Wordless Wednesday

I'm wordless after finding my Great-Grandfather's headstone on Find A Grave. Photographed by: G. Stoecklein
12/16/2008

Another Brick Knocked Out Of The Wall Part 1

I've been doing a little research on Ruby Bernardo who I mentioned I found some information on with the help of friends in Second Life in this blog post. With the information I found at Family Search on her death I contacted Washington State Library and asked them to look for her obituary. A few days ago I got a response and received the copies of her death notice.

Wow! What great information! I now had her address and what funeral home handled her arrangements. I immediately contacted Gaffney Funeral Home and asked them if they had any information on her. They emailed me back a copy of her funeral record just the other day with a wealth of information. It shows her and Macario are separated at this time, the date of her funeral, cause of death, her religious affiliation, her internment and much more! The full record is below, just click on it to see it full sized.
A friend checked with the cemetery (New Tacoma) and they say they have no record of Ruby so the mystery continues. Stay tuned for part two where I find out some more information on Ruby!

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Using Flickr as a Genealogical Tool

Earlier today I was using iGoogle to read some of my favorite genealogy blogs and noticed the gadget called Genealogy Photos.


This is a great little gadget that pulls photos from Flickr with the genealogy tag and posts them randomly when you refresh the page. For those who may not know, Flickr is a photo sharing site where you can upload up to 100 MB of photos per month for free. You can upgrade to a Pro account with unlimited features for $24.95 per year. It's a great way to share your photos and other genealogy files with other researchers as well as search for ancestors. To conduct a search just simply type the surname, genealogy. For example a search of Coleman, genealogy brings up these results. Of course you could narrow the search further by searching Surname, Genealogy, Place, Year, etc.

When uploading your family pictures and records to Flickr make sure to add as many tags as possible in the tag box. For example if you are uploading a picture of Grandpa Joe Smith from Bangor, ME tag it as Joe, Smith, Maine, Bangor, Penobscot County, etc. If you find a "cousin" you'll want to make sure to contact them using Flickr's messaging system and maybe even add them as a friend. Once you sign up feel free to add me as a friend, my user name there is Family Reflections and you can view my genealogy photostream (Flickr's name for the page where your photos are listed) here. Happy Root Digging!

Breaking Down Brickwalls in Second Life

I was working online this past Sunday and got an alert via TweetDeck that DearMyrtle had posted a new blog post. The post talked about the genealogy meetings and chats they had in the program Second Life. I thought what a great way to get to know your fellow genealogists. I signed up that very night but wasn't able to join in the chat until Monday evening. Boy am I glad I did!

With the help of all my new friends in Second Life I was able to locate the death record for my elusive Great-Grandmother Ruby Adams (Bernardo). With that information I was able to locate an obituary in a Tacoma, WA newspaper and I'm waiting for a response from the librarians on a copy!

If you join Second Life (it's FREE BTW) feel free to send me a friend request to NAMASTE DEEZUL. I will be on this evening for some chat.
That's me in a green Just Genealogy t-shirt in front of the Live Roots gazebo.

Grandma Garlands School Records or THAT'S why I'm so terrible in Math!

While organizing the office/genealogy workspace/craftroom a few weekends ago. While I came upon my Grandma Garlands high school transcripts from Milton High School. I love collecting obscure records of my ancestors, it really puts some flesh on the bones so to speak. It was super easy to get the record, all I did was write a letter to the high school letting them know I was the family historian and was looking for my Grandmother's high school transcripts. I let them know she was deceased and included a copy of her death certificate as proof. A few weeks later I got the transcripts in the mail.

I gleaned some great genealogical information from them too! My Great Uncle John J. Coleman (who raised my grandmother) was listed as guardian with his occupation listed as a shipfitter at Boston Navy Yard. WOW! What a find this is! I also learned that prior to her attending Milton High she was enrolled at Mount St. Joseph Academy. Her grades from Mount St. Joseph were also included which was an added bonus. I had no idea she attended any other high school other than Milton. They will be the next people I contact for more information on Grandma Garland.

As for the grades it seems Grandma Garland was great in P.E. class and Sewing but not so hot in Math. Now I know why I have so much trouble with math!! If you send off for your ancestors school records come back here and let me know what kind of great finds you come up with!

Cemetery Touring

Anna and I just got back from a trip to Apalachicola, FL. It's really a beautiful area and I wish we had some more time to spend there. In addition to spending some time in town we got the opportunity to visit two historic cemeteries. Although none of our ancestors are buried in the cemeteries we had fun touring them.


The first cemetery was the Old St. Joseph Cemetery. Most of the graves in the old section (1835 - 1841) are unmarked graves of the many victims of the Yellow Fever epidemic that struck the area in 1841.

It's not known how many people are buried here but it is believed many of Florida's leaders including several members of the Florida Constitutional Convention rest here. Although there are not many headstones I found this beautiful black headstone on the other side of the cemetery.

