Elijah Quincy Bernard - Tombstone Tuesday

Birth: Dec. 30, 1874
Clinton County
Ohio, USA
Death: Jun. 5, 1942
Wilmington
Clinton County
Ohio, USA

Elijah was the son of Charles Bernard and Johanna Creedan and the grandson of Patrick Creedan and Hannah Hoover. Sadly, Johanna died a few days after giving birth to Elijah and a twin that did not survive.

This smaller stone is in front of the main monument:

Elijah is buried in the Centerville Cemetery in Lees Creek, Clinton County, Ohio in Section 7, Lot 4. Thanks to Devon and RWHeasler for posting the info and pictures on FindAGrave.

Pennsylvania State Archives - Military Monday

If your family tree includes anyone that served in the military from Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Digital Archives are worth a look. They have index cards available online for soldiers that served in the Revolutionary War through the PA National Guard in 1921.

I knew my great-uncle Julius King Councill had enlisted in WWI from Pennsylvania, but there was additional information on these cards. I found a card for his service in the Mexican Border Campaign in 1916 and a record of his enlistment in the PA National Guard.

The card above shows that Julius was in Company B of the 6th Infantry and had the rank of Private. It lists his occupation as Inspector and gives a physical description and age. Julius was born in September 1899, so he would have only been 16 at the time of his enlistment even though he claims to be 21.

The second card repeats much of the same information, but also lists when he mustered in for WWI on July 15, 1917. Julius was killed in action in Fismette, France in 1918 at the age of 18 and is buried in Arlington Cemetery.

Rose Creeden - Sunday's Obituary

This is an obit card from the Mercer County, OH library:

age 66 yrs.
CREEDEN, ROSE
b. 1856                   OH
d. 30-June-1922     Jefferson Twp.
bd. St. Marys Cemetery, Celina, OH
fa. unknown   mo. unknown

I believe Rose (or Roseanna) was the daughter of Patrick Creedan and Hannah Hoover and she was born in Clinton County, OH. Rose's birth year seems to vary with each census. I could not find her in the 1860 census. In the 1870 census, her age is given as 6 years old and in the 1880 census, she is 19. The probate records place her birth year around 1856, so perhaps that is the correct year. In the 1900 census, her birth year is 1858 and her parents' places of birth are given correctly as Ireland for her father and Ohio for her mother. In the 1910 census, both parents' place of birth is given as Ireland and in the 1920 census both are given as the United States.

Rose's father Patrick died in 1883 and in his will, he left two shares of his estate for her care "in consequence of her feeble mental condition".  Patrick's son Timothy was named as Rose's guardian in 1883 and probate records show that he continued as guardian as late as 1891. The case was moved from Clinton County to Mercer County, OH when Timothy moved his family there. At some point Rose was placed in the Mercer County Infirmary where she lived out the rest of her life. Her death certificate says she was a resident of Mercer County for 27 years, which fits in with the family moving there around 1885.

I find it sad that by the time she died, it appears that they did not know who her family was. Timothy died in 1899 and his will did not mention Rose. While the obit card says she was buried in St. Mary's Cemetery, the genealogy society's book of cemetery inscriptions for St. Mary's does not list her. Her parents are listed as unknown on the obit card and her death certificate, so it is nice to be able to fill in a few details of her life. Thanks to Marj for sending me a copy of the obit card.

Johanna Creedan Bernard - Tombstone Tuesday

JOHANNA

wife of

CHAS. B. BERNARD

Daugh. of

P & H CREEDAN

Died

Jan. 11, 1875

Aged 22 y. 2 m. 26 days

Johanna was born in Clinton County, Ohio and was the daughter of Patrick Creedan and Hannah Hoover. She was married to Charles Bernard and died a few days after giving birth to twins. Johanna is buried in the Centerville Cemetery in Lees Creek, Clinton County, Ohio in Section 3. Thanks to Devon on FindAGrave for posting the picture!

John W. Matson - Sunday's Obituary

This was transcribed from an obituary card in the Mercer County Library in Celina, Ohio: 

Matson, John Wilson 
b. 18 January 1857 Clinton County, Ohio 
d. 17 July 1951 Jefferson Twp.(Ohio) 
bd. Riverside-Ketcham  Ripley 

An update was made to the card on 5-11-1995: 
fa. Thomas Jefferson Matson - died in Civil War 
mo. Mary Ann Pond 

Thanks to Marj for sending me the information! Marj and I caught some typos in the cards we had more information on, so I was a bit suspicious of the information on this card.

