Tuesday, March 3, 2009

MacEntee and DeGroodt Ancestor Photos


I wanted to give a big thank you to my newly found cousin (we are in fact 2nd cousins) whom I've never met in person but who found me online because of this blog (as well as my overall web presence).

Dan MacEntee and I began emailing in May 2008 after I posted my series about whether or not the MacEntee and McEntee families of New York's Hudson Valley are related. Over the past few weeks he has been speaking with his 94-year old grandmother, Mary MacEntee, who married my Grand Uncle, Harold MacEntee. They have been reviewing old photos and Dan has been good enough to write down identifications of the people in the photos, possible dates, etc.

And then as a bonus he scans and sends me a few photos each week. The photo above is simply amazing to me: it depicts all seven sons of Elmer MacEntee and Margaret DeGroodt, my great-grandparents, who also had five daughters.

They are, from left to right, in birth order: John MacEntee (1901 - 1984), Harold MacEntee (1906 - 1979), Myron MacEntee (1907 - 1981), George MacEntee (1909 - 1965), Elmer MacEntee, Jr. (1911 - 1971), Abraham (1913 - 1977), and William, the youngest in the front (1925 - 1987).

One thing I notice and it would help if readers could take a look and give me their opinions: it appears that John, the eldest with the large ears, looks like Myron but not like Harold right next to him. John and Myron look like me and all the males that I know in the MacEntee family including my father. I also think that Harold and the other brothers who look like him resemble the DeGroodt side of the family and all look alike.

Judging from the age of William, or Billy as he was called, I would say he is about six or seven so this photo is dated 1931 or 1932. Other evidence which backs up my theory: I also received a photo of Jacob DeGroodt (1860 - 1933) and Georgiana Simpson (1862 - 1938), my great-great grandparents, which was taken on the same day as this photo. Since Jacob DeGroodt died in 1933, I think I am on the right track as to the date. I will put the DeGroodt photo up tomorrow for Wordless Wednesday.

Thanks Dan!

3 comments:

RS said...

Wow! What a goldmine. How wonderful to be preserving this history. I'm so jealous!!

Ruth said...

Hey Thomas!

Check out this link. Jon Stewart of The Daily Show explains Twitter. It's hysterical!

http://lifehacker.com/5163604/remains-of-the-day-the-jon-stewart-explains-twitter-edition

Ruth Stephens

z102701 said...

George MacEntee is my grandfather, so I guess that would make us related? He married my grandmother Isabel Bacon, who was the daughter of Arthur Bacon and Elizabeth Degroodt. I have so many family genealogy papers and pics sitting in a box that I inherited after my grandmother passed away, maybe I have some information you need? You can email me at mzerafa1027@gmail.com

Melissa Z. (maiden name MacEntee)

Also, there has always been the story floating around my family that our name was originally McEntee, but was changed at some point in order to make finding work easier...