I think I may have actually figured out who her parents were and where she came from. Here’s how it went:
Thomas Aspery
I started researching Thomas Aspery a couple weeks ago, from the list I made of possible relatives (see previous post). He had the same uncommon last name, was born in England, same generation as Catherine, and lived in Sharon, PA. They must have been related!
New Castle News 3 Sep 1917
First, I ordered a couple obituaries for Thomas. This one lists a father named John Aspery and a sister, Phoebe Talbot of Youngstown.
Phoebe Talbot
Luckily, Phoebe Talbot was not a very common name combination, so it was pretty easy to find her death certificate on familysearch.org.
Phoebe (Aspery) Talbot’s Death Certificate
The father is listed as Henry Aspery, not John as Thomas’ obituary said. Both records are secondary though… maybe the father’s name was “John Henry?” Another possible issue is Phoebe’s birth year of 1861, making her 22 years younger than brother Thomas. Either way, the mother’s name is extra helpful: Sarah Perchase.
Sarah Perchase
I began searching England census records for a Sarah, married to either a John or Henry, with children Thomas and Phoebe (and maybe my Catherine!). One census record was particularly promising.
Here we have Sarah with husband Henry and children Thomas, Phoebe, and a Catherine! The grandson named “John Henry” fits with my theory about the father’s name.
Thomas’ age is only slightly off from his obituary, but Phoebe’s is about 8 years off her death certificate age and if this is my Catherine, her age is off by 9 years compared to the 1900 US census.
I found Phoebe in 4 more census records, all of which were consistent with the birth year of about 1853 (within 2 years), so it’s likely the informant on her death certificate just didn’t know exactly.
At this point, I decided that the Thomas and Phoebe in the US is the same Thomas and Phoebe in England, and that they were children of (John) Henry Aspery and Sarah Perchase. But that still left the question, is this “my” Catherine?
I was at the Pennsylvania State Archives in Harrisburg pulling some death certificates and found they have a microfilm of Mercer County death records for 1898-1906. Catherine died sometime between 1900 and 1906, so I started looking and here’s what I found:
Of course I was on the microfilm machine that doesn’t make copies, so here is a cell phone photo of the image. That’s my Catherine Aspery-Murphy and her parents were Henry and Sarah! She died 21 January 1902 at 52 years old (or 56, or 59 depending on who you’re asking!) With all this I now know lots about Catherine, her parents, siblings, and birthplace. I may be inferring too much, but I think it all makes perfect sense. :)
Posted by Margaret Taylor on August 23, 2012 at 7:44 pm
I have been researching Matthew Talbot, husband of Phoebe Aspery, and have their marriage certificate. I also have other Aspery census returns. I would be very happy to hear from you. Phoebe and Kate’s (Catherine’s) mother was called Pritchard. Kate was born in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, where they lived before the family moved to the North East of England. William Murphy was Irish. Phoebe was my great grandfather’s 2nd wife and he left behind a young daughter (my grandma) from his 1st marriage when they went to Pennsylvania.Her mother died in childbirth. My gran never heard from him but was told by someone that he had been killed. I am very interested to know more. I was brought up in the vicinity of the village in England where they lived. My son has also sent an email.
Posted by Katie P. on August 23, 2012 at 8:05 pm
Hello! This is very exciting and it’s a family line that I never thought I would know much about. I will email you both!
Posted by Andrew Taylor on August 23, 2012 at 7:46 pm
Dear Katie,
Phoebe Aspery (Talbot), born in Escomb, England, and daughter of Henry Aspery, was my great-great-grandfather’s second wife, and the sister of Catherine Aspery who was married in 1870 to William Murphy. Matthew Talbot (Phoebe Aspery’s husband) left England around 1883, it is said, to seek work when industry declined sharply, and according to family information he became a manager of a steelworks in Pennsylvania; he lodged with Mr Will Murphy on arrival in the USA. My great grandmother, born 1880 (by Matthew Talbot’s first marriage to Ellen Elgey, who’d died in 1882 before he married Phoebe) enquired about Matthew Talbot via Irish relatives in England who’d known the Murphys, via a letter in 1913; and she heard he’d been killed at work in an industrial accident. (He’d left England when she was 2 and she was brought up by another family).
My mother says this webpage with your research is the most exciting thing she’s seen in 30 years of extensive research on her family, and she has a lot more information about the Asperys and Talbots, a bit about Murphys too, and their background in England. I’m sure she’d be happy to share her research with you. I gather she’s posted a comment too.
Kind regards,
Dr Andrew Taylor (UK)
Posted by Robert J Ralph on August 24, 2012 at 12:59 pm
I am a descendant of Thomas Aspery mentioned in the above post as the brother of Phoebe Talbot of Youngstown, OH. Thomas’s daughter Elizabeth Aspery Thomas is my mother’s grandmother. Thomas Aspery and his wife Martha Newbold Aspery are buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Sharon PA. There are no markers but two of their children Henry Aspery and William Aspery have markers in the same plot.
I went to the library in Youngstown OH last month and got a copy of Phoebe Talbot’s obituary in the paper on 30 Nov 1921. There is no mention of a husband but that she was staying with her daughter Mrs. Carl B Wenfeck of Youngstown at the time of her death and was to be buried at Belmont Park Cemetery. Her death certificate shows that Mrs Carl (it may be Cora) B Wenfecker was the informant .
Do any of you know anything about this daughter, like her first name, her maiden name, who her father was, when she was born, died or buried? I have searched for the name Wenfeck and Wenfecker and have come up empty. I have a lot of information that I have on Thomas’s family that I am willing to share as well.
Robert J Ralph
Posted by Andrew Taylor on August 24, 2012 at 5:52 pm
I did a bit of research today, online. Phoebe Talbot’s Death Certificate, dated 29th November 1921, includes the information that she was widowed; that her husband’s name was ‘Mathey Talbot’; her occupation is given as ‘housewife’ and her address, Sharon Line Stop, Coitsville, Mahoney, Ohio. Her date of birth is given as 14th October 1861, her birthplace ‘England’, and her parents’ names are given as ‘Henry Aspersy’, and ‘Sarah Perchase’, both from England.
Records also reveal that children were born to Phoebe and Matthew Talbot. George Henry, a glazier by trade, was born in 1892, and married Martha Wilson in Venango, PA in 1915 but sadly died the following year in Youngstown; and Sarah Talbot, born in Pennsylvania, appears on the 1920 US census, aged 30, in Mahoning, Ohio; she is living with Phoebe Talbot (whose age is inflated on the record by some four years to 65). As a ‘daughter’ living in the household Sarah is described as ‘widowed’, but has nonetheless resumed her maiden name of Talbot. (We aren’t informed what her late husband’s name was). Both her parents are described as being originally from England. Also in residence is a sixteen-year-old called Alice McCormick.
Quite when and how Phoebe Talbot was widowed still remains a mystery, but records reveal that a ‘Mathias Talbot’ died in Cuyahoga, Cleveland, Ohio, in 1895, aged 43, which would be the correct age (we know Matthew Talbot was born in Barrow, England in 1852). Regrettably, there is no supporting detail whatever about background or family on this record, and thus it seems a little obsure, and his name is slightly different too. I’d very much like to find out for sure: I wonder whether there is any way of discovering more about the information passed down that an industrial accident ended Matthew Talbot’s life?