Anthony Carey could play music by ear and Rose said he had a way with drama. When the family got together they would play and sing. Anthony would act out his part.  He was very good at it and would use props around the house to give his part more flalir. 

"Anna Sweeney Carey and Anthony Carey's sister, Sarah known as Sally, were best friends. "
per. S. A. Carey

 

"My father was very popular on New Years Eve because he had black hair and it was considered good luck to have a dark haired man be the first one into your home on the New Year; so, he had to make the rounds of the neighborhood.  He also had a wonderful Irish tenor voice so he was popular at weddings, etc.  We had an upright piano and sometimes the brothers would gather round.  Uncle Mickey would play the piano, and the rest of us would sing.  Dad being the tenor and Uncle Eddie was bass.  Uncle Mickey was tremendous on the piano.   We would put a tablecloth over the keyboard and he would play "Kitten on the Key" which is difficult under any circumstances.  He was extremely talented.   I grew up during the depression and it affected  everyone.  Then World War II came along.  As soon as we graduated in 1943 all the boys in my class had to report for duty.  Teddy Carey, (Edward), your uncle Bobby Connors and Mickey Grady all ended up in airborne divisions and they all fought in the Battle of the Bulge under Anthony McAuliffe.  Teddy and Bobby were about a  year or two ahead of me in school.  After the war Teddy and Bobby got an apartment together in Philadelphia and found jobs.  By this time our family had relocated to Philadelphia so they would come visit.  In fact we had a lot of visitors from upstate who were working in the city at that time.  Kind of a gathering place for those away from home".

 

"My father and mother both liked music.   My father had an Irish tenor voice and liked to sing opera.  He was a coal miner when we lived in Girardville .I was born in 1925  so the depression was in full swing by the time I became seven .  They lost their first home and car and really never recovered (as did many others of the area).

About who would come to visit in Philadelphia, I remember during the war we had boys from the area who were passing through either coming from or going to an assignment and they would call and come by for the night. A lot of the boys my sister and I knew from high school. After the war your Uncle Bobby, Teddy Carey and Peg Carey, a daughter of Mike Carey of Girardville would come by on a regular basis. Peg never married and worked in the rectories around Philadelphia. Rather than make the trip back to Girardville she would come to visit us when she had time off. We had several people "down on their luck" come to stay for awhile.

I use to say that I hated to go out for an evening or I might end up sleeping on two chairs pushed together. My mother was very generous. Joan Carey lived with us when she found her first job, and then after she married she and Jimmy Fitzgibbons lived with us when they were in need. I was home visiting with my parents and they were waiting for Uncle Mickey and Aunt Peggy to show up when we had a phone call that he had died of a heart attack. That was traumatic. He was still in his fifties.

I never knew Uncle Butch ran a salon.  He and daddy worked for the Hammond Coal Company and were both trapped in the same mine disaster. They were on the fifth level and after the third day we were thinking we would have to get ready for funerals but they found an old abandoned air shaft and by laying their backs against the wall and using their hands and feet clawed their way up to the top.  If one of them had slipped it would have been disaster for everyone.

We were all thrilled of course but that was the third entrapment for my dad and he decided it was time to get out of the industry. I understand that is when Uncle Butch quit too and went down to Philadephia to find employment. Their son Jimmy was there working for Sears so they had a connection


When I graduated in 1943 and went to live and work in Wilmington, Delaware, my father decided there was no employment in the area for his children so they moved to Philadelphia.  Dad was very bright and he found employment with the Navy Yard (Fire and Flood Control School).  They would set up a ship for the young officers to practice their skills.  After the war he went to work for the city of Phildadelphia as a maintenance engineer for the housing authority.  He was in charge of   Bartram Village.  He stayed there until it went low housing and he had to quit.  He couldn't stand what was happening.  He retired at this time."

per. S. A. Carey

Tony and Anna had four children.
1. S.   A. Carey  Private
2. Elizabeth Ann " Betty" Carey Born Nov 11 1926
3 Anthony John " Jackie" Carey  Born May 21 1930  Died  Jun 20 1992
4. Gerald Patrick " Gerry " Carey Born Jul 9 1940 Died  Dec 24 2006