Wordless Wednesday - Robert F. Creeden

My grandfather, Robert F. Creeden, ~1916

Military Monday - James Willis in WWII

My great-uncle James H. Willis enlisted in the US Army from Philadelphia, PA on May 3, 1943. He was a Private and served until September 29, 1944. His enlistment record showed that he had a grammar school education and that his civil occupation was an unskilled worker in the automobile manufacturing industry. His obituary stated that he served in the African-Italian Campaign.

After his service in the Army, James worked as a contract auditor for the Sun Oil Company and he retired from there after 40 years of service.

Sources:

• National Archives and Records Administration. U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, 1938-1946 [Archival Database]; World War II Army Enlistment Records; Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 64; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.
• Ancestry.com. U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
• Delaware County Daily Times Obituary, Apr/30/2010

Church Record Sunday - History of the Sisters of Charity on Google Books

Volume 1 and Volume 2 of The History of Mother Seton's Daughters are available for free on Google Books. The books contain a detailed history of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, Ohio. Volume 2 has a listing of members of the Sisters of Charity from 1852 - 1870. Volume 3 is available for browsing online through the DePaul University Libraries Digital Collections and it lists members from 1871-1897.

My 2x great-grandfather's sister Julia Creeden entered the Sisters of Charity convent on March 25, 1870.

Julia took the name Sister Mary Felix when she took her religious vows. Knowing her religious name helped me find her death certificate which listed her parents' names as Patrick Creedon and Mary Coakley.

Surname Saturday - Acy

This will be one of my shorter surname posts since I can find out so little about the Acy surname. In fact, I'm not even completely sure that it is a surname since it only occurs as a middle name in my family.

My great-grandfather's full name was Charles Acy Creeden. He usually signed documents as Charles A. Creeden, so I've only found the name in writing in a couple of places. Before finding the index to the Mercer County, Ohio birth records, I had thought the name was spelled Acey.

The entry above is from a Mercer County, Ohio report of births and the one below is from the Probate Court records. Both clearly show Charles' middle name as Acy, although one has his birth date as November 10 and the other shows November 5. His obituary and headstone both say November 5, so that is probably the correct date.

I could find very few Acys or Aceys in the Ohio census and none in Clinton or Mercer counties where the family lived. The Ancestry.com message boards only have a few entries for the names and the origin seems to be Yorkshire, England. There is one mention of an Acey coming from County Cork, Ireland where Charles' father Timothy was born.

My Dad asked Charles where the name came from and he didn't know. This one may remain a mystery.

Sources:

• "Ohio, County Births, 1841-2003," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VNWF-3XC : accessed 27 Apr 2013), Charles Acy Creeden, 1886.
• "Ohio, County Births, 1841-2003," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VN7J-JZY : accessed 27 Apr 2013), Charles Acy Creeden, 1887.

Friday's Faces From the Past - Ed Willis

This is a photo of my great-uncle Eugene Edward Willis. My Mom always called him Uncle Ed and it was spelled "Edd" on some of the picture captions. I don't know the date of the photo, but I would guess it was taken sometime in the 1940s.

Friday’s Faces from the Past is a way to highlight photos, of known ancestors or complete unknowns suggested by Smadar Belkin Gerson of Past-Present-Future.