J. McFadden (1844-1863)

Co K 36th Ohio. Killed at the battle of Mission Ridge, Tenn., Nov. 25, 1863. -Ohio Roster Roll of Honor.

John McFadden (abt  1844-1863)

I recently received the pension file filled out by his parents after his death and all the names, dates and locations do add up so I am as certain as can be that this is the brother of my great grandfather Dennis McFadden (1847-1924).

Unfortunately I do not have any photographs of my known ancestors in their military uniforms.  According to the pension file filled out by John's parents, after his death their house burned and with it all photographs, letters and the like.  They should have, as I have to remind myself, back things up on an external hard drive and store it at another location!

I do have a few pictures of Navy seamen and a soldier from the WWI area but so far I haven't been able to identify them.

Mystery Photo MP001

 

This is most likely the oldest photograph in my collection. It is a tintype and to me it appears to be around the 1880s. I have no idea who it is, if he is a family member or if he is part of my maternal grandmother or grandfather's line. He features also don't resemble anyone I know of.

The only other tintype in my collection is of my maternal great grandmother Roxie Hughes 1876-1961.  It could be from the same time period but so far there is no way to know if they are related.

Mystery Photograph 077

This mystery photograph was recently given to me by an aunt on my McFadden line and it is one of the few family photographs that actually has something written on the back, unfortunately, it includes two names of who it might be.

 

 

I think this is Clara Gross or it is Harriet Wagner.  Dan

 

The note was written by Daniel O'Connell McFadden (1900-1996) the brother of my grandmother Ruth McFadden Webb (1905-1985)

 

Clara Madeline (Schildhauer) Gross (1895-1989) was my mother's second cousin. So far I have not come across the name Harriet Wagner in my research so she could be a family member or a friend or acquaintance.  

Mystery Photograph

My Aunt recently gave me some more family photos and here is another one that goes into the unknown pile.  On the back "Dennis" is written. The only Dennis I am aware of is Dennis McFadden (1847-1924). Based on the clothing I guess this was taken sometime during the 1920's. By that time Dennis was an old man grey hair and a mustache.  I've compared photographs of the older Dennis with his wife Elizabeth Neuland (1866-1949), and they do not seem to be the same people.

Back from the Forbidden Zone

It has been a while since I've last posted, but to make a long story short, I needed a bit of a hiatus.

Now I don't usually do New Year resolutions, but with this year I do have some goals in mind that are doable.

1. Finally take a research trip to Arkansas and Louisiana and try to find any record on what happened to Celia Autrey Sample (1859-1907).  I believe I have a good circumstantial case that she is my great grandmother, but I'd still like to find one more good piece of evidence. Also, I'd like to find out about her death and where it occurred.

2. According to family stories Edward Vincent McFadden (1889-1977) had a wife before he married Mary A. Curley between 1940 and 1942. So far I have found nothing that indicates he had and earlier marriage.

3. I do plan to work more on my writing this year and hopefully will have something publishable at some point. I have notes, timelines and sketches written down but now want to put them together into an interesting narrative or case study.

4. I'm debating on attending the NGS conference in Florida this year. I plan on deciding within the next week or so. It would be helpful to network since I want to get out of my comfort zone and start taking clients.

5. I will also re-start my effort to become a certified genealogist. In a previous life I was not supported in this endeavor. But as Oswald Cobblepot once said to The Batman, "things change" so now I can tackle things I had put on the back burner.

6. I do plan to be more active with posts on here. It will be good practice for my writing.

I feel 2016 is going to be a very good year.

52 Ancestors- Week 17- John McFadden (?-1863)

John McFadden is possibly the brother of my great grandfather Dennis Cornelius McFadden (1847-1924).  Family legend has it that they left Ireland during the Potato Famine but so far I have been unable to determine exactly when they left Ireland and where in the US they arrived.  It appears they settled in Ohio and there is one promising family that I have been looking into.

Both brothers enlisted in the army at the start of the Civil War  in Ohio and fought for the Union.  There is a John McFadden who served in Company K, 36^th Ohio Infantry.  This John was wounded at the battle of Mission Ridge, Tennessee on 25 November 1863 and died on the 26.  He is buried in Chattanooga National Cemetery in Tennessee. 

A widows pension was filled out by Johns parents, Edward and Alice McFadden.  Alice applied on 29 December 1874 and Edward filed on 25 March 1887.  So far the pension file has not been located in the FamilySearch, Ancestry.com or Fold3 databases.  My next step is to contact the NARA.  Hopefully I will have better luck getting his pension files than I did with the file for his brother Dennis. 

 

The names of Edward and Alice do appear on Dennis McFadden's death certificate from 1924. 

 

And Edward Vincent McFadden, son of Dennis, stated that his father lived in the state of Ohio for a time on his passport application in 1919.

 

Both John and Dennis appear in the 1860 census for Vinton County, Ohio with their presumed parents Edward and Alice. 

Edward and Alice also appear in the 1870 census for Vinton County, Ohio.

 

I believe that Edward and Alice from the 1860 and 1870 censuses are the same, but I have yet to find anything that indicates they are indeed the parents of the John and Dennis I am researching. 

So far, I have been unable to locate any additional information on Edward and Alice after the pension application.  My next steps will be to look for probate and tax records in Vinton County.  Also, I plan to search local newspapers and hopefully find an obituary or some other bits of information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1927 gas tank explosion-Pittsburgh, PA

I was going through a few more pages of my great grandmother's (Elizabeth "Lizzie" Neuland McFadden, 1866-1949), diary and I came across this entry:

Pittsburgh      Monday 14, 1927
A gas tank explosion about 20 minutes to 9.  Lots of damage done and people killed.  The whole city shook, glass broke every where.  Our house shook.  I didn't know what had happened.  I was in laundry washing.

 

 



In 1920 they lived just across the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh on Amabell Street.  If they didn't live at the same address in 1927, it was the same general area.  By 1930 Lizzie and my grandmother, Ruth (1905-1985) were living in Maryland with her son Cornelius P. McFadden (1903-1977)

 

Here is a YouTube video on the explosion.