TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 34 Number 4 Winter 2017 pages 72-74

Here is a copy of the original I submitted. 

Families come and go. Over the course of immigration families may move thousands of miles but tend to maintain close contacts with relatives and neighbors. Even with the best of intentions bonds weaken, contacts diminish and connections cease. This weakening of family bonds can sometimes lead to lost children no family members remember.  

Owen McGinn(1862-1926) was an Irish immigrant that settled in the Hell’s Kitchen area of Manhattan by 1892. Hell’s Kitchen is a neighborhood from West 34th Street to West 59th Street flanked by the Hudson River. He was the godfather at his nephew Owen Goodwin’s christening on 13 Sep 1892. A few years later Owen moved in with his widowed sister, Kate Goodwin, and her children. They lived at 554 West 46th Street in the 1900 US Census. www.ancestry.com

Family tradition stated that he left to marry a much younger woman and had a family. 

Searching the St. Raphael baptismal register discovered a potential lead on Owen and his lost family. Three children of Owen McGinn and Mary Mahoney were baptized there in 1903, 1907 and 1912. 

The eldest, Johannah, did not have a civil birth certificate. Therefore, the baptism is the only known record to substantiate her exact date of birth, 9 Mar 1903.

Margaret McGinn’s 2 Jun 1907 date of birth was recorded both on a civil birth certificate and in the baptismal register. 

John McGinn was born on 1 Feb 1912 according to the baptismal register. Civil birth records after 1909 are not yet in the public domain. 

The baptismal entries recorded exact dates of birth which were crucial in tracking these three in the Social Security Death Index(SSDI). Johannah McGinn died 4 Feb 1984, Margaret McGinn Thurston died 17 Sep 1982 and John McGinn died 28 Sep 1997. Margaret’s 1930 marriage record was abstracted at FamilySearch thus revealing her married name. www.familysearch.org

The large gaps between their births hinted that they may have had missing siblings. The  claim that Owen McGinn married a much younger woman would allow that she might have delivered more than three children.

Owen McGinn and Mary Mahoney(1883-1950) married in 1902. A civil marriage record from the Bronx was abstracted at FamilySearch. The nineteen year age gap between the couple indicated the truth of the family tradition.

Owen and Mary McGinn were enumerated in censuses in 1905 at 543 West 43^rd Street, in 1910 at 604 West 45^th Street, in 1915 at 265 West 40th Street and in 1920 at 633 Columbus Avenue near West 91st Street. Family lore suggested that families would move regularly to get a freshly painted apartment.

They had a total of six children; 5 daughters and a son. Three were baptized at St Raphael(1903, 1907, 1912), two at Holy Cross(1905, 1914) and one at St. Ambrose(1909). The godparents chosen revealed family connections as Hugh Goodwin and Patrick & Sarah Goodwin were baptismal sponsors over the years for their first cousins, Catherine McGinn and Mary McGinn. 

Each daughter that died young, did so after appearing in a census record or two. Catherine was counted in the 1905 state census, Alice in the 1910 federal census and Mary in both the 1915 state census and the 1920 federal census. Curiously, this family was not enumerated in the 1925 state census.

The 1905 Catherine McGinn birth certificate recorded that there was 1 previous child born to the mother (Johannah) and 2 were now living in all (Johannah, Catherine.)

The 1907 birth certificate for their daughter, Margaret, listed the counties of origin for her parents in Ireland; father Tyrone and mother Limerick. This certificate recorded that there were two previous births (Johannah, Catherine) and two living (Johannah, Margaret.)

In 1909 Alice McGinn’s birth certificate recorded that 3 previous children had been born (Johannah, Catherine, Margaret) and now 3 in all were still living (Johannah, Margaret, Alice.) 

In the 1910 federal census Owen and Mary McGinn were enumerated as having been married 8 years. Mary was recorded as having delivered 4 children (Johannah, Catherine, Margaret, Alice) and 3 were alive (Johannah, Margaret, Alice). These answers aligned perfectly with the non-census records. 

Owen McGinn purchased a grave at Calvary Cemetery on 29 Nov 1905. Those buried there follow. Each of their death certificates listed a mother’s maiden name which previously was not done on NYC death certificates.  

Catherine McGinn, 10m, bd. 29 Nov 1905

Alice McGinn, 1, bd. 27 May 1911

Mary McGinn, 5(sic) bd. 12 Oct 1921

Owen McGinn, 60(sic) bd. 18 Feb 1926

Mary McGinn, 67, d. (7 Oct 1950)

Johannah McGinn, 80, bd. 6 Feb 1984

Alice’s baptism was very difficult to track down. The family lived at 608 West 47th St. when she was born 17 Nov 1909. In the Apr 1910 census enumeration they lived at 604 West 45th St. At the time of her death on 26 May 1911 they resided at 529 West 40th St. 

Finally, her christening at St Ambrose, was discovered. Her godparents were Patrick & Bridget Mulcahey. How might they be connected to her parents?

Owen McGinn lived with the Goodwins in 1900. His niece, Sarah Goodwin, was baptized at St. Raphael in 1896 and her godmother was Bridget McGinn. 

In the Goodwin family plot at Calvary was a 1902 burial for a month-old boy named Patrick Mulcahey. His death certificate listed the place of death as 444 West 46th Street and named Patrick & Bridget Mulcahey as his parents. Might they be Alice’s godparents? 

A baptismal registration was found for Patrick Mulcahey at Holy Cross. He was the son of Patrick Mulcahey & Bridget McGinn. No civil birth registration was found for this child. Nor has a marriage record been discovered. Hopefully, when the Archdiocese of New York sacramental records become available later this year through www.findmypast.com this will change. 

