Thursday, August 27, 2015

New Flynn children for you

Now that Amy and Michael's wedding has been celebrated (thank you everyone), it's time to turn my attention back to family history research.  Today I re-learned a lesson.  I'm not so smart as I think I am.

I thought I pretty much knew all there was to know about our grandfather Francis P. (Weenie) Flynn.  He was born in Emporium Pennsylvania in "aught 6" as he used to say and was the oldest child of Patrick and Barbara (Lippman) Flynn.  He was James Thomas on his original birth certificate but became Francis a short time later.  Thus evolved "Be Kind to Francis" day so declared by him to celebrate his birthday on Aug 24 each year.

Weenie had two brothers, John (Uncle 4-5) and Charles.  I remember Uncle 4-5 and his family but have no recollection of Dinty (Charles).  Olean New York was their hometown.  I learned today that Weenie had other siblings!  TWINS no less.  A little girl came first, followed by a little boy--each stillborn.  Weenie had just turned 2.  I just stumbled over these tidbits while wandering Ancestry.com today.


These are definitely Weenie's siblings.  At first, I thought there might be sloppy handwriting and perhaps Weenie was a surviving twin, but one click later I see the other twin.  It's an amazing world we live in.

So, twins on the Flynn side as well as twins on the Nevins side.  Interesting there aren't more that follow.  So far.  I'll keep looking.

Sunday, August 9, 2015

The Role Macy's Played in Our Family Story

Macy's seems to hold a special place in our hearts and I thought you might enjoy the following outline of some interesting Macy's history.  This was written by Marie Wells, volunteer coordinator for the New England Historic Genealogical Society.  At the end of each month, volunteers receive an email from Marie containing interesting tidbits such as these.  I think it tells an interesting story.


"Ever wonder why the Macy’s department store logo boasts a red star?  I’d never really thought about it myself, as I assumed that some corporate bigwigs designed it years ago.

Rowland Hussey Macy was born on August 30, 1822, on Nantucket Island, the son of John Macy and Elizabeth Myrick Barnard Macy.  He was a descendent of Thomas Macy (1608-1682), who, while living in what it now Amesbury, MA, was convicted in 1659 of violating the 1655 Massachusetts Bay Colony law that stated "no Quaker be entertained by any person or persons with this government; under penalty of £5 for every such default, or be whipped".  His crime? Giving shelter to three Quakers during a rain storm.  Thomas Macy was fined and admonished by the government; two of the three men he sheltered were hung on Boston Common.  Some tellings of the Macy family history has it that he – a staunch Baptist - fled immediately for a more tolerant landscape, hauling his wife and five children off to Nantucket (part of New York until 1709).  In reality, it wasn’t until late 1659 that Thomas Macy and his family became the first European settlers on the island.

Selling dry goods was in Rowland Macy’s genes:  his father was a shopkeeper.  Macy did not start out in life helping to run the family business, however.  At the tender age of fifteen, he went to sea as part of the crew on a whaling ship, seafaring being a somewhat more romantic pursuit to a teenager than helping dad in the family store.  Four years later, however, he had given up the sea and was behind the counter at John Macy’s shop.  Still restless, however, he headed for the mainland and opened a needle-and-thread store in Boston when he was 22, but the business failed.  His second attempt, a dry goods store he opened in 1846, also came a cropper.  He threw in with his brother-in-law for a time, helping run his shop.  But adventure still called, and Macy left Boston for gold rush country in California in 1849.  Pardon the pun, but that venture didn’t pan out, either.  He came home to Massachusetts, set up shop in Haverhill in 1851, and finally started to make a go of it.  History records that Macy made $11.06 in sales on opening day, but he was not daunted.  Macy sincerely believed that advertising and promotion were essential to retail success:  in 1854, about 100 people watched the very first Macy-sponsored parade as it took place in Haverhill.  It was small, but it was a start.

Bright lights and the big city beckoned, however, and R. H. Macy relocated to New York City in 1858, where he opened a modest eponymous store in a low-rent part of town.  At long last, he began to experience the success that had eluded him for years.  Gradually moving uptown as the store prospered, Macy was the very soul of retailing innovation.  Prices were clearly marked and were not negotiable, which made it possible to place eye-catching advertisements in all the New York newspapers. Credit was not extended; all sales were in cash, unheard of for the time. He is credited with hiring the first in-store Santa Claus, helping to commercialize Christmas in the United States as never before. With that shrewd eye he had for publicity, he named Margaret Getchell as store manager in 1866, creating the first female executive in American retailing. 

