This is an open invitation.  The Genealogical Society of Southwestern Pennsylvania will be holding its yearly meeting and luncheon on Sunday, December 14, 2008 at the Citizens Library, 55 S. College St., Washington, PA.

We will be installing the 2009 Officers and Board Members.  We will hold the induction of the Pioneer Families of Southwestern Pennsylvania and we will have a visit by General George Washington and his wife, Martha telling us about December 1758 during the French & Indian War.

Attendance fee will be $20.00 which includes lunch.  Contact gsswpa@gmail.com for a reservation form.

                                                                              Bryan Cunning, Re-enactor

 

In honor of my father-in-law, Edward William Nixon whose last birthday on this earth was on 9/11.

   1957 - Germany

JUST A COMMON SOLDIER               by A. Lawrence Vaincourt

He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast,

And he sat around the Legion, telling stories of the past.

Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done,

In his exploits with his buddies; they were heroes, every one.

And tho' sometimes, to his neighbors, his tales became a joke,

All his Legion buddies listened, for they knew whereof he spoke.

But we'll hear his tales no longer for old Bill has passed away,

And the world's a little poorer, for a soldier died today.

He will not be mourned by many, just his children and his wife,

For he lived an ordinary and quite uneventful life.

Held a job and raised a family, quietly going his own way,

And the world won't note his passing, though a soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state,

While thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were great.

Papers tell their whole life stories, from the time that they were 

young,

But the passing of a soldier goes unnoticed and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution to the welfare of our land

A guy who breaks his promises and cons his fellow man?

Or the ordinary fellow who, in times of war and strife,

Goes off to serve his Country and offers up his life?

A politician's stipend and the style in which he lives

Are sometimes disproportionate to the service that he gives.

While the ordinary soldier, who offered up his all,

Is paid off with a medal and perhaps, a pension small.

It's so easy to forget them for it was so long ago,

That the old Bills of our Country went to battle, but we know

It was not the politicians, with their compromise and ploys,

Who won for us the freedom that our Country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger, with your enemies at hand,

Would you want a politician with his ever-shifting stand?

Or would you prefer a soldier, who has sworn to defend

His home, his kin and Country and would fight until the end?

He was just a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin,

But his presence should remind us we may need his like again.

For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier's part

Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor while he's here to hear the praise,

Then at least let's give him homage at the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper that would say,

Our Country is in mourning, for a soldier died today.

The Genealogical Society of Southwestern Pennsylvania will be holding its Fall Family History Conference on Saturday, October 18, 2008 from 9:00AM to 4:30PM at Citizens Library in Washington, PA.  The speakers will be William “Bill” Poellet, Jr., railroad and oil historian presenting “Echoes of Washington County, The Railroad and The Oil Well”, Frank J. Kurtik, historian and archivist, presenting “Monongahela Rye Whiskey – Its Impact on the Culture and Economy of Nineteenth Century America” and “Vesta Coal:  An Overview of the Bituminous Coal Mining Operations of Jones & Laughlin Steel”  and Elissa Scalise Powell, CG  presenting “Windows to the Past:  Newspaper Research” and “Hiding Behind Their Skirts:  Finding Women In Records”.  Vendors will also be displaying their products.  Registration fees are:  Members - $25.00 and Non-members $30.00.  A continental breakfast and box lunch is included in the conference fee.  Registration is due by October 4, 2008.  For a word document copy of the registration form, please e-mail gsswpa@gmail.com providing your name and e-mail address.  Come and join us for an interesting day.

     “I saw behind me those who had gone, and before me, those who are to come.  I looked back and saw my father, and his father, and all our fathers, and in front, to see my son, and his son, and the sons upon sons beyond.  And their eyes were my eyes.  As I felt, so they had felt, and were to feel, as then, so now, as tomorrow and forever. Then I was not afraid, for I was in a long line that had no beginning, and no end. And the hand of his father grasped my father's hand, and his hand was in mine, and my unborn son took my right hand, and all, up and down the line that stretched from Time That Was, to Time That Is, and Is Not Yet, raised their hands to show the link, and we found that we were one, born of Woman, Son of Man, made in His Image, fashioned in the Womb by the Will of God, the Eternal Father."

