Here is a quick view of my great grandmother's autograph book, which is a glimpse of her journey from Waterbury, Connecticut to Greenwood, Nebraska. It includes scans of each page and my transcription of the document.
Minnie Welch Kelly's autograph book - Subscriber Home Pages
Showing posts with label Surname: Welch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Surname: Welch. Show all posts
Friday, October 28, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Sunday's Obituary - Nellie Welch Tibbetts
Mrs. F. L. Tibbetts
Dies at Age of 89
Mrs. Nellie E. Tibbetts, 89, died yesterday morning at her home, 3225 South 11th street, following a long illness.
Born at Litchfield, Conn., she had resided in St. Joseph since 1885. She was a member of St. Joseph Cathedral.
Survivors include her husband, Frank L. Tibbetts, of the home, and a sister, Mrs. Agnes Garrigus, haddone [sic], Conn.
The body is at the Heaton-Bowman mortuary where the parish rosary will be recited this evening at 7:30. Services will be tomorrow morning at 10 at St. Joseph's Cathedral with the Rev. Patrick Tobin officiating. Burial will be in Mount Olivet cemetery.
source: St. Joseph (MO) News Press, April 29, 1956, Page 4
note: Agnes Garrigus lived in Haddam, Connecticut
The back story - a brief case study
I found this obituary online last evening while looking for something else. Nellie and Agnes were sisters of my great grandmother, Minnie Welch Kelly. These daughters of Mark Welch and Sarah Conneally were on my mind after writing about Minnie Welch's autograph book in the Fearless Females series.
From time to time, I will go back to an online resource and repeat a search, since new information is added to the internet daily. Last evening, I went to the Google News Archive and typed in "Agnes Garrigus." Her name showed up in a 1956 obituary from the St. Joseph News Press in Missouri. I knew there was a family connection in St. Joseph, but did not know who it was.
The obituary, posted above, indicated that Nellie Tibbetts was a sister of Agnes Garrigus. Nellie Welch!
As mentioned in the article about her sister Minnie's autograph book, I also have the autograph book that belonged to Nellie Welch. I didn't know if she had remained in Connecticut or if she had moved to the Midwest, either with Minnie or later. Now I knew that Nellie had moved to St. Joseph, Missouri and I had her married name!
My next step was to enter the information about Nellie and her husband, Frank L. Tibbetts, into my Ancestry.com tree. It was there that I found them in the census records for 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930. There were never any children listed in their household, but Frank's father, John Tibbetts, lived with them as he grew older.
One of the best pieces of information discovered on Ancestry was the couple's marriage license from the Missouri marriage records database. The couple was married in St. Joseph on September 20, 1893. This was five years after her sister, Minnie, married my great grandfather, Daniel Kelly, in Nebraska.
Finding the death certificates
Since Nellie and Frank lived in Missouri, my next step was the Missouri Digital Heritage site. This is a wonderful online resource, especially if your Missouri ancestor died in the state between 1910 - 1960. Images of death certificates are available on the site.
I searched for Tibbetts and found Frank's death certificate, but not Nellie's. Frank died just 11 months after his wife died. I tried searching under various spelling variations of Tibbetts to locate Nellie's death certificate with no results. Then I searched by her first name only. There I found her, with her last name recorded as Tibbets.
Her last name was spelled incorrectly on the death certificate, but her husband's name (the informant) was spelled correctly.
My next step was to visit FindAGrave to see if there were memorials for the couple at Mt. Olivet Cemetery. Being none, I created them and posted a request for photographs of their headstones.
The Tibbetts home in St. Joseph, Missouri
Perhaps you've had a photograph, a newspaper article or a document gnaw at you. It's providing you with a little information, but not everything that you want to know. There are several photographs in Minnie Welch Kelly's photograph album that show people in front of a brick home in St. Joseph, Missouri around 1905. The address of the home is written on at least one of the photographs.
The house still exists today, I learned from doing a search on Google Street View a couple years ago. While driving home after the Family History Expo in Kansas City last summer, I even considered doing a drive-by of the house, but I didn't.
Here is a cropped photograph of the Tibbetts home in St. Joseph, Missouri. I am not posting the address since the home is still occupied.
The address written on the photograph matches the address of Frank and Nellie Tibbetts in the census records.
