It probably has nothing to do with us, but I was watching a show on the Discovery Channel about the salvaging of a ship that sank shortly after the Civil War and there are some curious coincidences. First, the ship was a walking beam side wheeler similar to the Delaware which James Rooney served on, and secondly the diary of William Nichols, a survivor of the wreck, still exists and was used to reconstruct the events leading up to the loss of the ship. Nichols also had a daughter named May. As I said, it probably has no connection to our family, but it was an interesting show which brought into focus the realities of life in those days.
I have a few more documents about the Rooney's I got from Randy which I am posting before moving on to the Brummets. These are the marriage licenses of James Rooney and Helen Rooney, issued in 1883 and 1881 respectively, and they were each 23 when they were married. Woodbury County, Iowa is just east of Sioux City. This is not far from Bancroft, South Dakota where the school in the Christmas card was located. They must have been James Rooney senior's children, Cecelia's brother and sister.
James Rooney is buried in De Smets, S.D. which is only a few miles from Bancroft.
I purchased a van this week which I am hoping to use to travel to these places in the fall. I'll be poking around county record offices and such to see if I can find out any information to add. Most of the work so far has been done by Randy Townsend and Blane Ryan and I'd like to make my own contribution. The more I get into this the more curious I become.
I recently found this blog about the Brummet family and read it with great interest. I appreciated seeing the photo of Blanche, Reece and Leora and wonder if my mother's friend, Leora, is still living. They met in Vancouver long ago before she moved to Edmonton, I think. My mother often wondered what happened to Leora, and I wonder if this Leora is the same person. Did she marry and have a family?
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