Last Chance for the Giveaway!

Ok, today is the last day to enter my current giveaway.
Go HERE or use the link on my side over there  --->

I have learned one thing over the past few giveaways.....if you want lots of people to enter your giveaway, give away nail polish and/or chocolate.  8-)))

Go enter before midnight tonight(Eastern Daylight Savings Time) if you are interested in winning free stuff! 

You could still be the winner.  Last giveaway someone who only entered once and on the LAST DAY won.
Take a chance.......

Sluggy
 

Good Financial Things

Well it's been a good few weeks around here financially--

First, hubs got a raise(rah!)so the biweekly paychecks are a bit heftier so that gives us a little more to tuck away into savings each month.

Secondly, hubs had his annual review and his bonus arrived in the last paycheck for February.  It's less than last year's bonus but still a goodly sum.  Now to figure out where to allocate it and soon, so that if anything will go into long term savings I would like to get that earning some interest asap.

Thirdly, the Feds accepted our tax return(rah!)and the refund was deposited into our account earlier this week.  I am still in a state of shock that I didn't screw up the Education Credit forms for the first time ever! this year.
While the tax refund was smaller this year(even with giving away TWO CARS to charity!!)we are thrilled to get anything back.  We did realize this year that hubs still had 4 deductions on the withholding from when our daughter was still a dependent so we dropped that down to 3.  Since hubs income was more last year with his bonus than it will be this year this will all be a wash in terms of refunds going up or down next tax season.

Fourthly, we have stayed out of stores(other than grocery types)the last 2 months so the credit card bill(which "cuts" on Monday or Tuesday next week)is under $300 so far, with no spending planned before then.  Now if only this fricking ARCTIC COLD would leave and stop playing havoc with our electric/heating bill, we could have a STELLAR month for lower expenses!

Fifthly(is that even a word?lol), we have satisfied our healthcare deductible as of a few days ago, due to all those tests I've had recently.
While this means we have $1,633.60 hemorrhaging out of our FSA(which is NOT a good financial thing in itself), it now means all my prescriptions and DME restocks will be at our 10% copay.  Yes, paying $35.00 for something is much better than paying $350.00 for it.  ;-)  I just hope the pre copay bills arrive in a staggered fashion so we don't empty out the FSA in one fell swoop, since I need some cash in it to pay for copays on Rxs later this month.
Having satisfied the $4K deductible also means that my cataract surgery in 2 weeks won't be paid fully OOP(or should that be OOFSA?).

Sixthly(yes it IS a word!), the quarterly dividends for our paltry stock portfolio should be arriving by month's end.  I'll throw these into wherever I end up putting a chunk of the bonus money.  It won't make much of a difference but it beats a poke in the eye with a stick.  8-)

How are your finances doing lately?

Sluggy

More Genealogy.....Finding Ancestors in the Most Unusual Places

So I will start off tracing a line of my family tree and veer off into a tangent and then get fixated with someone.
My fixation this week was Fannie Foster.

Or rather her full name--Parthena Frances "Fannie" Foster.
Fannie is my second cousin 5 x removed.

One of the first people I communicated with an Ancestry after joining was Jimmy.  We are related in that his cousin, Janet, married my 1st cousin 1 x removed, Donnie(Donnie is the son of my grandfather's sister.).
Anyway I was working on my maternal FOSTER line(this one is primarily through my mother's mother's mother's mother's line but I also have Foster relations through my mother's mother's father's line since a Foster relations also married my mother's cousin's mother on my mother's mother's father's line.).
See what I mean about confusing!? lolz

Anyway, let's just say I was working on a distant branch of FOSTER relations, one which linked to this Jimmy's LOCKE family.
An Edward LOCKE married a Cora Green FOSTER, the daughter of Gideon FOSTER and Mary Ann Wright VAUGHAN.
Lots of info and people with info on Cora and Edward's family. 
Cora had 8 other siblings--Charles W., Susan Ann, Parthena Frances, Howerton Somerville, Luella R., James M., Mary W("Mollie") and Gideon Calvin.
Only Cora and Howerton are fully "fleshed" out however.

Their mother, Mary Vaughan FOSTER died in 1894.
Their father, Gideon FOSTER....the last record I can find of him is the 1880 Fed. Census.  He is 69.
I have yet to find any indication where he is buried or when he died.  Since he disappears after 1880 he may have died before Mary FOSTER his wife, the mother of these children.

As for the children--

* Charles-the last record for Charles, he is married to Emily WALLACE with 5 children in 1880.  I find city directory info indicating that he and Emily are living in Lynchburg, VA in 1908 and 1920 but no further Census records.

