What happened to "them"?

English: View into Depot Town in Ypsilanti, MI, from the Cross St bridge over the Huron River, looking down Cross Street to the River St intersection and beyond. This was taken in October 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I knew something had happened to them. At first I thought the "them" was made up of three, then after finding the youngest of the "them" alive and well as a married adult, I sighed with relief.

Only 2 of "them" missing.

I've written about the name "Alice" being used in my family before. My Gran and her mother, my "Boo", were both named Alice, and I have some cousins named Alice as well. So when I traced back Boo's father, Daniel Rook Vaughan, to the 1850 census and found him with his parents, Benjamin Brown & Susanna Vaughan, and his 2 sisters, Prudence and Alice, I thought to myself, "Huh. So this is the Alice whom everyone is named after." {The Alice who my daughter wishes I had named her after.} {And Vyla's -- one of my Boo's younger sisters -- middle name is Prudence.}

By the 1860 census, part of the family seems to fall off the grid. Daniel is living with his grandmother, Margaret Barbara Rook, a couple of aunts, and an uncle there in Ypsilanti. His older sister Prudence is living across the border in Ohio with a family that seemingly has no connection to her {I've looked. But don't you go look because I'm not done trying to figure it out. I'm stubborn like that.}, but she's about 18 miles from her uncle, her father's brother -- Harmon Vaughan.

No Benjamin. No Susanna. No Alice.

Or so I thought. I did some census voodoo and traced all of the people named Alice I could find born in Michigan in about March of 1850 with a mother born in New York and a father born in Canada. {On the 1850 census, they list her age in months.} And I found one who seemed to move around a bit because she was married to a preacher -- an aptly named man by the name of Almond Parsons --  who must have traveled a circuit of some kind in lower Michigan where Ypsilanti is located. After skippity-doo-dahing across southern Michigan, they settle in Kalamazoo, Michigan {which is almost as fun to say as Ypsilanti, Washtenaw, Michigan where Alice was born}. Finally, she is found in the 1940 census living with her daughter Nellie and family at the age of 90, and Alice Barbara Parsons passes away 4 years later in 1944. I did discover her and the Reverend's other child as well, but I'll save that story for another day. {I'm evil like that.}

So I found Alice. {Of course, that begs the question, "Who was this Alice named after?" A relative, a friend, a pet cat? I'll keep my suspicions to myself for now.}

But what happened to Benjamin Brown & Susanna (Rook) Vaughan -- Prudence's, Daniel's, and Alice's parents? I consulted The History of Ypsilanti by Harvey C. Colburn at The Clayton {Amy Coffin's nickname for the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research}, and in it I found the Hawkins family mentioned. This was an important clue because my fourth great-grandfather's second wife in Ypsilanti was a Hester A. Hawkins and they live near a Hawkins family in Ypsilanti in a couple of censuses. {And Ypsilanti is a wee town -- then and now.} I then found a John Vaughan mentioned in the book as a vestry member and as a sexton for St. Luke's Episcopal Church there in Ypsilanti which is still open today. {In fact, I started following the church's Facebook Page because there's something about following your 4th great grandparent's church on Facebook, especially since I'm Episcopalian too.}

Finding a John Vaughan mentioned as a member of the Episcopalian Church was another important clue because I had already found Benjamin's baptismal record near Iberville, Quebec in Anglican records in Caldwell's Manor (Foucault) and Christie's Manor (Noyan) naming his parents as John T. & Prudence (Brown) Vaughan. I knew my John had been an Anglican/Episcopalian. Had he remained in the same denomination after they immigrated to America?

So I emailed St. Luke's and asked where their church records for the 1800s were archived, and they said they were located at the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan. So I had a look-see at their website and found, at the time, all lookups needed to be in person. Then I checked the catalog on FamilySearch.org, but they hadn't been filmed. So I put it off, and then picked the trail back up when I decided to apply for Daughter's of the American Revolution membership and United Empire Loyalist membership through Daniel's maternal and paternal lines, respectively. At the same time. {There's just something about a Civil War musician's mother's line being a Patriot line and his father's line being a Loyalist line, no?}

I thought perhaps I'd need to hire someone to go through those church records because I couldn't figure out how to convince my family that a family vacation to Michigan was a fabulous idea. They tend to like the Gulf Coast beaches in the summer. Go figure.

But then I checked FamilySearch.org again -- about two years later -- and found they'd been filmed. Well, at least the parish records containing baptisms, confirmations, burials, etc., had been filmed. The vestry minutes have not been filmed. But a girl can't be picky, right? {And all of  this is why I don't really think I have too many research brick walls. Many times -- for one reason or another -- I just haven't looked everywhere yet.}

So I ordered/rented the film for St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Ypsilanti, Michigan from the FHL {Family History Library} and had it sent to my local library, MCML, {My nickname for the Montgomery County Memorial Library System.}, which recently became an affiliate of the FHL. 

Had my 4th great grandfather, John T. Vaughan, been on the vestry at St. Luke's? Had he and his family worshiped there? Had Daniel been baptized there? More importantly, would I finally have my answers to what happened to my 3rd great grandparents, Benjamin Brown & Susanna (Rook) Vaughan?

Would my answers be on that microfilm roll tucked in a little white box?

Would I find out what happened to "them"?

~Caroline

Note: Sources available upon request because if you think we're related, then contact me and we'll figure it out together. My email is up at the top of this blog page sort of on the right side in the Nav Bar.

Life Happens, Tangents, Social Media, and Genealogy Wow!

I like tangents. Some of my very best genealogical finds come when I go off into tangents. Unfortunately, though, it's making my Daughters of the American Revolution and United Empire Loyalists research journeys much, much longer.

In my last blog post, I stated that the only way to find out about Annie's mother's maiden name was to go ahead and order a copy of Daniel and Annie's marriage record from the Archdiocese of New Orleans Archives.

And? I lied. That's not the only way. It was just the way I thought would be the easiest because I had not found a cousin {or the cousin} who had a copy of their church marriage record or a Family Bible or, really, anything that indicated what Annie's mother's name was.

You see, it all started about 2008 when I first started researching Daniel and Annie. When I joined the NGS the first time, I searched their database of family group sheets and found one submitted by a lady. It didn't give me anything I hadn't already found online. But? The name and address of the lady who had submitted it to the NGS was stamped across the front of it.

I tried writing her, but I never received a response, and I wasn't really surprised because the family group sheet had been submitted ages ago, like back in the 1980s.

Then? I Googled Daniel and Annie's names together and came across a Vaughan/Vaughn family website which was just a database of submitted info, and? It didn't contain anything I didn't already have about Daniel and Annie. After accessing it just that one time, it became infected with malware. Over the years, I've periodically checked it while searching online, and every time, the browser indicated that the site was infected with malware. {And, yes, I had cleaned out my cache and used different browsers.}

And then I ran into some clues online involving the same lady who had submitted the family group sheet to NGS. Some very nice unsubstantiated pieces of info like how Annie had 8 or 9 brothers one of whom is named Henry and, oh by the way she had a partial letter that Henry had sent Annie and it had Henry's address in Dublin and there was a date too... . And? There was an email address. So, of course I emailed her. And? No response. One of the best pieces of info that she left, though, was that she was Annie's great granddaughter through Henry Lewis, which is my Boo's older brother making her my second cousin once removed. But after about 2001, she seemed to drop off the online internet forums and sites.

So in reviewing all of this when I was gathering everything together for my DAR application, I thought, well, I just need to get the documents myself if possible.

And about the same time I started blogging about my DAR and UEL application journey, which, if you'll remember, has also included tangents along the way because I just can't help myself. I mean, it's a no-brainer when the archivist emails you and says, "I found your great-grandmother's baptismal record, but I also found her siblings' baptismal records. You want those?"

Of course, I want those. But for me, having them in my hand led me to blog about each one. For some, documents are cold with clues and facts...just names and dates.  For me, though, a document comes alive. Each one is a soupy mixture of tidbits of stories and it seems when I hold one in my hands - even if it is just a photocopy, the stories seem to bubble up in my head until they start to spill over. And that's exactly what happened when I received all those baptismal records. I couldn't not speculate about each one's baptismal day based on what I already had found about each one's life and about what I personally have experienced on that ferry ride between Bolivar Point and Galveston Island.

For me, it's kind of like the movie Night at the Museum or book The Night at the Museum by Milam Trenc. You know how the statues and history come alive when the museum closed? Well, when I get a document and look at each piece of information and when I start to piece things together within the context of what I know already or what I've found, well, the people in my tree start to come alive...the stories start to become more real...and then my imagination starts playing with possibilities and then I write stories about the possibilities. I mean they're always open-ended because I don't usually have everything yet. But I always stop to look at a document and wonder...And instead of wondering in my head or on a piece of paper, I blog it. I blog my questions and possibilities as I go.

And, in this case, with my great-grandmother's {Boo's} siblings, blogging about each one's baptismal record was one of the best things I could have done because a descendant of one of my Boo's sisters contacted me because he'd been Googling. And since I had been off on one of my tangents with the baptismal records that have absolutely nothing to do with my DAR and UEL apps, Google matched us up and he emailed me. He also confirmed all of Vyla's names throughout the years. {Google has got to be the best distant cousin matchmaker. At least it is for me. Ancestry's trees come in at a close second though.}

Anywho, this cousin is also a second cousin once removed because he descends from Vyla. And he and his wife were supposed to come to Texas last October to photograph tombstones and do some research. But then life happened and then the trip got rescheduled to January. And then life happened again and the trip got pushed off to March.

And then in the meantime, um, life happened to me as well, but somehow I've found the time here and there to keep digging and to even keep blogging a bit. And every time I blogged, I tweeted about my blog post. You know, just to share it and what-have-you.

Then one of those times a fellow tweeter, who I had started following because she's a photographer/Photoshop kind of person and then she followed back and then she started following some other fellow genealogists and then we, um, kind of got her hooked on genealogy {I swear to you I didn't do it on purpose.}, direct messaged me after I tweeted a link to one of my blog posts. She said that she was really enjoying Daniel's and Annie's story unfold, that she had Googled their names, found this Vaughan Family Website and asked if I'd seen it.

And?

It was that original site that I hadn't checked in a year. You know, the one with the malware. It had been taken down and redone. And? This time it had some more info. And it was from that same lady/2nd cousin who descends from my Boo's older brother, Henry Lewis. This time there was a ton of detail and verbiage that made it clear that she has some documentation of some kind. It just wasn't listed on there anywhere.

So then I went to Facebook and found her and sent a friend request. Then I messaged her. {Which I should have done before, but, you know, life happens...}

And?

No response. *big sigh*

So I kept going with Daniel's and Annie's civil marriage record and ordered microfilm for other parts of the tree for my DAR and UEL applications. And then I started combing through all those clues from that Vaughan/Vaughn family site. Like...

...the clue where she states that their marriage record indicates Annie's mother's maiden name...

...the clue where she states that Annie had been just visiting her cousins - the Browns - in New Orleans when she met Daniel because Daniel had been doing some carpentry work for her cousins and they were married by a Rev. Gleason in St. Alphonsus Church in New Orleans...

