RootsChat.Com
Research in Other Countries => United States of America => US Lookup Requests => Topic started by: River Tyne Lass on Monday 24 July 17 11:34 BST (UK)
-
I was wondering if anyone could let me know of the burial place of James Conroy who died through being crushed in a mine accident on 28 November 1909. He was born in Northumberland, England on 19 February 1853 and was baptised at St Francis Xavier, Cheeseburn Grange, Northumberland on 22 May 1853. He married Rose Rook sometimes spelled as Rorke at 'Our Blessed Lady & St Joseph, Brooms, Durham in 1876. They had a lot of children - four born in England, one in Scotland and the rest in America. The family eventually settled in Pleasant Unity, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, I believe. James was the younger brother of my Great Grandfather who was called Simon Peter Conroy. Their parents were James Conroy and Elizabeth Fitzpatrick. I would be extremely grateful for any more information of James' life when he was living in America. His brother Joseph married someone called Bridget Conway and they also moved to America with their daughter Mary. The other siblings of James remained in England.
-
Death Cert shows burial place - albeit not to clear. Cannot put attachments on the look up board - see here................
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=775594.new#new
When and where was brother Joseph born ?
Sandra
-
Familysearch has lots of US Census and other records
Pleasant Unity, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania 1900
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3HS-V3B
James Conroy Born Eng. Married 24 years.
Rose Conroy Born Eg. Married 24 years. Had 9 children and 9 survive.
Michael Conroy Born Eng.
Thomas Conroy Born Eng.
James Conroy Born Eng.
Mary Conroy Born Eng.
Catherine Conroy Born Illinois
Rose A Conroy Born Alabama
Elizabeth Conroy Born PA
Joseph Conroy Born PA
Bridget Conroy Born PA
William J Anderson
transcribed as Courgy on the anc site in 1910
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MG88-VFY
Rose Courgy 51
James Courgy 24 Joseph Courgy 12
Bridget Courgy 10 - John Edward Courgy 8 - William Courgy 5
Sandra
-
http://www.whitepages.com/ would help you locate any living relatives given in some of the obituaries.
Son Michael J Conroy 29 November 1877 - 17 April 1943
FIND A GRAVE
Burial Oak Grove Cemetery Uniontown Fayette County Pennsylvania.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=55713086&ref=acom
wife - Sarah E Blanch Conroy 1884 - 1963
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=55713056
Sandra
Added - Obituary here
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=775594.new#new
Death Notice - Evening Standard (Uniontown, Pennsylvania) - Sarah Ellen Conroy - Friends will be received in the T. Leonard Sangston Funeral Home, McClellandtown until Wednesday at 2 p.m. the hour of service. Dr. Ear. P Confer will officiate. Interment will be in the family plot, Oak Grove Cemetery, Uniontown.
son - James Edward CONROY (1910-1976) - The Morning Herald, Uniontown, PA, Monday, June 28, 1976
CONROY, JAMES EDWARD—Age 65 years of 42066 Oberlin Road, Elyria, Ohio, died Saturday, June 26, 1976 at his home. He was born in Ligioner, Pa., June 7, 1910, a son of the late Michael and Sarah Ellen Blanch Conroy. He is survived by his wife, Mary Kneigh Conroy and stepchildren. Services will be held in the Wayne Wright Funeral Home, Route 57, Elyria, Ohio.......
http://www.pagenweb.org/~fayette-obits/obits/d14.htm
Daughter - Alice Conroy - 16 December 1907 - January 1988
SSDI - Last Residence 15401 Uniontown, Fayette, Pennsylvania.
FIND A GRAVE
Burial LaFayette Memorial Park Brier Hill Fayette County Pennsylvania.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=128182029&ref=acom
Catherine/Kathryn Dollar - 13 February 1915 - March 1979 -
Last Residence 15084 Tarentum, Allegheny, Pennsylvania.
FIND A GRAVE
Burial Greene County Memorial Park Waynesburg Greene County Pennsylvania.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=50754291&ref=acom
husband - John Sloan Dollar 1911 - 2010 - with photograph and obituary.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=49613572
Grace Conroy Connelly - passed away 14 November 1952 - aged 35 years.
Obituary on the other thread - 14 November 1952 - Morning Herald (Uniontown, Pennsylvania)
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=775594.new#new
William Conroy - 6 November 1922 - 13 June 2002
Last Residence Uniontown, 15401, Fayette, Pennsylvania.
