Genie's Lamp
Philadelphia Genealogy
Great Grandparents - Paternal
Horace Woodruff Kelly & Matilda Jane White
Horace was born in Philadelphia on March 12, 1878 at 2367 Tulip Street, Kensington to Catherine Ayres & Richard Kelly.
In 1898 he married Matilda Jane White shortly before enlisting in the Army for the Spanish-American War.
They had 3 children: Priscilla, Matilda and Horace Kelly Jr, my grandfather.
In 1910 the family was living on the 6000 block of Hegerman Street just around the corner from his sister, Sarah Kelly Burns, and her family. Horace worked at the Disston Saw Works as a file cutter until his health became too poor.
He died on August 15, 1917 at age 39 in the Hamburg State Sanatorium of tuberculosis, contracted during the war. He and Matilda had been seperated before his death. She married Clyde Shuster in 1918. Horace Sr. is probably burried somewhere in Philadelphia.
Matilda Jane White Shuster died sometime after 1931, probably in Philadelphia.
Pietro DiBenedetto/aka/Peter Bennett & Teresa Teti
Pietro was born on April 14, 1886 in Vastogirardi, Itay to Camillo DiBenedetto & Filomena Appoglisi.
His family immigrated to Philadelphia in the early 1900's and in 1908 he married Teresa Teti, also an Italian immigrant.
In 1914 their daughter, Filomena DiBenedetto, was born in Philadelphia; an only child who would be called Mary Bennett and become my grandmother. The family lived at 255 E. Indiana Street until, at least, 1931.
By 1935 Peter was living and working as a barber in Reading, PA.
It is not known what became of Teresa.
At his death, on April 30, 1955 at age 69, Peter was remarried to Dorothy Scaramella. He is burried in Forest Hills Memorial Park in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Great Grandparents - Maternal
John J O'Donnell Sr & Margaret Mary Dearnley
John was born on February 20, 1867 in the Frankford area of Philadelphia to Daniel O'Donnell & Bridget McDevitt, two Irish immigrants from Glenties, County Donegal.
He married Margaret Mary Dearnley, daughter of Samuel Dearnley and Mary Philomena Nugent, from Rhode Island in Philadelphia on June 20, 1906 in Visitation B.V.M Church.
John worked as a weaver in a carpet mill. He & Margaret had 8 children, the 2nd being William J O'donnell, my grandfather.
The family rented a house at 2669 Braddock Street in the Kensington section of Philadelphia sometime before 1920.
On April 25, 1925 John died of myocarditis at the age of 58. He is burried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Margaret Dearnley O'Donnell lived to be 90 years old and died on February 21, 1973 in Philadelphia. (For more information on the Dearnley/Dearnaley family see familytree.dearnley.com.)
John Bayless & Mary Valerius
Mary was born in 1877 in Shenandoah, PA to Michael Valerius & Mary Woll, two Prussian immigrants. It is believed her mother, Mary Woll Valerius, died giving birth to her or shortly thereafter. John Bayless was born on September 6, 1870 in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania to Edward and Mary Bayless, both Welsh immigrants. In 1894 John married sixteen year old Catherine Handrahan, daughter of John and Catherine of Mount Carmel.
In 1900 John and Katie Bayless were living in Minersville, Schuylkill, PA with their three children, Mary A, John Jr and Dorothy. John's occupation is listed as coal miner.
Catherine Handrahan Bayless died in 1903. She is burried in Saint Mary's Cemetery in Mount Carmel, PA. John Jr. died sometime before 1910 in Mount Carmel.
By 1910 John was remarried and working as a laborer in Philadelphia and later as a truck builder and a pipe fitter. John had 2 surviving daughters from his 1st wife, Catherine, before marrying Mary Valerius in 1906. Together they had five more children, a son and four daughters, including my grandmother Florence Irene Bayless. John and Mary were predeceased by their only son, James, who was killed in a trolley car accident at age 21 in 1928.
John died on August 3, 1939 from a ruptured gastric ulcer at the age of 69. He had been a watchman at the time of his death and lived with Mary at 2165 E Susquehanna Avenue in the Kensington section of Philadelphia.
Mary Valerius Bayless had developed diabetes mellitus and had her left leg amputated sometime before John's death.
On August 4, 1947 Mary died of a stroke caused by hypertension and complications of diabetes at age 70 . John and Mary are buried in Cedar Hills Cemetery in Philadelphia along with son James.
