How We Spent Our Day

We sat on opposite sides of the sofa snuggled under a quilt with a candle lit and researched family history (more precisely old family neighborhood maps) on our own individual lap top computers.

This is how we celebrated one whole year of marital bliss. We were planning to spend the weekend up the mountains but an emergency surgery on Friday ended that plan. So instead we spent the day doing what we both love to do together and that is family genealogy.

Before any one panics, Bill was the one who had the surgery and he is doing fine though a little sore (maybe a lot sore) but he is on pain meds and that helps a lot.

Anyway, I found a few interesting tid bits of information on those old 1892 maps of Philadelphia and I will be researching and posting them soon. I found a hotel known as Tissots located on Ridge Avenue near the Fall's bridge in East Falls. I also found property in the Manayunk and Roxborough areas that belonged to a Ambrose Ritter and a William Beatty. The Beatty property was located directly next to the Bethany German Lutheran Cemetery were many of our Voigt and Keller relatives are interred. One of John and Elisabeth Keller's daughter (Elisabeth) married a Beatty from Manayunk. I am certain his name was Christopher so it will be interesting to see if this William I found was a relation (perhaps father) to Christopher. I also found another large tract of land located around Ridge and Parker Avenues that a Robert Pester own. Pester is another family member who married into the McCaffery side of the family. Robert Pester married the daughter (Anna) of Colum McCaffery Sr. and sister of Colum McCaffery Jr. who was married to Anna Marie Gallagher.

One Year Ago Today

Need I Say More?

Preparation Part II

Why is it when I stop at the super market to pick up just a few things, it ends up being a shopping cart full with a hefty price tag at the check-out?

Today, I did it again. I entered the store with the idea that I would pick up some yams, a few pies, a cake and gravy for the Thanksgiving meal. However, I ended up with a dozen bags full of various items that had absolutely nothing to do with the Thanksgiving meal though I am sure I justified (in my head) that I required all those extra items for some reason that has to do with feeding 14 people. For instance, there was that ice tea, hot chocolate and crumb cake that screamed from the grocery store shelves to just buy them.

Of course, I could not pass up the sale items whether I needed them or not. Then as I walked toward the check out aisle, it occurred to me that all these things I just bought would need to be taken into the house, so there I go, "quick" call Joe and Jackie to make sure they stay put at home until I get there so that I had them to help bring all the stuff in.

Did I mention the juggling act of putting all that stuff away? I mean to tell you there is not one inch of space left anywhere in the freezer, refrigerator or pantry in the kitchen. I took up every available space with all these things I desperately needed to buy at that store.

Of course, I also had to point out to everyone in the house what was allowed to eaten now and what cannot be eaten until Thursday.

Just think , I get to cook all this stuff.

In Preparation For The Big Day

Thanksgiving is just a few days away. I am expecting 14 people at my house for dinner this day and I am pretty excited to have the opportunity to have so much family around me on the holiday. Besides, we finally get to sit at the formal dining room table for the first time since I bought this house 16 months ago.

Today, I need to go back to the grocery store and pick up a few more things that I still need for the feast that I did not get on my last trip out to the store. I guess I will save Wednesday for cleaning for company. Of course, I will assign the difficult tasks such as scrubbing the bathrooms for Bill.

All in all I am like a little kid waiting for Santa Claus.

Harry Charles Walsh

Born in 1903 to Charles Sumner & Jennie B Walsh. Located in the 1920 census records as living on 221 Gross Street with his parents. Previous census records indicated that Harry was probably an only child. In 1920, Harry's father Charles S. was listed as a clerk in an Oil Refinery and 52 years old. His mother Jennie was listed as a homemaker and 38 years old.


I did find a Harry Charles Walsh in the 1930 census records as being married to Elizabeth and having a daughter Patricia. I know that Harry was married to Regina Cafferty. However, I am not sure if he did have a first wife whom he divorced and/or died. Harry is about fifteen years older than Regina.



Harry and Regina Cafferty Walsh had several daughters and one son. Their son Charles Sumner was named for his paternal grandfather. As I have written in earlier posts, Charles died in Vietnam at the age of 19 years old.



I also want to note that my grandmother and Regina had a close relationship up to Regina's death in the 1980's. Regina died from a brain tumor. It also should be noted that for many years Harry & Regina along with their children lived many years on Ridge Avenue in the East Falls section of Philadelphia.



Harry, Regina and Charles are interred at Beaverly National cemetery.

Cemeteries known as Upper Dublin, Rosehill & Rosevalley

Ship Manifest Of John McCaffery

Click image to enlarge.

Ship Columbia

Built in 1902, the ship known as "Columbia" carried my great grandfather John McCaffery from Londonderry to the Port of New York (Ellis Island) on May 27, 1907. John McCaffery immigrated to the United States from his home in Letterkenney Donegal Ireland. Legal spelling of his name was McCafferty.

St. Peter's Lutheran Church In Lafayette Hill

Beatty Family relation? Check more information below.


Ritter Family relation?

Revolutionary War Veteran



Another piece of history discovered by walking the grounds.

Following headstones are a result of natural wear & tear over time.

The following headstones are a result of neglect. Overgrown shrubs, trees and grass along with trash and debris among the graves.

Graves tell the stories of those interred within its ground. This kind of neglect in my view is disrespectful. It makes me want to be cremated and tossed into the wind.

A Lot Of History Here

Until I made a visit to this church/churchyard, I never knew there was a financier of the Civil War let alone the man was from my neck of the woods in Cheltenham.

Jay Cooke Memorial Hall

Jay Cooke's Family Tomb which in person is very ere looking to say the least especially when you take a peek through the windows.

This stone was interesting because it clearly states only one World War. When this man died in 1921, no one imagined that there would end up being a second World War a little more than a decade later.

Civil War Veteran

There were several stones that indicated these women actually had hyphenated names. When they married they kept their identity. Something that was very unusual in the 19th Century and early 20th Century.

Miniature headstones were very common for the graves of babies and children. In this case, this miniature flower bed is located on the grave of an infant.