FIND A GRAVE
Burial Oak Lawn Cemetery Uniontown Fayette County Pennsylvania.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=54642642&ref=acom
Emma Jean Wydra - 31 December `1927 Lockport, Pennsylvania - 3 August 2012 Orland Park, Cook, Illinois.
Obituary - Emma Wydra
http://www.oneilfuneralhome.com/home/obituary/1550733
FIND A GRAVE
Burial Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery Elwood Will County Illinois.
Plot: Section 10 Site 724
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=96141863&ref=acom
husband - Adam A. Wydra 1919 - 2003
Adam A. Wydra 1919 - 2003
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=37459109
Virginia L Constable - 19 March 1925 - 15 August 2013
FIND A GRAVE
Burial LaFayette Memorial Park Brier Hill Fayette County Pennsylvania.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=115155247&ref=acom
husband - William Michael Constable 1922 - 1997 - with photograph.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=61287194
Rose Ann Conroy Rozzi - 1912 - 1955
FIND A GRAVE
Burial Masontown Cemetery Masontown Fayette County Pennsylvania.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=161151431&ref=acom
husband - Louis Rozzi - 21 July 1912 - December 1986
SSDI - Last Residence 15461 Masontown, Fayette, Pennsylvania.
-
Pennsylvania, Marriages, 1852-1968 - Mary Conroy - marriage 22 March 1913 - Uniontown, Fayette, Pennsylvania - Thomas Winfield Landman.
Uniontown Ward 2, Fayette, Pennsylvania 1920
Thomas Landman 30 Mary Landman 32
Ruth Landman 2 Elmer Landman 4
North Union, Fayette, Pennsylvania 1930
Thomas W Landman 40 Mary A Landman 42
Elmer L Landman 14 - Ruth R Landman 12 - Sara J Landman 7
North Union, Fayette, Pennsylvania 1940
Thomas Landman 58 Mary Landman 52
Sara Landman 17
Thomas Landman - 1 October 1889 - December 1965
Daughter - Ruth Regina Landman / Ruth Regina Cole - 15 June 1917 - Uniontown Fa, Pennsylvania 16 February 1996
Parents - Thomas W Landman - Mother: Mary A Conroy.
SSDI - Last Residence 15431 Dunbar, Fayette, Pennsylvania.
FIND A GRAVE
Burial Franklin Cemetery Dunbar Fayette County Pennsylvania.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=89510848&ref=acom
husband - Jesse A. Cole 1916 - 1974
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5698023
Son of Thomas and Mary Landman - - Elmer Landman - 25 August 1915 - April 1987 -
SSDI - Last Residence: 15320 Carmichaels, Greene, Pennsylvania.
Sandra
-
Obituary for James Conroy:
The Morning Herald
Uniontown, Pennsylvania
30 Nov 1909, page 1
SHAMROCK ENGINEER MEETS DEATH
When Found Body was Badly Mangled by Belt Which Runs Fan Shaft
Falls into Tiny Hole
Heart Trouble Thought to Have Caused Collapse--Inquest Not Considered Necessary--Funeral Will be Held at Late Home on Wednesday
In some inexplicable manner, James Conroy, night engineer at the fan house at Shamrock works, met his death in a terrible manner some time Sunday night. He was in the engine room by himself at the time and there is no plausible theory advanced as to the manner in which he was killed.
He was sitting on a chair close to a hole in the floor through which the belt runs to the fan shaft. This hole is about 16 X 30 inches and when found his body was tightly wedged underneath the floor. His cap was on the floor nearby and it is supposed he was overcome with an attack of heart trouble and fell headlong into the hole. When found, his left arm was cut to the bone in several places and the left side of his body was badly bruised and lacerated, in addition to internal injuries which undoubtedly caused instantaneous death.
Deputy coroner, George Evans, was notified and on investigation, he decided that an inquest was necessary.
Conroy was 60 years of age and is survived by a wife and nine children, six at home and three married. The funeral will occur from his late home at Shamrock sometime tomorrow.
-
Hi Genealiza,
Thank you so much for this article. I really appreciate your kindness in typing this all up. Poor James! What a way to go. His family must have been devastated.
James father was an earthenware seller and besom maker. However, the succeeding generations on this side right down to my own Father were all miners. This was such hazardous work, and this male line in my family often seemed to suffer from ill health because of mining or have early death or horrific mine accidents. James' brother Thomas broke his leg in the Wallsend mine in 1923 and this was reported in a local paper. My own Father nearly lost his life in a horrific mine accident in the 1960s and needed months away in rehabilitation after his recovery. I can still recall the coal blackened face of one of my Dad's fellow miners who came to the front door on his bicycle to inform us what had happened. :'( I am so glad that my Dad was of the last of the miners' generation.