...the clue where she states Annie's cousin's husband was the city engineer for the City of New Orleans and that there was a family rumor that Annie's father had been an engineer in Dublin too...So I started checking out some of these clues online, and I never got around to ordering Daniel and Annie's marriage record from the Archdiocese of New Orleans Archives. You know, the one I said might contain Annie's mother's maiden name? Yeah, that one.

Turns out Annie's mother's name, according to this lovely lady cousin, is Jane Lennon. {Ohmigosh, right? That was totally one of my speculations/possibilities}. And since I already knew one of Daniel and Annie's marriage witnesses was Katie L. Lennon, well, I thought to myself, "Hm. Cousin?"

But wait. She stated that the Browns were Annie's cousins. So I skipped off to Ancestry.com and did a little census and city directory work and found found a Kate Lennon living in a household with a Henry Brown, a Jennie L. Brown, and some other Brown family members. And? Henry Brown's occupation was listed as a civil engineer. 

{Goose bumps, or is that just me?}

Then? I decided to take the plunge with Annie's info on irishgenealogy.ie. I mean, I had her possible-and-completely-unsubstantiated parent's names now and one of her brother's names. I was feeling kind of lucky and optimistic about being able to find Annie's baptismal record if it had been placed online. And I was on the couch with my iPad and thought, "Why not just have a peek?" So I looked, and...

None with the right date and/or parents. So then I searched for her parents together because it allows you to look for one person as well as another at the same time, and...

I found a James O'Brien who had married a Jane Lennon in 1831 in St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral in Dublin. But? Nothing conclusive to say they were, indeed, Annie's parents. And sadly, there was no address and the blanks for their parents were empty. Then another marriage record came with up when I searched their names but the one getting married this time was a Henry O'Brien in 1887 and his parents were James and Jane (Lennon) O'Brien. And his address was 61 Lr. Mecklenburgh in Dublin.

Which jogged my memory of those clues about Annie's brother Henry from Dublin from my second cousin. Remember that partial letter? Well, it was sent in 1886 and his address, according to my wonderfully generous but elusive lady cousin, was 61 Lr Mecklenb---h (?) in Dublin.

So unless Henry O'Brien from the 1886 letter who was Annie's brother moved out of the 61 Lr Mecklenburgh residence and then a Henry O'Brien from 1887 whose parents were also a James O'Brien and Jane Lennon moved in, well, I'm pretty sure they are her parents. Maybe.

However, I still need to see that church marriage record. I want/need verification. I also need to familiarize myself with Irish records. You know, what's available for what time periods, and where are they located? I can't just blindly keep on drifting along the Internet looking at Irish records here and Irish records there never knowing for sure that I've looked at everything that exists, online or off. {Which is why I just bought Tracing Your Irish Ancestors: Irish Genealogy by John Grenham.} I need to get a lay of the land, so to speak.

So this week, I decided to take a look at the microfilm that I had previously ordered and I started with Daniel's family up in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and found some interesting information that I needed for both my DAR and UEL applications, and I'll get into the details of that in another blog post.

However, after a lovely day at the library perusing those handwritten parish records from about 1830s to the 1880s of St. Luke's Episcopal Church of Ypsilanti, Michigan, I came home and checked my email, and found an email from someone I didn't know {which happens a lot, btw} with 2 PDF attachments and no message. I usually delete those, but I knew my 2nd cousin was somewhere in the state taking photos of tombstones and the sender's email address was for a copy and print place in Giddings, Texas. {I Googled it.}

And? I clicked to view them. These were the PDFs {that I later converted to JPGs}:

Emails like this should come with a tissue warning. Seriously. 

So, I guessed that my 2nd cousin from Alabama had probably found my 2nd cousin that had left all those online clues. So I emailed him to see if he had been the one to send me these pics, and he called me later on that evening and confirmed that he'd found her!
Apparently life had happened to my other 2nd cousin and she hadn't been able to respond, but that she'd been doing genealogy for 50 years. And she had pictures and books and documents and letters and you name it. And when my 2nd cousin from Alabama was at the local copy/print place copying everything that my other 2nd cousin had so generously shared with him and he saw that pic of the Daniel and Annie, he said he knew I'd want to see it!

Oh my, was he ever right about that! Did you see Daniel's awesome 'stache!!!! And Annie! I love how she has one hand on Henry Lewis and the other around Genevieve. And then Vyla's hand is on Annie's shoulder. And my Boo! {She's Alice on the left.} I have memories of Boo from when I was real little. And thanks to another cousin who found me on Facebook, I have some other photos of her including one from 1920, but to see her here with everyone one else? Wow.

And then Henry Lewis. Another wow. When he grew up, I knew he had become a Master Mariner because I have his death certificate, and my literary mind wondered about the stories he could tell. In these photos, he looks bigger than life! And look at him on the boat. Just wow.

I'm meeting with my 2nd cousin from Alabama either Sunday or Monday, and I can't wait to see what our other cousin shared about the Vaughan and O'Brien families with him. And if a copy of Daniel and Annie's church marriage record is in there with her mother's maiden name, well, then I won't have to order it. If not, I'll still order it because it's important that I have something that links Annie to James O'Brien and Jane Lennon. Of course, there might be other things that have been found. I won't know until I see everything and assess it all.

And then many of you probably saw my Facebook update the other day about all of this, but what you didn't see is that another first cousin who recently started following me messaged me that evening and said she remembered that her dad had some photos of Daniel from the Civil War, and that it'd been a while since she had seen them, but that she thought that he had had a drum in those photos. But she was gonna contact him and see what happened to those photos.

