Benita (McGinnis) McCormick – Page 7 – Many Branches, One Tree

What the Records Can and Can’t Tell Us

Thomas Charles Gaffney (1874 – 1937) Cora Alice (Terrill) Gaffney (1879 – 1951) Agnes Evelyn (Gaffney) Johnson (1902 – 1977) Second of a four part series When we examine the lives of our ancestors, we depend on records to give us the facts about them and shed some light on why things turned out the way they … Continue reading

Mystery Monday: More than Meets the Eye

Thomas Charles Gaffney (1874 – 1937) First of a four part series Thomas Charles Gaffney, circa 1910 – 1920 As we conclude our study of the family of the ten children of Bridget (Quinn) and John Francis Gaffney, there seem to be more questions than answers about their son, Thomas. I had planned … Continue reading

Mystery Monday: Hotel LaRose

Agnes Catherine Gaffney (1872 – 1952) Jane (McCormick) Olson (1927 – 2011) Part Two of Three Hotel LaRose, Santa Rosa, Califormia. Pencil drawing by Ruth Robertson. Date unknown. In yesterday’s post, we looked at a book that belonged to my great-grand aunt, Agnes Catherine Gaffney. Agnes, blessed with a beautiful soprano voice, would have sung … Continue reading

Family Recipe Friday: Aunt Di’s Millionaire Steak

Delia “Di” Gaffney (1864 – 1952) Delia “Di” or “Deal” Gaffney. This is part of a group portrait of the six Gaffney sisters. There seems to be an impish expression behind those innocent eyes, as if Di had to stop whatever mischief she was up to to pose for this portrait. Of the six Gaffney sisters of Conneaut, Ohio, … Continue reading

Sibling Saturday: Margaret Ann Gaffney

Margaret Ann “Maggie” Gaffney (1860 – 1949) Margaret Ann “Maggie” Gaffney As I mentioned in my last post, I have been somewhat frustrated in my inability to uncover more about my great-grandmother’s five sisters, the Gaffneys of Conneaut, Ohio. Two things I do know about these loving and much beloved sisters is that … Continue reading

Wedding Wednesday: Thomas and Mary Jane (Gaffney) McGinnis

Thomas Eugene McGinnis (1855 – 1927) Mary Jane (Gaffney) McGinnis (1858 – 1940) The photograph below comes from a page from the scrapbook of my great-aunt, Benita (McGinnis) McCormick, in honor of her parents, Thomas McGinnis and Mary Jane Gaffney. They were married on May 19, 1884, in Conneaut, … Continue reading

Wisdom Wednesday: Scrapbook of a Lifetime

Benita Elizabeth (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) Phillip Columbus McCormick (1892 – 1981) From left to right: Phillip and Benita McCormick with their tour guide, 1962, Piraeus, Greece. One of the reasons my family moved to California in 1967 was to be closer to my great-aunt … Continue reading

Workday Wednesday: Going into the Antiques Business

Alice Gaffney (McGinnis) Schiavon (1895 – 1963) Joan Joyce (Schiavon) Huesca (1928 – 1987) Having amassed a sizable amount of furniture and antiques during her European travels to add to her already large collections, my grandmother, Alice (McGinnis) Schiavon, now needed a place to put them. Invitation to and newspaper article about the … Continue reading

Funeral Card Friday: Mary Jane (Gaffney) McGinnis

Mary Jane (Gaffney) McGinnis (1858 – 1940) The front of this holy card, now faded reads, “Show us Thy face, and we shall be saved.” My maternal great-grandmother, Mary Jane “Janie” McGinnis, died at 7:15 in the morning of July 13, 1940, at the home of her eldest child, Benita (McGinnis) McCormick, of pernicious … Continue reading

Mappy Monday: The Schiavons and the McCormicks in the 1940 Census

Map shows the walking route that sisters Alice (McGinnis) Schiavon (House “A”) and Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (House “B”) might have taken to visit each other’s families in 1940 Chicago, Illinois. (Courtesy Google Maps, 2012) Visiting the 1940s Chicago of the Schiavon and the McCormick families, we can see the beginnings of a decade of change for … Continue reading