52 Ancestors - STEPS: Cousin Elmyra

I am always drawn to the photos of my first generation Irish-American relatives. This one of my granny Julia Walsh Slade with her cousins sitting on the steps is a favorite.

Grace Christian, Julia Walsh, Elmyra Christian
probably around 1917-1919

Apparently it was taken during one of many trips my great-grandmother Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen Walsh made to visit family. The Sheehan sisters emigrated from County Limerick, Ireland in the late 1880s and settled in New York City. When my great-grandmother was widowed, she left her sisters to join her in-laws in Portsmouth, Virginia. Mary Theresa remained close to her sisters through letters and visits.

Julia and Elmyra
Elmhurst (Queens), NY

Elmyra and Julia with Elmyra's brother
probably Raymond
I would love to know what was torn out!

I don’t know why, but Elmyra has always intrigued me. Something about that face. I searched Ancestry, FamilySearch, and 3 newspaper subscriptions, and I found a few tidbits.

from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle 8 Oct 1913

Elmyra was a good student named in the honor roll list for PS #13 in October 1913.

 

from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle 19 May 1919

In May 1919, she performed in a piano recital in the Pouch Mansion on Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn.

 

Pouch Mansion 

In 1930, Elmyra’s engagement to Godfrey Stamm appeared in the newspaper.

from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle 29 Jun 1930

I wondered if they ever married because the 1940 census shows Elmyra as SINGLE, living with her parents. Likewise, Godfrey was living with his mother and was enumerated as SINGLE. However, his World War II enlistment records of 1942 state he was divorced with dependents. Since neither Godfrey nor Elmyra shows any children with them in the 1940 census, the dependent was likely Godfrey’s mother. In 1942 Elmyra married Edward T. Zarek and they had 2 children.

The last two mentions of Elmira in the newspaper are in the funeral notice for her husband Edward Zarek 

from the Daily News New York, NY 9 Mar 1978

and her own obituary in 1996.

from The Journal News
White Plains, NY
31 Mar 1996

I gasped at the last statement in which the family requested memorial donations for the Dominican Convent in Blauvelt, NY. That is where Elmyra’s cousin – and thus my granny’s cousin as well – Sadie Byrnes had been a member.

This photo of my granny with Sadie might have been taken during that same trip from Virginia to visit the aunts and cousins in New York.

Julia and Sadie

Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”

Wendy

© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: Sister Dea

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

As Sepia Saturday turns to thoughts of the holiday season with a vintage German calendar, I am reminded of this Christmas card from 1935.

It was sent by Delia “Dea” Sheehan Christian to her sister Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen Walsh, my father’s maternal grandmother.

If the sheer number of cards from Dea in Mary Theresa’s scrapbook can be relied on as evidence of their relationship, they were close despite the ten years age difference and the 400 miles that separated them.

Born January 26, 1879 in Limerick, Ireland, Dea was the baby of the family of Daniel Sheehan and Bridget Gorman. When she reached the age of 17, she immigrated to the United States just as her sisters had done previously.

In 1900 she was living in Manhattan, New York with an aunt and uncle, John and Delia Hogan. Four years later she married William Henry Christian. They had a baby girl right away, but she did not survive. Five more children came in regular intervals, but sadly one baby boy did not live.

Grace Christian, Julia Walsh (my grandmother),
and Elmyra Christian 

While Dea ran the household, her husband William worked as a shipping clerk for a time. In 1920, they were a farm family in William’s home state New Jersey, but by 1925 they were back in New York, Brooklyn to be exact. William went into the dry cleaning business.

Dea died June 8, 1942, in Brooklyn.

Even though I found Dea’s granddaughter on Facebook, I have been unable to learn anything new about this family. Promised photos never came. Questions were never answered. Family trees on Ancestry posted by descendants of Dea’s daughter Grace know less than I do. They do not even know Dea’s maiden name. They also do not know names and dates associated with Grace’s brothers Raymond and William and sister Elmyra.

Evidently the affection and regard for family in one generation does not always pass to the next generation. Still, since someone posted a family tree, I have hope that eventually I can learn more about a much loved sister.

Delia Sheehan (26 Jan 1879 Croom, Limerick, Ireland – 8 Jun 1942 Brooklyn, New York ) & William Henry Christian (1 Nov 1881 New Brunswick, New Jersey) married 24 Apr 1904 Manhattan, New York

• Baby Girl (1904 – 29 Oct 1904 Manhattan, New York)
• Elmyra Dorothy (29 Jun 1907 New York – 29 Mar 1996 New York) & Edward T. Zarek (9 Sep 1909 Rhode Island – 8 Mar 1978 New York) married 1942
• William (1910 – 27 Sep 1910 Manhattan, New York)
• Grace (6 Jan 1912 New York – 19 Mar 1997 Ossining, New York) & Charles Anthony Smith (1907 Brooklyn, New York – 2 Dec 1965 Brooklyn, New York)
• Raymond (1915 New York – ) & Theodora Brown (22 Jul 1918 – 2006 Westbury, New York)
• William Patrick (17 Mar 1918 New York – 17 Jan 2002 Flushing, New York) & Mildred Mae Meyer (1 Nov 1920 Brooklyn, New York – 28 Jul 1970 Brooklyn New York)

Please visit Sepia Saturday to see what others have marked on the calendar.

Wendy

© 2016, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.