Tracing Michael Gillen: A Case Study with updates

Below is an article I wrote several years ago with a couple of updates and a correction. The publication information is listed here.

Kevin Cassidy, “Tracing Michael Gillen: A Case Study,” Family Chronicle,
Nov/Dec 2009, 37-41; republished in Tracing Your Irish Roots: A Collection of Previously Published Articles from Discovering Family History, Internet Genealogy and Family Chronicle, 2010, 47-51. 

Searching a family tree is often painstaking and time consuming. If one is patient, persistent and methodical, it can become a success story. 

Michael Gillen was an Irish immigrant that arrived in America as a child. Family tradition stated that he was the youngest child of his parents with two older sisters; Mary and Delia. His mother was widowed in Ireland after his birth and remarried a Mr. Gray at some point. It was unknown whether her remarriage occurred in Ireland, England or the USA. The family maintained that the Gillens hailed from Connemara, County Galway. Michael Gillen was widowed in 1932 and some time after that an Aunt Delia came to visit him. It was presumed that she was his sister.

His descendants wanted to determine which parish in Ireland he came from. They wanted to know the full details of his parents’ marriage, his father’s death and mother’s remarriage. They wanted to know how many children were born to this family and were there surviving descendants on any collateral lines either in Ireland or the USA.

Sacramental Records

One good place to start researching is church sacramental records. The Catholic Church has recorded numerous sacramental events. Due to the hierarchical and geographical structure of Catholicism records can be tracked relatively easily. Registers most often record a baptism and a marriage. Determining exactly where a person lived at a specific time facilitates determining the correct parish to contact. 

The research moved from known facts to unknowns. Michael had married Annie Ferrick(Fear-ik) and had many children through 1900. As Catholics, these children were baptized at two midtown Manhattan parishes. Certificates for the five children born in 1890, 1891, 1893, 1894 and 1895 were found at St. Agnes Church on East 43^rd Street and certificates for the final two children in 1897 and 1900 were found at St. John the Evangelist Church on East 55^thStreet.

Catholics usually baptized their children within a week of birth in this time period. Parents were required to select baptismal sponsors for the sacramental ceremony. Typically blood relatives from both sides were selected. This fact necessitates obtaining an entire set of baptismal certificates for Catholic families. Only one of their combined fourteen baptismal sponsors was named Gillen. Michael’s sister, Mary, was apparently alive and still single in 1891 according to the church records. The other thirteen may have been cousins or good friends but not definite Gillen relations. 

Family tradition maintained that 2 other children were born to this couple but had died young. It was not known exactly when they were born, when they died and where they were buried. One family member stated that their names were Agnes and Robert at a family wake in 1953. 

Vital Records

Vital records are another great source to utilize. Civil authorities collected dates, ages, addresses, parents’ names and other helpful data. Death records are more common compared to marriage and birth records. Civil authorities could oversee a limited number of funeral homes and cemeteries more easily than the vast number of priests and midwives. Church records are often a substitute for missing vital records before 1910 in New York City. 

Michael Gillen died in 1944. His death certificate listed his parents as John Gillen and Bridget Conry and birthplace as Ireland. He was buried in the Bronx at St. Raymond’s Catholic Cemetery with his wife. A woman who was later determined to be his wife’s sister was buried in the grave in 1935. His sisters and mother were not interred at St. Raymond’s.

Searching the International Genealogical Index (IGI) and the NYC birth indexes revealed a birth certificate for one of the missing children. Mary Agnes Gillen was born at Charity Hospital on Blackwell’s Island. This public institution, located in the East River, properly recorded both her birth on 23 July 1885 and her death there on 16 Aug 1885. 

The birth certificate indicated that her parents were married and that she was the first-born child of Annie Ferrick Gillen. The death certificate merely listed Annie Gillen as the decedent’s mother and did not provide her maiden name. Having both a birth and death certificate provided more complete information.

