52 Ancestors 52 Weeks

Favorite Photo

One of my very favorite photos is of my paternal Grandmother, Mary Ann (Mamie) McGuigan.  She was born in the parish of Tynan in Armagh, Ireland on the border of County Monaghan in 1875.  Her parents were Thomas McGuigan and Ann Mallon.

Mamie came to NYC with her sister Alice in 1892 and they both worked as maids in a New York City Hotel. There she met her future husband, William Joseph Mathers/Mathews.  They married in 1909.

I believe this photo was taken around 1900.  I particularly love the lace dress and puffy sleeves.  The hairstyle is fantastic too.

#52Ancestors52Weeks

 52 Ancestors 52 weeks. Jan 13, 2023

Out of Place

I researched a brother of my Grandfather.  His name was William Joseph Mathers/Mathews.  Everything I knew about him had him in New York City or Queens New York, particularly Richmond Hill.  He was a dancer on Broadway and several census records said he was a prop man in Broadway plays.  I found him in the 1940 census living with his Aunt Katie.  After that I couldn’t find him. No one I talked to in the family remembered when he died.  I then got a hint on Ancestry that I almost didn’t look at.  It said Lake Placid, NY.  I checked it out and sure enough it was him.  He was in a sanatorium because of TB.  I never would have looked upstate for him.  It was all because the hints on Ancestry.  I did find when he died and where he was buried.  Thank you Ancestry.

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.  Who would want to talk to   January 1, 2023

The person I would love to talk to would be my Grandfather, John Nelson Moore.  I knew him very well but never asked about his family. I knew he was born in Savanah, Georgia and came to New York in his 20’s.  I would like to ask why he came to New York.  He brought his mother, aunt, sister and nephew.  What prompted the whole family to move?

Memorial Day 2020

This is Memorial Day where we honor our servicemen who fought for our country.  I have to add two more of my family to the list.

My cousin Jill Cosgrove Tober-Esser informed me that her brother John N. Cosgrove served in the Marines in the Vietnam war. 

 

Jill also reminded me that our Grandparents brother Tristram James Moore, known as James T. Moore was in WW 1.

He was gassed during the war and when he returned home was never the same.  He probably had PTSD but that wasn’t

acknowledged as an affliction until many years later.  I don’t have a photo of him but I do have a unit history from the New York

State Military Museum and his Army card from WW1,

52Ancestors 52Weeks – Namesake

 name·sake

/ˈnāmˌsāk/

noun

noun: namesake; plural noun: namesakes

a person or thing that has the same name as another.

In my grandfather’s Moore family, there is the name NELSON that has been brought down through generations.

The first was Horatio NELSON Moore born in 1804 the first son of Tristram and Thankful (Foster) Moore in Moore’s Mill, New Brunswick, Canada.  Strangely, the day Horatio (1804) died in 1825, Thankful Moore gave birth to another son, her 12^th child. She and her husband name this boy after the first son, Horatio NELSON Moore.  It was the custom of the times to name newborns after a previous child who had died.

The name, Horatio Nelson Moore came from Admiral Horatio Nelson a British naval officer who fought in the Napoleonic wars. He was born in Norfolk, England in 1758 and died in 1805.

Admiral Horatio Nelson was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. He was shot by a French sniper and must have been easy to recognize as he wore his full uniform and all his medals.

After Admiral Horatio Nelson died, he was still loved by the British people, they named streets and parks after him.  They erected a statue in Trafalgar Square memorializing him. 

The next time NELSON was used in the family was for my grandfather, John NELSON Moore born in 1889 in Savannah, Georgia.  He was the grandson of Horatio NELSON Moore born in 1825.

John NELSON Moore (1889) named his son, John NELSON Moore in 1925 in New York.

John NELSON Moore (1925) named his sons, Michael NELSON Moore and Timothy NELSON Moore.

Timothy NELSON Moore then named his son Ben NELSON Moore.

We have the NELSON name down to the 5th generation after the original Horatio NELSON Moore in 1825.

Thankfully the name Horatio went out of fashion after 1901 so they carried the Nelson name forward instead.

52Ancestors 52Weeks - Military

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 Military.

Today is Memorial Day where we remember those who have served in the Military to keep our country free!

Several members of my family have served in the Military and I am very proud of them.  Early on we had Benjamin Foster who was involved with one of the first naval battles in Maine during the Revolutionary War.  Both of my 2^nd Great Grandfathers were in the Civil War. John Counts was in Savannah, Georgia and Horatio N. Moore was in Mobile, Alabama.

I probably have relatives in the First World War but haven’t found the records yet.

My father, James Mathews and his brothers, Tom and William all served in the military during WW 11.  My father was in the Navy and was stationed stateside, New York City and Washington D.C.  The other two were in the Army and served overseas.

My cousin William Mathews Jr. also served in the Army during the Viet Nam War.  I do not have a photo of him in uniform though.

Towards the end of the Viet Nam War my brother Kevin was in the Marines.  He also was trained and served stateside.

              

  

William Mathews, Army   William Mathews, Dad    James Mathews, Navy

Thomas Mathews, Army

Kevin Mathews, Marines

52 Ancestors 52 Weeks – Road Trip

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 Road Trip.

I had been researching the Moore family for many years and found them in New Brunswick, Canada and Savannah, Georgia.

My husband and I travelled all over the country on motorcycle and were always looking for interesting rides.  We decided one year to go to Savannah, Georgia.  I went well prepared.  I had several addresses where the Moore family lived in Savannah and the cemetery where some of them were buried.

Since the Moore family lived in Savannah from 1880 to 1910 there were many changes and not all addresses had houses.  Some were parking lots and one was a business office.  The church, St. John’s is still there.  The Moore children were baptized in that church.

St. John the Baptist Church

We went to the Laurel Grove Cemetery; Aisle 16 Lot 2439.  We started down a long row heading towards the plot and I was so discouraged, there were no headstones, until we got down to the Moore plot.  Hooray, a little fence around several headstones. Horatio and his wife Mary (my 2^nd Great Grandparents) were buried there as were 2 daughters and their families.  It was very exciting to me, not so much my husband though.  We didn’t stay long because it was very hot and buggy.

Entrance to Laurel Grove Cemetery

It was a fun road trip to ride and walk through the streets I knew my Grandfather roamed as a small child.  His parents, Tristram Moore and Genevieve (Counts) were married in Savannah.  Genevieve was born in Savannah, December 1864, the month General Sherman marched through Savannah during the Civil War. 

Savannah Street Scene abt. 1900