SS-5s

Some Social Security records become publicly available after an individual's death.
First, I found my great-great-grandfather, Daniel Testy (1885-10-18 - 1970-02), and my great-grandfather, George Archibald Hamilton (1905-12-07 - 1969-03-05) in the SSDI (Social Security Death Index) at ancestry.com. That gave me their SSNs. Then, I went to the Social Security Freedom of Information Act website and ordered their SS-5s. Each cost $27 (because I had their SSNs--they're more expensive without). I ordered on August 30 and received the paper copies yesterday, September 7.
George Hamilton's SS-5:
Unfortunately, the Social Security worker put the paper in so that the envelope's glue stuck to a part of the form--right over his birthdate! And worse, the birthdate looks like it could be 1904, instead of 1905, though that would disagree with other records:
But I discovered something really cool in Daniel Testy's SS-5: the name of his mother, Concetta Gagliardi.
Family lore says that she died on the ship over from Italy, after giving birth to twins, who also died. I'm going to have to scour the immigration records at ancestry.com to see if I can find any record of her and the rest of the family (her husband, Anthony Testa/Testy, and their kids, Daniel, Mollie, and Theresa).
My great-grandmother, Daniel Testy's daughter, who married George Hamilton, was named Concetta. Now I know why!

Joined the Western PA Genealogical Society

After seeing their publications listed as sources, I decided to try joining the Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society. Don't know that I'll ever attend their events, but maybe I'll make the trip up at some point.

Newspaper Stories

I searched on ancestry.com for "Carroll" in the Charleroi Mail newspaper. The problem is that there is at least one other Carroll family in Charleroi, more prominent than my own, and that family had a drugstore, which advertised often. So I looked through about 800 highlighted articles and found a handful of goodies.
The best one was probably the marriage announcement for the mysterious Evadne (Clark) Carroll in the June 11, 1919 issue (image from ancestry.com):
Evadne is mysterious because we learned of her from her mother's obituary (8-25-1932), but we have no other records of her mother, and few of Evadne. I was happy because it seemed like, for once, someone in my family had chosen an unusual first name, which might make searching easier. But I've not found any other mention of her mother, Nancy Ella Carroll Clark, though the obit lists her as the sister of Mary Jane, Rosina, and M.A. Carroll (presumably Michael Aldin). Evadne shows up as living with her grandparents, John and Mary Jane Carroll, in the 1900 census, with the last name Clark. She's still living with Mary Jane in the 1910 census, with last name Carroll (image from ancestry.com).

So she apparently grew up with her grandmother and aunts and uncle. I don't know what Evadne was doing in Ohio, as the only other mention I found for her was a Feb 14 1918 lost and found ad for a music roll lost in the Majestic theatre.
In the 1920 census, it looks like George and Evadne Davison had moved to Pittsburgh (image from ancestry.com):
Her mother's obit says that Evadne had moved to California by 1932. Who knows, maybe I have some Davison cousins out there!

Carrolls in 1900

With cousin Rosalie's help, I think we've found the Carrolls in the 1900 census images on ancestry.com. No wonder it was so difficult, though, as the family is spread across two pages, with possibly different spellings of their last name (Carral and Carrol--could just be poor handwriting) and lots of mismatching data. I'm not sure how much of that is the census taker's fault and how much was from the family. There are other inconsistencies across the family's later census entries, so I'm not sure whether the Carrolls were just difficult to understand or misreported the data, deliberately or by mistake.

Only John, Mary Jane, May, Rosina, and Evatne are living in the house. For Mary and Evatne, their years of birth don't match their ages, and their places of birth don't match their actual birth records. But I think it's the right family because Rosina and Evatne Clark (even as "Avaden") are both unusual names, and they're living in Woodward Twnshp, West Houtzdale, Clearfield, PA.