Curiously, the death certificate did not list where Mary Agnes Gillen was buried. Calvary Cemetery in Queens answered that she was not buried there. This was a popular Catholic cemetery for families living in Manhattan in the 1800s. If she were not buried here it would be difficult to determine where she was buried. It was likely she was baptized since she died at age 24-days but she was not baptized at St. Agnes or St. John.

With the easy availability of the NYC Department of Health vital records online I was able to find that of the ten children born to Mrs. Michael Gillen only three were registered with the civil authorities in a timely manner. A fourth born in 1893 had a delayed birth certificate issued years later.  

Mary Agnes was the first born and delivered at Maternity Hospital on Blackwell’s island. Her parents were both Irish born and her father was a waiter. Michael Gillen was 27 and his wife was 20 on 23 Jul 1885. 

On 29 Apr 1897 at 351 East 56th Street their daughter Ellen joined the family. Michael, 35, was unemployed. Annie was 32 and had delivered 8 previous children. A total of 6 were now living. Three children had died.

Their tenth and last child, Annie, was born at 323 East 54th Street on 5 Jul 1900. Michael was a milk man. The seasoned parents were 39 and 36. Nine previous children had been born to them with 7 living at the time, including the new baby.

There was a remarkable consistency in answering the questions of child born and children living. The parents ages were less so. Michael was actually, 23, 35 and 38. Annie was actually 21, 32 and 36 when these three daughters were each born. 

Census Records

The United States Census counted the people of the US every ten years. A thorough search of all federal census records is a good place to pursue one’s research. Michael Gillen was enumerated in the 1900-1930 censuses. He was in Manhattan in the East 50s in 1900 and 1910. In 1920 and 1930 the family was found in the Bronx.

The 1900 federal census indicated that Annie Gillen had delivered 9 children with 6 surviving. Michael and Annie were married for 16 years. Both these facts supported the family tradition. It did suggest that a third child died during childhood. This was a new clue.

The 1910 census recorded that Annie had now delivered ten children and seven were living. Ann Gillen had been born on 5 Jul 1900 after the previous census. The numbers were accurately updated reflecting the new family member. This census also solidified the possibility that three Gillen children had died before 1900; Agnes, Robert and an unidentified child.

The Gillens were married 25 years in 1910. Possibly, they married in 1884 between 15 April and 1 June. Census records are not perfect. Sometimes the information is exactly right and other times simply more right than not. Unfortunately, some census entries are very flawed. Always compare old information and later findings to determine the most accurate story.

The four federal censuses for Michael Gillen taken together shed light on his immigration story. Three of the four censuses listed an immigration year of 1870 and one listed 1869. Michael was born in about 1861 so an immigration year of 1870 fit well with family tradition that he immigrated as a child. The 1925 NY state census gave further support recording that Michael had lived in the USA for 55 years, immigrating in 1869 or 1870. 

City Directories

Urban localities often have a wonderful precursor to the telephone book. The city directory was an annual head of household listing. It must be remembered that not everyone is listed. Bachelors were less often listed than married men. Single women rarely appeared but many widows did, listing the name of their late husbands. This is helpful determining the right household.

Michael Gillen lived in the East 40s and 50s of Manhattan from 1885-1910. A search was made of the city directory for widows named Bridget Gray. Bridget Gray, widow of Patrick, was found nearby. It is a good idea to make a chronological listing of city directory addresses found for an ancestor. This allows the researcher to follow movements over time and compare them to other subjects. It also helps identify likely parishes for marriages and baptisms based on geography. 

Revisiting Sources with Updated Information

As new information is discovered, previous resources need to be examined again. Oftentimes one must revisit records a second and third time to find a family member. Michael Gillen was found in the 1880 Census listed as Gray along with his mother, sisters, stepfather and half-brother, Thomas. They lived in the lower east side of Manhattan at 300 Cherry Street. Initial searches for Michael Gillen in the 1880 census had failed because of the common mistake of enumerating a stepchild with his stepfather’s surname.

