Treasure Chest Thursday--Andrew Jackson Brice Medal

     Andrew Jackson Brice, born about 1921 in Pennsylvania, was the son of Andrew E. and Emma C.Brice. The family is enumerated on the 1930 Pennsylvania census and are living on 925 Jackman Avenue in Avalon, a town in the Pittsburgh area on the Ohio River.

     I found nothing on the web regarding Jack Brice and his football accident at Avalon High School back in 1937. Perhaps it has been lost in history. I am not living close enough to Pittsburgh to go through the local Bellevue-Avalon newspapers to have a better understanding of the events leading up to and following Jack's death.

     Both of my parents attended Avalon High School and likely were friends with Jack. Especially my Dad, as he was the quarterback for the school's football team and was present when the accident occurred. Jackman Avenue is near the street where Dad lived and isn't that far from the house where Mom grew up. Certainly, if Jack is enumerated at age 8 on the census, he probably attended school with Mom and Dad until his death.

     My remembrance of this event was that Jack suffered a head injury during football game and died. As Dad once told me, it was back in the days when there was very little protective gear for a football player to wear...especially head gear.

     As a memorial to Jack, the athletic department decided to award the best football player each year with the Jack Brice Medal. The first one, given in 1938, was awarded to my Dad, George VanGilder Hughes.
 

Avalon H.S.GEORGE HUGHES1938

JACK BRICE

MEMORIALMEDAL
Rest in Peace Andrew Jackson Brice
Died October 12, 1937

Sources:

- 1930 Pennsylvania Census, Avalon, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, Page 5A, Enumeration District 494.
- Avalon High School Annual, Class of 1939, Avalon, Pennsylvania.

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. All comments are welcome; however if they are inappropriate, they will not be published. 

PLEASE post your e-mail in the comment section if you would like to network about a particular surname or topic. I will capture it for my use only and not include it when I publish your comment.

© 2011, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser



Marriage License--George Henry Hughes and Sarah Margaret VanGilder

     Proof positive....if you wait long enough....it will someday appear online! Just found this on the West Virginia marriage documents website...WAHOO....my paternal grandparents..aka Grams and Pop Pop. What's in a Name? If there was ever any doubt that Grams decided at some point in time during her life that the spelling "Sara" was more dramatic than "Sarah"....this is it. She was "Sarah" when she married and I have "Sarah" when she was born; however, over the years it became "Sara" and "Sara" it stayed. During my years of family research I have "caught" her having "fun" rewriting history with "new" names. For instance, my Dad, her son, always thought that her middle name was Margaretta, not Margaret....AND....she decided to "change" the spelling of her maiden name from VanGilder to VanGuilder. All of my Dad's documents have VanGuilder as his middle name rather than VanGilder. Actually, she also tweeked her other son, John Aiden Hughes' name....in England it is spelled Aidan....in fact Aidan is heavily scattered throughout the West Hartlepool Hughes lineage due to the fact that they lived and attended St. Aiden's parish. And, now that I think of it....she even had fun with my name....my nickname has always been Lin or Lindee and Grams would write it Lynn. Grams was a fun loving, warm hearted woman....the grandmother any grandchild would beg to go visit....and I did. As I have blogged before, it was not unusual for me as an elementary school girl to jump on my bike and pedal from our house over to Bellevue (about 3 1/2 miles) and simply arrive, unannounced. So in my mind, who cares about name changes, we aren't talking Romeo and Juliet here, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet." ......name....smame.....LOVE THAT GRAMS ! George Henry Hughes and Sara VanGilder Hughes Tombstone Tuesday © 2011, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

St. Patrick's Day--McGoey Marriage License

Marriage License of Michael Joseph McGoey and Clara Green

Compliments and research of Carol Ann McGoey Heidrich

© 2011, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

My Irish roots:

Orr--maternal side
McElroy--paternal side

Stories in Stone--C. Heinze

This past week I was sitting in Cumin, a delightful Nepalese/Indian restaurant in Wicker Park, a Chicago neighborhood, having a sumptuous lunch buffet when I noticed a "Story in Stone" right across the street. Atop the windows in stone, C. Heinze and the date 1878

Usually I don't make a habit of researching a Story in Stone in a large city as I have found that it becomes too difficult to nail down the family. With a surname like Heinze, though, I thought I might have at least a chance even in a city the size of Chicago. And I was right!

The Heinze store is located across from Cumin on North Milwaukee Avenue. I did not take a close-up of the number on the Heinze building; however Cumin is listed as 1414 North Milwaukee Avenue. When I located the family of Charles Heinze, a butcher, in the 1880 Illinois Census, the address listed was 1067 Milwaukee. This is the only C. Heinze in the Chicago area in 1880. Building numbers do change from decade to decade as additional houses and shops are built, so this address could well be what is today listed as 1415 Milwaukee Avenue.

In 1880, the Heinze family was living in an apartment building with several other families. One is a baker and one is a grocer. It makes me wonder if they all had a grocery business together in the Heinze Building or if Charles ran his butcher shop out of that store front alone. Looking at the size of the building, it would be possible for several families to live in the rooms above the shop.