Thank you so much again. The information is a real insight on what became of this poor ancestor of mine. God bless him and may he rest in peace.
-
Interesting and more informative explanation to the accident of James - great find Genealiza. Shame it didn't tell us where interment was though - fingers crossed they are in the family plot at Oak Grove Cemetery Uniontown.
Daughter Beatrice Conroy/Steigler born 3 April 1898 - 2 June 1951 Connellsville, Fayette, Pennsylvania.
FIND A GRAVE
Burial Oak Grove Cemetery Uniontown Fayette County Pennsylvania.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=128785759&ref=acom
Sandra
added - he Daily Courier, June 2, 1951, Mrs. Beatrice Steiger, 53, of Lemont Furnace died at Connellsville State Hospital at 4:48 in the morning. She had been admitted May 19th.
Obituary The Daily Courier, June 4, 1951
Mrs. Pete Steiger
Mrs. Beatrice Steiger,53, of Lemont Furnace, died in Connellsville Hospital Saturday. She was born April 3, 1898, a daughter of the late James and Rose Conroy. Deceased was a member of the Ladies Auxiliary of L. O. O. Moose of Uniontown.
Surviving are her husband, Pete Steiger; three sons, William Landman of Mount Independence and Ronald and Robert at home; a daughter, Mrs. Paticia Roebuck of Fort Lewis, Wash; two sisters, Mrs. Mary Landman of Dunbar and Mrs. Catherine Matthews of Footedale, and two brothers, Joe Conroy of Filbert and William Conroy of Nemacolin.
The funeral will be held Tuesday morning with the cortege meeting at the Burhans funeral home at Dunbarat 9 o'clock folowed by requiem high mass in St. Cecilia's R. C. Church at Lemont Furnace with Rev. John Blazic officiating. Interment will be in Oak Grove Cemetery.
-
Hi Sandra,
You are a marvel! I can't believe how much information you and Genealiza have been able to find for me in just a matter of hours since my first post!
Thank you both so much from the bottom of my heart. :)
Best Wishes
-
Thank you - Quite enjoy getting to the bottom of all the families - Probably still more to find for you - all helps with a time frame - puts flesh on the bones ;)
Regards
Sandra
-
Thank you so much to the very kind person who sent an attachment on John Edward Conroy. However, I briefly lost my link to RootsChat and this now appears to have disappeared after I was briefly able to see this for just a few seconds.
You are all amazingly kind! I do hope the attachment on John - James son - resurfaces after my broken link. I am so grateful to you the person who attached this - sorry I don't know your name now.
-
The site must have had a bleep - the information I was adding to Barbara Steiger disappeared as well ::)
Catherine Conroy/Matthews born Nov 1888 - passed away 1959
FIND A GRAVE
Burial LaFayette Memorial Park Brier Hill Fayette County Pennsylvania.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=128324697&ref=acom
Husband - George Matthews - 1883 - 1958
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=128324680&ref=acom
Sandra
-
1940 census shows a number of Matthew children - Mary Matthews 37 - Gerald Matthews 22
Geraldine Matthews 22 - Betty Matthews 20 - William Matthews 14 - Doris Matthews 12
Rita Matthews 10 - Jacqueline Matthews 8
Jacquelyn Marie Matthews - (Jacquelyn M Thomas) - 23 Febraury 1932 passed away 24 August 2001
FIND A GRAVE
Burial Holy Cross Cemetery Brook Park Cuyahoga County Ohio.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=121949417&ref=acom
Doris Grace Honsaker - Doris Grace Honssaker - 6 June 1926 - 27 September 2001
FIND A GRAVE
Doris Grace "Mummo" Matthews Honsaker - with obituary
Burial Salem View Cemetery New Salem Fayette County Pennsylvania.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=116543963&ref=acom
Geraldine Matthews Stuck - 5 June 1917 - 13 April 2007
FIND A GRAVE - with obituary.
Burial LaFayette Memorial Park Brier Hill Fayette County Pennsylvania.
Husband - Herbert Stuck - 14 November 1917 - 22 March 1973
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=stuck&GSiman=1&GScid=193172&GRid=128102764&
Gerald Matthews - 5 June 1017 - 15 June 2005
FIND A GRAVE with obituary.
