This summer I wrote about my project delving deep into the Italian Church records for the village of Cossano Canavese, Turino, Piedmonte, Italy. You can read about the Status Animarum Records here.
Yesterday, Facebook kindly sent me the memory from 10 years ago after my first foray into these records. This was a massive moment because it opened the doors to an entire branch of my family. I was floored to be able to say I knew the names of all my 2nd great grandparents.
To commemorate how far my research has evolved, here is a 7 generation chart with my grandfather, Celio Gordon Capelli (aka Celio Pietro Guiseppe Ciardonei) as the beginning of the chart. My deep roots in Cossano Canavese has led me to documentation for 174 direct ancestors and 11 generations added to my tree.
My next project is to work out which Maria Brunero born circa 1734 is mine. There are 4 possible candidates born 1733-1735. The plan is to build out the trees for all four families using the parents names to identify which set of parents (Maria’s parents) are my 6th great grandparents.
It is twisted but digitizing the documents I have is so fun. I have items I to be excited about a second time. In late 2014 I ordered a round of documents to try to identify where in Hungary my Mother-in-law’s family immigrated from.
One of the documents I received is the Death Certificate for Elizabeth Nagy. Unfortunately, there was no specific town in Hungary listed but the certificate does include some previously unknown information. The biggest being Elizabeth’s non-Americanized name (Erzi) is listed on the certificate. The certificate also lists a cause of death. And another variation of the maiden name show up too. I now have three variations: Viro, Varro, and Verro. My last observation is that my younger daughter shares the same birthday as her great-great-great-grandmother.
Since this Death Certificate, I have used other records including marriage and baptism records from Hungary to identify Teresztyne, Abauj-Torna, Hungary as the birthplace of Erzsébet Varró.
View from above of Teresztyne, Abauj-Torna, Hungary. Image uploaded to Google Maps by David Toth – 2017.
Indiana State Board of Health
Bureau of Vital Statistics
Certificate of Death
Local No. 23
Registered No. 24051
Place of Death: County: Lake, City: Whiting, Street Address: 1535 Steiber Street, Stay in community: 54 years
Usual Residence of Deceased: State: Indiana, County: Lake, City: Whiting, Street No. 1535 Steiber Street
Full Name: Erzi (Elizabeth) Nagy
Sex: Female
Color: White
Single, Married, Widowed: Widowed, Name of husband or wife: John Nagy
I certify that death occurred on the date above stated; that I attended deceased from Feb 10, 1945 to Aug 17, 1945 and that I last saw her alive on Aug 16, 1945. Immediate cause of death: carcinoma of liver, duration 2 years, no operation, no autopsy
Violence: no accident, homicide, or suicide
Signature: Michael E Rafatz MD, address: Whiting Ind, date signed: Aug 20/45
My husband’s grandmother, Shirley (Gingg) Pope was the genealogist in her family. She accomplished an amazing amount of research using traditional snail mail methods. As I wrote last week, it was amazing to find some of her original organized written notes. You can read that post here – Treasure, Grandma Shirley Notes Part 1.
The next couple of posts will focus on the longer document she wrote. It was approximately 14 pages front and back on most sheets. The 4×6 paper was stapled together at the top of the short side of the paper.
I am not posting the first couple of pages, as they include mostly information regarding living persons. There are also a few other spots which will be covered with grey boxes to preserve privacy for living individuals. You will also notice on the individual images that Shirley made handwritten changes to her own information. These usually include information crossed out or additional information added in another ink. Transcriptions will be below each page.
Today’s pages focus on the paternal ancestry of Shirley Gingg Pope.
John and Shirley Pope Family Notes page 3
Shirley’s History
Charles Franklin Gingg* (Padgitt) San Francisco, Calif. Born Oct 5, 1905 – Calif Died Oct 26, 1957 Weed, Calif.
M.
Agnes Marie Mattson Born May 1, 1909 San Francisco, Calif. Died March 22, 1982 Healdsburg, Calif. Olivet Cem. S.F.
Children
1 – Shirley Marie – Born 9-16-1927 S.F. Calif
My father died in Weed, Calif of a heart attack. He was on his way back to Ketchikan, Alaska after a vacation. Funeral Services held in S.F. – ashes taken to Alaska for burial by his wife, Cecile Gingg.
My father and mother separated in the 1930’s.
*Surname “Gingg” was from step-father – real fathers name was “Padgitt.
John and Shirley Pope Family Notes backside of page 3
My father was a linotype operator, employed by the Ketchikan Daily News, Ketchikan, Alaska, at the time of his death.
