Mame Towey's Passport

Ancestry.com has U.S. passport applications dated from 1795 to 1925 including this one submitted by our own Mame Towey! This is what it says:
I, Yonovera Towey, a native and loyal citizen of the United States, hereby apply to the Department of State, at Washington, for a passport. I solemnly swear that I was born at Providence in the state of Rhode Island on the 5th day of October 1878 and that my father, Patrick Towey was born in Ireland and that he emigrated to the United States from the port of Queenstown (Ireland) on or about October 1859; that he resided 42 years, uninterruptedly in the United States from 1880 to 1921 at St. Paul, Minnesota; and that I am domiciled in the United States, my permanent residence being at Chicago in the State of Illinois where I follow the occupation commercial traveller. I am about to go abroad temporarily; and I intend to return to the United States within 2 months with the purpose of residing and performing the duties of citizenship therein; and I desire a passport for use in visiting the countries hereinafter named for the following purpose: pleasure; France, Belgium, Holland, England. I intend to leave the United States from the port of New York sailing on board the S.S. Rochambeau on July 23rd, 1921. An oath of allegiance is signed 30 June 1921.
The reverse has a description and the picture above:
Age: 42 years, Stature: 5' 4", Forehead: high; Eyes: hazel; Nose: ordinary; Mouth: large; Chin: round; Hair: brown; Complexion: medium; Face: oval
The passport is to be sent to 334 Fourth Ave., c/o H.W. Gossard Co., New York City.
There is also a letter from Mame's sister, Dorothy Towey Titus, attesting to Mame's birth in Rhode Island.

Thanksgiving wandering

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend. I spent some of the weekend working on genealogy on both sides of my family. On Friday, my mom and I went up to the Fresno cemeteries on Belmont Ave. We wandered around for awhile and Mom found the Steele family plot. (We knew it was there somewhere). The plot is in the "old Catholic cemetery", which is Calvary Cemetery. It is located on Belmont Ave. with all the other cemeteries, just west of highway 99. If you are on Belmont Ave. facing south towards the cemeteries, the Calvary section is in the middle of two sections of Mountain View Cemetery. There are a pair of gates that say "Calvary" halfway back from Belmont Ave. to the back fence and the railroad tracks. Just the gates are there, the rest of the area isn't fenced. The Steele plot is southwest of the Calvary gates. So, who is buried there? John Steele (1849-1912) and his wife Rosa (1857-1938) (my great-great grandparents) and their sons, John (1891-1978), David (1899-1938) and Richard B.(1897-1986) and his wife Laura (1899-1991). Andrew and Claire are buried at St. Peter's, and Joseph and Emma are at Holy Cross. Does anyone know where their sister Mary is buried? Her husband was Burt Church, but I don't know if he was a Burton or a Robert or Herbert and I can't find any records on him.

October Cemetery Haunting

Well, really, I was hunting not haunting. And, actually, it was September 30, but we can be creative in order to make a catchy title!

I was on my way to St. Mary's Church in Fresno and made a short detour to the Ararat Cemetery on Belmont Ave., just to poke around and see who I could find. It was almost hard not to stumble over cousins, some more distant than others. I've posted the photos on Ancestry.com. If you don't have access to Ancestry yet, and would like to, let me know and I will send you an invitation. It is free! If you like, I can e-mail you any of the photos. Here's who I found: Markered Badigian (my great-great-grandmother), Geragos and Gadar Chooljian (my other great-great-grandmother's sister and her husband), Horene Basmajian (my great-grandfather's brother), Khatoun and Garabed Ouzoonian (my great-great-grandmother and her 2nd husband), Harry Tusoosian (Tusan), Susie Zaillian, Yezneak Zaillian, Albert B. Badigian (1920-1923), Harry and Arax Chooljian, Tooma Chooljian, Gadar Zailian, Aram Zailian, Zaven Chooljian, Ralph and Anahid Shamshoian, Chester and Erma Badigian, Arax Chooljian Zailian, Lucy Zailian (1920-1923), Rose and Vartan Badigian (my great-grandma's brother and his wife). I also already have pictures of Dickran and Mary Basmajian, and Giragos and Altoon Tatoian. I have other family headstones, too, but these are the ones from the Ararat Cemetery.

Notes and tidbits

• Anymore thoughts on Mame? Leave a comment here, or send me an e-mail.
• For those new to blogging, you can subscribe to these posts at the very bottom of this page, and my entries will be e-mailed to you each time I write.
• For the Paloutzian family, I found that the village of Parchanj exists in Turkey now with the name of Akcakiraz, in the province of Elazig; the coordinates are 38 degrees , 37 minutes North; 39 degrees, 16 minutes East.
• If anyone would like to be more involved in research, I would be happy to provide assignments for library and cemetery excursions in your area!

