Hi, After waiting for two month for a response from Queen of Peace Church in Hawley I came up empty handed. They had no baptismal records for anyone from the Ham(m) family. The family is living in Hawley in 1880 and I found them on the index for 1870 in Palmyra. Most of the children were born between 1870 and 1880. They were Irish Catholics. Does anyone have any idea of where they would have been baptized since it wasn't Queen of Peace. I am stumped! Was there another Church anywhere in the general vicinity? Carol

Carol, A two-month wait is very speedy compared to the National Archives and many states (NY comes to mind). If Queen of Peace reports no records, then they don't exist, because they have a very knowledgeable volunteer researcher. You might try writing to St. John the Evangelist R. C. Church in Honesdale, but it is unlikely that they would have traveled that far to have their children baptized. I looked at the original census for 1870, 1880 and 1900 and found five children born between 1860 and 1870 and three (assuming that there were two sons named James) or two (if James' age is wildly inaccurate) born between 1870 and 1880. The oldest son, William Jr., was born in New York State, and the rest of the children were born in Pennsylvania. William reported in 1900 that he emigrated in 1865, but by 1870 he was already reporting two children born in the U. S. before 1865. Every member of the family gives a different age in the three censuses, but it is clearly the same family. Since they were living in Scranton by 1900, you might want to check there for church records (they lived on South Irving Ave.), but the children all were born before the move, or at least the ones born before 1880. It's interesting that William says that he has been married 35 years but Ellen is not on the 1900 census. There is one fundamental question. How do you know that they were Catholic? Not all Irish were Catholic and not all Catholics were devout or even religious. I know from my own family that a strong anti-clerical streak ran through the Irish community, and it's possible that William and Ellen chose not to have their children baptized - or baptized at Queen of Peace at any rate. I found no obituaries or gravestone inscriptions for any of these Hams in Wayne County cemeteries, particularly Queen or Peace, St. John's and St. Mary Magdalen's - the only Catholic cemeteries anywhere near Hawley. If you haven't already, I would get death certificates for each of the children to try to pin down their whereabouts and religious inclinations. If you have a death date for William Sr., a death record and/or obituary might shed some light. Ann ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, July 28, 2001 9:44 AM Subject: [PAWAYNE-L] Catholic Church records. > Hi, > > After waiting for two month for a response from Queen of Peace Church in > Hawley I came up empty handed. They had no baptismal records for anyone from > the Ham(m) family. The family is living in Hawley in 1880 and I found them > on the index for 1870 in Palmyra. Most of the children were born between > 1870 and 1880. They were Irish Catholics. Does anyone have any idea of > where they would have been baptized since it wasn't Queen of Peace. I am > stumped! Was there another Church anywhere in the general vicinity? > > Carol > > > ==== PAWAYNE Mailing List ==== > Visit the Genealogical Research Society of Northeastern Pa., Inc. > 210 Grant Street Olyphant, PA. 18447 (570) 383-7661 > [email protected] http://www.cfrobbins.com/grsnp > > ============================== > Visit Ancestry's Library - The best collection of family history > learning and how-to articles on the Internet. > http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library > > >