Friday, August 29, 2014

Pennsylvania Death Certificates and FindAGrave

I  have not blogged very much this month, and one of the (many) reasons is because I have been exploring the Pennsylvania Death Certificates (and census records) on Ancestry.com and finding memorials for these Pennsylvania relatives on FindAGrave.com. As I find or set up the memorials, I link them so if you go to one of the memorials, you can click through to parents, siblings, and children.

The hyperlinks for Samuel and Catherine below bring you to their FindAGrave memorials.

My third great grandfather, Samuel K. Hunter (d. 1863), and his wife, Catherine Carr (d. 1891), had nine children. Using the death certificates and exploring FindAGrave, I was able to fill in a few blanks about their children and grandchildren.

1) Mary J. Hunter was born about 1841 and died as Mary J. Babcox in 1870. I don't know who she married, but she had two daughters, Kate (1864-1868) and Elva (1866-????). Mother Mary and daughter Kate are buried in the Hunter family plot at Union Dale Cemetery.

James Hunter
2) James Hunter (1844-1902) is my second great grandfather, whom I have written about before. He married Mary Freeland and had ten children. He, his wife and some of their children have their own plot at Union Dale Cemetery.

3) John Kirk Hunter (1845-1921) died in Saegertown, Crawford County, Pennsylvania. He married Emma Bailey (1848-1926) and had three children. He was a firefighter and fire chief in Allegheny City. He, his wife, and his son are buried in Saegertown Cemetery.

4) Ann (or Anna) E. Hunter (1848-1878) is buried in the Hunter family plot at Union Dale Cemetery.

5) Susan E. Hunter (1850-1922) married William White and had two children. She is buried in Allegheny Cemetery, but not with her husband.

6) Isabella Hunter (1853-1918) married Albert S. Glenn (1852-1934). They had one daughter, Edith. All three are buried together at Union Dale Cemetery.

7) Emma Maria Hunter (1854-1871) died young and is buried in the Hunter family plot at Union Dale Cemetery.

8) Robert William Hunter (1856-1876) is also buried in the Union Dale Cemetery Hunter family plot.

9) Lillie D. Hunter (1858-1933), the last of these siblings to die, died just before her 75th birthday. She married James Wallace Thompson (1848-1924). They are buried together in Homewood Cemetery, along with their two sons.

And this is just one branch of my Allegheny, Pennsylvania, ancestors from my maternal grandmother's side.

Monday, August 4, 2014

Civil War Blogpost Challenge ~ Military Monday

For Bill West's Civil War Blogpost Challenge, I looked at my database to see which of my ancestors might have fought in the U.S. Civil War (150 years ago). I find that I can't add much more to what I have already shared about the service of my ancestors in the Civil War.

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My maternal grandmother's ancestors were in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. I have written about my second great grand uncle, James M. Lysle, who died in Virginia, serving for the 63rd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. I share his picture here again. His youngest brother, George Lysle, my second great-grandfather, was born in 1845, possibly too young to serve, but working in a coal company, perhaps he provided help in the war effort in other ways.

There were a few other Alstons and Lysles (great-uncles and/or distant cousins) who served from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania, Veterans Burial Cards, 1777-1999, at Ancestry.com, is a good resource to determine Civil War service. I do not find my third great grandfather, James Freeland, who died on March 1, 1863, at about age 48, according to his gravestone (see his FindAGrave memorial) or my third great-grandfather, Samuel Hunter, who also died in 1863 at about age 49, in this database, or in Civil War records at Fold3.com, so it appears that they may not have fought, but perhaps served in other ways.

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My maternal grandfather's father's family was in Maine (see second great-grandfather Henry Copeland's draft information here). It looks like he was exempted from service.

My maternal grandfather's mother's family was in Chicago. I wrote about what I could find about second great-grandfather Samuel S. Greeley's service (building sewers) here.

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