John and Mary J Carral:
Mary is listed as 55 years old (3 years younger than John), but her D.O.B. is listed as 1854. The census taker or transcriptionist probably meant 1845. It says they came to the US in 1877 and 1878. This is not possible given that Rosina and Andrew were born in Scotland in September 1879 and Andrew Carroll died in Scotland in April 1880, but it does indicate that John may have preceded the rest of the family, which would possibly explain where he was for Rosina and Andrew's birth (witnessed by Patrick).

May and Rosena Carrol and "Avaden Clark":
Notice that "Avaden" is listed as 1 year old (in 1900), but her D.O.B. is listed as 1888.

More Witness Questions

John Carroll and Mary Jane Shields had 13 children. I've been able to find a birth record for all but Nancy Ella Carroll. The other 12 were born in Scotland. John may or may not have made it to the US, but Mary Jane and several of her children lived in Illinois and then Charleroi, Washington, Pennsylvania.

Paying attention to the witness for each birth (images from the scotlandspeople.gov.uk site):
1. Patrick Henry Carroll "Carral" b. 8-31-1862 Bathgate, Linlishgow, Scotland
2. John C. Carroll "Carrel" b. 12-24-1863 Dalry, Ayr, Scotland

3. Thomas Carroll "Carral" b. 11-16-1865 Auchinleck, Ayr, Scotland
4. Francis S. Carroll "Carrol" b. 6-19-1867 Auchinleck, Ayr, Scotland
Where was John? Working? Traveling?

5. Ann Carroll b. 6-23-1869 Auchinleck, Ayr, Scotland
Looks like John learned to write his name! Also this seems to have settled the spelling of the name to "Carroll."

6. George Carroll b. 1-8-1871 Auchinleck, Ayr, Scotland
George died 10 minutes later. John was also the witness on the death certificate:
7. James Carroll "Carrol" b. 1-12-1872 Auchinleck, Ayr, Scotland
John's missing again. With John gone, looks like Mary Jane did not know to tell the registrar how to spell the Carroll name.

8. Michael Aldin Carroll b. 10-29-1873 Auchinleck, Ayr, Scotland
John seems to have given up on writing his name. Why would he stop? I've checked the marriage date and residences, and I'm confident that these aren't two families, so it's the same John.

9. Susan Carroll b. 6-14-1875 Auchinleck, Ayr, Scotland
10. Mary "May" Carroll "Carrol" b. 6-7-1877 Auchinleck, Ayr, Scotland
Why did the spelling change back? John apparently isn't reading or writing his name anymore. Could he have had problems with his eyesight?

11. Rosina G. Carroll b. 9-21-1879 Auchinleck, Ayr, Scotland
Patrick is 17 at this point and seems to be standing in as man of the family. Had John died or was he simply absent?

12. Andrew Carroll b. 9-21-1879 d. 4-17-1880 Auchinleck, Ayr, Scotland


13. Nancy Ella Carroll
I haven't found a birth record for Nancy Ella. In fact, the only record I have for her is an obituary. The obit mentions her daughter, who also is in Mary Jane Shields Carroll's household in 1910.

Rose Ann Curley McHugh, witness to the death of Susan Murphy Shields

My Carrolls left Ireland, probably in the 1850s, and lived in Scotland for 20-30 years. I've been searching for records on ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk.
A few weeks ago, I found the record for the marriage of "John Carrel" and "Mary Jane Shiels," Nov. 7, 1861 in Rutherglen, Lanark, Scotland. Their parents are also listed. John's are Patrick Carrel, deceased, and Ann Curley, deceased. Mary Jane's are Patrick Shiels, deceased, and Susan Murphy.
Since Susan Murphy Shields was still alive at the time of John and Mary Jane's wedding, I decided to try to find death records in Scotland for the parents, especially Susan Murphy Shields. Last night I found that record, which lists Susan Shields' death as Mar 27, 1880. Fortunately, I was attentive to the witness:

So I discovered Mary Jane's sister, previously unknown to me, Rose Ann. A few more minutes of searching yielded Rose Ann's marriage certificate to James McHugh, on Jun 16, 1868. Her age was given on the marriage certificate, so I know she was born in approximately 1843.