Florence Yedinak in Miles City

I love this picture of my mom's friend Florence. I look at it and think that somewhere there is a relative of Florence who has looked at her copy of this photo and wondered "Miles City? Where is that? Do we have relatives there?" Well, I can answer her questions: Miles City is in Montana. You probably don't have relatives there, but I do.

My mom had cousins in Miles City, Montana, and she visited there when she was a young woman. I also visited Montana in 1975. I remember there being alot of open country as I drove with my cousins to the family's ranch. For me who grew up in Chicago, I looked around and wondered why it was called Miles City. It looked like the opposite of a city to me. I had a great time on that visit--I rode a horse for the first time, flew in a small private plane, visited the family ranch, and met more cousins and my great aunt Stella. I'm sure Florence and my mom enjoyed their visit too.

Did Timothy Whelan have siblings in Chicago?

That has been one of my biggest questions ever since I started doing genealogy research, over 30 years ago. I asked my dad, my aunt, and others, but no one knew the answer. My aunt told me that Timothy Whelan was from County Kilkenny, but that was all she knew. Well, this week I got the answer--a great big YES!

The answer was in copies I received this week from Civil War pension files. I had requested copies of pension files and service records for two possible siblings of my ancestor that I had identified through city directories. As I mentioned here there were actually two Patrick Whelans from Kilkenny who lived in Chicago and fought in the Civil War. Well, the genealogy gods were smiling on me this week: only one of the Patricks had a pension file, and he was a sibling of my ancestor Timothy Whelan. (Time for the happy dance!)

The files I received included an invalid pension for Patrick Whelan, and a widow's pension for his wife Mary. The files are awesome! I am still busy transcribing them and looking at the additional research possibilities they open up. But a few of the highlights I have found so far include:

1. Patrick Whelan lived with Timothy at 166 Chestnut at times. This confirms that it is my Timothy, since that address is well documented in my files.

2. Timothy stood up to Patrick's wedding in 1867.

3. Timothy's widow, Catherine (Markey) Whelan gave an affidavit which was included in the widow's pension file. Catherine testified that, "I was not present at the church when they were married, but I was at the house that evening where the wedding festivities were held." It must have been a memorable party, since it was mentioned in several affidavits.

4. Not only do the files confirm that Timothy and Patrick were brothers, but they also had two sisters and THEIR MOTHER living in Chicago at one time. (Of course, no first names are given for the women. Humbug!)



So, if you haven't done it yet, I recommend that you look into the possibility of pension files for any Civil War ancestors that you may have. And don't limit yourself to direct ancestors. Go for the siblings, possible ancestors and siblings, in-laws, and the guys who served with your soldier. You never know what you may find.

Rita Brady

Here is a photo of my aunt, Rita Brady, on another wintry day in Chicago.

The McSorleys of Newark, NJ

I am related to the McSorleys who lived in Newark, NJ. (Well, maybe not all the McSorleys, but at least some of them.) My McSorley relatives lived in Newark in the 1830s and 1840s. My ancestor, Ellen (aka Helen) McSorley married Timothy Bestick at St. John's Church in 1833. Here are some other records from St. John's that include McSorleys. These were extracted from FHL microfilm no. 1398540.

Baptisms
25 Feb 1838 Mary Ann Bestick dau of Timothy Bestick and Ellen McSoley, sponsors Francis Bestick and Mary Wall

24 Feb 1838 James Francis Murphy son of Francis D. Murphy and Mary McSoley, sponsors Rev. Roderick Ryder and Bridget Fallen

16 Apr 1838 Julia Fogarty dau of John Fogarty and Isabella Brown, sponsors Bernard Kearney and Rosanna McSaley

16 Dec 1838 Catharine Bergen dau of Edward Bergen and Ann Smyth, sponsors James Delany and Catharine McSoley

25 Apr 1841 Catharine Cox dau of Patrick G. Cox and Rosanna McSorley, sponsors John H. Kernan and Catharine McSorley

19 July 1841 Eleanor McSorley dau of John McSorley and Rebecca Mackey, sponsors Patrick G. Cox and Rosanna McSorley

5 Sept 1841 James Robert Bestick son of Timothy Bestick and Helen McSorley, sponsors James Dooner and Rosanna McSorley

27 Oct 1841 Teresa Murphy dau of Francis D. Murphy and Mary McSorley, sponsors Daniel G. Durning and Anne Ward

Marriage
18 Apr 1844 William Carolin and Catherine McSorley, witnesses Patrick Carolin and Margaret Kearny

The families of Catherine, Ellen, John and Rosanna McSorley are all connected as baptism sponsors to each others' children. However, the family of Mary McSorley and her husband Francis D. Murphy were not connected to the other McSorleys by church records during this time period. I hope to discover the place of origin for my McSorleys. I also hope to discover if Mary or any other McSorleys in the U.S. were related to mine.

