The Many Wives Of Cassidy
Calvary Cemetery in Queens, NY was a big help learning about Joseph Cassidy’s first two families. Speaking on the phone with the sexton I was informed that Joseph Cassidy was buried at Calvary on 16 Jun 1928. Bridget Cassidy was buried in the same grave on 17 Jun 1933. Joseph Cassidy purchased the grave on 1 Jan 1883 for $15. There were six burials in the following years: 1883 (two), 1889 (two), 1928 and 1933. The dates seemed to support the family tradition that there were two previous wives that died in childbirth . Clearly the 1928 burial was Joseph and the 1933 burial was Bridget. I did not have the names of the earlier wives or the children. Assuming the children were stillborn, I did not know if they would have names.
The sexton told me that I would have to have a name and a date to learn more about the burials in the plot. Figuring that Joseph would probably not have purchased a grave without needing one, I gave the following information. “I would like the burial details for Mrs. Joseph Cassidy and the infant Cassidy buried on 1 Jan 1883”. He checked and found that Margaret Cassidy was buried in the grave on 1 Jan 1883. He could not find anything on the baby. He could not check the other two without names and dates of death. This puzzled me but led me to check other sources with the limited information I had. Clearly, Margaret Cassidy died at the end of 1882. Getting her death certificate might answer the puzzle.
The first two wives of Joseph Cassidy and their children have been the most interesting people to search in the death records. Knowing from the cemetery that Margaret Cassidy died in late 1882 I checked for her death certificate. Margaret Cassidy died 29 Dec 1882 from peritonitis after parturition. My wife, a doctor, suggested that she might have had a Caesarean section, especially in light of the family tradition that she died in childbirth. The doctor cared for her from 22 December to 29 December 1882. Parturition indicated that she had given birth, my wife said.
I wondered then where was the baby? If she had delivered on 22 December then the grave would have been purchased in 1882 to bury the stillborn baby. If she had delivered on the 29th then the baby should have been buried on the same day as Margaret if it had died.
I decided to check the 1883 death index for Cassidy children who would have been born in December 1882. Luckily, there was only one that was a possibility. Mary Cassidy was six months old when she died in late June 1883. Her parents were Joseph and Margaret Cassidy. The address was different than where Margaret died but within a few blocks. I assume she was nursed by a wet nurse and died at her home.(Blogger note-The address was confirmed after publication to be that of her aunt and uncle. They had their own Mary Cassidy born in Sep 1882. Apparently, Ann Murphy Cassidy nursed both her own daughter and her husband's niece.) Knowing that a doctor had assisted in the delivery I checked the 1882 birth index and found Mary Cassidy born on 22 Dec 1882 to Joseph Cassidy and Margaret (McKeon) Cassidy. This certificate gave quite a bit of information.
The death records helped clear away the mystery as to why both burials took place in 1883 but the cemetery could not find baby Cassidy’s burial. They were buried six months apart.
The second Mrs. Joseph Cassidy and baby were more of a challenge. I did not know the wife’s first name or when she and her baby died. I decided to use the FHL and order the New York City Death Index for 1889. I was that if this woman had died in late December like Margaret Cassidy, then I would have to check the 1888 deaths as well. I was looking for all the female Cassidys who died in 1889 of child-bearing age. Fortunately, only one woman fit this parameter; Ellen Cassidy, age 34. I wrote to the Municipal Archives and received her death certificate. It said that she was the wife of Joseph Cassidy. She had been under the doctor’s care for nine months. The 1889 Death Index also had an entry for Ann Cassidy, age 11 months, which proved to be Joseph and Ellen’s daughter.
Ultimately I would learn that neither wife nor their daughters had died in childbirth. Margaret Cassidy did die a week later but her daughter Mary lived to be six months old. Ellen Cassidy died nine months after her delivery and her daughter Ann died at 11 months. Both girls were baptized and the names of their godparents proved helpful in my research. Brickwall Solutions pages 52-53
Family Legends
In the family papers I found a birth certificate for Anne Buckley born on 23 Jun 1930 at Morrisania Hospital in the Bronx. Family legends say that this girl only lived a few hours. A check of the death index was called for. Knowing Anne’s birth date and that she only lived a few hours should have made finding her death certificate easy. It did not.
In the index there was no Anne Buckley listed dying on 23 Jun 1930 or 24 Jun 1930. There were no Anne Buckleys that died as infants in 1930. Discouraged I moved onto other research.
