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Betty's Diner, 1962 |
The point at McKeesport, PA |
Grandma and her children
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Betty's Diner, 1962 |
The point at McKeesport, PA |
Grandma and her children
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Descendants Ancestors Siblings |
My Grandmother,
Lyda Oretha Dorvella LaRue Markle
was the
youngest child of
Robert Franklin
Markle and
Lida (Rotharmel) Markle. Her
father died when she was about 9 or 10 and her mother died a
few years later. Because my grandmother lost her mother and dad at
such a young age, part of the pieces of the puzzles to her life have not
always been clear. We heard stories growing up about her sister(s)
drowning and a child being an invalid. We knew that my grandmother had
red hair and that her family was from Westmoreland County, most specifically
the West Newton Area. In order to find out when and where Grandma's siblings were born and details about her life and family, my cousin Linda Grelles and I researched the Internet, census records, city directories, newspaper articles, cemetery records and sent for as many original documents that we could obtain. Other researchers helped us in our endeavors also.
Grandma was born in Port Vue, Allegheny County, PA. Other address sources indicated the family also lived in Lincoln Township, and Glassport, PA. The nearest city would have been McKeesport, PA. After her parents died, she worked in a hotel in Elizabeth Twp and married my grandfather, Leon Jones, when she was 14 years old. She had five children while married to my grandfather. My grandmother is in the picture on the right, surrounded by four of her children. From left to right, the picture includes Doris (Jones) Wilcher, Iva (Jones) Carey, Grandma, Gladys (Jones) Brown, and Edwin Jones. My Uncle Howard is not in the picture because he was not living in Pennsylvania at the time the picture was taken. The picture on the left is that of Grandma and John Brown outside the diner she owned in McKeesport some time in the 60's. The diner was located on Fifth Avenue near what use to be the Sheraton Hotel. John Brown was her son in law, my uncle and also Linda Grelles' father. The middle picture is a very old picture I found of McKeesport. From what we can view here of McKeesport, it is bordered between the Youghiogheny and Monongahela rivers. In the picture, the Youghiogheny River is the river that splits like a fork on the right hand side of the picture. The Yough is on the left side of the fork and the Monongahela is on the right side of the fork. As the Yough runs through McKeesport, Port Vue and Lincoln Twp are located on the adjacent Youghiogheny River banks. The bridge that crosses the Yough close to the fork is called the Jerome Street Bridge. Upstream a little ways is what is and was referred to as the 15th Street Bridge. Both Robert and Mrytle May drowned in the general vicinity of the 15th Street bridge. SiblingsEthel May was the first to marry in 1902. Her husband Roderick died in 1911. Ethel May's second husband was Herbert, who was also Roderick's brother. She had children to both husbands and in essence, her children from both husbands were cousins and half brothers and sisters. The first to die in the immediate family was grandma's sister, Myrtle May. She was only sixteen years of age. Myrtle drowned in the Youghiogheny River. Her body was found in six feet of water in the 2nd Ward of McKeesport on Sept 9, 1909. The cause of death was listed as "supposed suicide". Myrtle May is sometimes referred to as Marion in the Census Records and the J.V. Thompson journals. A few months later, in January of 1910, another sister died of Lobar Pneumonia, a complication of measles. This was Violet and she was only 10 years old. We believe this child was the one who was referred to as being an invalid. In 1914, Robert Franklin Markle drowned in the Youghiogheny River also. The newspaper article stated he was taking a bath in the river on a hot July day when he was coming home from work. He started screaming for help with his young son Robert Franklin Jr. watching helplessly. We were able to obtain a copy of the original newspaper article describing the incident from the McKeesport Heritage Center, in McKeesport, PA. After the death of Robert, three of the Markle family members were buried in McKeesport and Versailles Cemetery, Violet, Robert, and Myrtle May. My grandmother, Oretha, is also buried there now as are some other Markle ancestors. Illness struck the family again when Lucetta came down with tuberculosis. She died in Woodville County Home in February of 1915. Lucetta was 19 years old. In the next year, Lida, the mother, died of Tuberculosis, also in the Woodville County Home. Lida was a patient there for at least six months. We are in the process of trying to obtain the county records now to find out exactly where Lida and Lucetta are buried. In 1918, Erda died of pneumonia as a result of the Influenza epidemic. At that time, Erda was married to Charles Hoak. Erda and Charles had about five children. Charles Hoak married Susan Markle a few years later and Aunt Suzie raised her own children to Charles as well of those of her sister.
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Reunions Markle Family Reunion 2003 Jones Family Reunion
Markle Reunion
2005
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| Last update | ||
| 05/06/2005 | ||
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