Burial Green Mount Cemetery Waynesburg Greene County Pennsylvania.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11908807&ref=acom
http://www.pa-roots.org/data/read.php?412,435954
William Charles Matthews - 1925 - 30 October 1991
FIND A GRAVE
Burial All Saints Cemetery Northfield Summit County Ohio.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=138317432&ref=acom
Sandra
-
sorry, duplicate
-
Thank you so much for all this additional information. This will no doubt keep me busy adding James' American line to my family history. ;D I so appreciate all this help!
I looked at my family history information last night and other descendants in this family tree may be interested to learn that James and Rose married on 24 June 1876 at Our Blessed Lady and St Joseph, Brooms, Durham. My own great Grandparents Simon Peter Conroy and Bridget McCabe also married here on 20 October 1873. This information is held at the archives at the Durham Record Office. James' Father (also called James) died on 24 August 1876 and had his burial service at this Church on 27 August 1876.
James and Rose's son Thomas was born on 13 March 1880 and was baptized at Our Lady & St Aidan, Willington Quay, Northumberland on 6 April 1880. The family were recorded as living in 'New York'. This information is held at Tyne and Wear Archives.
New York is a small village not far from North Shields. James' brother, Thomas and his family, also went to live there. There is a monument there which still stands today which has the name of Thomas' son 'J. Conroy' - (Jacob Conroy) who was killed in the Great War on 25 September 1915. My own Grandfather Bernard Conroy's brother John also died during the Great War on 5 February 1918. He is recorded on monuments at Sacriston. I have put information up about them on the WW1 Memoriam section of RootsChat.
I hope this is helpful for any American descendants who may wish to know a little bit more on James' relatives' background.
-
It is amazing how often people google a family name and turn up a thread on RootsChat - hopefully one of your American descendants may turn up here one day. ;D
Sandra
-
Hi Sandra,
A very big thank you to you - you are a marvel and should be a genealogist or perhaps you already are? You have far exceeded my expectations with all this additional information! I hope one of the American descendants do appear on here one day!
I think there must be a blip going on with RootsChat at the moment as I am using a computer at the moment and some of your info seems to have disappeared. For example 'Mrs James Conroy, a Widow of the Week' has gone ... an extremely interesting article. Inexplicably though, I can still access the full info that you have sent on another device. Very strange!
-
Very strange - it showing for me - short snippet of the continuation of the article on page 7 on this link - scroll down to the OCR text
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/87482854/
The original piece was on page 1 -
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/87482836/
Sandra
-
Hi RJ137,
I owe you a huge thank you for the articles you have sent via RootsChat. This really helps fill out the family history on James' side. To me family history is about much more than names and dates - it is the stories that bring people to life! I really appreciate the trouble you have taken to send these. I really, really appreciate this.
I am sorry I have not thanked you sooner. I think there must be some blip occurring on RootsChat, as some posts keep disappearing. ??? However, I can see three of the attachments you have sent on another device. However, on this computer they seemed to have disappeared. Most strange!
Thanks for your help. I am truly grateful. I wonder what the outcome was in the court case regarding Rose's daughter? The article seems to go onto another page. Poor Rose - to lose both her daughter and husband so close together! And both to such tragic circumstances!:'(
It is shocking to read about Thomas' amputation too. What a horrific accident! I wonder if he survived? This seems to add to a long catalogue of misfortune in my family tree, unfortunately. :-\ Amongst other newspaper stories, I have come across articles about my Great Grandfather Simon having his head fractured in an unprovoked attack in the street; his brother Thomas had his leg broken in the mine and their sister Mary Watson was attacked by a male intruder in my Great Grandfather, Simon's house, when they were both living in North Shields and was beaten black and blue and suffered a broken arm and punctured lung! :'(
-
You're welcome,
Yes Thomas survived, but died died a few years later.
The Evening Standard
Uniontown, Pennsylvania
Wednesday, August 12, 1936 - Page 5
THOMAS CONROY, SR
Thomas Conroy, Sr., 57, of Shady Grove, died at 1:30 o'clock Tuesday morning, August 11, 1936, in Connellsville State hospital.
Surviving are six children: Lawrence Conroy, ETna; Thomas, Jr., John and Mary J Conroy at home. Mrs. Thomas E. Lawson, Shady Grove; Mrs. T. D. Swift, Jeanette and the following brothers and sisters: Michael, Footedale; Joseph, Filbert; John, Connellsville road; William, Edenborn; Mrs. Thomas Landham, Shady Grove; Mrs. Peter Steiger, Shady Grove. and Mrs George Matthews Sr. of Footedale.
Funeral services will be conducted in St John's R.C. churh, Uniontown, Thursday morning at 9 o'clock. Burial will be in Oak Grove cemetery.
