Friday's Photo: Kathleen Caccavo and Connie Sullivan

Kathleen Caccavo was my mother-in-law's (Doris Quinn's) first cousin. Their mother's were sisters - Bertha Driscoll Caccavo and Helen Driscoll Staubach. 

Kathleen married Connie Sullivan on November 22, 1952.

These pictures belonged to my mother-in-law. 

I continue to look for more about the Caccavo-Sullivan family and would appreciate any information. 

Diana

© 2013

Friday's Photo: The Quinn Family

This is one of the pictures found in my husband's parent's wedding album. Doris Staubach and William "Bill" Quinn were married on January 3, 1953. In this photo, all of those pictured with the bride and groom are from the Quinn side of the family. Susan Murray Quinn and William J. Quinn, on the right, are the parents of the groom. Patrick Moylan is the groomsman to the far right and the son of Susan's sister, Julia. The others are sisters of the groom and I assume, husbands. 

Will someone identify the Quinn sisters and their husbands?

Doris and Bill were married at Saint Catherine of Genoa's Church in New York City. Where was the reception? Does anyone have a saved wedding invitation?  

Diana

© 2013

Friday's Photo: Another Photo Identified

Two summers ago, a Hairston descendant, Carla, gave me this tiny baby picture when meeting other Hairston descendants in Texas.  Written on the back is "Stella's or Myrtie's." 

Stella was Estella Chisum Gresham daughter of Martha "Mattie" Hairston Chisum Thompson, the sister to my great-grandfather, Phillip A. Hairston.  Johnie Myrtlene “Myrtie” Hairston Bryan was the daughter of Phillip Hairston and my grandmother. Myrtie and Stella were cousins. 

The baby looked like another baby picture of Myrtie's daughter, DeRay Bryan, but I could not be sure. However, while re-organizing my genealogy papers and photos last week, I found some copies of Bryan/Hammett family pictures that I made during a research trip to Texas in 2001. This baby picture was one of those pictures and the owner of these pictures is a descendant of my grandfather's Bryan family. 

So, I can presume that due to the fact that both of my grandparent's families had this picture, and that the Bryan/Hammett family would probably not have a picture of Stella's baby, that this is of one of Myrtie's children - probably DeRay. 

Diana

© 2012, copyright Diana Quinn

I Wish for More Tools at AncestryDNA

My mother, wearing the hat, and 

her sister were not surprised 
when their DNA differed. 

I have been a fan of Ancestry.com since I started my membership in 2000 so was very pleased to try their new Autosomal DNA test last summer. Since then, I have coerced three family members to take the test and have several thousand matches, but organizing and taking the time to look at them all is an overwhelming task.

I have 58 pages of DNA matches with 50 matches per page - that's 2,900 matches. One match is immediate family (my mother), another is close family (my aunt), and I have two 3rd to 4th cousin matches; one who I know and love and one who also matches my mother and my aunt, but we don't have a clue as to how she matches us. Ninety-eight of my matches were in the 4th to 6th cousin range making the remaining 2,700+ matches distant cousins in the 5th to 8th cousin range. 

Now, triple the 2,900 matches as I am the administrator for both my mother's and my aunt's DNA. And, add my brother's DNA as his is processing. This will give me approximately 11,600 matches to wade through and more are added each week! Looking at over 11,000 matches is impossible so I don't look beyond 4th to 6th cousin matches. 

Of all of those matches, I have had a few new leads, but I have yet to find any new conclusive matches. Honestly, I can find more by searching the Public Trees at Ancestry.com. 

A newer tool at AncestryDNA puts a leaf next to any match that contains someone in my tree, but, in all of my current matches (almost 8,000), I only have two leaves. 

I have read that having the raw data from AncestryDNA will really help with the matches and that will come soon.  I know that if I can access that raw data, I will need to upload this data to another site such as GEDmatch or FamilyTree DNA.  However, are all those persons who match my DNA going to upload to another site? 

So AncestryDNA, make our matches easier to manage and please grant my wish!

Diana

© 2012

Friday's Photo: Said to be Mary Rourke

This photograph is said to be Mary Rourke, mother of James Murray. I received a copy of this picture from a distant family member who received it from another distant family member. 

James Murray was the father of my husband's grandmother, Susan Murray. There are many who read this blog that can say that James Murray was their grandfather or great-grandfather which would make Mary Rourke their great or great-great grandmother. 

Does anyone have a similar picture? Is this Mary Rourke? 

While I am asking questions, when did James Murray die? What did he do for a living? Does anyone know?

Diana

© 2012

My Other Genealogy Blog

Reddick Bryan 1793 to 1864

If you look to the bottom right on this blog. You will see, above the ads, "My Other Blogs." The Budget SLP is my professional blog and most of you reading this blog won't be interested in my speech and language posts. The other blog is another genealogy blog, The Reddick Bryan Family. Anyone related to my Bryan or Regan family may be interested in this one. Early Giddens family information may sometimes be found at this blog as Jacob Giddens, a brother of my ancestor Mitchell Giddens, lived in the same communities as the Bryan families in both Georgia and Louisiana. 