The second graveyard we visited was the Chestnut Street Cemetery of Early Apalachicola (Old City Graveyard)

There were so many interesting stones there I didn't have time to take pictures of them all but here are two of my favorites:

The grave of George W. Core

Transcription: George W. son of Rev. D.W. and Mrs. F. V. Core. Born Nov. 27, 1877 Died Mar. 1, 1902 A life so well spent on this earth cannot fail to reap a bountiful harvest in the one to come.

I loved this headstone because the whole stone is a stump of a tree and it has the seal of the Woodmen of the World on it.

The Grave of Catherina Spano

Transcription: Here rests the body of Catherina Spano Bor 17 May 1853 Died Oct 09 1900

I really loved this marker. It's obviously homemade and the shadow it reflects is really interesting.

Spring Cleaning

I will be off for the next week starting Saturday and in addtion to spending some time relaxing I wanted to take some time to "Spring Clean" my genealogy binders and files. Honestly I had no idea where to begin and looking at my files I was a little intimidated. But soon I found this article at Geneaology.com with tips on how to get your genealogy research organinzed. There are so many great tips I can't wait to get started!

Happy ancestor hunting folks!
Sandra

Pap and the Treasure Trove at Newspaper Archives

Recently I signed up for a 7 day free trial at Newspaper Archive just to see what I could find. Boy did I find a treasure trove of information on my paternal grandfather!

My Pap has had an amazing life, born in Pennsylvania in 1927 and descended from German immigrants. He was raised on my great grandparents small farm on Flading Lane. He played high school baseball and was set to join the Red Sox when war broke out in 1941 he joined the war effort in the 82nd Airborne division. He met my grandmother in Germany and they were married when they returned to the states. He's been a Washington D.C. Police Detective and for all of my life he was a baseball coach and umpire.

I was so excited to find several articles about my Pap, mostly about his baseball coaching career. Here was an article about him being given the head coaching position at Mount St. Mary's College, another article talking about his position as Assistant Coach at the Naval Academy, even an interview where he talks of learning the game from his uncle "Red" Ruffing who played for the Yankees (as a side note I've yet been able to prove our relationship the famed pitcher with any kind of substantial evidence) and also an article where he talks about catching fly balls for the Homestead Grays. These articles have helped me flesh out the story of my Pap and add a bit of interesting history outside of his basic statistics.

I strongly recommend getting yourself a subscription and checking it out! If you do and find something useful to you I'd love to hear about it, just leave a comment below.

Been A Long Time...

Yes I know I have let this blog fall by the wayside. Truth be told I've hardly had time to work on my genealogy at all.

From now on though I am going to set aside some time to do some research. I've also been studying to become a Certified Genealogist! I'm very excited about it, hopefully I will be able to turn it into a career! Now wouldn't that be something? Look for more frequent updates here on my family research, my journey to become a genealogist and other genealogy related posts!

Easter Memories of Memaw

As Easter approaches I am reminded of my Grandmother. We all called her Memaw because the first born grandchild couldn't pronounce Grandma and she had been Memaw all of her life. Every year we would have a huge Easter Egg Hunt in her backyard. She would hide eggs with change and candy. And about 10 large golden eggs with 50.00 bills in them. My cousins and I would tear through the yard looking for them. When we came back in we would have a huge meal and each get a very big Easter basket from the Easter Bunny.

She passed away almost two years ago and some parts of her life are still a mystery. I found her on the 1930 census in Detroit, MI as Emily June Bernardo. After she died my father and aunt found a birth registration card with her birthdate on it and a name of Arratie Flores. I've heard she was born in the Phillipines and not in Detroit. AND that she was adopted by her stepfather Macario Bernardo. *(See the previous post for info on him) I've checked birth records in Detroit, MI for both names with no results. So either she wasn't born there or she was really born in the Phillipines. Her Mother died in a car wreck when she was young and her stepfather placed her in a conveant. Her mother's family from Macon, GA came and got her. From there she entered the service and served as a WAC in WWII. She met my grandfather in Germany and they were married when they came back to the states either in 1948 or 1949. My grandfather says it was in Tocooaa, GA. But...you guessed it...no records. They moved to Pennsylvania where they lived on my great grandfathers farm till 1956 and moved to Maryland. My grandfather was hired on with the D.C. Homicide division and my grandmother worked at the Smithsonian for years. That's where she and my grandfather lived until she passed away.

There is so much I wish I knew about her early years. Hopefully I will be able to find that information and find that missing part of my family. Until then there are always the memories of the times I shared with her and those great Easter Egg Hunts.

Macario Bernardo

I came across a breakthrough on my Ruffing line. I was searching Ancestry's ships lists and came upon a ship record for the RMS Empress of Russia. A Canadian ship that sailed from Manila, Philippine Islands to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The ship left Manila on April 30th 1920 and arrived in Vancouver on May 24th 1920. It is a List of United States Citizens. Macario Bernardo and I'm assuming his brother Ricardo Bernardo (since there birth dates on the list are just a few years apart) are listed. Thier residence is listed as 37 Broadway New York, NY. But the age match my Macario Bernardo who is my grandmother's step father. (At least that is what she told us. They have the same last name however she told us that she had been adopted by him when he married my great grandmother.) He is listed as Single on the list which means he had not met my great-grandmother yet. I wonder how he got to Detroit from either New York or Canada. And he is listed on a US Citizen passenger list so I'm assuming he may have gone back to visit some family in the Philippine's. Maybe driven cross country and stopped in Detroit to work at an Auto Factory. (The 1930 census states he worked as a Laborer in an Auto Factory). That also explains why I can't find him on a 1920 U.S. Census. Maybe he is on a Canadian Census. Hmmm...the plot thickens!! I've scanned the Passenger List here. Enjoy! (Click on the image below for the enlarged document!!)