Bridget Gray was enumerated in the 1900 census on East 46^th Street with her daughter, Mary Gillen. She was listed as being born in Feb 1833. According to the census, Bridget emigrated in 1868 while her children Michael and Mary both recorded 1870. Bridget might have arrived first to earn money to bring her children over at a later time. 

She had delivered a total of 11 children and three were living in 1900. Since Michael and Mary were enumerated in 1900 it indicated that either Delia Gillen or Thomas Gray were dead.  It is unclear how many children were born to John Gillen in Ireland and how many were born to Patrick Gray in Ireland and/or America. It also stated that despite being a widow she had been married 31 years. The Grays might have married in 1869.

Checking the NYC death indexes again found that Bridget Gray died in 1903 and was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, Queens Co. Her death certificate listed that she was the daughter of Thomas Graney and Mary Comber. She had purchased the grave in 1889 to bury her husband, Patrick Gray. Their son Thomas was buried there also in 1899. His death certificate listed his mother by her married name, Bridget Gray. These were the only burials in this grave. It is unknown if any of Bridget’s other children were buried in New York.

The 1899 death certificate did not help clarify Bridget’s maiden name. Luckily, Michael’s American-born-half-brother had a birth certificate. Thomas Gray’s 1874 birth record listed his mother as Bridget Condrie and reported that he was her tenth child. She was 39-years-old. They lived at Denman Place near Courtland Avenue in Melrose. Melrose is located in the present day Bronx.

His baptismal certificate was found at St. Jerome parish in the present day Bronx. There were two parish churches geographically closer to their home but St. Jerome’s served Irish and German immigrants. Bridget’s maiden name was listed as Conway. The Catholic Church’s policy of issuing a certified transcription makes it difficult to definitively determine surnames since the researcher is unable to view the original handwriting and determine was the name Condry, Conry or Conway. Neither sponsor had a name that pointed to an obvious familial relationship. It also raised the question of why are there two maiden names? Conry, Condrie, Conway might be similar but are very different from Graney.

Naturalization Papers and Ship Lists

Trying to learn more about this family’s origins led to a check of the naturalization records of Patrick Gray and Michael Gillen. Naturalization papers from this period rarely reveal where in Ireland a person came from but it is prudent to search everything available to get as complete a picture as possible. Patrick declared his intent in 1872 in Westchester Co. and naturalized in 1874 in New York Co. Both times he resided in the Melrose section of the current day Bronx. The county boundaries changed but not the streets and buildings. 

Michael Gillen naturalized in 1885 in New York Co. He did not declare his intention apparently due to his arrival in the USA before age ten. He listed his date of birth as 10 Aug 1861 and arrival date as June 1870. These two specific dates proved to be illuminating. While they did not state where in Ireland he was born, they helped identify a research trail that would.

Previous checks of the passenger lists found nothing. No Bridget Gillen or Bridget Gray arriving in 1868. No Gillen children arriving in 1870 or June 1870. 

A renewed check of the passenger lists found a set of Gibian children; Mary, 10, Bridget, 9 and Michael, 7 arriving on 6 Jun 1870 with a 23-year-old, Thomas Graney from Queenstown, Ireland. The handwriting could be read as Gillian but the indexer did the best he could. The childrens’ ages are a bit off. Their 1880 census ages would make them 11, 10 and 9 in 1870 but in family history research one must never rely too heavily on the ages listed in census records and passenger lists. They are reliable as a whole but not infallible. This 6 Jun 1870 arrival date matched perfectly with Michael Gillen’s naturalization papers. If Bridget Gray’s 1903 death certificate correctly listed her maiden name as Graney, might this adult escort have been the childrens’ maternal uncle or a cousin?

Searching All Census Records

Manhattan questioned the federal census count in 1890. In the fall of 1890 NYC policeman conducted a second count. (In 1898 the 5 boroughs of New York City were united. Before then Manhattan and parts of the current Bronx comprised New York County and that alone was the City of New York.) These records provide only name, sex and age but are a wonderful tool with the loss of the 1890 federal census. 

