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Tom Mooney
Sunday, January 30, 2000 Page: 1B
A local family named Fritz might hold the key to a Philippines woman’s
quest for information about her father, a U.S. Army officer killed in action
in the Pacific during the final months of World War II.
Thomas Devear Crabtree was once a coal miner in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Now his daughter, Pauline Genevieve Crabtree, is “in search of his roots.”
She knows that her father was born Nov. 22, 1906. Her proof that he lived
in the area and worked as a coal miner is slim, but definite.
“I have with me a very old certificate of qualified miner examination
issued to him from the anthracite coal mines on the First Inspection District
of Luzerne County way back in 1920 or ’21,” writes Pauline Crabtree. The
exact date is not perfectly clear.
At some point Thomas Crabtree went to the Philippines, where he married
Ricarda Marquez. Pauline Genevieve was their only child. He joined the Army
and became a first lieutenant of engineers.
Basic records in Luzerne County offer no information. Wilkes-Barre city
directories from the early decades of the 20th century make only one mention
of a Crabtree, and it is not Thomas. The official list of Luzerne County’s
World War II casualties contains no Crabtrees.
Pauline has one hope – a possible local family connection.
“He did have some half brothers and sisters, all surnamed Fritz,” she
writes.
Fritz is a fairly popular name in the Wilkes-Barre area. Pauline is hoping
that somewhere, somehow a relative will recall a family story about the miner
who went off to the Philippines so many years ago.
Pauline’s quest so far has been a lonely one. “I have no one else that I
could seek for assistance here,” she writes. “I am the only Crabtree in this
part of the world.”
Contact Pauline Genevieve Crabtree by postal mail at Netdreams Internet
Junction, 4th Level, Mindpro Citimall, La Purisma Street, Zamboanga City,
7000, Philippines; by e-mail at gene-crabtree@yahoo.com; or by phone through
following the international calling instructions in the telephone book and
dialing 991-9311.
. . .
Imagine researching a Luzerne County ancestor from afar and discovering
that you can leaf through the county’s will index online, find that the will
you’re looking for exists and then order it on microfilm for delivery close to
your home.
Thanks to Tammy Lamb, the county’s will index books are being put on the
Luzerne County Genweb site. Lamb and her volunteers are about halfway through
volume one, which indexes wills from 1790 to about 1880.
Here is how the system will work, once the indexing is done. A genealogist
will be able to go to the site at rootsweb.com~/(tilde)paluzern and find a
listing for the will index. Each entry in the index will tell which reel of
microfilm to order through tne nearest Family History Center of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The biggest beneficiaries, of course, will be out-of-area genealogists, who
will not have to make a special trip to the courthouse at Wilkes-Barre –
perhaps only to learn that no such will exists or that it will take a day or
more to locate it.
Lamb, a Larksville resident, is a former president of the Northeastern
Pennsylvania Genealogical Society. She is webmaster for Genweb and for the
Shawnee Cemetery’s Web site.
When will the indexes be fully online? Lamb isn’t optimistic. There are
many wills to go, even in volume one, and she has just a handful of volunteers
to help.
But she isn’t daunted. “All I want is to make it easier for people to find
their ancestors,” she said.
. . .
Searching: Dolores Schenuk of Pennsylvania is looking for information on
husband’s great-grandfather John Joseph Jordan, b. Wilkes-Barre on Jan. 10,
1876, m. Gertrude Larnerd. Father’s name might have been John Jordan. Contact
Schenuk at 420 Hallowell Ave., Horsham, PA 19044.
Susan Anuszewski of New Jersey would like to get in touch with anyone who
is familiar with ancestor Anna Ritoch White who lived in the Wilkes-Barre area
several generations ago. Anuszewski does not know White’s husband’s name, but
Anna was born in Slovakia, and her children included Alex, Frank, Michael,
Rose, Olga, Eva and Helen. They later lived in Westminster, Pa., and in
Bayonne, N.J. White would have been in her 80s at the time of last contact
with them, in 1965. Contact Anuszewski at 20 Juliette St., Bayonne. NJ 07002.
. . .
Local History Moment: There is probably no more beloved and respected
charity in America today than the Salvation Army. But its arrival in Wyoming
Valley in the 1880s was met with hostility – and the police.
“Salvationists,” as papers of the time called them, were routinely
proclaimed disturbers of the peace because of their parades and public
preaching and were arrested.
. . .
News Notes: My two-hour presentation on getting started in genealogy will
be at 2 p.m. next Sunday in the fourth-floor auditorium of Boscov’s Department
Store, South Main Street, Wilkes-Barre. It’s a good way to meet some other
local genealogists and toss out questions to them. I’ll give a brief talk and
offer some handouts. The session is free. Just call Boscov’s at (570) 823-4141
to register. The presentation will be repeated at the same time on Feb. 20.
Remember, this column is now accessible through your computer at
www.leader.net. It is filed under “Generations.”
Have you solved some tough genealogical problems in your research? Do you
have some tips you’d like to share with others? Would you like to report a
success story? Drop me a line here at the paper. I’ll get in touch with you
and help you bring the benefits of your experience to others.
You can contact Tom Mooney by writing to The Times Leader, 15 N. Main St.,
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711 or email him at tmooney@leader.net.