Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Wordless Wednesday: Easter Cards #2

Wordless Wednesday is a daily prompt at Geneabloggers that asks family historians to create a post in which the main focus is a photograph or image.

Here are just a few of the Easter cards sent to my great-grandmother Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen Walsh.


from her daughter Helen and husband Herb Parker
from daughter Tate and husband
Jimmy Crewes




















from her daughter Margaret and husband Jack Sprott
and son Billy
from granddaughters
Jean and Ebby Holland





















© 2016, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Monday, March 28, 2016

Mystery Monday: Hiding in Plain Sight

Mystery Monday is a daily prompt at Geneabloggers that encourages bloggers to write about mystery ancestors or mystery records – anything in their genealogy and family history research which is currently unsolved.

During the month of March, I am remembering my Irish ancestors by writing about my recent discoveries. The stories still qualify for “Mystery Monday” as there are so many questions yet unanswered.

Making my way through the sisters and brothers of my great-grandmother Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen Walsh, I took a deep breath and launched into the search for brother John Sheehan. It did not take long for frustration to set in. Every John Sheehan born in the mid-1860s and living in New York seemed like a likely prospect.

Temporarily abandoning all hope of finding John Sheehan, I shifted my attention to Johanna Sheehan, the oldest daughter of Daniel Sheehan and Bridget Gorman.

At FamilySearch, I entered the barebones of information: a name, an exact year of birth in Ireland, residence New York, and parents’ names. In seconds, there she was. It was a birth record for someone I had never heard of naming the mother “Johanna Shehan Hederman.” It was 1897 and Johanna was 36 years old.

Realizing this Johanna was born in 1861 just like MY Johanna, I then searched for Johanna Hederman. Was I shocked to see the census for 1900! Of all things, she was living in the same apartment building as who else but my great-grandmother. I must have looked at the Hederman family dozens of times while compiling information about Mary Theresa, but the name meant nothing.

1900 Census Bronx, New York

So why didn’t I think to apply the FAN theory to begin with? Delving into Family/Friends, Associates, and Neighbors is indeed a crucial step in learning about our ancestors. However, I learned of Johanna only weeks ago, thanks to Dara of Black Raven Genealogy.

Johanna had been hiding in plain sight all along. It is time to bring her out in the open.

She was baptized on March 10, 1861 in the Ballingarry Diocese of Limerick, Ireland, so likely she was born about March 3 in the Castletown district of Croom, like the other Sheehan children.

Baptism record Johanna Sheehan 1861  http://jollettetc.blogspot.com
Baptism record for Johanna Sheehan, daughter of Daniel Sheehan and Bridget Gorman
sponsors Thomas Gorman and Ellen Grady
from Catholic Parish Registers at NLI.ie

According to the 1900 census in Bronx, New York, Johanna arrived in the United States in 1883. Patrick Hederman came from Ireland as well and had been in the states for twenty-three years. The two had been married fifteen years (1885). While Patrick worked as a porter, Johanna kept house and cared for their two children Catherine (born 1887) and John (born 1896). They were the only two survivors of seven children born to the Hedermans.

By 1910, the Hedermans had moved from their apartment at 4024 Third Avenue in the Bronx to nearby 374 159th Street.
1910 Census Bronx, New York
Patrick took a job as a coffee roaster for a coffee company. John at age 14 was a “new boy” at what has been transcribed as “El Railroad.” A Mexican restaurant in a train car? Electric Rail? Misreading of something else? And maybe John was not a “NEW boy” but a “NEWS boy” selling newspapers. As for Catherine, she was gone, likely married.

In 1920, the family had moved yet again, this time to 3334 Ft. Independence Street in Bronx, still renting. Patrick was earning a living as a porter for a grocery store; John was a laborer in the building trade.
1920 Census Bronx, New York

Patrick was back to roasting coffee in the 1925 census and living with his family at 2333 Webster Avenue.

One more move – of record anyway – found the Hedermans at an apartment around the corner from Webster Avenue at 461 East 187th Street in the Bronx. At age 72, Patrick was retired. John no doubt contributed his pay as a brick handler to the family’s rent of $40.
1930 Census Bronx, New York

Patrick died July 12, 1932. Johanna probably died between 1930 and 1931 as she did not appear in the 1931 city directory, but Patrick and John both did.

