Memorial Services for Claudia Overington Newman, m. Gammon (1925-2014)

My grandmother Claudia passed away around 3:15am yesterday, February 8. I will be writing a full post soon, when I have time to write about her life and add photos, but I wanted to make sure my followers know, as her mother's family, the Overingtons, have been a favorite subject on this blog.

There will be a visitation on Wednesday, February 12 from 3-6pm at O'Brien Funeral Home on Route 35 in Wall Township, New Jersey.

A memorial service will be held at her church, St. Mary's by-the-Sea, in Point Pleasant, New Jersey on Thursdays, February 13 at 2pm.

Claudia has left instructions to request that in lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the St. Mary's-by-the-Sea fund for the homeless.

She is survived by her husband of almost 70 years, Howard Gammon of Wall Township, NJ; daughters Mary and Jeanne Gammon of Spring Lake, NJ; son and daughter-in-law Jim and Wanda Gammon of Wall Township, NJ; and two grandchildren, Jimmy and Sandi Gammon, also of Wall Township.

Fearless Females, March 2: Jenny Burns

I missed the first day and I have a very busy month ahead of me, but I'm going to try to participate as much as I can in The Accidental Genealogist's Fearless Females daily prompts for Women's History month. 

Today's is simple: "Post a photo of one of your female ancestors. Who is in the photo? When was it taken? Why did you select this photo?"

Here's my photo:

This is Jane "Jenny" Robertine Burns, my great-great-great-grandmother. This photo is one of my all-time favorites, and has been pretty popular over on my Flickr photostream, too, so it was a natural choice.

I have no idea when or where this photo was taken, but it's by far the youngest picture of her I've ever seen. All I can suggest is that she is not wearing a wedding ring, so the picture was probably taken before her marriage to Thomas Fogden Overington, which took place on June 5, 1855. Long-time readers may remember my post last year about this wedding.

A little more about Jenny:

• She was born on January 27, 1836 in Frankford, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• Her parents were Dr. Robert Bruce Burns, a Scottish immigrant, and Elizabeth Love Yarnall, a Philadelphian woman.
• She had one older sister and eight younger siblings.
• She married her husband Thomas when she was 19 and he was 26.
• They had two sons, John (1864) and William (1871).
• The family lived at the Overington mansion "Oaklands" at 4606 Leiper Street in Frankford, which is now Overington Park.
• They attended services at Trinity Church Oxford in Oxford and its daughter institution, St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Frankford (which the Overingtons helped to found).
• Thomas passed away in 1877 at the age of 48, unusually young for his family (for example, his father passed away in 1892 just a month before his 100th birthday). He was buried at Trinity Church Oxford in Oxford, Philadelphia.
• Jenny lived another fifty years, but wore a widow's mourning black every day for that half-century.
• She passed away on September 4, 1927 at the age of 91. She was buried beside her husband.

More photos:

Jenny with her granddaughter Claudia "Poppy" Overington, on or about May 16, 1906

And her gravestone:

AncestryDNA Reference Post

I've decided that it would be beneficial and convenient for me and my family to have a page where all our AncestryDNA results are listed together, for reference. I also decided that I will make it public because this information is more or less public on Ancestry.com already, and perhaps it will be informative to my readers if you are interested in the AncestryDNA test and what the results look like. I've included the modern-day locations of each of these ethnicities, as provided by Ancestry. Results also come with a bunch of information about each of these regions, including details on migrations into and out of the region to help you understand how your ancestors might have ended up where you are.

Some people may wonder what will happen if they get the test and do it wrong. Well, it turns out that I can answer that question. If the sample received in the lab doesn't contain enough genetic material, they will send you an email with a link to order a replacement kit free of charge. We've had this happen with one of our samples, and Ancestry was very good about it. We are currently awaiting the replacement kit.

I will continue to update this page as more results come in. If you are one of the people I have ordered a test for and want to know its status, these are listed at the bottom of this post, below the results. I will update it as soon as something changes.

If you are one of my friends and I manage a family tree for you on Ancestry.com and you are interested in this DNA test, please let me know. The test costs $129 when ordered by a subscriber (like me) and $199 when ordered by a non-subscriber so the advantage is obvious. The downside is that the results will be linked to my account and not yours, but I will definitely keep on top of the information and keep you updated if you choose to do the test.

Photos of Couples, 1852-1974

So this isn't a terribly substantial post, but it's something I've wanted to do for a long time. The semester is coming to an end and I find myself incredibly busy, so this is the relatively simple project that is getting tackled this month. I put together all the photos of couples in my family tree. Many are aunts and uncles or cousins, but several are my direct ancestors. They are arranged in chronological order.

