Category: Genealogy

Is Marie Greer really Maria Dresher ?

Is Marie Greer really Maria Dresher ?

Posted on by Jack

I was looking at the John Greer and Julia Hopkins Family of New York again and noticed a coincidence or maybe not.

I had noted a daughter Marrie born around 1909 who seems to have died in childhood, I assume the name is actually Marie or maybe Mary or Maria and it was just written with two “r”s in the 1910 census when she was less than a year old. I had assumed Marie Greer died young because she did not appeared in the 1915 New York census or any subsequent census records. Lottie is still Lottie Greer in the 1910 census.

But the 1915 census shows the daughter Lottie as Lottie Dresher with 2 daughters Maria Dresher (age 6) and Rita Dresher (age 2). Lottie and her daughters are living with her mother. Continue reading “Is Marie Greer really Maria Dresher ?”

Lucy Greer Collins born 1859 Sligo Ireland

Lucy Greer Collins born 1859 Sligo Ireland

Posted on by jack

Lucy Greer Collins was probably born about 1859. Lucy Greer was probably born in Sligo town, Sligo, Ireland to Matthew Greer and Ruth Allingham of Glencar in County Leitrim.

I had not known of Lucy’s existence before finding an abstract of a New York City marriage record listing parents Matthew Greer and Ruth Aligan (a common misspelling). Continue reading “Lucy Greer Collins born 1859 Sligo Ireland”

John Greer in Folsom Prison

John Greer in Folsom Prison

Posted on by Jack

As mentioned before I’ve been filling in some details on collateral relatives in hopes I’ll find something that gives me some insight or additional direction on my more direct line. More specifically, I’ve been looking at the John Greer and Julia Mary Hopkins family of New York City.

I’ve previously written about two sons Charles John Greer and Horace A. Greer.

Now I add a third son with legal trouble, John J. Greer. I do not know what the J is for. It seems very probable that this is the same John J. Greer that was in Folsom Prison (Folsom, CA) in the 1940s. Second degree burglary put Greer in Folsom. His prior record included prison stays for theft and counterfeiting in New York, Connecticut, Atlanta (GA), and Lewisburg (PA).

If this sounds familiar to anyone, I’d be eager to hear and glad to share any information.

Matthew Greer, son of John

Matthew Greer, son of John

Posted on by Jack

This is about Matthew Greer. But there are 3 people in my family tree named Matthew Greer and so I specified above that he was the son of John Greer.

This Matthew Greer lived at home, first with his parent and then his widowed mother. In the last record I found on him, he was living with his mother in the 1925 New York census. Then the trail went cold. I could not find him in subsequent census records or in any type of record. Continue reading “Matthew Greer, son of John”

Help with Irish research

Help with Irish research

Posted on by Jack

These tips will point you in the direction of some good resources. In your case, some may be helpful and some not so helpful.

1. Maybe someone has already done a good bit of work on your family but you don’t know it. Perhaps a third or fourth cousin you don’t know. Or there might be some people searching the same surname who are not closely related but may have some advice. One way to check that out is my surname page (not ready yet) . Another option is to use Google or some other search engine to find the names that interest you. Be creative in your search terms!

2. There are also mailing lists where you get emails on a topic which could be a surname or an interest such as Irish genealogy or even as local as Co Limerick genealogy. Maillists work by sending a copy of each message to posted to all subscribers. Some lists are very small and some are large. Continue reading “Help with Irish research”

Shipwreck off Ireland 1822

Shipwreck off Ireland 1822

Posted on by jack

Before getting to the shipwreck off Ireland, let me tell you where I read about it. After all the shipwreck is old news and there’s no rush in getting to the story.

I live just outside West Chester, PA and I signed up for emails from a downtown West Chester business association. Even retired guys try to keep up with what is happening locally. Continue reading “Shipwreck off Ireland 1822”

My Irish genealogy website

My Irish genealogy website

Posted on by Jack

I am continuing the update of my Irish genealogy website.

The site serves as the County Limerick pages for IrelandGenWeb. In addition, I have a good place to read or post genealogical queries on the name Reidy and its variants. Also some good information of the REIDY, RIEDY, REEDY, READY, etc name.

The site has lots of links and resources for those of us with family from County Limerick.

I had a good bit of information on Irish Genealogy and I expect it will all be there shortly. Right now I have almost everything on the Reidy name moved, a most of what I have on County Limerick, and some general Irish genealogy information.

And it is all free to use.

Major update of my website

Major update of my website

Posted on by Jack

I’m pretty busy these days updating my website.

The site is a work in progress as I’ve recent changed from HTML to WordPress. In the long-term I think this will be an improvement. I will be able to do more things and hope to improve the site as I learn. But right now my major task is trying to move all the content from my old site.

It is taking longer than expected. And it is also more work than I expected. But I guess that is the price of progress. A good bit of what I had has been moved over but much is still left to be done.

I had a good bit of information on Irish Genealogy and I expect it will all be there shortly. Right now I have almost everything on the Reidy name moved, a good bit on County Limerick, and relatively little on general Irish information and Irish surnames.

Newspapers for genealogy

Newspapers for genealogy

Posted on by Jack

I’ve been doing genealogy and finding things on family members for years. Over a year ago, I decided to try newspapers for genealogy.

Not exactly a new approach. I had used the occasional search of free resources. I did some research on the Library of Congress site. And the New York Times site. The Times does limit you if you don’t subscribe but we do so there was no problem.

I had found a few things Continue reading “Newspapers for genealogy”

Who do you think you are?

Who do you think you are?

Posted on by Jack

I just got an email from ancestry.com in my inbox today. Actually it had been sitting there overnight. I just saw it today.

“Who do you think you are?” is coming back for season 5 on Sunday, March 8. I enjoy this show. My only real complaint is that sometimes it makes genealogy look too easy.

Usually involves a celebrity guest trying to learn about his or her ancestors. Of course they learn quite a bit in a a short time. But then, they have a lot of help.

It is usually interesting (although a bit different from the way us normal folks do things). Here is the ancestry announcement.

If you haven’t seen the show, give it a try. If you’re already a fan, enjoy.

Irish Genealogy: John J Reidy 1906

Irish Genealogy: John J Reidy 1906

Posted on by Jack

I’ve enjoyed my membership in the Genealogy Bank. I am now in my second year.

It allows searches in a wide variety of older newspapers and they are adding more newspaper every month. When I got my monthly newsletter today, I was pleased to see they added more issues of the Gaelic American. This is a New York news papers publishing thing of interest to Irish-Americans, including news from Ireland.

Since I am interested in Irish Genealogy including the name REIDY, I was pleased to see an obituary of John J. Reidy who died July 17, 1906. This was in the August 11, 1906 issue. Among many other things the article says he was from Ballyelan, Ballingarry, Limerick and was active in the Fenian movement, and an uncle of James Reidy of New York.

There were also quite a few articles in the Gaelic American of this time on James Reidy of the Brooklyn Gaelic society and other Irish-American organizations. I suspect this is may be the nephew mentioned above but I do not know this.

Since Ballingarry is just down the road from Rathkeale where my REIDYs were from, I found this especially interesting.

How to Do Everything Genealogy

How to Do Everything Genealogy

Posted on by Jack

I’ve been doing a bit of family history myself so when I saw the title How to Do Everything Genealogy, my first thought was that covering everything in genealogy in a a book was certainly an impossible task and perhaps the author was some sort of charlatan. However, I soon discovered this was not the case and it actually was a very good book.
Continue reading “How to Do Everything Genealogy”

Family Search photoduplication services and rewards

Family Search photoduplication services and rewards

Posted on by Jack

I’ve mentioned that I use Family Search quite a bit and it is free so I try to help out by volunteering to index records.

Family Search has discontinued their photoduplication services. I had used this service for several records each year because the actual record usually has much more information than the abstract online or an index. But these records may eventually be fully digitized and available online. Meanwhile, it is a service I miss.

But this gives me an idea. Actually three, but I don’t know if they will be useful. Continue reading “Family Search photoduplication services and rewards”