The store was successful beyond his wildest dreams.  In 1875, he enlisted the help of two partners to run the burgeoning business:   Robert M. Valentine; and Abiel T. La Forge. By the time of Macy’s death two years later, the store had spread across a collection of eleven different buildings at 18th and Broadway.  And that was still only the beginning.  The Macy family owned the store until 1895, when brothers Isador and Nathan Strauss took over operations after having run a crockery story their father founded in Macy’s basement (the forerunner of The Cellar?).  Sadly, Isador and his wife Ida perished on the Titanic.
Today, Macy’s is the world’s largest retailer, mainly through acquisitions and mergers.  By my unofficial count, the store that Rowland Hussey Macy founded has swallowed at least 29 venerable American department stores.  The list includes the iconic Boston landmark store, Jordan Marsh.  That store had its foundation a decade earlier than R.H. Macy’s Haverhill store when Eben Dyer Jordan opened a dry goods store in Boston in 1841.  But that’s a story for another time.
In answer to the question concerning the red star in the Macy’s logo, when Macy put to sea on the whaler out of Nantucket as a teenager, he had a red star tattooed on his hand, as seamen will do.  It was Macy himself who determined the star would always be a part of the store’s name."

If you've hung in here long enough to get this far in the post, it might also interest you to know that seamen chose red star tattoos for protection.  Since the stars were used as guides out at sea, the tattoo star was thought to lead the seaman home under its guidance.  It surprises me to learn that Macy's has deep New England/Massachusetts roots.  

You might remember that Macy's played a big role in my very first visit to West Islip with James.  I had taken a bus trip to NYC with some school friends.  James was at home that weekend and planned to pick me up at the end of the day at Macy's near the restaurant in the basement.  My friends didn't want to leave me alone in NYC until they saw James, but we could not find each other that day and the bus had to leave without me.  Eventually we got it figured out--even without the convenience of cell phones or GPS--imagine that.  Perhaps the red star helped guide James that day: the beginning of our own "story".
 

Saturday, August 1, 2015

August 3 1985

Thirty years have gone by since this day.  I enjoy looking at the pictures again, especially the backgrounds.  It's interesting to note that our parents celebrated their 30th anniversary that summer the same way Jim and I will celebrate this summer that Amy is married.   I hope you enjoy this little trip back to a hot August afternoon.


 I notice Dad's eyes are closed here but I still like the picture.  I think I had to slow him down--I didn't want to race down the aisle since the day was so long in coming.


 Great shot of Jean and Burt.  God Bless them.
So many of these people are gone from our lives but I'm very grateful for the time we had together. 
 I see Paula, Kathy, Nanny, Burt, Judy, Mary Jane hugging. Nice memory.

 I love the informality of this.
 This might be my all time favorite picture of all of us together. 
Two moms and two mothers-in-law
Peter Buteau, Chris (looking very snappy) and Ron
And the classic post party picture. That's when you knew the night was done.  G'night all.

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Clarification on Manzelli photo identification



A little clarification for the records. Recently, we were, we were looking through your sister Pat's albums and she has this picture also. It was interesting for me to note that her picture is just a little bit different from this one--just shifted a little bit to show the people a little differently. It taught me to look at things very carefully for just such differences which can lead to great discoveries.

OK this discovery isn't a "great" one and I guess it's not even technically a discovery nevertheless....in her album Pat has a copy of a letter from Anna Manzelli Pitelli describing the people in the picture which corrects, clarifies and verifies identities.

Uncle James would be Giacomo Manzelli a barber who lived on Hamilton St with his brother's family (Joseph and Jennie Manzelli). Grandma and Grandpa would be Giuseppe (Joe) and Giovanna (Jennie or Anna).

"Your Mom and Dad" are James and Marguerite Coffarelli.

I think she means Aunt Dolly Emily Manzelli.

Housekeeper from New Rochelle (not a second wife as I earlier suspected).

Uncle Joe must be Joseph Manzelli her brother who was about 5 years older than her.