It is highly unlikely that any urban police force would be allowed to conduct such a count in 2010 but fortunately for genealogists the NYPD was sent out in 1890. These films are available through the Family History Library in Salt Lake City as well as the Municipal Archives in New York City. They are not indexed but finding aids are available and easily utilized. A complete census for all blocks did not survive.

Bridget Gray was found on Second Ave. between East 41^st and East 42^ndStreets with her daughter, Mary Gillen and son, Thomas Gray. Blocks away at 315 East 54^th Street, her son Michael Gillen, was enumerated with his wife, Annie, and their children; Maggie, 2 and Thomas 8-months. Thomas was the oldest of the seven surviving children. Maggie’s presence was a long awaited find. Family tradition preserved the names Agnes and Robert but not Maggie. 

Thoroughly Searching Shortened Lives

Maggie Gillen did not appear in the 1900 federal census and therefore had to be the 3^rd lost child of Michael and Annie. Her death would have to appear in the death index. Maggie Gillen, age 4, died on 11 Nov 1892. She was buried at Calvary Cemetery. The cemetery disclosed that her mother purchased the grave shortly before Maggie’s birth to bury a 15-month-old, John Gillen. These were the only two burials in the grave. 

Therefore, Mary Agnes Gillen was not buried with them at Calvary. Upon further research it was discovered that the Jesuits ministered to Blackwell’s Island in the 19^th century. The Jesuit parish, St. Ignatius Loyola, recorded her baptism at the chapel on Blackwell’s Island without a sponsor’s name on 24 Jul 1885. The parish secretary indicated that Mary Agnes might be buried at the Potter’s Field on Hart’s Island. Hart’s Island is also located in the East River to the north of Blackwell’s Island.

The New York City Municipal Archives has records of burials for the Potter’s Field.  Mary Agnes Gillen was buried on 18 Aug 1885. She was buried in Trench 111 Grave 823 and burial permit number 164. This island is not open to the public. It is open to family members who want to visit the graves and these records make finding a location feasible.

John’s death certificate mentioned he died at 237 East 45^th Street. The building was occupied by 20 families and had 4 floors. The physician noted that the house was in a “very bad sanitary condition.” Notes such as these remind current researchers how far people have come from very meager beginnings.

St. Agnes was contacted again and revealed that Maggie Gillen was baptized there 21 Jun 1888. Her sponsors were named Philbin and Manning. No baptismal certificate has yet been found for John Gillen. (I recently learned that Michael Gillen was living at 868 Second Avenue; 20 AD; 12 ED between East 46th and East 47th Streets, 10017 in 1886 based on electoral voting lists. That is exactly where St. Boniface parish was in 1886. I sent a request for the missing baptism of John Gillen to Holy Family. Holy Family was not open in 1886 but currently covers the old territory of St. Boniface and keeps their registers. I received a PDF file today for the baptism of John Gillel(sic) son of Michael Gillel(sic) and Ann Feerick. Jerry O’Neil and Mary Reynolds were the sponsors. This is a great find that while not opening any new doors necessarily it provides full life details for a little boy that died very young. Perhaps, his godparents were cousins or neighbors in the old country. There is no mention of the name Robert so it remains unknown why that name was mentioned at the wake in 1953.) 

He did not have a birth certificate so it is uncertain whether Robert might be his middle name or a recollection error. Agnes was a middle name so it could be that Robert was too. John was the son of Michael and Annie Gillen.

Winning the Game of Solitaire Through Side Doors

St. Agnes verified that Michael and Annie had married there on 12 May 1884. The wedding date matched exactly with the 1900, 1910 and 1930 census questions regarding marriage. They had been married 16 years in June 1900 and 25 years in Apr 1910. The 1930 census correctly stated they had married at ages 22 and 19. 

The male witness was Mark Corrigan. This name sounded familiar. In 1900, the tenth Gillen child, Anna, had a baptismal sponsor named Mark Corrigan. This seemed to be too big of a coincidence. 

