Holiday Party Photos

In honor of the holiday season, here are some photos from holiday parties past. These are pictures of employees of the Chicago office of the Veterans Administration. They don't seem too jolly, but the hats and ties are rather festive.


My parents, Edwin F. Brady and Ann Skrobul, worked at the Veteran's Administration. My mom started there in about 1943 and worked there until about 1955. I'm not sure when Edwin began working at the VA, but in 1977 he retired from there.

This is a photo of Mr. Chadwick, my mom's boss when she worked in the Personnel Department. Unfortunately, none of the other people in these photos are identified. If you think you recognize someone, I'd like to hear from you.

Enjoy this holiday season!

My 3 Wishes for the Genea Santa

The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is: 3 Wishes! This is your chance to write a letter to Genea-Santa. Make a list of 3 gifts you would like to receive this holiday season from 3 of your ancestors. These have to be material things, not clues to your family history (we're talking gifts here, not miracles!).

So here is my entry:

Dear Genea Santa:

Here are my 3 wishes for this Christmas:

1. My 2nd great-grandmother, Ellen McSorley Bestick, was a milliner in Newark, NJ in the 1850s and 1860s. I’d really like to have a hat from her millinery shop.

2. My grandfather, Garrett Leo Brady, moved to Chicago around the time of the 1893 Columbian Exposition. I’d like to have a souvenir of his visit to the exposition—maybe a ticket stub from the ferris wheel.

3. My 2nd great-grandfather was Captain Garret Brady of Company C, 2nd New Jersey Volunteers. He served in the Civil War and was later a member of Lincoln Post 11 of the Grand Army of the Republic. I’d like to have a memento of his GAR membership.

While you are filling these wishes, Genea Santa, a few more old photos or letters would be nice too.

Merry Christmas!
Kathy

Ann Skrobul Brady 1914 - 2000

This is a photo of my mom Ann Skrobul Brady. She was born in Beckemeyer, IL on December 9, 1914. After finishing school, Ann moved to Chicago. She worked for some years for Shriners Hospital as a nursing assistant. Starting in about 1943, Mom worked at the Veterans Administration offices in Chicago, which is where she and Dad met.

My mom loved flowers. She planted rose bushes in front of the apartment building where we lived. Since her birthday was in December, I always bought her a pointsetta plant for her birthday, and flowers for other occasions too.

She loved to listen to music, although our tastes eventually diverged--she enjoyed the Lawrence Welk Show!

Mom was a big sports fan, following all of Chicago's sports teams. Her favorite team was the Chicago Cubs followed closely by the Bulls.

My mom enjoyed nature, especially going for walks along the lakefront.

Family was very important to my mom. She enjoyed talking to her sisters and brothers by phone, and writing letters to them too. She was also very proud of her Lithuanian heritage. (Mom and my Aunt Jo used to practice their Lithuanian language skills when they didn't want me to know what they were talking about.) Mom was thrilled when we made contact with cousins in Lithuania, since we had lost contact with that part of the family after World War II.

And, as shown in some of the photos I've posted of her, she liked interesting hats.

I learned alot from my mom--everything from planting flowers to baking cookies to how to ride the Ravenswood 'L'.

Happy Birthday Mom!

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.