Old Fulton NY Postcards found at http://www.fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html is a great resource for family history researchers. It allows access to over 40 million historical newspaper images from the USA and Canada. I have recently found two long sought after items.
The first was a news brief that described a man that fled his home ablaze. The 8 May 1905 Morning Telegraph from New York, NY described Michael Cassidy’s (1857-1905) story on page 10. I knew from this man’s death certificate that he succumbed to his injuries on 10 May 1905. The parents’ names listed that he was a son of Michael Cassidy and Mary Ravey. That made him my great-grandfather’s youngest sibling. He had immigrated by 1880, when he was enumerated with his brother and sister-in-law. He married in Jan 1882 and had one child in 1883.
Michael was a blacksmith by trade so I was not stunned when his death certificate listed that he had died from general burns parenchymatous degeneration of the heart, kidneys and liver, 3 days later. A fellow genealogy enthusiast is a retired physiology professor and she explained how the body develops and repairs itself and what broke down to cause his demise.
The most startling aspect of this story was the quote that ended the very short news bit. He was asked by the officer that put out the fire that was burning him, how he had been burned. “I’ll tell no one but the priest,” was his reply. There are no follow up stories but I am very interested in learning what had transpired in his home before he fled. Not surprisingly the newspaper recorded him as 35, the death certificate as 46 but he was actually 48 based on his 1857 baptismal certificate from Newry in Ireland.
I have been searching for my grandmother’s cousin’s marriage record to Alice Kuchinsky c. 1915. Their daughter, Alice, was born 21 Aug 1916 in Philadelphia and baptized at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 10 Sep 1916. I found an item in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Friday Morning, 31 Mar 1916 page 7, Northeast Maryland Not(es). Elkton, Md., March 30-Couples mar(ried) in Elkton today included: ...Owen Goodwin, New York and Anna Smith, Philadelphia...
The majority of the records for this family show that Mrs. Owen Goodwin was the former Alice Kuchinsky. I was concerned that this was not the right couple because Anna Smith is not Alice Kuchinsky. The baptismal records for their three children offered a possibility that I had found the correct marriage. In 1916 the mother of the child was recorded as Alice Smith. In 1918 and 1920 she was Anna Kuchinsky.
The prospect of Alice Smith, Anna Kuchinsky, Alice Kuchinsky and Anna Smith being 4 ways to identify one individual is questionable. However, there are no records or stories that Owen Goodwin was married to anyone else and their three children were born in a small window of time.
I wrote to the Licensing Department for the Circuit Court for Cecil County in Maryland. I had been pointed to the possibility that they had eloped to Elkton, Maryland in that county years earlier by the Philadelphia Archdiocese archivist, but delayed action. She had indeed been correct.
Over time marriage laws in the northern states had become more restrictive. Cecil County, Maryland is the northeastern most part of the state and provided an easy, quick place to marry for couples from Pennsylvania, New York and other destinations.
Owen Patrick Goodwin, 24, a single white man, residing in New York City applied for a marriage license dated 29 Mar 1916. The bride was Anna Smith, 19, a single white woman, residing in Philadelphia, PA. I was almost certain this was the right couple but comparing the groom’s signature on the 1916 marriage license to his 1917 draft card confirmed it for me.
Curious though was the set of dates and the timeline. They received a marriage license on 29 Mar 1916. A 31 March newspaper item ran that indicated that they had married on 30 March. Their daughter was born in Philadelphia on 21 Aug. The marriage certificate part of the record showed that they did not marry until the 9th of September. The minister was Rev. Henry Carr.
Further research revealed that the pastors of Elkton performed around 3,000 weddings in 1916 alone. I can’t imagine that a couple from Philadelphia would travel to Elkton, merely get a marriage license, return to PA, wait 5 months and then return to MD to marry. I am curious if the reverend forgot to register the marriage certificate on time and changed the date to avoid a fine. I have another e-mail note out to Cecil County. (Good morning Kevin. The document you received is incorrect – Goodwin and Smith were married on 3/29/1916, the same date they received the license. Just FYI that all records we have from this period are handwritten and – although the cursive is beautiful – it can be ridiculously difficult to read, and my coworker read the month as September instead of March. The only document we have is the application for the license – the actual marriage information (when ceremony performed, by whom and date recorded) is contained in a huge index. Since it is impossible for this information to be copied and sent, we transfer it to a typed certification. I have redone the certification and will mail same to this morning. I apologize for any inconvenience in the delay of the correct document. Once you receive the new certification, simply replace the one you have with the one I send. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.)
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