Extracted from the work of Richard Llewellyn
"How Green Was My Valley"

 

 

Jonathan Nixon (Abt 1753-1799)

     Jonathan Nixon was born about 1753 in Frederick County, Virginia, the son of George (Nickson) Nixon and Elizabeth Arnold. He married Nancy Sarah Pugh about 1774 in Augusta County, Virginia and set up housekeeping in Hampshire County, Virginia (WV) where Jonathan intended to patent a 133-acre farm that that he had warranted from Lord Fairfax of the Northern Neck of Virginia. The land included the cove and headwaters of Chenoweth's Run, which was a tributary of the Great Cacapon River.

     Possibly because of the encroachment of the Revolutionary War on his land, in 1779, Jonathan Nixon re-assigned the Hampshire County, Virginia farm to Edward Curtis and moved his family to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania which at that time was also being claimed as Monongalia County by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The family remained in Pennsylvania until about 1786. From the book, "The Ten Mile Country and Its Pioneer Families", the original Petition for a New State circa 1780 located in the Library of Congress, has Jonathan Nixon's signature on it. In 1782, he also signed Petition No. 8 from the inhabitants of Yohogania and Monongalia counties to the Governor Harris of the State of Virginia asking the Governor whether the signers were still Virginia citizens or should they now swear their allegiance to Pennsylvania due to the creation of the Mason-Dixon line. Jonathan appears on the 1783 Westmoreland County Property Tax rolls as having 30 acres cleared, 3 horses and 2 cattle. Then with the formation of Fayette County in 1784, Jonathan sells his land on Georges Creek, Fayette County, Pennsylvania to Alexander Jamison. After the sale of his land, Jonathan Nixon still appears on the 1785 and 1786 Fayette County, Pennsylvania State Tax lists in German Township. By 1787, Jonathan warrants 385 acres near Boothsville, Harrison County, Virginia (WV) where he moves his family and lives out the rest of his days.

     Jonathan had originally wanted to migrate to Kentucky and purchase land from Daniel Boone. There is a verbal history as told by Rev. Jesse Nixon (1816-1906), Jonathan Nixon's grandson, to Rev. Henry Morgan that a group of men from southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia left on a trip to Kentucky to meet up with Daniel Boone concerning land. The group included Jonathan Nixon, William Hibbs, Edward Parrish, Thomas Townshend, Charles Snodgrass and a number of others. After crossing the Tygart Valley near current Grafton, West Virginia, a couple of the men remained at a cabin due to the illness of one man and the others continued on the journey. The men that stayed behind were killed by Indians. This event put an end to the Kentucky plans of Jonathan Nixon and his friends. The traveling party took the dead men home, saw them buried and, afterwards, returned with their families to live out their lives in the Upper Monongahela Valley in the areas of Harrison, Marion and Taylor Counties.

     Jonathan Nixon died in Booth's Creek, Harrison County, Virginia (WV) on 4 July 1799 at the age of forty-five and is buried in the Nixon Cemetery on the Apple Valley Rd., Fairmont, Marion County, West Virginia.

 

Matthew Mack (1878-1957)

 

My grandfather, Matthew (MacNamara) Mack, was born on the 16 September 1878 on Taylor's Row, Tirpil, Merthyr Tydfil,  Glamorgan, Wales, the son of Irish parents, Daniel MacNamara and Catherine Donovan of County Cork.  Matthew was baptized Roman Catholic in Rhymney Parish, Glamorgan, Wales on 13 Oct 1878.  His baptism sponsors were Michael O'Dwyer and Catherine Foley.

On the 1881 Wales census, Matthew Mack was living with his parents and brothers at 8 Glandwr Terrace, Ystradyfodwg, Glamorgan, Wales.  The family surname was MacNamara and all ten children’s’ births were registered as such, but by the 1881 census the entire family was using the surname Mack.  It is unknown why the surname was shortened.  After the death of his father, Daniel Mack in May 1881, Matthew, age three, along with his mother, Catherine and brother, Daniel, moved in with older brother, John Mack and his wife, Julia in New Tredegar, Glamorgan, Wales.  As a young boy of about eleven years, Matthew worked in a brickyard near New Tredegar as a water-errand boy and at the age of fifteen, started working in the colliery.