John and Shirley Pope Family Notes page 4
Paternal
John Alfred Padgitt Born Feb 1, 1878 Cumberland County, Illinois Died May 27, 1948 Leavenworth, Kansas
M
Carrie Belle Wells Born Aug 7, 1886 Arcata – California Died Nov. 30th 1967 San Francisco, Calif Buried – Holy Cross – Colma
Married 2d William Carl Gingg 3d R. Bert Trouslot 4 Patrick Teahan
Children 1 – Charles Franklin Oct 5, 1905 S.F.
2 – Ella Catherine Born July 29, 1906 San Leandro, Calif
Carrie Belle married Wm. Carl Gingg 3 – Lucille Leroy March 20, 1911
John and Shirley Pope Family Notes backside of page 4
Data
My Grandfather, John Alfred, enlisted Company K – 32nd regiment of Infantry Aug. 4, 1899. Was discharged May 8, 1901.
Served as a cook. Spanish American War. He remarried also.
Catherine M Homer Futrell – B. Feb 2, 1899 Grant Parish, La
child 1 –
Lucille M Louis Palmini – Sept 3 1932
Children 1- 2-
John and Shirley Pope Family Notes page 5
Paternal
Charles Britton Wells Born Dec 16th 1844 (Probably) Sedalia, Mo. Died Jan 1920 Oakland, Calif.
(was in the Confederate Army)
9 Brothers (?) Clay Wes John Oliver H.P. Mary E
M
Nancy Annis Malone Born Dec 6, 1852 Near Mississippi Died Sept. 5, 1941 San Francisco, Calif Buried – Oakland – Evergreen Cemetery
6 sisters & 1 brother
1st child was stillborn – male
Children
Carrie Belle
Virginia Elnora (Booth)
Nancy Annis, my great-grandmother was in her 89;s wehen she died. I remember her as a very old woman, always kind to me. She was living in Tenn. at the time of the Civil War. (?)
John and Shirley Pope Family Notes backside of page 5
Charles Britton Wells was a blacksmith by trade.
John and Shirley Pope Family Notes Page 6
Paternal
John S. Wells (welsh ancestry) Born probably Kentucky Died
M
Susan Zilhart (German Ancestry) Born Kentucky Died Sedalia, Missouri
Known Children 1 – Charles Britton Wells 9 brothers (?) See 1850 1870 census
John Leonard Malone (Ireland) Born Tennessee Died
M
Mary Anne Jones (Scotch English) Born Probaby Texas Died
Known Children 1 – Mary Annis
Mary Anne Jones is supposed to have been descented from realtives of “John Paul Jones”
I was lucky enough to have two years with my husband’s grandmother before she passed. Shirley (Gingg) Pope was a loving and caring woman. But don’t be fooled, she had a well of strength in her bones. We shared the love of genealogy. Shirley gets all the credit for doing her research via mail. She wrote numerous letters to people and repositories.
Shirley left a treasure trove of family history documents. After my husband’s grandfather left us to reunite with Shirley, we found even more amazing treasures. These included physical items such as fraternal order pins, military medals, and handwritten notes.
After going through so many pieces of paper research, I believe I found some of Grandma Shirley’s first handwritten notes. There are two sets. The first is one page of notes regarding Grandpa John’s ancestors. The second is 10 pages (some have notes on back) of the summary of what Shirley knew at the time. The 10 pages are on notepaper approximately 4″ wide and 6″ tall. They are held together by 2 staples.
I find it incredible to have Grandma Shirley’s handwritten notes. Her handwriting feels like a hug.
I have digitized the notes as part of my emergency preparedness push. I am including the first page in today’s post. All of the information has been added to both my personal research and online trees (FamilySearch and Ancestry). The only item that is inaccurate on this note is the father of Anna Hink. Further research completed by Shirley found Anna’s parents to be Johann Hink and Anna (Last Name Unknown).
Note* The children are listed as birth events. Elfrieda Johanna and Claus Alfred were twins.
Notes written by Shirley Pope.
John Pope m. Catherine Offerman
Pope side
Anna Louise Pope Robinson
b Nov 29, 1895 (?)
d June 1961
2. John Rudolph Pope died 19 yrs.
Flu epidemic in S.F.
3. Elfrieda Johann Pope Fancher Sept 19, 1901
Claus Alfred Pope Sept 19, 1901 – June 23, 1971
There was a baby born (the (1st one) who died early
Amner Caroline (Ramsey) Flock (1840-1933) is my 3rd great grandmother. She passed away in Enid, Oklahoma while living with her daughter, Adeline Martha (Flock) Tharp. I have written about the final resting place of Amner and her husband John Flock. You can read about it here.
