Looking for John & Delia Clancy

Another entry on behalf of my friend MC for her family genealogy. Until yesterday, I had not been able to locate her 2nd great grandparents, John & Delia Clancy in any census records. Her grandfather’s written account that she gave me yesterday, provided me with the clues that I needed to find them. First of all, I had John’s name as Patrick (which may have been another one of his names), but using John would turn out to be productive.
The clue her grandfather mentioned that helped was that his father, Patrick Clancy born abt. 1869 had played sandlot baseball with Honus Wagner and that the family lived in Pittsburgh during this time. Though I had searched Pittsburgh a little, I still hadn’t located them, so I turned to look at Honus. Who is this Honus Wagner? Some searching revealed that Honus “Hans” Wagner was the son of Pete and Katheryn Wagner and grew up in the Chartiers neighborhood of Pittsburgh. He was born around 1874, so was the perfect age to be playmates with Patrick.
So, I begin to search for Honus and I find him. Pete & Kathryn Wagner are living in Chartiers with their children, Peter, Louis, Bertha, Elizabeth and Henry. Hmm.. no Honus – but a little more searching revealed that he was born John Peter Wagner. So, the Peter is him (right age – although, since he is listed as being 12 years old in 1880, this would make him several years older than his official information.
Now, I search Chartiers for the Clancys and find John & Bridget Clancy (Delia is a nickname for Bridget) are living in Chartiers with their family – inlcuding MC’s grandfather’s father, Patrick. I’m then able to further track the family through two more census given some additional information her grandfather provided – including that the family moved to TN, where I’ve located them in 1900. In 1910, she still has relatives in TN, but I’ve not yet found John & Delia in 1910 or later. Will have to get her to go back to her grandfather 🙂
But,  in doing this, I’ve learned quite a bit about Honus; apparently he is considered one of the best, if not the best, all around players in the  history of the sport, and one of the first five players inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. His trading card is the most valuable card ever, having recently been sold for more than $2million dollars by Wayne Gretzky.
History in context, this is why I love  doing genealogical research. I could have cared less about history while I was in school, but through genealogy it becomes much more real.