{Dramatic pause.}

• This is why I blog about my ancestors. {This isn't the first time I've hit the collaborative jackpot via my blog.}
• This is why I don't wait until I have the whole story or all the facts. {If you want a cousin to contact you real quick-like, then blog something wrong. I mean, wrap it up with words like I think or I wonder or I guess, but my point is there is always someone who is gonna respond to that.}
• This is why I not only research collaterals, but I blog about them as well. I just never know who is going to be Googling about their ancestor who might be related to my ancestor.
• This is why I Tweet. {Others are accessing my blog posts by the social media platform of their choosing, whether it be Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. And I meet the most remarkable people from around the world there. And then for some reason a few of them start looking for their ancestors. It's contagious, I think. I should probably come with a warning like, "Beware: following or interacting with me could very possibly lead you to wanting to learn about your family and where you come from."}
• This is why I Facebook. {Even though I don't really like Facebook. It's not about me and what I prefer, but about the fact that so many others are on and like Facebook. And even when I post my blog posts there, life happens and they just don't click through on those links to my blog posts, but they certainly are reading Facebook updates. Note to self: Remember that.}

You can be certain that I'll be blogging about that collaborative family history jackpot my cousins are so generously sharing with me, particularly the, um, "stuff" I think will be useful for my DAR and UEL applications.  You know, the reason I started researching Daniel and Annie again in the first place.

~Caroline


Vaughn, Daniel Rooke and Family. Photograph. ca. 1895. Digital image. Privately held by Carolyn Marble, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Lincoln, Texas. 2013.

Vaughn, Henry Lewis and Henry Daniel Vaughn. Photograph. Digital image. Privately held by Carolyn Marble, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Lincoln, Texas. 2013.

Vaughn, Carolyn Elizabeth Laxson.  Photograph. Digital image. Privately held by Carolyn Marble, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Lincoln, Texas. 2013.

HLV & DEA B. Calvin Jr.  Photograph. Digital image. Privately held by Carolyn Marble, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Lincoln, Texas. 2013.

HLV (on sidewalk).  Photograph. Digital image. Privately held by Carolyn Marble, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Lincoln, Texas. 2013.

HLV (on boat).  Photograph. Digital image. Privately held by Carolyn Marble, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Lincoln, Texas. 2013.

Annie & the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Part Deux

St. Alphonsus Church, New Orleans. Detail. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans, that is.

In my last blog post, I explained how the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans Archives seemed pretty serious about their instructions for genealogists. If I want a copy of my 2nd grandparent's marriage record, I either need to give them the church they were married in or the address of the residence(s) of participants in the marriage {In my case, Daniel and Annie's }, and preferably the bride's address.

And all I had was the info on their returned marriage license that indicates that the marriage was performed in NOLA and the returned marriage license was signed by a Rev. Gleason. And I knew from family lore that Annie was a devout Catholic.

So, as suggested by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans Archives' page for genealogists, I attempted to consult the city directories for New Orleans for the time period around Daniel and Annie's New Orleans marriage in 1874. I did this by first surveying where all the directories are available to me {where I am located, a northern suburb of Houston}. And? If I could get it for free, that'd be nice. {Can I get an Amen?}

According to FamilySearch.org and the New Orleans' public library, there are 2 different city of directories for this time period - Sourds and Edwards. Sourds is available on Ancestry.com to which I have a subscription, but? No listings for "my" Daniel Vaughan or no listing for "my" Annie O'Brien. {There are others, but I ruled them out by following them in the later city directories and censuses for NOLA when I know and can prove that my Daniel and Annie were living in Galveston, Texas with city directories, censuses, and their children's baptismal records.}

I thought about ordering the films from the FHL, but I already have 4 films on order with them so I don't have to go meet {or bother} Brother Ed at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio Archives.

So I checked out what my local genealogical library, Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research, in Houston had on microfilm the last time I was there. In the online microprint database it indicated it had the NOLA city directories on microfilm, but didn't indicate from which publishers. So I went to Clayton.

And? They had both Sourds and Edwards.

And? Not one Daniel Vaughan or Annie O'Brien in either one of them.

So? I looked up the witnesses listed on their returned marriage license in the city directories. I only found a "Katie S. Lennon" listed several years after Daniel's and Annie's marriage {when they were already living in Galveston, Texas according to the Galveston city directories and their children's baptismal records}.

St. Alphonsus Church, New Orleans (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Then? I looked under the Gleason surname in the 1874 and 1875 city directories looking for the {or a} Rev. Gleason that married them {or might have married them} and signed their marriage license before returning it. Bingo! A Rev. James Gleason {spelled 'Gleeson in 1874 and 'Gleason' in 1875} was listed as an "Assistant Pastor" at St. Alphonsus Church while living at the "Convent of Redemptorists".

This information matched the info that Finn so graciously found in that GenealogyBank.com newspaper article that he said indicated a Rev. Gleason {a deacon} had presided over a Father Duffy's funeral at St. Alphonsus Church in NOLA.

But? Is this the church where Daniel and Annie were married in 1874? So, I decided to find out quickly what I could about St. Alphonsus and the Catholic Church in NOLA for this time period. So, of course, I Googled it.

