Old Time Minstrel Show Paul M. Ryan Jr.

This is a program that states: "We, the members of the Gloucester Service Chest welcome you to our entertainment, an Old Time Minstrel Show, which is given for the benefit of all our own boys in the Armed Forces."  It was held on January 20 1944.  I suspect you already know where this is going, but here's what I found inside:

Dad must have been only about 16 at this time and it's gratifying to see that his End Man experiences had a long history.  Edna Handran was on the ticket committee--she's Dad's first cousin.  So far, I don't recognize other names.  But it was a neat little find.

James Coffarelli 1898-1934

I was trying to decide what to share on this blog next and noticed these two documents in my collection. I find them very interesting for a couple of different reasons. They both concern  James Coffarelli, for whom I have already had to solve a fair number of mysteries!

The Certificate of Baptism from St. Mary's Long Island City is for a child named Jacob Simeon Coffarelli sone of John and Rosa Coffarelli. Definitely your family and the birth date of July 25 1898 matches all records I have for James. It has been a huge mystery to me why the name is Jacob Simeon. It is dated June 6 1923 so we can presume he requested it as a requirement of his upcoming Catholic wedding just a few weeks later.

The Certificate of Marriage from St. Rita's certifies that James Coffarelli and Marguerite Manzelli were married June 27 1923. The documents are strikingly similar -- indeed they are produced by the same company so I imagine area churches all used the same.

They reside back to back inside a sheet protector in my notebook and I just thought you might like to see them again and take notice of a few things. Other than the child's name, his baptismal sponsors were Frank Scaretta and Margherita Nigra. I don't know if these are relatives but since James was the last of 9 children, it seems likely they may have given this honor to family friends.

Off I went to bed thinking I knew just how I was going to write the blog today. Relaxing your mind allows little brainstorms in and I had such an experience last night just as I was drfiting off. That darn Jacob Simeon was really bugging me and I was thinking about how I was going to note that the baptism certificate was produced 25 years after the event to prepare for the wedding. That means someone had to copy over and transcribe the information in the original church records.

And that's when the light when on! I am guessing that  James may have been listed in the original church records with his Italian name Giacomo--which can also be translated as Jacob! Ta-da! A perfectly reasonable hypothesis for the name on the baptismal certificate. Perhaps Simon/Simeon really was his middle name. I don't think I have anything else to help me figure that out for sure, but I am very pleased with myself that there may be an answer to that little mystery.

I slept very well after that. Now all I have to do is come up with some reason for him to have been listed as Samuel in the census records......

Homeland for Our Irish

Our Irish ancestry runs deep.  Recent family celebrations allow me to consider our immigrants and their struggles.  I have nothing to prove or disprove that our ancestors came to this continent escaping famine but it seems logical that there were significant "push and pull factors" (remember that from US History?).  Irish immigrants everywhere faced severe discrimination and I have no doubt the same held true for ours.

Our Irish immigrants were largely farmers or fishermen; livelihoods that depend upon unpredictable Mother Nature and many other factors beyond control.  I imagine that Henry Nevins' father was beyond proud that he became an attorney -- the grandson / son  of an immigrant.

I think I've talked before about our Irish surnames, but haven't talked too much about their Irish homeland.  That's mostly because I don't know too much first hand (yet) but one day I hope to.

Here are your great-grands and what I know about where they came from.  Match 'em up on the map.
Patrick Flynn's mother Ellen:  County Clare
Patrick Flynn's mother Barbara came from Munich Germany (we aren't counting her right now)
Henry Nevins' grandfather Henry born Ireland:  his mother Julia born County Meath
Caroline Brown Nevins daughter of English immigrant

William H. Ryan's father Timothy born Ireland (maybe Tipperary)
Kate Bentley Ryan's mother and father born Galway
William Pierce was born in Canada latest in a long line of Canadians (Nova Scotia)
Edith Handran Pierce's mother was born in Sligo

Patrick Flynn worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad; Henry Nevins was a well known lawyer who spawned many more in the same line of work; William H. Ryan worked in various blue collar jobs such as lunch cart keeper; William Pierce was a fisherman.

So I guess the pictures in my head when I think about those that came before us look more like these than those pretty green shamrocks.