Mary Elizabeth Redding & Russell Howard McKee

married on October 13, 1852

James Wilkinson Gammon & Armilda Eliza Myers

married on November 19, 1852 in Monroe, IA

Isaac Newton Morrison & Lydia Josephine Gammon

married in December 1879 in Centerville, IA

Anna Mary Seufer & Newton Franklin Gammon

married on February 14, 1880 in Decatur County, IA

Katharine Rebecca Wilson & John Overington

married on November 5, 1889 in Philadelphia, PA

William Overington, Jr. & Claudia Wetherill Fries

married on November 16, 1903 in Philadelphia, PA

 

Walter Smart McKee & Willie May Maxson

Albert Clate Gammon & Abigail Ruth Lester

married on January 1, 1907 in Ringgold County, IA

James Mathias Gammon & Carrie Bernice McKee

married on November 9, 1921 in Los Angeles, CA

Edgar Percival Jones and Claudia Overington

Howard McKee Gammon & Claudia Overington Newman

married on June 3, 1944 in Roswell, NM

Gisele & Walter Leonard McKee

  

Jack Leroy Upper & Claudia Overington Reid

married in 1950

Shirley Bubadias & Victor Carl Fetzer

married on August 2, 1953 in Neptune, NJ

Jim Gammon & Wanda Starnes

married on November 25, 1974 in Bel Air, MD (shown)

and on July 16, 1983 in Belmar, NJ

Real Estate Appraisal of Oaklands, 1950

I was at the Overington Family Reunion last weekend and brought some of my family documents. This one was a favorite and I was asked to scan it and post it here so that everyone can have a copy. It's the real estate appraisal of Oaklands on August 4, 1950, two months before William Overington, Jr. passed away.

You can read it for yourself; it's pretty self-explanatory.

The last paragraph there on the back is blocked by the photos and reads:

Valuation based on its Best Possible Usage. Dwelling is very old & in very poor condition. Would not pay to re-condition or remodel same. Eventually dwelling will have to be removed so that building can be developed to its Best Usage. (Apartments or dwellings, or both.)

Oaklands Photo Album

I wrote a post about Oaklands nearly a year ago now, with what I knew about the house. In that post, I said that there aren't very many pictures of the house. As it turns out, that is a completely untrue statement. I simply had not found (or identified) many of them yet. In this post, I am including photos from my personal collection as well as photos from the Philadelphia Department of Records. This latter set were taken when the city took possession of the property, to document it before demolishing the house.

I have reused the map from my previous post, but not any of the photos so refer to that post, as well, for more pictures.

Let's start with a plan of the property from a 1920 atlas of the city. This is oriented so that the top is NE, bottom is SW. The house faces southeast - towards Leiper Street - and has a curved drive up to the back of the house on Pilling Street. The other large building is the stable or barn.

On to the photos! I've put in a jump break because this is a long list of photos, so click "Read More" to see the rest of the post.

Documenting a Marriage, Part 2

The Marriage of William Overington, Jr. and Claudia Wetherill Fries, my great-great-grandparents

I'm still looking at the Overington family for now but this time around I'd like to show how useful newspaper clippings can be. Now, I don't have access to these newspapers on microfilm and so I can't give you advice on going through old papers, but my point here is that you shouldn't throw away any scrap of paper among your family's things without actually reading it. This clipping and another were tucked into a family bible and were falling to pieces - I am forever grateful that I didn't just toss them out, especially because I do not have a copy of their marriage certificate so all my information comes from these articles.

If you remember last month, I mentioned my genealogist great-great-grandfather. I was looking at his parents' marriage and this month, I'm looking at his.

The Frankford Gazette, 16 November 1903

Overington-Fries

Wedding Bells at Old Oxford Trinity Church. Brilliant 

Reception at "The Pines," the Home of the Groom. 

One of the most beautiful and impressive weddings of the season took place in the historic "Old Trinity Church, Oxford," on Monday evening at 6 o'clock, when Miss Claudia Wetherill Fries was united in Marriage to Mr. William Overington, both well known young people of Frankford. The picturesque little church was artistically decorated with palms and choice chrysanthemums, and was filled to its utmost capacity. The ceremony was performed by the rector Rev. Horace F. Fuller. To the ever beautiful and solemn strains of the march from Lohengren, played on the organ by Mr. James Baird, the bridal procession, in perfect rymth moved up the aisle of the church the bride leaning on the arm of her brother Mr. Horace Teese Fries, who gave her away. The best man was Mr. John R. Savage, a life long companion of the groom. The ushers were Mr. Arthur G. Singer Mr. William W. Foulkrod, Jr., Mr. Henry K. Fries, Mr. George R. Wilson, and Mr. John A. Page. The first three are the sole surviving bachelors of the Thirteen Club of which the groom had been a member for many years.

