Clarification

OOOOOOPS! I goofed! In the last post I identified Blanche DOYLE's husband as Edward TIGHE. He was actually William TIGHE.

Edward TIGHE was from the other TIGHE family, who married my great grandfather's sister, Mary Ann DOYLE.

I've noticed many instances of surnames re-entering my family tree. My great grandfather John DOYLE's sister Mary Ann married a TIGHE. My grandmother's sister Blanche DOYLE married a different TIGHE.

Blanche's daughter Janet married a WILLIAMS. Blanche's sister Margaret DOYLE married a different WILLIAMS.

My great grandmother on my mom's side was Jane McHUGH. My mom married a McHUGH.

Odd, these are all on my maternal DOYLE line. While it appears that most lived near each other in Pittston, Luzerne County, PA, my mom met my dad in western NY state.

Have you all noticed similar patterns? I imagine it's much more common in our ancestors' time due to lack of transportation: Families didn't move around so much back then.

Thanks to my cousin Joyce for clarifying my mistake. Oh, and the children in the picture are Janet and Eddie Williams' children, Patty and Eddie.

Wedding Bliss

I'd checked my guestbook a couple of times this past week to find two new entries from two of my second cousins from two opposite sides of my family. I am always thrilled when someone finds my blog and takes a minute to sign the guestbook. But it adds a different kind of thrill when the entrant is a relative!

This week I am preparing to get on an airplane to Las Vegas to attend my niece's wedding. My blogs are helping me keep my mind busy so I don't obsess about the plane ride to come. I decided today to combine the upcoming event in Vegas and the appearance of two cousins on my blog into one post. John in particular might appreciate this entry in my scrapbook.

The above page, though hard to see, contains pictures of various couples during their courting days or on their wedding days. Clockwise from left:

In the military suit and dress are Eddie WILLIAMS and Janet TIGHE (though this may have been post-marriage; I'm not sure). Janet is the daughter of my maternal grandmother's sister, Blanche (DOYLE) TIGHE. Blanche was also the sister of John's (from the guestbook) grandmother Margaret (DOYLE) WILLIAMS, making John and Janet 1st cousins once removed (don't you just love relationship calculators?). By the way, the WILLIAMS that Janet TIGHE married into and the WILLIAMS that Margaret DOYLE married into are not related as far as anyone has been able to tell.

The top middle picture was taken on John's mother's wedding day. In it are Edward and Blanche (DOYLE) TIGHE (though not standing together), James and Regina (DOYLE) O'ROURKE (my grandparents), and Catherine (HENSEY) HOOVER. I'm not sure who is standing next to Edward TIGHE, but I believe the children in front are Janet and William TIGHE (Jr). Perhaps John can clarify these names for me!

The picture on the right is from my Uncle Jimmy O'ROURKE's wedding to Joyce. I don't know who the other two people are.

Finally, the bottom picture is my mother, Regina (Jean) (O'ROURKE) McHUGH, taken on her brother Jimmy's wedding day.

I'm going to surf through my pictures during the next week or two to find some wedding pics from the HODICK line, from which the other poster, Lori, descends.

Furry Family

I was reading Miriam's blog today and she writes about her family's pets. She also invited other bloggers to post about their pets, so I think I will :). I've written before about my ancestors' pets, so I won't bore you with a repeat. However, for a refresher, feel free to jump back in time and read all about them.

Here are some questions Miriam asked, and my answers to them.

"Have you ever had pets, what kind, what were their names and why?"

When I was about 2 years old, we got an Irish Setter/Golden Retriever/Collie mix. His name was Skipper, and I have no idea why. He was a great dog! As a pup he roamed our "Erma Bombeck-ish" neighborhood, just like a big Benji, to get treats from the neighbors. Once leash laws came about we struggled to find a way to contain him in our yard (we didn't have fences where I grew up, except for a few short chain link fences). We finally managed, and he adapted pretty well. Here is Skipper, at about 13 years old after we'd moved to Arizona and had a fenced yard.One year my dad got my mom a French Poodle for a gift. We named him Pepe. Sorry to say this dog was HORRID. He bit, he scratched through two solid wood doors, he destroyed the house ... we'd always been decent at training our dogs to behave, but this one was over our heads and we had to give him away. I can't find the picture I have of Pepe :(.

When we'd moved to Arizona, and Skipper had run of the fenced back yard and was 14 years old, my brother brought home young female dog named Mandy. Her original owner was going to shoot her, so my brother took her home instead. Mandy was also a great dog, though very timid for a long time (we believe she was abused). There was a debate about her breeds; the two lines of thought were either Greyhound/Lab mix or Greyhound/German Shorthaired Pointer mix. She was FAST, had the "swoop" of a greyhound, and had the pose of a pointer when treeing birds. Here's one of my all time favorite pictures: Mandy as a playful youngseter (about 1) and Skipper as a 14-year-old geyser who apparently just wanted to be left alone.

Now, as an adult several times older, I have adopted a Cocker Spaniel/Pomeranian mix named Izzie. Izzie was a rescue dog originally named Iseaha. I thought he needed a name with an attitude so somehow I came up with Izzie, and it fits him perfectly. You can check out Izzie's blog (yes he has his own) at www.izziesworld.blogspot.com.

"Did you have to house-train or leash train your pets?"

Skipper hated leashes, chains, etc. He roamed as a pup, then was chained outside when not inside the house. He had long leads. He was housetrained from the time I can remember, but we got him as a pup so I'm sure my parents had to train him. Mandy was house trained when we got her for the most part, and we leash-trained her. I don't know how, but she was easy to train. I had to housetrain Izzie when I got him at 13 months of age. THAT was a challenge; it took about 6 months for him to "get it", but once he got it, he got it down pat. I leash trained him by leaving the leash on him in the home under my supervision until he got used to it. For the first 6 months that I had him I lived in an apt. so he had to be walked on a leash several times a day.

Okay, this has been a long post so I will end it here. What about your family's pets?