After checking with my uncle, we did eventually find her at Calvary Cemetery in Queens. She was 20 days old when she died on 13 Jul 1930. Further research showed that she was christened on 26 Jun 1930. The only thing missing was the cause of death. We would need the death certificate to find the answer.
Three years later when I returned to the New York City Municipal Archives, I discovered the problem. Upon checking the index for 1930 again I saw the death date 13 Jul 1930 next to the entry Female Buckley, not Anne. Of course when I checked it was my grandparents’ daughter. She died from pyloric stenosis; a blockage between her stomach and her intestine caused her to vomit and ultimately killed her. She never left Morrisania Hospital.
She was given a name at her birth. Three days later she was given that name again when she was baptized. Despite living almost three weeks her death certificate listed her only as Female Buckley. A combination of a clerical error and my strong dependence on a family legend caused me to miss the entry.
Be thorough in your research. If you don’t find something think of reasons why and check your new thoughts. Brickwall Solutions page 71
The Case of Henry McTee
Henry McTee has been a difficult ancestor to trace. The 1910 census said that he was born to Irish-born parents. His 1920 obituary said he was born on 1 Nov 1859 in Chicago. Therefore he should show up in the 1860 Illinois census in Cook county. This census is indexed but the only McTee listed did not have a son named Henry, Hank or Harry.
Finding Henry’s marriage certificate became a challenge. He had married Daisy Hubbard in the early 1890s in western Kansas. Or so it was believed. Calling each county in western Kansas led to nothing. Ultimately his widow’s obituary said they were married in Trenton, Hitchcock, NE. This was incorrect but after checking adjacent Dundy county, NE, we finally found it. Since Dundy county is very rural, the clerk checked the record over the phone and we got the certificate later for $1. This piece of information was crucial for later research in the Chicago city directories and the US census.
Henry McTee’s death certificate lists him as Charles Henry McTee. It states that his parents were Charles and Anne McTee, which disagrees with the 1891 marriage certificate which listed them as Samuel McTee and Mary Taylor. An 1860 census was found that agreed with the 1891 information and the 1920 information.
Knowing that Henry McTee was born in 1859 in Chicago made a search of the 1860 Illinois census a necessity. However, the one McTee in the index was not a match. The index listed Robert McTee, Cook Co., Illinois, 844 PALOS. When checking the family it listed: Robert McTee, 33, born Canada, Ellen McTee, 36, born Ireland, Jeremiah McTee, eight, born Illinois and Ronald McTee, one, born Illinois. When Henry McTee’s father was listed as Samuel we decided to check every Samuel Mc____ in Cook county in 1860. There were eight. Of course, upon checking the first seven there was no match but the eighth was a hit.
Samuel and Ann McIntire were living with their eight-month-old son Henry in the eighth ward. Unfortunately there was no Samuel McIntire or Ann McIntire in the 1870 census index. We got a huge lead as to what the unadulterated form of McTee was but it is still proceeding at a snail’s pace.
Ann was found in the 1880 census with her third husband Andrew Dier and her younger children; 11-year-old John McTee (listed as Dier), eight-year-old Sadie McCauley (listed as Dier), Amelia Dier, William Dier, and Maude Dier. It appears that Samuel was around until at least July 1868. Second husband Richard McCauley fathered Sadie in June 1871. He died in October 1871 and his daughter was born in March of the following year. Ann appears to have married Dier circa 1873. Henry McTee has not been found in the 1870 and 1880 US census.
We had checked the 1860 Chicago city directory looking for McTees but there were none. After finding them in in the 1860 census as McIntire we rechecked but still no luck. Finally, we checked the neighbors listed in the census for their address. Abraham Schick could be found on North Dearborn Avenue in 1859 and 1865. In 1865 there was a Samuel McAndee on North Dearborn. In 1868 there was a Simon McTee on North Dearborn.
This has been such a pain-staking process because we get so little success. We believe that the McTees lived in Holy Name parish in the 1860s.
Unfortunately this parish lost its records in the Chicago Fire of 1871. Brickwall Solutions pages 208-09
Chance Meeting
When my aunt started secretarial school in 1942 she met another girl with the same surname of Cassidy and both fathers were Joseph Cassidy. They went home and discovered that they were second cousins. The families got together for a visit and then fell out of touch until 1997.