And these are the websites I found:

• Irish Changed the Face of New Orleans by Ryan Rivet from tulane.edu
• The Irish in New Orleans from neworleansonline.com
• NOLA History: The Three Churches of the Irish Channel by Edward on gonola.com
• The Founding of FOSA from the About Page of stalphonsusneworleans.org
• Irish Channel, New Orleans from Wikipedia.org
• An Ethnic Geography of New Orleans by Richard Campanella from journalofamericanhistory.org
• St. Alphonsus Church, New Orleans from wikipedia.org
• St. Alphonsus Parish - St. Mary's Assumption Church's from stalphonsusneworleans.com

And this is my summary of what I found for what I need {But there's more & I highly recommend reading those links especially if you have Irish Catholic NOLA heritage}:
St. Alphonsus Church parish in NOLA served the Roman Catholic Irish community in the Lower Garden District of NOLA, and that it was located right across the street from St. Mary's Assumption Church, which served the German immigrant community in this time period. If you have the time and inclination, please read all about this community in the above links. {Wow. I learned a lot.}

I also found in these links that while St. Alphonsus is no longer an operating church it is open for visits to the public 3 days a week and that the Irish Channel, which is where the Irish immigrants lived in the Lower Garden District in this time period, throws "the best" St. Patrick's Day Parades every year. You know what all this means right? I NEED to go back to NOLA for St. Patrick's Day. You know, for research purposes. ;)

St Alphonsus Catholic Church (Photo credit: Traveling Mermaid)

So. While I couldn't find an address for Daniel or Annie, I think I found the church they were married in. And there's only one way to find out for sure.

Mail or email the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans Archives with the exact information they have so carefully and explicitly asked for when a genealogist is making an inquiry naming St. Alphonsus Church as the church Daniel in Annie were married in.

~Caroline

New Orleans & Annie: Just What is Available?

The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis serves as mother church of the Archdiocese of New Orleans (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Okay, in my last post I mentioned I needed to find Annie's address in order to order her church marriage record from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans' Archives.

And I mentioned that I'd already looked - albeit half-heartedly and really I'd been looking for Daniel at the time - in Ancestry.com's database at the New Orleans City Directories.

And it was suggested by Randy Seaver in the comments {Thank you, Randy! =) } that I should look at fold3.com's city directories.

And then it was suggested by Donna that I shouldn't need the address because I have the name of the priest and that's what they'd need the address for - to determine the parish/church. Thanks, Donna!

And then Finn looked in the GenealogyBank.com database and found a newspaper mention of a Father Gleason, a Deacon, who had presided of a Father Duffy's funeral in September of 1874 at St. Alphonsus Church in New Orleans, but wasn't sure if a deacon could preside over a marriage in the Catholic church. Thanks Finn!

And then Jennifer mentioned that a deacon can preside over a Catholic wedding nowadays, but wasn't sure if that was true in 1874. Also, Jennifer mentioned using the city directories to get a listing of the Catholic churches in 1874. Thanks Jennifer!

And? All of them were excellent suggestions, and I greatly appreciate their input. =)

However, I was suggesting - and obviously I didn't do it very well - that I needed to get a better idea of what's available for city directories {and other information} for New Orleans for the time period. I know from previous research that there can be multiple publishings of city directories by multiple publishers for any given year for a city, and in my last post, I was hinting at needing to take a step back and getting a lay of the land on the city directories {not to mention for Catholic records}.

Are there multiple city directories for NOLA for this time period? Where do I find a listing of them all that either once existed or still exist?

While I could go and renew my fold3.com subscription, how do I know if they have all the directories from all the publishers? While it's a different database, Ancestry.com only has 1 publisher's city directory for that time period - the one published by Sourd. And I can't tell just by glancing at their title, what fold3.com includes.

And, Donna is correct. Pick up the phone and call or email. But? Maybe I'm reading too much into their long and detailed page for genealogists, but I get the impression they mean business with their rules. And while some archives have it all together, some don't. Remember my post about Brother Ed? I'm looking for the info but they're busy and I haven't looked under every rock on the Internet or in my vicinity yet, IMO. {I was extremely kind and generous in my telling of my experience over the phone with Brother Ed in San Antonio. To my simple, polite, and direct inquiry - not demand - he was rather rude. However, he might have been having a bad day.}

And I do have a GenealogyBank.com subscription, but as I'm writing these blog posts, I'm performing the search, so I hadn't looked there yet for this particular information. However, we can't assume it's the same Rev. Gleason and we can't assume that was his parish. Probably, possibly, or maybe, but who knows? But a very, very good clue. Thank you for looking, Finn.

And Jennifer, you are correct. One good place to look for a listing of churches would be the city directories. {As a side note, I had looked in Sourd's city directory under the occupation of 'carpenter' for Daniel because in Galveston - where they are living after their marriage - Daniel had been a carpenter.} I've also used city directories for looking at businesses and such for other research problems. Thanks, Jennifer!

But? As I mentioned up above, I was - in my mind - thinking I needed to pause and take a survey of what's available to me for the city of New Orleans. I live near Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research in Houston, Texas, and since New Orleans is only 7 hours away and is in the state next to me, it would behoove me to check out what Clayton might have for this problem.

Also, I checked the New Orleans main public library's website as suggested by the Archdiocese of New Orleans' website to see if it listed not only years, but publishers of what they had and to see if they did look-ups. They have years but not publishers and they do look-ups. So I need to contact them.

And I checked FamilySearch.org's online digital records - no city directories have been digitized, but they have quite a few directories for NOLA for the time period on microfilm listed in their catalog. And? There are different publishers for the time period I'm looking for. They have Sourd's, which is what Ancestry.com has. But for the time period I'm looking at, they have Edwards' Annual Directory of the Inhabitants of New Orleans and then they have one published by an outfit in Connecticut in the 1980s that seems to include many, many years, but who was the original publisher of those directories? Is it all of the directories? If I were a betting woman, I'd bet that what they have is exactly what the NOLA public library has. But for all of them, each year is on a different roll. At $7.50 per roll and several years and possibly 2 publishers, that's going to get expensive. {Especially since I saved myself from meeting the contrary and definitely overworked and exasperated-sounding Brother Ed at the San Antonio Archdiocese Archives by ordering the films I needed from FHL concerning St. Mary's Catholic Church in San Antonio. I already have $30 worth of rental films coming my way. =) }

So then I checked to see what Clayton had on microfilm. They definitely have some city directories for NOLA, but I can't tell which ones online. So then I checked their online catalog. What kind of books do they have for Orleans Parish, Louisiana? Books, of course, usually mean indices and not copies of originals, but, you know, I'm looking to see what and where everything is before deciding which avenue is the best to take for me considering, well, everything {including over-worked and under-funded archives}.

