52 Ancestors - MUSIC: Music to My Ears

During the month of March, I will be shining the light on my Irish roots.

Adhering to both the themes of 52 Ancestors AND my commitment to honoring my Irish ancestors requires me to get creative this week. This photo of my grandaunt Helen Killeen Parker is one of my favorites. 

Helen Killeen with Victrola

She was on a camping trip with friends and someone brought along a gramophone – the 1920s version of ye olde boombox or the modern day Spotify and earbuds. Read two versions of the camping trip HERE and HERE.

But what would really be music to my ears would be if

• I could identify the parents of little John Jr and his sister “Bob”
• I could find John Sheehan in New York City
• I could determine which Daniel Sheehan in County Limerick, Ireland was mine
• I could find out how Thomas Gorman who witnessed Johanna Sheehan’s baptism was related to her mother Bridget Gorman and if this was the same Thomas Gorman who witnessed the marriage of Bridget Gorman and Daniel Sheehan
• I could find out how Elizabeth Sheehan Enraght who witness John Sheehan’s baptism was related to his father Daniel Sheehan
• I could find out how Patrick Gorman who witnessed Margaret Sheehan’s baptism was related to her mother Bridget Gorman
• the descendants of Johanna Sheehan Hederman, Margaret Sheehan Nagle, Delia Sheehan Christian, and Elizabeth Sheehan Byrnes would contact me

 

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.

Sentimental Sunday - New York Cousins

During the month of March, I will be shining the light on my Irish roots.

Most of Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen Walsh’s sisters remained in New York following their emigration from Limerick, Ireland. It seems that Mary Theresa made sure her children got to visit their cousins. 

Probably Johanna Sheehan Hederman
with children Catherine Hederman Fraundorf
and John Hederman

My granny Julia Walsh Slade
Elmira Christian, daughter of Delia Sheehan
and William Christian

Grace Christian, Julia Walsh, Elmira Christian

My granny Julia Walsh
Sadie Byrnes, daughter of Elizabeth Sheehan and Patrick Byrnes

Julia's sister Helen Killeen with Robert Byrnes 1919
son of Elizabeth Sheehan and Patrick Byrnes

Jack Byrnes son of Elizabeth Sheehan and Patrick Byrnes
1919

Sadie Byrnes and either Joseph or Patrick Byrnes 1919
children of Elizabeth Sheehan and Patrick Byrnes

Wendy

© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

52 Ancestors - FORTUNE: Living the American Dream

During the month of March, I will be shining the light on my Irish roots.

One of the major events that prompted thousands of Irish to pick up sticks and immigrate to America was the “Great Hunger,” otherwise known as the Potato Famine that lasted from about 1845 to 1852. Fortunately, that was not the case with my Irish ancestors who arrived in the 1880s.

Five Sheehan sisters and one brother came to New York leaving one brother in County Limerick, Ireland. What their motives were is a mystery, but surely there had to have been some desire for a better life than the one they were leaving behind.

None of the six traveled together – not the same boat, not the same year. Each one made the journey in or near her seventeenth year.

• Johanna – 1878 (although reported in some census records as 1882)
• Mary Theresa – 1886
• Elizabeth – 1888
• Margaret – 1894
• Delia – 1896

Since I have been unable to find MY John Sheehan, the one brother who immigrated, I will limit my observations to the five girls.

I cannot determine if their parents Daniel and Bridget Sheehan paid for each one to go or if they were even alive to do so. I like to think they were still living, proudly scrimping and saving in order to send one child every couple of years to make her fortune in America.

None of the girls were married when they arrived in New York. Where did they live? How did they survive? Thanks to New York’s State census conducted at the five-year mark between federal censuses, I found some of the sisters but not all. Some arrived after a census and married before the next.

In 1892, my great-grandmother Mary Theresa Sheehan lived with other single women in an apartment building on Clinton Avenue in Brooklyn. 

1892 Brooklyn, Kings Co, NY census

She worked as a cook while her Irish friends worked as a hairdresser and as a waitress. Delia Sheehan, the baby of the family and last to arrive, lived with relatives, John and Delia Hogan. I wonder if the others did the same upon first arriving.

Each of the girls married an Irish immigrant, except Delia, the only one to marry a natural born citizen of the United States. In the 1900 census, both husbands and wives reported they could read and write. None of the husbands had been unemployed during the year. That is a good sign they were hard-working and industrious men. What kinds of work did they perform?

Patrick Hederman, husband of Johanna, spent most of his working life as a porter for a grocery store. Most of us might think of the duties that a porter performs in a hotel such as carrying guests’ luggage. In a grocery store, a porter might load groceries in a customer’s car. A porter would be expected to fix minor issues like changing light bulbs, to clean areas including the entrance to the store, and to restock new products and rearrange old ones. Likely he managed a variety of tasks on a daily basis to ensure the store operated smoothly.

John Joseph Killeen, my great-grandmother’s first husband, worked as a guard for the railroad.

Elizabeth’s husband Patrick Byrnes worked almost his entire adult life as a driver, sometimes specifically a “truck driver”; other times it was “brewery driver.” In 1920 he was a chauffeur. Oddly enough, in 1930 he switched careers altogether to be a carpenter for the local hospital. Could one of the men in this photo be Patrick Byrnes, Chauffeur Extraordinaire?

