Baby Raymond's Photo

This is my entry to the 8th Edition of Smile For The Camera. The theme is Stocking Stuffer--post a picture that would make a great Stocking Stuffer and tell whose stocking you'd stuff. The photo can be of an ancestor, relative, yourself, or an orphan photograph. I immediately thought of this photo of Baby Raymond (last name unknown) at Shriners Hospital in Chicago.

My mom, Ann Skrobul, worked at Shriners Childrens Hospital for awhile in the 1940s. I have several photos from there, which are mainly unidentified. A number of the photos are of Baby Raymond. Here he is as a toddler.

This photo shows Baby Raymond as an infant in his crib.

I don't know what happened to Baby Raymond. I have not found any photos of him at an age past his toddler years. I don't know what illness or injury resulted in him being treated at Shriners. However, it seems he was receiving treatment there for at least a year or 2 based on these photos.

Here is the last photo of Baby Raymond, which provides some clues on the back of the photo. On it is written "Baby Raymond at Shriners." Below this is stamped the number 9, and then stamped in pink inside a circle is "5 prints and 2 enlargements from your Roll ONLY 25c APR 10 1940 PHOTO FRIEND FILM CO. LITCHFIELD ILLINOIS." Can't beat those prices! So, if we assume that the film was developed soon after it was taken, that means Baby Raymond, who looks about 1 year old to me in this photo, was being treated at Shriners Hospital in Chicago in April, 1940.

I have a few more similar photos of Baby Raymond, which I'd be glad to include with these as a stocking stuffer to a relative of Raymond. So, if you recognize the child in these photos and have information to share, or would like the original photos, please contact me. And Raymond, if you are out there, I hope you are doing well and I'd like to hear from you.

The Brady-Blanchet Wedding

This week has been dedicated to my Longford ancestors. So I've decided to end the week with wedding photos of one of their descendants, Gertrude Brady.

Here is a picture of Gertrude (on the right) with her maid of honor, Katherine McGrath and the best man Louis, a brother of Paul Blanchet, the groom.

Gertrude was the great-granddaughter of Timothy Bestick, who came from County Longford, Ireland.

Gertrude was born in New Jersey in 1890, the only daughter of James A. Brady and Mary T. McGrath. She lived in Newark, NJ for a time with her parents, grandparents Thomas and Mary A. McGrath, and aunts Margaret A. and Helen A. McGrath. By 1910, Gertrude and her parents were living on the north side of Chicago (without the in-laws.) In 1918, they moved to New York City.


Gertrude married Paul Blanchet on 26 April 1926. This photo of the couple was taken on their wedding day in "Mrs. Blanchet's garden" in South Orange, NJ.

Paul and Gertrude lived together for many happy years. Paul died on 3 November 1972. Gertrude died on 11 November 1977.

How many John Besticks were there?

I don’t know for sure but I count at least 5. And that’s just in the eastern United States in the 1800s. One of my genealogical goals is to discover which, if any of the John Besticks in the United States is John, who was baptized on 11 June 1803 in Longford, Ireland, whose parents were James Bestick and Catherine Farrell, and whose brother was my ancestor Timothy Bestick

Here are the John Besticks I’ve found so far.

John1 was born about 1805 in Ireland. He lived in Bridgeport, CT in 1840, 1850 and 1860. His occupation was carriage painter. He married Lucy Wogan and had several children including John2.

John2 was, born in CT in 1847. He was baptized in Newark, NJ in 1847. His parents were John1 and Lucy Wogan. His godmother was Ellen McSorley Bestick, wife of Timothy Bestick. John2’s probable occupations were brass finisher (1869-70 Bridgeport directory) and core maker (1874-5 Bridgeport directory).

John3 was born in Ireland in about 1819. He arrived in New York with Francis Bestick in 1837. His occupation was saddler. Could he be the same as the John Bestick who lived in New York City and worked as as hoemaker (1857 & 1869 NYC city directories).