The bride wore an exquisite gown of white panne crepe de chene, with veil and orange blossoms, a magnigcent diamond sunburst, the gift of the groom, and a shower boquet of lillies of the valley. Miss Louisa Fries, sister of the bride, was maid of honor and wore a beautiful gown of pink crepe de chen. THe bridesmaids were Miss Helen E. Fries, Miss Edith E. Good, and Miss Sarah C. Goodfellow, who wore gowns of white mull most effective in their simplicity.

Immediately after the ceremony, the bridal pair returned to the "Pines," their future home at Leiper and Orthodox streets, where an elaborate reception was held. The grand old mansion is an ideal place in which to entertain, for while over five hundred persons were present at no time was the stairway or hall crowded. Refreshments were served most bountifully on the spacious porch which had been enclosed and the interior illuminated with small incandescent lights and twined with smilax, for the occasion. A most joyous spirit of good cheer seemed to pervade the entire assemblage. 

The bouquet thrown by the bride as her final message of good will to her young friends was caught by her younger sister, Miss Helen, and if there be anything in signs, we know who our next bride is to be. The bride and groom left on their wedding trip midst a shower of rice and confetti, and will be gone about two weeks. The gifts were exceedingly numerous and were particularly noticeable for elegance and refinement; there were also a number of bank checks of large denomination. Many good wishes follow the happy pair wherever they may be, and a host of true friends are ready to greet them on their return.

I love this clipping. It's a perfect example of how a family and a community represents itself at a wedding. From a genealogical standpoint, there is detailed information on the whole family and it mentions all their friends. It describes the wedding gown, which is an amazing companion to the photograph I have of it. A textile historian (Leimomi Oakes, to be specific) graciously looked at this photo for me last year and informed me that the style was the height of fashion in 1903 and likely to have been quite expensive.

Claudia Wetherill Fries in her wedding gown, 1903

The two newspaper articles about the wedding (the one above and another from the Frankford Dispatch), even though they are local papers, seem to back up the idea that it was an extravagant wedding and meant to make a very clear statement of status to the community. It's a good thing they got those "bank checks of large denomination," because I'm sure they needed help paying it off!

William and Claudia, early 1900s (poss. 1901)

I believe that they were honestly a happy couple. Just look at that tintype and try to tell me he doesn't adore her! You may also remember the goofy newspaper photo they took in 1901 (in this post).

Documenting a Marriage, Part 1

The Marriage of Thomas Fogden Overington and Jane R. Burns, my great-great-great-grandparents

Thanks to my genealogist great-great-grandfather, I have a great deal of information regarding my family's history. Among all the photos and papers are some incredible references to weddings. Today I'm looking at his parents' wedding.

This is a letter from Thomas Rowland Jr., apparently a friend of the family. It is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek request for the services of a Reverend George Sheets at the wedding of Thomas Fogden Overington and Jane Burns. What I find particularly humorous about this is that I'm fairly certain Thomas Rowland's brother Benjamin and Thomas Overington's sister Sarah had married two years earlier. Here is a transcription:

My friend T. F. Overington about making a change from the life of a Bachelor to that of a married one; desired that I would write requesting your services on the reason of his wedding. Prompted in making this request for the desire of his intended Bride (Miss Jane Burns), as well as in accordance with his own feelings on the subject, his esteem & affection towards a leash & divine from early association being centered in yourself, a favourable answer would be particularly desirable. Tuesday the 5th day of June at about 10 o'clock is the day & time appointed for the ceremony. Please address care S&B Rowland Co. undersigned at 61 South Second St. Very respectfully, Thomas Rowland, Jr.

As it turns out, Rev. George Sheets was available to perform the ceremony because I also have this document:

Here Rev. Sheets puts their marriage into writing:

Whereas application has been made to me by Thomas F. Overington and Jane Burns, both of Frankford, Philadelphia, Pensylvania [sic], to be unified together in holy Matrimony, and find upon due examination that there is no legal let or impediment by reason of precontract consanguinity, affinity, nor any other just cause whatsoever, to hinder their marriage; This is therefore to Certify that the said Thomas F. Overington and Jane Burns were joined in wedlock by me. Given under my hand this fifth day of June, AD, 1855. George Sheets, Rector of St. James' Church, Stanton, Delaware

And finally, here are the happy couple (albeit individually and at different times):

Jane "Jenny" R. Burns (1836-1927)

Thomas Fogden Overington (1828-1877)