After I transcribed the death certificate, I noticed two items that needed further analysis. The first was the birth date for Amner Caroline. It was listed 1841 on the death certificate. This did not match with the date of 1840 I have in my software. The next box on the death certificate listed that she would have been 92 years, 3 months, 4 days old at death. I also noticed that my genealogy software said Amner Caroline would have been 92 years old with a death date in 1933. I found an online date calculator and input the death date and subtracted the 92 years, 3 months, and 4 days. Sure enough, the answer it calculated was 1840. The person who filled out the death certificate made an error in the birth year.
Also, the informant is listed as Addie Thorp. The name Addie is a nickname for Adeline Martha Flock. A closer look proved her last name was misspelled. Addie Flock married Frank Tharp in 1897 in Oregon. All records in Oregon use the Tharp spelling. Addie had followed some of her siblings to Oregon before her marriage. After her husband left her a widow, Addie moved into the same home as her mother in Enid, Oklahoma.
Amner Caroline (Ramsey) Flock Death Certificate
Amner Caroline Flock Death Certificate, 4 March 1933, registration district no. 24250, Primary Dist. no, 2401, Enid, Garfield, Oklahoma. Bureau of Vital Statistics, Oklahoma State Board of Health, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Alice (Wise) Gamble is my 3rd great grandmother. I have previously written a blog post that included a transcription of her two obituaries. You can read them here.
Barbara Frick is my 4th great grandmother. I have written a previous blog post with a transcription of her obituary. You can read it here. I have also written a blog post about her burial with her husband, John Gamble. You can read it here.
Here is a copy of the newspaper obituary I received from the Butler Area Public Library. There are some interesting details. It sounds like she may have suffered a stroke.
If you have any ancestors in Butler County, Pennsylvania, I would highly recommend checking out their Obituary Index.
Daniel Wise (1812-1892) is my 4th great grandfather. We was born and lived in Western Pennsylvania. A few years ago, I found the Butler County Public Library had an online obituary index. You could then contact the library for the original newspaper article. I was surprised to find that Daniel Wise had multiple listings in the index. I was lucky that two references to a lunacy declaration was also included in the index.
The following articles relate to Daniel being judged a lunatic and his hospitalization at Dixmont. Dixmont was the first mental health hospital in Pennsylvania. It was a branch of the West Penn Hospital. Daniel passed away two years later in the hospital. I have sent some emails to try to locate the original court records regarding the lunacy case.
There are some discrepancies in Daniel’s date of death. The article below states it occurred 9 February 1892. His probate papers state he died 18 January 1892. I am hoping that a trip to the Pennsylvania State Archives might include records from Dixmont. Adding another genealogy trip to the list!
Daniel Wise lunacy case
Butler Citizen Newspaper, 16 August 1889, page 3, col 4. Butler Area Public Library, Obituary Index, microfilm 14.
Daniel Wise Lunacy Judgement
Butler Citizen, 24 January 1890, Page 3, column 6. Butler Area Public Library, Obituary Index, microfilm 015.
Daniel Wise death notice
Butler Citizen, 19 February 1892, page 2. Butler Area Pulblic Library, Obituary Index, microfilm 015.
Agnes Mattson (1909-1982) is my husband’s great grandmother. She has an interesting burial story. You can read about Agnes’ many husbands here. You can also read a previous blog post about her grave site here.
Agnes was married to her 7th husband, Pat O’Malley, at the time of her death. Pat was a widow at the time of his marriage to Agnes. The couple had agreed during their marriage on a burial plan. Pat would be buried with is deceased wife. Agnes would be buried with her favorite husband, Donald Frazier.
This past summer the kids and I were driving past Colma, California and decided to make a spur of the moment decision to visit Agnes. Olivet Memorial Park is another very large cemetery. Although we have stopped by before, I could not remember where Agnes was buried. We stopped by the office and received the following maps. The pink area I have highlighted is where Agnes and Don are together.
Map of Olivet Memorial Park
Map of Section I, Olivet, Memorial Park
Agnes Mattson burial site, Section I, Number 178-3, Olivet Memorial Park, Colma, California.
William J Dempsey (1923-1998) is the brother of my grandmother, Mary Dempsey. His remains were interred at the Riverside National Cemetery.
My grandparents, Mary and Jay Capelli, are interred at the same cemetery. After burying my grandmother last year, we stopped at the kiosks at the administration building. The kiosks are to available to look up and locate the burial site of your family member. These are extremely helpful as this is a very large cemetery. The kiosk will print a map and burial site information for you.
Unfortunately, we were unable to visit Uncle Bill. The columbarium were his ashes are interred was closed to the public as they were doing construction on a new building.