Katherine Lessie Pinto

Katherine Lessie was the eldest daughter of Antoinette Contenta Lessie and her husband Louis (now I know Luigi).  Antoinette was your great grand aunt (sister to your great grandmother Catherine Messa).  I was working to see if I could track down a death date for Louis Lessie and ran across a possible match with someone called Luigi Lisi.  I discovered that Louis is the Americanized version of the Italian Luigi.  When I started searching for Luigi Lessie, I ran across a record for Katherine Lessie Pinto whose father was listed as Luigi Lessie and mother Antoinette from Belmont County Ohio.  Click. 

Katherine Lessie Pinto died at the age of 16 of typhoid fever-- a very sad legacy.

This is a death certificate from West Virginia and it appears that Katherine's death occurred in Wheeling West Virginia (though the certificate says Ohio).  It seems this certificate was created and signed in 1958 by the Medial Record Librarian of the Ohio Valley General Hospital.  I'm not sure of the history of this but all the information fits so I suddenly found myself with this sad story in my lap.

This certificate provides Katherine's birth date and birth location but does not provide her husband's name.  There isn't even a spot for that, which I find very strange.  Regardless, further research found that Katherine married Frank Pinto (your aunt always told me the Pintos were related) in April of 1917.

It was a very short marriage and I'll continue to look for children just in case.  Yes, a child would only add open ended records to my list, but I like to be thorough :)  Anyhow, Bam and Bam.  Birth, marriage, spouse and death all entered into the software.  But I'm still on the hunt for Luigi Lessie.

Elsie Saunders Supple 1891-1960

As I write this today, a Malaysian jet liner remains "missing" with 239 passengers.  After 3 or so months of searching, there is still no trace of this Beijing bound flight.  How is such a thing even possible in this day and age??  Recent news headlines suggest the crew was incapacitated at the time of the disappearance in March 2014.  I have no idea how they know such a thing.

Airplane disasters are statistically infrequent (we are told) yet remain a serious impediment to travel for some.  One thing we know is that they generate a fair amount of media attention and corrective measures when appropriate.

I found an interesting story involving a "non-blood" that I thought you'd find interesting as well.  Thanks to the 1960 media attention, I've been able to fill in some details related to our family's story.  As a side note, the steps I took in this research completely validate the Ancestry.com commercials about following the "shaky leaf".  If it wasn't such a tragic story, it would make a good ad.

Elsie Saunders Supple was 70 years old when she died as her plane crashed into the sea while attempting to take off from Boston's Logan airport in October 1960.  She was apparently on her way to Pennsylvania to see a grandson.  (If you're curious, Elsie is the mother-in-law  of our 1st cousin 2x removed: George Ryan grandson of Irish patriarch Timothy Ryan).

 This is one account of the crash and its aftermath.  It's a little bit graphic so be aware if you read this.  It's interesting to note that thousands of starlings suddenly took off and were sucked into the propeller driven engines causing the crash, close enough to shore that bystanders waded out to assist in the rescue.  This accident resulted in corrective measures to help insure bird related crashes could be avoided.

Furthermore, this article notes that seat design at the time may have prevented more lives from being saved.  They detached upon impact then rolled forward apparently causing some people to drown.  In my imagination, this is what happened to Elsie.  Presumably seat design was studied and adjustments were made as a result of this accident.

As tragic as it is to think about a 70 year old grandmother dying just a few feet from shore in a plane crash while on her way to see her grandson, it is gratifying to know that positive changes resulted saving future lives.  Our family indeed has been a part of the history of the country and world!

James Coffarelli World War I journal

Transcription of your Grandfather James Coffarelli's war journal (accuracy NOT guaranteed!):

I enlisted in the U.S.A.A.S. at Fort Jay, Governors Isl. N.Y. on April 22nd 1918. Reported at said place on 23rd and got transportation and left on 12:30 Black Diamond for Allentown Pa.  Arrived at 4 - rode to Headquarters of (Amb.) Camp Crane.  Was placed in the Casual Det. Build 17.

Got uniform April 24th.

Went through one months drilling with the rookies, on May 25 was put into Sect. 566 Bat 12.  My first trench digging experience was on the 26 of May.  June 1st was my starting of hikes and Equipt. C. Insp. June 3rd while on a hike somewhere in Penna I was overcome by the heat and was taken to camp in an Amb.  It resembled a hearse to me, the way I felt, on the 5th.  Poison Ivy broke out on my face, I was some sight.

On June 12th 11:30 PM Our contingent left Camp Crane on the illustrious C.R.R. of N.J. for the POrt of N.Y.  We got in the Jersey City Terminal at 5:30 AM.  Ferried to Hoboken to the Giuseppe Verdi. 

