H is for ... HEROES!

Special thanks to Alona at Gould Genealogy for coming up with the Family History Through the Alphabet challenge!


H is for ... HEROES!


My family tree is chock full of men who served in the military or law enforcement (or both).  Here are the ones I have confirmed, in reverse chronological order.


First, is my dad, Jon Lanctot.  He served in the U.S. Army during Vietnam.  My grandmother told me a story about when I was just a couple of months old.  I was very sick with something called pyloric stenosis and needed surgery immediately.  My doctor was Dr. Todd, who had been the family's doctor for a very long time.  My dad had orders to be deployed overseas a few days later.  He called my dad's commanding officer and asked him to delay the orders.  The CO refused.  Dr. Todd mentioned that he thought my dad was looking like he might be getting pretty sick too, and might need to be hospitalized for several weeks, possibly even months.  The orders were delayed.

John J. Gallagher

Next is my maternal grandfather, John Gallagher.  He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps, I think in the mid- to late 1940s.  I'm not exactly sure what he did, but I'm positive that he did it very well.


He was also a police officer in Ridgefield, New Jersey for many years, and then worked as a food stamp fraud investigator for the Adjutant General's office at the Department of Agriculture.

Ed Lanctot

Next is my paternal grandfather, Ed Lanctot.  He served in the 147th Field Artillery Battalion of the South Dakota Army National Guard during WWII.  I posted about him previously here.

James Lanctot & Co.

Next, my paternal grand uncle, James Lanctot, served in the same unit as his brother Ed (above) during WWII.  Yep, that's him ... 2nd from the left. 


My paternal granduncle, Vernon G. "Bud" Slowey served with James and Ed Lanctot in the 147th of the South Dakota National Guard.


My maternal granduncle, Harold Crowe Jr., was a Sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He enlisted at Ft. Benjamin Harrison in Indiana on October 31, 1942.

Charles W. Crowe

Another maternal granduncle, Charles William Crowe, joined the U.S. Navy in 1944 at the age of 17. He retired in 1971 as a Commander. He was an aircraft carrier pilot on the USS Midway.

In 1917, my maternal great grandfather, Harold John Crowe, enlisted in the Indiana Army National Guard and served during WWI. 


My maternal great granduncle, Eugene L. "Tex" Stiker, enlisted in the Indiana Army National Guard in 1922.


To all of these men ... and all the ones for whom I haven't confirmed military or law enforcement service ... Hats off to you!  Heroes all!






Do we share any ancestors?
Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

A is for ... ADOPTION!

Special thanks to Alona at Gould Genealogy for coming up with the Family History Through the Alphabet challenge!  I'm really having to play catch-up with this challenge, as I just started and I'm already about 6 weeks behind :)

A is for ADOPTION!

My maternal grandfather was born on 29 September 1924. I'm not certain about the next several days, but what I can gather from the documents that I do have, it sounds like he was abandoned at the hospital. On 8 October 1924, the Department of Public Welfare delivered him to the Foundling Hospital in New York City. The record of commitment gave his name as Joseph Smith. He was baptized in the Roman Catholic faith at the Foundling Hospital.

In an affidavit dated 13 November 1928, Sister Xavier Maria of the Foundling Hospital stated that no parents or relatives have made any inquiry about Joseph, nor had anyone made any provision for his support or maintenance. The affidavit goes on to state that on 15 May 1928, Joseph Smith was placed with the petitioners (Walter W. Gallagher and Ruth L. Gallagher). They were considered "persons of good moral and religious training and habits, and financially able to care for, support and educate properly" young Joseph.

The same day in November 1928, Walter and Ruth Gallagher filed their petition to adopt Joseph Smith. They lived at 132 48th Street, Union City, New Jersey. Walter was the manager of a restaurant and earned $75 per week.

This is the part that breaks my heart: "petitioners have no knowledge or information as to whether the father or mother of said infant, or either of them is alive, or if alive, their or either of their post office addresses, and have no means of ascertaining such facts ..."  If the Foundling Hospital had knowledge of the identity or whereabouts of the biological parents, they would have to say, right?