Finding Johanna is bittersweet. I found her, yes, but I still have not solved the mystery of the family with the poodle and the children John Jr. and “Bob.” My hopes that son John Hederman was the father of the mystery children were dashed when I found him still single living at home in 1920. 

As for Catherine, a Christmas card sent to Mary Theresa and signed “Catherine Donnelly” lifted my spirits as I started imagining her with a husband named John Donnelly. She was certainly old enough to be mother to someone born in 1916. 

Catherine Donnelly Christmas card to Mary Theresa Sheehan Walsh before 1939 http://jollettetc.blogspot.com

However, none of the three John and Catherine Donnelly couples matched the facts. Catherine married, for sure, but her husband was Charles Fraundorf. They married in 1908 and had one daughter named Gertrude.
1930 Census New York
note that the enumerator added "Limerick" to her parents' birthplace
Christmas card from Catherine Fraundorf and family
in the scrapbook of Mary Theresa Sheehan Walsh

If I am to identify those adorable mystery children and the woman with the poodle, I need to find John Sheehan. It will not be easy. Why should I expect otherwise?

Sheehan relatives New York 1921  http://jollettetc.blogspot.com

© 2016, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Friday, March 25, 2016

Sepia Saturday: Socks Appeal

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.


This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt shows a crowd of boys hovering around a game of marbles. A good game of marbles can get rather heated. And so can those socks.

The socks worn by the boys in the photo were surely heavier and hotter than what the boys in my photos wore. There is nothing particularly interesting about the socks, but the photos themselves are rather good.

John C. Holland about 1919 Portsmouth, VA http://jollettetc.blogspot.com
John Clifton Holland
son of my grandaunt Mae Killeen Holland
Unknown from collection of Helen Killeen Parker  http://jollettetc.blogspot.com
Unknown child but photo was among those
belonging to my grandaunt Helen Killeen Parker


Possibly John and Matthew Glynn http://jollettetc.blogspot.com
If this picture dates to the 1890s, then I would guess
the boys are John and Matthew Glynn,
cousins of my grandaunts Helen and Mae

Sisters Julia and Catherine Walsh 1920  http://jollettetc.blogspot.com
My granny Julia and her sister Catherine
1920
When I look at this photo of my granny at age 12 with her white socks pulled up, I see myself at about the same age. I think I have her legs.

Wendy Slade about 12 http://jollettetc.blogspot.com
Me about age 12























Granny was a sock wearer even into her granny years.

Granny Julia Walsh Slade 1952  http://jollettetc.blogspot.com
My granny 1952 - she laughed about this pose
In the 1940s when my mother was in high school, the rolled bobby socks was the look to sport.

Cradock High School friends 1946  http://jollettetc.blogspot.com
Joanne Palmer, Mary E. Davis (my mother),
Betsy Ward, Unknown, Cookie Spencer
The girls achieved that fullness with an extra sock in the roll. My mother and her friends teased Joanne Palmer (on the left) for wearing her boyfriend’s dark socks. I never learned why she did that.

Grab your lucky socks and knuckle down at Sepia Saturday.

© 2016, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Wordless Wednesday: Easter Cards

Wordless Wednesday is a daily prompt at Geneabloggers that asks family historians to create a post in which the main focus is a photograph or image.

Here are just a few of the Easter cards sent to my great-grandmother Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen Walsh.

from her sister Delia Christian



















from her daughter Catherine and her husband Steve Barany
from her granddaughter Ebby Holland


























© 2016, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.


Monday, March 21, 2016

Theme Reveal - A to Z April Challenge



Like most family historians, I enjoy hunting for ancestors and finding their stories. After all, “just the facts, Ma’am” can be rather dry and unimpressive. It is the story that brings our ancestors to life. Seeing how they lived, how they faced adversity, how they responded to the political and economic events in their time, and how they celebrated life’s blessings can both inspire and motivate us.

