Bonnie's Updated AncestryDNA Results

I'm not the only one whose DNA results have changed due to Ancestry's updates. This is what their old analysis looks like.

Her new map has tightened up, concentrated in the British Isles/Ireland and shedding most European influences.

[AncestryDNA]

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Wedding Day: Jane J. O'Brien (1876 - 1974) and Roy O'Connor Trainer (1873 - 1948)

While I'm visiting her here in France I've been looking at what can be learned about my best friend Bonnie's ancestors using Newspapers.com. Since several generations of her mother's lineage lived in Fort Worth, Indiana, there's quite a bit, starting with this report of the marriage of her grandparents which took place on August 19, 1902.

[20 Aug 1902, Page 5 - Fort Wayne Weekly Sentinel at Newspapers.com]

Although her mother's family passed down lots of photos, stories, mementos and even a genealogical scrapbook created by her Aunt Janette, this clipping had quite a few details about that long-ago day that were new to Bonnie

Here's a photo of Fort Wayne's Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception where the ceremony took place. The priest who married the couple was Father William D. Sullivan who had just been ordained the previous May.

[Fort Wayne Indiana~Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception~Catholic Church~1907.

Source: HipPostcard.com]

There must have been pictures of the wedding party in the family's collection, but none seem to have made their way to France. In their place here's a portrait of Jennie taken about 1900 followed by the 1902 city directory entry for the law firm she had worked for.

[Courtesy of Bonnie Groves Poppy]

[Fort Wayne, Indiana, city directory by R.L. Polk & Co.1902. Source: Archive.org.]

There doesn't appear to be an available picture of Roy as a young man however I did find an earlier photo of the factory where he worked.

[From c.1890 Fort Wayne (Packard) Organ Factory catalog.

Source: The Packard Organ]

From the description of her attire as "a costume of tan silk mull, over turquoise silk taffeta" it's clear that Jennie didn't wear a typical white wedding dress. And the description of her hat as "a large white beaver, with ostrich plumes and turquoise velvet trimmings" makes me hope that a wedding photo is forthcoming!

I imagine Jennie's dress would have had the same general lines as this 1902 wedding dress worn by a bride in Montana.

[The Montana Historical Society Collection Wedding Dresses Pinterest Board]

As for the fashionable hat shapes in 1902 here are some Easter bonnets.

[The Delineator "Pretty Hats for Easter" 1902 from Pinterest]

However we should keep in mind that Jennie's large hat was described as white beaver which means it was furry (whether real or artificial material is unclear) This black beaver hat (from the Philadelphia Museum of Art and described as early 20th century and probably later than 1902) shows the texture of the fur contrasted with ostrich feathers.

[Woman's Hat, Label Strawbridge & Clothier, Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Emily W. Cunningham]

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Find: Irish Genealogical Research Society's Early Irish Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes

Via the New England Historic Genealogical Society's Weekly Genealogist link to an article in the Irish Post we learn that the online databases maintained by the Irish Genealogical Research Society (IGRS) now contain over a quarter of a million names.

[Record relating to James Carey, born in 1844. (c) Society of Genealogists]

Access to the full database is restricted to IGRS members but here's what's available to the general public:

However, as an initial aid, a restricted but free Surname-Only Search of the database can be made by non-members. A search will tell you how many entries in the database match your search criteria. It will not provide all the details of those matched records.  We recommend you read the Introduction to the Index by Rosalind McCutcheon.  When searching the Surname-Only index, please allow for vagaries of spelling; try searching just using the first 3 letters of the name. Look also at alternatives, such as: Nolan/Nowlan, Reilly/Riely/Riley, Crowley/Croly. A good guide for alternative spellings can be found at www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/.*

Here'a a full list of the IGRS collections freely available on their website.

*This website qualifies as a fantastic find all by itself! For example this is what happened when I entered the surname Trainer (my friend Bonnie's mother's name) in Irish Ancestors.

In case you haven't seen it, here's a link to an earlier Fantastic Find: The National Library of Ireland's online collection of Catholic parish registers recording baptisms and marriage.


© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Family Friday: John Henry O'Brien (1868 - 1942) and Fitzgerald Kin

I love this photo--even the dog looks very serious. It's on another page of the family scrapbook assembled by best friend's Aunt Janette Trainer.

Taken about 1898 in the Klondike and titled "Fitzgerald Camp, Wright Creek"* it depicts Bonnie's 30-year old great uncle John Henry O'Brien who had left Indiana that year to join the Alaska Gold Rush.** "Uncle Billy Fitz" might be his mother Jane's sibling William L. T. Fitzgerald (1839-1920) or he could be one of her cousins, another William Fitzgerald (1844-1917) because "Chas Fitz" is his son Charles J. Fitzgerald (1878-1957).***

[Courtesy of B. Poppe]

[The Gold and Coal Fields of Alaska, Together With The Principal Steamer Routes and Trails. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Charles D. Walcott, Director. Note: Published January, 1898. David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

It's clear that John didn't strike it rich in the Klondike because in the 1900 Census of Alaska John O'Brien was working on the White Pass & Yukon Railway**** construction as a "plummer."

[Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C.:

National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 1854 rolls.]

