She Told Me So

Quite some time ago I'd made a post on one of the genealogy mailing lists that I belong to, inquiring/pondering about the McHUGH line from Nanticoke, Luzerne County, PA. I was trying to solidify the children of my paternal great-grandparents, Dennis Joseph McHUGH and Mary GRIFFIN. I have found 8, via Census Records, WWI and, later, WWII Draft Registration Cards, and oral family history. These children were: Patrick, John, Anthony, Anne, Michael, Francis, Joseph, and Edward. Joseph was my grandfather. I was then trying to find spouses. My father's recollection was originally that Anne was never married.

In my post to the email list, I'd mentioned this when someone answered back that it looked like Anne had married a Walter STROZESKI who was living near the McHUGH family. I kind of argued with this person, stating that just because an "Anne" was living really close to the McHUGHs doesn't mean it was "my" Anne. After a few email exchanges, it came to light that there was a reference somewhere to this Anne STROZESKI's maiden name, which was McHUGH. Finally conceding it *might* be possible, I ran this by my dad, who exclaimed "That's RIGHT! Annie DID marry a Walter Strozeski and they had 2 children Mary and Martha, and Martha married a Joseph ROGWICZ".

There's a couple of valuable lessons to learn from this little experience. One, always be open to the possibility that information passed down through oral family history is wrong. And two, never underestimate the power of one small jog of the memory, as one small jog might turn into one huge run!

Here is a picture of whom I believe is Martha "Marty" (STROZESKI) ROGOWICZ. This picture was among those found in my father's sister's scrapbook this past month, and it was labeled "Marty".

Well Whaddaya Know?

Since I began my genealogy research I've notice that I'm sorely lacking in picture from my paternal McHUGH line. Beyond my father's grandparents, I'm also sorely lacking information on my paternal McHUGH line. I'm becoming so desperate that I've toyed with the thought of advertising in church bulletins in Nanticoke, PA, asking anyone connected to the McHUGH line to email me!

Tonight I was once again scanning some pictures from the scrapbooks my dad had hidden away. In this bunch of pictures, I found two pages worth of pictures that had only one familiar face in them: My dad's father's sister Anne (McHUGH) STROZESKI. Oh, a few had my father's mother, Mary (HODICK) McHUGH, too. I asked my dad if it was possible that the people in these pictures were from the McHUGH line, not the HODICK line, from which almost all of his pictures have been. Low and behold, I'm not quite as desperate for pictures from the McHUGH line as I thought!

After showing this and other pictures to my dad, he was able to tentatively identify the people in the row turning towards the camera as the following people: Eddie, Patrick, Anne, and John McHUGH, his father's brothers and sister! He isn't sure about Patrick, but he was pretty confident about Eddie and John (we know it's Anne!). He thinks John was the oldest, but WWI and WWII draft registration cards state that Patrick is the oldest, born 25 March of 1887, with John being born 9 May of 1889.

At any rate, it was so exciting to find pictures of the McHUGH line (he is sure that the pictures I scanned tonight were all connected to this line, not his mother's). Subsequent posts will identify Anne (McHUGH) STROZESKI's daughter and son-in-law (at least we're reasonably sure that's who they are!).

The Epitome of Precious

This evening I continued on the task of scanning the pictures found in my Aunt Norie's scrapbooks, that were found in my dad's house a few weeks ago. I've completed one book and have two more to go (plus one that was my dad's parents). In this second book I found the picture below. I do not know what the occasion for the picture was, but did find it absolutely precious. It's my father's other sister Maryann, who had Down Syndrome. I don't think any further caption is needed :).

Same or Different?

Amidst the paternal treasures found a couple of weeks ago was a really awesome picture of a woman sitting in a chair. This picture was obviously once affixed to that horrid black scrapbook paper that was all the rage, as there are bits of the black paper still stuck to the back of the picture. Partially hidden by these scraps of black paper is a name written, with a few letters showing, a few more almost showing, and the rest covered up. What I can see clearly is M D le. It *looks* to be my mother's handwriting, but I wouldn't swear to that. I think this is a picture of my great-grandmother Jane/Jenny Doyle, as she was often referred to as "Ma Doyle". However, a cousin isn't so sure. It could be someone else, for sure, as it was in with a bunch of stuff from my father's line (Doyle is from my maternal line). So I thought I'd post a picture I have that is known to be Ma Doyle and this picture in question.

So what do you think? Is this the same person? Or different? If you click on each picture, you will get an enlarged version.

It is, It IS a Sick Call Box!

Way to go cousin Joyce! The problem is, we don't know whose it was. Dad said it's been in his family since he can remember, so it was either from the McHugh line or the Hodick line. Next step is to figure out how old it is. Dad is 70, so if it's been in his family since he can remember, I'd say it's at least 60 to 65 years old (though it smells like it's 100 years old!).

What gets me is, he listens ad nauseum to my genealogical rantings, answers my zillions of questions, tries to identify countless photos, yet sits on this and the other items in the earlier post for YEARS without saying a word.

A BIG Hint

Well, the guesses that have come my way are incorrect, though the second guess by "Anonymous" was very close. Here's a picture of the contents of the box. Perhaps this will help :). The enlarging function is working on these pictures (I don't know why it sometimes doesn't work), so just click on them to see a bigger picture.

So your mystery is to identify what it is; my mystery is to identify whose it was!

What a Find

I had a rather rough weekend. My dad's second wife passed away a few weeks ago, after a year-long battle with cancer. We had her memorial service yesterday. While in Phoenix over the weekend, I'd gone through the cupboard where some of the McHugh family's history was stored. This is what I found:Four scrapbooks:

The family Bible(not well-preserved, I'm afraid):

My paternal grandfather's certificate of participation in the Manhattan Project from the War Department:

A scroll sent to James Jordan, M.D., my great-grandfather's sister's husband (inside is some type of remembrance of a Papal visit):

Two photo albums (from my childhood and brother's marriage and daughter's first years). And finally, this:

I have a picture of the contents of the above box, but I thought I'd make this interesting by asking readers to guess what this is (those of you who are local and already know are not allowed to post a guess!). Just click on the "Post a Comment" link below with your guesses. I'll reveal the contents in a later post. Meantime, I have a LOT of scanning to do!