Anna is in the picture as well.


So that helps clear some of that up!

Friday, July 17, 2015

Summertime Back in the Day



Maybe if I talk about the beach it will feel more like summer to me. I don't know about you but as far as summer weather goes, it's not been one of the best on record so far. But I hope you all are enjoying yours regardless.

This is dad at the beach with his mother, Catherine Pierce Ryan, long before Peter arrived on the scene. Apparently this is Long Beach which I don't have any real memories of but I do have some vague recollections of time on Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester. I remember digging around in the sand near the bridge where there were small pools of water left behind by the tide. I remember how flat and wet the beach area was and how cold the water was.

I've never been a real big fan of the beach (sand, slimy seaweed and mysterious creatures underfoot) but I do love the sound of the ocean and the feel of the sun. This seems to be a very sunny day although Dad seems a little mystified. I wonder who's behind the camera.




This is a picture of Mom on the beach probably when she was about 5. I am not sure what beach this might be. Ever thought about how our ancestors on both sides spent a great deal of time in and near water? No wonder we seem drawn to Gloucester. Although learning to swim in Lake Erie probably should have killed that instinct in me, it didn't. Fort Myers Beach is probably the closest I ever came to actually almost enjoying the beach.


My son's first beach experience was in Florida at a beach just down the road from his aunt and uncle's house. If you can imagine, I forgot to tell him to expect saltwater and he took in a big mouthful. I think he was about 4. That was the end of swimming for quite a while for him. After he forgave me for that, he was cautious for years to ask first if it was saltwater before he dipped a toe in.

Water was part of our everyday lives when we lived in Silver Creek. Moving "inland" to Walton was the first time I realized that not everyone grows up near water and that some people don't learn how to swim as part of a rite of childhood. My children don't have that same experience, but I hope they will always feel the pull of the ocean. Well, not literally.

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Back to the Future from July 1995

Maybe it was my wandering through the 1995 picture album.  Maybe it was finding the obituary of a distant Coffarelli relative.  Whatever the reason, I thought it was time to travel back 20 (!!!) years to Gardiner NY and the Coffarelli family reunion.  That day was such fun and I thank Angela and Bill for hosting.


I was going to forward this to Gabrielle through Facebook, but why not put it out there in the blogosphere instead?  Andrew, Amy and Gabrielle.  Classic.  Pretty close to Hear No Evil; Speak No Evil and See No Evil they way they are sitting there the same but differently for each.

And this is one of those absolute treasures you find when you go back through your albums.  I believe this is Angelina Sapienza, Angela's grandmother.  Good thing she's holding on to Ryan's chair for him.  Ryan just cracks me up in this one.  Doesn't look too happy but he's going to sit like a good kid.


Uncle Johnny chose his Gardiner Fire Rescue shirt for the event.  I have a feeling it wasn't the only one he had.  We miss seeing him in those shirts.  Stephanie and Amanda bonding.  A rare picture actually. 

YaYa Cousins
And the classic of all classics.  The Dalpiaz men circa 1995
Hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane.

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Siblings on the Irish side of the family

Brothers and sisters.  I've been thinking about them (you) and thought you might enjoy seeing some variations on that theme:


 Thanksgiving 2010
 The Flynn boys (Francis, John and Charles "Dinty")with Mom and Aunt (Anna)
 Chris and I in Gloucester.  I think that's Nanny and Grampie's house behind us a little to the left.
 I see Breyen in there!
 I've always loved this one

 Epic night in Florida one year for Judy's birthday.  Judy's still in her chair for this shot (picture kind of shot)

 Three sisters
 Three brothers
 Unity on Dennison Road
 Three sisters a few years later
 Three other sisters.  This one is kind of scary.
 LOVE LOVE LOVE this one.  Absolute classic.
 Dad and Peter 1940. Snazzy cap there, Dad!
 Flynn sisters--Uncle 4-5's daughters
 The Lippman sisters:  Grammy Flynn and Anna Denning --the other Germans in the family
Nevins kids.  Looks just like our pictures.
It's a special bond and deserves some recognition.  Cheers to mine!

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Close Calls for Peter Manzelli (1899 - ?) and James Coffarelli (1898-1934)

Random stuff as meteorological summer begins.


