouth and the Depression probably pushed them to Boston to be closer to their children and perhaps employment. 

I have since located James, Mary and one daughter Alice in Boston in the 1930 census, so I feel great relief to have gathered those two back into the fold and "finished" their story. 

Chester L. Ryan 1898-1975

During our time in Gloucester this fall, I've acquainted myself with the treasures available at the Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records and Statistics in Dorchester.  This facility allows access to birth, marriage, death,and divorce records from 1926-present day!!!  Yes!  Those of us who are researching vital records in a state like New York find this to be simply amazing.  A state that allows access to such materials is a friend indeed.

They are only open certain hours and they do charge $9 / hour BUT they give you full access to the records you request.  You must transcribe by hand (no photos) BUT they give you full access to the records you request.  Did I mention that?

Anyhow, this has allowed me to close some long open doors in the family tree.  One of these is for Chester Ryan, our grandfather Paul Ryan Sr's brother.  His death date and location were an uncertainty for many years.  He'd been labeled as mentally deficient for draft registration so he lived with family members for much of his life.  In 1929 he was living with his parents and siblings Viola (Aunt Bud) and John (Jack) on Eastern Ave in Gloucester.  It appears their address (if they haven't changed the numbers in the meanwhile) puts the residence across the street from (today's) Crow's Nest.

By 1940, he was a patient at the State Hospital in Danvers.  Then I lost track of him, but recently found his death record at the Registry from 1975 in a Westborough facility for adults.  I'm guessing there were limited places for impaired adults to live and Westborough provided the best choice, though it is 1.5 hours from Gloucester on today's highways.  It must have been a burden for his family members to visit him and I can't help but feel he was lonely. 

His mother died in 1945, his father died much earlier.  By the time Chester died in 1975, Grampie Paul Ryan Sr. was the only sibling left.  We know Paul's condition would not have allowed for visits.  I hope he was happy with other patients for as many years as he resided there.  He's also buried there and I hope to visit one day to pay my respects.