-
Hi River Tyne Lass (and Sandra and others)
The snippet of James Conroy's death certificate that Sandra posted has his place of burial as Slavish Cemetery (nowadays we would say Slavic). Slavish Cemetery is another name for the "old" cemetery of St. Emery's R.C. Church in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, which is several miles southeast of the Shamrock Mine and Coke Works, where James died.
It took some sleuthing, but I think James is buried that far away from where he lived because the Slavish Cemetery was the burial place of 239 miners who were killed in an explosion in December 1907 at another mine in the area, and there are other burials there of coal miners. I couldn't find the burial records for the cemetery online, and St. Emery's church has apparently closed, unfortunately.
Edited: There actually are burials on Findagrave for St. Emery's (Slavish) Cemetery. However, only 99 records have been posted. Here's a link to the Findagrave page for the cemetery: https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&GScid=2457354&GRid=139696358&CRid=2457354&
There is a very thorough website about coal mining in southwestern Pennsylvania. Here's a link to the page with a map showing many coal mining towns in Fayette County, with Shamrock listed: http://www.coalcampusa.com/westpa/klondike/klondike.htm. Shamrock is just to the left of Uniontown.
Scroll down the list on the left to find Shamrock and click on it to see a few pictures.
That first page is just a few pictures of the coke ovens. Here's a website with some further info about Shamrock and many more pictures (mostly of the coke ovens, which are know as beehive ovens): http://coalandcoke.blogspot.com/2016/12/shamrock-coke-works.html
Shamrock the mining town is pretty much gone, but here is a link to a topographical map that shows Shamrock in relation to New Salem and Buffington, the nearest settlements: http://usgwarchives.net/maps/pa/county/fayett/usgs/menallen.jpg
And if you go to Bing Maps and search "Buffington, Pennsylvania", you will be able to zoom in, using the Birdseye view, to see what Buffington and New Salem look like today. As far as I can make Shamrock would have been to the southeast (the right) of New Salem and just to the left of the intersection of New Salem Road and Krulock Road. The Shamrock coke ovens might have been somewhere on the south (lower) side of New Salem Road, where the straight line in the foliage and the roundish black spot (an old coal pile, perhaps) are.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
John
-
Here's one additional link to more information about Fayette County, Pennsylvania and its coal industry: http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-2D0
John
-
Hi johnnyboy,
Wow! Many thanks! This is some marvellous sleuthing that you have done. I will now add this to my family history information that James was buried at St Emery's RC Church Cemetery. I can't see his name amongst those listed but possibly those listed were people with headstones. He was a coal miner with a large family so I doubt that money would have been spent on a headstone. Thank you for all your hard work and for the interesting links which you have added. There is a lot to look at and read there.
What a long journey James ended up having through his life. He was born on 19 February 1853 in Northumberland and baptised at St Francis Xavier, in Cheeseburn Grange. He married Rose Rorke on 24 June 1886 at Our Blessed Lady & St Cuthbert in Brooms. On the Freebmd marriages her name is spelled 'Rook'. (Her father was called Edward).
At one point they moved to New York, in Northumberland where James' brother Thomas eventually settled with his family. James and Rose's son Thomaswas born on 13 March 1880 and was baptised at Willington Quay 'Our Lady and St Aidan on 6 April 1880. I have not found out where Michael was baptised yet but I know that his birth was not registered until the March quarter of 1878 in Lanchester. MMN Rook. Or son James who was also registered in Lanchester in the September quarter of 1882 - MMN Rooke. Their daughter Mary was born in Scotland in 1883.
Who knows - perhaps this information may be helpful to any of James descendants in America one day.
Some of James' sister Mary's children also went to America. I also believe that James brother Joseph also went to America. He married a Bridget Conway at St Mary's RC Cathedral in Newcastle in Northumberland on 5 February 1874 and they had a daughter called Mary.
I have now found out that James' brother (My Great Grandfather Simon Peter and my Great Grandmother Bridget McCabe) had a total of ten children! One of them is a bit of a mystery. He was born on 7 May 1883 and baptised on 20 May 1883 at St John RC in Birtley. However, he does not appear on a census and I have not been able to find a death for him. I now wonder if at some point the family might have gone over to America too in between the England Census and perhaps Thomas may have died there. I may never find the answer to this puzzle about what became of Thomas but on the remotest chance that a descendant may know more I would appreciate hearing about this.
Thank you so much Johnnyboy for all your hard work on the end part of James' story. This is so much appreciated by me. I am just so sorry that he came to such a sad end when he probably left all he knew to try to get a much better life for his family and himself. :'(