 I've been unable to close any doors on those open dates in the family tree recently but I have found a little tidbit I thought you might enjoy.  From the Brooklyn Daily Star April 1925 (or maybe 1926--it's a little blurry):


 Although it appears there was another Peter Manzelli nearby in the same time period, this "bad boy" is definitely your mother's uncle Peter, since the home address listed in this article matches the longtime Manzelli homestead.  I guess smart-mouthing authority is a long standing tradition for young squirts like Peter.  I'm afraid it's quite possible this relative may have been something of a criminal mind in his young adulthood. 

Your grandfather James Coffarelli was involved in an accident with a fire truck rushing into service.  Once again, I could determine this is "your" James Coffarelli from the address given.  Brooklyn Standard Union Oct 1922:

I'm not certain what an "automobile truck" is but this matches up pretty well with James' occupation as a chauffeur.  Good to know no one was hurt.

Kate Ryan Dow 1856 - 1923 From Boston to the Bronx

I've had a bit of Irish luck recently in my quest to round out the story of the Ryan siblings.  A man named Bob Dow contacted me recently as he was interested in Catherine/Katherine Ryan's life as John Dow's wife.  Together we worked to find evidence of her death and John's life after she died.  It's a lovely world!

Catherine is the third child of the original Irish immigrant Timothy Ryan and his wife Mary Squires Ryan.  The older two, Michael and Elizabeth, were born in Newfoundland.  Catherine was the first to be born in the United States.  I was very excited to find her Boston birth record for 1856, placing the young family in Boston at that time.  By the time the next child was born three years later, they were living in Gloucester.  The Ryan family spent many years in Gloucester before Timothy and Mary moved to New Hamphire apparently to be with one (or two) of the sons.  Thus our Gloucester roots took hold.

At the age of 25, Kate married John Dow of Scotland.  A few years later, she gave birth to her son Frank Eddy Dow.  As far as I am aware, she had no other surviving children.  I thank the genealogical stars that Frank Eddy had a rather unique name which makes searching for him a bit easier.  He ends up in Michigan later on which is where Bob and I found his father John.  Contrarily, John Dow is not so easy to search since the name not at all unique.  Bob did the heavy lifting on locating "our" John and I'm very appreciative of his efforts and willingness to share information. 

Though I haven't (yet) found our Kate in the 1920 census, she and John had been living in Massachusetts until at least 1910.  So no wonder it was a surprise to find that she appears in the New York Times in 1923 with her death notice.  It was only because she was "mother to Frank Eddy" that I was able to confirm that our Kate dies in the Bronx in 1923.  Bob shared her death certificate with me. Though some of the details don't quite match, Bob and I feel pretty certain this is our Kate.  It appears she was diabetic.

Twenty years later, her husband John dies in Michigan where Frank Eddy lives.  Someday I hope to track the migration of this family more clearly.  Most of our families stayed close by but this is an exception.  Kate Ryan/Kate Dow are not easy search items and when you realize they could be ANYWHERE it's pretty daunting.  So I'm grateful to have a partner in Bob Dow.  Cheers to Bob!

Saturday, June 6, 2015

1928 Robert Dalpiaz and Regina Coffarelli

Bob Dalpiaz's 87th birthday would have been this week--and your mother would already have turned 87 !  I was doing a little research into the year and thought you might be interested to know that Mickey Mouse also made his first appearance in 1928 in Steamboat Willie".  Bubble gum, recliners and sliced packaged bread also became available for American consumers which tells  you just a little bit about the pop culture of the day, don't you think?  The House at Pooh Corner was published and the first yo you factory opened so it was certainly a brand new world for children lucky enough to be born that year.

 Being a child in 1928 was not like being a child in this century.  In fact, I believe many of us would find it hard to believe that parenting advice of the time admonished parents not to drop sentimental slop all over their children's heads--it suggested they be treated as small adults with handshakes for greetings and perhaps a very occasional kiss on the forehead if absolutely necessary.  This is the advice of James Watson who published Psychological Care of Infant and Child in 1928.  Here's an interesting section of that book.  When we ponder how our parents acted or reacted in ways that seem foreign to us, thinking about how their parents treated them might help ease that confusion.  I forget sometimes that parenting advice has evolved over time and that children are direct products of their home lives.  Parents sometimes might have tried to follow the best professional advice of the time; which, to us, seems as foreign as not having wifi available.