Even in the early 1900s, I thought this appeared to be a beautiful home, made of brick, with intricate detail in the masonry.
Oh, to be able to identify all of the people in the photograph. I've deduced that the young boy is Alfred Clarence Garrigus, since he is identified in other photographs and wearing the same clothing.
I can only speculate that the women are the Welch sisters. The gentleman - perhaps this is Frank Tibbetts? Or perhaps it's Mr. Garrigus.
Based on newspaper articles and Minnie's photo album, I've learned that the Garrigus family made a trip to the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 and likely visited Agnes' sisters in St. Joseph, Missouri and Greenwood, Nebraska on the same trip.
Brick Masons
As I looked over the census records for the Tibbetts and also discovered Frank's entry in several city directories for St. Joseph, why was I not the least bit surprised that both Frank and his father were brick masons! There was something about this beautiful brick house that had been gnawing at me for a long time. I just never came across any photographs of family homes that were anything but frame. So for the Tibbetts to live in this beautiful brick home made complete sense.
I'm sure this research saga will continue because I still want to be able to make positive identifications of all of the people who were photographed in front of the home in St. Joseph.
Will I make that side trip to see the home on my return trip from the Family History Expo this summer? What do you think?
Dies at Age of 89
Mrs. Nellie E. Tibbetts, 89, died yesterday morning at her home, 3225 South 11th street, following a long illness.
Born at Litchfield, Conn., she had resided in St. Joseph since 1885. She was a member of St. Joseph Cathedral.
Survivors include her husband, Frank L. Tibbetts, of the home, and a sister, Mrs. Agnes Garrigus, haddone [sic], Conn.
The body is at the Heaton-Bowman mortuary where the parish rosary will be recited this evening at 7:30. Services will be tomorrow morning at 10 at St. Joseph's Cathedral with the Rev. Patrick Tobin officiating. Burial will be in Mount Olivet cemetery.
source: St. Joseph (MO) News Press, April 29, 1956, Page 4
note: Agnes Garrigus lived in Haddam, Connecticut
The back story - a brief case study
I found this obituary online last evening while looking for something else. Nellie and Agnes were sisters of my great grandmother, Minnie Welch Kelly. These daughters of Mark Welch and Sarah Conneally were on my mind after writing about Minnie Welch's autograph book in the Fearless Females series.
From time to time, I will go back to an online resource and repeat a search, since new information is added to the internet daily. Last evening, I went to the Google News Archive and typed in "Agnes Garrigus." Her name showed up in a 1956 obituary from the St. Joseph News Press in Missouri. I knew there was a family connection in St. Joseph, but did not know who it was.
The obituary, posted above, indicated that Nellie Tibbetts was a sister of Agnes Garrigus. Nellie Welch!
As mentioned in the article about her sister Minnie's autograph book, I also have the autograph book that belonged to Nellie Welch. I didn't know if she had remained in Connecticut or if she had moved to the Midwest, either with Minnie or later. Now I knew that Nellie had moved to St. Joseph, Missouri and I had her married name!
My next step was to enter the information about Nellie and her husband, Frank L. Tibbetts, into my Ancestry.com tree. It was there that I found them in the census records for 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930. There were never any children listed in their household, but Frank's father, John Tibbetts, lived with them as he grew older.
One of the best pieces of information discovered on Ancestry was the couple's marriage license from the Missouri marriage records database. The couple was married in St. Joseph on September 20, 1893. This was five years after her sister, Minnie, married my great grandfather, Daniel Kelly, in Nebraska.
Finding the death certificates
Since Nellie and Frank lived in Missouri, my next step was the Missouri Digital Heritage site. This is a wonderful online resource, especially if your Missouri ancestor died in the state between 1910 - 1960. Images of death certificates are available on the site.
I searched for Tibbetts and found Frank's death certificate, but not Nellie's. Frank died just 11 months after his wife died. I tried searching under various spelling variations of Tibbetts to locate Nellie's death certificate with no results. Then I searched by her first name only. There I found her, with her last name recorded as Tibbets.
Her last name was spelled incorrectly on the death certificate, but her husband's name (the informant) was spelled correctly.
My next step was to visit FindAGrave to see if there were memorials for the couple at Mt. Olivet Cemetery. Being none, I created them and posted a request for photographs of their headstones.
