52 Ancestors - Week 9 - Changing Names

52 Ancestors - WEEK 9 - Changing Names

By Cynthia K. Patton

Why would someone change their surname and then every generation for two hundred years here in the United States continue to us it? That question may never be answered but the story behind the story goes like this.

My mother was a Mahanna. Dolores Jean Mahanna[1] born in 1933 to Donald O. Mahanna and Margaret Emma Robson in Washington, Pennsylvania. Her lineage descends from a man named John Mahon/McMahon/Mahana who arrived from County Clare, Ireland sometime before 1750.

Either his son (or grandson) was John Mahanna, born 1778 in Kent, Delaware.

Later over in Washington, Pennsylvania a James Behanna is recorded on the 1790 census[2]. He and many generations of his family remain there. Fast forward to 2009 and I am contacted by a man who is researching the Behanna clan. He is extremely excited because my male cousin who is a Mahanna showed up as a Y-DNA match for four of his Behanna test subjects.

Together we were able to decipher when the name change occurred, but never could arrive at “why” the name change occurred. This does stand as an example that our relatives names are maybe the least important identifier when we are conducting research. And that DNA doesn't lie.

 

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[1] Alabama Department of Public Health, death certificate no. 48252 (2016). Dolores J. Keefer, Center for Health Statistics, Montgomery.

[2] 1790 US census, Washington County, Pennsylvania, page 197 (penned), column 1, line 70, James Behamm; imaged, “1790 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/5058/: accessed 28 February 2024.

52 Ancestors - Week 8 - Heirlooms

 52 Ancestors - WEEK 8 - Heirlooms

By Cynthia Keefer Patton

My family does not have a lot of heirlooms. Not physical ones. Very little saved to pass down through the generations. Probably because my grandparents all lived in Pennsylvania, and we lived in Georgia and only got to visit at most once a year throughout my childhood. Other cousins lived close and had much more intimate relationships with them. So likely, they received more items that were "passed down". And that is OK. I am so relentless in my genealogical pursuits to learn more about them, to connect to them, to honor them. So, I will be creating digital heirlooms that others related to us can share.

The precious few I have, a small English tea set (I hope came over with a maternal line on their way to the New World), a wicker sewing cabinet that was my great-grandmothers from Wales, and some handwritten recipe cards from my sweet Mother. But in my heart are a million heirloom memories, that the smell of something baking or the sound of birds in early spring will bring back in an instance. Heirlooms.

52 Ancestors - Week 7 - Immigration

WEEK 7 – Immigration

By Cynthia Keefer Patton

Ever wonder if your ancestors immigrated through Ellis Island? Did any of them come over on the Mayflower? These are probably the original questions that get people started in the hobby of genealogy. You remember the old conversations with aunts and grandparents.

“We are from Germany. My people were Scotch-Irish.”

But where were my ancestors from and when did they immigrate?

IRELAND – I have several families that immigrated from Ireland, mostly Northern Ireland, as early as 1740. They were John Cathcart (Kithcart) from Balleymoney in Antrim; Sarah White from Ulster; William Andrews from Portglenome; and Robert McNitt from Laggan in Ulster.

ENGLAND – From here came William H. P. Mitchell native of Devonshire; Jane Anne Pellow from Cornwall; George Dicks from Wiltshire; Alexander Thomas from Cornwall, Wales; and Emma Priddy from Blaenavon, Monmouthshire, Wales.

GERMANY – From this region I have Francis Echard born in Otterberg, Bayern; Johan George Hoffheintz of Rittershausen; and my maiden name ancestor Johan Henry Keefer from Baden.

I have yet to really explore and verify all these places of origin, and will start later this fall in Ireland setting out to visit my ancestral homelands. After that, on to England, Wales, and Germany. I am sure this will help me understand more about how they lived, where they lived, and how much their lives changed after they made the journey to America.

52 Ancestors- Week 6 - Earning a Living

WEEK 6 - Earning a Living

By Cynthia Keefer Patton

My Dad called his grandfather on his mother's side "Bumpy". Charles Wesley Thomas was born on 12 September 1882 in a place called Bridgeport, Pennsylvania. It was in the heart of coal country. He was one of six children and by the 1900 census[1], his father had already passed away and he was living in a multi-generational household with his widowed mother, three siblings, five nieces and nephews and his elderly grandmother. Their ages ranged from 71 down to 1-year-old. Charles was 17 at this time and listed with the occupation of "coal miner". His own father had been a coal miner, as had his grandfather.

