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".