The Tibbetts home in St. Joseph, Missouri
Perhaps you've had a photograph, a newspaper article or a document gnaw at you. It's providing you with a little information, but not everything that you want to know. There are several photographs in Minnie Welch Kelly's photograph album that show people in front of a brick home in St. Joseph, Missouri around 1905. The address of the home is written on at least one of the photographs.
The house still exists today, I learned from doing a search on Google Street View a couple years ago. While driving home after the Family History Expo in Kansas City last summer, I even considered doing a drive-by of the house, but I didn't.
 |
| The Tibbetts home in St. Joseph, Missouri |
The address written on the photograph matches the address of Frank and Nellie Tibbetts in the census records.
Even in the early 1900s, I thought this appeared to be a beautiful home, made of brick, with intricate detail in the masonry.
I can only speculate that the women are the Welch sisters. The gentleman - perhaps this is Frank Tibbetts? Or perhaps it's Mr. Garrigus.
Based on newspaper articles and Minnie's photo album, I've learned that the Garrigus family made a trip to the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 and likely visited Agnes' sisters in St. Joseph, Missouri and Greenwood, Nebraska on the same trip.
Brick Masons
As I looked over the census records for the Tibbetts and also discovered Frank's entry in several city directories for St. Joseph, why was I not the least bit surprised that both Frank and his father were brick masons! There was something about this beautiful brick house that had been gnawing at me for a long time. I just never came across any photographs of family homes that were anything but frame. So for the Tibbetts to live in this beautiful brick home made complete sense.
I'm sure this research saga will continue because I still want to be able to make positive identifications of all of the people who were photographed in front of the home in St. Joseph.
Will I make that side trip to see the home on my return trip from the Family History Expo this summer? What do you think?
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Fearless Females - Minnie Welch's autograph book
Lisa Alzo, who writes The Accidental Genealogist blog, has brought back a 31-day series of blogging themes called Fearless Females, in honor of celebrating March as Women's History Month. I hope to participate in as many of these blogging prompts as possible this month.
March 8 - Did one of your female ancestors leave a diary, a journal or collection of letters?
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| A page from Minnie Welch's autograph book |
It was the autograph books that belonged to the teenage Welch sisters that contributed to constructing the family group sheets of the Welch family. With entries such as "From your loving brother, Mark Welch" or "Love, Aunt Winnie," I've been able to learn about the family of Mark Welch and Sarah Conneally of Waterbury, Connecticut.
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| Miss Minnie Welch of Waterbury, Connecticut |
I've scanned all of the pages in Minnie Welch's autograph book and have compiled them into a pdf book that is a work-in-progress. The pages appear as they do in the original book; I only wish I'd begun the transcription a few decades ago before the ink had not deteriorated as much as it has now. I've made an index of the people who signed Minnie's book and even started to do a little bit of research on Ancestry.com about Minnie's friends. What better way to learn more about my great-grandmother than to learn about the friends she associated with as a young woman. This part of the project is still in process.
Minnie's autograph book covers the period from 1883 - 1888, when she was 18 - 23 years of age. The autograph book takes her from her birthplace in Connecticut to the plains of Nebraska in 1888. The last entry in the book is dated January 1888. She married my great-grandfather in Greenwood, Nebraska in December of that year.
The time frame makes me wonder where and how they met. What was their courtship like? How did a young lady from the east fall in love with a hard-working Nebraska farmer whose family had traveled by covered wagon from St. Paul, Minnesota? The answers to those questions may never be known, but what these pages show is that Minnie had a wealth of loving friends and family who undoubtedly contributed to the woman, wife and mother she became.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Sunday's Obituary - Agnes Welch Garrigus
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| Agnes Welch Garrigus with son Alfred St. Louis World's Fair |
Mrs. Agnes Garrigus
Mrs. Agnes Welch Garrigus, 85, widow of Clarence G. Garrigus, died at her home at Tylerville Friday morning.
She had been a resident of Haddam for 27 years.
She was born Jan. 19, 1873, in Litchfield; a daughter of the late Mark and Sarah C. Welch.
She leaves a son, Alfred C. Garrigus; three grandchildren; and six great grandchildren. The funeral will be held at the Funk Funeral Home in Bristol Monday at 2 p.m. The Rev. Roy G. Pavy, pastor of the East Haddam Congregational Church, will officiate. Burial will be in West Cemetery.