            On the 1901 Wales census, Matthew, age 22, was listed as a boarder living with William Morris, his wife, Margarat, and their two daughters, Annie, and Elizabeth, at 119 Commercial St., New Tredegar, Monmouthshire, Wales and his occupation was a colliery horse driver.

Matthew Mack migrated to the United States the first time in 1903 on a work contract with the Ellsworth Colliers Company to work in the Ellsworth Mine, Washington County, Pennsylvania.  Matthew left Liverpool, England on 7 October 1903 on the S.S. Haverford and arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 18 October 1903, but he never stepped foot into the United States after that voyage.

He was immediately deported back to Wales by the United States Immigration Service through no fault of his own.  It seems the Ellsworth Colliers Company was violating an 1884 Alien Contract Work law by hiring Welsh miners through an agent in Wales on a contract and paying the miner’s passage and expenses to the United States.  In exchange, the Welsh miners would work in the Ellsworth mines for a specified number of years.  In other words, the miners were being indentured which was illegal at that time.  The government found out about the scheme and the Allegheny County, Pennsylvania District Attorneys office filed a lawsuit against Ellsworth Colliers.  In an article in the New York Times dated December 2, 1903, it quotes, "It has been alleged that during the present year, Ellsworth Coal Company advertised in Wales and secured a large number of miners, who, when they reached here were dissatisfied with the prevailing conditions and sought employment elsewhere.  Several of these miners were returned (to Wales) by the Immigration Bureau at Philadelphia."  On the S.S. Haverford's Philadelphia manifest there is a large "D" written beside every miners name on the same page as Matthew meaning the men had been deported. 

           Matthew Mack emigrated the second time from Wales to Quebec, Canada in 1904.  He left Liverpool, England on the S.S. Lake Manitoba of the Canadian Pacific Line on the 1 November 1904 arriving in Quebec City.   He then traveled into the United States at the port of Black Rock, Buffalo, New York on 23 November 1904.   He listed his last residence as Cardiff, Wales.  His destination was listed as Carnegie, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania to stay with his sister, Johanna (McNamara) Downey McMurray.  

            As his sister Johanna, born in Wales in 1854, had left Wales in 1871 seven years before Matthew's birth, Matthew's arrival in America was the first time this brother and sister had ever met.  Upon his arrival in Pennsylvania, Matthew worked as a coal miner for the Carnegie Coal Company. About 1905, he made his way to Arden, Washington County, Pennsylvania with his nephew, Tim Downey to work at the Arden Mine.  Matthew and Tim were listed as boarders with Archibald and Lucy McIntyre, Matthew's future in-laws, on the 1910 United States Census for Arden, Chartiers Twp., Washington County, Pennsylvania.  He was working as a hoisting engineer in the mine.  

            Matthew left Arden, Pennsylvania and returned to Wales under mysterious circumstances in December 1910.  Matthew did not inform his sister Johanna or the McIntyres that he was returning to Wales.  In a January 1911 letter from Matthew's oldest brother, John living in Hafodrynys, Monmouthshire, Wales to his sister, Johanna in Pennsylvania, John mentions that Matthew had been back in New Tredegar, Glamorgan, Wales  for three weeks and had not yet contacted him.  It is suspected Matthew may have been deported a second time as he had been in the United States for seven years and had not yet filed his intention to become a naturalized citizen.  At that time, the law stated that the intention must be filed within five years of arrival in the United States.

           

“Well, dear sister, it is strange that Matt did not tell you he was coming back, he has been back this 3 weeks but he hasn’t been over to see me as yet.  My son, Dan, went over to New Tredegar about 3 weeks ago & saw him there that is how I know he is back.  He promised to come over on the Saturday, but he never turned up.  I really think he ought to come & see me before strangers don’t you.   Well, I don’t think I shall break my neck to go & see him until he comes here.”  Letter from John Mack – Hafodrynys, Monmouthshire, January 1911.

           

           Matthew Mack then returned to the United States for the third time from Wales through Liverpool, England on the S.S. Mauretania leaving England on 4 March 1911 and arriving in the port of New York on 10 March 1911.  He returned to Arden, Washington County, Pennsylvania again to stay with Archibald McIntyre and his wife.  He hand carried in a basket a pair of Staffordshire dogs as a gift for Lucy McIntyre, his future mother-in-law.  These dogs now almost 100 years old are still a family treasure.