And they have some books covering city directories. But? Lo and behold, they had 10 volumes entitled Sacramental Records of the Roman Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of New Orleans from the Archives of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. What does it have in it exactly? I dunno. Is it just indexed info of what the archives has? I dunno. If it is just indexed info, which info did they include? I dunno. Is it transcriptions? I dunno. Does it include 1874? It has a list of years included, but 1874 isn't listed. But I need to double check it. Could be wrong or incomplete.

But I'm going to found out what's in those 10 volumes of Roman Catholic NOLA awesomeness. I'm going to see what info they contain as well as what publishers Clayton includes in their microfilm and book offerings for NOLA city directories because I want their marriage record, but I want Annie's address too. I've been to NOLA several times, and I've been tempted to take one of the tours that takes you to the area where Irish immigrants lived back then {or I could just save the money and drive down the street myself}, but it's always bothered me not knowing where Annie lived exactly. I wanna know what I'm looking at when I go and see. 

{And I need to go to Clayton anyway.}

But I want their marriage record as well to see if it gives me any more clues as to who Annie was and who her parents were. I wanna see if the info on their church marriage record matches the info I found on Daniel and Annie's returned marriage license. Did Rev. Gleason accidentally write down married names for their mothers, or is that what was on their church marriage record as well? What other info could be on there? Quite a bit or not much more?

But when I contact the archives and maybe the library for the info, I want to make sure I have as much info as possible so that it's easier on them as well.

~Caroline

Note: If you have some recommendations of places to look for those Louisiana records or any others, please let me know in comments below. However, please refrain from doing the actual research yourself. I know it's tempting and I appreciate the gesture, but I'd like to do it myself unless it's totally impossible for me to do it. Thanks! ~C

Other blog posts relating to my DAR and EUL application research:
Family Stories: DAR or Bust
Family Stories: Loyalist + Patriot = ?
Family Stories: Boo's Baptismal Records Came In! 
A Baby Boy
He Had Salt Water in His Veins
I Knew it Genevieve
Viola "Vyla" Prudence Vaughan Sproul Clifton Brandenburg
Stories Within the Old Lighthouse
James Wesley Blacketer's Story Continues...
DAR, Some Secrets, Brother Ed, and the Mayans
Collaborative Genealogy Works
Annie, I'm One Step Closer to Finding You
Annie and the Archdiocese of New Orleans

Annie and the Archdiocese of New Orleans

Okay, I looked. Well, I Googled. After the marriage record success of yesterday's find which came by mail from Louisiana, I took a 10 minute break to eat lunch and then Googled the Archdiocese of New Orleans. And according to their very helpful and very long and detailed information concerning how a genealogist goes about finding a marriage record for their 2nd great grandparents who married somewhere in New Orleans {and hopefully in a Catholic church} in 1874, I found the following information useful for my needs:

1. The cut-off for privacy and full access is 1930. {Excellent.}
2. All genealogical requests must be sent via email or written mail. {Okey dokey.}
3. If I don't know the exact church of where the sacrament took place, I must include detailed information like parent's names, exact date of sacrament, who performed the marriage, if it was a marriage, etc. {No problemo.}
4. For marriages after 1845, requests must include the name of the church or the address of the applicants, especially the bride's. {Crap.}
5. Check the city directories at the New Orleans Public Library's Main Branch. {Okay.}

I have previously checked the city directories for New Orleans on Ancestry.com with no luck for Annie and maybe some luck for Daniel although it's not conclusive. One Daniel Vaughn/Vaughan is definitely not him, but a Dan Vaughn may be him. Can't tell for sure.

So. I will check other online places for the directories. Does Ancestry have them all? According to the 1900 census, Annie came to America in 1872 {And who knows how accurate that is? I've previously looked for her on passenger records and on immigration records with no success}, and I believe the city directories on Ancestry.com had thru 1871 and not 1872, 1873, or 1874 and then they pick up after that . 

And I'll also check to see if Clayton Library has them or if FamilySearch.org lists anything for them or if they have them on microfilm. And I'll definitely check to see if the New Orleans main library does lookups of them.

So. I need to survey what is available for New Orleans City Directories and look for an address for Annie if I want the Archdiocese of New Orleans Archives to look for Daniel and Annie's marriage record. Or send in the request with the so-so address I have for a Dan Vaughan. And I really don't like that option.

Or? I could do some in-depth looking for a Rev. Gleason in city directories and newspapers to try to narrow which Catholic Parish he was working in around 1874. Surely he presided over a funeral that was written up in an New Orleans newspaper in 1874, right?

I'll do both.

Baby Steps. But I'm getting there.

I'm getting closer to Annie.

~Caroline

Annie, I'm one step closer to finding you.

This past weekend, I had the honor and privilege of attending a wedding in a small country Texas town, Chappell Hill. The exchange of vows took place in St. Stanislaus Roman Catholic Church which was established in 1889, and it's very beautiful, and the ceremony was beautiful as well. 