When James Mulcahey was born 17 Jan 1905 he had a civil birth record that listed his parents as Patrick Mulcahey & Bridget McGinn. His birth abstract was found at FamilySearch. It recorded that his mother, Bridget McGinn Mulcahey, had delivered one previous child (Patrick) and now after James’ birth, one survived (James). 

In the 1910 US Census, Bridget Mulcahey, of 1681 Lexington Avenue, between East 105th & East 106th Streets, answered that she had delivered two children (Patrick, James) and zero were living. It wasn’t until James’ abstracted birth record was found at FamilySearch, that it was certain that this couple in the 1910 federal census was the right one and that there had been a missing child to find. James Mulcahey was christened at Sacred Heart.

The 1905 birth and death records for baby James helped to definitively find his parents in the 1905 NY state census five months later. This couple had been at 528 West 47th Street in Jun 1905 but left Hell’s Kitchen by Apr 1910. Usually an immigrant family would initially move to either the west side of Manhattan or the east side. They generally remained on the same side of the island and moved north as their economic prospects improved. Once the Mulcaheys “moved on up” near East 105th Street by 1910, they made a lateral move near West 103rd Street by 1915. They did not return south to Hell’s Kitchen. 

Bridget McGinn Mulcahey(1866-1925) remarried in 1920 to John Meade. They were issued a marriage license which named her parents as Patrick McGinn & Alice McWilliams. These were the parents’ names that were listed on the 1902 marriage certificate for Owen McGinn & Mary Mahoney. They were also the names listed on the 1911 death certificate for Catherine McGinn Goodwin Gormley(1860-1911). These three siblings had emigrated from County Tyrone.

Catholic Church marriage records after 19 Apr 1908(when the Ne temere decree took effect) should include notations of where a bride or groom was baptized. The Ascension Church marriage register from 1920 revealed that Bridget McGinn Mulcahey had been baptized in Clogher parish, County Tyrone. 

The Mulcahey family was buried in four separate graves at Calvary Cemetery. Their first son was the infant Patrick Mulcahey buried in the John Goodwin family grave, mentioned above. He was buried in that grave because he was their nephew. Second son, James, was buried in a grave set aside by Calvary for the indigent. Bridget had purchased a different grave in 1916 to bury her first husband. Lastly, Bridget McGinn Mulcahey Meade was buried in a grave her second husband had purchased to bury his second wife.  

Checking the baptismal and civil birth records of Clogher parish found the eight children of Patrick McGinn & Alice McWilliams born between 1860-1874 at Tamlaght townland, Newtownsaville village, Clogher parish in County Tyrone. 

These families provided a fuller picture of immigrant life in a poor Manhattan neighborhood. Developing the complete picture provided multiple routes to determine a place of origin for any of these families regardless of where one started searching this particular jigsaw puzzle. 

Family Stories

Family stories always have to be considered with a grain of salt. When I started I was told a a benign pair of facts; first, that my ancestors were from Omagh on the McGuigan/Goodwin line and second that the Cassidy immigrant was from Newry, County Down and had buried two wives in the US and their stillborn children.

My actual research found the McGuigans were from Clogher very near but distinct from Omagh. It also found that the Cassidy family was indeed from Newry but in addition to the Down part, they also showed up in the County Armagh records for Newry. 

More interesting was that neither the first nor the second Mrs Cassidy had died in childbirth. Also learned was that both women delivered a living baby that was baptized. Margaret McKeon Cassidy did die a week after her delivery but her daughter died at 6 months old. Ellen Hart Cassidy died 9 months after her delivery and her daughter died at 11 months old. 

The third Mrs. Cassidy had the most outrageous claim to her story. Bridget Benson Cassidy was from County Sligo, was 39 when she had her only child and had a brother that "fought with General Custer, his horse was lame the day of the Little Bighorn and that's how he survived." Research showed that Bridget and James Benson hailed from Ballysadare, Co. . Sligo. Bridget was actually 40 when her only child was delivered. James did not stay in camp the day of the Little Bighorn. 

He did, however, serve as a farrier in the US Army from 1876-1881. The day of the Little Bighorn he was stationed at St. Louis. This family story was not true but it was not a complete falsehood either. He had served in the army, was stationed in Dakota Territory shortly after the massacre and his pension file for his widow included his marriage and death certificates.

Duplicate Copies of Government Records are Always an Asset

I am currently putting together a lecture regarding searching your family tree and utilizing the chain migration patterns to discover the place of origin and parents’ names of your Irish immigrant. My two main example families were the Buckleys and allied families from County Cork to New York City and the Corr and Loye families that settled in Omaha when then emigrated from County Armagh. 

I had lots of trouble with the microfilm readers and scanner at the Omaha Public Library trying to obtain clean images to post in my slideshow presentation. Thankfully, a discovery came my way regarding these records. The microfilm records at my local public library for marriages contained marriage licenses and certificates on a single record. 

Unbeknownst to me was the fact that these records must have been duplicate transcriptions of the original records created in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I was looking at other records on my Ancestry tree and found clean, easily downloadable images of these marriage documents online. There were also records that included the affidavit filed by the groom with a different registration of the marriage license and certificate. Comparing these duplicate recordings enables a researcher to verify the spelling or handwriting. Sometimes the transcription process is not complete and it is only by viewing both sets of documents that the full discovery of information on an ancestor or collateral can be made.

New Resources Arise all the Time

The easy access to online Irish civil registrations continues. Last year a large selection of birth, death and marriage registrations became available free and online at irishgenealogy.ie

This past week further records were added to this database at the website. Claire Santry at irishgenealogynews.com lists that the database now includes images for the following: births 1864-1916, deaths 1878-1966 and marriages 1870-1941. Indexes are available for the years 1864-1877 covering deaths and 1845-1863(non-Catholic only) and 1864-1869(all weddings). There are no civil registrations of Catholic marriage ceremonies, any births or deaths before 1864. 