Checking the IGI records online, found the likely connection. Several children were born in Brooklyn to Mark Corrigan and Delia Gillen between 1885-1901. The census records from 1900-1930 showed that Delia was the right age to be Michael’s sister and had emigrated in 1870. This Delia Gillen Corrigan could be the missing sister. 

Delia Corrigan died in 1938 allowing the possibility that she was Aunt Delia that had visited after Annie died. Delia’s death certificate listed that her father was John Gillen and mother was Bridget Conry. Her obituary specifically mentioned Michael Gillen, brother, as a survivor. Aunt Delia had been found and definitively identified. No mention was made of her sister Mary Gillen so it was probable that she had died by 1938.

Unfortunately, making a connection for Delia back to Ireland proved fruitless. Delia had married Mark Corrigan c. 1885. No civil marriage record was recorded. NYC Catholic marriage records are often very difficult to find in this time period and often reveal the barest of details. 

Delia became a US citizen by marriage when Mark Corrigan naturalized in 1888. She never filed a petition for citizenship that in 1906 began to collect significant information on the petitioner’s birthplace and immigration.

Delia bore 9 children between 1885-1901 and few lived to adulthood. None of their baptismal or burial information was discovered. Costs to discover the names of baptismal sponsors and burial details were prohibitive. They were buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn and likely baptized at St. Michael’s Church there based on their death certificates. Attempts to contact living descendants also were unproductive.

Mary Gillen became the last hope. In 1910, she lived in the same home, 317 East 46^th St., where her mother died seven years earlier. The 1910 census showed that Mary was single and had three male boarders. A check of the marriage records did not find her. She was not at this address in the 1915 state census and could not be found in the 1920 federal census. 

It was hoped that Mary might have married after 1909 and filed a City Clerk marriage license. This document is similar to a marriage certificate but recorded by a different civil authority in NYC from 1908-the present. Neither the Department of Health nor the Office of the City Clerk had a marriage on file for this Mary Gillen. Since compliance with civil recording of marriages was complete at this time, it was determined not to search Catholic marriage records. Before 1910 though it is always prudent to consider that a Catholic marriage may have taken place but was not recorded with the city. 

This was the case in 1884 when Michael Gillen married. The Department of Health was not notified that his marriage had occurred. From 1853-1866 the Health Department kept civil marriage registers. From 1866-1888, the Health Department sent marriage certificates to Albany but maintained a dual recording in their own registers. From 1888-1937 the Department of Health received only certificates.  After 1937 they no longer handled any marriage records.

It is interesting to remember that from 1866-1888 a certificate and a ledger entry were recorded. These were created by the same office but in different penmanship. One set of records may have been better preserved and easier to read. The information kept was similar. 

In 1908, the City Clerk’s Office began to issue marriage licenses BEFORE the wedding took place. This placed the burden on the couple and not so much on the clergy. The clergy did have to return a copy of this record signed and certified after the ceremony. The information asked for the license was more in depth than the Department of Health certificates. One should search for both types of civil marriage record in the wedding took place in NYC between 1908-1937. 

IF Mary Gillen had married in the Catholic Church after 1909 she most likely would have had to provide her baptismal details to the priest at the wedding, which he would have recorded in the marriage register. These details would have revealed her place of origin in Ireland. 

Several Mary Gillen death citations were checked. Finally, her Dec 1910 death was discovered. The death certificate stated that her parents were John Gillen and Bridget Graney. 

It was confusing to have so many variants of Bridget Gillen Gray’s maiden name. In 1874 Thomas Gray’s birth and baptismal certificates listed Condrie and Conway. Death certificates in 1903 and 1910 for Bridget Gray and Mary Gillen listed Graney. In 1938 and 1944, Delia Corrigan’s and Michael Gillen’s death certificates stated Conry.

More confusing was the discovery that a man named Patrick Charles buried Mary Gillen in a plot that he had purchased just a few years earlier. No known connection could be made between these two. A scanning of the 1910 federal census entry answered all the questions. 

Patrick Charles was one of Mary Gillen’s boarders. It would be quite strange that a tenant would bury his landlady. Checking the IGI found that Patrick Charles might be more than a boarder to Mary Gillen.

Patrick Charles was born 16 Sep 1875 in Co. Galway to Aeneas Charles and Mary Greaney. Could they be first cousins? (In the 1905 New York State Census, the following was found after this article was originally published; 1905 NY State Census at 317 East 46th Street, AD 22 ED 16 Block A page 27

Gillon, Mary;  Head, white, female, 45, Ireland, 35 years in US, citizen, housework

Charles, Patrick; COUSIN, white, male, 25, Ireland, 3 years in US, alien, bartender. The answers are usually there if we continue to be patient and keep looking.)

Further checking found that there were 5 children born to this union between 1869-1877. Mary Charles’ maiden name went back and forth between Greaney and Conry in the birth records just like Bridget Gillen Gray’s name did in the US records. The civil marriage record for the Charles-Conry wedding listed Thomas Conry as the father of the bride. Bridget Gray’s father was named Thomas also. Were these women sisters? Since both were Thomas’ daughters, it made more sense that they were siblings than first cousins.

Heritage centers in Ireland have computerized many of the records across the country. Several of the counties now allow researchers to view their indexes at no cost on the Internet. Checking the Irish heritage records online found that the Charles’ were married at and baptized their children in Milltown Roman Catholic parish. These records began in the late 1850s. Milltown is not part of the western region of Connemara, but it is in County Galway. Mark Corrigan was from Milltown too. Annie Ferrick Gillen hailed from just over the county border in Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo.

Years earlier both Irish heritage centers for Galway had been contacted and the family informed that no record of Michael Gillen born 10 Aug 1861 to John Gillen and Bridget Conry/Greaney was found. A determined researcher checked it again online and was intrigued by the hit for Michael Gilleen, son of John, baptized at Milltown in 1861. 

Paying the fee opened the complete record and definitively answered the Gillen question. Michael Gilleen, of John Gilleen and Bridget Conry, was baptized at Milltown on 11 Aug 1861. The exact date of birth on his naturalization papers was 10 Aug 1861. This entry appeared perfect on every count. The spelling of Irish surnames in this period was not standardized so the extra “e” was of no consequence. Michael Gilleen’s godparents were Thomas Conry and Mary Conry. Could he be the gentleman that sailed to NYC in June 1870? Was she the woman that married Aeneas Charles in 1869?

This parish register was later borrowed from the Family History Library. It showed that Patrick Charles was baptized(born) 9 Sep 1875 (a week before his birth!) at Milltown. His birth certificate listed his mother as Mary Greaney while his baptismal entry listed her as Mary Conry. No indication has been found detailing that Conry and Greaney are the same name in Gaelic but clearly they are synonymous in the Milltown region or for this specific family.(I want to correct an error in the original article. Patrick Charles was baptized on 15 Sep 1875. The baptismal register recorded his date of birth as 9 Sep 1875. The civil birth register recorded 16 Sep 1875, which is erroneous if he was baptized on the 15th. Perhaps his mother changed the date to avoid a fine when she registered the birth on 13 Oct 1875.)

Another child of John Gillen and Bridget Conry was identified. James Gilleen was baptized 26 Sep 1859 at Milltown. His godparents were James Conry and Bridget Gilleen. 

From 1859 through 1944 Bridget and Mary had their maiden names listed on baptismal, birth, marriage and death certificates seventeen times. Bridget had 6 Conry or variants and 2 Graney listings. Mary had 4 Conry and 5 Greaney listings. 

Mary Conry/Greaney was the daughter of a servant Thomas at Ballymary townland near Milltown. Her possible sister Bridget’s death certificate listed her father as Thomas Graney and mother as Mary Comber. The exact relationship between Bridget and Mary and Thomas may never be known but Milltown is definitely where Michael Gillen hailed from in Ireland. That was the ultimate goal in all this research and is very satisfying. The hope is that visiting Milltown will answer the remaining questions regarding John Gillen’s death and surviving Gillen relations.