My research did uncover one very interesting fact.  There was a lunar eclipse June 3 1928 so don't you wonder if that had some affect on your father's birth?  There are still many many folk stories related to pregnancy and childbirth and a lunar eclipse and I have a feeling your grandmother believed most of them at the time.

Although we often study pictures very carefully for details, sometimes we forget to do the same with documents.  Here's a record of you father's birth.  The first thing I notice is that he's named "Bob".


 I don't believe it to be an official birth certificate if you read it carefully but it was cared for as carefully as if it was--and perhaps it could be used as such back in the day.

And some other favorites for a little trip down memory lane:
 1975 joint anniversary party (Thanks Kathleen!)

Easter 1993
 I've been told this is the Bellmore house.
 Christmas 1989--your dad looks bemused.

Friday, May 29, 2015

Mary Ryan Brotherton 1866 - 1943

I was tickled to find a picture to accompany this obituary for Mary (Ryan) Brotherton.  Mary was our immigrant Timothy Ryan's daughter--she was born in 1866 and died 1943.  She lived her whole life in Gloucester, Massachusetts (as did many of our ancestors). This Mary appears to have been named after a sister Mary who died when she was 2 a few years before this Mary was born.  It may also have been a tribute to her mother Mary Squires Ryan.  This picture was obviously from later in her life but I see a little resemblance here to her brother William (who is our direct Ryan ancestor).

I recently obtained some new information about Mary after one of those "dope-slap" moments that often occur in life.  The Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters was originally based in Boston after its founding in 1879 by Irish immigrants to provide life insurance for its members.  It soon spread to other cities, so Gloucester Irish were among its target demographic.  In the past, I have found a couple of our ancestor's files in this collection (now being housed at the University of Massachusetts).  Their applications for membership have been scanned and made available.  They are several pages long and provide intimate details of their lives at the time of the application.  They are especially helpful because applications were often made in a range of life span that often lacks detail in normal research.  Often, the applicants are heads of young families with living siblings and parents.  These details are extraordinarily helpful in pinning down the lives of the applicant as well as the life of their families.

And I made the CLASSIC mistake of only seeking the males in these files.  Since the files were recently transferred to UMass, more have become available and it finally dawned on me that I should look for some of the females (cue the dope-slap).  And Mary was my first discovery!


This is one page of the file showing the status of Mary's parents and siblings as of 1913 when this application was made.  This helps establish her life circumstance in a period that is sometimes hard to research: "mid" life.  These policies paid $1000 upon the death of the member.  Mary's Foresters file contains 16 pages all together and they are extraordinarily valuable and interesting.  You can bet I'll be looking for others.


***For some reason, this post did not publish in its full length the first time I hit the publish button.  It was only when I (conceitedly) went to read the post again that I discovered it was lacking the end I had originally written.  Another lesson learned.  The first ending was much better.

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Home James!

I thought you might be interested in seeing the evolution of your grandfather's James Coffarelli's chauffeur licenses and getting an idea of his place in New York state history with these.  Recently, the New York Times published the Evolution of the New York Driver's License  and it's an interesting walk down memory lane, especially in light of the valuable collection of licenses left behind and cared for by your family all these years.



According to the article, 1918 was the first year that driver's licenses were issues (without photograph) but you can see this is a chauffeur's license.  I've never been clear on what he did that required a chauffeur's license.  On February 1, 1918, your grandfather was 19 years old and although I think our Ryan James looks pretty adult for his age, this picture seems to be of someone older than 19!  He had yet to go to Italy during his World War I term of service. 

A few years later after the War:


He was 24 years old by now and would be married by the time the license expired on June 30 (they were married June 23 1923).


Fifteen years later he weighs the same!  He certainly looks older now ten years later and was probably ill.  He died in February 1934 a few months after this license expired.  These licenses don't seem to have changed very much in this time period.  Updated New York state licenses are on the way:  (from the article) The newest licenses, made of polycarbonate materials, are laser engraved, not printed, and feature a pair of black-and-white portraits that help make the licenses more difficult to counterfeit.  I hope I look better in black and white ..........