I was able to fill in a few dates and clarifications thanks to the update. My great-great-great-grandparents were Denis Desmond(1806-1882) and Julia Creedon(1814-1879). They had married at Macroom in County Cork on 23 Nov 1837. They had nine children between 1838-1858. These children were baptized and one would expect they were born shortly before their christenings given Catholic practices at the time. None of the nine had birth certificates but starting in 1864 their deaths and marriages could show up in the civil registries. 

Their daughter Bride, born in 1856, married a Scottish-born Presbyterian in 1884. There is a church registration of this marriage. However, there is not a civil registration for these nuptials. Perhaps this mixed marriage has notes in the bishop’s papers when they applied for the necessary dispensation.

I was able to find death registrations for Julia Desmond on 13 Jan 1879 and her widower, Denis Desmond, 10 Mar 1882. They were both living at Massytown, Macroom. 

Denis was a publican. The dictionary definition of publican is tax collector. The use here meant that he ran a public house. Shortly after his death a newspaper item ran alerting the public that his daughter Bride was planning to obtain his license that allowed one to run a pub. 

The 1882 informant for Denis’ death was Daniel Riordan. Denis and Julia’s eldest daughter Mary Annne(1838-1922) was married to a Daniel Riordan and they also raised their family in Massytown. It is most likely that this informant was the deceased’s son-in-law. 

Two shortened lives were also clarified. I had long ago researched the parents of my grandfather’s relatives Bridget, Hannah and Tom Mahony. Their parents Thomas Mahony and Elizabeth Hegarty married 18 Feb 1879. They first child, Elizabeth, was born nine months later on 9 Nov 1879. Bridget 1881, Hannah 1883, Hannah 1885, Mary 1886, John 1888 and Tom 1891 followed. 

Elizabeth(1879-1885) did not show up in the 1901 or 1911 Irish census and it appeared that the Hannah born in 1883 died before 1885. The expanded database online revealed through the now online images that Elizabeth Mahony died at her parents’ home on 16 May 1885. Her sister Hannah was born 16 Apr 1883 and tragically lived only 10 minutes dying from convulsions that same day.

Delayed Birth Certificates

Delayed birth certificates are a resource that should not be ignored. I have come upon two delayed birth certificates in my research. The first was filed in 1909 for an 1893 birth. The second was filed in 1904 for an 1890 birth. I do not know why they were not initially filed nor what the circumstances were in 1909 and 1904 to necessitate a registration at those times.

Joseph Cassidy was born on 7 Aug 1893 according to his baptismal certificate dated 14 Jun 1918. He was christened at St Gabriel’s Church on East 37th Street in New York City on 13 Aug 1893 with his mother’s siblings Dominick and Maria Benson as sponsors. This was the only official record for his date of birth or so I thought.

I came upon receipt from the Department of Health The City of New York dated 25 Feb 1909 stating that according to the records of this office Joseph Cassidy was born 7 Aug 1893 signed CJ Burke, MD, Assistant Registrar. It took a couple of requests through the mail to the NYC Municipal Archives but eventually they checked the delayed records and found the 17 Feb 1909 delayed birth certificate #483 filing from John McKew, MD 153 East 61st Street.(Dr. McKew was a Catholic doctor born in NYC and reared in the antebellum south to Irish stock parents and moved to New York shortly after the Civil War.)

Joseph Cassidy, male, white, 7 Aug 1893, Jos Cassidy(father), 246 E 35, (born) Ireland, 45 yrs., boilermaker, Bridget Cassidy, Bridget Benson(name before marriage), 246 E 35, (born) Ireland, 40(yrs.), 0 children previously born, 1 now living in all. 

This was curious that he never had a civil birth certificate registered in 1893. He was his mother’s only child but his father’s third child. Both of the elder Joseph Cassidy’s daughters had civil birth certificates to substantiate the dates of births recorded on their baptismal entries. 

Mary Cassidy was born on 22 Dec 1882 at 416 East 18th Street and CE Campbell, MD was the doctor who delivered her. She is birth certificate #356513 and was also recorded in the birth registry ledger book on page 344 line number 13734. For reference her first cousin also named Mary Cassidy was born 19 Sep 1882 at 506 East 14th Street birth certificate number #348688 and recorded also in the birth registry ledger book on page 148. Not every birth was recorded so this reveals the minimum number of babies delivered in the three months between Mary Cassidy and Mary Cassidy. 

Annie Cassidy was born at 338 East 39th Street on 2 Aug 1888 with John McKew(same as 1893 above), MD 231 East 40th Street as the doctor who delivered her. She was birth certificate #24214 for that year. The birth registry ledger book was no longer utilized a short time before Annie’s birth. 

I will never know why the birth took 15 years to register. It did give further credence to the fact that Bridget Cassidy was 40 when she became a first time mother. The family always maintained that she was 39. This delayed recording agreed with the 1853 baptismal register from Ballysadare, County Sligo that Brigida Benson was baptized 3 Jul 1853 and therefore 40 in Aug 1893.

Patrick Goodwin, male, white, 31 Aug 1890, 602 W 46 St, John(father), 602 W 46 St, (born) Ireland, 26 yrs, driver, Catherine, McGinn(name before marriage), 602 W46 St, (born) Ireland, 31 yrs, One child previously born, 2 now living in all. Catherine (X) Goodwin, 532 W 43 St. It was stamped granted 21 Dec 1904 and issued certificate #4150.

My earliest address for the John and Catherine Goodwin family was 660 11th Avenue where they were enumerated with their infant Patrick during the NYC Police Census taken between Sep to Oct 1890. They showed up in the city directory at 602 West 46th Street the next year. I am suspicious of the place of birth especially given the fact that the date of birth and ages of the parents are provably inaccurate.