Reddick Bryan was born in 1793 in North Carolina. His second wife, Elizabeth Span Regan was also born in North Carolina. Both, Reddick and Elizabeth, migrated to Georgia and later settled in Bienville Parish where they both are buried. 

I am slowly writing about this family in the form of a timeline. My last post was about the family in 1821. However, in addition to writing about my Bryan family, I have found much information about slaves owned by the Bryan and Regan families. If you are interested in Slavery and the Bryan Family, click here. 

Diana

© 2012

Friday's Photo: Mary Lucy Glynn Giddens

Mary Lucy Giddens was my great-grandmother. She was photographed with a Mrs. Weller. The picture below also found in the album is labeled Weller's Farm. This farm was in Phillipsburg, Warren County, New Jersey where Mary Lucy Giddens lived with her family.

Diana

© 2012

Friday's Photo: Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

Whit Criswell Bryan  1920 - 2001

My father, Whit Criswell Bryan, a 20 year old pharmacist mate, was stationed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He had transferred from the U.S.S Aragonne to The Mobile Naval Hospital No. 2 on December 1, 1941. 

When the attack on Pearl Harbor began, Dad said that he was delivering newspapers for a friend who had a paper route. He had driven a friend’s car and was at a top of a hill when he saw the planes coming in; first thinking that they were US planes. When the bombing occurred, he left the car and ran back to the Mobile Hospital. He told my brother that, from the hill, he could see down into the cockpits of the Japanese planes. 

Diana

© 2012

Friday's Photo: The James Children

Dorothy, John, and Evelyn James - about 1925

This picture of the children of Elizabeth Giddens and her husband, Louis M. James was taken in Easton, Pennsylvania about 1925.  Elizabeth was the sister of my grandmother, Edith Giddens, and the daughter of Charles Giddens and Mary Lucy Glynn. 

Evelyn James Lilly,  the last surviving child, died this week at age 91. Evelyn was my mother's first cousin. I only remember meeting her once, but my mother often talked about her cousins,  Dorothy and Evelyn. 

Click here to see Evelyn's obituary. 

Diana

© 2012

Get Your Flu Shot!

From the Baylor County Banner - October 24, 1918
However, this was not the end. Influenza continued its deadly campaign into 1919. 

Last year, I looked for information about some soldiers from Baylor County, Texas who died during World War I. Not surprisingly, about half of them died from disease rather than from fighting overseas. By 1918, the influenza had spread around the world. Most families would not make it through the pandemic untouched as it is estimated that at least a quarter of the United States population fell ill and more than 50 million died worldwide before its end in 1920.

My father's Hairston family lost a family member.  Hugh Gresham, of Estelline, Texas, was just 19 years old when he died of influenza in 1919. 

In NYC, my great-great grandmother, Julia Harvey Glynn died of bronchial pneumonia on February 12, 1919. Could influenza have been a contributing cause of the pneumonia?

Schools, church services, lodge meetings, theaters, bars, factories, and even courtrooms were closed to limit the spread of the disease. In Baylor County, Texas, where my grandparents lived, 29 deaths* were reported by the Baylor County Banner on December 19, 1918. In the months ahead, many more in that community and millions worldwide would lose their lives to influenza. 

To learn more about this pandemic, watch Influenza 1918 at the American Experience from PBS. 

* Deaths reported by the Baylor County Banner on December 19, 1918 occurred between October 18 and December 15, 1918. 

• Ben F. Martin - 1/2 year
• Mrs. Orval Cox - 19 years
• Henry E. Lewis - 31 years
• J. Covington - 30 years
• Katie Jones - 10 months
• Grace Lowry - 17 years
• J. H. Patterson - 68 years
• Mrs. Rosa Tipps - 23 years
• Luther Jones - 15 years
• E. E. Breedlove - 38 years
• Mrs. W. T. Wheeler - 46 years
• Infant of Mrs. and Mrs. Tim Nix - 1 month
• Mrs. H. A. Lowry - 29 years
• Burnett Bailes - 18 years
• Mrs J. A. Bailew
• Annie Lee Caldwell - 14 years
• D. A. Holman - 84 years
• Albert Wirz - 22 years
• Mrs. T. J. Praytor Jr. - 36 years
• Frida Wirz - 15 years
• Mrs. C. B. Daniel - 32 years
• Mrs. H. C. Harrison - 29 years
• W. H. Strange - 37 years
• N. B. Williams - 39 years
• Leonard E. Hill - 32 years
• J. N. Cassle
• Claude Clouse - 3 years
• Mrs. Claude Clouse
• Mrs. John McCauley

Diana

© 2012

_________________________________________________________________

Sources: 

John M. Barry, The Great Influenza, The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History (Penguin Books, 2005).

Influenza at Camps. The Baylor County Banner [Seymour, Texas] October 24, 1918.

Harvest of Death. The Baylor County Banner [Seymour, Texas] December 19, 1918.