John4 was born about 1846 in Ireland. He married Ann McCarmick on 29 June 1866 in Brooklyn, NY, They were married by a Justice of the Peace. His occupation was plumber. His parents names were John Bestick and Bridget Gannon.

John5 was born in about 1857 in Ireland. His occupation was laborer. He was at Castle Garden, NY when the 1880 census was taken.

My theory is that John1 was the same person as John Bestick who was baptized in Longford in 1803. I don’t have proof yet, but I have several pieces of supporting evidence: 1) The ages from the U.S. censuses for John1 are close to what John Bestick’s of Longford would be. 2) John1 had a son baptized at the church that Timothy Bestick’s family attended in Newark, NJ. Timothy’s wife was the son’s godmother. 3) Of John1’s 8 children, two are named James and Catherine, the same as the parents of John in Longford. Three of the children have names that are the same as the siblings of John of Longford. 4) When Timothy Bestick’s daughter Mary died in 1908, one obituary requested that Bridgeport newspapers “please copy.” This indicates that Mary had family or friends in Bridgeport. (Additional source details are available upon request.)

None of these items are sufficient by themselves to prove that these two John Besticks are the same person, or that John1 is a sibling of Timothy. But all the items are consistent with my theory. I have not found any evidence that contradicts my theory. I still hope to find an obituary or other source that will provide direct evidence to prove or disprove my theory.

So, what do you think?

Why I look at every available source.

This is a story of my research into the Besticks of County Longford and a lesson that I learned.

I have been lucky enough to visit Ireland twice. On our first trip to Ireland in 1995, my husband and I visited the city of Longford. I knew my Bestick ancestors had come from there and I wanted to see the town where they had lived.

While walking around the town on a cloudy day, we came to St. John’s, Church of Ireland, which had an old graveyard around it. There were many headstones that were over 100 years old. Some were legible, many were not. Most that were readable contained minimal information. As we were walking around looking at the headstones, the sun broke through the clouds. My husband then pointed at a nearby headstone and asked, “Can you read that word?” I looked and read “Bestick.” I was thrilled. With the angle of the sun and a lot of effort, we were able to make out the following inscription:
“O Lord have mercy on the soul of Catharine Bestick who departed this life on the 19 of August 1830 aged 21 years”

The sun had broken through at just the right moment for us to see the inscription. If we had been there on a rainy day, we would not have made this discovery.




Our next trip to Ireland was in 2006 with our daughters. This trip was the Library-Tour of Ireland for me and the Playground-Tour of-Ireland for my husband and the kids. (It is great to have a family that puts up with my family history obsession.) While at the Longford County Library, I copied some pages from a manuscript, including a transcription of the Catharine Bestick headstone we had found in 1995. Upon comparing the two versions, I discovered that the manuscript contained an extra line of text that was not visible on the headstone in 1995. This line was … “Erected by her Mother Anne Bestick”

This experience taught me a valuable lesson about genealogy research—always look at all the available sources. It might have seemed like a waste of time to copy a transcription of a headstone that I had already photographed and transcribed myself. But in this case, the transcription contained more information than the original headstone. If I hadn’t copied the manuscript, I would have missed a valuable clue to the relationships of one Bestick family of Longford.

The Bestick Family of Longford

Last week I blogged a little about my great-grandmother Mary Bestick Brady. This week, I plan to start posting what I know about her Bestick ancestors and relatives.

My earliest Irish immigrant ancestor was Mary’s father Timothy Bestick. He came from County Longford and settled in Newark, NJ before 1833. When I began doing genealogy, I knew very little about the Bestick line. Since then, I’ve had some great discoveries. For example, originally we didn’t know where in Ireland the Besticks were from. I did find through the Householders Index that the name was found in Longford, so I started researching in church records there. I also wrote to the church in Newark, NJ to obtain Timothy’s marriage certificate for my collection. I received a transcript from the church with the basic information. But then, I noticed that the Newark church’s records were also on microfilm through the Family History Library. So, I decided to take a look at the microfilm too. And when I did, there was Timothy’s marriage listed on the first page of the church marriage register. Besides the information I already had, it stated that he was from County Longford and his wife Ellen McSorley came from County Tyrone. The priest only noted where people were from for the first few pages of the register. So, this was the first of my lucky finds in my Bestick research.