My Boston Coleman's

Sometimes research can uncover an old family secret. I came upon such a secret while researching the family of my maternal grandmother, Patricia Marion Coleman. The people I thought were my great-grandparents (John Coleman and Mary V. Burke) were actually my great aunt and uncle. The picture of the distinguished man bottom left is my maternal great-grandfather. He was born about 1873 in Ireland. I have not found out yet when he immigrated here from Ireland. As you can imagine there are several Patrick Coleman's in that time period!! On my grandmother's birth certificate he is listed as a Tonic Salesman and on his death certificate just listed as Retired. There is an article that describes the dispute over his estate after he died (The article is transcribed further down in this post. You see, Patrick was married to another woman and had a son with that woman when my grandmother was born to Margaret Coleman. (No relation). Patrick died on July 2, 1944. According to his death certificate he was buried in Holyhood Cemetary in Brookline, MA.

Margaret Coleman was born on November 16Th 1897 in Boston, MA. She died July 17Th 1959. She is listed as Head of household on both the 1920 and 1930 census with no occupation listed. On the 1930 census she is listed as living alone. My grandmother is already living with John Coleman and Mary Burke at that time. According to John Coleman Jr. she and her two brothers and parents are all buried in New Calvary Cemetery in Boston. The only picture I have of Margaret is the picture posted above. I have also posted pictures of John Coleman and Mary Burke, as well as a picture of my grandmother with John Coleman Jr and Marguerite Coleman. I would like to thank my mother for copying the originals and sending them to me. Also to my Aunt Irene who provided me with the records of my grandmother' s birth parents.

(The first picture is from left to right John Coleman Jr, Marguerite Coleman, Patricia Marion Coleman. The second picture is John Coleman and Mary V Burke my grandmothers aunt and uncle that raised her. The Fourth picture is Margaret Coleman, Patricia's Mother. The fifth picture is Patrick Coleman, Patricia's Father)

The following is a transcription of an article in my mother's possession that is in reference to Patrick Coleman's estate. The lines with question marks (_____?) are areas on the article that were torn or illegible due to the age and condition of the newspaper clipping.

Coleman Estate is Left to Daughter

Attorney Frank Wilson appointed special administrator of Mr. Colemans' estate by Judge Fredrick J. Dillion, Suffolk Probate Court on July 14 said he had no information as to the value of the estate. As special administrator, Attorney Wilson filed a bond for $40,000.

The will, dated Nov 16, 1941, Handwritten on a single sheet of paper left his estate in trust to his daughter, Patricia, who is to receive the di_______? when she reaches the age of 30. Richard Harkins and Dr Louis N. S________? are named Trustees. Dr. Sc(n/h)________? who is serving in the armed forces is named Executor.

More than $35,000 in cash and securities was seized in a series of raids in November, 1943 in connection with the arrest of Coleman and 17 others on charges of registering horse bets and had been retained by the attorney-general pending documentation of the owner since part of it was claimed by Dr. Harkins one of the trustees named on the will and by others.

Dated Dec (20Th??) 1944 on back.

Update

I'm still at a standstill on my Bernardo/Flores line. It seems it may be that way for a while until I can smash my way through my brick wall. It seems like every time I go to update here it has been several months since the last post!! I am going to make a huge effort to update at least once a week. I did get some great pictures of the Coleman line from my Mother today. She was kind enough to also get Walgreens to put them on disk so I can upload them! I am in the process of sending out info to as many Garland relatives that I can in an effort to collect info/stories/pictures for my book I hope to publish. I will be back this weekend with the pictures I received today posted here and on the family website.

Slow Going

Recently I have been attempting to trace my Grandmother's family. It has proven to be very difficult. Emily June Bernardo was, from family lore, adopted by her StepFather Macario Bernardo soon after she was born. Her mother was Ruby Bernardo (Maiden name either Adams or Davis). I have them all living together in Detroit, Michigan on the 1930 census. When she passed away last year my father found a birth registration card with her birthday of January 13th, 1923 with the name Arratie Flores. I believe this was her birth name before she was adopted by her Stepfather. The census states she was born in Michigan but I have not been able to locate a birth certificate in either her birth name or adopted name. I have also not been able to locate a marriage certificate for Ruby and Macario Bernardo. I am hoping a search for Ruby Bernardo's death certificate will reveal her real madien name and I can proceed from there. Everyone keep their fingers crossed I will be sending off the paper work for the death certificate in a few weeks.

Welcome!

Hello there cousin! Welcome to my blog. I hope to use this as a supplement to my family history website Family Reflections. I will be posting my research adventures, family photos and stories. Please sit back and enjoy!