Shared Photos

I was recently contacted by a blog writer on Oprah.com asking to use a couple of photos from my Flickr account for an article. Of course I agreed! The blog post was published today, and you can see it here. She used this photo of my great-grandmother Claudia Wetherill (Fries) Overington and one of her sisters:

What I didn't realize when I got the request was that she had come across my photos on a website called Retronaut, which had posted one of my other photos of Claudia Wetherill (Fries) Overington on October 9 as a sort of survey of the Flickr group "The Smiling Victorian." That page is here. This is the photo they used:

Retronaut edited it a bit before posting, which I somewhat disagree with because it takes away some of the feeling of oldness, but I suppose they can do as they wish. It's just a personal preference of mine to leave old photos unedited, as you can see if you've visited my Flickr gallery.

It is really amazing to know that a lot of people are looking at pictures from my family and to think that maybe they are bringing a little bit of joy into their days. 

William Overington, I

William Overington, I, a photo by dressedupinwords on Flickr.

This is the only photograph I have of William Overington. I'm sure I have the original somewhere but I can't find it. This copy was in a newspaper many decades ago.

Frankford, Philadelphia Historical Photographs

While looking up photos of Oaklands for my last post, I found these two photographs that I thought might also be of interest to the Garveys, particularly if their family also has history in the area. 

The top image has no notes on it other than a stamp identifying the photographer as "Dan. E. Paul, Commercial Photography, Bell Phone, 2225 N. 2nd St., Phila, PA." The second one has writing on the back. It says "Literary Club Nov 7, 1922. Historical Pageant." Then the people on the carriage are named, other than the driver and one passenger. Left to right, based on visible faces, are the driver, Mrs. Blood, Mr. Thorp, Mrs. Overington, Mr. Overington, (unknown), Mrs. Ervien, Mrs. Murray, Mrs. W. Whitaker, and Mrs. Fuller.

The Overingtons are visible in the first photograph, as well. They are on the right side in the back, wearing the same hats as in the second picture. Most, if not all, of the other Literary Club members are there, too. 

For more Overington pictures, including pictures of the house, check out the rest of my blog.

Oaklands - the Overington Family House

At the request of Mrs. Garvey, who lives across the street from Overington Park, I've taken the time to look at my pictures for glimpses of Oaklands, the house my ancestors lived in on that property. According to Brian H. Harris's book on Frankford (a neighborhood of Philadelphia) for the Images of America series, the house was built in 1847 for William Overington, my 4x-great-grandfather and the first of the Overingtons to come to America. The earliest map I have found is from 1849 and clearly names the 37-acre property "Oaklands" under the ownership of W. Overington.

On later maps the buildings' footprints are shown more clearly - probably more accurately, as they are in different places - and the property has visibly shrunk as parcels were sold off. On this map from 1920 (note: rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise from the one above), you can see that Allen Street has been renamed Overington Street. There is also a semi-circular drive approaching the back of the house from Pilling Street. Earlier maps show an L-shaped drive that came off Leiper Street to the front of the house. In fact, the house's address was 4606 Leiper Street. The other visible (square) building on the property is the stable. 

There are not too many pictures of the house itself. The earliest I've ever seen is in Harris's book. I have reproduced it here, hopefully not in violation of copyright. I assume that it must be an early photograph because the trees around the house appear quite young, and in later photos the columns on the porch are white.

Here is a picture I had of the house, showing the driveway up to the front. It is probably not much later than the one above, based again on the trees and the appearance of the porch.

And here is one we've had hanging on our wall for years. On the back it lists all the babies that were born in the house, ending with my grandmother's uncle William Overington III in 1910. My grandmother wasn't born in the house but she was the last child to be raised there.

Here is a much later photograph showing the drive off Pilling Street, visible in the second map:

And here are two more pictures of the front of the house. Apparently the driveway remained in the front but does not appear to be paved, which may be why it was not drawn onto later maps.

This picture is from the "big snow" one year:

A much earlier photograph of my grandmother's grandmother and her sister on the porch of the house, showing the doorway:

This photo appears to be of some kind of theater group but in any case it's a better angle to show the porch and doorway:

Here my grandmother is a baby, being held by her mother on the porch (ca. 1925-26):

And finally, my grandmother's mother as a girl at the pump by the stable. This is the only photograph I know of that has the stable in it.

I apologize for all the time-skipping in this post but I thought this arrangement would be best for showing the house.

Oaklands was in disrepair by the time my grandmother came along. I am not sure when it happened, but I suspect it was in the 1930s that the property was sold to the city or some such body, which subsequently leveled the house and turned the lot into Overington Park.