I see many family trees on Ancestry has him dead in 1871.  Funny because he marries Emily in 1871....so how can he be fathering 5 children after 1871 if he is dead?  Makes no sense....either he didn't marry Emily and have these kids OR, as Monty Python would say, he's "not dead yet" in 1871.




* Susan Ann-appears in the 1860 census, 8 years old, and nothing after that.  Probably died young or married young and can't find her married name yet.

* Howerton Somerville-well documented.  Dies in 1936 in Cabell, WV.

* Luella R.-appears lastly in 1880 census, 19 years, living with her parents, single.  She may have married, she may have died between 1880 and 1900 census, don't know yet.

* James M.-appears in 1880 census with parents, then next appears in 1900 census, single and 37 years, living with 2 grown sisters(Mary "Mollie" and Parthena "Fannie")and youngest brother Gideon Calvin.  Nothing is seen of him after 1900.

* Mary W. "Mollie"-living in 1900 with 3 other siblings, and in 1910 she is found living with the same siblings(without James though)and the addition of George LOCKE, her older sister Cora's son, who is 22 years, single, and working at a sawmill.

* Gideon Calvin-last found, single and 38 years, living in 1910 with his two older sisters and his nephew, George LOCKE.

* Parthena Frances "Fannie"-In 1860 and 1870 she is found with her family/parents in those censuses.
But in 1880 she is missing from the family household.
Hmmmm, she would have been 24.  Perhaps she married?  Perhaps she was living elsewhere with relatives?  I don't know yet.
Then 20 years later in 1900 census records she is back, living with her 3 grown siblings and all are single.
In 1910, she is found living with her younger brother and sister and their nephew, George.  Fannie is 44 years and the household is in Charlotte County, VA.

This is where Fannie has lived her whole life thus far to he age of 44......where the red tack is......

 I found her death certificate and she died here in 1927......between State College and Altoona, PA, right near Tyrone, PA.....

After finding that death certificate I found a 1920 census with Fannie in it, living in Spruce Creek, PA.

So sometime between 1910 and 1920 at the advanced age of between 54 and 64 years old, Fannie moved almost 400 miles from the place she had lived her whole life, Charlotte County VA, to Huntingdon County PA.....

It may take someone almost 6 hours to drive it today via Interstate, but back in 1910-1920 with less and more primitive roads, I am sure it was quite the adventure.  She probably made her way to the Keysville, VA train station by horse and buggy, then by train to Richmond, VA to Washington D.C. then Baltimore MD then to Harrisburg, PA and then more travel by train or horse and wagon.

Fannie is listed in this 1920 census as being an "Aunt" in the Edwin Stover household.
So far, I can not find a Stover line connected to this Foster line.
But why leave your home and move so far away?

My theory at this point is that at the age of 54+ years, with all her siblings either marrying or dying off, Fannie found herself without a means of support or a home in which to live.  She was living off her youngest brother Gideon Calvin in 1910.  I don't know yet if he died before 1920 or married.
Perhaps Fannie, being a woman of intestinal fortitude, answered an ad in a newspaper for a live-in housekeeper/nanny and that is what took her to rural Central PA?  Edwin Stover is married to Margaret and they have 2 children in 1920, an infant and a 2 year old.

Fannie is buried in the Graysville Cemetery near the Spruce Creek Presbyterian Church in Graysville PA.  We take a route that goes right by Tyrone, PA when we visit our eldest son in Pittsburgh. 
I suspect that given her circumstances in life and that this cemetery is already 80% photographed and Fannie wasn't listed yet as being in there when I went to look on Find A Grave, that there will be no headstone marking her grave.  I'll send a letter off to that cemetery's association for more information as they would have the plot # and might have listed whether there is a headstone.
At any rate, the next time I go visit my son, I'll stop in Graysville and get a photo of Fannie's headstone if one exists or just stop and pay my respects.

It's the least  can do.

Sluggy
 

Rite-Aid Rumors

Well as someone commented on my last Rite-Aid post a few days ago, there are rumors swirling around the notion that Rite-Aid will be doing away with it's +Up Rewards program.

As of yet, this rumor remains a rumor and hasn't been confirmed.
Though the geniuses at Rite-Aid are doing their best to fan the flames of rumor by not outright denying it and doing the two step around the issue on social media.

So this could be happening or maybe not.
Too soon to tell but the idea of it has longtime Rite-Aidaholics up in arms.

It very well could be true and we'll see changes or the abolishment of this program.  Of course this not denying it on their part, gives Rite-Aid the opportunity for some "buzz" among the consuming public so they are milking that for all it's worth!