I found a death certificate for a John William Matson in Mercer County, Ohio with matching dates and places, but some of the other information was quite different.

According to the death certificate, he was John William Matson and his parents were Isaac and Ann Watson! So, which one is incorrect, Watson or Matson? The Matson name is carefully printed, while the Watson name is done in cursive. It's possible that what looks like a cursive "W" was really an "M". I found matches for a John Matson of the same age in the 1870 and 1880 census records for Hopewell Township, Mercer County, Ohio, but nothing so far after that. Hopewell is where my Creeden and Matson ancestors settled, so it is interesting to find that some Matsons were there ahead of them. 

Updating this post to add a newspaper obituary from the Lima News on July 19, 1951. The mystery is solved and the last name really was Matson!

 John Matson

   ROCKFORD, July 19-- Services were held at 2 p. m. Thursday in Ketcham's funeral home, Rockford, for John (Bill) Matson, 94, who died at 5 a. m. Tuesday in the Mercer-co Home. Dr. John Gregory was in charge of the services, with burial in Riverside cemetery.
   Born Jan. 18, 1857, in Clinton-co, he had lived in Rockford 55 years and had been a patient at the county home for the last six months.
   Survivors include a stepdaughter, Mrs. David Freewalt, Route 3, Rockford, five grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Dennis Coakley - Sunday's Obituary

This is from the Clinton County Ohio Newspapers Death and Obituary Abstracts, 1838 to 1867 by Larry D. Mart. The abstract for Dennis Coakley was taken from The Clinton Republican on April 7, 1865.

(Click for larger image.)

DIED, Dennis Coakley, of the 79th Reg. Ohio Vol. Leaves wife and 2 small children.

I'm just starting to investigate the Coakley families in Clinton County, so I am not sure yet how or if Dennis fits into my family. From the US Registers of Deaths of Volunteers, Dennis died in battle on March 16, 1865 in Avarysboro, NC.

The Liebster Award

Thanks very much to Heather at Leaves for Trees for nominating me for the Liebster Award! Heather's blog is one of my favorites, so this was a nice surprise.

Liebster is a German word that means friend, dearest, adored, beloved, chosen one. The Liebster Award is given to bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to encourage them to keep at it and to help spread the word about interesting blogs to a new audience.

The rules for the award vary, but I'm going to follow Heather's rules. This is all optional of course and just for fun!

• Thank the one who nominated you by linking back.
• List 11 random facts about yourself/your blog.
• Nominate five blogs with less than 200 followers.
• Let the nominees know by leaving a comment at their sites.
• Add the award image to your site (optional). 

1. My Christmas tree is still up.
2. My favorite color is blue.
3. Starting this blog was a total impulse. (one of my better ones!)
4. I'd love to do some time traveling, preferably in the TARDIS.
5. I'm still in touch with two childhood BFFs that I met when I was four.
6. I don't know of anyone in my family who reads my blog. If you do, surprise me and leave a comment!
7. I'm a chocoholic.
8. My most viewed post by a large margin is about the Creedon surname.
9. I love Tallahassee, but haven't been there in years.
10. I've been to my parents' home states, but not their hometowns.
11. I prefer Baked Cheetos to Cheez-Its!

Here are my nominees for the Liebster Award:
1. Leaves & Branches
2. The Stephen Sherwood Letters
3. Fantastic Electrisoil
4. Desperately Seeking Surnames
5. Genealogy By Ginger

Blogiversary - January 4

Today is the second Blogiversary for Kathryn's Quest. Hard to believe that it's been two years already!

I was looking back at my first Blogiversary post and I was busy investigating the military records of Edward Creeden and Julius Councill. This past year, I finally had some breakthroughs on my elusive Irish ancestors. In between, there have been lots of other discoveries.

Happy Blogiversary to the other blogs that started on this date: Family Tree Gal, Indiana Dillmans, and Toronto 1861! A big thanks to Geneabloggers and to all who emailed, posted and followed my blog. Hope to hear more from you in the coming year!