Blogger Amy Johnson Crow has
challenged us with writing about an Ancestor once a week for the year
2019. She will give us prompts to get us started. This week's
prompt is In the News.
The historical newspapers are a wonderful place to look for
and find information on relatives. You
find birth, marriage and death announcements, when someone is visiting from out
of town and people coming off ships.
There are also articles with more personal accounts of people’s
lives. One such account that I found for
Owen J. McDonald, my husband’s paternal great grandfather, was very
interesting.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle – 4 Apr 1883 Wed – Page 4
The article is from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 4 April
1883. The headline reads Behind a Cloud -
Disappearance of Wealthy Butcher. Apparently, Owen McDonald owned a butcher
shop in the Washington Market. Every
Sunday he would go and do his accounts while it was closed. On Sunday, 25 February 1883, he went as usual
from his home on 19th Street, Brooklyn to Washington Market (Most
important NYC wholesale produce market between 1880-1910 located in what is now
known as TriBeCa)
Washington Market 1890
He didn’t return home.
Now it is April and there has been several sightings, in a bar, in a
railroad station, and in New Jersey, but he hasn’t come home. The article gives
a complete description. Owen was 40 years old, with light sandy hair slightly
mixed with gray. He wore sparse side
whiskers and small mustache. He was dressed
in a dark overcoat, dark mixed pants, laced shoes, stand up collar. He also had on a scarf and was wearing a
white shirt. When he was spotted in the railway station, he had on his work cap
and not his fedora that he wore going to work.
The article hinted that he might have been insane as his two
sisters had some insanity issues and possibly one of his daughters. The article
indicated that he was loved by everyone, had a great business and so many
people were out searching for him.
I have checked the newspapers from April 1883 to his death
in 1896 and have found nothing telling if he ever was found or what happened to
him until his death. The death
certificate dated 28 November 1896 states that he died in Bellevue Hospital of
Emphysema and is buried in Calvary Cemetery.
This article was wonderful and frustrating at the same
time. I learned about his relationships
with friends and family, a complete description of him and how he ran his
business but not what happened to him while he was missing. There was never any hint through family tales
what happened either. Very interesting.
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