There will be no calling hours.
Source: Hartford Courant, Hartford, CT, Dec 20, 1958
Relationship to me: great grand aunt; sister of my great grandmother, Mary "Minnie" Welch Kelly
Monday, December 13, 2010
First Blogiversary of Long Lost Relatives.net
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| Breaking Through Brick Walls Is Like Icing on the Cake |
My original idea about the blog was to post queries or "looking for" messages about ancestors and long lost relatives who had become brick walls. My first post, one year ago today, was a query searching for my mother's cousin, Evelyn Bellinger Gibbons. I still have not tied up the loose ends on that search. But I have found the source of her husband's obituary and his burial location, so I'm not too far away.
It didn't take me long to begin sharing the old family photographs, stories and obituaries on the blog. Then I added information about genealogy events in Nebraska. As my Tombstone Tuesday postings increased, I decided to start another blog of my tombstone photographs with a title that aptly describes it, Nothing But Tombstones.
Shortly after I started my blog, I discovered the Geneabloggers blog, managed by the one and only Thomas MacEntee. I was welcomed with open arms by the geneablogging community, and LongLostRelatives.net had about a dozen followers sign up within the first few days of my blog being announced by Thomas. Then I got hooked on following my fellow bloggers to see what they were writing about - and learning more and more about genealogy resources and research.
I had dabbled on Facebook before, but decided to focus my Facebook presence primarily on genealogy. I sent friend requests to a few people who I already knew, introduced myself as a genealogist to others with the same interest and my online network started to grow.
The Year in Review
Looking back over the past year, my genealogical world has literally exploded with new found friendships, contacts and distant (and not-so-distant) relatives.
Some of the highlights of the past 12 months:
- Selecting some of my favorite photographs from my personal collection to share on the blog. Every picture tells a story (remember the old Rod Stewart album of that name?).
- In January, I took a risk and posted What if Your Ancestor Was a Axe Murderer? - a rather disturbing tale of my 3rd great grandfather killing his teenage daughter and then committing suicide.
- Genealogy hit mainstream television with NBC's Who Do You Think You Are? and PBS' Faces of America. We all tuned in and it seemed like the number of people researching their family history at least quadrupled overnight.
- Through shirt-tail kin who I had "met" online, I first saw a photograph of the tombstone of my great-great grandparents, Mark Welch and Sarah Conneally in Litchfield, Connecticut. By deciphering some penmanship and discovering the correct spelling of a surname, I connected one of Mark and Sarah's daughters, Agnes, to the Garrigus family and a wealth of stories and discoveries on FindAGrave emerged.
- The floodgates opened once I made the connection to my great-great grandfather's brother, Daniel Kelly, whose family remained primarily in St. Paul, Minnesota. A research trip to Ramsey county and a stroll down Summit Avenue is definitely in my future.
- In March, I took a two session class taught by local genealogists Marcia Stewart and Cynthia Monroe. Tips from the class helped me get out of my comfort zone and try additional research methods.
- Spring came and that meant some field trips to Wyuka Cemetery and Calvary Cemetery in Lincoln (Nebraska) and Rose Hill Cemetery in Waverly. Later in the summer was an excursion to Sheffer Pioneer Cemetery between Greenwood and Ashland, Nebraska. The cemetery had not yet been added to the FindAGrave site, so I added the cemetery to their database and added the photos of the graves I was able to document. My photographs on FindAGrave became the largest collection of photos of Sheffer Pioneer Cemetery to be housed in one online location. Since then, I've been able to transfer several of the memorials over to the direct descendants of some of those pioneers buried there.
- On St. Patrick's Day, I attended a wonderful presentation by the Ulster Historical Foundation on Irish and Scots-Irish research.
- In May, I attended the two-day conference of the Nebraska State Genealogical Society in Norfolk, Nebraska, featuring two fantastic days of lectures presented by Paula Stuart Warren, who immediately became one of my genealogical heroes.
- In May, I also made my first jump across the pond. Who would have ever thought that my Danish ancestors would be my first European connection? In Danish naming tradition, the surname changes every generation! I had resigned myself to never being able to go back to a prior generation. The Jeremiasens had been elusive to me in immigration records and passenger lists on Ancestry.com - until I splurged for Ancestry's world membership and within a few days, I found the Jeremiasens arrival record via Quebec! Shortly thereafter, I found the Jeremiasens in the Danish online database.
