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 43rd Street, in 1910 at 604 West 45th 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.
