My aunt, Clara Abbott, turned 88 a few days ago. She was born on February 25, 1933, during the depth of the Great Depression. She was a teenager and young woman in 1940s and 1950s America. Those years were dominated by World War II, McCarthyism, post-war conformity, and social mobility. They also seeded change in the decades to follow by the exodus of families from cities to the suburbs, and...
Alexander Andre Doherty
Alexander Andre Doherty came to America from Londonderry, Ireland in 1830. He was born on February 18, 1812. He married Mary Elizabeth Van Buren. Their children included Joseph Alex Andre; Nancy Ann, Alice Cornelia, Louisa Jane, Albert Burton, George Brinton McClellan, Thomas Francis Meager, Evelyn (died at the age of three or four). His children had numerous children. I am descended...
Anna M. Pavlosk
The Elizabeth Daily Journal published a story about Anna Pavlosk’s sudden death on page 8 of the February 9, 1912 edition. The headline read: “Heart Attack Fatal in Downtown Woman.” “Mrs. Ann M. Pavlosk, of 246 Fulton street, while on her way to a store last night shortly before 8 o’clock, was stricken with heart failure in Third street near Marshall street. She was carried into the...
John F. Paloske
John Francis Paloske was born on February 6, 1902 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He was the first son and second child of Frank Pavlosk and Annie Pitoff Pavlosk. John Paloske was a first generation American; his father was born in Prussia and his mother in Germany. The family name has been spelled in various ways: Pavlosk, Pavloske, Pavlosky, and Paloske. John had three siblings. Anna...
Fred Nason, Florence Curtis, and the Anniversary of the Monarch Slide
On this day 114 years ago, Fred Nason and Florence Curtis were killed in the Monarch Slide near Garfield, Colorado. All their children, including my grandmother, Edna Nason, survived the disaster. Read about the Monarch Slide here.
I discovered this sketch with my mother’s papers. I believe it is of the young Fred Nason.
Clarence Anderson
Clarence Anderson was a complex and wounded person. He was capable of great charm, and savage emotional and physical violence. He told my mother, “Always remember we are descended from kings.” Researching his life is like walking on dead end streets and dark alleys. Clarence’s life took a downturn after his father, Carl Anderson, died in Elizabeth General Hospital on September 16, 1930 of a...
Fred R. Nason
Fred Nason was born on January 27, 1861 in Girard, Pennsylvania. His father was David Nason, who was born in Otego, New York. David Nason married Eunice Godfrey of Girard, Pennsylvania in 1842. They had nine children. “Godfrey” was one of my father’s names: Eugene Nason Godfrey Doherty. Girard is located on the shore of Lake Erie. In 1860, the census recorded a population of 616 people...
Mom’s Anniversary
January 8, 2021 is the 10th anniversary of my mother’s death. Helen Louise Anderson Doherty was born at home in Elizabeth, New Jersey on September 10, 1923. She spent most of her life in New Jersey, and her later years in Vermont and Florida. Mom was the third child and second daughter of Anna Pavlosk and Clarence Anderson. She was probably the least liked of her siblings since she was selfish...
Nason Family Origin
The Nason Family first appeared on record in the 1500s in the county of Warwickshire in the West Midlands of England. Many Nason families were found in the Stratford-Upon-Avon and Charlecote areas. Where did the Nasons originate? Mostly likely somewhere on the European continent, but Ireland is also a long-shot candidate. France Nason may have a Norwegian origin—Nass. Vikings from Norway...
Finding Feathers
30 years ago I found feathers in my path whenever I walked in the woods near our house in Pennsylvania. I used the feathers to complete two masks. Once the masks were made, no more feathers. One mask was an ancestor; the other was to complete a mask of a woman who practiced seior or seidhr. She was a Seiokona or Volva, a practitioner of ancient Norse magic and seeing. The feathers pushed me to...