Rumors say that they will end the "Rite-Aid scrip" and change it to giving out "points" to use toward some sort of rewards to be cashed in/redeemed outside of the store.  Sort of like the Reward Program in January and February where you earned points for buying certain items and when you accumulated them in 50 point increments you could cash them in for things like movie tickets, day spa visits, a free game of bowling, etc.

Personally, I sure hope they do NOT go this route.  It's lame and frankly when I went to redeem my points for that program half or all of the "rewards" I was eligible for were NOT offered by any local businesses here.  What good is a day spa reward that I have to drive over 2 hours away to get to use?

If this is the way they are going to proceed, I'll be doing almost no Rite-Aid shopping in the future.
I will curl up into a not-so-little ball in the corner and cry, then be glad I have a humongous toiletries/HBA stockpile and slowly use it down and by, say.....2020 I'll actually have to go back into a drugstore again for something other than prescription meds.  8-)

I would actually LOVE if Rite-Aid went back to the SCR Reward program.    I loved those nice cash rebates! 
Aaaaah, the Golden Age of Rite-Aid........

Yes, it meant laying out some cash at first but the rebates I got back amounted to way MORE than that initial cash layout!

Heck in 2010 alone(before they did away with the Single Check Rebate Program)I earned $820.44.....cash!
I also earned Rite-Aid gift cards amounting to $345,which I turned around and "bought" items with to submit for other rebates that gave me even more cash refunds($223).

Add in that in 2010 as well, I earned $475.50 in +Up Rewards(remember that the +Ups program overlapped the SCR program for 3 years before they phased the SCR out in Dec. 2012).
Plus I brought home almost $9,800 worth of products.  I wrote a post about it all HERE.
Man, 2010 was a GREAT YEAR!!! lolz

I "hearted" the SCR Program and sure wish they'd bring THAT back.  8-)
I remember lamenting when that Rite-Aid reward program ended and this Wellness/+Up Rewards game began.
But I made that work over time.
I just don't see how I can make this rumored new program work if they don't give you store credit or cash back.

What Rite-Aid rumors have you heard lately?

Sluggy

A Proper Genealogy Post....Part Three

Continuing on with the O'Brien/Roche Family.

We know that Mary Roche O'Brien died on 22 Feb 1913.
Her husband Maurice out lived her by 15 years, dying on 19 Jan 1928.

In the 1920 census Maurice was living with his daughter, Catherine O'Brien Bowman(my great grandmother), Catherine's husband Frank Bowman(my great grandfather)and their 4 children--Francis Jr.(my grandfather), Mary, John and Margaret.

NY state has their own census schedule which is done every 10 years, at the midpoint after the Federal census done at the beginning of every decade.(ie, 1905, 1915, 1925, etc.)
Catherine O'Brien Bowman and Frank Bowman, Sr. evidently moved between 1920 and 1925 because they show up in the 1925 NY state census living in New Windsor, NY.
In that census, Maurice is no longer living with them.

Evidently Maurice was left behind in Connecticut when the O'Brien/Bowman family moved to NY state.

We know that Maurice was living in Middletown, CT when he died in 1928.  Seeing he had no means of support then(he was approx. 78 years), and I was told he died in Middletown, CT, that probably means he was living at the Connecticut Asylum for the Insane.
That hospital is now known as Connecticut Valley Hospital.

Back in the early part of the 20th century it was common for the elderly to end up in an Asylum or an Almshouse(Poor House).  With no visible means of support and failing mental faculties(dementia, hardening of the arteries, Alzheimer's before it had a name) the state took in these old folks who were no longer able to care for/support themselves(long before the days of company retirement pensions)or had no family to take care of them.  These elderly were housed at the asylum along with those who were truly mentally insane.  It must have been a very depressing existence and a sad end to his life.

Maurice was lucky in that once he passed away, his family came to claim his body and bury him next to his wife in the St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Ansonia, CT.

Almost 1,700 indigent who died at the CT asylum in Middletown were buried on the grounds there, many without even a marker/headstone.  If they were lucky enough to have a marker for their final resting place it didn't even have a name on it, just a number. 

The graveyard at CT State Hospital.  Photo by Larry Brownstone from the "Birding Blog".
You can read about this graveyard HERE.

With the stigma surrounding mental illness back then families didn't want it known that their loved ones had been institutionalized in mental facilities.  Remember that back then mental illness was still thought to be a purely hereditary condition and would bring shame upon the family if it became known in society.

Now let's talk about Catherine O'Brien's husband, Francis Foster Bowman, Sr.
Frank was born 19 Sep 1884 in Newburgh, NY, the son of James M.(probably Michael)Bowman and Mary Elizabeth Foster Bowman.