And so for years I have dug and dug and dug some more, looking for those stories to record so that future generations won’t have to. For the past four consecutive years, I have participated in the A to Z April Challenge by focusing on some aspect of my family history – unusual names in my family, in-laws and out-laws, those who attended my grandparents’ funerals.

But there are voices of genealogists smarter than I am that keep saying, “Don’t forget to tell YOUR story.” MY story?? At first I didn’t think I had a story. That’s just it. Honestly, most of my ancestors’ stories are rather ordinary, yet I am still intensely interested in learning about the people who came before me even though they did nothing special to earn a mention in a history book. So maybe it is not so crazy to imagine that one day my great-grandchildren and great-greats and great-great-greats might look for my picture and wonder what kind of person I was and how I lived.

Therefore, for the benefit of my descendants yet to be, I will use this challenge to write about my childhood and teen years.

My theme for this A to Z April Challenge will be Growing Up in Cradock.

See you in April!

© 2016, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Mystery Monday: Margaret, Is That You?

Mystery Monday is a daily prompt at Geneabloggers that encourages bloggers to write about mystery ancestors or mystery records – anything in their genealogy and family history research which is currently unsolved.

During the month of March, I am remembering my Irish ancestors by writing about my recent discoveries. The stories still qualify for “Mystery Monday” as there are so many questions yet unanswered.

It seems every other day I am blogging about my inability to identify these people. 

Unknown family of Mary Theresa Sheehan Walsh New York 1921 http://jollettetc.blogspot.com
New York 1921
Children are "Bob" or "Barbie" and John Jr.
Poodle is named "Cutey"

I know the children are “Bob” or “Barbie” and John Jr. They are frequently pictured with the woman on the left and that poodle. The young woman in the center is likely their mother, leaving the woman on the left to be a candidate for grandmother. The woman on the right might be a sister to the grandmother and thus aunt to the young mother and grandaunt to the children.

But who the heck were they??
Unknown sister of Mary Theresa Sheehan Walsh with John Jr and Bob plus Cutey http://jollettetc.blogspot.com
Unknown sister of Mary Theresa Sheehan Walsh with John Jr and Bob plus Cutey http://jollettetc.blogspot.com
1921


1922

Since I already know my great grandmother Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen Walsh’s family as well as the families for her sisters Elizabeth Sheehan Byrnes and Delia Sheehan Christian, and her brother Denis Sheehan, possibly the women were Mary Theresa’s other sisters Margaret Sheehan and Johanna Sheehan, or maybe even the wife of her brother John Sheehan.

Josie with John Jr. and Bob  http://jollettetc.blogspot.com
Josie with John Jr and "Bob"
The children are pictured only one other time with the woman on the right in the first photo. In that one picture, she is identified as “Josie.” Maybe that is a nickname for Johanna. Or not. Since Josie does not seem to be the one MOST related to the children, I decided to focus some attention on Margaret as my #1 suspect prospect for Bob and John Jr’s mother or grandmother.

For a while, I was convinced that Margaret was Mrs. Thomas Creamer, the woman listed right after Delia Christian on a list of passengers traveling to and from Ireland in 1936. Surely Delia would not have made that trip alone to visit family left behind in Ireland.

Travel document for Delia Christian and Margaret Creamer http://jollettetc.blogspot.com
from FamilySearch

Travel document Delia Christian and Margaret Creamer http://jollettetc.blogspot.com

My theory was strengthened when I found a birth record for her children in which Margaret’s maiden name was identified as Sheehan.

And then the terrible news: a death record named Margaret’s parents as Martin Sheehan and Johanna Kiely.  It is not unusual for family members to be mistaken about the facts, but these names are just too far off the mark from Daniel Sheehan and Bridget Gorman.

Back to the drawing board, as they say.

As I was preparing this post, I gave FamilySearch another shot at making me a happy girl. I must have entered my search terms differently this time because up popped a marriage record for Margaret Sheehan and John Nagle.
Marriage record Margaret Sheehan and John Nagle http://jollettetc.blogspot.com
Marriage record Margaret Sheehan and John Nagle http://jollettetc.blogspot.com
from FamilySearch


The convincing detail is the name of her parents. Evidently someone could not read her mother’s name but those letters look like they belong to “O’Gorman” (or just plain “Gorman”).