In 1914, Matthew and the McIntyre family moved to Hendersonville, Washington County, Pennsylvania to work in the newly opened Henderson Mine.  Matthew Mack and Florence McIntyre, daughter of Archibald and Lucy McIntyre, were married in October 1919: him at the age of forty-one and her at the age of twenty-seven.  They had three children: Archibald Malcolm, Robert Matthew, and Catherine Florence.

            Matthew worked as a coal miner all of his adult life attaining the position of machinist.  He received his Bituminous Coal Miner's Certificate from the State of Pennsylvania on 1 March 1938.  His last place of mining employment was the Henderson Mine, Hendersonville, Washington County, Pennsylvania when the mine closed in 1945.  

           Matthew Mack finally received his United States Naturalization papers on the 11 April 1939 in Washington County, Pennsylvania at the age of sixty.  He bought the company house where he lived and raised his children in 1945 for a sum of five hundred and fifty dollars from the Pittsburgh Coal Company.

            Only two months after I was born, my grandfather, Matthew Mack died on 15 July 1957 at the age of seventy-eight of congestive heart failure in Hendersonville, Pennsylvania and is buried in Oak Spring Cemetery, Canonsburg, Washington County, Pennsylvania. 

Although I was too young to remember him, through finding his family history, I feel I have come to know him.  And it took the journey from Wales to Pennsylvania three times round for Matthew Mack to finally have the life he so desired in the United States of America.

 

 

 

 

     Picturing my maternal grandmother in my mind, I always see Bubba, my Polish grandmother, in a cotton house dress and an apron.  She always wore an apron in the house. Today, I don't think our kids even know what an apron is. The principal use of Bubba's apron was to protect the dress underneath, but along with that, it served as a pot holder for removing hot loaves of homemade bread from the oven.  She made the best bread.  When I think of walking into her kitchen, I can still smell that fresh bread right out of the oven.  Bubba’s apron was wonderful for drying our tears, wiping our skinned knees and on occasion, was even using it for cleaning out dirty ears.  From the chicken coop, her apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.  When company came, her apron were ideal hiding place for my shy cousins. And when the weather was cold, Bubba wrapped it around her arms to ward off a chill.  I remember her using those big old aprons to wipe her perspiring brow, bent over a hot stove.  And from Judza’s garden, her apron carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.  In the summer, her apron was used to carry pears from the pear tree Judza had grafted onto an apple tree and in the fall, Bubba’s apron would bring in apples that had fallen from the tree. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how muchfurniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Bubba walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and Judza knew it was time to come in for dinner.  It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that "old-time apron" that served so many purposes.
     Bubba used her apron to set her hot baked pies on the window sill to cool. Her great-granddaughters now set theirs on the window sill to thaw.  They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.   I know I never caught anything from Bubba’s apron--except love.

In memory of Bubba, Louise (Ludwika Mikulec) Severyn (1895-1985).

I usually don't get on my political soapbox in public, but I thought this article was a very interesting perspective............