- Enter the power of social networking. I was following William Smith's Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories blog and we are Facebook friends. He had commented on a photograph of the Midwest Genealogy Center in Kansas City that was posted by Jenna Mills and a reference to the upcoming Midwest Family History Expo in July. Within a day I was registered to attend!
- I was invited to be a Blogger of Honor at the Midwest Family History Expo. Wow! I would be blogging and posting to Facebook about my experiences at the Expo.Within ten minutes after the opening session, I found myself at the Beacon of Bloggers area and my Facebook friends suddenly became my real life friends - Thomas MacEntee of Geneabloggers and Destination Austin Family, Jenna Mills of Desperately Seeking Surnames, Diana Ritchie of Random Relatives, the previously mentioned Dr. Bill, Lisa Alzo, Cheri Hopkins (aka You Go Genealogy Girl #2), Gena Philibert Ortega of Gena's Genealogy. That weekend went by entirely too fast!
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| Blogger Get Together at Family History Expo in Kansas City Diana Ritchie, Thomas MacEntee, yours truly, Jenna Mills photo copyright 2010 Jenna Mills used with permission |
- October was Family History Month and that meant a full day with John Colletta at the Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society fall conference and another full day at the Greater Omaha Genealogical Society fall conference two weeks later. It also marked the beginning of a six week course on the history of Lincoln (Nebraska) taught by local historian Jim McKee. It was very insightful to be able to place my family in context with local history. I suppose I'm one of the fortunate genealogists who lives in the same county where my family has planted roots for nearly 140 years. The streets where my ancestors worked and lived are all around me.
- October also marked the arrival of what I believe is the best product to hit the marketplace for genealogists in ages - the Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner. I've made no secret of my enthusiasm for this product. I'm a scanning fool! My other product recommendation this year is to use the Kindle e-reader for genealogy. I'm now carrying thousands of pages of local history books in my purse all the time. I'll confess that I also use my Kindle for some game-playing - probably more than I should!
- November brought a new adventure when I decided to have my DNA tested at 23andMe. Fellow bloggers Joan Miller and Carole Riley and I decided to become DNA testing buddies. We'll be blogging about our experiences and serve as support for one another as we go through the process. Of the three of us, I probably have the most to learn, since I know nothing about the science of this process. We are located in different countries - Joan in Canada, Carole in Australia and me in the United States, so I think it will be interesting to see what kind of migratory patterns emerge for each of us. You can keep up on our adventure as well as read other pertinent blog posts on the subject by following this RSS feed.
- I love reading the blogs written by other genealogists and recently made the Follow Friday theme a regular feature on this blog with Around the Blogosphere - a review of my favorite posts from the geneabloggers from the previous week. I have learned so much from the rest of you this year!
It's been a fun-filled and eventful year in my genealogy and blogging world. My heart-felt thanks to everyone who has posted comments on this blog or personally contacted me. The genealogy community is by far the most friendly and helpful group of people with whom I've ever been associated. My thanks to my blog readers, followers, my Facebook friends and Twitter followers. Who would have ever believed I'd be using Twitter after my "Bye Bye Blue Birdie" post!
So, is this post a bit self-indulgent? Of course! It's okay, I'm only going to have a First Blogiversary once. Many thanks to all of the wonderful people I've networked with during the past year. You helped me get here.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Surname Saturday - Welch
The Welch Family of Waterbury, Connecticut
Mark Welch and Sarah Conneally of Waterbury, Connecticut were my great-great grandparents. I am descended from their daughter, Mary Janice "Minnie" Welch, who married Daniel Kelly.
Details about this family still remain a bit elusive for me, although a few more details continue to surface from time to time.
It was only this past January that a "cousin" discovered a photograph of Mark and Sarah's grave site at St. Anthony's Cemetery in Litchfield, Connecticut.
Most of the family information that I've been able to put together came from the autograph books of Minnie Welch and her sister, Nellie.
Mark Welch was born in Ireland in 1826. His first wife was named Bridget and they had three daughters: Sarah, Catharine and Jane. After Bridget's death, he married Sarah Conneally and their children were Edward T, Mark Jr, Nellie, Annie, Mary Janice, Marcella, Agnes and William.