And as I was listening to the priest conduct the ceremony, it wasn't very hard to let my genealogy and family history imagination take over. Who else had been married in this church? Is this hardwood floor original to the church? Where do they keep their records? Who was baptized here? And did the original Polish-German settlers and communicants of this church here in Chappell Hill have as hard of a time understanding their priest as I do this one? Probably not because they would have spoken Polish or German, and I do not. {Yes, the priest on Saturday spoke English, but it was with a very heavy German accent.} Of course, Catholic services in 1889 would probably have been spoken in Latin, right? So, perhaps past parishioners had been just as in the dark as I was on Saturday. {I'm Episcopalian, and our liturgical services are quite similar so I was able to follow fine, but I do like to listen and understand the Gospel and sermon. Most of the time. ;) }

Needless to say, my mind wandered on Saturday evening during the ceremony. I even thought about Daniel and Annie's {my 2nd great grandparent's} marriage in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1874. Yes, I'd ordered a copy of their marriage record from the Secretary of State, Archives Division in Louisiana thanks to Jennifer Sepulvado's suggestion for my Daughter's of the American Revolution (DAR) and United Empire Loyalist (UEL) applications, but knowing from family stories handed down orally in my family that Annie was a devout Irish Catholic, and knowing from my research that Daniel might have grown up as an Episcopalian {like myself}, I've often wandered what church they were married in. Who stood up for them? What were they wearing? Who married them? What kind of flowers did Annie hold, if any?

You know, the usual stuff that goes on in a genealogist's or family historian's mind during a wedding in a very old church.

However, if I'd been at home on Saturday I would have checked my mail, and I could have had some answers to my questions about Daniel and Annie's wedding. And more clues. But then on this cold and drizzly day, it sure was nice to find their marriage record in the mailbox.

That's right. My marriage record copy order was completed in a very timely fashion. A huge thank you goes out to the Archives Division, Secretary of State of Louisiana because I now have in my possession a copy of Daniel and Annie's marriage record from 1874.

Now, I've ordered other marriage records before for other branches in my tree {and for other people}, and sometimes you get less information or clues than you were expecting and sometimes you get more. I prefer to just not think about it and expect less so that when I open up the envelope, and find out more than what I expected, then I'm pleasantly surprised. {Read: Jumping up and down with joy.}

And this is definitely one of those occasions.

According to their marriage a copy of their returned marriage license filed in Book No. 5, Folio 255, Mr. D.R. Vaughn and Miss Annie O'Brien were married by Rev. Gleason on 19 Mar 1874. The returned marriage license clearly states that D.R. Vaughn was 27 years old and a native of New Orleans, and his parents {That's right HIS PARENTS.} were B.J. Vaughn and Susanna Vaughn.

It also clearly states that Annie O'Brien was a native of Ireland and that she was the daughter of James O'Brien and Jane O'Brien. Their witnesses were a W.L. Leibrock and a Katie L. Lennon.

The marriage license was issued on 17 Mar 1874 by the Hon. John Daley and received back and filed in Book 5, Folio 255 on 23 Mar 1874.

Now, just because this is a photocopy of the of it does not mean the information is 100% correct. It's not. First,  This is a photocopy of the returned marriage license filed in Book 5, Folio 255, and because of its photocopied state, it's considered a derivative of the original. However, in my opinion, it's a very good photocopy and it's clear to read and understand.

The other thing to consider is that the information on the returned marriage license was filled out probably by Rev. Gleason. It was probably signed by him, Daniel, and Annie. They were a part of the ceremony. The witnesses would have signed as well and, duh, they were witnesses. So the information on here concerning Daniel and Annie's marriage is as accurate as I can get without seeing the original returned marriage license with my own eyes and without attending their wedding ceremony {which would have been impossible}. The information concerning their marriage is primary. It also is direct information to my research question for my DAR and UEL applications. When {date} and where {city, county, state} were Daniel and Annie married? They were married 19 Mar 1874 in New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana. And it corroborates other information and documents I have found concerning their marriage.

However, the information concerning Daniel's age and parents would have come from Daniel and not very close in time to the actual event. Yes, Daniel was there when he was born, but I was there when I was born, and I cannot attest to, well, anything on that day. {And you can't either concerning your own birth.} But according to what I've known all my life and my birth certificate, my age that I know it to be is correct. {Unfortunately.} So while I don't have his birth information nor his baptismal information {Microfilm is on order.}, I do have census information, his death certificate, and military information and the age recorded on his marriage record is in line with what I've found on those documents. And the same goes for his parent's names. {And I'm not even upset that his mother's maiden name isn't given. I already have it. It would've been nice for corroboration, though.}

Now, the same kind of thinking goes for Annie's given information. Interestingly, her age isn't listed. Annie would have been *counts on fingers* about 20 years old. I say, about because according to her death certificate, she was born 21 Jul 1853 so IF that's correct, when she married, she hadn't turned 21 yet. {If my math is correct. I hate math.} And, apparently, she told the priest who married them, Rev. Gleason, that she was a native of Ireland, and this corroborates everything I've learned about Annie via family lore as well as census records, her death certificate, her children's baptismal records, and her children's death certificates.

What's really awesome about this marriage record is the listing of Annie's parents. I assume Annie volunteered the information to Rev. Gleason. {Who else would have? Okay, maybe Daniel, but I've NO evidence that he knew them at all. Ever. Which means I know nothing.} So. This photocopy of the marriage record corroborates the information given on her death certificate by her youngest son, Daniel Warren Vaughan, that her father was, indeed, a James O'Brien. All still very secondhand, but I love clues that don't contradict each other, especially since trying to find an Annie J. O'Brien whose father might be a James O'Brien in Catholic Irish records in maybe Dublin Ireland seems so very daunting. {Amen?}

And? This marriage record reveals Annie's mother's name...

