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Visiting Historical Sites, Living History Museums, and Folk Parks

Kilaned Cottage at Glencomcille Folk Park represented how my ancestors might have lived in Ireland, circa 1850s. Have you ever visited a heritage park, living history museum, or folk park where your ancestors lived? If not, I recommend you add it to your next genealogy trip to gain some incredible insight into what their lives, homes, occupations, and traditions were like. In the past year, I've visited several of these sites and came away with a much better understanding of where my ancestors lived, what they saw or did in their everyday lives, even what kinds of tools they used or clothing they might have worn. I find it's one thing to read in books about life during the times they lived, but it's quite another to walk through a cottage, sidle up to a sheep, step on a ship, or peek into a hedge school replica to bring that book learning to life.   Western New York & Canada  On my visit last year to Western New York and St. Catharines, Ontario, to research my Schiltz, ...
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GENEALOGY CHALLENGE 2021 - DEATH RECORD


 

GENEALOGY CHALLENGE JANUARY 2021
 
Death Record - January 2nd entry of a 31-day challenge to post a document, photo or artifact on social media every day in January.
 
By Nancy Gilbride Casey
 

This "Return of a Death to the Board of Health of the City of Scranton," was an important find for my research into my 2x great grandmother Catherine Ryan Gilbride, as it contained many important clues to her mysterious life.1
 
First the location of the doctor who certified her death was located in Danville, Pennsylvania. She married in Scranton, and the undertaker and cemetery listed were in Scranton, so this helped confirm that she was the same Catherine Gilbride I found living at the asylum in Danville, Pennsylvania. Danville is also noted at the bottom, and the word Ward is crossed out; typically that would refer to the ward in Scranton where the deceased lived.
 
The place of birth is also curiously noted as "Ireland, County Me-O," most likely a phonetic spelling of County Mayo, located in the west of Ireland in the Connacht province. This was the first and only clue I have so far of Catherine's birthplace, though who gave this information to the certifying doctor is unknown.
 
There is also an 11-day interval between her death on 17 January 1881 and her burial on 28 January 1881 in Scranton — an unusually long time. However, Danville was located about 75 miles from Scranton. It's likely that her husband Michael Gilbride would have had to hire a livery/undertaker service to travel to Danville and bring her body back for burial. The undertaker noted, D.D. Jones, had such a livery service. On 21 January 1881, Michael paid for a plot at Cathedral cemetery, a date conveniently midway between Catherine's date of death and her burial at Cathedral Cemetery (then Hyde Park Catholic Cemetery).
 
COMING TOMORROW - Favorite Family Photo
 
 
1 Pennsylvania. Lackawanna County, City of Scranton, City of Scranton Department of Public Health, death certificate for "Catharine Gilbride," 27 Jan 1881; "Record of deaths, 1878-1905, in the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania," digital image, FamilySearch, (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9YG-R95K-X? : accessed 27 Jan 2019); FHL film 007700813, image 1411.

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