James Levens death & burial information discovered

Image of James & Margaret Levens headstone
James & Margaret Levens headstone, taken by Find-A-Grave user RoadRunner

A New Year’s gift. This morning I came across the headstone photo of my great-great-grandfather James Levens that a generous Find-A-Grave user had taken. The headstone has his and his wife Margaret’s death dates.

Previously, I had a tentative date of death of 1884 for James based on some information from a Schuylkill County history book. Those sorts of books are not known for their precise accuracy, so his actual date of death was still an open question.

Now, I know James died 23 Apr 1885 at around age 55. According to the headstone, Margaret died 22 Jun 1918 which matches her death certificate. They were buried in Brock Cemetery in Ashland, PA.

Happy New Year!

Database Updates – Oct Nov Dec 2019

The following 47 people were added to or updated in the Conrad-Todd-Garrison-Carman genealogy database between October and December 2019:

Schuylkill County history book – Levens family

Elizabeth Levens, daughter of James Levens and Margaret McElhenny, married George W. Ebert whose family had an entry in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania: Genealogy – Family History – Biography (1916) which is available on Google books. There was quite a bit of information about the Levens family mentioned as well.

Transcription of the relevant passage:
On Dec 13, 1881, Mr. [George W.] Ebert was united in marriage to Elizabeth Levens,
daughter of James and Margaret (McElheny) Levens, of Minersville, Schuylkill county.
They have a son, James, now a druggist of Tamaqua, Pa. Mr. and Mrs Ebert are members
of the Methodist Church, of which he has been a trustee for many years. She is an ardent
worker in the church and Sunday school.
James Levens, father of Mrs. Ebert, was a native of Ireland and emigrated to America,
landing at Philadelphia, where he made his home for a time. Going to Port Richmond,
near Philadelphia, he there married Margaret McElheny, and then moved to Minersville,
and later to Centralia, Columbia county, where he died in 1884, being buried in Ashland,
which is near Centralia. He was a miner by occupation. Mrs. Levens makes her home with
George W. Ebert, her son-in-law. She has had twelve children, of whom five are deceased
(including John), the others being as follows: James, resident in Centralia; Elizabeth,
wife of George W. Ebert; Mary, wife of Joseph Lange, of Philadelphia; Alexander,
resident of Hartford, Conn.; Sophia, wife of Nicholas Conrad, of Philadelphia; Sarah,
wife of Matthew Nealy, of Gordon; and William, of Tamaqua.

Citation:
Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania: Genealogy – Family History – Biography: Containing Historical Sketches of Old Families and of Representative and Prominent Citizens Past and Present. In Two Volumes. Volume II. Chicago: J.H. Beers & Company, 1916. 
Available at Google books.