The census also lists that Charles two sons, Herman and Henry are also butchers and young Charles was a butcher apprentice. It was a family business.

Charles Heinze born about 1821 in Prussia
Wilhelmine Grusches Heinze born about 1823 in Prussia

The Family of Charles Heinze and Wilhelmine Grusches:

1. Herman Heinze b. Oct 26, 1853 in either Wisconsin or Illinois. d. Jan 16, 1926, Chicago, IL. Buried at Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago, IL. Made his living as a butcher.

2. Henry Heinze b. 1955 in Chicago, IL. d. Mar 16, 1928 at Bremen, IL. Buried in Chicago, IL. Made his living as a butcher.

3. Charles Heinze (Charles M. Heinze) b. Jan 14, 1864, Chicago, IL. d. Aug 17, 1928, Chicago, IL. Buried at Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago, IL. Made his living as a butcher.

4. Agnes Heinze b. 1872, Illinois.

5. Lillie Heinze (Lillian C. Heinze) b. Nov 1, 1873, Chicago,IL. d. Jan 28, 1946 Chicago, IL. Never married. Buried at Holy Sepulchre, Worth, IL.

6. Willie Heinze b. 1876 Illinois.

I was able to follow Charles, Jr. and his brother Herman through the early 1900 Chicago censuses. They worked as butchers and Herman, who never married, lived with his younger brother Charles until their deaths. The address listed on the 1910 and 1920 census was 1415 Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, IL. The brothers were operating a butcher shop out of the store front in the Heinze Building. Henry continued to work as a butcher, but not in Chicago.

I was not able to locate death records for Charles and Wilhelmine, nor a marriage record for Agnes.

Sources:
-1880 Census, Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: 196; Page: 438A; Enumeration District: 150.

-1900 Census, Chicago Ward 14, Cook, Illinois; Roll: T623_261; Page: 17A; Enumeration District: 418.

-1910 Census, Chicago Ward 16, Cook, Illinois; Roll: T624_259; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 0768.

-1920 Censue, Chicago Ward 16, Cook (Chicago), Illinois; Roll: T625_327; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 957.

-Heinze, Charles, Illinois, Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947. Digital Folder Number: 4206135, Image Number: 2820 , Film Number: 1892224, Volume/Page/Certificate Number: rn 24892.

-Heinze, Henry, Illinois, Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947. Digital Folder Number: 4008217, Image Number: 1402, Film Number: 1614308, Volume/Page/Certificate Number: cn 9158.

-Heinze, Herman, Illinois, Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947. Digital Folder Number: 4204779, Image Number: 1575, Film Number: 1877729, Volume/Page/Certificate Number: rn 1495.

-Heinze, Lillian C., Illinois, Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947. Digital Folder Number: 4005309, Image Number: 755, Film Number: 1985094, Volume/Page/Certificate Number: Item 1 cn 3207.

© 2011, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Lost and Found--Grandma Fletcher

Nancy Stewart Fletcher

This is another photograph I purchased while on vacation at Cheat Lake, West Virginia in 2010. It took a little detective work to figure out who this woman was. First, I did purchase a photo of May and Maggie (Margaret) Hicks Devine. The back of this photo lists this woman as Grandma Fletcher, Margaret Devine's mother.

According to the West Virginia marriage licenses, May and Margaret's mother was Samatha Hicks nee Fletcher. She was born about 1867 in West Virginia. Much too young to be 71 in 1903. I looked her up on census reports and found that Samatha's mother was Nancy Fletcher, who is probably the woman pictured above. Nancy Fletcher was born in 1832, which would make her 71 in 1903. According to West Virginia census reports, she was alive until 1910.

Now, for her maiden name. I tried the brothers of their mother hoping that they stayed in West Virginia and had a death certificate on line and VOILA....one did. Nancy's maiden name was listed as Stewart.

Grandmother Fletcher
Margaret Devine's mother
age 71
March 6, 1903

I believe that this is Nancy Stewart Fletcher, Margaret Devine's maternal grandmother.

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. All comments are welcome; however if they are inappropriate, they will not be published. 

PLEASE post your e-mail in the comment section if you would like to network about a particular surname or topic. I will capture it for my use only and not include it when I publish your comment.

© 2011, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser



Fearless Females-- #6 Heirlooms

     I have quite a collection of sterling silver spoons that belonged to my Frederick family ancestors. They were probably used for tea service as I have only teaspoons.

     This one is beautifully embellished with flowers and scrolls on the front and back.

     Clearly marked sterling silver and the maker's mark is identified in "Kovels' American Silver Marks" as Simpson, Hall, Miller & Co. (1866-1898). Spoons in sterling silver after were made after 1895. The company was located in Wallingford, Connecticut and later became International Silver Company.

     The green star is beside the maker's mark and the red star is beside a letter "D" which would be the year the spoon was made. Unfortunately, my identification book does not give that information. 

Source: Kovel, Ralph and Terry. Kovels' American Silver Marks, Crown Publishers, New York, New York, 1961, page 340. 

© 2011, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser