John Smyth : Short Biography

My grandfather, John Smyth, was born to John Smyth and Annie Gallagher in Cloon, Co. Donegal on October 16, 1906.  John and Annie were married in 1895 and had 9 or 10 children before John passed away on March 16, 1910 in Londonderry at the age of 37.  My grandfather, John, was one of the youngest kids in the family - the siblings names that I know of are William, Margaret "Maisie", James, Patrick, Annie, Sarah, George and Charles. My grandfather, John, immigrated to the US in 1929 and met my grandmother, Elizabeth Keaney, after arriving in the US (Elizabeth also immigrated to the US from Co. Sligo, Ireland, but they did not arrive together.)  John and Elizabeth married in Philadelphia August 1, 1935.  Their first child, also named John Smyth, was born in March 1936 and my dad, Charles Smyth, was born in NYC on January 24, 1937.  They moved to Philadelphia when my dad was little, and I believe my uncle (my grandparents third, and youngest, child), George, was born in Philadelphia in 1945.  My grandfather died in Philadelphia on July 16, 1988.  

I didn't know much about my grandfather's siblings but asked for help on a Facebook genealogy page and within hours they had found the family in the 1901 and 1911 census records, and that's how I was able to gather the names of my grandfather's siblings.  I remember my grandmother mentioning Pop's sister, Anne, and I found a photo of Annie visiting the family in NYC in the 1930's, holding a baby that was either my dad or uncle John.  and I also found mention of Pop's sister, Maisie Doherty, amongst the records of people who sent cards when Pop died in 1988. But otherwise, I don't know anything about any of the other siblings other than their names from census records.