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY : Posted 22 July 2008 No one likes war. War is a horrific affair, bloody and expensive. Sending our men and women into battle to perhaps die or be maimed is an unconscionable thought. Yet some wars need to be waged, and someone needs to lead. The citizenry and Congress are often ambivalent or largely opposed to any given war.  It's up to our leader to convince them.  That's why we call the leader "Commander in Chief." George W.'s war was no different.  There was lots of resistance to it.  Many in Congress were vehemently against the idea. The Commander in Chief had to lobby for legislative approval. Along with supporters, George W. used the force of his convictions, the power of his title and every ounce of moral suasion he could muster to rally support.  He had to assure Congress and the public that the war was morally justified, winnable and affordable. Congress eventually came around and voted overwhelmingly to wage war. George W. then lobbied foreign governments for support.  But in the end, only one European nation helped us. The rest of the world sat on its hands and watched. After a few quick victories, things started to go bad.  There were many dark days when all the news was discouraging.  Casualties began to mount.  It became obvious that our forces were too small. Congress began to drag its feet about funding the effort. Many who had voted to support the war just a few years earlier were beginning to speak against it and accuse the Commander in Chief of misleading them.  Many critics began to call him incompetent, an idiot and even a liar. Journalists joined the negative chorus with a vengeance. As the war entered its fourth year, the public began to grow weary of the conflict and the casualties. George W.'s popularity plummeted.  Yet through it all, he stood firm, supporting the troops and endorsing the struggle. Without his unwavering support, the war would have surely ended, then and there, in overwhelming and total defeat. At this darkest of times, he began to make some changes.  More troops were added and trained.  Some advisers were shuffled, and new generals installed. Then, unexpectedly and gradually, things began to improve.  Now it was the enemy that appeared to be growing weary of the lengthy conflict and losing support.  Victories began to come, and hope returned.  Many critics in Congress and the press said the improvements were just George W.'s good luck.  The progress, they said, would be temporary. He knew, however, that in warfare good fortune counts. Then, in the unlikeliest of circumstances and perhaps the most historic example of military luck, the enemy blundered and was resoundingly defeated.  After six long years of war, the Commander in Chief basked in a most hard-fought victory. So on that historic day, Oct. 19, 1781, in a place called Yorktown, a satisfied George Washington sat upon his beautiful white horse and accepted the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, effectively ending the Revolutionary War.....

 ............in history repeating itself.

I joined Ancestral Space a few weeks ago and thought my first blog post should be a mix of information about myself and why I am so passionate about genealogy.  I have entitled this blog, "Whispers From The Past" as I am a firm believer that our ancestors wish to be found and have their stories told and that they "whisper"  to us from time to time whenever we need a little push or help with a brick wall.  I have had numerous "coincidences" in doing genealogy research that could only have occurred with a little paranormal help.

  My grandmother, Florence (McIntyre) Mack (1893-1990), was the "keeper " of the family stories when she was alive.  She loved to tell us about her life, the people she knew, and the family stories she was told by her parents and grandparents.  I have fond memories of sitting around our dining room table during the holidays and listening to her family tales of her life in the coal fields of southwestern Pennsylvania.  It is through her influence that I became interested in genealogy and now I am the "keeper" who is adding to the family history book to be passed on to the next generations.

I had been dabbling in my family genealogy off and on for about 20 years and when a back injury forced me to be almost immobile for several weeks, I began my genealogy research journey in earnest.  Always being a person on the go, I got a little stir crazy and about all I could do physically was lay in bed or sit at the computer, so I started searching the Internet for genealogy information.  I found a little piece of info on my family here and another there and with each find, my excitement increased.  I was hooked! 

That was six years ago and my passion for finding my family and my husband's family history has continued to increase.  I now have 8 generations of my father's side, 5 generations of my mother's sid and 10 generations of my husband's side.  I am a board member of the Genealogical Society of Southwestern Pennsylvania, www.genealogicalsocietyswpa.com, a volunteer researcher for the society, teach beginning genealogy classes for the community education program of the Community College of Allegheny County, www.ccac.edu  , and run my own family history research business, Whispers From The Past.  I am now a little more than hooked, I'm addicted!

I live in Washington County, Pennsylvania which was formed in 1781 and was the first county in the United States to be named for George Washington the General, not the President.  My genealogy expertise is in southwestern Pennsylvania families from pre-Revolutionary War times through the early 1900's with a special interest in the coal mining industry of this area.  The southwestern Pennsylvania counties of Washington, Greene, Westmoreland, Fayette and Allegheny are a hot bed of genealogy information as this was the jumping off point for westward migration from the East Coast to Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois and other points west during and after the Revolutionary War.  Settled early by the Scots-Irish and Germans, these southwestern Pennsylvania settlers played a very important role in the early formation of the United States of America.  We are steeped in the history of the very beginnings of America  and the people who participated in the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, the Pennsylvania - Virginia land conflict which created the Mason-Dixon line, the Whiskey Rebellion - the first civil uprising in our new nation, the Civil War and the Industrial Revolution with our coal, steel, and glass industries. 

As I continue to hear my own family whispers, I hope to continue to add to this blog and to connect with other members of Ancestral Space who share my passion in hearing the Whispers From The Past of their own ancestors.