Patrick Goodwin was baptized 30 Jul 1890 at Holy Cross Church on West 42nd Street. The date of birth on that certificate of 29 Jul 1890 makes far more sense than the 31 Aug 1890 filed 14 years later.

The baptismal register for Clogher Catholic parish in County Tyrone, recorded that Catherine McGinn was born 1 Jan 1860 and baptized 3 Jan 1860. Her husband was born 10 Dec 1860 and baptized the next day. That would make the mother 30 and time of birth not 31 and the father was 29 not 26.

One thing that did agree with the 1888 birth registry from Clogher for their first child was that Catherine (McGinn) McGuigan Goodwin could not write. Both documents are marked with her “X”. 

This ad will soon run in two of my favorite publications; Your Genealogy Today and Internet Genealogy. I would like to explain what this ad entails regarding my searches. The last several years have a been a boon for accessing Irish genealogical records online. 

The four main records sources available to search are: civil registration records beginning in 1864(and 1845 for non-Catholic weddings), 1901 and 1911 Irish census returns, Catholic parish registers through 1881(and then some since the IFHF database does exceed those years in some localities) and the Griffith’s Valuation from 1848-1864. These can all be searched online from my home in Nebraska.

$25 will buy you my expert examination of these records along with checks of Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org and FindMyPast.com I can’t promise I will find the answers you are seeking. If your ancestors or their collateral relations can be identified in the above records, the likelihood of determining the parish or townland of origin is very likely. This service will not likely identify place of origin for those with immigrants who came to North America well before 1840. 

Family Naming Customs After the Loss of a Child

Searching birth and infant baptismal registers requires careful observation. It was common to name a baby after an older sibling that had died. Researchers must avoid incorrectly assigning the incorrect date of birth to a child. Each child born to a couple must be linked to his own correct dates from birth to death.

If there are slight discrepancies between a date provided in adult records and the infant records one finds, take a second look. Might this be a case of two siblings with the same name?

Several infants in my research died an early death. Five of them were honored with namesakes. 

Jeremiah O’Riordan born 6 Apr 1873-died 25 Oct 1873; 

Jeremiah O’Riordan 4 Jul 1875-27 Jul 1875

These brothers were born at Massytown, Macroom in County Cork. They were the 7th and 8th of the ten children born in their family between 1862-1880. 

Hannah Mahony 16 Apr 1883-16 Apr 1883; 

Hannah Mahony 20 Jan 1885-1956

The second Hannah emigrated to New York City and eventually became an American citizen. The date on her American records fluctuated and the initial searches in the databases found her older sister which made for a few inconsistencies. 

Catherine Buckley 17 Oct 1889-26 Oct 1889; 

Catherine Buckley 29 Apr 1895-10 Nov 1896

The Buckley sisters were named after their paternal grandmother, Catherine Cahill. This family waited several years to re-use the name with the second Kate. The elder Catherine was the family’s first daughter and fourth child of ten total. Katie the younger was the fourth daughter and 8th child born between 1886-1903. 

Julia Daly 8 Dec 1899-12 Jul 1901; 

Julia Daly 18 Jul 1901-1981

This recent discovery shows that there is no rule for how long to wait before re-using a given name again. This family lost their 18 month-old and less than a week later named their newest daughter with the same name. The elder Julia was enumerated in the 1901 census and her sister was enumerated in the 1911 census.

Patricia Cassidy 21 Dec 1932-30 Dec 1932; 

Patricia Cassidy 24 Sep 1934-2000

There may be disagreement within the family with regard to this custom. When my aunt was born in 1934 Grandma wanted to name her Regina but my grandfather insisted that she too bear the moniker Patricia. Despite living through two Sundays, the elder Patricia was not baptized at her parish church. She was baptized in their railroad flat by her eldest brother before her death. She was buried in the family christening dress. Hers was the last death certificate issued by the NYC Department of Health in 1932. 

Naming customs do not follow a single rule. Here are examples of families that did not name their second child with a name they had already used.

John Cassidy 29 Jul 1879- 29 Jul 1879; 

Michael John Cassidy 28 Oct 1880-1949

Little John suffered from delicacy since birth and died after only 6 hours. His existence was known only because of his appearance in the databases at FamilySearch and later Ancestry. He was not baptized but had both a birth and a death registration in Newry. His brother was born the following year. He was named after their paternal grandfather and his late brother. This healthy child was baptized  and later immigrated to the United States within months of his birth. 

Anne Buckley 23 Jun 1930- 13 Jul 1930; 

Joan Buckley 13 Jan 1938-2014

Anne was named after a dear nanny that cared for her mother at the turn of the century. Anne lived only twenty days and never left the hospital. She was baptized there with a single sponsor, her father’s aunt. This family chose to name their second daughter a unique name.

Ellen O’Riordan 20 Oct 1900- 3 Aug 1901; 

Christina O’Riordan 9 Dec 1901-1988

Ellen died when their mother was 5 months pregnant with her sister. Their father was the older brother of the two Jeremiahs above. Christina was the mother of the Buckley sisters immediately above. Ellen had been named after her aunt, her father’s eldest sister. This aunt had been named after her grandmother. Perhaps since both the aunt and niece died in 1895 and 1901, the family followed another custom and abandoned a name that was linked with early death. In those circumstances, a name completely outside the norm would be selected.  

NYC Records at Your Local Family History Center

I visited my local family history center this week and found that the vital records and 1890 police census for NYC previously filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah were now available for viewing, printing and downloading on site at the family history center. 

I had previously obtained these documents over the years through various methods; ordering from and/or visiting from NYC Municipal Archives, borrowing films from the Family History Library and making the copies here locally or ordering copies from the now defunct copy service formerly available through the FHL. A few years ago these Department of Health births, deaths and marriages were available as transcriptions through www.FamilySearch.org 

The transcriptions alerted me to a lot of relations that had previously been impossible to find. It also revealed several relatives that were previously unknown. This latest improvement makes it possible to find a record on FamilySearch and then go to a family history center or an affiliated library and viewed a cleaned up scan of that exact document from FamilySearch. No more ordering a $15 certified copy from Municipal Archives or a $2 copy from the FHL. 

I have now gone through and updated many previously xeroxed and scanned images for my slideshow presentations thanks to this new availability of records at FamilySearch.org It was amazing to have two images of the same document side by side and see how much crisper the digital images are online. 

There is a PDF going around by Ann Donnelly, New York City Vital Record Images Finding Aid UPDATED. God bless her. Ms. Donnelly details how this all works and that while you can find a birth entry for example James Mulcahy, son of Patrick Mulcahy and Bridget McGinn in 1905 at FamilySearch in the transcribed database, you will actually have to go to the FHL Catalog and go through the process of what one formerly did to order the FHL microfilm. At that juncture there will be an icon and by pressing it at the FHC or affiliated library, the digital images are opened and one can very easily navigate the images and quickly download the birth certificate for this little boy. Sadly, he was very short lived and one can repeat the process and find his death transcribed just a fortnight later the son of Patrick and Bridget Mulcahy. Repeat the process of identifying what film number the Manhattan deaths for 1905 are for his death certificate number which was listed in the notes at his transcription. 

Here is a good example  where two events involving the same three people just two weeks apart recorded vastly different information. The birth certificate includes the names of both parents including the mother’s maiden name. The death certificate includes the names of both parents but only lists the mother with her married name. Ten months later his first cousin died in NYC also and her death certificate and every one since then has also listed the maiden name of the decedent’s mother.

Lastly, one might hope to find a Department of Health marriage certificate for his parents but there is none. Theirs was one of many Catholic weddings that were never recorded in the civil records. Hopefully, this marriage date will be discovered in the near future when the Archdiocese of New York’s sacramental records become viewable online at www.FindMyPast.com in the near future.

Certified is not all it's Cracked up to Be

What does certified really mean? I recently received a xerox copy of a 1916 marriage license from a former elopement hotspot. The certificate part of these marriage records is not photocopiable so the office sends a typed transcription of the marriage certificate that is certified with a gold foil stamp. The clerk certifies that she has viewed the original and certifies that her reproduction is a complete and accurate copy. This gold stamped document would be accepted without much fuss in any court of the land. Certified is just as good as original after all. Or is it?

My certificate had the oddest contradictions. This was an elopement where the teen bride was pregnant by her active duty sailor boyfriend. They probably skipped away to elope on a day when he was on leave. The license was applied for on 29 Mar 1916. The marriage ceremony was performed by a Reorganized LDS minister named Henry Carr. He purportedly performed the ceremony on 9 Sep 1916 according to my “certified” marriage record with a xerox copy of the license and a transcribed certificate.

I thought the timeline seemed off because why would a knocked up woman want to get a license out of state, go home, deliver her still illegitimate child and then three weeks later return to the elopement zone and finally marry and legitimize her child and her relationship?

I posed this question to the clerk via e-mail and she was very helpful and explained her colleague had made a transcription error and that the couple had indeed married the same day their license was issued, 29 Mar 1916. She immediately issued a second certified and gold stamped record for my records.

This is not the first time this has happened with this specific family. The groom was my grandmother’s first cousin. He had 5 younger siblings from 1892-1901. The brother born in 1901 was baptized six days after his birth. The first baptismal certificate sent to me identified the wrong father and only one sponsor. Fortunately, the dates were right. Years later I visited in person and a xerox copy of the page was made available to me. It showed the entry was hard to decipher but I was able to make out the correct two parents and two sponsors. 

Certified does not mean it is a perfect reflection of what the original says. Take everything with a grain of salt. Remember the original may have inaccuracies in it as well.

Something Old Something New Something Afire Something Blue

Old Fulton NY Postcards found at http://www.fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html is a great resource for family history researchers. It allows access to over 40 million historical newspaper images from the USA and Canada. I have recently found two long sought after items.

The first was a news brief that described a man that fled his home ablaze. The 8 May 1905 Morning Telegraph from New York, NY described Michael Cassidy’s (1857-1905) story on page 10. I knew from this man’s death certificate that he succumbed to his injuries on 10 May 1905. The parents’ names listed that he was a son of Michael Cassidy and Mary Ravey. That made him my great-grandfather’s youngest sibling. He had immigrated by 1880, when he was enumerated with his brother and sister-in-law. He married in Jan 1882 and had one child in 1883.

Michael was a blacksmith by trade so I was not stunned when his death certificate listed that he had died from general burns parenchymatous degeneration of the heart, kidneys and liver, 3 days later. A fellow genealogy enthusiast is a retired physiology professor and she explained how the body develops and repairs itself and what broke down to cause his demise. 

The most startling aspect of this story was the quote that ended the very short news bit. He was asked by the officer that put out the fire that was burning him, how he had been burned. “I’ll tell no one but the priest,” was his reply. There are no follow up stories but I am very interested in learning what had transpired in his home before he fled. Not surprisingly the newspaper recorded him as 35, the death certificate as 46 but he was actually 48 based on his 1857 baptismal certificate from Newry in Ireland. 

I have been searching for my grandmother’s cousin’s marriage record to Alice Kuchinsky c. 1915. Their daughter, Alice, was born 21 Aug 1916 in Philadelphia and baptized at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 10 Sep 1916. I found an item in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Friday Morning, 31 Mar 1916 page 7, Northeast Maryland Not(es). Elkton, Md., March 30-Couples mar(ried) in Elkton today included: ...Owen Goodwin, New York and Anna Smith, Philadelphia...

