Ralph Yerks was the third and youngest son of George Oakley Yerks and Annie Cutler.  According to his draft registration card filed on June 5, 1917, Ralph was single, living in Rye and was working as a plumbers helper.  His two brothers, Leroy (later known as James Leroy) and William Benjamin also registered for the draft

On Sunday, May 19, 1897, the published an article titled “Saw Lincoln Shot”. In it, was an interview of Henry William Lewis, age 62, and the great, great grandfather of Philip Hayes Sr. Henry Lewis told The Sun the reporter of two very interesting stories related to the civil war.  Below is a copy of

TAUNTON–Andrea M. (Hayes) Brady, 84 years old, died on Saturday morning January 8, 2011 in Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston after becoming ill on Christmas Day. Born in Manchester, NH, daughter of the late Jeremiah and Margaret (Sheehan) Hayes. Andrea was a graduate of Mt. Saint Charles School in Providence. For a few years after her

Jean L. Condos Yerks,  of Port Chester, died peacefully at age 67 on December 4 after a brief illness.  She was born in Stamford on March 31, 1943.  She is survived by her mother, Patricia Barnes, brother Rick Barnes, son James Yerks, daughter Colleen Hayes and her husband Philip and grandchildren Samantha Yerks, Philip and

Yesterday, I decided to revisit beta.familysearch.org to look for any possible new records they may have added to their database.  My first query was for the “Kelty” surname in Manchester, England.  The Kelty surname is on my fathers side.  Bingo!  I quickly found some new related birth records.  Since I was not really prepared to

Today, I found another true treasure in my Moms keepsakes. This one comes to us from Ada Hunter of  Swansea, Wales. According to a note written by my grandfather on the envelope protecting the postcard, he received the card from his first cousin, once removed circa 1897.  That would make my grandfather just 5 years

Below is an interesting newspaper article that has been framed and displayed in my Moms house for a very long time. She has always told me that she cut it out of a newspaper because of the last name and location, but did not think it was related to anybody in our family. Today I

It is amazing how things can suddenly seem so clear after relaxing your mind and giving yourself some time away from a problem. Such is the case with a photograph I found in the inherited collection of Virginia Tierney Bishop. The first time I went through Virginia’s photos, I had dismissed the man in the

As I continue to struggle to find proof that George Oakley Yerks is the son of William Townsend Yerks, I changed focus for a bit in hopes that something else might pop-up that would help me put the pieces of this family puzzle together.  I decided to research the brothers and sister of William T