Wow what do I talk about next. I have been thinking about this for the past few weeks. I really feel like learning about my ancestors has made me know who I am little bit better and helped me know the type of person I want to be. I know as each of you learn more about your ancestors you will learn more about yourself and who you want to be and what you want to be remembered for.
What seems crazy to me is that I never met Frances but I feel so close to her. I know she is happy that I am trying to find her family and happy that I am a part of her forever family.
Frances was born July 1, 1912 In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to John Ford and Mary Dougherty. On her Birth certificate it says she her father was 35. He was actually 25 when she was born.
In 1920 Frances was 8 and is listed living with her father and her mother on the 1920 Census.
So I believe that she must have spent time at both places. Her brother Joseph is only listed as living with her mother. First I am going to start with the 1920 Census of Frances living with her mother Mae. There is a lot of information we can get from this document. First they live at 2632 South Camac Street in Philadelphia. When I found this Census I was so excited to see Walter Dougherty listed as living with them. Walter is the one that owned the grave plot that Mae & Mae’s mother Esther were buried (you can see those documents on my last post). At that time I knew Walter must be related to Mae but I wasn’t sure how. And this census cleared that up for me. Of course we get the ages of those living in the house, there relationship status, where they were born and there employment, which always good to know. Here it lists Mae as being divorced. But in later Census’s and on John’s Census recorded it says Married. So I am not sure if Mae and John were ever officially divorced. She is not employed at this time and it appears Walter is providing for this household as Carpenter.
Ok now lets look at the 1920 Census with Frances living with her father. They are living at 3419 E Richmond St. in Philadelphia (8 miles from Mae Ford). They are living with John’s Sister and Brother- in- law Adam and Ellie Swietlik. John’s niece and 2 of his brothers and two other sisters are also living there. It is interesting to see that John is listed as married here, and Mae’s says she is divorced. It looks like all of the family was born I Pennsylvania and most of the Family works at a the Mill.
Frances must have spent a lot of time there if she is recorded on the census. I really liked seeing that Frances was recorded as living with her mother and father, it shows that she was getting to know both sides of her family even though her parents were no longer together. We know that Frances knew her Aunt Ellie really well since, Grandma remembers meeting her when she visited when she was really young. Grandma even remembered the address where Adam and Ellie lived in the 1930s, I will go more into that another time.
Hopefully I am not boring you all to much. I get excited about things like this these days. ha ha! I think it is really important to find where our ancestors were at different times in there lives, so we can figure out a little better who they were and what might have been going on in there lives.
Love, Camille
