Arrival in America
Both of my parent’s ancestors immigrated from Europe and settled in Pennsylvania. The Tubridy family came during the height of the Great Famine in Ireland in the 1850s. Mom’s family, the Kovachs, came in the early 1900s as part of a mass immigration from central Europe to work the coal mines. No doubt they were both looking for a better life. Contrast that to my father’s Mother’s family, the Hortons’ who immigrated in the 1600s from England!
The Tubridy family settled in Snoe Shoe outside of State College (1 in the map above). It was on the edge of the northeastern part of the coal fields. The area opened up when a railroad rea was built. They lived at one of the stops on the rail line. Not too much is happening in the present day except for a mail processing facility outside of town.
The Kovachs settled on a homestead in a township near Vanderbilt (2 in map above). I grew up always hearing the name of the nearby town, Connellsville, where some settled. It was deep in the coal fields that dominated the area around Pittsburg.
Genealogy
My father started working on the family genealogy after he retired in the 1990s. He was able to compile a good picture of his ancestors back through Thomas Tubridy’s immigration in 1850. He used an early version of Ancestral Quest to record the data. I started from there and used Ancestry.com to develop a more comprehensive view. I am now using MacFamily Tree, which has very nice features and integrates with online sources.
The PDF file has the descendants for Tubridy and Kovac, starting when the ancestors immigrated in the mid-19th century and early 20th century. There is a considerable number of ancestors on my grandmother’s side – the Hortons. Their history goes back to the early 1600s.
Tubridy Descendants
Kovac descendants
Ireland
Mom and Dad went to Ireland in the 1990s. I am unsure exactly where they went, but here are the shots of Tubridy businesses they frequented. Tubridy House is located in Cooraclare Village, Kilrush. I think these are all in the same location.