I gleaned what I could from my aunt that the non-related Joseph Cassidy had a wife Lillian and siblings Michael, Mary (who married a McRory) and Frank. They lived in Bayside, Queens. After trying to find Cassidys in Bayside section of Queens from the phone book I decided to use the 1920 federal census. I found Joseph and Lillian Cassidy living with her parents named McGorry. When I checked the phone book I found a McGorry in Bayside and called. Sure enough they were related to the Cassidys and gave me a contact name. Surprisingly they were also related to me because Mary Cassidy married a McGorry not McRory. Siblings Joe and Mary Cassidy married first cousins Lillian and Bill McGorry. Joe and Mary Cassidy’s parents married in Ireland and had two sons there so it was possible to identify the place of origin in Ireland down to Ruddle’s Row, Newry, County Armagh.
A chance meeting and a story passed down from my aunt helped me fill out some of my family history. Brickwall Solutions pages 276-77
Oh Brother!
St. Raphael’s Catholic Church is one of the few Manhattan parishes available from the FHL. The records are in English and I was able to gather a great deal of information I needed. I checked here for Sarah Goodwin’s baptism in 1896. I also found her half-brother’s baptism in 1905. The most interesting things I discovered in St. Raphael’s records were the baptisms in 1903, 1907 and 1912 for the children of Owen McGinn and Mary Mahoney. From the 1900 census I knew that Sarah Goodwin had a maternal uncle called Owen McGinn. Family legend held that this uncle moved out from their apartment and married a much younger woman.
Here was an Owen McGinn in the same parish having a family. If the wife was truly younger one would expect that they would have children. I decided to write down the information and check it later against other sources. My aunts remembered an uncle named James McGinn but not an Owen McGinn. The census clearly established an uncle named Owen, but was this him and his wife?
A check of the 1920 census found this family and it showed that Owen was 20 years older than Mary. This too agreed with the family stories. A check of the SSDI led nowhere. There were no marriage notations, so I could not try and track their marriages and spouses.
A few years later I tried the SSDI again and hit it big. I found a John McGinn with the same birth date as the one in the St. Raphael’s register. He had died in New Jersey and I got his obituary by calling the local library there. A fellow historian was there researching and since I had a date she obliged me and searched the obituary.
I called the funeral home and asked them if they would confirm John’s parents’ names. I gave them the names Owen and Mary McGinn and they confirmed that those were the names of the John McGinn they buried.
Following up on newly found names in a church register helped me find another branch to my family tree and contact them for their oral tradition. Brickwall Solutions page 302
Keeping The Faith With Parish Records
In my census research I had discovered another group of Goodwins, who were part of my family history. John Goodwin had a brother Peter who married Mary Cunningham and had several children- including Peter, Thomas and Kathleen- between 1894-98. These children and their godparents were listed in St. Raphael’s records. The notation records were inconsistent as Thomas had a marriage notation, while my grandmother did not. Both were born in February 1896. Both married in 1919.
I wrote to the Church of the Holy Cross because I could not find my grandmother’s three older brothers in the St. Raphael’s records between 1890-94. Holy Cross was the most likely parish in the neighborhood to have these records. I received a return letter saying that they had searched but found nothing.
I wrote to Holy Cross again because of another branch of the family was married there in 1881. This time the return letter informed me that there was a $5 charge per certificate. So after searching every other parish in the area I wrote back and asked Holy Cross to search the records for Goodwins between 1890-94 and sent the money. They found five baptisms for Patrick, Owen and Hugh Goodwin and their cousins Owen and Francis Goodwin.
Be persistent in your research especially in parish records. Brickwall Solutions page 353
Pizza With Aunt Alice
My wife’s great-grandmother’s sister is still living. We sent a letter to Aunt Alice and she replied with some information about her mother’s family. She mentioned that she did not know her grandparents. We set up a time to visit Aunt Alice. She took us to the pizza parlor and we listened. She talked about her father’s brother and sister, Uncle Jim and Aunt Lucy, and how they would visit them in Oakland, IA.
Not being a native of Omaha, I did not realize that Oakland was just across the Missouri River in Pottawattamie county, IA. Our local library had cemetery inscriptions in a book and I found a James Thompson that turned out to be Uncle Jim. Paying a dollar for his uncertified death certificate, it told me that his father was Jasper Thompson and that James was born in Valparaiso, Porter, IN. Going back to the library I quickly found the Jasper and Elizabeth Thompson family in the 1860 US census at Porter Co., IN. The ages and birthplaces of the children indicated that this family would be enumerated in Virginia in 1850.
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