Yonovera revealed

I received quite a few responses to my last post about Mame, and so, with a few new clues, I started digging around and discovered quite a bit! The biggest tidbit came from the 1955 San Francisco City Directory which lists Phillip and Yonovera Garnett, the president and secretary-treasurer of Foundation Garment Inc., living at 1000 Mason St., Apt. 403 in San Francisco. This building is the Brocklebank Apartments and is located across the street from the Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill. Finally I had a name to search for in the California Death Index! I found the death record and then had the all-important birthdate and location. The records came tumbling! I haven't found any record with the name Mame, but apparently that is the name she went by, so that's how I will call her. This is a summary of what I've found so far:
Mary Agnes Towey was born 5 Oct 1878 in Providence, Rhode Island to Patrick H. and Margaret (Henery) Towey, who were both born in Ireland. She was their oldest child and had 3 younger sisters, Margaret, Dorothy (called Birdie) and Annie. The family moved to St. Paul, Minnesota around 1881 and lived at 2377 Ellis St. In 1898, the St. Paul City Directory lists Mame's occupation as a clerk with the Northern Shade Cloth Co. and she continues to work there at least until 1905. In the 1909 St. Paul directory we find her family still, but Mame is not listed. In 1910, Mame and her sister Dorothy are living in Seattle, Washington at 1729 Boylston Ave., and Mame is an apartment house manager. Her name is written as Yono V and this is the first instance I have found of her use of the name Yonovera. All records from this time on are for Yonovera Towey, and later, Yonovera Garnett.
On the 4th of September 1921, we find Mame returning to New York from Glasgow, Scotland on the ship "Columbia". Her address is the Hotel McAlpin which was located at 1300 Broadway in New York City. The McAlpin was an oppulent 1,500 room hotel which opened in 1912, and at that time was the largest hotel in the world. On the 9th of September 1922, Mame is on the ship "Carmania", returning to New York from London. Her residence is 276 5th Ave., New York City.
In 1935, Mame is living in San Francisco when she files for a patent for her design of a Girdle and Brassiere. The US patent # is 2036510, and it was issued April 7, 1936. I have copies of the documents which include drawings, descriptions and Mame's signature. On September 8, 1936 Mame is issued a Canadian patent for the same Girdle and Brassiere. It is Canadian patent #360383. Yonovera Towey is the inventor, and H.W. Gossard Co. is listed as the owner.
Sometime between 1944 and 1950 Mame marries Phillip J. Garnett. (The 1944 San Francisco City directory lists Phillip living at 68 Presidio Ave., and Mame living at 1000 Mason St., but both in the Foundation Garments business.) On January 3, 1951 Yonovera Garnett arrives in San Francisco from Honolulu, Hawaii. I couldn't find any other passengers on the ship with names I recognized.
Phillip died in 1956. Mame died in San Francisco on May 24, 1964.
I have compiled the e-mails that I received about Mame from Martha Golden, Mary Cannon, Fr. Paul, my mother and grandmother on Ancestry.com in the "stories" section on Mame's page.

Auntie (cousin) Mame?

I have been trying to find records for Mame Tuohy (not sure of the spelling). I was told that she was born in Ireland, was a cousin of John Henry Golden, that she married someone named Garnet, and died in San Francisco around 1955. She was present at the wedding of Bob and Betty Golden, and I think I was told that she paid for Aunt Margie (Sheldon) to go to school at the San Francisco College for Women. Are my facts correct? Does anyone have any other information that would help locate her in the 1930 census or the California Death records? So far I haven't been able to find anything.

Finding Pearl

Pearl Paloutzian (b. 15 Aug 1900 in Turkey) was the oldest child of Manoug Paloutzian and his second wife Mary Parvanian. Pearl was married to Merial Shakerjian sometime before 1920, as the 1920 census record shows them living together in Fresno. They had a son, Benjamin, but the marriage didn't last. By 1930 Pearl and Ben were living in Los Angeles with her parents.
I hadn't been able to find out when Pearl died because I couldn't find a death record for a Pearl Paloutzian or Pearl Shakerjian. I was sharing this information with my parents when they provided a most valuable clue: She had shortened her last name to Shaker! And no one had bothered to tell me they were harboring this information! Anyway, I found Pearl Shaker's death record. She died in Los Angeles county 19 Apr 1976.

