Unexpected Discoveries
When I visit graveyards, I tend to photograph a lot of stones near those I am researching. The reason I do this is to potentially discover new information, especially if the stones are located next to my family’s stones. While in Shippensburg at the Spring Hill cemetery,I found that one of my great-aunts had apparently remarried after her first husband. I had never heard anything about a second marriage for Aunt Lily, as she was known in the family. She married Thomas Jefferson McClelland between 1900 and 1910, and they lived on a farm in Chester County. Uncle Jeff passed away in 1941 and is buried at Spring Hill in the McCune family plot. Aunt Lily’s grave is right next to this, But shows her name as Elizabeth McCune McClelland Spader. Who was Mr. Spader?
It took awhile to find the answers. An article noting Aunt Lily’s marriage to Mr. Wilbur F. Snader appeared in 1957 and shows that he sister, my great-grandmother, was living in Mohnton in Berks county at the time. Learning that My great-grandfather was living in Berks County meant that she was actually living at my grandparents’ home at that time.
Mary Kezia Mccune Bratton {Mamie}moved to Ardmore in Montgomery County after her husband died in 1921, where she worked as a teacher. In 1938 she bought a 20 acre property in Brecknock township in Berks County, but she was still living in Ardmore as of the 1940 census. On the property was a small stone cabin, which was enlarged twice over the next 20 years, with the second addition probably done after she transferred the property to her daughter, Elizabeth, my grandmother, in 1948. The picture to the right shows what the property looked like before any major changes.
The first change made was probably the kitchen, bedroom and bath, located behind the cabin. At some later point, another section was created, adding 2 bedrooms, a bath and a large utility room, along with a large attic and basement. Also added to the property was a 3-car garage and a small white wooden cabin.
My grandparents sold their home in West Reading in 1945, so I am assuming that they moved to the Brecknock property then, though I’m sure they stayed there quite often before then.