The Order of Adoption was entered in the Surrogates Court for New York County on 4 December 1928, and Joseph Smith was forever after known as John Joseph Gallagher. An order sealing the records was entered on the same day.

For years I have tried (and my grandfather tried for years before that) to unseal the adoption records in an effort to determine who my grandfather's biological parents are. Unfortunately, given the information above, I'm afraid that even if I was given carte blanche access to all the adoption records in the state of New York, I would never find the names of his parents.

It is my intent to try to find a back door into his lineage by having my uncle (grampa's only remaining male child) take a Y-DNA test and an autosomal DNA test, and have my grandmother take the autosomal DNA test to eliminate her DNA from my uncle's DNA. This (theoretically) should leave my grampa's full DNA profile, right? From there, I should be able to determine if he has any biological relatives out there. Someone please tell me if this sort of "process of elimination" is possible, or am I just dreaming?

Do we share any ancestors? Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

Where Were My Grandparents in 1940?

It wasn't easy.  But it wasn't that hard either.  There are so many awesome tools out there specifically designed to help you find your ancestors on the 1940 census without an index that using several of these tools and a little common sense allowed me to find all four of my grandparents by the 4th day after the census was released.


I'll start with my maternal side:


John Joseph Gallagher - He was easy to find, and the first one I found.  He is 15 years old, living with his adoptive parents Walter W. and Ruth (Burrows) Gallagher in Ridgefield, Bergen County, New Jersey.  He was born in New York and has completed one year of high school.  Walter was the Chief of Police in Ridgefield (which made it pretty easy to find the family!).  I emailed a copy of the page to my mom when I found it, and she started telling me about how Jimmy Hulbert (line 3) was my Grampa's best friend, and that Claire Hall (line 5) used to let them play with her old prom dresses when my mom was little - which was a significant period of time after this census.  The Zlotnicks (lines 17-20) ended up merging with our family when the daughter, Gloria, married my maternal grandmother's brother.  There's also a story that Bernard Zlotnick was in the Navy during World War II and was MIA in the Bermuda Triangle.  (Obviously, something I need to follow up on!)  Incidentally, rumor has it that Bernard's mother received the money from his life insurance - somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000 - and never cashed the check because she always thought he was still alive.

This is a recent photo of 672 Virgil Avenue in Ridgefield, NJ:

Mary Lucile Crowe - She is 14 years old, single (shocker!), living in Indianapolis, Indiana with her parents, Harold John and Lucille (Stiker) Crowe.  She has completed 8 years of school.  Their address is 2133 Madison Avenue, and they paid $20/month in rent (which equates to around $307 today).  Harold is listed as a mechanic in a garage.  I suppose I'll have to do some research on that - I thought he was working as an engine inspector for Allison Division of GM since 1939.  I had quite the time finding them because they were renters.  The last address I had for them was on S. State Street in 1936.  I finally found their 1940 address by looking through the city directories on Ancestry.  Charles Crowe (line 6) is the one who married Gloria Zlotnick above.

Here is the house on Madison Avenue.  I'm pretty sure it's changed a little:

Now for my paternal side:


Edward John Lanctot - I found three generations on this page!  Ed is 18 years old, living with his widowed mother Alice (Schneider) Lanctot and widowed grandmother Mary Alice (Egan) Schneider at 705 Pine Street in Yankton, South Dakota.  He has completed high school and is working as a truck driver for a grocery company.  He worked for 20 weeks and made $120 in 1939.  He worked 77 hours during the week of March 24-30, 1940 - such a go-getter!  His mother worked in a produce house "dressing poultry" for 18 weeks in 1939 and made $191.  His sister, however, worked as a stenographer for Production Credit.  During 1939, she worked 52 weeks and made $1,080.  She worked 54 hours the week of March 24-30.  

Clare Maxine Slowey - She was the hardest to find.  I knew thought I knew she lived in Utica Township, Yankton County, South Dakota in 1939 (she won that beauty contest and it was in the paper), and I know that her father lived in Utica in 1941 (it says so on his SS application).  So where the heck did they go between 1939 and 1940??  I looked in all the EDs for Utica.  I even checked the state hospital for the insane.  You know, just in case.  Nada.  I decided to give my Gramma a call (I'm so totally lucky that I can still do that!).  Unfortunately, she couldn't remember exactly where they lived in 1940, but she was pretty sure it was Utica.  So ... back to the unindexed records I went.  I found an historic map of Yankton County to see the relationship between all the townships.  One by one, I downloaded the appropriate EDs for each area, working outward from Utica to the north, east, south, and west.  I finally located the family in Central Township (T 95, R 56)!