 Boarded, at 8 AM.  Laid in dock until 3:30 PM.  All were ordered down in the holds and port holes were closed.  With a loud shrill blast our tub left our dear U.S.A. for Italy.  We crept down the Hudson and into the bay, without even another glance of our Statue of Liberty.  This made some of us feel uneasy thinking it was our last sight of the emblem which we meant to do our utmost to preserve.  We arrived at the Ambrose Light about 6 P.M. and anchored, and waited for a convoy at this time there was a big sub scare along our coast.  At 7 P.M. we were picked up by 3 boats from our Navy.  A Yacht, Torpedo Boat and Sub. chaser.  

We started on a south western course accompanied by our three guardians.  The following morning June 14th we were out of sight of everything but water and sky. 

On the high seas the first few days out on the Atlantic was enjoyed by us all.  The sky was bright both night and day, the sea was as calm as an ordinary river.  But there had to be a change.  We got up one morning at our usual time.  Everything was dark, our ship was rolling and dipping at the same time.  It sure was some sensation.

We had the life of Reilly on our tub.  Our hours were from 6 AM to 9:30 PM.  We got out of our two by four cots or bunks at 6 AM.  Some mornings we answered roll call.  This started after some of the boys got sick and there may have been some possibility of some of the boys feeding their bodies to the fishes instead of the contents of them.  

Sick call at 6:30 AM.

Breakfast Mass at 7 AM.

Boat drill at 9:15 AM.

Setting up exercises 10 AM.

Instructions in Italian 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM.

Noon Mass at 12.

Medical examination at 2 PM

Supper Mass at 6 PM.

No lights on deck after 8 PM.

All below decks at 9:30 PM.

Silence at 10 PM.

Words cannot express our wonderful meals on board.  A certain amount of men were consigned to every individual boat.  We were consigned to our boat as we boarded.

When the life boat call was sounded, you had to stop everything; sling and fasten your life belt and get to the landing platform of the boats and stand at attention and answer roll call.  All this was done in silence.  We then proceeded to our hangouts on deck.  

The setting up exercise was about the hardest this we done.  It was very hard on our muscles.

Our Italian instructions were a continuous joke.  We learned the curses first and later on a few valuable words.

In the afternoon all was left for us to do was read and count the ripples on the water.

After mess:  read and smoke until 8 o'clock, when it started to get dark.  

When we got into our cubby holes it was a case of laying awake listening to rumors of sub. being on our neighborhood and that we were to be torpedoes that night without fail about 11 PM.  It go so bad that some of us slept with our clothes on especially while on the M. S.  There were a few boys who slept on the floor at the foot of the stairs leading to the decks.

Tidbits from the Ryan family Bible

Recently I was able to scan some of the pages from our Ryan family Bible.  I do no know which family member was the keeper and recorder of information but it was one of my most invaluable tools early in the research process.

I'm not sure who Richard Gordon Ryan belongs too yet but Richard and Ida Boulae Ryan's family members are very familiar to me.  Richard (with wife Ida) is our grandfather Paul Ryan Sr.'s oldest brother as well as the oldest child in the family.  This likely explains how these children are well documented.  By the way, you might remember Ida from an earlier clipping I shared when she went missing for a time--apparently she returned safe and sound.

Another page:

This is a little messy so I think it's possible these deaths were noted together then later corrected.  In other words, this wasn't a Bible in which life events were recorded as they occurred over generations.  It appears to mostly have captured a period of time in the Ryan family.

Here's an interesting little item that fell out of the Bible:  this was very carefully cut out of a book or newspaper:

He's very handsome but I have no idea why he's so carefully preserved in the Ryan family Bible.  Hmmm.  But the Nevins side of the family weren't the only ones with a legal career.  This Judge John J. Flaherty was the Essex County Superior Court Judge and State Chair of the Democratic party prior to his death in 1906 when he was only 47.  He was probably at the height of his career while our grandfather and his siblings were growing up. 

Here's another interesting piece of  history:

The United War Work Campaign was a massive fund raising effort to support World War I.  It says "A Million Boys Behind a Million Fighters" at the bottom.  John Ryan  would have only been 11 when he donated this dollar toward the effort.  This was a time when civilians pulled together in huge efforts to provide support at home and abroad for their military.  It's interesting to me that American society has swung back in that direction now.  PS Remember that John was later accidentally shot by a buddy with a rifle.  Never said it was a boring family!