Timothy was the son of James Bestick and Catherine Farrell. He was baptized on 25 March 1809 at the Catholic Church at Longford (Templemichael and Ballymacormack parish.) The baptism sponsors were James Kiernan and Judith Bestick. Timothy was born into a large family. According to the Catholic baptism register for Longford, James and Catherine Bestick had at least 7 children: John, baptized 11 June 1803; Mary, baptized 29 June 1804; Francis, baptized. 10 May 1807; my ancestor Timothy; Edward, baptized 13 October 1810; Robert, baptized 18 September 1812; and Charles, baptized 12 December 1813.

Timothy’s parents both died at Longford before Timothy turned 18. His mother Catherine died 7 April 1819 and his father James died 22 February 1827.

Although Bestick is not a common name, there were several Bestick families in Longford. Judith Bestick was the baptism sponsor of my ancestor Timothy. Baptism sponsors of his siblings included Edward Bestick and Penelope Bestick. According to the Longford Roots research service, there was a Patrick Bestick married to Mary Beglin. Patrick and Mary had 6 children baptized between 1818 and 1830. An Edmund and Elizabeth (Greer) Bestick had 6 children baptized from 1806 to 1820. William Bestick and his wife Mary Kelly had 8 children baptized from 1814 to 1833. John and Brigid (Gannon) Bestick had one child baptized in 1838. While the Bestick name is uncommon, they were “thick on the ground” in Longford prior to the famine.

How were these other Besticks related to Timothy’s family? I don’t know for sure, but I believe they may all have a common ancestor 2 or 3 generations back from Timothy. I hope that someday I will be able to prove at least some of the relationships.

Coming soon: Timothy’s siblings in the United States and in Ireland.

Our Favorite Christmas Tradition

The topic of the current Carnival of Genealogy is Traditions. What traditions were passed on to you from an earlier generation? Do you keep those traditions? What tradition(s) will you or have you passed on to a younger generation?

When I was a child, my favorite Christmas tradition was baking Christmas cookies. My mom and I made spritz cookies. I got to get my hands green from the food coloring and use a cookie press. That was great fun!

I've continued making Christmas cookies every year, and giving plates of cookies to friends and relatives. My chocolate chip cookies are the most popular, but I still like the spritzes too.

Now my daughters enjoy baking as much as I do. We make spritz, chocolate chip and a few other kinds of cookies. They love getting their hands green from the food coloring and decorating the cookies with lots of sprinkles.

To see links to this carnival and others, go to the Carnival of Genealogy.

8 Things About Me That I Bet You Didn't Know - The Meme

I was tagged to participate in this meme by Sheri at The Educated Genealogist. So, here are 8 Things About Me That I Bet You Didn't Know:

1. My favorite photographer is Ansel Adams.

2. I love strawberries. Not as much as chocolate, but close.

3. I read alot of mysteries.

4. I love Christmas music. I usually start listening to it before Thanksgiving.

5. I once lived in San Diego. I liked to walk at Torrey Pines State Park and I really loved Sea World.

6. I enjoy scrapbooking. I've only finished one scrapbook so far, but I have several others started.

7. I like to cross country ski. Every winter I wish we had more snow to ski on, but that it only fell when nobody had to be out driving in it.

8. My favorite singer is Paul McCartney.

The rules for this meme are:
1. Each player starts with eight random fact/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. A the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their name.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged and to read your blog.

So, here are the 8 bloggers that I'm tagging:
1. Julie at GenBlog
2. Paula at Paula's Genealogical Eclectica
3. Dear Myrtle at DearMYRTLE's Genealogy Blog
4. Robert Baca at The Baca/Douglas Genealogy and Family History Blog
5. Carolyn at Life in Possum Holler
6. Carol at iPentimento
7. TK at Before My Time
8. Donna at Donna's Genealogy Blog