Since I posted yesterday about a ship that was significant in my hunt for ancestors, I thought I would share about the first one I ever researched. This search is what ultimately led me to finding, or rather confirming that I had tracked my Nana (Annie James) through Ellis Island.Tracing this ship and the man I had thought was my biological great-grandfather is what led me to start questioning what I had been told of my Nana's history and relationships.
I was told Edward John Sammon of Cleveland, Ohio married Catherine Ellen Hughes, of Birkenhead, Cheshire, England. These were the "parents" of Annie, who everyone knew as Nancy Monica Sammon.
I had a horrible time researching my Nana on-line. I knew where she was born, and I knew when she was born, I "knew" the name of her parents, but I couldn't locate her anywhere. One of the things you read about is that sometimes it is easier to research a sibling or other relative and find what your looking for through them. It allows you to narrow the area and names you are searching through when your specific ancestor is difficult to research.
Anyway, because I was struggling so much with my grandmother I decided I would work on her father since he was an American, figuring my troubles were due to my ineptness with the English records.
In my searches I came across a WWI military record for Edward John Sammon which looked very promising. The individual was the right age, his birth date was right, his hometown was right, even his name matched. These are all good things but they don't guarantee that you are on the right track. There was one problem and it was significant: my Nana was born in 1913 but this man was no where near England when she was born. In fact the military records indicated he was in Boston serving in the Navy. So I set the information aside (you never throw anything out because you many not be able to find it again) and kept searching.
Years and years go by and I still cannot locate either Nancy or Catherine in the English records and I can't find the "right" Edward either. I finally said something to my Aunt Judy, Nana's daughter, who took some time to ask my Nana about it (she was dying of cancer at this point.) My Aunt called me to tell me as a result of the conversation, she learned her mom's birth name was Annie James, and that her father was Lloyd James. Needless to say this was quite a shock to my Mom, her sister, and their brothers. My Nana died soon after and any additional information died with her.
After I learned her name was Annie James, I located her in the Ellis Island records, sailing from Liverpool, England with a Catherine Ellen Sammon who was married to an Edward John Sammon aboard the USS Cushing (an O'Brien class destoyer.) I spent some time digging up my old information and sure enough it looked to be the right man. This meant that Edward was my grandmothers stepfather and changed the direction of my search.
My hunt then began by looking for any marriage records I could find and I thought I found them in Liverpool, England (a huge port directly across the river from Birkenhead.) Annie and Catherine arrived in New York on April 21, 1918. This meant that Catherine and Edward were married sometime between December 1913 (Nana's birthday) and April 1918. It also meant they had to have been married in England. This narrowing of the time frame and the country helped tremendously. (I ultimately obtained a copy of their marriage certificate dated January 1918.) Armed with the information, I just needed to see if the man I thought I had located in the states was in England in January of 1918.
This is where my history research really helped. I began by researching the USS Cushing. It turns out there have been five ships designated USS Cushing. I next had to determine which one would be the one used during WWI. I originally followed the wrong one but quickly discovered my error and moved onto the second USS Cushing.
My next task was to see if I could determine where the Cushing was during WWI and specifically to see if I could trace her to England in early 1918. Through research I located her travels and found she was in what is now know as Queenstown, Ireland, in that period in time. A quick look at an atlas showed me that they were only a couple of hours apart. And information gleaned from an English coworker told me that Birkenhead was a resort town. It would make sense that a sailor on leave might visit a resort town and meet up with a pretty English girl. So my search had led me to a man, on a ship, in a port, all located near the town that I needed them to be. Things were looking really good that I had found the right Edward and the right Catherine ... and that this Catherine and Annie had immigrated to the US in 1918.
A write-up I found just recently on the USS Cushing confirms the research done over ten years ago.
After her August 1915 commissioning, Cushing sailed off the east coast and in the Caribbean. She was one of seventeen destroyers sent out to rescue survivors from five victims of German submarine U-53 [off the eastern end of Long Island, NY] .... After the United States entered World War I in April 1917, Cushing was sent overseas to patrol the Irish Sea out of Queenstown, Ireland. Cushing made several unsuccessful attacks on U-boats, and rescued survivors of several ships sunk by German craft.
... After the United States declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917 entering World War I, Cusing was put to sea from New York on 15 May 1917 .... The destroyers arrived at Queenstown, Ireland, 24 May for duty in the war zone.
So here confirms my original research, Edward had been deployed aboard the Cushing and stationed at Queenstown since May 1917. Sometime between May 1917 and January 1918 he met and married Catherine Ellen James (nee Hughes.) Very soon after Catherine and Annie sailed to America and away from the European front of the war.
Photograph taken from Wikipedia.
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