Because we have no 1890 federal census, we have no clues to what was going on when he was 7. But family lore says that by the age of nine he was already working in the coal mines as a “trapper boy” who hooked to the coal cars together. By the 1910 census[2], Bumpy was married and starting his own little family with my grandmother Sarah showing up as a two-year-old. He was still a coal miner, 27 years old and had 2 boarders, also coal miners, probably to help make ends meet.

They were all definitely “working for a living.” Coal mining has never been viewed as an easy life. He continued to work the mines until the 1950 census[3] shows him as occupation “other” and not working or seeking work. He was 67 years old. He died two years later. An obituary in the local newspaper under the heading of Grim Reaper[4] said he died suddenly of a heart attack. He was a retired coal miner and member of the UMWA Local No. 7750. It also said he had been a well-known sandlot baseball player.

It makes me happy to know he did something he enjoyed in addition to doing what he had to do to feed his family. I can only imagine all the days and maybe nights spent down in the mines, covered with coal dust, breathing impurities, and dealing with the aches and pains that growing old brings with it. The work ethic of all those generations of coal miners makes me very proud of him. My paternal grandfather and my own father also worked in the mines, making me a “true” coal miner’s daughter.

 

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[1] 1900 U.S. Census, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, East Huntingdon, ED093, p.16 (penned), dwelling 257, family 289, Nancy J. Thomas; digital image, (http://ancestry.com: accessed 15 February 2024); citing National Archives microfilm T623, roll 1497.

[2] 1910 U.S. Census, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Luzerne, ED045, p.11B (penned), dwelling 184, family 187, Charles Thomas; digital image, (http://ancestry.com: accessed 20 August 2023); citing National Archives microfilm T625, roll 1344.

[3] 1950 U.S. census, Westmoreland Co., PA, Scottdale, ED 65-321, sheet 17, household 187, lines 8-10 (Charles W. Thomas family); U.S. National Archives, _1950 Census_ (https://1950census.archives.gov/search/)

[4] Obituary, Charles W. “Bumpy” Thomas, The Daily Courier, Connellsville, Pennsylvania, 10 Apr 1952, p. 2.

52 Ancestors - Week 5 - Influencers

WEEK 5 - INFLUENCERS

By Cynthia Keefer Patton

So often we think about someone who influenced us as someone from an older generation that we looked up to. And often that is the case. We looked up to a relative that served in the military and want to follow in their footsteps. But sometimes, there is someone who touches your life only briefly, but still influences you.

My father, witnessed a tragedy when he was a young boy. His uncle, who was only three years older than him was his great pal. They grew up in the same community and played together. Norman Thomas was my grandmother Sarah’s youngest brother. On one chilly September day in western Pennsylvania, he and my father were digging coal in an old abandoned mine shaft located at one corner of the family property. According to Dad they had a little wheelbarrow and would gather coal to sell to neighbors for some pocket change.

Norman was also very involved in the local Scout program. My father could not wait until he was old enough to join the Boy Scouts so he could go off on adventures like his uncle. Dad was nine and "Normie" was 12. The shaft collapsed in on him while my father watched. He told us often about it happening, but never any details. Just that he had died. I can imagine him running as fast as he could back up to the house to tell the adults. And then the hours and days that followed must have been unthinkably difficult.

Norman's death certificate[1] lists him as a "School Boy" living in Bullskin Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The description says "broken neck and internal injuries following fall of ashes and dirt while digging in a pit hole (accidental)". My great-grandmother's shaky handwriting is at the bottom of the form as informant.

My father said he promised God that day that he would become a Scout and try to do things like Uncle Norman would have done. That influence drove my father. That promise. He did become a Scout and as an adult he and my mother were huge influences in many young peoples lives, as Scoutmaster, Den Mother and Girl Scout Leader. My Dad also held leadership positions in the North Georgia Council.

Little Normie was an influencer in a way he never knew.

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[1]Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1970, digital images (ancestry.com: accessed 5 Feb 2024) record for Norman Carlton Thomas, 6 September 1935, certificate 86267.