Wordless Wednesday: Sweet Walter's 1889 Obit Found

I've been the coordinator for the old newspaper vitals project going on for Allegheny Co, PA, since the beginning of the "tired finger" band of volunteers started transcribing them in January of this year.  We've been going strong-- to the tune of over 40,000 death entries and almost 9000 marriages. 

For the last month,  one member of our group has concentrated on 1889.  This is so important as we genealogy buffs feel the pain of the missing 1890 federal census. 

Just last week, my sweet Walter's obituary was transcribed.  I thought it appropriate to feature sweet Walter today with his obituary and a photo I have of him.  I suspect he was around 10 or so when this photograph was taken.  That makes the date around 1880.

SIMMONS- On Tuesday, March 12, 1889, at 8:30pm, Walter Glenn, son of Addison and Hannah G Simmons, in the 18th year of his age.
Funeral from the parents’ residence, near Banksville, on Thursday, 1th at 2 pm. Carriages will leave T B Hersberger’s, undertaker, West End, at 10 am.  Friend of the family are respectfully invited to attend.
Pittsburgh Dispatch, Mar 13, 1889, page 5


Walter is buried in the Mt Lebanon Cemetery, Mt Lebanon, Allegheny, PA with his parents.  I look at this sweet face and wonder how he died just as his life was beginning.  Walter was one of three children in the family and the only son.  Only one sister of his survived to adulthood, married, and had children.  Oh, can you imagine the heartbreak of the family upon his death?  Can you imagine the heartbreak felt in so many families as so many young children didn't survive?  It's hard to believe that death of the young was so very common at that time.

Ahhh- genealogy.  Sometimes you just gotta sit quietly and reflect on the past.


©2010 AS Eldredge

Treasure Chest Thursday: c. 1881 Letter From an Upset Mama

One of the treasures found in the family Bible was a letter my great-great grandmother had written to my great grandfather after he left home. He is listed living with his parents in the 1880 census in Allegheny Co, PA. The year of the letter has faded but we do know it was written in Nov of either 1880 or 1881. She writes "Pleasant Hill" as the location of the letter. Does this correspond with the Banksville area in which she was born, raised, married and died?

How can I deduce the year the letter was written? Apparently, the six page letter is full of admonishments and worry from an aging mama to her youngest child who has now left home. She is concerned he has yet to marry at the ripe old age of 22 and fears he has resigned himself to being an old bachelor. The young man has fled to his older brother's home in Washington County.

The letter tells us he has only written home three times in the three months he has been gone. His mama really wants to see him and see him married soon. She describes the menu she will have if he comes home for Thanksgiving dinner. How she longs to see him settled!

Did her letter work? We don't know if he came home for a grand turkey dinner, but he married in June 1882 and lived to celebrate over 50 years of wedded bliss.

Ah- genealogy. What great treasures there are to find tucked away.