A surprise find: a picture of Eleanor Ftzpatrick Bongiovi

In today's interconnected world, sometimes you get a pleasant family history surprise. Recently, I was contacted by the granddaughter of my grandmother's adopted father. Among other things, she pointed me to an online tree that had a picture of my grandmother as a very young child being held by her adopted mother. I've shared it with my dad and neither he or his siblings have seen this before.

I've contacted the owner of the tree, but have not yet heard back from him. I have no idea how he got the photo. However, my dad thinks the older lady is his grandmother (who adopted his mother) and I see the family resemblance in the little girl, so I think it is reasonable to believe this is who the online tree says it is: my grandmother, Eleanor Fitzpatrick Bongiovi and her adopted mother, Anna Bender Fitzpatrick.

In my email exchange with my adopted cousin, she shared some stories that reminded me how special this family was. My grandmother's adopted mother, Anna Bender was first married to Frank Tscherne (or Scherne) and they had two children. My grandmother's adopted father, Charles Fitzpatrick, was also married to another lady, probably Lillian Eise, and they had one son, Charles Jr. Both of the spouses died before 1920 and Charles and Anna ended up married before my Grandmother was born in 1925. When my Grandmother's mother died soon after childbirth, Charles and Anna took her in and raised her.

This could not have been easy. Everyone in this story was first or second generation Americans living in Brooklyn, NY. According to my Grandparents, Charles was a beer truck driver. I am sure it was not easy adding another child to a family of step children in the middle of 1920s Brooklyn.

Results of New York Trip

Well, just back from New York...and the trip was a success personally (because I really think my Grandparents are neat people and they really enjoy catching up with Gabby and Sam) and for my family history research.

My grandfather was really interested in what I had discovered. He was really happy to see the passenger list with his grandfather and grandmother's name in it. He also liked seeing his name in the 1930 U.S. Census. In the end, he walked me through his whole family and gave me a box of family photos, his World War II dog tags and enlistment records, his regimental histories and funeral mass cards for many of my ancestors (which list the death dates)!

My grandmother doesn't like to discuss her past as much for reasons I'm not going to publish online. But, she also filled in the holes in her background and disproved this research I discussed earlier.

All in all a great trip to visit with family...and a great trip for moving my research along!

Lost Ancestors

Today I signed up for Ancestry.com's free trial. My, how easy some of the basic genealogy research has become. Within minutes, I had found my grandfather's and grandmother's 1930 census entries.

My grandmother's entry led me down a really interesting trail. She was living with her father, his wife and a younger sister. But I found something interesting -- my grandmother's grandfather seems to be living either in the same apartment or just next door. Not conclusive, but a good start to go off and prove.

Here's where things get fun. That assumed grandfather (my great great grandfather) was living with his second (or later) wife, a daughter and a step daughter. When I searched the 1920 census, I can't find my great grandfather. I find my great great grandfather, living alone as a lodger and listed as widowed. I find that daughter from the 1930 census living alone in the New York Catholic Protectory. And I find that second wife, widowed, and living with 2 daughters. So, where is my great grandfather, and, wow, what a tough life it looks like they had. Of course this was all in New York City in the depression, so I imagine it could be really bad!

This could keep me going for months!

On my visit next weekend, hopefully I can get my grandmother to help sort this out a little.