Pinning down the right family has been a challenge – it is surprising how many couples were named John and Margaret Nagle – but I do think I found them.

In 1905 the young Nagles lived on East 101st Street in Manhattan. They had one daughter, Marie age 1.

Five years later they were at the same address. John was a bank attendant. I do not take reports of age too seriously in census records, but I noticed that the ages of John and Margaret widened. Also Margaret’s date of immigration year was listed as 1896 instead of 1893 as previously reported. There were now three children, Mary, Margaret, and Richard.

1910 Manhattan, New York

I could not find the family in either the 1915 or 1925 census.

By 1920 the child count was up to six with Mary, Margaret, Richard, John, Helen, and Maurice. John was working as special police for the bank. Margaret’s immigration date changed once again, this time to 1894 and a date of 1898 for naturalization. They rented a home on Van Sicklen Avenue in Brooklyn.
1920  123 Van Sicklen Ave, Brooklyn, NY

Nagles' Van Sicklen Ave home on the right
from Google Maps
In 1930 they were still on Van Sicklen Avenue. John was a Floorman for the bank. Daughter Mary was gone, likely married. Daughter Margaret was a typist for the bank. Richard and John were clerks at a printing company.

The next census in 1940 brought a surprise. John was listed as married, but “7” was penciled in beside the “M.” That symbol denoted separation or pending divorce. Margaret was not in the household. Unlike typical divorces where children side with the mother, all the children were with their father (except Mary, of course, who was still likely married).


1940 123 Van Sicklen Ave, Brooklyn, NY


Maybe the Margaret Nagle at 1064 Madison Ave in Manhattan was our Margaret. She claimed to be widowed, but even as late as 1940, women often claimed to be widowed rather than expose the shame of divorce.

What became of Margaret Nagle after 1940? I do not know. However, I managed to find a few tidbits about the children.
  • Mary married a man by the name of McManus, as proven by her death record dated 23 April 1989. The record names her parents John Nagle and Margaret Sheehan. I found two possibilities for a spouse in the 1930 census – Richard or Hugh. There were several other Mary and Somebody McManus, but the details of birth and parents’ births match only these two. Fortunately a Christmas card in Mary Theresa’s scrapbook set this record straight: she married Richard.



  • Richard died in 1993 in Highstown, Mercer, New Jersey.
  • John Jr. died 1 September 1983 in New York. He is buried in the Calverton National Cemetery for veterans. He had served in the Army.
  • Maurice died 29 January 1989 and is likewise buried in the Calverton National Cemetery in Calverton, New York. He too served in the Army.



















While I am confident I have found the family of my great-grandmother’s sister Margaret, I am disappointed that I still do not know the identity of the family with the poodle. This cannot be Margaret’s family. Why? Because none of her children fit the names and birth years of the mystery children John Jr. and “Bob,” and because her children were too young to be parents about 1917.

Maybe the mystery children and poodle belonged to Mary Theresa’s brother John Sheehan. How many John Sheehans could there be in New York? One or two? I wish. More likely hundreds.  

UPDATE: JUST IN

My guardian angel Dara of Black Raven Genealogy couldn’t believe Margaret would be divorced because she was an Irish woman and Catholic to boot. So Dara went hunting and found a death record. (Why did this record NOT come up when I searched?) Margaret died in May 1934. The address was still Van Sicklen Avenue in Brooklyn.
 
from FamilySearch
So what about that “M7” code signaling that John Nagle was possibly divorced? He had been a widower for over five years. One explanation I found was that the “7” was often added later by someone going over the enumerator’s records to indicate that a spouse was not included in the household despite one member claiming to be married. It might have been a separation, a pending divorce, an indication that the spouse was away for some reason (such as being hospitalized). Or it could even mean that the enumerator was lied to, that the person was not really married at all. Richard was the informant; surely he knew his mother was deceased, but perhaps in his mind, his father WAS married.

© 2016, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.