{Wait for it...}

Jane O'Brien. Which is totally new news for me. Now, I'm going to suggest that just as Daniel's mother's surname listed on the marriage record was not her maiden name, that probably Jane's maiden name is not O'Brien. But? Hello? I have her first name {if it's correct}! Unfortunately, it's a very common name, but I'm SO not gonna complain. {It could've been Mary. My tin cup is always half full and according to family lore so was Annie's.}

Now, remember, from Genevieve's {Daniel's and Annie's daughter's} baptismal record we learned that one of Genevieve's real names {As opposed to the one she went by her almost entire life because why make it easy on me?} was Jane. And from the census records and elsewhere, I've learned that Annie's middle initial is a "J." So the hint of Annie's naming patterns surfaces once again.

It also surfaces on the marriage record in another place - in the revealing of the the witnesses names. As I mentioned above, the second witness was a Katie L. Lennon. And we know from Genevieve's baptismal record and census records that Genevieve's middle name was Lennon.

This clue leads me to 2 additional research paths. I need to research both of these witnesses to discern their relationship to the happy couple. Who were they to Daniel and Annie? Also, it means if there is no relationship between Katie and Annie I probably don't need to keep the name 'Lennon' in mind when I eventually look for Annie's origins in Ireland. 

The last clue that it gives me is that they were married by a Rev. Gleason. This indicates they were married in a church...a church that has records. {Oh yeah.} So now I need to track down a Rev. Gleason in probably a Catholic church in 1874. I think that's do-able. At least trying to find him is do-able. Certainly, I don't need it for my DAR and UEL applications, but who knows what kind of info it contains? Does it corroborate or contradict this marriage record or anything else I've found or know? And wouldn't it be nice the next time I go back to New Orleans to be able to visit and photograph the church where they were married if it's still there? So, I'll definitely hunt down {or at least try to} Rev. Gleason and the church Daniel and Annie were married in.

As far as my DAR and UEL applications are concerned, this marriage record is just what I needed for acceptable evidence of their marriage event for both applications. And since it's Daniel's maternal and paternal lines that hold the Patriot and Loyalist, respectively, needed for my applications, it would seem it's all good in this respect.

But it's also given me many clues for further research on Annie's origins and the rest of her line and hers and Daniel's wedding day.

I'm a step closer to the completion of my DAR and UEL applications.

And, Annie, I'm one step closer to finding you. {Um. Not physically, just your origins. And whatever stories I can find about you and anyone remotely related to you. And me.}

~Caroline

Orleans Parish, Louisiana, [Still obtaining the title of the register from the Archives Division because it wasn't listed in the photocopy.], Book 5: Folio 255, D.R. Vaughn - Annie O'Brien; State of Louisiana, Secretary of State, Archives Division, Baton Rouge.

Other blog posts pertaining to my DAR & UEL quests & some related tangents {In case you're really bored.}:

Family Stories: DAR or Bust
Family Stories: Loyalist + Patriot = ?
Family Stories: Boo's Baptismal Records Came In! 
A Baby Boy
He Had Salt Water in His Veins
I Knew it Genevieve
Viola "Vyla" Prudence Vaughan Sproul Clifton Brandenburg
Stories Within the Old Lighthouse
James Wesley Blacketer's Story Continues...
DAR, Some Secrets, Brother Ed, and the Mayans
Collaborative Genealogy Works

Stories within the old lighthouse

Bolivar Point Lighthouse, Bolivar Point, Texas. © Copyright 2012 Caroline M. Pointer

One hundred twenty-five people sought refuge in the Bolivar Point Lighthouse during the Storm of 1900 that devastated Galveston Island, Texas, and the surrounding area including Bolivar Peninsula. And I cannot even imagine the horrors those lighthouse refugees and those like them on Galveston Island went through.

Luckily my 2nd great grandparents had already moved their family clear to the other side of Texas. [And there was a part 2 to that story as well.]

Anywho. The lighthouse was built in 1872 and has survived all of the storms that have hit this part of the Gulf Coast of where it still stands today.

And other than its color being changed from black and white striped to the solid black that it is today, it is the same lighthouse my great grandmother, Alice Florence Vaughan, would have seen on a daily basis as she grew up on Bolivar Point.

And it's the same lighthouse that stood there on the day Daniel and Annie boarded the ferry for Alice's baptism which would take place later on Galveston Island in St. Mary's Cathedral. And as they sailed across the bay, I wonder if either Daniel or Annie looked back at it? Surely they would have gazed at it on their way back home after Alice's baptism, for it would have been, as it is now, the tallest structure on Point Bolivar.




I wonder if, as she grew up, Alice ever stopped to look at the lighthouse. Did she ever ponder its stories it held inside? Did she marvel at its strength?

I know every time I gaze at the old lighthouse I ponder the stories located within its steel-covered brick walls.  I wonder if it could ~ or even if it would ~ share its stories with me.

~Caroline

Note: I'm in the process of getting all my records together in order to apply for membership into the Daughters of the American Revolution as well as the United Empire Loyalists. At the same time. With the same line. [Scandulous, I know.] And I've blogged about this quest previously. Also, when I ordered my great grandmother's baptismal record from the Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston Archives, the awesome archivist sent me my great grandmother's sibllings' records as well. [At least, the ones who had been baptized in the same diocese.] Therefore, I've been blogging about their records and the resulting stories: James Cornel, Henry Lewis, Genevieve Lennon, and Viola Prudence, and now, finally my Great Grandmother, Alice Florence (Vaughan) Truitt, but we just called her 'Boo', a shortened version of her nickname 'Bamboo' [And you know you wanna click on the link to read *that* story. =) ]

St. Mary's Cathedaral (Galveston, Galveston County, Texas). Baptismal Registers. Roman Catholic Church Archdiocese og Galveston-Houston, Texas.