*The name of the photographers appears to be M. Bros. which I haven't been able to identify so far. The only Wright Creek I find is in British Columbia.
**There is an enormous amount of information about the Gold Rush online, if you want to know more this is a great place to start.
***I'm so confused. Maybe Bonnie can clarify this? Also, since I have no idea who "Alice luley" could be, I can't identify her uncle and grandfather, the only other men labeled in the photo.
****This narrow-gauge railroad is still in operation. you can visit their website here which includes a link to a 1900 magazine article here.


© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: Trainer

For those of you who have ancestors who owned cars in Oregon in the first half of the 20th century, Ancestry.com has a database titled  "Oregon, Motor Vehicle Registrations, 1911-1946" that can supply the following information:

Oregon began requiring annual vehicle registration in 1911. This collection is a published list of motor vehicle registrations from 1911 to 1946. Each registration includes:

• license number
• name and address of the vehicle owner (including county in parentheses)
• make of car
• motor number
• model or year of manufacture
• type of body 

See the start of the registry for a key to abbreviations.* The details in the automobile description could come in handy when identifying and dating photographs. 

Also included is a record of convictions. Ever wondered if Grandpa had a lead foot? You just might find out. The record of convictions lists

• name of the offender
• date
• nature of the offense
• chauffeur or operator's license number
• court
• county
• amount of the fine

And that's how we know what my best friend's Uncle Joe* was driving in 1946. (There's no mention of him the record of convictions.)

["I'm glad I bought an Oldsmobile" Source: The Old Car Manual Project]

[Ancestry.com. Oregon, Motor Vehicle Registrations, 1911-1946 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Oregon Secretary of State. Oregon Motor Vehicle Registrations. Oregon State Library, Salem, Oregon.]

*Joseph Byron Trainer (1912-1994) the son of Roy O'Connor Trainer and brother of Janette Trainer. He was a professor at Oregon Health Services University and had a distinguished career as an author, consultant and TV host 


© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Family Friday: Trainer/O'Brien

The two men in this Ft. Wayne, Indiana, photo captioned "Dad - the fiddler, John & his eagle," are my best friend's maternal grandfather Roy O'Connor Trainer (1873-1948) and his brother-in-law John H. O'Brien (1868-1942).* 

[Courtesy of B. Poppe]

The handsome glass-fronted oak bookcase ended up in San Diego but not the rustic burl-root chairs and hatstand or the eagle.

*Thank you Bonnie for setting me straight about the identity of John.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: Trainer/Fitzgerald/O'Brien/Tancey/O'Connor

In today's search for an appropriate image for my "Sunday Drive" I decided to take a look at this family photograph from my best friend's collection. Once again her Aunt Janette has provided a lot of genealogical data about the people pictured and even the place where they were gathered on that long-ago day. A quick glance might lead one to think that they were in an automobile...but no.

[Courtesy of B. Poppe]

[Detail of photo above]

On closer inspection it's clear that the group have posed behind a prop painted to look like a car, apparently outdoors because the trees behind them look convincing. What kind of park would have such a thing?


Janette got the place-name (slightly but understandably) wrong--it was Robison Park*, an amusement park opened in 1896 by the Fort Wayne Consolidated Railway** seven miles northwest of Fort Wayne on the St. Joseph River.

[Pavilion, Robinson [sic] Park; source: delcampe.net]

[The Rest, Robison Park, Fort Wayne, Ind.; source: CardCow.com]

[The Blue Streak, Robison Park, Fort Wayne, Ind.; source: delcampe.net]

And over the years Robison Park was in operation*** there were other options for visitors to pose in novel settings.

[From "Allen County in Vintage Postcards" by John Martin Smith, Arcadia Publishing, 2001]

The impulse to have one's photograph taken sitting in one of those newfangled automobiles wasn't restricted to residents of Indiana either. Here's an example of a family in Scotland:

[William Lees, (Family group sitting in a studio car prop), cabinet card between 1898 and 1914] Portobello, Scotland,

source: Ryerson University Library]

As to the names of the folks in the first photograph, Janette has done such a good job of identifying them in her legible handwriting, I'll leave it to her, except to point out that my friend's mother Mary Elizabeth Trainer is the youngest child in the group.


*A short illustrated history of Robison Park can be viewed here.
**The first electric trolley company in Fort Wayne.
***1896-1919
****To learn more about cars in early photographs, go here.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Celebrations: Summer Solstice 2015

Today we celebrate the Summer Solstice in Northern Hemisphere. In this snapshot my best friend Bonnie's Aunt Janette Trainer (1904-1980) shows how to keep cool on a hot summer day.

[Photo courtesy of B. Poppe]

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: Trainer

My best friend's maternal grandfather Roy O'Connor Trainer (1873-1948) is the passenger in this undated photo, almost certainly taken in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. He and the unidentified driver appear to be trapped in their vehicle by the two parlor organs strapped to its sides. 

[Courtesy of Bonnie Poppe]

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Family Friday - Genea-Envy Edition: Fitzgerald/Leonard/O'Brien/O'Connor/Trainer

Not only does my best friend have some enviable records about several of her paternal ancestors, she also has the benefit of a family scrapbook lovingly created by her Aunt Janette* filled with genealogical treasures.

[Courtesy of Bonnie Poppe]

(I'm sure we all wish we could find something like this about our own families.)

*Her mother's sister, Josephine Janette Trainer (1904-1980)

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.