Enhanced Photographs

This tip is from a FaceBook group for New York City Genealogy. (Great resources for research are on FaceBook.)

FamilySearch.org may have better versions of passport photographs than Ancestry.com's database, so check it out. Sometimes these pictures are the only available images of a deceased relative.

In the example below, the image on the right is a passport photo of Eugene Totten Bishop from Ancestry. The application was signed in 1918. On the left is the same image from Family Search, revealing more detail.

Eugene Totten Bishop (1876-1936) was my father's great granduncle.
He was born in Newark, New Jersey to William Reuben Bishop and Susan Jane Marsh.
I have not found a marriage or children for him.
He died in Newark and is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Hillside, New Jersey.

Eugene resembles a man in a Bishop photo album I acquired from eBay years ago. I do not know if this is my family or not.

Viewing a Family Tree at My Heritage

My Heritage now offers pedigree views of family trees. This was a desperately needed modification.

In this view, you can see the ancestors of a person.

My Heritage originally offered only a "family view." If you clicked on a person, you saw one line of ancestors and could not click back to the original person. This made navigating a tree frustrating.

I discussed this issue three years ago.

My Heritage became an important factor in genealogy research when the DNA testing site 23andMe enabled customers to link to My Heritage to display family trees.

My Heritage is free to sign up, but a subscription charge must be paid to add larger trees and access records.

My Heritage offers its own autosomal DNA testing services. The price for a kit is in line with the other testing companies. DNA tested at My Heritage is compatible to upload to GedMatch.

If you tested your DNA elsewhere, you can upload the file for free to My Heritage for an ethnicity estimate and family matches. No subscription is required to access this information.

I have found many more matches from United Kingdom at My Heritage as compared to the other testing companies.

In the examples below, the tester's parents were from Ireland. At other testing sites, he has many distant matches. At My Heritage, he has several close matches.

Tracing Another Sister of Patrick ODonnell

A death certificate from California confirmed that I accurately tracked a sister of my maternal great great grandfather, Patrick Francis ODonnell (1856-1931).

Patrick's obituary from the Bayonne Times listed a sister I did not know about: Kathryn Mason Kennedy of Stockton, California. (The mother of Reverend Charles Leo ODonnell was another sister, Mary.)

The earliest record I could find for Kathryn was the 1885 New Jersey State census in Bayonne. She was Kate Mason, living with Charles Mason.

In September of 1885 in Bayonne, Margaret Mason was born. I have not found a birth certificate for her filed with the State. She was baptized at Saint Mary's Church in Bayonne, which was frequently used by the family.

Kathryn's next appearance was in Brooklyn, New York in the 1900 federal census. She was widowed, age 48, with two children:

Magarite C Mason, born September 1885 in New Jersey; and
John D Mason, born April 1889 in Connecticut.

I do not know how accurate this is, but for the question of children, Kathryn had listed four children, three still living.

I have not found Kathryn in the 1910 federal census.


In the 1920 census, Catherine Kennedy, widowed, was living in Bridgeport, Fairfield County, Connecticut with John D Mason, age 30. Daughter Margaret was living in San Francisco, California with husband James Joyce.

In the 1930 census, Kathryn had joined her daughter in Stockton, San Joaquin County, California.

Catherine Kennedy died in Berkeley, Alameda County, California on September 20, 1939. Her parents were listed as Peter ODonnell and Margaret Gallagher of County Donegal, consistent with the records of her siblings. Catherine's place of birth was listed as Killybegs. From this I also learned that her husband's name was Patrick Kennedy.

This certificate arrived ten weeks after my request.

I do not know what became of Kathryn's two husbands, Charles Mason and Patrick Kennedy.

Kathryn's son, John Daniel Mason, served in World War I. He twice stayed in Togus, Maine at a National Home for Disabled Soldiers. I do not know what became of him.

Thank you MJ for the medical terminology

Kathryn's daughter, Margaret, had one daughter, Grace Catherine Joyce, born in 1917 in California. Grace married Robert John Duggan (1913-1991) and had children and grandchildren.

I would like to find out when and where Kathryn's husbands died and if she had more children.