The other Thomas Paloutzians

I had the information from uncle Ernie Paloutzian's family tree, and I had come across the records on Ancestry, but today I finally put it all together and worked out where Thomas (Toumas) Paloutzian, (born in Harput, Turkey in 1870), fit into our family tree.
Thomas' father was Armenag. One of Armenag's brothers was Asadoor (Their father was also named Toumas.) Asadoor had 4 sons, Manoug, Hovhannes, Bedros (Peter) and Kachadoor, all who came to California. That makes Thomas (b. 1870) and Manoug first cousins. Manoug was the father of Tatevous, my great-grandfather.
Thomas and his family lived in California as well, moving from Fresno county to the Los Angeles area between 1920 and 1930. His wife was Martha, and they had 6 children, only the oldest was not born in California; Yeranhouy (b. 1892 in Turkey) married Tateous Apkarian and had 5 children in California: Nergis, Asadoor, twins Vahan and Vartan, and Zabel; Armenhouy (b. 1901) married James Der Hagopian and had at least 2 children, Ralph and Virginia; I'm not sure if Armen (b. 1902) married, Higie (b. 1904) married a man named Kamler, Dickranhoui (b. 1906) married a man named Paul, and Zari (b. 1908) married a man named Adanalian. I haven't located any other grandchildren of Thomas and Martha.
There is one more Toumas, and he was a first cousin to Armenag, being the son of Armenag's uncle Garabed.

On another note, I have been adding marriage and divorce records from the 2 newest data bases on Ancestry: the California marriage database (1960-1985) and the California divorce database (1966-1984). This has been very helpful for family members in my parents' generation.

Would you like to contribute?

My brother Robert has set up a family website on geni.com for our family, meaning both Paloutzians and Goldens. He took the information from my tree on Ancestry.com (thief!! just kidding, we're all about sharing information here!) It doesn't have the research component and document attachment found on Ancestry, but it does have several really fun tools. There is a map feature that shows all your relatives either by birthplace, or current location. There is a calender feature that allows you to see everyone's birthdays and anniversaries. Anyone who has been invited can add to their profile and upload pictures. I also like the way you are able to scroll around the tree. It is all very easy to use.
Speaking of pictures, photos can also be added to the Ancestry site. If you add pictures to the geni.com site, I will copy and add them to the Ancestry tree for you. Also, if you have been invited to Ancestry by me (and if you want an invitation, just let me know) I have upgraded your status to contributor. This allows you to add pictures and leave comments. If you haven't visited the site, besides the basics of names and dates, I have added references and documents such as US Census records, birth and death notices and military records.
And please do leave comments on Ancestry if you see something missing, or incorrect. Add your birthday, anniversary, name of spouse or children, etc.
As always, please share this blog, and geni.com with other members of our family who have not yet received notice of what we've got going on.

Missing information - do you know?

A few of the many pieces of information I don't have:

wedding anniverary dates for:

1. Peeps and Pop Levenberg
2. Ernie and Mary Paloutzian (11 Sep 1932)
3. Frank and Louise Paloutzian
4. Roy and Violet Paloutzian
5. Vern and Zabel Paloutzian
6. Jack and Julia Golden, 29 Jun 1931 (Thanks, Fr. Paul!)

dates of death for:

1. Miriam Keshishian (d. 18 July 1925)
2. Peter Thompson (brother of Manoug Paloutzian) (d. 24 Oct 1936)
3. Harold (Paloutzian) Paulson, b. 1903 (d. 14 Sept 1999)
4. Ann Doherty (mother of Peeps, Elizabeth Levenberg) (d. 14 Oct 1999)
5. John Thomas Doherty (brother of Peeps) (d. 5 Dec. 1936)
6. William P. Doherty (brother of Peeps)

updated 11 Nov 2010

In the beginning...

I've been wanting to communicate more with my family about our family tree and the genealogy work I've been doing. When I discover new things, I like to share! And also, you can help me out with any information you have. Please share this blog with anyone in our family!

My tree is on Ancestry.com; if you'd like to see it, send me an e-mail and I'll send you an invitation to view the tree.

I work on different branches of my family as I find new information, and one piece of information can lead to others, and that will keep me going in a direction for awhile.

On Memorial Day this year, my parents, Grandma Golden, Aunt Bernadette and I visited our relatives at cemeteries in Fresno. We "collected" digital pictures of headstones on both sides of my family and I added those to the tree on Ancestry. I also found the headstones of Giragos and Altoon Tatoian at the Ararat cemetery in Fresno. They are my great-great grandparents; my paternal grandfather's maternal grandparents (Ed Paloutzian's mother's parents).
A few weeks ago at my cousin Becky Golden-Harrell's wedding, I was reintroduced to Bill Golden, son of Walter, Jr. He was able to provide some information I didn't have about his family, and that led me to do some more digging on the Golden side. Ancestry recently added a California marriage and divorce index (from the 1960's-1980's, so somewhat helpful), and I found some useful records there.
Random Google searches also turn up interesting things. I found Keith and Ellen Golden's wedding pictures on Ellen's blog recently and was able to add Keith's siblings to my tree. Keith is the son of Jim Golden, and grandson to Jack Golden.
As always, I am pleased to hear from everyone, and especially if you have family information I am missing.