Besides my great grandmother, the only other member of the Welch family who I've been able to trace forward was Agnes Welch, who married Clarence Garrigus. My discoveries about this family are included in earlier blog posts.
Ancestry.com indicates the name Welch is an ethnic name for someone of Welsh origin. It also states that the usual spelling used in Ireland is Walsh. Top places of origin of Welch immigrants is Ireland, followed by England, Scotland and Germany.
I suppose that the families I have the most interest in are those who are the most elusive. I am hopeful that one day I'll have a much more comprehensive family biography of my Welch-Conneally ancestors.
Mark Welch and Sarah Conneally of Waterbury, Connecticut were my great-great grandparents. I am descended from their daughter, Mary Janice "Minnie" Welch, who married Daniel Kelly.
It was only this past January that a "cousin" discovered a photograph of Mark and Sarah's grave site at St. Anthony's Cemetery in Litchfield, Connecticut.
Most of the family information that I've been able to put together came from the autograph books of Minnie Welch and her sister, Nellie.
Mark Welch was born in Ireland in 1826. His first wife was named Bridget and they had three daughters: Sarah, Catharine and Jane. After Bridget's death, he married Sarah Conneally and their children were Edward T, Mark Jr, Nellie, Annie, Mary Janice, Marcella, Agnes and William.
Besides my great grandmother, the only other member of the Welch family who I've been able to trace forward was Agnes Welch, who married Clarence Garrigus. My discoveries about this family are included in earlier blog posts.
Ancestry.com indicates the name Welch is an ethnic name for someone of Welsh origin. It also states that the usual spelling used in Ireland is Walsh. Top places of origin of Welch immigrants is Ireland, followed by England, Scotland and Germany.
I suppose that the families I have the most interest in are those who are the most elusive. I am hopeful that one day I'll have a much more comprehensive family biography of my Welch-Conneally ancestors.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Treasure Chest Thursday - Minnie Welch Kelly's autograph book
I've been quite fortunate to have several autograph books from the females in my family be passed along to me. I have the autograph book that belonged to my mother when she was a teenager; the autograph book that belonged to my father's mother; and autograph books that belonged to my great grandmother, Minnie Welch Kelly, and her sister, Nellie Kelly.
Minnie and Nellie's books are probably the ones I treasure the most because of the links they gave me to adding to the family tree. With inscriptions such as "Your Uncle Luke Conneally" or "Your brother, Mark Welch, Jr" and "Aunt Winnie" I was able to begin documenting family group sheets on the Welch family of Waterbury, Connecticut.
Minnie's autograph book begins in Connecticut and ends in Nebraska shortly before she married Daniel Kelly.
I've scanned the pages of Minnie's book and attempted to transcribe the entries the best I could. This is still a work in progress, as I am also attempting to trace some of the non-family members who wrote in Minnie's book.
View Minnie's autograph book here. Please note - this is a large Adobe pdf file and may take some time to complete the download.
Minnie and Nellie's books are probably the ones I treasure the most because of the links they gave me to adding to the family tree. With inscriptions such as "Your Uncle Luke Conneally" or "Your brother, Mark Welch, Jr" and "Aunt Winnie" I was able to begin documenting family group sheets on the Welch family of Waterbury, Connecticut.
Minnie's autograph book begins in Connecticut and ends in Nebraska shortly before she married Daniel Kelly.
I've scanned the pages of Minnie's book and attempted to transcribe the entries the best I could. This is still a work in progress, as I am also attempting to trace some of the non-family members who wrote in Minnie's book.
View Minnie's autograph book here. Please note - this is a large Adobe pdf file and may take some time to complete the download.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
You Can't Ignore the In-Laws - a long lost relatives success story!
Every few weeks, I go through the photo album that belonged to my great-grandmother, Mary (Minnie) Welch Kelly, who began her life in Connecticut and moved to Nebraska as a young woman in her twenties. That photo album, along with her autograph book and the autograph book of her sister, Nellie Welch, gave me the first real clues to the relationships in the Welch family.
An earlier post on this blog back in January shared my success in identifying members of the Garrigus family - one of Minnie's other sisters, Agnes Welch, married Clarence Gregory Garrigus and they had two children, Alfred and Ethel.