The majority of the records for this family show that Mrs. Owen Goodwin was the former Alice Kuchinsky. I was concerned that this was not the right couple because Anna Smith is not Alice Kuchinsky. The baptismal records for their three children offered a possibility that I had found the correct marriage. In 1916 the mother of the child was recorded as Alice Smith. In 1918 and 1920 she was Anna Kuchinsky. 

The prospect of Alice Smith, Anna Kuchinsky, Alice Kuchinsky and Anna Smith being 4 ways to identify one individual is questionable. However, there are no records or stories that Owen Goodwin was married to anyone else and their three children were born in a small window of time. 

I wrote to the Licensing Department for the Circuit Court for Cecil County in Maryland. I had been pointed to the possibility that they had eloped to Elkton, Maryland in that county years earlier by the Philadelphia Archdiocese archivist, but delayed action. She had indeed been correct. 

Over time marriage laws in the northern states had become more restrictive. Cecil County, Maryland is the northeastern most part of the state and provided an easy, quick place to marry for couples from Pennsylvania, New York and other destinations.  

Owen Patrick Goodwin, 24, a single white man, residing in New York City applied for a marriage license dated 29 Mar 1916. The bride was Anna Smith, 19, a single white woman, residing in Philadelphia, PA. I was almost certain this was the right couple but comparing the groom’s signature on the 1916 marriage license to his 1917 draft card confirmed it for me. 

Curious though was the set of dates and the timeline. They received a marriage license on 29 Mar 1916. A 31 March newspaper item ran that indicated that they had married on 30 March. Their daughter was born in Philadelphia on 21 Aug. The marriage certificate part of the record showed that they did not marry until the 9th of September. The minister was Rev. Henry Carr.

Further research revealed that the pastors of Elkton performed around 3,000 weddings in 1916 alone. I can’t imagine that a couple from Philadelphia would travel to Elkton, merely get a marriage license, return to PA, wait 5 months and then return to MD to marry. I am curious if the reverend forgot to register the marriage certificate on time and changed the date to avoid a fine. I have another e-mail note out to Cecil County. (Good morning Kevin.  The document you received is incorrect – Goodwin and Smith were married on 3/29/1916, the same date they received the license.   Just FYI that all records we have from this period are handwritten and – although the cursive is beautiful – it can be ridiculously difficult to read, and my coworker read the month as September instead of March.   The only document we have is the application for the license – the actual marriage information (when ceremony performed, by whom and date recorded) is contained in a huge index. Since it is impossible for this information to be copied and sent, we transfer it to a typed certification.   I have redone the certification and will mail same to this morning. I apologize for any inconvenience in the delay of the correct document.  Once you receive the new certification, simply replace the one you have with the one I send.  If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.)

This pastor was suspended by his superiors for marrying a couple where the groom was the guilty party in a 1915 NY divorce and forbidden to remarry there. Rev. Carr was their third choice; the Presbyterian and Methodist pastors declined to marry the divorcée and his gal. Not surprisingly the high society bride in this marriage filed for divorce in 1922. Apparently, adultery followed by divorce and crossing state lines to contract a new marriage with a known adulterer was no more successful in 1915 than it is today. If Miss Kelly and Mister Davis couldn’t make a marriage work is there any hope for the rest of us?

Talk to Your Relatives

Nora Riordan was born 13 May 1897 at Cork City, Ireland. She was her parents second child and was baptized at St Finbarr Catholic Church 16 May 1897 with John Buckley and Margaret Riordan as sponsors. These were likely her mother’s older brother and her father’s younger sister. She was enumerated at 4 St Finbarr Street twice in 1901 and 1911 with her parents and siblings. 

On 24 Nov 1925 at St Finbarr she married Joseph McLoughlin. They had two children. A daughter Marie Celine was born to them in the second quarter of 1927 and a son John was born to them in 1930. 

I was given a bit more information today by my own godfather. My godfather, like Nora’s above, is my mother’s older brother. My godmother is my father’s sister.

Uncle Dennis remembered seeing pictures of his cousin and thought she died around 12 years of age. I was able to find her death under Marrie McLoughlin in 1937 at age 10 which is now online at irishgenealogy.ie

Marie died at the fever hospital 6 Dec 1937 and was buried at St. Joseph Cemetery. Her newspaper notice mentioned she was the daughter of Joseph and Nora McLoughlin. She had lived at 6 St. Kevin Street according to the death register. 

I was also able to finally find her parents in the Cork Examiner death notices. Joseph McLoughlin died 11 Jun 1967 at Marlene Glasheen Road. His widow Nora died there 10 Jan 1968. 

Conversations can open doors to more and more research successes.

Unique Surnames Provide Unique Opportunities

Unique surnames can lead a researcher along many unexpected and uncharted courses. I stumbled upon a family called Tregoning in New York City. These pre-Famine Irish immigrants provided many challenging opportunities to sharpen my research skills.

I had never seen the name Tregoning before and wasn’t sure how to pronounce it. Based on the inordinate number of spellings and misspellings it must have been quite an earful as well.

1838 baptism Tergonin

1850 census Tragining

1855 census Treganan and Tragoning

1856 burial Teegoing

1856 burial Tragonin

1860 census Tearney

1870 census Tryoning and Fragannon

1875 death Fegonning and Fiegonnery in separate indexes

1880 census Tregonning

1881 birth Tregunning

1890 will Treguning

1890 census Sregoning

1900 census Legoning

1910 census Gregoning and Treganing

1920 census Teryornny

1867 marriage Tagonning

1881 death, 1915 marriage and 1915 death Fregoning

Richard Tregoning (1871-1931) married into a collateral branch of my family in 1891. I wanted to provide him with a fuller entry so I searched a bit for his parents, Thomas and Mary Tregoning. I was able to find them in the 1880 US Census living with Richard’s paternal grandmother. As I filled in the names and dates on my tree, I discovered that the elder children including Richard were the children of Thomas Tregoning and Mary Devine. The youngest child was the child of Thomas Tregoning and Mary Morgan. The 1880 Census also showed that the older childrens’ mother was born in New York while the youngest child’s mother was born in Illinois. 

