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Greetings, Dianna from Australia. I am on the other side of the globe. I know the counties in the states of Pennsylvania and Indiana that you mentioned.

Which dots are you interested in having connected?

The city of Washington in Washington County has a public library, the Citizens Library. You might find some help there. Email the library at https://www.citlib.org/

I can probably answer some questions, too.

Regards,
johnnyboy

Attached is the item about Ada Assiter on part of the front page from the Pittsburgh Press of March 23, 1920. Scroll to the left side of the of the page if this is too large for the screen.

I can't seem to find the death Ada's death certificate on this post. The newspaper item says that she died in Mercy Hospital, which is in the city of Pittsburgh. But I seem to recall that another hospital is listed on the death certificate--St. Margaret. 

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 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

Quote from: shellyesq on Thursday 11 May 17 10:53 BST (UK)

I would think the Last Will and Testament would include people that she was leaving her estate to and may include their addresses or the towns where they lived at the time.  The list of interested persons might mention family members as well.

Thanks Shelley 

I've avoided naming names of living persons here, so you'll have to fill in the blanks!
I thought I would have a look at the Maryland probate record for Phyllis McGuire. In case you haven't seen it, the personal representative listed on the search results looks to be a close relative, living in 2007 in Gaithersburg. Since no attorney is listed on the probate record, that person most likely administered the estate. And, if you wrote to the Gaithersburg address that is on the probate record and received no reply, then it is is likely that the p. representative moved between 2007 and when you wrote the letter. A person with the same name is listed on beenverified.com in Montgomery Village, MD, which is a neighboring town.

I also noticed the mention of Matthew's family going in 1951 to Cedar Grove, New Jersey in the thread. That prompted me to search for him in the U.S. census records on familysearch.org. There are 1920 and 1930 U.S. census listings for Matthew McGuire, 8 and 18 years old, living with his family at 437 Broadway, Elizabeth, New Jersey, which is 18 miles south of Cedar Grove. In the 1940 U.S. census, the family is still at the same address in Elizabeth, but Matthew McGuire is not with them. He is in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Mitchel Field in Hempstead, New York (on Long Island). Matthew seems to have enlisted in the U.S. Army as early as 1935, since he is listed on the 1940 census page as living at the same place in 1935. Here's a link to the 1940 census page: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89MB-SZ72?mode=g&i=27&cc=2000219. Matthew must have served in the Army and then re-enlisted in or transferred to the U.S. Navy.

There seem to be a boatload of McGuires currently living in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. Perhaps Matthew and family were going to visit relatives there. Perhaps relatives of his still live there.

Hope this helps.
John