The Genealogy Happy Dance

My happy dances are all about reconnecting with long lost relatives. I can think of 2 major happy dance events. The most recent was connecting to cousins in Lithuania. I've written about that here.

My best previous happy dance was about connecting with relatives on my dad's side, through the Chicago Genealogical Society's "Chicago Genealogy Finder." A long lost cousin wrote a letter to me after seeing me listed with our common ancestor, Timothy Whelan. Unfortunately, the address listed was over 10 years old, and I had moved from San Diego back to the Chicago area by then. My distant cousin is a librarian, and a very resourceful person. When her letter was returned, she found my current address in more recent membership lists, and tried again. We connected, exchanged packets of information and had some nice get-togethers including her mom and my Aunt Rita. Both sides of the family knew my great aunt Frances Whelan (also known as Sister Delphine.) I also have an autograph book that belonged to my grandmother Jennie Whelan, which was signed by Jennie's half sister Mary, the great grandmother of my long lost cousin.

Taking a Second Look at Things

I have found over the years that it is a good idea to take a second look at what I already have. Sometimes it can lead to major discoveries, and sometimes just to interesting details. One example comes from my research on my Skrobul family.

My grandpa was Anton Skrobul (Antanas Skrabulis.) He and his 3 brothers, William, Stanley and Joseph, all came to the United States.

Discovering their parents' names, and the many spellings of them, has been a challenge. On Anton's marriage certificate, his parents are given as Wm Skrobul and Ella Rinch[?]. On Anton's death certificate, his father's name is given as John, mother's name unknown.

I expanded my search to Anton's siblings. On the death certificate of Anton's brother William, the deceased brother's name is given as Vincent and the parents' names are Vincent Skrobulis and Elizebeth Sorokowa. (The Lithuanian name Vincas is translated as either William or Vincent in English.) I've also seen the mother's name given as Syrak or Soroka on other documents.

So, I was a bit confused about Anton's mother's surname. None of the possible surnames I'd seen sounded Lithuanian to me. In Lithuanian, a married woman's name generally ends in -iene and an unmarried woman's name ends in -aite or -yte. So I felt I still hadn't found the Lithuanian version of the mother's surname. In fact, I thought Sorokowa sounded more Japanese than Lithuanian. (I admit, I'm not knowledgeable about Eastern European or Japanese names.)

My confusion was solved by a visit from a Lithuanian cousin. He told me that Sorokowa was a Polish version of Soroka, and that the Lithuanian version for a single woman was Sorokaite. Both he and another Lithuanian cousin mentioned that the Soroka name was common in the area that our Skrobul ancestors were from, and that the Sorokas were cousins (somehow) of the Skrobuls.

So now, I come to my second look. I have found passenger lists for some of my Lithuanian relatives, including grandpa's brother William (indexed on Ancestry.com as Vizenty Scro??.) William traveled from Bremen, Germany to Baltimore aboard the Hannover. He arrived in June, 1905. According to the passenger list, William was going to Munson, PA to join his brother Josef Skrobul. This made sense to me. I had been told that grandpa and his brothers lived in Pennsylvania for a few years. And grandpa's passenger list from 1904 indicated he was going to join Josef in Munson Station.

When I looked at William's passenger list again recently, I noticed that listed on the line above him was Thomas Soroka, from the same town (possibly Maceviciai)in the Suwalki region of Lithuania. Thomas is going to join his brother, Josef Soroka, in Munson, PA.

So, this isn't a major discovery that will take me back 3 generations or add 1000 more names to my database. But I find it kind of neat to know that my great uncle William Skrobul traveled to America with a Soroka cousin, and that they were going to Pennsylvania together to join their brothers. It is always good to have family and not to be alone.

Stella and Estelle

Here is a picture of Stella (Koch) Gordon and Estelle Hunley, two friends of my mom, Ann Skrobul Brady. Stella and Estelle seem to be dressed warm for Chicago weather, in warm coats and matching scarves. This photo was probably taken in Chicago in the 1940s.