Trying To Knock Off A Few Bricks In A Wall (Update #2): Kate Buckley

Two weeks ago, through newspaper articles regarding the death of my 2x-great-grandfather James R. McRae's son, William (who died in October of 1905), I found out that William's sister and James' daughter, Kate, was still alive when his death occurred. She was alive, married to a man named Buckley, and living at 1470 Broad St, Hartford, Connecticut.

Prior to finding those articles, I had assumed she died some time between June 1, 1880 (date of 1880 US Federal Census) and March 5, 1910 (date of father's death) because she was not mentioned in her father's obituary when he passed. In addition to the new information about Kate, these articles shortened the gap for the time of when she must have died.

Shortly after finding this, I blogged and shared it to several genealogical groups on Facebook, one being the Massachusetts Genealogy Network. There, someone told me that they had been to the Hartford Library in Connecticut and found a marriage index for Connecticut. In it, they found a Catherine McRae who married a Aloysius J. Buckley on March 3, 1903 in Hartford.

Through that, another person was able to find a death certificate for a Catherine Buckley in Pennsylvania as well as a memorial on Find A Grave. Both of these had Kate's death taking place in 1921 (February 25 in Scranton, according to the death certificate).

Death Certificate for Catherine Buckley

If this were indeed true, that would mean Kate was still alive when her father passed away eleven years ago. And if so, that must mean a rift developed between Kate and James because, as mentioned previously, Kate was not mentioned in his obituary.

Looking over the death certificate, there were several noticeable errors. Although death certificates tend not to be the most accurate, these inaccuracies were rather big. First off, Kate's place of birth was listed as Pennsylvania. If this were my Kate, she should have been born in Boston, Massachusetts. The name of the father on the death certificate was James McRea while the name of the mother was unknown. Both of her parents were said to have been born in Ireland. My Kate was the daughter of James R. McRae and Katherine "Kate" Morrison, both of whom were born in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

I found an obituary and funeral notice for Katherine but it did provide any significant information besides her being survived by her husband, A. J. Buckley, and daughter Mary.

 The Scranton Republican, 26 Feb 1921, Sat, Page 2

 The Montrose Democrat, 3 Mar 1921, Thu, Page 4

Yesterday, I called the Hartford City and Town Clerk's office and asked them if they could tell me the names given for Catherine's parents on that marriage record. They checked and told me that the names given were James McRae and Mary Keating.

I was disappointed to hear this but have decided not to give up hope quite yet.

The Brockton Daily Enterprise and the Brockton Times, the newspapers for Brockton, Massachusetts, where James R. McRae lived for over three decades, were known for publishing articles and small, insignificant details about the lives of Brockton residents that would never be published in newspapers today.

I intend to check both papers and see if anything was published regarding Kate's marriage in 1903 and death in 1921. If anything was, it will be almost guaranteed proof that both the marriage and death were for my Kate.

Copyright © 2015, David J. McRae