Finding Gold in the Gold Rush Back in Pittsburgh

DORRINGTON, DORRINGTON..

The name just popped off the 1913 newspaper death record in Pittsburgh. 

Hmm... I sorta have some DORRINGTON types in my line and they were early pioneers, living and dying in Carnegie (actually Temperanceville).

This John K DORRINGTON has to tie in someway to my line.  I just know it.  Now, can I prove it?

Pittsburgh Press
February 27, 1913


John K DORRINGTON, age 85, a pioneer coal deal of Pittsburg, died at his residence, Belle Ave and Mountford St, yesterday.  He was born in Carnegie and came to Pittsburg when young, getting his early education in the public schools.  When the gold excitement in California broke out, Mr Dorrington was one of the "Forty-Niners" who went overland from Pittsburg. He returned in 1852 by the Nicaragua route.  Later he went to Minnesota, settling on a fram near St Peter, on the Minnesota River. Mr Dorrington was active in putting down an uprising of the Sioux Indians at Fort Ridgley, Minn. He was one of the first to respond to the call of frontier settlers who were being massacred. He was in the midst of a battle lasting 48 hours when the Indians had surrounded the little frontier town. In 1864 he returned to Pittsburg and entered the coal business in which he continued 32 years. He retired from business in 1896. He is survived by one sister, Miss Margaretta M Dorrington.

The death record itself is inconclusive.  So, on to the death notice....

DORRINGTON- On Wednesday, Feb 26, 1913 at 10:30 am, John K Dorrington, at the residence of Mrs. J B Dorrington. Bell Ave and Mountford St, Northside, Pittsburg.
Funeral services at his late residence, Bell Ave and Mountford St, on Friday afternoon at 2:30 pm. Interment private.

Ah-  Mrs J B DORRINGTON--  now I know who she is--  Agnes J McDONALD who married Joseph B DORRINGTON, son of Thomas DORRINGTON and Nancy. Thomas's  Irish immigrant parents, Thomas DORRINGTON, SR and Jane YOUNG DORRINGTON are buried at (my family) the St Clair Cemetery in Mt Lebanon, Allegheny, PA.

Thoma, Jr and Nancy had several children, including a Margaretta who was born in 1843 according to the 1850 census.  She turns up again living with the widow Agnes J DORRINGTON in 1920. 

Bingo.  Some hints were in the death notice and death record.  Lucky me.  More hints and supporting documentation came from the marriage record of Joseph B DORRINGTON and Agnes McDONALD.  Still more supporting evidence came from the 1920 census.

I had missed John K earlier (from the 1850 census) and now I know why.  The obit tells us he had already gone out searching for gold.  

Yes, John K is connected to me.  Although he and I share no direct blood.  His aunt, Jane DORRINGTON, married my uncle, Walter GLENN. 

Ahh, genealogy.  How much fun it is to connect more dots and find those golden nuggets.

©2010 AS Eldredge