The Hayes Family History Site

Several weeks ago, I received a phone call from Lynn Williams in response to a letter I had sent her, telling her that I believed we were cousins through the Tierney branch of our family tree.  She confirmed that she was the granddaughter of Irene Tierney.  Irene is the daughter of Thomas W. Tierney.  Thomas W. Tierney is the brother of my great grandfather James F. Tierney.  That makes us second cousins, once removed.

We had a wonderful conversation, exchanging stories of what we knew of the Tierney’s.  Then she dropped the bomb. She has a picture of her great grandfather… AND HIS FATHER!  “His Father” is James Tierney (b. 1835 in Ireland, d. Feb 1888 in Manhattan) and is our shared relative.

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Tonight, while doing some random research on the web, I came across the most incredible story about the William Yerks, brother to James Leroy Yerks I and Ralph Yerks.  James L Yerks I did not serve in World War I, but William and Ralph did.  Ralph Yerks was killed in action in France on 13 Sep 1918 and is buried over there.  That makes this story even more incredible.

Take a look in the upper left had corner of the newspaper.

• The Putnam County Courier (Friday, July 18, 1919)

Last weekend, I took a trip to visit my Mom in Katonah, NY.  Every time I see my Mom, I interrogate her with questions about the family. Frankly, she should be pretty sick of me by now, but she keeps on entertaining me with a smile.

So I decided to ask her about some jewelry I remembered belonging to my Grandmother, Isabelle Lewis.  I was thrilled to find that there were many pieces of family jewelry in my Moms possession that I had never seen or heard of.  So I asked her for permission to have some of the items appraised.  The story behind all the items will remain for another post on another day.

So while I was at the Jewelers, we had an in-depth conversation about the engraving script used to display the initials on the many of the pieces.

The assistant told me that in those days, the letter that represents the last name is usually found in the middle of the initials.  That explains the reason I was having such difficulty reading some of the initials. But on this particular one, it did not make much sense.

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This picture comes to us from the estate of Virginia Tierney Bishop, my Mom’s first cousin.  She died in April of 2008 and left us quite a bit to investigate.  This picture is a scan of the original that I found in a little protective picture frame, stashed away in her desk.  A little note inside states that the picture and or frame was fixed of damage in 1996.  It goes on to state that this picture is circa 1860 of a Tierney (or Beattie) ancestor.

Click to enlarge it.