Just last weekend, I discovered obituaries of Clarence and Agnes in the Hartford (CT) Courant newspaper. I knew that Clarence was an inventor as I had discovered one of his patent applications online. His obituary states, "With his wife, Mrs. Agnes Welch Garrigus, he developed the Universal Breadmixer in 1903. The couple used their kitchen as a laboratory."
The obituary goes on to say, "During the World Fair in St. Louis, Mo., in 1904, he passed out bread samples made from the recipe of his wife, who used the new mixer."
The bells in my head started to go off and I returned to great-grandmother Minnie's photo album once again.
Far right, Agnes Welch Garrigus with her son, Alfred Garrigus, at the World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri in 1904.
I had previously identified Alfred from two other photographs in the album, so this elegant woman with him in the St. Louis photographs has to be his mother, Agnes Welch Garrigus.
Agnes Welch Garrigus and Alfred Garrigus
This photograph identifies the address of where the photograph was taken, but I haven't been able to determine what it says - yet.
This series of photographs in Minnie's album also includes the man who I believe is Clarence Gregory Garrigus.
Dan Kelly gives Clarence Garrigus a ride.
The photo album also includes photographs of the Garrigus family in Nebraska. I am inferring that the Garrigus family visited Agnes' sister, Minnie Welch Kelly, in Nebraska on the same visit to the West when they attended the World's Fair in St. Louis. In the photo above, my great-grandfather, Dan Kelly (Minnie's husband) is having a bit of fun for the camera by giving his brother-in-law, Clarence Garrigus, a ride in the wheelbarrow.
So - after all of these years, I am able to begin identifying the other family members in Minnie's photo album. And this was because I located the obituary of Clarence Garrigus that told about the 1904 trip to the World's Fair in St. Louis.
Follow all of the leads and clues that come your way - and don't ignore the in-laws!
An earlier post on this blog back in January shared my success in identifying members of the Garrigus family - one of Minnie's other sisters, Agnes Welch, married Clarence Gregory Garrigus and they had two children, Alfred and Ethel.
Just last weekend, I discovered obituaries of Clarence and Agnes in the Hartford (CT) Courant newspaper. I knew that Clarence was an inventor as I had discovered one of his patent applications online. His obituary states, "With his wife, Mrs. Agnes Welch Garrigus, he developed the Universal Breadmixer in 1903. The couple used their kitchen as a laboratory."
The obituary goes on to say, "During the World Fair in St. Louis, Mo., in 1904, he passed out bread samples made from the recipe of his wife, who used the new mixer."
The bells in my head started to go off and I returned to great-grandmother Minnie's photo album once again.
Far right, Agnes Welch Garrigus with her son, Alfred Garrigus, at the World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri in 1904.
I had previously identified Alfred from two other photographs in the album, so this elegant woman with him in the St. Louis photographs has to be his mother, Agnes Welch Garrigus.
Agnes Welch Garrigus and Alfred Garrigus
This photograph identifies the address of where the photograph was taken, but I haven't been able to determine what it says - yet.
This series of photographs in Minnie's album also includes the man who I believe is Clarence Gregory Garrigus.
Dan Kelly gives Clarence Garrigus a ride.
The photo album also includes photographs of the Garrigus family in Nebraska. I am inferring that the Garrigus family visited Agnes' sister, Minnie Welch Kelly, in Nebraska on the same visit to the West when they attended the World's Fair in St. Louis. In the photo above, my great-grandfather, Dan Kelly (Minnie's husband) is having a bit of fun for the camera by giving his brother-in-law, Clarence Garrigus, a ride in the wheelbarrow.
So - after all of these years, I am able to begin identifying the other family members in Minnie's photo album. And this was because I located the obituary of Clarence Garrigus that told about the 1904 trip to the World's Fair in St. Louis.
Follow all of the leads and clues that come your way - and don't ignore the in-laws!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Adding to the Welch Family
The recent discovery of the photograph of the grave marker for Mark Welch and his wife, Sarah Conneally (my great, great grandparents) in Connecticut has put my focus on Connecticut research this past week. And I once again returned to the autograph book that belonged to their daughter, Nellie Welch.
The autograph book includes entries from "Aunt Winnie" of Goshen, CT, "Cousin Annie" of Goshen, CT, and William E Welch of Goshen, CT. A search of the Welch family living in Goshen at this time resulted in several census records for this family. The head of the household is Edward Welch, who would be the brother of Mark Welch.
