William Michael Ladney

A message appeared in my Ancestry mailbox from a writer explaining that his great-grandfather, William Michael Ladney, was born in 1915 in Brooklyn, New York. His original surname was Ladkany. He eventually went to live in an orphanage in Brooklyn. The writer wanted to know if I was related to Mary Shaheen, the baby's mother.

I am related to Mary Shaheen by marriage. She was the second wife of my 2nd great-grandfather Nicholas Ladkany, and they married in 1910 in Brooklyn. The marriage license says he was from Jacksonville, Florida. Indeed, my forefather, Nicholas, settled in Jacksonville in about 1900 and lived there all his life, or so I thought until I learned of the marriage place in New York. Perhaps he lived for a while in Brooklyn, but he is absent from the Jacksonville city directories for only a few years.

I am excited at the possibility of a newfound cousin. As I correspond with my new Ancestry pen pal, I hope to work with him in finding definitive answers and more details about the lives of Nicholas, Mary, and William.