Category Archives: Biographical

Biographical

Looking for my Great Grandmother Mary Maley Edden

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I have two great grandparents who emigrated to the United States, one from Scotland and the other from Wales via Canada. The Scottish one’s parents were born in Ireland.

We spent today in the National Records of Scotland (Archives) in Edinburgh, Scotland. Melissa had far more success with her efforts than I did. Who knew there were so many people named Mary Maley!

My great grandmother came to the US from Scotland in 1923. Her name was Mary Maley until she married Leroy Edden in Philadelphia. Her mother was also Mary Maley, nee Haughey. I don’t know “Mr. Maley’s” first name.

My grandmother is Eleanor, the last person on the last row. I was looking for info on her brother, her parents, and grandparents.

The Maleys had two kids – my great grandmother Mary and her brother James. Every second person in my searches seemed to be a James or Mary Maley, living in the right part of the country. I’m no expert on Scotland’s counties, so I had to look them up for a while, too.

Scotland has had mandatory registration of births, deaths, marriages, etc. since 1855. Mary Haughey and “Mr. Maley” were born approximately 1860 and eventually married. You’d think those records would be easy to find. Uh, no. Younger Mary was born in 1887. She should be even easier. Should. James ten years later. Easier Peasier. Not.

Archives record data. Looking for “Haughey” and/or “Maley” buried in that old handwriting was time consuming!

Searches showed ages or birthdates. Sometimes they almost matched. Census records showed who lived in the home, but even when the names seemed right there could be five other children there. When I found “Mary Ann” of about the right vintage, I thought I had scored success; my mother was Mary Ann, and it would have made sense.

My goal was to find Mary’s brother James. He emigrated to the US. He shows up in the 1930 US Census with his mother, his sister, and the 15-year old girl who became my grandmother. All nice and neat. Everyone together. If only…

We arrived at the archives about 9:45, ate lunch there, and left just before they closed at 4:30. Interesting day. How did I do?

I thought I found James, but that Mary Maley who was his mother died in Scotland instead of emigrating to the US. None of the other hits on James worked either.

I “think” that “Mr. Maley,” the father of Mary and James and husband of Mary Haughey was also named James, but am not quite sure. I found a census with James Maley age 38 and James Maley age 15 that “mostly fits” what I think I know about their birthdates. It’s even in the right county.

Do you see “Haughey” on here?

Mary Haughey was born in 1860, making her 11 for the 1871 census. I found an 11-year old Mary Haughey on the 1871 census with parents born in Ireland, living in the right community.

Could it be? I hope so. I was looking for James or my great grandmother, but ended up finding their mother as a pre-teen. Hello great, great grandmother!

Met a super helpful guy named Jimmy at the archives. He really helped us get started!

Also, I’ve learned we still have distant relatives in Wales farming sheep. Next trip!

Biographical

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

I like to think I speak rather good German. I was fortunate to learn it at an age still young enough to not sound too American, yet old enough to have a developed brain that could intelligently learn. I learned from school, from people I met, from the radio, and from reading. In recent times I find Google searches in German to be fun.

I was able to take a year of German in high school in Ohio before going to Germany. From a previous year of French, I had an understanding about learning a foreign language, and the year of German grammar and vocabulary gave me a good foundation for when I arrived. The first German word I learned was “Koffer” – suitcase – because one of my two suitcases didn’t make it to the baggage carrousel. The second word was, no great surprise, “Ausfahrt” on the Autobahn as my dad drove me from Frankfurt to Stuttgart.

My dad met a local German couple through one of his coworkers. I met them soon after I arrived. (We are still in contact today, 54 years later!) Having someone to practice with was very valuable. I learned not only “school German” but “real German” and culture too. I always try to listen to people’s word choice when they respond to me. They are fluent/native speakers after all! I then try to emulate their vocabulary and pronunciation.

I got tired of AFN radio very quickly. In trying to have something for everyone, they really didn’t have much for me (Maybe Charlie Tuna or Casey Kasem). So, I found a German radio station that played music I liked. I didn’t understand much at first, but I was surrounded by the rhythm of the German language. I think the first things I began to understand were the traffic reports. “Stau” joined my vocab before I was even driving!

I am an avid reader. I discovered if I bought German magazines on topics of interest to me, I could learn a lot. Captions explained the pictures. I was familiar already with the content. I had total control over the pace of content delivery. Everything was grammatically correct.

Traditional German Restaurant Sign

If you’ve studied communications, you are likely familiar with models that include barriers to communication. Thinking in English and translating into German is a barrier to communication. Translating responses from conversation partners into English is also a barrier. I decided one day to simply “speak German” instead of thinking in English, translating into German, saying the words “auf Deutsch,” and so on. It wasn’t easy at first, but it eventually happened.

By age 19 I had taken three years of high school German as well as a couple University of Maryland (European Division) advanced German classes and one class at the local Volkshochschule. I passed the language proficiency test to be admitted to study at the University in Tübingen. I believe this would be B2 in the modern European language proficiency scale.

Years later I was stationed in Stuttgart myself. And then in Wiesbaden. In both locations I was in glider clubs where I had the opportunity to talk about not just flying, but the weather, travel, life, and so on. Real uses of the language in a real environment. I learned a lot of car repair vocabulary too. During the two years in Wiesbaden I read close to 20 novels in German. I also took two C1+ level classes at the local Volkshochschule. (Although I didn’t test, my instructor thought I would pass the C2 level examination.)

Flying internationally (as pilot, not passenger!) requires a minimum of Level 4 (on a 1-6 scale) in either English or a local language. I tested as Level 5 in German (almost native speaker level). The examiner told me I would have passed Level 6, if there actually were a Level 6 test for German!

Funny side story – native speakers generally get Level 6 just for filling out paperwork. I was not able to prove that I had “spent six of my first ten years of life in an English speaking environment” so I had to take a test to prove I’m a native English speaker. A British guy tested my English ability. In a Chinese restaurant. In Germany. Cost €100. For a language no one doubted I could speak! Only the European Aviation Safety people could make it that complicated…

ICE Train

If you are in Germany with the military, you don’t have a lot of time to learn the language. Go to the local VHS for German class taught in German. They are the experts in teaching foreigners German. Two nights a week on base where 90 percent of the words in the room are in English will do very little, though certainly better than none! Good luck and hope my experiences help you.