1918
My grandaunt Lillie Killeen is holding the baby "John Jr."

Margaret’s husband John J. Nagle worked as a guard at a bank. The job title changed frequently from bank attendant to bank police to bank floorman to special officer. Is this man wearing the uniform of a bank guard? The uniform of a chauffeur? A fireman? A policeman? 

1918

Delia’s husband William Christian worked several years as a clerk in a shipping company. In 1920 he was farming in New Jersey. They returned to Brooklyn, New York by 1930 when he went into the dry-cleaning business.

Cutey (the poodle), "Bob" and John Jr.
1921 in the Bronx
BUT notice the sign in the window - CLEANERS
I assume this is the mother of Bob and John Jr.
One of the other women is probably HER mother

The careers these families followed did not guarantee a life of luxury, but these Irish immigrants lived the American Dream by working hard and building a good life for themselves and their children.

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.

52 Ancestors: Going to the Chapel - Or Not

This week’s theme for the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” challenge is “Going to the Chapel.” What perfect timing to share a recent research problem and how our challenge leader Amy Johnson Crow helped me solve it.

My enthusiasm for researching my Irish ancestors returned when a new record popped up for the sister of my great-grandmother Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen Walsh. The sister is Johanna Sheehan Hederman (or Heatherman!). Her story always makes me sad because only 2 of her 7 children

Possibly Johanna Sheehan Hederman
with children Catherine and John

survived into adulthood; the others did not live more than a couple years, if that long.

The older of the two children was Catherine who married Charles Fraundorf on August 18, 1908. They had one daughter, Gertrude born in 1916. The little family appeared in the expected New York census records for 1920, 1925, 1930 and 1940. After that, my online searches found little more than dates of death for Charles and Catherine. A few newspaper articles revealed Charles was active in the Knights of Columbus and local politics. But there was nothing new about Gertrude.

Just this past week in a fit of boredom, I opened Ancestry and did a general search for Fraundorf. What a surprise to find a listing for good ol’ Gertrude in the New York State Marriage Index. She married on April 21, 1940 in Long Beach, Nassau County, New York. Long Beach had been the Fraundorfs’ home at least since 1935. However, any celebration over the thought of new leads to follow came to a halt when the index gave me the husband’s name as Vivian Hennekey. 

Surely New York was not so progressive in 1940 to be granting marriage licenses to lesbians. Still, I clicked Miss Hennekey’s name, which took me to a page that revealed a different marriage date and location. She did not marry Gertrude Fraundorf after all! The cause of confusion is clearly the illegible certificate number.

Back to the search I went and plugged in the certificate number, “7882.” It gave me Vivian Hennekey again. So maybe the certificate number was NOT 7882, but no other number I tried gave me Gertrude Fraundorf AND someone other than Vivian.

During a Facebook group chat with Amy Johnson Crow, I posed the question, “Is there a workaround to find the correct couple in the New York State Marriage index 1881-1967?” As soon as Amy pulled up the index on her screen, she saw the problem with the smudged certificate numbers. She studied the screen and said, “Try entering just the exact day, month, year and location, no names.”

That is what I did. And it worked. Two brides and 2 grooms married on April 21, 1940 in Long Beach. (Not surprisingly, NONE of their marriage certificate numbers are clear.) 

Wallace Beers and Rita Lay married and lived happily ever after. They are even buried happily ever after together. Their descendants have shared family trees on Ancestry.

So that left Gertrude plus Salvatore DeLucia.

If, like me, you think surely a name like Salvatore DeLucia and Gertrude DeLucia would be easy to find, think again. Apparently there is an unwritten rule that Italian families - especially the DeLucias - must name a son “Salvatore.”

With an April wedding, Sal and Gert could have been in the census together in 1940, but apparently they were not. In fact, Gertrude was still at home with her parents, probably fully engulfed in wedding planning, when the enumerator came around about 3 weeks before the big day.

Believed to be Catherine and Gertrude Fraundorf

With no supporting facts to go on, it is impossible to sift through the numerous Salvatore DeLucias and Lucias and DeLucios and Luccios and DeLucas to come to a logical conclusion about the husband of Gertrude Fraundorf. Was he born in Italy or was he an American-born son of Italian immigrants? Was he about Gertrude’s age or did she marry a much older man? My research indicates the older Salvatores were also very married with families in 1940. The single Salvatores were mostly children, too young to marry in 1940.

The best candidate for a husband was the Salvatore DeLucia who was an Italian immigrant son of Italian immigrants Angelo and Rose DeLucia. This Salvatore was born in Italy in 1908, arrived in the United States in 1914, and was naturalized by 1930. He was still single in 1940 and only slightly older than Gertrude. The fact that he was living in the right neighborhood at the right time to have met and courted Gertrude Fraundorf makes him the most likely suspect.

BUT - There is NOTHING to say I am right and EVERYTHING to say I am wrong. Family trees on Ancestry put Salvatore not with Gertrude Fraundorf but with Theresa Botticelli - MARRIED and BURIED together. The ONE and only ONE piece of information that keeps this Sal in the running is that he and Miss Botticelli married in 1947, seven years after Gertrude and whichever Salvatore married.

Did Gertrude die young? Could Gertrude and Salvatore have called off the wedding? Could they have married and later divorced? If so, that would have been tough for a couple of Catholics.

Wendy

© 2018, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.