My grandmother is listed with her parents, Thomas Patrick and Christina Anna (Huber) Slowey, and four siblings.  She is shown to be 17 years old and completed 4 years of high school (she graduated in 1939).  The family was living on a farm in a rented house, and it looks like they were paying $6/month in rent.  This is the only census in which my grandmother's youngest brother Richard Raymond "Dickie" Slowey would appear.  He died from leukemia at the age of 6.

Wait.  What's that?  My 21-year-old granduncle, Vernon "Bud" Slowey, is on Line 5 and gets the supplemental questions!  FINALLY!!  Unfortunately, it really doesn't tell me anything I didn't already know.  He is not yet a veteran (but will be in a few years), he is a private worker on a farm (his family's), and he has a social security number.


So far, I've managed to locate 22 of the 37 families on my list.  Not too bad for less than a weeks' work.  Now that I've found my grandparents though, the rest of my day will be spent indexing.

Do we share any ancestors?

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

The 1940 Census - Who Is On My List?

Only 34 more days until the release of the 1940 census!  

While it isn't the first time I will find some of my living relatives on a census, I'm still very excited!  All four of my grandparents were on the 1930 census - as small children - and on the 1940 census they will be grown, and both of my grandfathers will be getting ready to head off to fight in WWII.


So who are the people I will be focusing on for the 1940 census?  These are mostly direct-line ancestors, but there are a few collateral folks in there too.  I have a whole other list with even more collateral folks to look up, but these are my priority.  Using the One-Step tools created by Steve Morse, I have already determined (hopefully) the enumeration district where they should be found, which should make things a little easier.


Theresa Burns, Mayfield, Yankton, SD (ED 68-8)
Albert L. Crowe, Indianapolis, IN (ED 96-285, 96-286)
Charles C. Crowe, Mt. Vernon, IN (ED 65-5, 60-15, 60-16)Harold John & Lucile Francis Crowe, Indianapolis, IN (ED 96-283) 

Harold John Crowe, Jr., Indianapolis, IN (ED 96-289, 96-290)
James M. Crowe, Mt. Vernon, IN (ED 65-5)
Mabel L. Crowe, Gosport, IN (ED 60-15, 60-16)
Owen Charles Crowe, Mt. Vernon, IN (ED 65-4)
Mary Alice (Egan) Schneider, Yankton, SD (ED 68-18, 68-22A-B)
John Joseph Gallagher, Ridgefield, NJ (ED 2-273, 2-276, 2-278)
Jeannette (Heerdink) Stiker, Mt. Vernon, IN (ED 65-5)
Edward John Lanctot, Yankton, SD (ED 68-18, 68-22A-B)

James Lanctot, Yankton, SD (ED 68-18, 68-22A-B)
Joseph Lanctot, Yankton, SD (ED 68-18, 68-22A-B)
Emma T. (Rothmeyer) Huber, Yankton, SD (ED 68-27)
Mary Alice (Schneider) Lanctot, Yankton, SD (ED 68-18, 68-22A-B) Clare Maxine Slowey, Yankton, SD (ED 68-18, 68-22A-B)

John Edward Slowey, Mayfield, Yankton, SD (ED 68-8)
Thomas Patrick & Christina Ann (Huber) Slowey, Yankton, SD (ED 68-8)
Vernon G. Slowey, Mayfield, Yankton, SD (ED 68-8)

 

I have made plans to be off work for the entire day on April 2, and will be indexing my little fingers off.  I will be checking blogs periodically until that day for other people's lists -- in addition to my own -- to see if I run across anyone else's folks while I'm indexing.

FamilySearch, Archives.com, and findmypast.com have joined together to make sure the 1940 census gets indexed and published as quickly as possible.  If you haven't already, I strongly encourage you to join me as a volunteer indexer for the 1940 census.  It's a great opportunity to give back (and get some research done in the process)!

