Am I Too Old?

Next Monday one of my grandsons will have his 18th birthday and will be voting the next day. A grandson of voting age? What the hell happened???

Maxon Cemetery

This past weekend we were in Michigan for my father-in-law's 102nd birthday and I suspect that we will be attending more birthday parties for him in the future. Despite the fact that he doesn't hear very well and uses a walker he is in pretty good shape.  When we arrived in Michigan on Thursday afternoon and heading for Clinton Township, we headed west toward Jackson County. In the latter part of the 19th century my 2nd great-grandparents, Fellows and Mary Hare Weed, and later my great-grandparents, Francis Maloney and Sarah Weed Maloney, moved from Rochester, NY to Leoni Twp., MI.

The last time I visited the Maxon Cemetery in Leoli I saw the tombstones of my ancestors but forgot my camera. This time I didn't want to miss it. Here are some of the tombstones.

Francis Maloney and Sarah Weed Maloney Hawkins

Fellows Obel Weed

My 2nd great-grandmother, Mary Hare Weed is buried next to Fellows Weed but the stone is missing. The only thing left is the base. Additional photos to my great-grandmother's Maloney and Weed descendants graves are found at my Flickr account.

Rochester Shop School

My father attended a vocational high school in Rochester, the Shop School.  In a brochure at the Monroe County Public Library titled "Your Child in School" has a brief section concerning the Shop School.

Originally named the Factory School, it was opened in 1908 at the site of School #34 on Lexington Avenue. The Shop School replaced the Factory School in 1911 at one of the abandoned buildings that were part of the old House of Refuge which was located at the present site of Edgerton Park. The entire school brochure can be found here.

Another Cruise?

During our Spring cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to Amsterdam, Netherlands we booked a thirty-three day cruise for next March. This is the last leg of the 2011 World Cruise and sails from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to Ft. Lauderdale. In addition to Dubai, we will visit new places in Oman, Jordan and Egypt along with a cruise through the Suez Canal.

Because next March is such a long way off we decided that a Fall cruise this year should carry us over. For that we have booked a one week cruise in the Caribbean starting November 20. This will be the fourth cruise we have had over Thanksgiving and also will again be celebrating our wedding anniversary (the 26th) aboard ship.

Another Eagan in Rochester

In March of last year I wrote about my grandfather, Stephen Eagan, the Traveling Man. In that post I mentioned that in 1880 when he was in New Haven, CT he boarded with a fireman named Eagan and his family on Adeline Street. In addition to the Eagan family that he boarded with, there were four additional Eagan families on the same block. At the time I asked the question, "Were they related to my Eagan family?" I have corresponded to Eagans in New Haven but none were related to the Eagans on Adeline Street in New Haven. I guess that we will never know.

Yesterday when reviewing Rochester City Directories and noticed that in the directory for 1870 there were eight Eagan entries plus additional Egan entries. One of these was my great-grandfather, Patrick M. Eagan, a grocer who lived at 55 Prospect Street. (The house at 55 Prospect St. is no longer there.)  Across the street at number 58 was a William Eagan, a blacksmith. (My grandfather Stephen was also a blacksmith - a carriage blacksmith.) In the federal census for 1870 William Eagan is listed as twenty-seven years old, born in New York, his wife  was Jane who was born in Scotland. Was this neighbor, William Eagan, relaled to my great-father? Who knows. I traced through the city directories and census records to see if I could see when he died as obituaries sometimes add additional family information.  William moved from Rochester to Chicago in 1896 and I was able to find him in the 1900 census but that was the last I could find. (I do not yet  found Chicago City Directory for that period.

One last curious findings for Eagans. In the Chicago census record for the area where William and Jane Eagan lived, the census taker was Frances J. Eagan!

Irish Colloquialisms

Even though the Usenet is pretty much on its way out, I still follow a number of newsgroups and among them is "soc.genealogy.ireland" and others.  Today an individual in that group posted a comment on Irish citizenship and obtaining an Irish Passport. Just in passing he used a phrase I had not heard in quite a while. It was, "Which foot you dig with" which means "which religion are you - Protestant or Catholic." Catholics dig with their right foot, the same hand they bless themselves, and Protestants dig with their left. Of course Catholics dig with both their right and left depending which way their brain is wired but the phrase is still used although now rarely. 

In a similar vein, although I don't know if it is limited to the Irish, is to refer to non-Catholics as 'left-handers.' Again, Catholics would be 'right-handers' as they use their right hands to bless themselves. I can recall both my mother and father using this term and I'm sure they would describe our friend and neighbor, Helen Neary, as a 'left hander.'  I can't recall the last time that I have heard this term.