You never know when you’ll get what you’re looking for, especially when researching a name like Murphy. I got lucky this time though with a death certificate for William Murphy at the Pennsylvania State Archives. William Murphy, my 3rd great grandfather, lived at 307 McClure Ave in the 1920 census with his daughter Sarah and […]
I was named after my Grandma Kate, born Katherine Irene Murphy. She passed away before I was born, but I’ve always felt a special connection with her. Grandma Kate was named after her aunt, Katherine Murphy-Arnaut, who died unexpectedly at 29 years old. I was pretty excited to find that Katherine Murphy-Arnaut’s grandmother was also named Catherine! (spelled with […]
I think I may have actually figured out who her parents were and where she came from. Here’s my method: Thomas Aspery I started researching Thomas Aspery a couple weeks ago, from the list I made of possible relatives (see previous post). He had the same uncommon last name, was born in England, same generation […]
Earlier this year, I attended the Fairfax Genealogical Society Spring Conference and there were two lectures by Thomas W. Jones that were particularly helpful: “Using ‘Correlation’ to Reveal Facts that No Record States” and “Inferential Genealogy: Deducing Ancestors’ Identities Indirectly.” I learned that I was not doing nearly enough to get past my brick walls. Leaving […]
A couple weeks ago I wrote about the discovery of a brother to my 2nd great grandfather, the elusive James Joseph Murphy. This brother, Harry Murphy, had immigrated a couple years after his parents and siblings to Sharon, Pennsylvania. The only way I found out about him is because my great grand aunt had his […]
I had seen a photo of “Uncle Harry,” as my mom identified him, but she didn’t know exactly who he was. His name was Harry Murphy and he appeared in a couple photos with other Murphy family members. I actually assumed that he was a neighbor that shared the same last name. While visiting family […]
My mom grew up in a large family. She always talked about the big traditional family gatherings where everyone traveled to one house and celebrated together. Growing up we still had a traditional dinner, but it usually was a small group. I never quite understood the big production of Thanksgiving, but I knew my mom […]
I had this photo labeled as James Joseph Murphy, but I’m starting to think this may be someone else. James J Murphy died in 1917 at 36 years old. This man looks a little older, don’t ya think? To give some comparison, the photo on the right is actually James J Murphy. The hair part […]
One of my favorite family photos. The Murphy family in Youngstown, Ohio 1955. Let me know if I have misidentified someone. 1. Patty Ann Gallagher 2. Margaret Arnaut 3. Owen W Gallagher 4. Mildred Elaine Murphy 5. Unknown 6. Unknown -possible friend of Mildred Elaine Murphy 7. Edward Murphy 8. Mildred Whitacre 9. Robert Lee […]
I got this idea from Genea-Musings and Family Tree Magazine and thought it would be interesting. Charts and graphs are fun to make, not to mention this entire blog post took about 15 minutes to do. Here’s what I did: 1. Listed the birthplaces of all 16 2nd great grandparents. For simplicity, I’m used my Mom’s […]
Katie's Grove 