Do we share any ancestors? 

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week 3 - Cars

Week 3: Cars.  What was your first car? Describe the make, model and color, but also any memories you have of the vehicle. You can also expand on this topic and describe the car(s) your parents drove and any childhood memories attached to it.

I got my first "car" in 1985, but I didn't buy it.  It was what my parents let me use.  It was a 1971 Datsun (yes, this was before they got all hoity-toity and started being called Nissan) pickup truck with the world's ugliest white camper top on the back.  Both doors were dented in like they had been in a demolition derby.  I can't even begin to describe the hideous turquoise color.  You had to bang on the dash to make the AM-only radio work.  I drove that little truck to school and work and everywhere in between.  It may not have been fancy or anything, but everyone knew it was me when I drove past!

The day I got my learner's permit (at age 15), I was allowed to drive the truck home from the DMV.  I hit a mailbox with the passenger side mirror, ran at least one stop sign, and I think I drove on the wrong side of the road more than once.  When we got home, my mom asked "so, how did it go?"  My stepdad replied, "It was better than Six Flags!"

My driving skills have improved somewhat since then.

I remember my mom's car, too.  After my parents divorced, we drove all the way from Portland, Oregon to Atlanta, Georgia in her olive-green Pontiac LeMans with awesome pleather seats and everything.  That thing was HUGE.  I remember my paternal grandmother packing goodie bags for my sister and me for the trip (we were between 4-7 years old).  We were on the road for about 6 days, and each day we got to open a new goodie bag.  Inside were puzzle books, a pack of gum, and other little things to keep us occupied during the long hours on the road.

My sister and I used to keep our crayons in the door handles.  They melted in the summer and every time you closed the door, you got a bunch of wax under your fingernails!

Last one, I swear: My sister and I were trying to do something nice for my mom, so we washed her car for her ... with Comet.  When the sun hit it just right, you could see all the circular scratches ... very sparkly.  She never got mad though, so that was pretty cool.

While I was working on this post, I happened to remember that I had several photos of my grampa John J. Gallagher and his cars.  Here are a few:



My grampa's police car - c. 1957 New Jersey



My grampa and his car - c. 1969 Miami
(I think this is where the "Miami Vice" look came from)





Grampa - c. 1930ish

Grampa - c. 1944ish (the summer before he left for the Army)



52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History by Amy Coffin is a series of weekly blogging prompts (one for each week of 2011) that invite genealogists and others to record memories and insights about their own lives for future descendants. You do not have to be a blogger to participate.

Mystery Woman

I'm going to shift gears a bit for a minute.

Many years ago, among the old family photos I inherited with my late grandfather's genealogy research, was a photo of a beautiful woman who appears to be African-American descent.  Now, since (as far as I know) my ancestors on that side of the family were pretty much Caucasian Irish Catholic, I was a little puzzled.  I asked my grandmother about the photo and the explanation I was given was essentially that she was "a family friend."  Nothing else.  No name, no relation, nothing.

I came across this photo again while going through my records (trying to get everything organized - still working on that) a couple of weeks ago.  I mentioned it to my mother on the phone last week.  Since my grandmother has had some health issues and she is getting up there in years, her mind is not what it once was.  However, my mother said that she would ask her about the photo and see if she could get any other information out of her.

Here is what I know:

1. My grandfather was adopted in 1928.
2. My grandfather was at the Foundling Hospital in New York City from 1924 to 1928.
3. My grandfather's adopted parents were Walter Gallagher and Ruth Burrows.
4. Walter Gallagher was born in New York in 1902, lived in Hudson, NJ in 1920, working as a telephone installer.
5. Walter and Ruth lived in Ridgefield, New Jersey according to the 1930 census.
6. Walter Gallagher had at least one mistress in his lifetime.
7. My grandfather kept this photo for a reason.

This is the photo:

The photo is rather old, printed on thick stock.  I don't know much about photographs, so I can't date it very specifically other than to say it's old.  There are no studio markings or dates, or anything written on the back.

If anyone can identify this woman, or an approximate date this photo could have been taken, please let me know.  I really would like to know how she fits into my family.