The children of Edward and Winnifred Welch were: Mary (b. about 1856), William (b. about 1858), Mark (b. about 1860), Richard (b. about 1862), James (b. about 1864), Anna (b. Feb 1866). Edward (b. about 1867) and John (b. about 1869).
1870 Census Record for the family of Edward and Winnifred Welch
So far, the only one of the children I've been able to verify in later census records is Anna, who married Mr. Kirwin and had a son, James Kirwin. Mr. Kirwin died before 1930, as Anna is a widow at the age of 34. Her parents, Edward and Winnifred, are living with Anna and Anna's son, James.
By 1910, Edward Welch has died, and Winnifred is living with Anna and her son.
Are any members of this Welch family your ancestor? If so, I'd love to hear from you and share information on this family and their descendants.
The autograph book includes entries from "Aunt Winnie" of Goshen, CT, "Cousin Annie" of Goshen, CT, and William E Welch of Goshen, CT. A search of the Welch family living in Goshen at this time resulted in several census records for this family. The head of the household is Edward Welch, who would be the brother of Mark Welch.
The children of Edward and Winnifred Welch were: Mary (b. about 1856), William (b. about 1858), Mark (b. about 1860), Richard (b. about 1862), James (b. about 1864), Anna (b. Feb 1866). Edward (b. about 1867) and John (b. about 1869).
1870 Census Record for the family of Edward and Winnifred Welch
So far, the only one of the children I've been able to verify in later census records is Anna, who married Mr. Kirwin and had a son, James Kirwin. Mr. Kirwin died before 1930, as Anna is a widow at the age of 34. Her parents, Edward and Winnifred, are living with Anna and Anna's son, James.
By 1910, Edward Welch has died, and Winnifred is living with Anna and her son.
Are any members of this Welch family your ancestor? If so, I'd love to hear from you and share information on this family and their descendants.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Success Story: When the pieces come together . . .
After receiving the photo of the gravestone of my great great grandparents, Mark Welch and Sarah Conneally, I went back to work on filling in some pieces of the Welch family genealogy. I'd had a great start as I have the autograph books that belonged to my great grandmother, Minnie Welch Kelly and her sister, Nellie Welch. Members of the family signed their entries as cousin, brother, uncle, aunt, etc. This really provided me with the first instance of being able to connect family members together.
Email correspondence amongst my fellow Conneally "cousins" and family history researchers continued to present some more clues to family relationships. We became intriguted with the 1900 census which showed Mark Welch at age 74, widowed and living with (as indexed) Clarence Gawngus, Margartta Gawngus and their child, Alfred C. Gawngus.
Other searches of the Gawngus name showed a possible variation as Gaengus. Again, this produced very little in other records searches. So I began searching based only the first names of the family. This turned out to be successful and I discovered the correct surname for this family was Garrigus.
My next step was to, once again, look through my great grandmother's photograph album that included photos of the family members in Connecticut. There I found the photograph above. The handwriting certainly confirmed the last name of Garrigus and there was Alfred, who was listed as their son in 1900 census.
One of the Conneally "cousins" asked if the family had other children. I had come across a daughter, Ethel, in a later census. Back to the photograph album.
Alfred and Ethel Garrigus
Aha! Written on the photo were the names Alfred and Ethel. The connection to the Welch family was made! From that point, I was able to find several members of the Garrigus family which I have added to my family tree. I am hopeful that I can locate some obituaries and tombstone locations that may lead me to more of the Welch family members.
You just never know what will happen when one thing leads to another.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Mark Welch and Sarah Conneally - my great great grandparents
The graves of Mark Welch and Sarah Conneally in St. Anthony's Cemetery, Litchfield, Connecticut
Never underestimate the power of the internet. Today's email brought this photograph from a "long lost relative" - actually a distant cousin who shares some of the same family lines. Wow! This is the first tangible documentation I have of my great great grandparents. Both were born in Ireland and settled in Connecticut. One of their daughters, Mary/Minnie Welch and her sister traveled to Nebraska as very young women. Minnie married my great grandfather, Dan Kelly, and raised three boys.
Any time I'm able to see my family go back another generation, it's a pretty special day.
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