Sepia Saturday: Holding Water

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

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt shows men with wheelbarrows loaded with water jugs. While there is no wheelbarrow in this picture, the unidentified girl is carrying a bucket which undoubtedly must have held water at some time.

Unidentified girl
in photos from Helen Killeen Parker

In this terribly damaged and out-of-focus photo, my grandaunt Lillie Killeen and three unidentified women seem to be having a grand time at the water pump.

3 unidentified women with Lillie (front right)

These photos and hundreds more are the story of my life: unidentified people and a bunch of theories; unlike the jugs and bucket, however, some of my theories just don’t hold water.

Death Certificate for Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen Walsh

Take this death certificate, for example. As the informant, Aunt Lillie supplied the information about my great grandmother. She said Mary Theresa’s father was Daniel Sheehan and her mother was Nora.

Daniel Sheehan and Nora SULLIVAN were the same names given by Josie Sheehan at her marriage to Charles/Carl Krause in 1897. Right time. Right place. Yep, this must be Mary Theresa’s sister Josie, the one pictured here.

Josie with John Jr. and "Bob"

What a find. Finally I knew Mary Theresa’s parents’ names, or so I thought, until I found a death record for her sister Delia Sheehan Christian. It names her mother “Bridget O’Gorman.” Hmm. Evidently Daniel married twice. Yeah, that explains it.

from FamilySearch.org

That theory made sense until a search for information about Mary Theresa’s niece Myra Sheehan led to a different conclusion. Having never worked with Irish records before, I sought the advice of fellow blogger Dara of Black Raven Genealogy. Instead of sending me a list of sources as she had offered, she sent a marriage date that preceded the birth of Mary Theresa. Daniel and Bridget married 21 January 1857.

Marriage register for Daniel Sheehan and Bridget Gorman
Witnesses: Thomas Gorman and Johanna Burns

Obviously Bridget was not a second wife as I had speculated. Nor could Nora be a second wife because Delia was born ten years after Mary Theresa. If the truth was not clear by now, it certainly came into focus with Dara’s list of birth and baptismal records for the children of Daniel Sheehan and Bridget Gorman.

At last I had names for Mary Theresa’s siblings. Most are different from what I had been told, but I suspect the names listed on an old family chart could be middle names. What about “Nora” on Mary Theresa’s death certificate? Was that a diminutive for a middle name, such as Bridget Honoria? Or was Lillie just mistaken? And what about the photo of Josie? Was Josie a nickname for Johanna? Could Margaret’s middle name be Josephine?

Johanna Sheehan 10 March 1861 Sponsors Thomas Gorman and Ellena Grady

John Sheehan 28 June 1863 Sponsors Michael and Elizabeth Sheehan

Denis Sheehan 20 May 1866 Sponsors Thomas Gorman and Honora O’Grady

Mary Theresa Sheehan 10 January 1869 Sponsors Michael O’Brien and Mary Grady

Margaret Sheehan 21 December 1873 Sponsors Patrick Gorman and Mary O’Shea

Bridget (Delia) Sheehan 26 January 1879 Sponsors Thomas Gorman and Honora O’Grady

With some clues in Mary Theresa’s collection of greeting cards and Dara’s amazing finds, I have been able to track a few of my great grandmother’s sisters and brothers. I will be sharing these discoveries in the coming weeks – after all, St. Patrick’s Day is a big day for the Irish, and what better time to focus on my Irish ancestors than the month of March.

Thirsty for some fun reads? Wheel your way over to Sepia Saturday.

© 2016, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.