It took several attempts to find them in earlier censuses. Each census revealed a new way to spell the surname. As the children aged and moved into their own homes, independent spellings were listed within the same census year.

Thomas was born in New York, to Irish immigrants in 1840. This was 5 years before the start of the Irish Potato Famine.  In the second 1870 enumeration of New York City, the Tryoning family of Thomas, Mary and Stephen were found at 517 West 39th Street. Nearby at 510 West 40th Street Bridget Fragannon and her son Richard were found. 

In 1860 Bridget, Thomas and Richard Tearney lived with Thos. and John Cleary.

In 1855 a state census enumerates John and Bridget Treganan with their sons John, Thomas and Richard Tragoning. Amazingly even within the same household the names of the parents and their sons differed. The relationships are specified in this census. The parents and eldest son were born in Ireland. They had lived in the city for 15 years. Both Johns had naturalized. 

In 1850 John, Bridget, John, Thomas and Richard Tragining were enumerated. The adults and the eldest child were all Irish born. 

Based on the census records it appeared that Bridget was widowed before 1860. In 1865 she opened an Emigrant’s Savings Bank Account for her son, Thomas. She was the widow of John and resided at 325 West 38th Street. She arrived in the US in 1840 aboard the Mayflower(sic). She was born in County Tipperary in 1815. She had 2 boys and was born a Cleary. This would indicate that the Cleary boys in the 1860 Census were likely relatives of hers.

Checking RootsIreland.ie Irish church records for Tregoning found scant results. In 1838 Patrick Tergonin was born to John and Bridget Tergonin in Toomevara, Tipperary.

Tracking Catholics by Their Marriages and Baptisms

The Roman Catholic Congregation of the Council issued a decree for practicing Catholics regarding marriage in 1907. Ne temere took effect on Easter Sunday 19 Apr 1908 and began the practice of the notation of further sacraments next to a person’s baptismal entry. Baptismal notations were to be entered next to the marriage entry. If correctly recorded, these notations help one find a person earlier or later in his life based on the information recorded there.  This decree provided an easy way to find an Irish immigrant’s place of origin. 

One of the main difficulties as an American researcher is learning where the immigrant came from and properly identifying the townland and parish of origin.

The cross referencing of sacramental notations between the baptism and the other sacraments after 19 Apr 1908 is very helpful in overcoming this difficulty.

Our ancestors and forebears were human and record keeping was not always perfectly maintained. There are baptisms that conceivably were celebrated in Clogher parish, County Tyrone and not recorded. 

My ancestor was the eldest child in her family and did have a baptism in 1860 which also listed her birthdate. This was helpful because civil birth certificates did not commence until 1 Jan 1864. The second child was also recorded in the baptisms in 1862 which also provided a date of birth. The third and fifth children born in 1864 and 1868 were in the baptismal register. 

The 6 younger children were recorded in the civil birth registry in 1864, 66, 68, 70, 72 and 74. Ironically, the two children who had both a birth AND a baptismal entry are the two children I have no further information on. According to the 1911 Irish census the lived to adulthood as their mother answered 8 born 8 living for the children question as a mother.

The 1860 married in 1888 in Clogher and 1903 in NYC so no notations were recorded next to her baptism. Likewise, the 1862 married in 1902 in NYC and no notation was necessary because it was before Ne temere went into effect Easter Sunday 1908. 

I was thorough in following up the other two siblings that I found marriage records for. 1866 married twice in NYC. First in about 1900 and no notation of baptism will have been recorded when I hopefully discover the parish register for this pre-1908 wedding to Patrick Mulcahy. She remarried as a widow in 1920 and did have the only baptismal notation I have found for this family. It said that she was baptized in Clogher in Jul 1871. Her birth registry entry was from Sep 1866. I think it likely that she was born and baptized in Jul 1866 and the birth record was adjusted to avoid a late fee. 

This brings me back to Michael McGinn, born 1872. He married three times; 1917 at St Michael Glasgow, 1928 at St Malachy Belfast and 1943 St Paul Belfast. None of these post 1908 Catholic weddings created the marriage notations one would expect and hope for but alas that's what makes this research a challenge and fun. It also made the e-mail from Ascension Parish NYC regarding the 1920 wedding such a gold mine.

Michael John Cassidy was born in Ireland but you would have a devil of a time discovering that from his American paper trail. He was listed as Irish born in only one census record, 1910. In 1914 when he married both civil records show he was born in New York and it is only the baptismal notation from his marriage that states he was baptized in Armagh. It lists the wrong parish using Immaculate Conception the name of the parish in Manhattan where his siblings were baptized from 1882-1895. Michael, however, was born in Newry, Armagh, Ireland and baptized there.

Three Gormley siblings emigrated and married in the state of New York between 1898-1924. Francis Gormley married twice. First, he married Nellie Corr in 1898 in Manhattan. In 1903, he married Catherine Goodwin in New York City. His elder sister, Mary Anne Gormley, married in Mount Vernon in 1906. Their younger sister, Sarah, married there as well in 1924. These last nuptials provided a baptismal notation in church marriage register. Sarah was baptized at Eskra in May 1885. Further research found her baptism in May 1870 there. Clearly, she was not issued a certificate by Eskra in 1924. If she had, it would have certified the correct date. Fortunately, she was just interested in shaving 15 years off her age and not misleading the priest or her betrothed about her birthplace.

If you have a subject that wed in the Catholic Church be certain to obtain a copy of their parish marriage certificate with full baptismal notations. You also want to check each Catholic baptism for those who married post-1907 to see if there were marriage notations recorded next to the baptism. This is the simplest way to track a Catholic throughout his life. 

Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society

I will be presenting the following talks for the Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society 

Sunday, December 10, 2017 at Walt Branch Library, 6701 S 14th St, Lincoln, NE, 2 PM to 4 PM.

"How to Get Ready to Search Irish Records"  This session will look at collecting all the pertinent records for one's ancestors and their collaterals and possibly neighbors. Vital, church, census, naturalization, military, newspapers and other records will be discussed and examined during a PowerPoint presentation. It is essential to discover both the place of origin for the immigrant ancestor(county, parish or townland) and the names of parents for the immigrant ancestor. These are best found in American records and their discovery will make finding further information on the family in Ireland a possibility. 

Sunday, January 7, 2018 at Walt Branch Library, 6701 S 14th St, Lincoln, NE, 2 PM to 4 PM.

“Female Connections are the Best Road to Research Success” This session will examine how to discover a family's story through its female members. There may be a dearth of female records from early census or lack of voting records compared to their male counterparts. However, just like today most families maintained closer ties with their mothers and sisters than their fathers and brothers. Too often a family name that is unknown to the researcher is overlooked and later turns out to be a family of a married sister or daughter or other female relative. This session will explore how to review your records and discover female relatives from census, sacramental and court papers among others. These side doors may be the link to success.

Sunday, February 11, 2018 at Walt Branch Library, 6701 S 14th St, Lincoln, NE, 2 PM to 4 PM.

“Follow Your Family Through Their Chain Migration” This session recognizes that few Irish immigrants left home and had no contact with their families ever again. Most did follow a path where they would have familiar faces and jobs prospects. This course will examine the naturalization papers, passenger lists, sacramental and census records among others to find the link between the immigrant and his relatives and neighbors in the home country and the new. 

Speed Genealogy

How fast can a researcher find his ancestors? It depends. Given the proper information one can take less than an hour to fill in quite a bit of information. 

My Irish-born first cousin once removed was born in 1936. His Irish-born wife is a few years younger presumably. He gave me the name of her grandfather and a townland and wanted to see what I could find. 

Looking at what Cousin provided I realized what he did not reveal. The surname was different from his wife’s maiden name so I assumed this was her maternal Grandfather. He did not reveal the name of his mother-in-law so I had no idea which of the daughters of this gentleman was the link to Cousin’s wife.(I am not going to list names as I did not ask for his permission to reveal these details and truthfully I am demonstrating a process and the names are not usually interesting to non-family members.

Grandfather was easily found in both the 1901 and 1911 Irish censuses. This was especially simple because I had the townland name to verify it was the right gentleman. He was single in 1901 and married in 1911 with children. The www.irishgenealogy.ie website made finding him in the 1866 birth registrations, the 1908 marriage registrations and the 1956 death registrations straight forward. I was able to identify 5 children born to them from the birth and death registrations in 1909, 1910, 1912, 1913 and 1917. I was able to identify the 5 siblings for Grandfather and 6 siblings for Grandmother because of the 1908 marriage record, the censuses and the birth and baptismal registers. Lastly, I was able to identify that Cousin’s mother-in-law was born in 1912 and married his father-in-law in 1940. His wife was registered in the 1Q birth registrations of 1941.

In 1911 Grandfather and Grandmother were living with the widowed Great-Grandmother. In 1901 he was still single and living with both Great-Grandfather and Great-Grandmother. This clearly indicated that Great-Grandfather’s death would appear in the registrations between 1901 and 1911. Great-Grandfather died in 1904 and his widow died in 1916. 

Not every family story comes together this easily but if we can identify an ancestral couple having a family in the 1830s to 1880s in the parish records or the 1860s to the 1910s in the civil registrations then we have an excellent chance to find them in the 1901 and/or 1911 census records. There in lies the potential cost of hiring a professional researcher. The most efficient use of your research dollar is to give a full survey of your family stories and records. This will enable me to have a solid base to build from because in Irish genealogy every tidbit can be crucial.

All in a Day's Work

What a difference a day makes. This is an expression that holds particular meaning as we approach another Patriot’s Day on 11 Sep.

From a genealogy perspective there are a few key dates to keep in mind. The 1890 US census was begun on 2 Jun 1890. Its results were challenged by the City of New York and the NYPD was sent out from 19 Sep 1890 to 14 Oct 1890 to conduct a second count. This second local census became particularly important and crucial after a fire led to the destruction of most of the federal census on New Year’s Day 1921. 

An Old Age Pension Act was passed by Parliament in 1908 to help those who met a set of criteria one of which was proving that you were 70 years-old. This law took effect on 1 Jan 1909. It was possible to establish one’s age through a search of the 1841 or 1851 Irish censuses. After the destruction of those records on 30 Jun 1922, these census abstracts became valuable census substitutes. 

The registration of births, marriages and deaths was not universal in Ireland until 1 Jan 1864. From April 1845 to 31 Dec 1863 only non-Catholic marriages were registered with the state. The next day all marriages were required to be registered. Births and deaths required registration that same day also. England and Wales started such recordings in 1837 and Scotland in 1855. 

Naturalization records in the United States are very different depending on the day in 1906. Records before 27 Sep 1906 might detail a lot of information but often it is limited. Starting on that day the federal paperwork that was required created a much more detailed and informative set of documents. It should be remembered that wives and minor children followed the citizenship of their husbands and fathers. After 2 Mar 1907 married women would attain their husband’s status. Therefore, a Mayflower descendant would lose her citizenship if she married an alien husband between 2 Mar 1907 and 22 Sep 1922 with the Cable Act or Married Women’s Act. After this act passed a wife of a citizen could directly petition for citizenship and no longer needed to declare an intent. Her citizenship would be completely her own and no longer tied to her husband.