Friday, May 16, 2008

Fabulous Friday's Forever Family Featuring...

Jeremiah Crowley, my mystery great grandfather. I already wrote about Jeremiah here. Since that time he has become more of a mystery man. Recently I found a wonderful resource the Dyer Memorial Library in Abington, Massachusetts. I have been searching for more information on my Crowley line especially the women in the line. So, I thought if I found a death notice or obituary that it might mention something like, "Jeremiah was preceded in death by his wife who died on such and such a date, in such and such a place. So, I wrote to this library and asked if they could find a death notice and if there were any articles in the newspapers about Jeremiah's death, since he died by a house fire. They graciously sent me three newspaper articles, one death notice and a fire engineers report for the year 1911. Didn't mention anything about his wife. But I found everything to be rather intriguing.


This is from the Daily Enterprise Nov 9, 1911. Strange thing is on his official death notice he is listed as 61 years old. I don't know how he all of a sudden became 80 years old. Did he look older than he really was, or did he lie about his age?? He supposedly came to the US at age 6 in 1851. Hmmm, the math does not match!!


This was the front page article on the Brockton Enterprise Nov. 8, 1911. This lists him as Patrick and age 68 years old.

This article in Times from Nov. 8, 1911 lists him as John Crowley which really was his son whom he lived with.


This is the death notice. I like the part about him having a "genial nature and kindly manners". It also had some more information about his Civil War service. I would love to find his military record. It is sad that he died in such a horrific manner. My father was just a little over one year old when this happened. I am grateful the rest of the family survived the fire. I'm grateful for the archives that allow us to find such interesting information about ancestors!!

10 comments:

SuperCoolMom said...

Fascinating, fun stuff you're finding!

Katie said...

Wow! That is pretty amazing. It is too bad there is no mention of his wife. I am guessing that means she was already deceased. Very interesting!

Laurel said...

That is a very cool find!

Aprilyn said...

So you're sure they are all the same guy?

Aprilyn said...

Never mind. That's definitely gotta be the same guy. I've found Civil War records of my ancestors. I think I used Ancestry.com to find them.

Catherine said...

These informations are strange,
You said before his father himself was named Jeremiah, wasn't it possible that there was Jeremiah the first of 80 y.old ( who would be arrived at 20 y.old from Ireland in 1851, and Jeremiah his son 61 ans who would have 1 years old at his arrival?
Who was the man who died by fire?
The father 80 y.old as it is said in 2 newspapers, or the son of 61 y.old as it is notified in the cerficate of death.?
Don't you think that there might be a mistake at the moment of the declaration of death. When they asked to John P. Crowley informations about his father, his age for instance, he made a mistake and answer his own age?
Tell me, Cindy, you will give us informations if you get other details.

Cindy Price said...

Catherine, the person who died was my great grandfather. I know he died in a fire because that was the family story. Yes, his father was Jeremiah Crowley also, but I don't know what happened to that Jeremiah Crowley. The younger Jeremiah Crowley was living in the home of his son John Crowley and his young family. John would have been in his forties at the time so I don't think he got confused with his own age. The name Patrick came from Jeremiah's other son, but I don't know what happened to him either. Apparently he wasn't living in 1911 because he isn't mentioned as a survivor relative. I really don't know how the age got mixed up, maybe the reporter couldn't read their own writing or they heard it wrong. This all makes genealogy very interesting.

Aprilyn, I have searched several civil databases and there are just too many people named Jeremiah Crowley for me to figure out the right one.

April said...

It is an interesting story. As far as the mistakes the press obviously made, it just goes to show that we can't believe everything we read. It reminds me of when the newspaper said that David was driving the van we crashed on our way back from Yellowstone. David was only about 7 years old!

April said...

It sounds like a terrible way to die.

Cindy Price said...

April, I thought of that newspaper article too!!

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