Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family
history through old photographs.
One of the most emphasized safety lessons of our youth is
that the police are our friends, but I wonder if Japanese-American and
Japanese-Canadian families thought so after being ushered off to internment
camps during World War II. This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt made me wonder if
there were any friendly police in my family tree.
Good news - I have one.
Bad news - I have no photo.
John Nagle married my great-grandmother’s sister Margaret
Sheehan in 1901. Both were born in Ireland but met in New York where they lived
the rest of their lives. According to the 1900 census, John was son of Richard
Nagle and Mary Singleton, and he was one of eight children, four of whom were
still living at home.
The family apparently could not remember when they
arrived in America. Whenever an enumerator asked when they arrived, their
answers varied from 1885 to 1888 to 1890. The truth is, it was 1880.
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| From Castlegarden.org |
John Nagle had been a resident for almost 15 years before
Margaret arrived.
When John and
Margaret married, he worked as a laborer. However, by 1910, he was employed as
a “Bank Attendant.” The title changed with each census: Special Policeman in
1920.
Floorman in 1930.
Special Officer in 1940.
In other words, security
guard. One census even reported that John was employed at Savings Bank.
Unfortunately, WHICH Savings Bank was not stated.
It turns out that there were many banks in Brooklyn with
“Savings Banks” as part of their name.
 |
| from The Brooklyn Eagle |
The newspapers are filled with stories of bank robberies
in the various Savings Banks in Brooklyn. If John Nagle exhibited any heroic
actions during a robbery, his name did not make the papers. Probably he was
just an ordinary man doing what men do - work hard and provide for the family.
John and Margaret raised 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls.
They rented the same house at 123 Van Sicklen Avenue from before 1920 to after
1930. By 1940 they were the owners.
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| 121 and 123 Van Sicklen Avenue, Brooklyn, NY image from Google Maps |
An interesting-to-me bit of genealogy trivia is that
right next door at 121 Van Sicklen Avenue was the family of John P. Mulvihill,
likewise a “Special Policeman” for Savings Bank. Did he own both houses and
rent the one to the Nagles? Did he help John get on with the Bank?
Or is this just co-inky-dinky?
To see who else is standing guard at Sepia Saturday,
follow the links. You may remain silent.
Wendy
© 2018, Wendy Mathias.
All rights reserved.
You've done some excellent investigating here. Nice post. It is rather interesting that the two Johns lived next door to each other and worked at the same place. One of them, very likely, introduced the other to the bank - but which one introduced, and which one followed? :)
ReplyDeleteThat's what I think too. They weren't far apart in age, but Mulvihill owned his house whereas Nagle rented. Mulvihill had been a city policeman prior to the bank gig, so my gut feeling is he recruited John Nagle.
DeleteOr maybe they found the houses for rent at the same time when they worked at the bank. Sounds like a nice arrangement, however it was worked out.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I wonder if they cooked out together on weekends.
DeleteA Special Policeman! It would be interesting to find out, he may have, records would probably answer that. More stories to uncover. As for those dear children it is so very sad.
ReplyDeleteI think you misunderstood - 4 children were living at home; the other 4 were likely married and gone.
DeleteIf the Mulvihills also had children, I imagine they practically lived together like one big happy family.whose fathers worked together, assuming of course that they got on together and probably that they were of the same religion.
ReplyDeleteMost definitely same religion - Irish Catholics. Two doors to the right of the Nagle house was where several priests lived.
DeleteSuch an interesting story about your great great uncle's family (I think that's his relation to you). Guards at banks who live next to each other must have had at least a minimal connection...whatever it might have been.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed in many census records - not just the Nagles - that neighbors frequently worked at the same place.
DeleteI wonder if Google envisioned how family history detectives would track down house addresses decades old. I wonder if there might be a Savings Bank name attached to the house sales or ownership records. So being curious about what property information might be available on Brooklyn public records I went on a quick Google search. I found "123 Van Sicklen" in a NYC Brooklyn borough database, but there are no sales records like on some databases. However there was a complaint history. Seems a neighbor reported a number of times that the owner built an "illegal driveway." I think that narrow gap between the two houses is it. Someone ought to call the city building office.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the year? Did my Nagles cause the uproar or a later owner? Very interesting! I'll have to find it.
DeleteAddress searches are a good way to find clues. Recently I looked up information on my local county records archive and discovered several interesting connections with the property histories of my neighbors' homes. In the 1910-40 era a number of Jewish merchant families lived in our neighborhood. Then in the 50s-60s it was railroad workers and then rooming houses, until gentrification stared.
DeleteAs I come across a lot of NYC photographs, I was curious to see what resources I could find. The first website that came up was http://www.brooklynhistory.org/library/house.html That page had a link to the NYC Department of Buildings information search. https://goo.gl/d2HB61
The address I think was 123 Van Sicklen St. not Ave. The Complaints link was at the bottom and are not very old. But it's neat to be able to do detective work on places so far away.
I also did a search on Newspapers.com for "123 Van Sicklen" and got about 5-6 hits including a John Nagle Jr. on a list of WW2 soldiers in the Pacific. Addresses were frequently used on classified ads, crime reports, and official legal posts.
Nice sleuthing. How wonderful to get the house up on Google and have a look. Whatever happened to Christmas Clubs?
ReplyDeleteAnd what happened to getting a toaster or other gift for opening an account?? I hear of Christmas clubs every once in awhile, mostly with community banks and credit unions. I guess they're too much trouble for the big boys.
DeleteIrish Car Bomb cupcakes?? Is there a recipe or do you just drink a lot of Guiness and then throw things around the kitchen?
ReplyDeleteIt's an actual recipe complete with Guinness, whiskey, and Baileys. It couldn't get more Irish if you threw in ground leprechaun. Every Killeen should have the recipe. Want it?
DeleteI love looking at the neighbors of my ancestors. I found my 2nd great grandparents living next door to each other before they were married. He was a single man, she was living with her family. Gee, I wonder how they met? :-)
ReplyDeleteI guess they took to heart "Love thy neighbor."
DeleteI guess they wouldnt have had to worry too much about home security ? !
ReplyDeleteAm i wrong to think that many people with Irish Roots went into policing then in N.Y.?
You’re right - police and fire fighter, the 2 most dangerous jobs available, jobs that most people didn’t want.
DeleteWhether or not John ended up doing anything heroic, I am sure knowing the risks, Margaret worried a lot about him. Now you have me curious as to whether I have any policemen in my family tree.
ReplyDelete