Putting together the family that Frank Bowman, Sr. was born into has been problematic. 
I have Frank's birth and death information from both his Social Security Index info and his headstone/memorial is on Find A Grave so I have the exact dates for him.

He is found living with both parents as the only child in 1900 census schedule but by the 1910 census he is married and no longer living with his birth family.  So finding the rest of his siblings has been piece meal work.

Frank's father, James M. Bowman, is 14 years and still living with his parents in the 1880 census.

In 1910 a James M. Bowman is found living with his son's family--a William Bowman, wife Ida and their son William, Jr.  This James' birthdate and place match my James' plus this household is also living in Ansonia, CT, the town were James' son Frank Bowman and Catherine O'Brien are living.
Yet I have no census information that puts William AND Frank Bowman in the same birth household. 

It's coincidental evidence and parallels that place people with the same name in proximity to one another.
Notice that James says he is still married, not widowed in 1910.

I then found another person's family tree with my Bowman families on it and they had a Richard, listed as the son of James M. Bowman and Mary Foster on it.

Then I found an obituary for a Richard Bowman who died in 1957 near Poughkeepsie, NY.  That obit lists he had surviving siblings, a sister Mary(married name Maroney) and 2 brothers-Frank and Gary of Little Britain, NY.
My great grandparents lived in Little Britain at the time of my great grandmother's death(Catherine O'Brien Bowman).  My great grandfather was named Frank and he had a brother named James Garrett(who went by Garrett) and "Gary" can be a nickname for Garrett, so this Richard is definitely a brother of my great grandfather Frank.

Plus the obit gave me a sister, Mary who I had no clue Frank, Sr. had either.

In 1910 census Mary Foster Bowman, the wife of James Bowman is living in New Windsor, NY, with her 2 sons, James Garrett and Richard. Richard at 16 is still in school but James Garrett is working but the record is illegible for his occupation.  Mary however is listed as head of the house, married and working at a diary farm.  She also states that she is the mother of 5 children and all 5 are living.  At this point I have Frank, James Garrett, Richard, Mary and William as her children so it's safe to say I have all the James & Mary Bowman kids accounted for on my tree now so I'll stop looking for more.  8-)

In 1920 census Mary is again living as head of house with her sons Richard and James Garrett, James' wife, Catherine and a granddaughter, Clara.
Mary now owns a farm(says general farm not dairy farm)and there is a mortgage on it.  Richard is working on their farm but James Garrett works for the NYS Highway Dept. as an engineer.

At this point using Mary Foster Bowman's info I was able to pull up a NY state census from 1915 and found the daughter, Mary E. living in the household with her mother and her siblings, Richard and James Garrett.  So that confirmed the information that there was a sister.

Next I had to find what happened to Mary E. Bowman.  Since she married a guy named Maroney I started looking around this part of NY for Catholic cemeteries for folks named Maroney buried in them.
This led me to some family trees back on Ancestry and then to the first name of Mary Bowman's husband-Clarence.  This was found on a family tree of someone who is the grandson of Clarence's brother, Henry Thomas Maroney.  I emailed him  and confirmed what I have documented but he isn't much help with this line of Maroneys going forward from Clarence and Mary Bowman Maroney's family.

I finally did make head way after just some dumb luck and guessing and poking around online.  Clarence and Mary Maroney had one son, listed as Leo in one census and then James L. in another census, but no official documentation after 1940 when they were living in New Windsor, NY(Orange Co.)
Then I found a telephone directory listing for 1990 in Newburgh, NY for James Moroney(spelled with an o, not an a) and another for 2002 for same person in Washingtonville, NY(still Orange Co.).

Finally I pulled up this from a website for motorized sports professionals HERE.

This is my James Leo Moroney/Maroney, my first cousin 1 x removed.....

And here is his son, Patrick, my second cousin 1 x removed.  He is 1 year older than me....

And here is Pat's son, Jimmy, my third cousin with his GF.......

They own/run a family business, the link to which is HERE.
When I read this part....."He rode a 1927 30/50 Indian over the pastures of his father's dairy farm and old country roads which are now part of the runway for Stewart International Airport at Newburgh.", I KNEW I had the right person!

So now I am at a crossroads--do I email Pat through the business or do I try to find his home address and send him a letter saying, "You don't know me, BUT we are related......"?

It's not like I want a warm close personal relationship with him but I would like to get into contact as I have so little family anymore and my father's family is mostly a mystery to me.  Maybe he can shed some light on more family facts.
 I just hope he doesn't think I am some weird creepy woman.  ;-)

WWYD?

Sluggy