Special thanks to Fiona O´Mahony
for the following:
William
Snow (78 years old on June 26, 1909), a resident of East Orange,
residing at 12 McKinley Avenue, brother of the claimant stated
that he was present at the marriage of James Coyne and Martha Snow. They were married at the residence of James Coyne, in Irvington
N.J....this James was an uncle of the soldier. At the time James
( the one getting married!) was a widower. From other pages
it says he was married to a Jane Purdue, who died in 1853 aboard
a ship (this would not be their initial passage to America,
because they were married in 1850 in NJ) and was buried by the
ship's company. The letter went on to say that all possible
efforts were made to locate the whereabouts of James but he
was now presumed dead.
Another letter
(misspellings are left intact as written on my paper copy) is
written which is more or less the same by a Robert Snow, (born
around 1838), another brother. Robert Snow was from Caldwell
County, NJ and was around 71 on June 26, 1909. Martha also filled
out another form
in 1909..this she did in Cook County, Illinois saying she was
74 yrs and all the usual dates from James and when he joined
the army.
This letter, also from Cook County, dated 16th July says Martha
Coyne is a resident of Chicago, 75yrs. It says when James
joined and left the army and that he lived with Martha " from
the time of their marraige up to the year 1883, when said soldier
left and visited their son F.E Coyne of Chicago, Illinois, and she did not after that see him
until the month of August, 1888, when he called upon her at
her residence, No 154 Halladay Street, Jersey City, aforesaid,
but again left to visit his brothers in Orange, New Jersey;
that since then deponent has enquired from his relatives and
friends as to his whereabouts and at such other places when
any information in reference to him might be ascertained, but
has been unable to discover anything in reference to him"......etc...they
believe him dead. Also, some fellow wrote a letter to say the
matter could only be cleared up in New Jersey and wanted the
following people to be questioned: William Snow, Robert Snow,
Helen Ewald (I'm sure it says Clients Aunt beside the name...hard
to read - but now know Helen is Martha & James' daughter),
Richard Coyne (from Orange, Essex CO), Charles Coyne (Essex),
Edward Coyne (Essex) and Ferdinand Coyne (Caldwell County).
