Cherie,

Thanks so much for all of this info. I did not know that Bill Jr. had died. I talked to him a few years ago and he was telling me about all of his grandchildren plus other things he knew about our connection. As far as I know your information about his mother being Marie Guckavan is correct. That is where I connect with them. The Turnbachs and Guckavans are all cousins of my Corrigans, i.e. some of the Guckavans and Turnbachs are related to me via the Corrigans.

Marie Guckavan's mother was Catherine Elizabeth Corrigan b. 3/11/1872 Milnesville, PA; d. 7/20/1956 Hazelton, PA. Buried St. Gabriels. Had been a seamstress. Marie's father was James David Guckavan b. 9/21/1862 Buck Mountain, PA; d. 1/1/1913 McKees Rocks, PA. Had been a teacher in Harleigh, PA. He is the first Guckavan who appears in my family history. One of the Guckavans told me that all Guckavans in the US are related via the original Irish immigrant. Apparently the name is an anglicized or corrupted version of a Gaelic name.

The William Martin Turnbach, born 8/22/1900 Junedale (Coleraine) Carbon Co PA, (Marie Guckavan's husband) is the first Turnbach who appears in my info. I have it that this William Martin (Sr.)died 5/21/1965 in Hazelton, PA. He had worked as a funeral director and is buried at St. Gabriel's. I know that his son William Martin Jr.worked as a school administrator and that his brother James Abraham Turnbach b. 5/9/1933 Hazelton, PA; died 6/30/1990 Hazelton, PA, also worked as a funeral director, but also spent time as mayor of Hazelton. His tenure as mayor, I believe, followed that of my great uncle, James Patrick Costello Jr., whose mother was Mary Ellen Corrigan, sister of Catherine Elizabeth, above.

All of this info was very well researched by a Corrigan cousin of mine and I know that she got a lot of the Turnbach info from Bill.

I had not known about the name change to St. Gabriel's. Wow, so much family history there - it all seems to get more distant with the name change.

I might have a little more info on these Turnbachs if anyone is interested.

Thanks again for putting all of this out there.
Sharon